226 



EECEEATIYE SCIENCE. 



than that at which the Eland vension seems 

 likely to he obtained. 



This drawback, though considered a very- 

 serious one by experienced breeders of cattle, 

 is in some degree compensated for by the 

 fact that the animal acquires "condition" 

 much more naturally, and without the exces- 

 sively rich stimulants used in the stall-feeding, 

 by which our finest beef is prepared for the 

 market. The gain in this respect may more 

 than compensate for the comparative slowness 

 at which maturity is acquired in our climate. 

 At all events, the herds are increasing in 

 number, and also in the somewhat more rapid 

 progress to full development ; and there 

 appears no doubt but that at no distant 

 period a regular supply of the delicious meat 

 which they furnish will be found in our 

 markets ; though, perhaps, at first, the price 

 may be somewhat above that of other meat. 



The first Eland bred in England for the 

 table was killed on the 7th of January, 1859, 

 at Hawkestone Park, the seat of Lord HiU, 



and the result was, after all drawbacks, suffi- 

 ciently favourable to prove the entire success 

 of the experiment, and the certainty that it 

 will not bo abandoned. The animal killed, 

 though not more than six years old, weighed 

 1176 lbs., and with much less proportion of 

 bone than in the best-bred " short-horn," 

 while the texture of the lean was found to 

 be as fine and as richly flavoured, and the 

 fat firm and delicate. In aU the joints great 

 juiciness was remarked, and, in addition to 

 its value as meat, it appears to display won- 

 derful qualities for the formation of a re- 

 markably rich soup. 



On another occasion I may give some 

 account of other kinds of foreign deer that 

 are in progress of acclimation in this country, 

 some of which promise to equal, if not sur- 

 pass, the Eland, as furnishing additional and 

 highly desirable food for the table. 



The engraving is after a photograph taken 

 in the Zoological Gardens, E-egent's Park. 



H. NOEI, HUMPHEETS. 



THE BALANCE OE LIFE AND DEATH— A TEACHING OE THE AQUAEIUM. 



In the vast procession of beings which 

 passes before the eyes of God as a pano- 

 rama, and of which man catches but imper- 

 fect glimpses here and there, the many which 

 drop out of the ranks into the jaws of death 

 form the tesselated pavement on which the 

 successive races tread, secure in their per- 

 petuity. Life stands in fear of death, though 

 death is but its servant — a faithful servant — 

 appointed by the Author of life to gather 

 life's tangled threads into an order of suc- 

 cessive developments. The dying Christian 

 may fear death, though assured of immor- 

 tality ; and the unthinking worm writhes in 

 its expiring agonies, as if it would by a last 

 efibrt struggle into strength once more. 

 Deeply hid in the core of the organic uni- 

 verse is the secret of Death, " who keeps the 



keys of all the creeds ;" yet man is permitted 

 to read a part of the mystery in the expe- 

 riences of his kind, and in the records of 

 past ages. He doubts the fact of death, 

 whUe openly admitting it ; for his fear dic- 

 tates a thought directly opposed to reason, to 

 observation, and to the knowledge that has 

 been revealed— 



" He thinks he was not bom to die, 

 And Thou hast made him, Thou art just." 



Yet when man looks upon Nature, he sees 

 everywhere the records of death's work among 

 the representatives of creative energy. The 

 stratified rocks are but the tombstones in the 

 great graveyard of the world ; they cover the 

 bones of a million generations, and their in- 

 scription is, " The dust we tread upon was 

 once alive." If the infusion of life into 



