Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1907-02-02
The Chicago Health Department Tells the
Public that Lumpy Jaw Beef Causes
Appendicitis.
The Chicago Eagle Has Made this
Contention for a Year and
Is Upheld.

The Health Department of the city
of Chicago has finally upheld the con.
tention OF The Chicago Eagle, main.
tained for over year, that lumpy Jaw
beef. sold by Chicago packers to con.
sumers after the local ulcers had been
cut away, was the cause Of append.
citls.
In a bulletin Just issued by Commis-
sioner Of Health Charles ]. whalen,
the following warning to the public
appears:
In its report to the council Of the
Chicago Medical Society last July. the
Committee Of the Society, appointed to
examine into the suiiiclency Of the I'm.
structions to Meat Inspectors" OF the
Health Department, with reference to
the protection Of the health Of the con.
sumer and OF the public health, DAid,
as to actinomycosis, or "lumpy Jaw:"
'The Chicago regulations are distinctly
more severe than those OF other coun-
tries. The committee holds
that the regulations as to condemnation
for abscesses opening into the digestive
IcSDli0tOAy tiuSI oAS eaAS>SSSssssS
severe In the absence Of secondary
symptoms. Otherwise the rules were
approved"
The results Of study Of actinomyco.
sis In the human being and In animals,
by the Psychologists Of the Department
Laboratories, had led the commission.
er to supplement the original instruc.
tions concerning the inspection Of
'lumpy Jaw" cattle, with a special or.
der, reading as follows:
while actin0myc0siss II usually con.
fined to the head, and may be said, In
one sense, to be localized disease. and
while some inspectors condemn the part
involved, l believe 1t Is safest and most
practicable to condemn the entire car.
cass whenever the actinomycotic oh.
scess opens into the mouth, pharynX,
larynx, or any part Of the digestive or
respiratory tract; or when the lymphat-
ic glands are involved; or where there
are actinomycotic tumOrs In the lungs
or where the LESSONS have become gen
eralized, since generalization In actl'
nomycosls appears to run very atyplc
course, making the detection OF all foci
inside the muscle very difficult. There
fore, the entire carcass Is to be con-
demned.
I'm cases where the electromagnetic
LESSONS are positively localized, the in
fected part may be cut away and the
remainder Of the carcass used.
'.Chese instructions apply only to
lumpy jaw There may be other rea'
sons why you should want to condemn
a carcass, and 1t Is then matter OF
Judgment for you and your men.
But you should never hesitate II you
believe the animal to be not lit for
human food
That the Departments regulations,
based upon the pathologic study re-
ferred TO, are not unnecessarily Sc
yere," receives additional proof in a
recent address and discussion before
the Medical Society OF London, Eng,
reported In the Lancet of October IL,
inst. page 93G). The subject OF the
address was actinomycosls as an ex'
citant OF appendicitis, and the facts
adduced certainly indicate one probable
cause Of the increase OF the latter dis
ease-appendlclt!s
The essaylst, 4. II. kelloch, first
pointed out how much more frequently
actinomycosis was recognized "since
more modern methods OF examination
had been employed"-as In the studies
Of the Chicago Departments patholo-
gists. The affection was formerly be-
!ieved to attack the jaws, the liver
and the lungs almost exclusively in
persons whose lives were spent in the
country 1t was now often recognized In
other parts OF the body or In town
dwellers. The star or ray formation
was not always present, and its alb
sence must frequently have led to a
negative diagnosis when the affection
might have been recognized by proper
staining. As the fungus or strepto-