EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



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ordinary food is to be alltlie more tliankfuUy 

 accepted. Being, too, of tliat lighter kind of 

 meat wliicli comes under the head of " game," 

 which is found to be of easier digestion 

 than the flesh of sheep or oxen, the new meat 

 is the more acceptable. It resembles venison 

 in many of its characteristics, but is more 

 succulent, and possesses a flavour of its own 

 which many will greatly prefer. 



The Elands, from which we are now led 

 to expect an abundant supply of this new 

 meat, are natives of South Africa. They 

 are the largest of the antelope tribe, to which 

 they belong, and appear therefore better 

 suited than any of their congeners for the pur- 

 poses of forming a domestic breed, furnishing 

 a new kind of meat ; though, since their first 

 introduction with that view. Dr. Livingstone 

 has described many other species of the ante- 

 lope tribe, which are likely to be imported 

 with a view to acclimation for similar pur- 

 poses at future periods. Several very in- 

 teresting experiments in the acclimation of 

 exotic animals, likely to prove of value for 

 domestic uses, are at the present time being 

 made in Paris, where a company was recently 

 formed (the Societe Imperiale d' Acclimation) 

 for that express purpose. It was as manager 

 of that company, in so far as regarded the 

 scientific arrangements for rendering the 

 change from tropical regions less trying to ani- 

 mals accustomed to a temperature averaging 

 above a third higher than that of Europe, that 

 Mr. David Mitchell, the energetic and talented 

 secretary of the Zoological G-ardens, had been 

 requested to take up his abode at Neuilly for a 

 time ; and it was while there that the singxilar 

 andmysterious accident occurred which caused 

 his premature and lamented death. 



It is to be regretted that we have no 

 establishment of the kind in England, to 

 which the talents of Mr. Mitchell might have 

 been devoted at home. The only approach 

 to such an undertaking was that established 

 by the late Earl of Derby at Xnowsley, 

 occupying above a hundred acres, where, 



among a magnificent collection of animals, 

 the first Elands ever brought alive to this 

 country were comfortably located in No- 

 vember, 1842. This small herd consisted of 

 two male Elands and a female. A fresh sup- 

 ply arrived at Knowsley in 1852, but the 

 noble owner was not destined to witness the 

 success of this last importation. He died 

 soon after their arrival, bequeathing them to 

 the Zoological Society in the Eegent's Park, 

 where, under the able management of Mr. 

 Mitchell, the original herd of five increased 

 so rapidly as to render their dispersion neces- 

 sary. Several pairs were sold ; and they have 

 since increased and multiplied in a satisfactory 

 manner, in open parks and meadows, so that 

 their acclimation may be said to be complete. 

 On their first introduction, it was said that 

 even in their wild state they had so great an 

 aptitude to fatten, that a full-grown bull in 

 good condition was often found to weigh 

 2000 lbs. If this statement co\ild be realized, 

 they would be in this respect very little in- 

 ferior to our own celebrated short-horns ; but 

 experience has not as yet fully borne out this 

 statement. This may be owing to the in- 

 ferior nutritive powers of our grasses to 

 those they feed on in their native wilds ; and 

 if so, the introduction of some of the coarse 

 African grasses as pasture for these animals, 

 will, perhaps, enable the breeders of herds 

 of Elands to realize in weight and condition 

 surpassing even that which was at first ex- 

 pected. It was stated also, in the first enthu- 

 siasm of the novelty, that the attainment of 

 their full growth was extremely rapid. This 

 also has been found a somewhat delusive 

 hope, inasmuch as it is now affirmed that from 

 six to seven years is the earliest period at 

 which the animal, as at present acclimated, 

 yields what may be termed good " butcher's 

 meat," being nearly double the age at which 

 mutton of the highest quality becomes fully 

 mature ; and almost the same may be said of 

 most of the finest beef, which is certainly 

 produced at a much earlier age of the animaJ, 



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