sentative on the carcass-grading committee. 2 This committee graded 
for firmness the carcasses of the hogs used in connection with these 
studies. 
The hogs were fed by the various institutions cooperating in the work 
according to the plans of the experiments agreed to by the group of 
cooperators, and were shipped to the United States Animal Husbandry 
Experiment Farm for slaughter, grading, and laboratory study of 
the fats. This centralization of slaughtering has been accompanied 
by a standardization of methods in the measurement of results which 
is regarded as very valuable. It is considered as an important 
improvement over the independent work done previously, in which 
the slaughtering was carried out at various commercial packing 
Fig. 2. — Smoked hams from hard and soft carcasses. 
of 6.5 pounds 
Each ham supports a weight 
plants, the carcass grading by different committees with varying 
standards of firmness, and the laboratory work in different labora- 
tories by various chemists using dissimilar tests in many cases. In 
the present investigations the refractive index has been adopted as 
the standard laboratory measure of firmness of the fats. It is as 
reliable as any of the other tests and can be determined with greater 
rapidity. 
2 The carcass-grading committee is composed of a representative of the Institute of 
American Meat Packers, a representative of the State experiment stations, and a represent- 
ative of the Bureau of Animal Industry. Howard R. Smith, Baltimore, Md., until recently 
represented the meat packers and Earl H. Hostetler, of the North Carolina Agricultural 
Experiment Station, the State experiment stations, on the grading committee continuously 
from the beginning of the cooperative work. G. T. Cole, in charge of Federal meat- 
inspection work at Moultrie, Ga., represented the bureau during the first year, and H. K. 
Walter, who occupies a corresponding position at Washington, D. C, during the succeeding 
years. Anton A. Auth, Washington, D, C„ recently succeeded Mr. Smith. 
