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THE ADVANTAGES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM.
612 shown by the Parliamentary inquiry of 1893, provides "no individual to decide for himself7 And is it not for the indisafeguard against criminal attempts on life," forms "no vidual with fears ofpremature burial to take such countertrustworthy record of disease," and requires no reasonable acting precautions as may suggest themselves pending the proof of death, so furnishing an occasion for premature provision of proper legislative enactions by the State ?7 I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, burial with possible accompanying horrors ; yet surely it would be no difficult task to frame a few regulations which FRANCIS H. WELCH, F.R.C.S. Eng. would necessitate full professional inspection by recognised Lee, S.E., Feb. 16th, 1907.
as
and authorised officials in every case of notified death, which would require removal of the body to a public mortuary where the conditions made such action necessary on sanitary grounds, for its retention for a reasonable period pending disposal, and which would prevent burial or other disposal of the body without the certificate of the authorised official, drawn up shortly before the closure of the coffin, as to the fact of death and its causation ? That the chances of concealment of foul play and of premature burial would be reduced to a minimum, that sanitary requirements would be met, and the causations of death be placed on a more reliable and scientific basis than at present pertains will not be questioned ; yet we permit the present haphazard and dangerous practice to continue. Here surely the need of State intervention on death notification, for the well-being of all, is placed on an undisputable basis as a matter of duty; the facts are clear and well known to the thinking community and to the legislature ; action only is wanted. And at the present time we have two methods in operation for disposal of the body-vault or earth consignment in a coffin and cremation. By the former process as usually carried out we now, just as older races did and probably now as then under the influence of religious views bearing on the resurrection of the body, oppose the natural resolution of our mortal frames through the wholesome and beneficent earth’s action by inclosure in metal or strong wooden surroundings; yet we do but delay the process of disintegration thereby and give occasion to its passing through a phase of decomposition, unaccompanied by the disinfecting power of porous soil, which because it is out of sight is out of the mind of the majority of individuals though no less horrible in fact. That"earth-to-earth "burial in properly selected ground would meet the requirements of sanitation and follow closely nature’s plan may be granted and there seems no reason why such a satisfactory committal to the grave cannot be effected under our existing custom with no more offence to the living than is produced by contact of the earth with the dead, some slight covering intervening. The necessary departure from our present proceedings would be some mechanical arrangement by which the top and sides of the coffin could be removed after placement in the grave and before returning the excavated soil. It may be replied that the collapsible coffin practically effects all that is needed. But is this so One outcome of strict "earth-to-earth"" burial certain7 would, I think, follow, and this is no small matter to those who dread the possibility of premature burial: no return to consciousness would ensue should life not be extinct. In regard to vault burial it is difficult to adduce a single point in support of it; and though in our islands committal of the body to the sea might be advocated in the future, when accumulating burials as now effected have curtailed the available desirable ground, the only other mode open a to those who have repugnance to coffin burial, for various reasons, is cremation. Mr. Wills regards it with horror; others, however, are clearly not of his way of viewing the process. Its sanitary advantages are apparent : it is rapid and effective in action ; by it resolution of the body into its elements differs not from that of earth burials except in the chemical combinations effected ; through preliminary necessary legal requirements the possibility of concealing malpractice is reasonably excluded and the fears of premature burial do not come into existence ; it is stated not to be more costly than grave burial. Though stigmatised as "heathenish by some, its position is essentially the same as earth burial ; both systems preceded Christianity and both are now practised under it; the real principles involved in both are not those of religion but of sanitation and social
jurisprudence. Whether the time is not a ripe one for pressing home the of proper regulations preceding the disposal of the dead, now that we have a political party in power whose supposed essence is social reform, is a question well worth consideration, but in respect to the permissible modes of disposal of the dead, subject to such sanitary and other safeguards as may be necessary for the well-being of the community as a whole, is not the matter rather one for the
necessity
THE CENTRAL MIDWIVES BOARD. To the Editors of THE LANCET. LANCET of Feb. 16bh a report of the Central Midwives Board and in the last stated thatthe charge alleged against a midwife-A. L. Bellis-by the local supervising authority of Southampton was considered and the Board decided that she should be severely censured on her own admission of having made a false declaration of stillbirth." I may say that the local supervising authority has not made any such charge against Nurse Bellis, nor has the local supervising authority communicated with the Central Midwives Board respecting her; furthermore, the local supervising anthority has no official knowledge that she has been censured by the Central Midwives Board. I received the notice of stillbirth from her, and at the coroner’s inquest she explained that it was a breech presentation, and that the child was partly born on her arrival. It would appear to me that she had a perfect right to give a certificate of stillbirth, but through a misapprehension she put "B.B.A." on the certificate. I placed so little importance on the nurse’s mistake that I did not report the particulars to the local supervising authority. Trusting you will give these remarks the same publicity as your report of the meeting of the Central Midwives Board of I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, Jan. 31st,
SIRS,-I notice in THE
the
meeting of paragraph it is
Southampton,
Medical Officer to the Local Supervising Feb. 27th, 1937. Authority.
