302 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



THE USES OF A DEAD HORSE. 



The first, or introductory lecture on the Commercial 

 Products of the Animal kingdom, in course of 

 delivery at the South Kenf^iugton Museum, was 

 delivered by Professor R. Owen, who gave a resume 

 of the economic usos of animals generally to man, 

 interspersed with much interesting information on 

 anatomy and physiology, in that pleasant and popular 

 style for which ho is characteristic. 



The second lecture was delivered on the 25th Feb., 

 by Dr. Lyon Playfair, C.B., on the use of refuse animal 

 matterj and it is this address to which we would chiefly 

 call attention, as affording much curious detail. 

 Taking as his text, the uses and value of a dead horse, 

 the lecturer went over the whole range of seemingly 

 waste products, detailing their processes of re-conver- 

 sion, comparative value, and resulting products; 

 thus proving that if we but follow the example of 

 Nature, all substances, however apparently noxious 

 and useless, are re-convertible into other and very im- 

 portant commercial products. 



We shall confine ourselves, in the present instance 

 however, to his main illustration — the carcase of a 

 dead horse. 



What the mortality may be of the equine race in the 

 United Kingdom we have no means of ascertaining. 

 Indeed, we have no correct data for estimating 

 very precisely even the total number of horses in the 

 United Kingdom. We have returns for Ireland and 

 Scotland, and tlie agricultural statistics for these 

 countrit'S for 185G, gives the number at 753,170. 

 Those in England and Wales must be guessed at. 

 Sixteen or seventeen years ago Mr. M'Culloch esti- 

 mated the number of horses in Great Britain at 

 1,400,000 to 1,500,000. Now this guess must have 

 been somewhat wide of the mark, for tlicre are scarcely 

 more than this in the whole kingdom at the present 

 time, at least judging from the most careful calcula- 

 tions. 



Three or four years ago Mr. Braithwaile Poole, in 

 his " Statistics of Britii-h Commerce," took some pains 

 to arrive at the true figures; and his estimate, based 

 upon parliamentary returns and carefully-conducted 

 enquiries, brought out the numbers at about one 

 million and a-half, classified as follows : — 



Paying duty (of which 1,530 were race-horses) 320,982 



Exempt from duty 413,028 



Partly exempt from duty 77,827 



Horses iu Ireland 488,903 



Young horaes, ponies, '&c., &c. — Scotland and 



Wales . . . ". 200,000 



1,500,745 

 Now this is much below the number at the present 

 time; for in 1847 the number of adult horses in the 

 Unite.l Kingdom was given at 805,458, of brood-mares 

 4,246, and of horses used in husbandry 900,000 ; and 

 a parliamentary return of 1854 showed that there were 

 432,746 horses paying duty. We have also, of late 

 years been importing largely fi'om the continent — 

 especially from France and Belgium. For the four 

 years, ending with 1856, we 'received 18,293 horses 

 from the Continent. 



With the large traffic carried on in the metropolis 

 by omnibuses, cabs, pleasure horses, brewers, carriers, 

 travellers, and other draught animals, the numbers in 

 London must be very considerable. There are at least 



7,000 public conveyances plying for hire, and the omni- 

 buses alone employ about 13,000 horses. The number of 

 vehicles passing along the principal thoroughfares in an 

 ordinary day of twelve hours, is about 126,000. 



Having dealt with the statistics of living animals, let 

 us now look to the commercial products of the dead 

 horse. From 250 to 300 horses die weekly within a 

 radius of five miles from Charing Cross, and the flesh 

 of these is chiefly consumed by dogs and cats within 

 that area. 



Firstly, then, we have the hair, which may weigh 

 about l^lb., and which sells for 8d. to Is. Horse-hair 

 we know is applied to many purposes ; it is made into 

 hair-cloth for seatings, coloured hair damasks, bags for 

 crushing seed for the use of the oil- crusher, cider- 

 makers, and others. A consumption of 800 tons of 

 horse-hair a-year, of home and foreign production, 

 valued at about ,£80,000, shows the value of this one 

 item. 



Next we have the hide, weighing — say 301bs., and 

 worth possibly 8s., for converting, when split, into the 

 finest Cordova leather; or, in its full thickness, for 

 covering the large board-room tables of offices, &c. 



The tmdons weigh probably 61bs., and are converted, 

 like other animal tissues, into fine glue, or gelatine. 



The flesh will weigh about 2241 bs. boiled, and may 

 be used as meat for men, dogs, poultry, &c. 



Smile not, gentle reader, at the banquet offered — of 

 viands which are just now in high repute on the con- 

 tinent. A society of economists, naturalists, and hardy 

 gourmands in Paris, aim at the introduction of horse- 

 flesh in the category of butcher's meat. They set the 

 examjale themselves, and this example is spreading. It 

 is argued that the horse ought to contribute to the 

 nourishment of the human race, as well as the ox, the 

 sheep, and the pig. That it does so already in our own 

 metropolis to a great extent, in the shape of nominal 

 smoked " ox-tongues" from Russia, and chopped so- 

 called " beef" sausage-meat in Westminster, White- 

 chapel, and other suburban localities. But the penchant 

 for roast and boiled horse-flesh has found adherents 

 even here, and our esteemed contemporary, the 

 "Journal of Agi'iculture," of Edinburgh, has come 

 out strong in a recent number in its favour. 



M. St. Hilaire, the champion of this new addition to 

 our food resources, reasons in this fashion — 



" Horseflesh has long been regarded as of a sweetish dis- 

 agreeable taste, very tough, and not to be eaten without diffi- 

 culty. So many different facts are opposed to this prejudice, 

 that it is impossible not to recognize its slight foundation. 

 The free or wild hotae is hunted as game in all parts of the 

 world where it exists — Asia, Africa, and America — and for- 

 merly, and perhaps even dot, in Europe. Tiie domestic hoise 

 itself is made use of as alimentary as well as aiixiliarj- — in 

 some casts altogether alimentary — in Africa, America, Asia, 

 aud in some parts of Europe. 



" Its flcsh is relished by people the most different in their 

 manner of life, and of races the most diverse— ne^ro, Mongol, 

 Malay, American, Caucasian. It was much esteemed up to 

 the eighth century among the ancestors of some of the greatest 

 nations of western Europe, who had it in general use, and 

 gave it up with regret. Suldiers to whom it has been served 

 out, and people in towns who have bought it in markets, Ijave 

 frequently taken it for beef. Still more often, and indeed 

 habitually, it has been sold in restaurants, even in the best, 

 as venison, and without the customers ever suspecting the 

 fraud or complaining of it. 



" And, further, if horseflesh has been often accepted as good 



