NEWS AND ITEMS. 
821 
with the following account of the long fast of a dog, in the 
shape of a letter from the owner, which is as follows ; “ Tair- 
meibon, Bangor, N. W., Nov. 3, 1896.—Dear Mr. Mathews : 
My collie'bitch, Beauty, was buried under straw (accidentally 
and unnoticed, and protected by projecting timber from wall of 
barn) and without food or drink from Dec. 6th, 1892, to Jan. 
I 3th, 1893, 38 days. She was very fat when lost, and was 
nothing but skin and bone, and, of course, as nearly dead as 
possible when discovered. She had been c lined ’ about a fort¬ 
night before burial, and I think it possible she may have 
pupped during incarceration, and ate the litter, if any. There 
was very little excretion where she was found, and that hard 
and dry. Her eyes and nostrils were perfectly closed with mat¬ 
ter. I fed her at first with a little warm milk by means of a 
spoon inserted in her mouth. This would be about mid-day on 
Jan. 13th, and by the evening she was able to stand (with a lit¬ 
tle assistance) and lick the warm milk on her own account. 
The excretion emitted for a few days afterwards was most of¬ 
fensive. In about a fortnight after discovery she was as fat as 
ever, and is now alive and well. I remain, yours very faith¬ 
fully, H. Eeeis.” 
Meat Inspection by the Government.— Secretary Mor¬ 
ton’s report to Congress upon this subject is very interesting. 
The inspection of animals intended for food is treated of at 
length, and stress is laid upon the increased efficiency of the 
work, due to the extension of civil service rules, which has 
been very rapid in this service. The total number of ante¬ 
mortem inspections of cattle, sheep, calves and hogs during the 
year was 35,947,479, an increase over the previous year of over 
40 per cent. The total number of post-mortem inspections was 
23,164,868, an increase of 25 per cent. The total number of 
abattoirs under inspection in 1896 was 101 in twenty-six cities ; 
in 1892 there were but twenty-eight in twelve cities. For the 
sake of economy the exports of microscopically inspected pork to 
countries not exacting such inspection have been greatly dis¬ 
couraged. The total amount thus inspected was, in round num¬ 
bers, 230,000,000 pounds, of which 21,500,000 pounds went 
to countries requiring inspection. Clearances were issued to 
819 vessels carrying cattle and sheep. Of cattle there were 
tagged for export 377,639, and 422,603 inspected sheep were ex¬ 
ported. The percentage of loss in transit was considerably less 
than ever before. Mr. Morton urges strongly that government 
inspection should be extended to all animals intended for 