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. To the Editors of THE LANCET. Association is doing good work in Decimal SIRS,-The helping to bring about the consummation so devoutly to be wished-namely, the adoption of a decimal system of weights and measures and coinage in the United Kingdom. Everyone, I suppose, is convinced of the absurdity of the present system, if such it can be called, for there is absolutely no uniformity in it, consisting, as it does, of a bewildering number of weights and measures of various origins. There must be real reform and there can be no adjustment or adaptation of such a clumsy system ; it must go altogether in favour of metric measures applied to all the branches of standardisa-
tion, weight, capacity, length, and even coinage. The trouble is to appoint the exact moment when the old system is to be made obsolete and the new system current, but the
experience of other civilised countries has proved that the difficulty of change is not as great in practice as might be thought. Further, there is no non-metric country left to worry us as we have worried others. The following is an interesting calculation, and there are scores of others in regard to the immense saving of time which would be effected if the metric system was adopted. Schoolmasters have estimated that the saving in educational time by the exclusive adoption of the metric measures would be about 200 hours per year per child. If coinage were decimalised the saving would be increased to about 350 hours-that is, about 200,000,000 hours a year for ever of school children’s time can be saved by a reform which would cost adults on the average about the equivalent of a day’s work. This seems alone worth while bringing about the reform in earnest apart altogether from the gain to commercial and scientific workers. We should then worry no longer about the equivalent of metres in inches (of which three barleycorns make one), of grains in grammes, of kilogrammes in tons, of pints in litres, of shillings in francs, and so on ad naitseant. Most of us, especially those who are compelled to make scientific calculations, hope that the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Bill ordered recently by the House of Commons to be printed will receive full, careful, and unbiased consideration. A Bill "to render compulsory the use of the system
613
weights and measures commonly known as the metric long succession of double doors as if it were a row of coachsystem " may seem drastic, but the arguments in its support houses. Each butcher hires one of these compartments, but. throws these doors wide open when he is slaughtering and seem to me incontrovertible. of
does some of the work outside. The bullocks and other animals are driven into these compartments where they may see at the farther end carcasses hanging from cross-beams. Much filth falls on the floor as the intestines are cleaned out on a marble slab placed in a corner of each of these ITALIAN MUNICIPAL ABATTOIRS. compartments. The darkest corner seems to have been A VISIT TO THE MILAN AND VERCELLI selected for this purpose-namely, between the door SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. and the side wall, just where the light entering by the door cannot reach. Near the slab there is an SPECIAL OUR SANITARY COMMISSIONER.) (FROM opening to a drain in the angle of the wall. Here the small intestines are cleaned out and their contents fall on IF the laws of Italy relating to public health questions are the floor. This recalled the filthy spectacle to be seen at examined it will seem that Italy must be quite an ideal La Villette time and is far from satisduring slaughtering nation. The fact is that United Italy has only been in These small compartments only contain very factory. existence for a very short time and as the laws were but rudimentary contrivances. Above there are two huge wooden recently enacted they were naturally based on the best rafters crossing the compartment at a height of from 12 to models. But between the law and its application there is a 14 feet. A triangular wooden apparatus, something like an wide space. Still, it is something to know that in Italy the artist’s is used to raise the carcasses. This tripod is easel, counsels of perfection do not connict with the law. Thus, armed with a pulley and crank. Thus the carcass of a in an old country like England the law says that the authoanimal may be lifted and suspended to the crossheavy rities may, if they choose, build a public slaughter-house. beams, but it could not be moved backwards or forwards Of course, the result is that only a very small number of or the halves separated. The intestines fall on the floor;y local authorities have availed themselves of this permission. stomach is thrown into a wooden tank which is But the Italian Re.qolamerdo of August 15th, 1890, emphatic- lifted by hand