SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
55 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF NEW 
YORK COUNTY. 
The regular monthly meeting was called to order at the 
Academy of Medicine, on March 2, at 8.45 p. M., with the Presi¬ 
dent, Dr. Huidekoper, in the chair. The following members 
responded to roll-call: Drs. Ackerman, Burns, Bretherton, Bell, 
C. C. Cattanach, J. S. Cattanach, J. S. Cattanach, Jr., Delaney, 
Dair, Ellis, Eoy, Gill, Grenside, Huidekoper, Hanson, Mac- 
Kellar, Neher, O’Shea and Ryder. (19) There were also pres¬ 
ent about forty members of the profession in Greater New York. 
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. 
Reports of various committees were received and accepted. 
SPECIAL SUBJECT : MEAT AND MIEK INSPECTION. 
Dr. Gill took the initiative by reading a paper on “ The Re¬ 
lation of Veterinarians to the Public Health as Meat and Milk 
Inspectors.” He spoke as follows : 
Disease frequently results from the consumption of unwholesome 
meat and milk. It becomes therefore a natural presumption that sani¬ 
tary authorities should take such means as are necessary to prevent 
the sale of such food. 
In this paper I wish to show the important relation of the veteri¬ 
narian to the sanitary authorities as guardians of the public health and 
also to point out some of the necessar}^ safeguards that should be placed 
upon the sale of animal foods. 
I shall speak of milk first, as the greatest danger of the transmission 
of disease is from this source. Milk forms the principal diet of infants 
and invalids, and is generally consumed in its raw state, while meat is 
more or less cooked. By the inspection of milk one cannot determine 
the condition of the animal from which it was derived, therefore control 
and the inspection of cows, together with preventive restrictions against 
the contamination of their products become absolutely necessary. This 
is also true of meat inspection, for there are some conditions that affect 
the quality of the meat that cannot be detected after the animal is 
slaughtered. 
Milk .—Milk is unfit for use as food under several conditions : ia )— 
When derived from animals in condition unfit to furnish milk, as cer¬ 
tain physiological conditions like advanced pregnancy or calving period. 
ib )—When it contains some infectious matter, {c )—When adulterated. 
Adulteration may consist either in the addition of some substance to the 
milk, as water or coloring matter, the subtraction of some constituent 
like cream, or the addition of preservatives such as borax, etc. The de¬ 
termination of adulteration obviously lies within the domain of chem- 
ivStry. 
Let us turn to the various possible ways in which infection may be 
introduced. These ways may be summarized as follows : (i)—From the 
