60 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
well referred to by Dr, Gill, is of great importance. This subject is one’ 
that is pressing its importance upon the people of this countr}^ and it is 
well that we who are so directly interested in this work should be fore¬ 
most in consideration of all the measures that are destined to lead ns out 
of the present unsatisfactory conditions, and especially thCvSe very im¬ 
portant ones, meat and milk, in which we are very much interested, and 
which we by our education are so well fitted to solve the questions in a 
way that shall be satisfactory in a measure to all concerned. 
The question of meat and milk inspection is probably the most im-' 
portant one that presents itself for consideration to the United States 
and the whole world, and it has fallen to you to bring this matter to the 
authorities of your State, especially of your city, in which, because of 
your ability and of your training, and as your duty as citizens as well 
as professional men, you should be interested. I was surprised in looking 
over some of the recent statistics to find that with her great animal in¬ 
dustry that the great milk and meat question, which concerns one of 
the leading industries, that the authorities have not been able to find 
employment of more money to help solve some of these questions, and 
do her part of the work that is going to establish all over our conntr}' a 
thorough inspection, and not confine it to meat which goes abroad, for 
our own interest is greater than foreign, and of far more importance than 
the development of nations three thousand miles away. The New York 
statistics show that in seventeen years there has been less than twenty 
thousand dollars spent in the employment of veterinary services for the 
inspection of diseases incidental to livestock interest in the State of New 
York. She must look to the veterinary profession to lead in this work, 
and if New York State has found it necessary to spend so small an 
amount of money it is that she has not realized how great is the human 
responsibility. How far this subject relates to our profession is onr 
duty to educate public opinion and public sentiment. The avenues of 
opinion are multiple in number. However, every citizen appreciates the 
dangers there are in the supply of milk, not alone from the animals but 
from conditions that are incidental to its delivery to the consumer, for 
it is known how susceptible the product of milk is. and therefore special 
care must be taken to prevent it from being contaminated. 
We, as veterinarians, know particular!3^ of the ver}" great dangers 
there are. We know the different kinds of milk ; we know of the bad 
sanitary conditions of stables ; we know the care needed for animals ; we 
know all the dangers of food, and how important the\" are for a good 
milk supply’. We cannot obtain an ideal one at first, but that is some¬ 
thing which is sure to come in time. I think it is a sad state of affairs 
if a city cannot place some value on its products and control the intro¬ 
duction of only good and wholesome products. It is certain the estab¬ 
lishment of a system of meat and milk inspection is needed, and that we 
must lead in trying to formulate suggestions for this work. In Massa¬ 
chusetts and Pennsylvania this work has been going on, not as rapidly 
as we would like, but the agitation is being kept up. It is the purpose 
of this meeting to bring this very important subject to the attention of 
the people of New York. 
Dr. Leonard Pearson, Dean of the Veterinary Department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, and State Veterinarian of 