and emptied in the open shanty where the ally states that all communes with more than 6000 inhabi- manure awaits removal. tants must construct public abattoirs. Further, .only a The place for the slaughtering of hogs is bad but still there technically qualified person-that is to say, a veterinary are plenty of light and air and a good, sound, water-tight surgeon-must be appointed as director or manager of theseIcemented floor. The walls are not enamelled or made of washabattoirs. Then the law gives minute details in regard to able material, so that the blood and dirt adheres to, and sinks their construction, so that they shall be thoroughly sanitary into, them. But there are good sound troughs for washing buildings. There must also be a place where animals can out the intestines that can easily be kept clean. The sheep be kept for a period under observation and there should be slaughter-house is much in the same condition. The a steriliser and a destructor. The last two stipulations have surrounding walls are armed with long spikes and on these been carried out on a very large scale in Italy. Bat in are hung the carcasses of the sheep, where they remain other respects there is a terrible difference between the law in the unsuitable atmosphere and dirt of the shambles. and the reality. Then there is quite a large horse slaughtering departM. Pion, a well-known authority on these subjects, writing ment which is the worst constructed part of the abattoir. in the Se’lnaine rétérinaire of 1893, says :Here for air and light there are but the door and When some 30 years ago a number of slaughter-houses were built windows on one side, and only very few openings in they were not supplied with sufficient water nor was enough room the roof. Though a good deal of horsefiesh is eaten the allowed. The means provided for suspending the carcasses were not horse-tripe is thrown away. The place where the tripe from numerous enough and they were complicated, cumbersome, and difficult to manceuvre. In most cases they are similar to the very mediocre bullocks, &c., is washed and prepared is large, lofty, but abattoirs of the South of France, where, under so powerful a sun. there dirty. Above there are many rafters with cobwebs hanging should prevail absolute cleanliness. The slaughter compartments or in great numbers. For washing and soaking very sheds are paved with flag-stones and there are gratings and openings down These are fine specimens where the blood flows down and mixes with excremental matter, find- large broad wooden tubs are used. ing its way by a sewer to a river which is generally near at hand. of cooperage and look picturesque, but stone or metal, not the abattoir is near the seaside, as, for instance, at Bastia wood, is the material that should be employed. and Bonifacio. The fish, the seagulls, birds of prey, and dogs then The stables are more insanitary than the slaughtering play the part of scavengers. At the same time foul odours testify to the absence of sanitation. Much the same may be said in regard to department. Light is admitted on one side only and the most slaughter-houses on the borders of the Mediterranean, however structures are low and very imperfect. Instead of a wellimportant they may be. But there is one corrective. During the drained water-tight floor the earth is paved with small summer very few animals are slaughtered and no hogs whatsoever. round stones which let the liquid manure pass through and From this it will be seen that the state of affairs in Italy facilitate the contamination of the subsoil. Again the is not described as perfect and that the law remains to a offices for the veterinary surgeons and staff looked shabby, a the extent dead letter. abattoirs Nevertheless, public large and poor. The German "freibank"system of at Rome, which were completed in 1892, possess many dusty, tuberculous and other slightly diseased meat, modern improvements. There are a quarantine section, a sterilising which was so well explained by Dr. Hugh A. Macewen when destructor, a post-mortem chamber, and baths for the dealing with German methods of meat inspection in a recent attendants; there are no private compartments for slaughter- number of THE LANCET, is applied here. This flesh after but halls is where concealment ing large impossible. The it has been exposed to heat in a steriliser for a sufficient principal fault is that the space, 50,858 square metres, is time is sold to the poor at the rate of 60 centimes the kilonot sufficient for a population of about half a million. The It is the rule at Milan or about 3½d. per pound. cost was £280,000, or 14s. 6d. per inhabitant. Many other gramme, not to sell more than two pounds to each purchaser so that it towns propose to follow the example of Rome and to build should not be used in eating or boarding houses. Perhaps something more like modern and sanitary slaughter-houses. what