682 
LEONARD PEARSON. 
meat goes on the market with the official stamp of the inspector, 
showing that it is wholesome. The meat that is condemned is 
made into fertilizer by the establishment, on the account of the 
individuah butcher, and this part of the business is conducted so 
well that it is usually possible to realize from twenty to twenty- 
five per cent, of the original cost of the animal. This saving 
cannot be effected under less favorable conditions. 
In this country, the existing systems of meat inspection may 
be divided into two classes, national and local. For some years 
the United States Bureau of Animal Industry has conducted a 
constantly improving meat inspection service, that now extends 
to animals killed for export and for interstate trade in the prin¬ 
cipal meat-packing centres of the country. The work is per¬ 
formed by veterinarians, who examine all carcasses, stamp those 
that are sound, and condemn those that are unfit for food. 
There is also a microscopical examination of pork for the detec¬ 
tion of trichinae, but this extends only to the products prepared 
for export. Some of the cities in the United States have also 
organized more or less complete meat inspection systems. The 
system in New Orleans, originated and developed principally 
by Dr. A. S. Wheeler, is perhaps as perfect as exists anywhere 
in the United States. It provides that all animals killed locally 
for food shall be inspected and the meat is stamped. Moreover, 
all dressed meat brought into the city must be stamped in a 
similar way. And it is unlawful for any butcher to sell meat 
that does not bear the stamp of the meat inspector. In Mont¬ 
gomery, all meat-producing animals are killed in a central 
slaughter-house under the supervision of a meat inspector. 
These systems, and all that are followed in European countries, 
place the responsibility of deciding whether a given carcass is 
suitable for food upon an inspector who is trained in animal 
pathology. 
In some other cities, as Philadelphia, the meat inspection 
system is based upon an entirely different principle. There are 
laws prohibiting the sale of diseased or unwholesome meat, and 
it is assumed that the butcher is always competent to determine 
