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1911] 298
disgusting but dangerous; for at the best it is possible for the saliva from the
operator's mouth to smear the crust of the loaf, while, at its worst, it is possible
to convey through the saliva dangerous diseases of the mouth, throat and chest.
The Medical Officer of Health desired that his Public Health Committee
should send a cautionary notice to each baker in the borough, but, doubtless
not appreciating the danger as he did, no action was taken, which is to
be regretted.
The Decline of the Private Slaughterhouse.—These places now
number only 30 in Islington, whereas when the Medical Officer of Health first
commenced his duties here, in 1892, there were 62. Thus in twenty years
there was a decrease of 52 per cent. Many of the butchers, who formerly
slaughtered their animals in their own slaughterhouses, now prefer to buy
dead meat at the Central Market; firstly, because they are not so liable to
monetary loss, and, secondly. because they can more easily see what it is they
are actually buying. So long as there was no systematic inspection in Islington
by a qualified inspector, the loss due to the seizure of the whole or part of the
carcase was small, and the butchers ran little or no risk in the ultimate sale of
the flesh or offal. Indeed, the experience of the Medical Officer of Health
during an active career of more than thirty years has taught him that many
vendors of meat are absolutely unable to distinguish diseased from sound flesh,
unless in the most pronounced cases, and sometimes not even then. This
feature has become more marked in recent years, during which the butcher's
trade has been taken up by untrained and inexperienced persons as a trade
speculation. Such people do not require slaughterhouses; they prefer to buy
their meat direct from a meat salesman, on whose integrity they rely, as much as
on the inspection which is made at Smithfield Central Market. The slaughter
of Canadian and other animals on landing at Deptford has placed enormous
quantities of freshly killed meat on the market, from which they can choose;
and this larger field of choice, together with the monetary saving and trouble
entailed in driving the animals from the cattle markets, and in slaughtering
them, have had, each in its own way, an influence on their actions. One
cannot help concluding, judging by the large decrease of private slaughterhouses
in this borough, that their entire extinction is only a matter of time.
The subsequent statement, prepared to show the number of animals
annually slaughtered in Islington, bears remarkable evidence of the fact that
the slaughter of large cattle (oxen and cows) has decreased steadily from the
time when the first record was made.