impressed me most favourably was the carts which This is notably the case at Genoa and at Milan. butchers are made to employ when they carry meat from the The slaughter-house of the latter town I was able to visit. abattoir to their shops. These are light vehicles and in no In a general sense it recalls the abattoir of La Villette at wise ungainly. They close completely, but near the top Paris. There are the long rows of private compartments there are on each side narrow apertures to let the air pass a on to roofed a giving court, but it is not glass roof. In but not large enough to admit flies or any great quantity of Paris complaints are made of the excessive heat when the dust. They are of different sizes, some small enough to be sun shines on the glass. At Milan this grievance would be or pulled along by one or two men, but so far as the more insupportable. But, on the other hand, the roof is pushed meat is concerned the form of inclosure or protection is the here held up by a series of pillars rising a considerable The meat is also well shielded from the heat. This same. height above the buildings on each side of the court. is a detail which needs emphasising in England and parThus there are a free passage of air and some light. Only ticularly in London. Here no special care is taken as to the a very narrow ray of sunshine reaches the floor of the handling and conveying of carcasses and meat; there is no and of course in a climate like that of Italy court, such thing as a regulation butcher’s cart such as may be the object is to obtain as much air but also as much seen any day in the streets of Milan. shade as possible. Apart from this the disposition is very As a contrast with Milan, which is one of the largest similar to that of the Paris abattoir (see illustration in . THE LANCET of Jan. 12th, p. 125). On both sides is the 1 THE LANCET, Feb. 2nd, 1907, p. 318. -
-
Feb. 25th, 1907.
I am,
Sirs, yours
faithfully,
D. D. D.
the
Sometimes
as
and authorised officials in every case of notified death, which would require removal of the body to a public mortuary where the conditions made such action necessary on sanitary grounds, for its retention for a reasonable period pending disposal, and which would prevent burial or other disposal of the body without the certificate of the authorised official, drawn up shortly before the closure of the coffin, as to the fact of death and its causation ? That the chances of concealment of foul play and of premature burial would be reduced to a minimum, that sanitary requirements would be met, and the causations of death be placed on a more reliable and scientific basis than at present pertains will not be questioned ; yet we permit the present haphazard and dangerous practice to continue. Here surely the need of State intervention on death notification, for the well-being of all, is placed on an undisputable basis as a matter of duty; the facts are clear and well known to the thinking community and to the legislature ; action only is wanted. And at the present time we have two methods in operation for disposal of the body-vault or earth consignment in a coffin and cremation. By the former process as usually carried out we now, just as older races did and probably now as then under the influence of religious views bearing on the resurrection of the body, oppose the natural resolution of our mortal frames through the wholesome and beneficent earth’s action by inclosure in metal or strong wooden surroundings; yet we do but delay the process of disintegration thereby and give occasion to its passing through a phase of decomposition, unaccompanied by the disinfecting power of porous soil, which because it is out of sight is out of the mind of the majority of individuals though no less horrible in fact. That"earth-to-earth "burial in properly selected ground would meet the requirements of sanitation and follow closely nature’s plan may be granted and there seems no reason why such a satisfactory committal to the grave cannot be effected under our existing custom with no more offence to the living than is produced by contact of the earth with the dead, some slight covering intervening. The necessary departure from our present proceedings would be some mechanical arrangement by which the top and sides of the coffin could be removed after placement in the grave and before returning the excavated soil. It may be replied that the collapsible coffin practically effects all that is needed. But is this so One outcome of strict "earth-to-earth"" burial certain7 would, I think, follow, and this is no small matter to those who dread the possibility of premature burial: no return to consciousness would ensue should life not be extinct. In regard to vault burial it is difficult to adduce a single point in support of it; and though in our islands committal of the body to the sea might be advocated in