METHODS OF MEAT INSPECTION. 
683 
this point. Under this system detectives or police officers are 
appointed to visit slaughter-houses, markets and butcher shops, 
hunt for diseased or unwholesome meat, which is condemned 
by a veterinary adviser called in by them, and the seller is often 
prosecuted. It is scarcely necessary to say that this system is 
undesirable . First, because it does not include an inspection of 
all meat sold and inevitably permits the consumption of much 
that is injurious, and, second, because it assumes knowledge on 
the part of the butcher that he cannot possibly possess and 
makes him responsible for conditions that he cannot recognize. 
'The system is therefore incomplete and as a permanent system 
it is unjust. Its chief advantage lies in the fact that it tends to 
make butchers more careful, so that gross pathological condi¬ 
tions do not reach their stalls, and a portion of the diseased 
meat that would otherwise be placed upon the market is barred. 
However, such a system constitutes a beginning in the right 
direction, but no municipality should be satisfied with it, if a 
better can be obtained. 
Municipal meat inspection is of more importance in the East 
than in the West, because tuberculosis is more prevalent in this 
region, and a great many worn-out dairy cows are sent to the 
shambles. Many of these cattle are afflicted with tuberculosis 
and other chronic ailments. They are frequently emaciated and 
constitute the most dangerous class of beef animals. Philadel¬ 
phia is situated in the midst of a bountiful dairy district and is 
a large consumer of these animals. They are not killed in a 
large central abattoir under constant supervision, but in numer¬ 
ous little slaughter-houses scattered throughout the city and its 
suburbs. There are about one hundred slaughter-houses in 
Philadelphia. Many of them are quite small, situated on back 
streets, surrounded by stables and dwelling houses. In these 
establishments cattle are frequently killed at night or very early 
in the morning, and are not inspected at all. Occasionally, ^nd 
as often as possible, the inspector drops in while the carcasses 
are being dressed, and his vigilance is rewarded almost daily by 
the discovery of a diseased and dangerous animal. The busi- 
