THE BERLIN CATTLE MARKET 
481 
The shipper or commission merchant pays a tax of two marks 
(fifty cents) for each cattle or sheep car, and three marks (seventy- 
five cents) for each double floored pig car. 
The animals recognized, attainted or suspected of a contagious 
disease, are run into a special building, where they are kept until 
condemned, in which case the owner is indemnified by the gov¬ 
ernment, or till they are sent to a special slaughter house, where, 
under the supervision of the inspector, the feet, skins, etc., are 
disinfected or destroyed, and the meat is examined before its sale 
is authorized. 
After visiting the stables for the contagious diseases we were 
met at the gate by a man who washed our boots with a disinfect¬ 
ant, and brushed our clothes, before we were allowed to visit the 
other buildings. 
When butchered, the meat is all inspected by the veterinary 
surgeons before its removal from the slaughter house or its sale 
is allowed. 
• The slaughter houses are divided into rooms of all sizes to 
suit the demands of the renters (butchers). The floors are of 
tiles, laid in cement, the walls in slate, and there is every possible 
convenience in water and ventilation. A railroad track runs into 
the larger rooms for the benefit of the wholesale butchers who 
ship to Paris and other places by rail. 
The buildings for the pig butchery are arranged in the same 
manner but each room contains a tank, to which steam pipes are 
attached for heating the water. In addition there is one building 
where the owners of a single pig can have, in common with others, 
all the facilities which are afforded to the regular butchers. 
In the pens the hogs have all undergone a preliminary exami¬ 
nation for Cysticerci—a disease fortunately rare in the United 
States. 
In each slaughter house for the pigs are attendants with micro¬ 
scopes who examine determined parts of each animal butchered. 
The butchers pay for this a tax of one mark (25 cents). 
One-half of this goes to pay for the examination and the other 
half to a fund from which the unfortunate owners are indemni¬ 
fied when trichinae, are discovered in their pigs. 
