Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-01-21
MORE ABOUT
EMBALMED BEEF
Dr.. Daily Makes His Long
Awaited Appearance.
MEAT FURNISHED THE ARMY
Tho Chief Surgeon With General
Miles From Tampa to Porto Rico
Tell wnr investigation Commits.
sion His Experience With Pre-
served NeRts - Analysis Proved
Presence of Injurious Chemicals.
(By Telegraph to virgln.an-Pnot.,

wv lOI jail SV.-AldJOI w II =
Daily, chief surgeon with General Miles,
and whose field service stretches from
Tampa to Porto Rico and whose report
condemning the beef furnished the eX-
peditionary forces created a sensation
some weeks ago, made his long await
ed appearance as a. witness before the
War Investigating Commission to-day.
Surgeon Days report was the strong
est in language of those submitted by
General Miles in substantiation OF mis-
attack on the beef supplies.
HIS REPORT VOLUNTARY.
DR.. DAILY has been too Ill to appear
heretofore. He was accompanied by
General Miles own stenographer de-
spite the presence of the commissions
official stenographer On being sworn
the witness identified the report sub
mitted as his own. changing Its date,
however, from September 81 to October
81, He was willing, he said, to stand
by his report. 1t was wholly voluntary
and was not called out by any request
or in obediance to any circular or let
ter so far as he remembered. He had
heard nothing of an official circular
calling for reports. At Ponce, however,
sometime between August l and 18th,
he believed he communicated to Gener-
al Miles some observations made at
Tampa He had noticed IL quarter of
beef hanging free IN the sun on ship
board and he became interested In THE
experiment of having fresh slaughtered
beef placed under such conditions to
see how long it could stand it.
Il observed" he said, chat flies. es-
pecially the bull flies, did not affect it;
did not aiight on it. or IL they did they
got away from 1t very quickly"
"EMBALMED" BEEF.
-, He had cut of, q piece OF that beer at
Tampa and cooked 1t, but it neither
eTnelQed nor tasted natural. Later he
helped the men corral some horses and
subsequently had trouble with his
stomach. which he first attributed TO
the activity of corralling. Then he no
ticed Indications of chemical presence
that brought back recollections Of
chemical stuff he had used to preserve
elk i'm hunting cXpedi tions in the Rocky
mountains some years before All that
day at Tampa and the next he had am
unpleasant taste. In that previous
hunting experience he had analysed the
chemical preServative and found 1t to
contain boraX and salicylic acid. These
We're to be used externally on the elk
hunt but he had rubbed it in the raw
flesh and also injected It,
Questioned as TO these Ingredients.
he said bOraX was not safe to be used
in connection with food, nor for ordi-
mary medical purposes, while the salic-
ylic acid was most nauSeus. loathsome
and disgusting, almost destruction to
digestion.
EXPERIMENT NOT A SUCCESS.
DR. DAILY said he should say the at
tempt to preserve the beef by chemi-
calls was not a success. That had been
his experience on the transport Pana-
ma. In the beef carried by that ship
he was pretty sure chemicals were
involved" That beef. he said. was
very foul He thought the Govern
ment beef requirements of the con-
tractors were very unreasonable. Ev-
erybody knows. he said, that beef ex-
posed to moisture and warmth for
twenty-four hours twill be very much
tried"
Recurring to the transport Panama
he said most of the beef 1t carried
was refrigerated. They had secured n
ton of beef and for this they at first
had one and one-half tons of Ice. later
it increased to eleven and onehalf
tons of ice. The beef, however. had a
decidedly peculiar odor.
EXPERIENCE AT PONCE.
"At Ponce" he went on to say, 81
observed the refrigerated beef taken
from the transports. 1t had n pecu-
liar odor. l observed the examination
Ol Spollcu uecl Oh ouG lrtISpDIl. II
was done by 4 butcher down in the
hold. He thrust his arm in every d.
recton into the putrid meat, trying to
find solid piece. This meat had the
same peculiar odor." He added that
the Panama's beef warranted his re-
port that its odor was like that of n
dead human injected with preserva-
tives. He also depicted the stronS
doors aboard the transport Chester.
General Beaver asked If the witness
did not think his examination purely
superficial and without any substantial
knowledge.
PROOF BY ANALYSIS.
mo. I would not like TO say that"
he replied. ION the Panama. coming
over from Ponce. he had made some
tea. or soup, from the refrigerated
beef, the same that had been con-
demned. had filtered it and sealed it
Theoretically in a can and when he
reached his home, at Pittsburg. had
analysed it, From this he got light
ish brown residum. This. he said. dis
closed the characteristics of borax and
salicylc acid.
DR. DAILY urged that he be permitted
to demonstrate the test. DIR. Connor
objected, insisting that he leave the
powder, the witness brought as the
residum of this beef. with the commits
sion, to be examined by a Government
chemist.
Witness pleaded not to have the
matter taken out of his hands and a
compromise was effected by deciding
that Dr. DAILY be present with the Of
fetal chemist and IL was arranged n