INSPECTION OF MEAT AND MILK. 
77 
veterinary profession in Maryland, as represented by this the 
State Veterinary Society, seems advisable; and as all that can 
be done, with the resources at our command, has perhaps 
been accomplished, the present is thought to be a fitting time 
for the presentation of a few facts. Whatever the public finds 
necessary for its comfort and well-being it is very apt to have, 
provided that it is convinced of the necessity, and provided 
that the cost is not out of proportion to the benefits to be de¬ 
rived. Our subject involves questions undoubtedly compli¬ 
cated, and those which should be thoroughly discussed. As 
members of the veterinary profession, it is our right and 
privilege to advise the public upon questions of public health 
which are, beyond doubt, connected with the consumption of 
meat and milk, and the association of man and animals. 
That certain infectious diseases are common to both man 
and animals is well known to the practitioners both of human 
and of veterinary medicine. It is also known that the only 
possible chance of infection in certain diseases is through the 
consumption of meat which harbors the infecting principle ; 
and that in many other diseases the flesh and milk of animals 
used for food, while not the only source of infection, yet play 
an important part in the propagation thereof. 
Now, if our opinion is to have any weight it must, above 
all, be candid. To alarm the public by an exaggeration of 
facts would not only be wrong, but would not further our 
purposes. To tell them that by the appointment of one or 
two veterinarians as inspectors of the meat supply they can 
have absolute, or anything like absolute, protection against 
the dangers of infection, would be but deception for the mo¬ 
ment. To tell them, moreover, that the meat which they eat 
and the milk which they drink is in the majority of instances 
likely to convey infection, would be a gross exaggeration of 
the facts. Nevertheless, we who come in contact daily with 
the cattle slaughtered for the city market, know that much of 
the meat offered for sale is a quite possible source of disease, 
and one which can, to a greater or less extent, be avoided. 
A disease which costs more lives by far than any other, is 
tuberculosis, or what is commonly called consumption. One 
