MEAT (AS. mete, Icel. matr, mate, Cloth. mats, OHG. ma:, meat, Ger. Jlass-lcid, aversion to meat). The flesh of animals used as food.
Sometimes the word is restricted to the domes tic animals, cattle, sheep, pigs, while the term game is applied to the flesh of wild animals and poultry to the flesh of domestic fowl. The great importance of the meat in dustry is indicated by the fol lowing figures: In 1900 the estimated number of cattle in the United States was 67,000, 000: of these some 17,000, 000 were dairy cows, two years old and over, while the remaining 50.0110.000 included beef cattle, dairy bulls, dairy heifers under two years old, dairy calves, ete. In 1901 the total number of cattle slaugh tered in Chicago, Saint Louis, Kansas City, and Omaha was 4.500.000. The number slaugh tered by large packers in other cities and by local butchers greatly exceeds this figure.
The total number of hogs in the United States in 1900 has been estimated at 03,000,000, the number annually slaugh tered at 40,000.000, in years • when the business was most active and the sup ply most plentiful. The value of all hogs slaugh tered daring the year ending March 1. 1902. has been estimated at $:33S,350.000. Similar statis tics for the sheep and lambs slaughtered for food are not available.
Meat, i.e. flesh food. consists of the muscular tissue, or lean, and the varying quantities of fat Nvhich are found in the different parts of the carcass between and within membranes and ten dons. Besides the fat ordinarily visible, there is always present more or less of fat in particles too small to he readily distinguished from the lean which surrounds it. These particles eau,
however, he readily obtained by chemical methods in quantities sufficient to be seen and weighed. The lean part of the meat has practically the same final structure, regardless of its kind and source. All muscular tissue is made lip of prism-shaped bundles, which can be divided into smaller and smaller bundles. until finally the muscle fibres or tubes are reached. These ir regular tubes vary in diameter from to /1ff of an inch, and are therefore invisible to the o unaided eye. They are held together in bundles by means of connective tissue between and inside which the invisible fat is stored. The envelope or wall of each tube is a very delicate, elastic membrane, composed of nitrogenous material. The walls themselves are comparatively perma nent, but their contents are continually under going change and renewal.
Meat is very commonly eaten fresh, but large quantities are also salted, smoked, dried, and canned. The meats found in the markets con sist of the lean or muscular tissue, connective tissue, or gristle, fatty tissue. blood vessels. nerves, hone, etc. No general statement can he made with regard to the proportion in which these substances occur, as it is found to vary greatly with the kind of animal, with different 'cuts' from the same animal, and with many other conditions. Nearly all meats bought and sold in the markets contain portions not suitable for eating, which may be properly designated as refuse.