A handbook of hygiene and sanitary science / by George Wilson.

  • George Wilson
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A handbook of hygiene and sanitary science / by George Wilson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fish, fruit, vegetables, corn, bread, flour, or milk, exposed for sale, or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale, and intended for the food of man. Without referring to the rules of seizure and legal proceedings which will be more conveniently dealt with in the Chapter on the Duties of Medical Officers of Health, it need hardly be said that this clause demands a thorough practical know- ledge of the physical appearances of the various articles of food here enumerated in their various degrees of quality in order to be able to determine whether or not they are fit or unfit for human consumption. Indeed, with respect to animal food more especially, it frequently happens that no more difficult task can devolve upon the sanitary official than to have to decide whether the meat which he is called upon to examine comes from a diseased animal, and if so, to determine the nature of the disease. Even the well trained and experienced veterinary surgeon, when he is called in to decide, is often at fault. And yet it is most important in the interests of the public, that this traffic in diseased meat, which in S]3ite of in- spection is still carried on to a scandalous extent, and especially when infectious disease is prevalent among animals, should be kept in check. It will be well, therefore, at the outset to discuss somewhat in detail the leading symptoms and features of the principal diseases which affect animals whose flesh is used for human food; but before doing so it will be of advantage to indicate the main points which characterise healthy living animals, and, briefly summarised, they are these:—The animal's coat should be in good condition, the skin supple and free from scabs, pustules, or sores of any kind. The animal itself should be well-fed and able to move about without signs of stiffness or lameness. Its mouth and nostrils should be free from any discharge, and its breath from offensive odour, while the breathing should be easy and
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