Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. Excerpt from book: Section 3WHAT FLESH MAY BE REGARDED AS MARKETABLE, AND WHAT UNMARKETABLE. I Suppose all authorities on the subject are agreed that meat which shows no marked departure from the general characteristics presented by the slaughtered carcases of the particular species of animal to which it belongs, should be looked upon as marketable. But there are numerous cases in which a carcase or part of a carcase may show some departure from the healthy standard, in the shape of excess or deficiency of colour, excessive moisture, flaccidity, want of firmness, or deficiency in flesh or fat; or in having some unusual odour, such as may be contracted by the administration of odorous volatile medicines during life, or by the exposure of a carcase to an atmosphere charged with the fumes of volatile agents; and it is in reference to these cases that doubts may be entertained. Unfortunately, a satisfactory solution of this question is rendered more difficult by the fact that there are probably no two individuals, lay or official, who will be found to agree upon particular points; and one individual may look upon an article as not only marketable, but fit for food also, while another individual, having the same amount of knowledge on the question, would unhesitatingly condemn it for both purposes. A carcase, for instance, may present such a marked departure from ordinary characters that, if exposed for sale, the public would immediately cry out and charge the dealer with attempting to sell unwholesome food, whilst all experience has probably shown that there is positivelyno danger in its use. I cannot better illustrate this than by directing attention to a very common, I may say an every-day occurrence, viz., that all of us, without the least question or hesitation, enjoy the flesh of certain animals that have met with a violent death,...