1 804. hy the Baron Munchaufctu I %j 



its powers of animal conco^llon, or (indeed, as often) difpropor- 

 tioned to the affordable quantity of food given it to conceal: ; I 

 bethought me how this difproportion might be mod readily ad- 

 jufted : And the pra6tice of circumfcrlbing the animal's dimen- 

 fions within an equalizing meafure, immediately prcfented it- 

 felf ; which I thereafter eflec^cd moll fuccefsfully, by the am- 

 putation of one or two of its limbs, as the cafe might require : 

 But though this practice fucceeded with me to a wifli, as to the 

 main point, I neverthelefs found it attended with a fmall difud- 

 vantage, in its incommoding the animal fomewhat in the ma- 

 nagement of its perfon. I long meditated upon the fubjeci, 

 therefore, to fee if I could attain to a more commodious method 

 of ef}l6ling my purpofe. I believe I (liould have given up the 

 matter as hopelefs, had it not been for the information I fubfe- 

 quently obtained in AbyHinia (which, by the way, ihows the ad- 

 vantages of travel), where I refuied fome years along with a 

 countryman of your own, who has publiflied feveral things 

 which, I believe, he might have gathered from my information, 

 though he has not always had the candour, or diftinclnefs of re- 

 colledion, to quote my authority. I there procured me a cou- 

 ple of ilcilful anatomical butchers, who (according to their coun- 

 try's practice, which my fellow traveller has fo amply detailed 

 to the public) could ferve you up raw (leaks, all quivering with 

 life, from the mufcular llefli of a live cow, to the gucfts within 

 doors, while (lie ferenaded them with her bcllowings of agony 

 from without ; till, through the dexterous avoiding of the great- 

 er blood veffels, her whole fiefh was cut from off her body, and 

 fhe prcfented to the eye a moft curious and complete living fke- 

 leton of mere bones, veins, and arteries •, fo that her alloniOi- 

 ment at her own appearance fufpended the feelings of her tor- 

 ture. By their afhltance, I had recourfe to the Abyffmian mode 

 of circumfcribing bulk, by dripping off part of tne Hefli, inllead 

 of amputating the limbs of my cattle dcfigjied for fattening. In 

 the operation, I carefully preferve the fkin and bone of the lirr>b 

 intended to be macerated, — carefully tying up the arteries be- 

 longing to the mufcular flelh which I extirpate ; the Ikin is then 

 applied to the bone, to which it very foon adheres ; and the 

 limb, continuing ever after to be mere Ikin and bone, requires; 

 little or no nouriOiment from the conco6ling powers of the ani- 

 mal Here, hov/ever, I nnifl beg to warn the re;ider againlt 

 miftake, fliould he be inclined to avail himfelf of this my pre- 

 cious invention* He will no doubt have read, in your travciier, 

 an account of a fa(ll, of which, indeed, 1 myfcif was an eye- 

 witnefs, viz. * Of a parcel of foldiers upon a march throwing 

 down a cow they were driving before them, cutting a hearty 

 breakfail of beef- (leaks from the mufcular flelli of her backikW, 



Vk aica 



