62

NUMBERS OF CATTLE HANDLED.

it should be remembered that meat is slaughtered in Berlin for consumption in distant towns, and even in Paris itself. For the benefit of the large Jewish population, special arrangements are made for the slaughtering of animals according to Jewish rites. The apartments in which the manufacture of albumen, condensing of blood, dressing of tripe, and cleansing of skins are carried on, are models of cleanliness and good order. In the slaughter-house proper, over and above the accommodation already mentioned, three cattlestalls accommodate 1300 head; there are four swine-stalls holding 3400, and stalls accommodating 2000 sheep and as many calves. The ordinary staff of the establishment is quite able to overtake the slaughtering and dressing of all these animals in one day. The total cost of the combined establishment reached almost half a million sterling, of which £300,000 may be set down to the cattle-market, and £200,000 to the slaughter-house. As many as 1,100,000 head are slaughtered annually. After liberal grants towards redemption of capital and all charges for maintenance, the establishment yields an annual

FEMALE MICROSCOPISTS.

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revenue equal to fully four per cent on the original cost.

Not only are the cattle-market and slaughterhouses combined in this central institution, but here also is set up what is probably the most efficient system of meat inspection in the world. All dead meat slaughtered in the country or abroad, and intended for Berlin consumption, must be brought here for inspection before being offered for sale as human food. No butcher in Berlin may offer meat for human consumption which does not bear the official stamp of the inspecting department of the central market. Under the chief inspector of meat, who is a veterinary surgeon of high qualification, there are at present no fewer than twenty-two surgeons and assistant-surgeons, with a large staff of special inspectors, microscopists, and stampers. Belonging to the staff there are forty-five women trained to the use of the microscope. business is to examine and report upon specimens of tissue or blood brought from the inspection houses, where the surgeons are engaged examining carcasses slaughtered on the premises or brought

Their

64 COMPLETENESS OF MEAT INSPECTION.

from a distance. On completing their reports, the microscopists pass them on to the surgeon in charge of their room, and he in turn reports to his chief, who condemns whatever meat is proved to be unsound. These women work but

So

five hours a day, as the constant use of the microscope severely strains the eyes. They have each a salary of about £75 per annum. thorough is the inspection—and the thoroughness is secured by the number and competency of the staff that it is all but impossible for a diseased carcass to pass out of the market. The result is that one may enter any butcher's shop in Berlin and be sure that all the fresh meat there offered for sale has undergone a strict scientific test, and has been officially declared fit for human food. It should be kept in mind that the whole cost of inspection is part of the general expenses of the market, and has been defrayed before the profits above shown are brought out. All meat that has been condemned as unsound is not necessarily destroyed. Carcasses of animals which have suffered from tubercle, trichinosis, anthrax, and other dangerous diseases are, of

ROHRBECK'S MEAT-DISINFECTOR.

65

course, destroyed. But carcasses showing only local unsoundness, and carcasses known in this country as "braxy," are treated by what is known as Rohrbeck's process of disinfection, and are then found perfectly safe for human food, and as nourishing as ordinarily healthy meat. This class of meat is permitted to be sold in shops set apart for the purpose. It is ticketed, so that purchasers know what they are buying. As it is much cheaper than other meat, it is largely used by the poorer classes. In warm weather special arrangements are made for keeping all the meat at a low temperature till it is delivered to the shops for sale, and the utmost speed is shown in passing the carcass through the necessary processes, including that of inspection. Thus complaints about meat getting deteriorated through delay and handling are seldom heard. The whole cattle and butcher trades of Berlin appear to be so satisfied with the working of the present system that they would on no account return to the old state of things.

E