MEAT INSPECTION. 
17 
more than a century after the foundation of the schools by 
Bourgelat, veterinarians have ever been, except on some occa¬ 
sions, and almost by accident, called upon to serve as meat 
inspectors. Then, when an inspection was required, it was 
generally left to the customs officers, supervisors of slaughter¬ 
houses, butchers, and the like. Within a period of less than 
thirty years, Paris did not count a single veterinarian on the 
inspecting staff; and Lyons, the second city of France, was in 
the same condition. It was only within a few years that in 
France the functions of its inspectors has been entrusted to 
veterinarians. And still, though the larger cities may have 
veterinarian meat inspectors, many of the smaller cities have 
none, and the case is still worse with the smaller towns. Bel¬ 
gium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Russia and Germany 
have inspectors in the large cities, and some are found in Rou- 
mania, Russia, Bulgaria, Portugal and Holland. In Great 
Britain there are a few. In Greece, Athens is the only place 
where they exist. 
The work of meat inspectors rests ordinarily upon official 
regulatious. These are governmental, provincial, departmental 
or communal, or such as are applicable to the various localities 
from which they are paid. The governmental jurisdiction, as in 
Bulgaria, applies to the entire country; it may connect with 
other bodies, as in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Roumania, Luxem¬ 
burg, Switzerland and some German states. Russia exercises 
a governmental supervision, while Portugal and Great Britain 
have only sectional (communal) regulations. 
Communal regulations are the least satisfactory in their 
results, as in many instances they are only partially enforced 
for lack of the prestige of the supreme central power. Pro¬ 
vincial and departmental regulations have the advantage of 
originating in a somewhat higher source, which guarantees a 
somewhat better enforcement, but yet are not without objec¬ 
tions. On the other hand, a wise governmental law seems to 
realize all the necessary conditions for a perfect meat inspec¬ 
tion, by reason of its being better generalized, more uniform, 
