No. 86.
Mr. Morton
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Legation of
the United States,
Paris, March 17, 1882.
(Received March 30.)
No. 138.]
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the
committee to which the bill providing for the free introduction into France
of foreign pork had been referred, has made a favorable report, and that the
question will come up in the Chamber on the 23d instant. All indications now
point to the passage of the bill.
The Academy of Medicine, to which the government had submitted the matter,
has pronounced itself against the measures resorted to or contemplated for
obstructing the importation of pork. I annex herewith a copy of the report
of the academy, which has been kindly furnished by Dr. Wm. E. Johnston.
The Academy of Medicine of France is an official body, authorized to answer
the questions on sanitary measures propounded to it by the government, and
its decisions, when uttered in a clear and decided manner, as in the present
case, have great influence with the executive and legislative departments of
the government.
I have, &c.,
[Page 153]
[Inclosure in No. 138.]
Dr. Johnston to Mr.
Morton.
Dear Sir: I have the honor and the pleasure to
inform you that after a full discussion of the question of trichinæ in
connection with American pork at the National Academy of Medicine of
Paris, a discussion which ran through several sittings, that body has
come to a decision which fully justifies the views your legation has
maintained on this question.
The Academy of Medicine of France is an official body authorized to
answer in an official manner the questions on sanitary measures
propounded to it by the government; and its decisions, when uttered in a
clear and decided manner, as in the present case, always meet with the
deference on the part of the government to which they are entitled.
I subjoin the declaration voted by the academy.
I have, &c.,
Report at the National Academy of Medicine of France
on the question, propounded by the government, of the necessity of
an inspection of foreign pork.
[Read by Dr. Bouley, professor at
Alfort, reporter of the special committee, February 28,
1882.]
The academy taking into consideration:
- 1st.
- That for a great many years American and German pork has been
freely admitted into France, without having been submitted to
any kind of inspection as regards trichinæ;
- 2d.
- That notwithstanding the very extended use which has been made
of this kind of meat, especially in the army and the large
manufacturing and industrial districts, the disease called
trichinosis, with the exception of a single case, which was
produced by indigenous pork, has not been observed in any part
of France, although at the same time the attention of physicians
has been frequently called to that disease in Germany;
- 3d.
- That this immunity enjoyed by the people of France in regard
to trichinosis is due without any doubt to their culinary
habits, pork being never eaten in France without having been
submitted to such a temperature in cooking as is incompatible
with the life of trichinæ;
- 4th.
- That an efficacious microscopic inspection would be with
difficulty applied to the enormous mass of ninety millions of
pounds of pork, which is the annual amount of importation, and
that, in any case, the inspection would not prove to be a
certain guarantee of the innocuity of the pork as. regards
trichinæ, since the irregularity of the dissemination of
trichinæ does not permit the conclusion that because they do not
exist in one part they may not exist in another, is of the
opinion that it is not necessary to submit imported pork to a
microscopic inspection, in order to prevent trichinosic
infection, the culinary habits of the people of France being
such as to demonstrate thus far that the precautions used in
cooking are sufficient to preserve them from the infection; and
that it suffices to put them on their guard against the possible
dangers of the use of raw or incompletely cooked pork, to point
out to them by a special printed instruction these dangers, and
to distribute these instructions through the aid of the
government agents to every part of France.
A minority report on an unimportant point was read by a member of the
committee, and was rejected by the academy.