Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1907-03-23
BEEF TRUST Warning.
The Chicago Health Department Tells the
Public that Lumpy Jaw Beef Causes
Appendicitis.
The Chicago Eagle Has Made this
Contention for Year and
Is Upheld.

The Health Department Of the city
Of Chicago has finally upheld the con.
tentiou 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.
citis.
In a bulletin issued by Commissioner
Of Health Charles J. Whalcn, the fol.
lowing 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 sufiicicncy 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, said,
% to actinomycosis, or 'lumpy jaws"
''rhe 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
or respiratory tract are unnecessarily
severe In the absence Of secondary
symptoms. Otherwise the rules were
approved"
The results Of study Of actinomyco.
els In the human being and In animals,
by the pathologists Of the Department
Laboratories, had led the commission.
er to supplement the original instruc.
ti0ns concerning the inspection OF
"iumpy Jaw" cattle. with special or.
der. reading as follows:
"while actinomyc0siss 10 usually con.
dned to the head, and may be said. In
one sense, to be localized disease, and
while some inspectors condemn the part
Involved, I believe It IL safest and most
practicable to condemn the entire car.
caSs whenever the actin0myc0tic OBJ.
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 I;
or where the lesions have become gen.
eralizcd. since generalization In acti'
n0mycOsis appears to run very atypic
course, making the detection OF all fOci
inside the muscle very difficult There
fore, the entire carcass IL to be con-
demned.
In cases where the actinomycot1c
LESSONS are positively localized, the In.
fected part may be cut away and the
These instructions apply only to
lunipy jaw There may be other rea.
sons why you should want to condemn
a carcass, and II Is then a 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 pathologlc study re-
ferred 10, are not unnecessarily Sc
vere," receives additional proof In
recent address and discussion before
the Medical Society Of London, Eng,
reported in the Lancet of October II,
inst (page 936). The subject OF the
address was actinomycosls as an ex-
citant OF appendicitis, and the facts
adduced certainly indicate one probable
cuuse OF the Increase OF the latter dis
ease-appendicit!s.
The essayist, T. IL Kelloch, first
p0inted out how much more frequently
actnomycosls 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-
lieved to attack the jaws, the liver
and the lungs almost exclusively in
persons whose lives were spent In the
country II was now often recognized In
other parts Of the body or In town
dwellers. The star or ray formation
was not always present, and lts alb.
ssnce must frequently have led TO a
nagativs diagnosis when the affection
might have been recognised by proper
G1nlaine ~ The fungus Of strspto-