116 
A. W. CLEMENT. 
“3.— Resolved , That the inspection of meat can be properly 
conducted only at the abattoirs. 
“4.— Resolved , That all dairies should be periodically vis¬ 
ited, the cows carefully examed and their condition reported 
upon to the local authorities. 
“ 5-— Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed by 
the Chair to place these resolutions before the Secretary of 
Agriculture, so that national measures may be adopted by 
which this disease can be placed under the same category as 
contagious pleuro-pneumonia, and to be similiarly dealt with.” 
Now, it is probable that no such complete system of in¬ 
spection as is carried out in some European cities can be in¬ 
augurated in this country, at least at the present time. Never¬ 
theless, some parts and modifications of that system should be 
adopted. If the meat supply is to be controlled, however, 
the inspection must be made before and after death, and the 
killing must be witnessed, to determine the existence or ab¬ 
sence of disease. It is impossible to tell by simply looking at 
a piece of meat whether it is healthy or diseased. Or at any 
rate this could not be done without such time and appliances 
as would render the inspection impracticable. When we see 
professional men, and men of prominence too, go into court 
and swear that a certain piece of meat is unfit for food ; and 
as many more of equal prominence swear in the opposite di¬ 
rection, as was the case reported a short time since in Scot¬ 
land, we feel that considerable responsibility rests upon the 
expert, who wishes to do his duty to the public, and who 
does not desire to bring reproach upon his profession. Of 
course there are certain cases in which a piece of meat can be 
pronounced unfit for human food, as for instance, where tuber¬ 
culous nodules are present, or in certain parasitic diseases, 
such as the larval state of the human tapeworm. 
To make inspection anything like a guarantee of safety and 
to do this at a reasonable expense to the community, central¬ 
ization of the slaughtering is absolutely necessary. Any other 
method of killing is a disgrace to the- city. Many of our 
slaughter-houses are in as unsanitary a condition as they can 
well be. If the city of Baltimore would compel the butchers 
