THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



4G5 



OBESITY AND ITS ORIGIN IN CATTLE. 



It has been said that Hubback, the founder or primogenitor 

 of our improved Shorthorn breed, inherited obesity consti- 

 tutionally, and that the disease is hereditary in his offspring. 

 Without subscribing to this in all its entirety, one thing must 

 be admitted as matter of fact, that too many of this breed are 

 subject to this disease. That it is hereditary is generally ac- 

 knowledged in the medical world, although not a few deny it ; 

 but granting the truth of the doctrine, that certain maladies 

 become hereditary, of which we may quote scrofula as an illus- 

 tration universally admitted, and that obesity, like scrofula* 

 is also hereditary, how are we to account for its 

 origin ? It is manifestly not confined to the Short- 

 horn breed, or even to black cattle generally ; sheep, 

 swine, and poultry being ail subject to it. It is equally 

 manifest that our domestic animals were not created 

 diseased; on the contrary, it has been recorded for our infor- 

 mation that the award pronounced was one of the highest 

 merit, viz., "very good." Such being the award at the 

 first great exhibition of live stock by an infallible Judge, how 

 are we to account for the change that has since taken place, 

 seeing that obesity is so prevalent at all our great exhibitions 

 of the present day ? 



Plain, practical questions require corresponding answers ; 

 and the solution of the above one may be compressed in one 

 word — extra feeding, or, more generally speaking, mismanage- 

 ment. There cannot be a doubt but farmers have themselves 

 to blame for the prevaleoce of obesity amongst their cattle ; 

 for the existence of such a disease is not to be found amongst 

 wild animals, or even an approximation to it, especially where 

 they have an abundance of both summer and winter keep. It 

 is only where recourse is had, under artificial systems, to forcing 

 and cramming animals with artificial food unnatural to them, 

 that obesity and its kindred maladies make their appearance. 



The class of diseases just mentioned, and the mismanage- 

 ment that gives rise to them, thus merit a special notice. 



In medical science, although very considerable progress is 

 now being made in pathology, we have not yet attained the 

 length of being able definitively to say what obesity really is ; 

 opinion is very much divided on the subject, but writers, 

 generally speaking, mention two kinds " Polysarcia carnosa,'" 

 and "• Polysarcia adiposa," the one having reference to an 

 imperfect state of the flesh, and the other an imperfect state 

 of the fat; at the same time many confine it to the latter. 

 Under this general, although very unsatisfactory definition, 

 may be included all the diseases in question, viz., obesity and 

 its kindred maladies arising from forcing, on improper or un- 

 natural food. 



In the investigation of our subject it will only be necessary, 

 however, to examine somewhat closely the quantity and quality 

 of the flesh and fat of such animals now so justly condemned 

 as being unfit for human food. In all other branches of in- 

 dustry the quality of the article produced for market is con- 

 sidered the practical index to the degree of perfection to which 

 art has attained in that particular department. That the rule 

 is as sound as it is practically efl^icieut in the economy of 

 things must be generally admitted, and that it is applicable 

 to all agricultural products sent to market by the farmer is 

 equally true. But when we begin to apply this infallible 

 test to the prize cattle shown at our Christmas fat stock ex- 

 hibitions, the quality of the meat, "/«< and /eafj," almost 



prompts one to conclude that the opposite is true, and that 

 the philosophy of fattening cattle has nothing to do with com- 

 mon sense and the stomach of the public ! than which nothing 

 can be more absurd or farther from the truth. The quality of 

 breeding stock exhibited at our summer meetings is equally 

 subject to censure. Ic is, therefore, the duty of farmers and 

 the agricultural press to investigate the matter as thoroughly 

 as the limited progress of science will permit, pointing out 

 with an impartial and unsparing hand the objectioual quality 

 of the " fat and lean" of the animals thus bred, fattened, and 

 sent to the shambles, to supply our tables with one of the chief 

 necessaries of life. 



Avoiding as much as possible the scientific expression."? used 

 in medical books, the fat of those animals examined about 

 Christmas and other times by us, during the last twenty years, 

 has been, with few exceptions, soft, and of an oleaginous cha- 

 racter, badly coloured, and having a heavy, loathsome, and 

 somewhat sickening smell. It is very unequally distributed, 

 the adipose tissue in some paits being empty, and nut of a 

 very healthy-like appearance; while in others every sac was 

 full, and crammed as it were to bursting : sometimes the in- 

 side was full, at other times the piiucipal amount of fat ia 

 deposited on the outside of the carcase. We have frequently 

 seen examples of thia latter kind, both beef and mutton, ob- 

 jected to by customers as too fat, the butcher being obliged to 

 pare off large slices, and cast them (o the waste tub for the 

 tallovv-chandler ; whereas had fat and lean been properly mixed, 

 and of good quality otherwise, then the meat would not have 

 been objected to, or considered a bit too fat. The meat of 

 healthy animals, when the fat and lean are well mixed, being, 

 as it is termed, " finely marbled and coloured," soon finds a 

 customer, although the proportion of fat is upon the whole 

 very large. When half, or sometimes three-fourths of the 

 soft inferior fat has to be pared off, the remainder is often 

 poor flabby- looking stuff. Were it possible to pare off this 

 fat duriiig the lifetime of the animal, and put on the outside 

 covering (skiu) again, that hides all faults at our Christmas 

 shows, the poor brute then would appear fitter for the dog- 

 kennel than the shambles. Farmers would be ashamed to see 

 such animals leaving their premises as fat stock ; and yej 

 this is all they send to market, that is sold and bought for 

 food. 



In the cooking of this inferior quality of fat, it is subject 

 to another diminution of weight — a process of reduction before 

 the fire, the soft, fluid, and oily portion separating from the 

 more solid, both becoming very indigestible. When boiled 

 the waste of meat is equally great, while the soup or broth 

 requires a vast amount of seasoning to make it " sit upon the 

 stomach." Indeed very few stomacha, even among the poorer 

 classes, can digest such broths. In short, the daily experience 

 of every class of society proves, by data of the most authenti- 

 cated kind, that the fat of such animals is wholly unfit for 

 human food. 



The lean meat of such animals is also of a very inferior and 

 even unwholesome quality. It generally contains a deficiency 

 of fat, but an excess of water or juicy matter. Quality, how- 

 ever, in both these respects is very diver.sified. There is some, 

 thing very anomalous, in the former of these conditions, that 

 the lean of meat condemned aa being over fat should at the 

 same time contain too little fat ; but when we enter upon the 



