U. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
477 
Norway and Sweded, Denmark and Italy. All these countries have at present 
restrictions against American pork. All these restrictions are based on sanitary 
grounds ; whether correctly or not, I will not here undertake to discuss. Now 
what change can vs e reasonably expect to result from the Edmunds law ? 
Gentlemen, in closing my paper, I wish to appeal to your continued interest 
in the questions just discussed, and I especially appeal to the deans of the 
veterinary colleges of this country to provide for separate lectures on meat in¬ 
spection, with practical exercises in public abattoirs ; that if called upon we may 
have men able to undertake the responsibility which is connected with this 
sanitary measure. There can be no question that we shall witness some 
important legislation in regard to meat inspection in the coming years, and it 
should be our professional pride to intelligently advise our legislators as to the 
proper scientific standpoint of such laws. 
As veterinarians we are doubly interested in this question. It concerns us 
as members of the general public, but to a much greater degree does it interest 
us as members of the veterinary science, to which it gives greater opportunities 
and adds greater responsibilities. 
Dr. Berns, of Brooklyn, was introduced by President Huide- 
koper, and read a paper as follows: 
MOSS AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR LINSEED MEAL AND HOT WOOLEN 
CLOTHS. 
By George H. Berns, D.Y.M. 
Perhaps there is no class of remedies better known and more frequently 
used than poultices and fomentations. 
Their efficacy as remedial agents and their physiological as well as their 
therapeutic actions are so well recognized and understood that it would be a 
waste of time to even refer to them. 
There is hardly a day but what all of us order a poultice to a horse’s foot or 
prescribe hot fomentations to some other part of the body for the purpose of re¬ 
lieving pain and suffering, and it will be admitted that their sphere of usefulness 
is almost unlimited in the practice of medicine and surgery, yet in very many 
instances are we obliged to dispense with them owing to our inability to apply 
them effectively, for there are many locations on the body of an animal where 
no poultice or fomentation can be applied or kept. 
Linseed meal is practically the only substance used in veterinary practice to 
make poultices, and while it is safe, retains heat and moisture well and answers 
the purpose in the majority of instances, it has many disadvantages. 
1st. It requires considerable skill and time to prepare and properly apply 
a linseed meal poultice. 
2d. They are bulky and heavy and tend to sag down from their own weight, 
and on that account cannot be applied to many parts of the body. 
3d. They are rather dirty and during warm weather are apt to become foul 
unless very frequently changed, and it requires time and labor to clean the parts 
after a poultice has been removed. 
Hot fomentations are usually made by saturating clothes or woolen blankets 