the future, when accumulating burials as now effected have curtailed the available desirable ground, the only other mode open a to those who have repugnance to coffin burial, for various reasons, is cremation. Mr. Wills regards it with horror; others, however, are clearly not of his way of viewing the process. Its sanitary advantages are apparent : it is rapid and effective in action ; by it resolution of the body into its elements differs not from that of earth burials except in the chemical combinations effected ; through preliminary necessary legal requirements the possibility of concealing malpractice is reasonably excluded and the fears of premature burial do not come into existence ; it is stated not to be more costly than grave burial. Though stigmatised as "heathenish by some, its position is essentially the same as earth burial ; both systems preceded Christianity and both are now practised under it; the real principles involved in both are not those of religion but of sanitation and social
jurisprudence. Whether the time is not a ripe one for pressing home the of proper regulations preceding the disposal of the dead, now that we have a political party in power whose supposed essence is social reform, is a question well worth consideration, but in respect to the permissible modes of disposal of the dead, subject to such sanitary and other safeguards as may be necessary for the well-being of the community as a whole, is not the matter rather one for the
necessity
THE CENTRAL MIDWIVES BOARD. To the Editors of THE LANCET. LANCET of Feb. 16bh a report of the Central Midwives Board and in the last stated thatthe charge alleged against a midwife-A. L. Bellis-by the local supervising authority of Southampton was considered and the Board decided that she should be severely censured on her own admission of having made a false declaration of stillbirth." I may say that the local supervising authority has not made any such charge against Nurse Bellis, nor has the local supervising authority communicated with the Central Midwives Board respecting her; furthermore, the local supervising anthority has no official knowledge that she has been censured by the Central Midwives Board. I received the notice of stillbirth from her, and at the coroner’s inquest she explained that it was a breech presentation, and that the child was partly born on her arrival. It would appear to me that she had a perfect right to give a certificate of stillbirth, but through a misapprehension she put "B.B.A." on the certificate. I placed so little importance on the nurse’s mistake that I did not report the particulars to the local supervising authority. Trusting you will give these remarks the same publicity as your report of the meeting of the Central Midwives Board of I am, Sirs, yours faithfully, Jan. 31st,
SIRS,-I notice in THE
the
meeting of paragraph it is
Southampton,
Medical Officer to the Local Supervising Feb. 27th, 1937. Authority.
THE ADVANTAGES OF THE METRIC SYSTEM. To the Editors of THE LANCET. Association is doing good work in Decimal SIRS,-The helping to bring about the consummation so devoutly to be wished-namely, the adoption of a decimal system of weights and measures and coinage in the United Kingdom. Everyone, I suppose, is convinced of the absurdity of the present system, if such it can be called, for there is absolutely no uniformity in it, consisting, as it does, of a bewildering number of weights and measures of various origins. There must be real reform and there can be no adjustment or adaptation of such a clumsy system ; it must go altogether in favour of metric measures applied to all the branches of standardisa-
tion, weight, capacity, length, and even coinage. The trouble is to appoint the exact moment when the old system is to be made obsolete and the new system current, but the
experience of other civilised countries has proved that the difficulty of change is not as great in practice as might be thought. Further, there is no non-metric country left to worry us as we have worried others. The following is an interesting calculation, and there are scores of others in regard to the immense saving of time which would be effected if the metric system was adopted. Schoolmasters have estimated that the saving in educational time by the exclusive adoption of the metric measures would be about 200 hours per year per child. If coinage were decimalised the saving would be increased to about 350 hours-that is, about 200,000,000 hours a year for ever of school children’s time can be saved by a reform which would cost adults on the average about the equivalent of a day’s work. This seems alone worth while bringing about the reform in earnest apart altogether from the gain to commercial and scientific workers. We should then worry no longer about the equivalent of metres in inches (of which three barleycorns make one), of grains in grammes, of kilogrammes in tons, of pints in litres, of shillings in francs, and so on ad naitseant. Most of us, especially those who are compelled to make scientific calculations, hope that the Weights and Measures (Metric System) Bill ordered recently by the House of Commons to be printed will receive full, careful, and unbiased consideration. A Bill "to render compulsory the use of the system
