NEWS AND ITEMS. 
377 
pose the use of meat at all as food and who wish to discredit it 
in every possible way.” 
Dr. Melvin continues: 
“ The idea of eating the meat of a slightly diseased animal 
may be repulsive to some, but a little consideration should read¬ 
ily convince a reasonable person that there is no valid reason 
for condemning and wasting perfectly wholesome meat simply 
because there happens to be somewhere in the animal a gland 
or an organ showing a lesion, or a parasitic nodule, or some 
slight, local condition which does not extend to or affect in any 
way the remainder of the carcass. The argument that all the 
meat of an animal affected to even the slightest degree with 
any disease should be totally and utterly condemned, if carried 
to the extreme and to its logical end, would result in the con¬ 
demnation of practically every animal slaughtered and the aboli¬ 
tion of meat as food. 
“ With the increasing cost of the necessaries of life it be¬ 
comes more important that wholesome food should not be reck¬ 
lessly and needlessly destroyed, and it is the duty of this Depart¬ 
ment not only to protect the people against unwholesome meat, 
but to conserve the food supply. The only sensible course in 
meat inspection is to determine at just what stage a disease or 
abnormal condition becomes noxious, and where to draw the 
line between what should be condemned and what should be 
passed, always giving to the consumer the benefit of any doubt.” 
As showing that the Department does properly safeguard 
the consumer, Dr. Melvin refers to the report of a commission 
of eminent Scientists outside the Department of Agriculture 
who were appointed in 1907 to consider and make recommenda¬ 
tions with regard to certain features of the meat inspection, and 
who said on this point: 
“ The commission would invite attention to a very wide¬ 
spread misconception as to the significance of the word ‘ dis¬ 
eased ’ in connection with meat inspection. To the popular 
mind the idea of eating ‘ diseased ’ animals is abhorrent. From 
the standpoint of meat inspection, however, the term ‘ diseased ’ 
must be used in a sense not entirely in harmony with the popular 
conception of this word. 
“ The commission could easily undertake to show that not 
any single animal used for food in any part of the world would, 
upon microscopic study, be shown to be absolutely free from all 
infection or lesion if said animal were presented to it for ex- 
