6zo THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to a liking for human flesh than, happily grace to the refinements of 

 time they are now. In the " Annuaire du Departement de l'Aisne " 

 (1812) are full details of the sentence pronounced on a hog (June 14, 

 1494) by the Mayor of St. Martin de Laon, for having defaci'e and 

 strangled a child in its cradle. The sentence concludes thus: "We, 

 in detestation and horror of this crime, and in order to make an example 

 and satisfy justice, have declared judged, sentenced, pronounced, and 

 appointed, that the said hog, being detained a prisoner and confined in 

 the said abbey, shall be, by the executioner, hung and strangled on a 

 gibbet near and adjoining the gallows in the jurisdiction of the said 

 monks (of St. Martin de Laon), being near their copyhold of Avin. In 

 witness of which we have sealed this present with our seal." This was 

 done on the 14th day of June, in the year 1494, and sealed with red 

 wax, and upon the back is written, " Sentence on a hog executed by 

 justice, brought into the copyhold of Clermont, and strangled on a 

 gibbet at Avin." 



In 1497 a sow was condemned to be beaten to death for having 

 eaten the chin of a child belonging to the village of Charonne. The 

 sentence declared that the flesh of the sow should be thrown to the 

 dogs, and that the owner of the animal and his wife should make a 

 pilgrimage to Notre Dame de Pontoise, where, being the day of Pente- 

 cost, they should cry " Mercy ! " after which they were to bring back 

 a certificate. The execution of these animals was public and solemn ; 

 sometimes they were clothed like men. In 1386 the judge at Falaise 

 condemned a sow to be mutilated in the leg and head, and afterward 

 to be hung, for having torn the face and arm and then killed a child. 

 This was a Draconian method of punishment. This sow was executed 

 in the public square, clothed in a man's dress. The execution cost ten 

 sous, six deniers tournois, besides a new glove for the executioner. 



Bulls shared with swine the same mode of trial and punishment ; 

 horses, also, guilty of homicide had a similar ordeal. The registers of 

 Dijon record that in 1389 one was condemned to death for having 

 killed a man. 



In the " Memoires de la Societe Royale Academique de Savoie " is a 

 singular account of the law proceedings, instituted in 1587, against a 

 species of beetle that made great ravages in the vineyards of St. Julien, 

 near St. Julien de Maurienne. In 1545 these insects had made an 

 irruption into this territory. Two lawyers had been selected, one by 

 the inhabitants, and the other to defend the animals, and, wonderful 

 to relate, the beetles suddenly disappeared, and the lawsuit was ac- 

 cordingly abandoned. It was, however, resumed forty-two years after- 

 ward, in 1587, when they reappeared and committed great ravages. 

 The court addressed a complaint to the vicar-general of the Bishop of 

 Maurienne, who named a judge, and also a lawyer to plead for the 

 insects, and published an order prescribing processions, prayers, etc. 

 After several legal discussions the inhabitants of St. Julien were in- 



