lzenberger, Jacob Dold, and others of the great western packing
houses. There is still, however, a great deal of local butchering, and
it is important that the farmer himself should know the characteristics
of meat and should be so impressed with the dangers of diseased meat
that the temptation to unload a bad carcass on the unsuspecting public
may be overcome. There is nothing more certain in sanitary science than
that the application of heat destroys animal parasites and
micro-organisms, so that, except for diminishing the nutritive value,
there is comparatively little real danger in eating diseased meat when
cooked, and the fearful ravages of bad ham have been largely due to
occasions where the ham has been eaten raw or semi-raw.

There are two points to be noted in an animal about to be killed,
namely, whether the animal is healthy, that is, free from disease,--and
whether it is in proper condition, neither too young nor too old, is
well-grown and well-nourished. Among the diseases to which animals are
subject, some are objectionable because of the possibility of the direct
transmission of their disease to those eating the flesh, while others
are objectionable because the flesh is spoiled and so causes irritation
in the stomach and intestines of those eating it. Among the former
diseases may be mentioned trichinosis, tuberculosis, and measles of
pigs. In the latter category are animals suffering from such diseases as
epidemic pneumonia, foot-and-mouth disease, Texas fever, anthrax, hog
cholera, and others in which a general toxic condition of the animal's
system results from the disease. Toxins are thus formed in the body
which may pass to the human being eating the flesh, and in this way
poisons called ptomaines are produced, resulting in so-called toxic
poisoning. It is not the function of this book to describe the symptoms
peculiar to each of these diseases, and it is here sufficient to say
that the flesh of no animal apparently suffering from any disease should
be used for food.

The unhealthy animal can usually be recognized by a casual examination,
without undertaking to define the specific disease from which the animal
is suffering, characterized by such an examination. When sick,
according to Parkes, the coat of the animal is rough or standing, the
nostrils are dry or covered with foam, the eyes are heavy, the tongue
protrudes, the respiration is difficult, the movements are slow and
uncertain, and the vari