THE PAINLESS EXTINCTION OF LIFE. 651 



down into the larger space and held there. This larger space is the 

 narcotizing receptacle or chamber. 



At the back of the apparatus is a recess in which are placed the 

 narcotizing fluid and the pump for forcing it into the cages containing 

 the animals. The narcotic fluid is contained in a large, strong Wolff's 

 bottle filled loosely with Verity's fuel. The forcing-pump is worked 

 by a piston from the outside, and consists of a cylinder capable of 

 containing one eighth of a cubic foot of air or gas. From the far- 

 ther end of the cylinder are two tubes, one of which runs into the 

 narcotizing chamber at the lower part, the other to the long tube in 

 the Wolff's bottle below the surface of the narcotic fluid within the 

 bottle. From the short or escape tube from the bottle is a continuous 

 tube, terminating over the cage containing the animal. By an extra 

 tap coal-gas can, if desired, be let into this chamber. 



The animal to be slept into death is placed, resting on a little straw 

 or hay, in a cage, which is then dropped into the large receptacle, the 

 lid of which is at once closed. The handle of the piston is then 

 moved up and down at a regular and quiet pace. As the piston is 

 drawn out, the cylinder of the pump is filled with air from the large 

 receptacle, and, as the piston is pushed back, it forces the air with 

 which the cylinder has been filled through the narcotic fluid, a portion 

 of which it raises into vapor and forces into the cage. Eight strokes 

 of the piston charge one cubic foot of air with the narcotic vapor to 

 saturation, and, as there are only nine cubic feet in all to charge, a 

 couple of minutes are sufficient to charge throughout. 



The animals in this apparatus pass quickly into sleep, and die not 

 quite so quickly, but quite as painlessly, as in the larger structure. 



This smaller apparatus will be so complete when it is finished that 

 it may be wheeled from the station to a private house, if that be 

 wanted ; or it may be used in the streets for giving painless death to 

 wounded animals. It may also, in future, be constructed at so com- 

 paratively trifling a cost that I see no reason why every town in the 

 country may not be in possession of one, and every small animal be 

 spirited away in sleep. Compared with other modes of extinguishing 

 animal life — such as hanging, drowning, poisoning by prussic acid, 

 shooting, stunning — the lethal method stands far ahead on every 

 ground of practical readiness, certainty, humanity. 



By means of carbonic oxide, sheep can be put to sleep with the 

 greatest rapidity before they are slaughtered. I have submitted forty 

 sheep in this way to painless death, and found that no bad effect what- 

 ever is produced in the flesh unfitting it for food. The objection to 

 retention of blood, so strongly felt by the Jewish people, does not 

 obtain, the animals in the narcotic state yielding up blood just as freely 

 as in the ordinary way, when no narcotic is used. The same process 

 is equally applicable to swine, calves, and fowls. To oxen I do not as 

 yet see its immediate application. 



