Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1907-01-19
BEEF TRUST WARNING.
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.
tentlon 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 n bulletin just issued by Commits.
sioner Of Health Charles J. 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 sufiiclency Of the "ln.
structlons 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,
as to actlnomycosis, or "lImpy jaw"
1.-THE Chicago regulations are distinctly
more severe than those Of other cOun.
tries. The committee holds
that the regulations rs to condemnation
for assesses 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 actlnomyco-
sis In the human being and In animals,
by the pathologists 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 actinomycosiss Is usually con-
fned to the head, and may be said, In
one sense, to be a 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 actlnomycotic OBJ.
scess opens into the mouth. pharynX,
larynX, or any part OF the digestive or
respiratory tract; or when the lymphat.
lc glands are involved; or where there
are actinomycOtic tumors In the lungs {;
or where the LESSONS have become gen
eralized, since generalization In acti'
nomycosis appears to run very atypic
course, making the detection OF all fOci
inside the muscle very difficult. There
fore, the entire carcass Is to be con.
demned.
"ln cases where the actlnOmycotlc
LESSONS are positively localized, the in
fected part may be cut away and the
remainder Of the carcass used.
"These 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 pathologlc study re-
ierred to, are not unnecessarily Sc
yere," receives additional proof in u
recent address ana discussion before
the Medical Society Of London, Eng,
reported in the Lancet OF October II,
inst. (page 996). The subject of the
address was actinomycosis as an eX-
cltant OF appendicitis, and the facts
adduced certainly indicate one probable
cause of the increase OF the latter dis
ease-appendicltis.
The essaylst, 7. II. Kelloch, first
pointed out how much more frequently
actlnomycosls was recognized "since
more modern methods OF examination
had been employed"--as In the studies
OF the Chicago Departments patholo.
glsts The affection was formerly be-
leyed to attack the jaws, the liver
and the lungs almost exclusively in
persons whose lives were spent In the
country; it was now often recognized In
other parts OF the body or in town
dwellers. The star or ray formation
was not always present, and It's alb
sence must frequently have led to
negative diagnosis when the affection
might have been recognized BY proper
staining. As the fungus or strepto.