SLAUGHTER-HOUSE INSPECTION. 
535 
with sometimes a disagreeable odor. The expert butcher deftly 
removes the hgemorrhage-stained, infiltrated and torn fat and 
connective tissue overlying the muscular structures, also the su¬ 
perficial muscles, if coagulated blood and serum be found in and 
beneath them ; then with a brush and plenty of very hot water 
the smaller haemorrhagic discolorations are softened and 
washed away, the parts presenting a nearly normal color when 
dried and placed in a refrigerator until thoroughly cooled. 
When the injuries are recent, as indicated by the absence of the 
products of inflammation, the bruised and torn parts can be cut 
away, leaving the remainder of the carcass wholesome food and 
not offensive in appearance. In the cases where the serous exu¬ 
date is extensive or malodorous, or where rigor mortis is estab¬ 
lished before the skin can be removed, changes have taken 
place in the fluid and solid tissues which render them sus¬ 
piciously—if not certainly—dangerous for food, and they should 
be condemned. 
The class mentioned as “ downers,” or cripples, naturally re¬ 
quire especial attention, yet .when slaughtered and dressed it is 
often difficult to discern any sufficient reason why some would 
not or could not walk to the shambles, so slight are the tangible 
lesions. Many of them present lesions of the bones and contigu¬ 
ous soft parts, and the same principles apply in determining the 
wholesomeness of the flesh as though these animals walked to 
the slaughter house. 
karge suppurating wounds from punctures, gunshots or 
branding irons, or gangrenous wounds are sufficient cause for 
rejecting the bearers for food purposes, Such animals are usm 
slly in a declining physical condition, which fact makes it 
highly suspicious, if not certain, that the structures of the body 
are deleteriously influenced by poisonous elements carried from 
such wounds. If such wounds be small and post-mortem sec¬ 
tions of the surrounding structures and contiguous glands show 
them to be normal in color and consistence, the removal of a 
liberal portion of the structure surrounding such wound should 
render the carcass unobjectionable. 
