182 Notes for the Month. [FEB- 



are frequently under ground, in such places as are used for cellars, into 

 which they are precipitated a depth of several feet, and often have their jaws 

 and legs broken by the fall. From the humane interference of persons who 

 have witnessed this, a partial amendment, with a few butchers, has taken 

 place, by substituting a broad plank, or a common step ladder; but the 

 numerous accidents and injuries constantly happening to the animals render 

 this plan as objectionable as possible." 



" In the large slaughterhouses, men are employed to kill cattle who are 

 known by the name of slaughtermen, who follow it as a trade, and regard 

 the animals as if they were inanimate substances, insensible to pain and 

 suffering. These persons are so habituated to cruelty, that they may be said 

 to be incapable of humanity, and we have seen them with the utmost 

 indifference skinning an animal before life has been extinct !" 



" When the death wound is inflicted ; when we would suppose that all 

 cruelty must be at an end no sooner is the reeking knife withdrawn, than 

 an iron hook is immediately run through the nose of the animal, for no other 

 purpose than that the head may be kept over a bucket placed to catch the 

 blood ! This is the constant practice with calves ; and frequently with sheep 

 and lambs. A sharp axe, on the principle of a punch, is used in slaughtering 

 bullocks, not to kill them at once, but to cut a circular hole in the skull, into 

 which a stick is introduced to stir up the brains, for the purpose of making the 

 meat more tender ! The throat is not attempted to be cut till after the 

 infliction of this torture, horrible even to think of, which instantly causes the 

 most convulsive agonies, such as are never seen in death of any other kind." 



A chapter follows upon the disgraceful cruelty of useless experiments 

 in dissecting living animals ; in the feeling of which we entirely agree ; 

 but we omit to extract details, which it is almost horrible even to read. 



In the horse markets, and indeed in the general treatment of horses, the 

 Society find a great deal to reform. 



" The Horse Market is without the least provision of rules available to the 

 cause of humanity ; and, of the kind, is an unequalled scene of cruelty, being 

 frequented by such a great number of knackers, costermongers, and persons of 

 the lowest description, who consider that no treatment of a horse is ( wanton and 

 cruel,' for the purpose of sale." 



" As many stage coaches, with passengers and luggage, weigh between 

 three and four tons, and considering the astonishing weight each horse has 

 to draw, together with the increased speed at which it is now the fashion to 

 travel, it may easily be conceived what a fertile source of cruelty this must be. 

 The defence usually set up by coachmen, when summoned under the Act to 

 Prevent the Cruel Treatment of Cattle, is, that the flogging was not ' wanton 

 and cruel,' inasmuch as it was necessary for the speed at which the proprietors 

 have determined the coach shall travel ; while the horses are urged, by the 

 greatest cruelty, to speed beyond their ability, or have a weight to draw to 

 which their strength is unequal. This argument would hold just as good if 

 the proprietors should order their coach to distance every one on the road, and 

 the cruelty to the horses were continued till they dropt down dead." 



" Mrs. Ann Nelson, the eminent coach proprietor, is running an opposition 

 coach to Norwich. It left Norwich on Thursday morning at six, and arrived, 

 in London, at the Bull Inn, Aldgate, at half past two, having passed over the 

 distance of 1 12 miles IN EIGHT HOURS AND A HALF ! We cannot but think this 

 most shameful and disgraceful : whether it respects danger to the passengers, 

 persons of every description on the road, or cruelty to the horses, it is equally 

 calling for public reprobation. We are informed that THREE MEN supported 

 one of the horses as it was led up the gateway of the Inn, at Aldgate, as, from 

 exhaustion, it could no longer move without support, having been driven the 

 last stage, of NINE MILES, in HALF AN HOUR ! Surely the magistrates of every 

 district through which this coach passes, will feel 'it to be their imperative 