613
weights and measures commonly known as the metric long succession of double doors as if it were a row of coachsystem " may seem drastic, but the arguments in its support houses. Each butcher hires one of these compartments, but. throws these doors wide open when he is slaughtering and seem to me incontrovertible. of
does some of the work outside. The bullocks and other animals are driven into these compartments where they may see at the farther end carcasses hanging from cross-beams. Much filth falls on the floor as the intestines are cleaned out on a marble slab placed in a corner of each of these ITALIAN MUNICIPAL ABATTOIRS. compartments. The darkest corner seems to have been A VISIT TO THE MILAN AND VERCELLI selected for this purpose-namely, between the door SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. and the side wall, just where the light entering by the door cannot reach. Near the slab there is an SPECIAL OUR SANITARY COMMISSIONER.) (FROM opening to a drain in the angle of the wall. Here the small intestines are cleaned out and their contents fall on IF the laws of Italy relating to public health questions are the floor. This recalled the filthy spectacle to be seen at examined it will seem that Italy must be quite an ideal La Villette time and is far from satisduring slaughtering nation. The fact is that United Italy has only been in These small compartments only contain very factory. existence for a very short time and as the laws were but rudimentary contrivances. Above there are two huge wooden recently enacted they were naturally based on the best rafters crossing the compartment at a height of from 12 to models. But between the law and its application there is a 14 feet. A triangular wooden apparatus, something like an wide space. Still, it is something to know that in Italy the artist’s is used to raise the carcasses. This tripod is easel, counsels of perfection do not connict with the law. Thus, armed with a pulley and crank. Thus the carcass of a in an old country like England the law says that the authoanimal may be lifted and suspended to the crossheavy rities may, if they choose, build a public slaughter-house. beams, but it could not be moved backwards or forwards Of course, the result is that only a very small number of or the halves separated. The intestines fall on the floor;y local authorities have availed themselves of this permission. stomach is thrown into a wooden tank which is But the Italian Re.qolamerdo of August 15th, 1890, emphatic- lifted by hand and emptied in the open shanty where the ally states that all communes with more than 6000 inhabi- manure awaits removal. tants must construct public abattoirs. Further, .only a The place for the slaughtering of hogs is bad but still there technically qualified person-that is to say, a veterinary are plenty of light and air and a good, sound, water-tight surgeon-must be appointed as director or manager of theseIcemented floor. The walls are not enamelled or made of washabattoirs. Then the law gives minute details in regard to able material, so that the blood and dirt adheres to, and sinks their construction, so that they shall be thoroughly sanitary into, them. But there are good sound troughs for washing buildings. There must also be a place where animals can out the intestines that can easily be kept clean. The sheep be kept for a period under observation and there should be slaughter-house is much in the same condition. The a steriliser and a destructor. The last two stipulations have surrounding walls are armed with long spikes and on these been carried out on a very large scale in Italy. Bat in are hung the carcasses of the sheep, where they remain other respects there is a terrible difference between the law in the unsuitable atmosphere and dirt of the shambles. and the reality. Then there is quite a large horse slaughtering departM. Pion, a well-known authority on these subjects, writing ment which is the worst constructed part of the abattoir. in the Se’lnaine rétérinaire of 1893, says :Here for air and light there are but the door and When some 30 years ago a number of slaughter-houses were built windows on one side, and only very few openings in they were not supplied with sufficient water nor was enough room the roof. Though a good deal of horsefiesh is eaten the allowed. The means provided for suspending the carcasses were not horse-tripe is thrown away. The place where the tripe from numerous enough and they were complicated, cumbersome, and