702 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
emaciation, and the animal ought then to be condemned. A 
meat inspector should eliminate sentiment from his mind ; his 
knowledge of disease should be a sufficient guide to him in his 
work. In tuberculosis I think we ought to cut closely. 
We should condemn all cases of tuberculosis, no matter how 
little or how great they may be affected. We never find 
muscular actinomycosis, but we do often find tuberculosis iu the 
muscles. An inspector must rely on his judgment and know¬ 
ledge of pathology in protecting the public health. If he 
allows sentiment to enter into the question he is not doing right 
towards the man handling the meat, nor to the producer nor to 
the man exposing it for sale. 
Dr. Heck : Some one has said that they did not believe in 
aping Europe in our customs, but we must realize that they 
have the oldest systems of meat inspections and the most rigid 
laws, and in many things we pattern after them—military 
matters, for instance. 
They have found there that by condemning all diseased 
carcasses, some of which are not absolutely dangerous, that the 
loss entailed is too great, therefore they find it necessary to 
place on the market two classes of meat, and I believe we will 
have to come to the same conclusion. The public will protest 
against putting on the market the carcass of any animal having 
a purulent abscess or an actinomycotic tumor on the jaw. It 
is an imposition upon the people to allow stuff of this kind to 
go on the market as being thoroughly inspected and free from 
disease. We recognize that in diseases due to germs, the flesh 
can be rendered harmless by subjection to a high temperature, 
as in cooking; then why not place mild cases of tuberculosis on 
a par with actinomycosis, and other affections just mentioned 
not dangerous, by canning the product. It is different in cases 
where ptomaines have formed, as I understand that certain 
ptomaines do not lose their toxic qualities by being subjected 
to cooking temperature. The last speaker has said that acti¬ 
nomycosis was never seen in the muscular system, but I have 
seen several cases of muscular actinomycosis. One case I 
remember some ten years ago while at college. The case was 
a two-year-old heifer in a herd of 21, where eleven were affected, 
and she had actinomycotic growths in great numbers over all 
parts of her body. From some on the legs below and above 
the hocks and other parts of the body, specimens were taken for 
microscopic examination, and on being examined the organism 
was found. I have also seen some while engaged in practice, 
