440 
YORKSHIRE VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 
Question. Did you examine the liver, and how did you find it ? 
Answer. I found it congested, in like manner as the lungs. 
Question. Would you believe it to be watery when you examined it ? 
Answer. Quite possible that the blood had begun to break up, and the liquor 
sanguinis had left the solid parts, and might even be oozing through Glisson’s 
capsule. 
Question. Would, in your opinion, the carting of the carcase nine miles 
have a tendency to soften it ? Answer. Very possibly. 
Question. Do you consider soft meat fit for food? Answer. It depends on 
the predisposing causes. 
Question. Can you give any predisposing causes in the case in question ? 
Answer. Yes; this cow was in milk and lean, and every one knows that the 
principal stiffening agent is the adipose tissue or fat it contains, the great 
exhaustion the animal suffered. It is an authenticated fact that a hare run 
to death is not so firm or valuable in the market as the one that has been coolly 
shot. In a man strangled the rigor marks are very mildly developed, and this 
might also hold good in the lower animals. 
Question. Don’t you know that this animal died of pulmonary apoplexy ? 
Ansiver. We have no such disease in cattle. 
Question. Suppose we call it, instead, congestion of the lungs ? Answer. I 
have never found congestion of the lungs as an independent disease in cattle; 
it is always accompanied with some mechanical agent, such as a potato or turnip 
in the throat, or from strangulation; and the only case I know on record of 
congested lungs, as an independent disease, arose at Smithfield Show, London, 
and which was caused by plethoric animals inhaling a dense foggy atmo¬ 
sphere. Of course, we have congestion of the lungs on the first stage of 
inflammation. 
Question. Do you consider dark-coloured meat fit for food ? Answer. It 
depends on circumstances. 
Question. Suppose this animal was dead a few hours before it was stuck, 
would you consider it fit for food. Answer. I do, inasmuch as in a few hours 
there is no time for diseased products to get developed in the blood; if other¬ 
wise, why do not hares, rabbits, and other animals that are trapped and ginned 
come under the category of unwholesome food ? 
Oral confirmation of this evidence was given by Mr. Broughton and my 
brother, and written confirmation of our position was produced in court from 
Professors Williams and Axe; Messrs. Greaves and Taylor, Manchester, and 
Robinson, Greenock ; and the case against the owner of the animal was dis¬ 
missed. You will see from this cross-examination that the evidence in support 
of the case against the owner was altogether lame. 
What did the medical officer of health know about congested lungs from 
strangulation and the appearances they present when for some time exposed 
to atmospheric influences? In his cross-examination he said the appearances 
of the lungs in question were not what he would expect to see from strangula¬ 
tion. I infer from that—and I have it on good authority too—that he never 
saw congested lungs from strangulation in his life, either in the human 
subject or any of the domesticated animals. 
When we returned from court the carcase of another animal was in my yard 
to be examined, which had been slaughtered at my suggestion owing to pro¬ 
lapsus of the uterus; the history of it was well known and a certificate was 
given that it was wholesome. This case, too, would have been fought, but the 
animal belonged to a gentleman so that they did not care to encounter; 
consequently it was passed. A great deal of misconception obtains as to what 
is wholesome and unwholesome food, and of course it very much depends upon 
the antecedents of the case, and these two cases only indicate on what slender 
hypotheses meat is condemned, and how necessary it is to defend your own 
well ascertained convictions » these two carcases were undoubtedly fit for 
human food. The prevailing method of judging meat is to have it firm, 
bright, and clean, and to examine the internal organs and see that they are 
free from disease. This is a very safe system, but it does not hold good at 