difficult to manceuvre. In most cases they are similar to the very mediocre bullocks, &c., is washed and prepared is large, lofty, but abattoirs of the South of France, where, under so powerful a sun. there dirty. Above there are many rafters with cobwebs hanging should prevail absolute cleanliness. The slaughter compartments or in great numbers. For washing and soaking very sheds are paved with flag-stones and there are gratings and openings down These are fine specimens where the blood flows down and mixes with excremental matter, find- large broad wooden tubs are used. ing its way by a sewer to a river which is generally near at hand. of cooperage and look picturesque, but stone or metal, not the abattoir is near the seaside, as, for instance, at Bastia wood, is the material that should be employed. and Bonifacio. The fish, the seagulls, birds of prey, and dogs then The stables are more insanitary than the slaughtering play the part of scavengers. At the same time foul odours testify to the absence of sanitation. Much the same may be said in regard to department. Light is admitted on one side only and the most slaughter-houses on the borders of the Mediterranean, however structures are low and very imperfect. Instead of a wellimportant they may be. But there is one corrective. During the drained water-tight floor the earth is paved with small summer very few animals are slaughtered and no hogs whatsoever. round stones which let the liquid manure pass through and From this it will be seen that the state of affairs in Italy facilitate the contamination of the subsoil. Again the is not described as perfect and that the law remains to a offices for the veterinary surgeons and staff looked shabby, a the extent dead letter. abattoirs Nevertheless, public large and poor. The German "freibank"system of at Rome, which were completed in 1892, possess many dusty, tuberculous and other slightly diseased meat, modern improvements. There are a quarantine section, a sterilising which was so well explained by Dr. Hugh A. Macewen when destructor, a post-mortem chamber, and baths for the dealing with German methods of meat inspection in a recent attendants; there are no private compartments for slaughter- number of THE LANCET, is applied here. This flesh after but halls is where concealment ing large impossible. The it has been exposed to heat in a steriliser for a sufficient principal fault is that the space, 50,858 square metres, is time is sold to the poor at the rate of 60 centimes the kilonot sufficient for a population of about half a million. The It is the rule at Milan or about 3½d. per pound. cost was £280,000, or 14s. 6d. per inhabitant. Many other gramme, not to sell more than two pounds to each purchaser so that it towns propose to follow the example of Rome and to build should not be used in eating or boarding houses. Perhaps something more like modern and sanitary slaughter-houses. what impressed me most favourably was the carts which This is notably the case at Genoa and at Milan. butchers are made to employ when they carry meat from the The slaughter-house of the latter town I was able to visit. abattoir to their shops. These are light vehicles and in no In a general sense it recalls the abattoir of La Villette at wise ungainly. They close completely, but near the top Paris. There are the long rows of private compartments there are on each side narrow apertures to let the air pass a on to roofed a giving court, but it is not glass roof. In but not large enough to admit flies or any great quantity of Paris complaints are made of the excessive heat when the dust. They are of different sizes, some small enough to be sun shines on the glass. At Milan this grievance would be or pulled along by one or two men, but so far as the more insupportable. But, on the other hand, the roof is pushed meat is concerned the form of inclosure or protection is the here held up by a series of pillars rising a considerable The meat is also well shielded from the heat. This same. height above the buildings on each side of the court. is a detail which needs emphasising in England and parThus there are a free passage of air and some light. Only ticularly in London. Here no special care is taken as to the a very narrow ray of sunshine reaches the floor of the handling and conveying of carcasses and meat; there is no and of course in a climate like that of Italy court, such thing as a regulation butcher’s cart such as may be the object is to obtain as much air but also as much seen any day in the streets of Milan. shade as possible. Apart from this the disposition is very As a contrast with Milan, which is one of the largest similar to that of the Paris abattoir (see illustration in . THE LANCET of Jan. 12th, p. 125). On both sides is the 1 THE LANCET, Feb. 2nd, 1907, p. 318. -
-
Feb. 25th, 1907.
I am,
Sirs, yours
faithfully,
D. D. D.
the
Sometimes