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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



examiuation of the whole facta of the case, the existence of 

 such an anomaly is necessary, to account for what has already 

 been noticed — that the fat is not properly mixed with the lean 

 but deposited by itself in certain parts of the body, the 

 adipose tissue in some places being empty. The greater 

 portion of the adipose tissue of the lean, for example, is 

 empty, and not in a very healthy appearance. Th'e very fact 

 that it is empty proves, beyond a doubt, that it is not in a 

 healthy state; for were it in a healthy state, and the 

 functions of secretion active, fat would be deposited in the 

 empty tissue of the lean, more easily than in other parts 

 where the tissue is already crammed and too full. But these 

 functions being deranged, and in a debilitated and inactive 

 state, the consequence is, that fat is not deposited where the 

 healthy action of the muscular and nervous systems requires 

 it to lubricate their respective parts, and thus preserve their 

 usefulness in the economy of life. Under such circumstances 

 a certain degree of morbidity must be experienced during the 

 lifetime of the animal, arising no less from imperfect alimeuta" 

 tion and secretion, than from the imperfect excretion of waste 

 matter, and its removal from the body ; consequently, the 

 moment the animal is slaughtered and life extinct, the decom- 

 position of the meat rapidly takes place ; and in warm, soft 

 muggy weather, its appearance, before it gets the length of 

 the table, is more easily imagined than described. Some 

 stomachs and peculiar constitutions may digest such 

 meat, and assimilate it, without sustaining harm, for a 

 time ; but, generally speaking, it is dangerous food, being 

 liable to lay the foundation of hereditary and other 

 diseases in the human constitution. It is only fit for 

 cats and dogs, and other carnivorous animals, whose digestive 

 organs appear better adapted naturally for such food. 



The conclusion at which we have thus arrived as regards 

 both the fat and the lean of a large and, we fear, increasing 

 portion of the fat stock slaughtered, says very little for our 

 attainments in the art of fattening cattle, and the course 

 pursued by our fat-stock clubs and agricultural societies for 

 the improvement of breeds. But the more sweeping censure 

 has yet to be pronounced when we consider the fact that this 

 inferior quality of meat is produced by animals suffering 

 from hereditary disease, more especially since it must at the 

 same time be acknowledged that this hereditary tendency is 

 the result of our own misdoings in the management of our 

 cattle. When such are the facts of the case, facts that cannot 

 be denied, it is certainly high time to inquire if the practice 

 now being pursued in the improvement of the breeds of cattle 

 and in fattening them for the shambles is founded upon a 

 solid foundation. One of our best authorities in medical 

 science says, in reference to man, " No organ or texture is 

 exempt from the chance of being the subject of hereditary 

 disease." Is this applicable to our cattle ? The concurring 

 testimony of all who have practically examined both sides of 

 the question answers it in the affirmative. Indeed, no scien- 

 tific doctrine has been more satisfactorily established at the 

 bar of experience than this, that " like begets like " in the 

 breeding and fattening of cattle, and none more than the 

 hereditary tendency to produce the inferior quality of fat and 

 lean under consideration, especially when the animals are fed 

 on the objectionable food and system of forcing that first gave 

 rise to this hereditary tendency. 



That this tendency to yield inferior meat is produced by the 

 improper food now given to cattle, and the mode of treatment 

 to which animals are subjected, is susceptible of very easy 

 proof. We have only but to study the nature of this tendency, 

 what it is, and its prevalence amongst our improved breeds, 

 both neat cattle and sheep, to be satisfied on this point ; for 



iu such examples we find that the more the producing means 

 are used, the more prevalent is the disease amongst stock 

 and its hereditary tendency in their offspring. Such animals 

 during life may present a fine pleasing exterior. The general 

 symmetry may be good, and the handle fine, according to the 

 ordinary rule. The animal may lay on fat faster than any of 

 its rivals belonging to other breeds, and yield a greater weight 

 of carcase for a given quantity of food consumed. All this 

 may be true, and the reader will at the same time perceive 

 that so far all this is also perfectly in accordance with the 

 peculiar characteristics of obesity, for those of mankind who 

 have this disease cannot prevent themselves from getting fat, 

 round, and plump, even on a short allowance of food, while 

 the moment they begin to indulge in plenty, on the forcing 

 system, they then, like too many of our improved high-bred 

 cattle, soon lose the faculty of locomotion. It is when we 

 get beyond the external anatomy of the ox, sheep, and pig, to 

 the internal anatomy, and begin to examine quality — how 

 much of the dead weight of the carcase is fit for human food, 

 how much must go to the tallow chandler, the dripping-pan, 

 and the dog-kennel that we can form a just estimate of the 

 facts of the case, and how practically they prove the sound- 

 ness of our proposition. When once the carcase is cut up on 

 the butcher's stall, then obesity with its kindred maladies 

 manifest themselves in an unmistakable manner, as we have 

 endeavoured briefly to show in a previous paragraph ; and 

 when our roast and boiled appear at table, we have then ample 

 data before us to prove that the system of breeding and fat- 

 tening stock producing such meat is as unprofitable to the 

 farmer as it is injurious to the health of the consumer, and 

 reprehensible when examined professionally from a scientific 

 point of view. 



Some farmers will doubtless experience no small difficulty 

 in acknowledging that corn and cake, mangolds, hay, and 

 straw, are not the natural food of our cattle — that they are 

 objectionable in many respects, and, when given under the 

 mode of treatment to which live stock are subject, are capable 

 of producing disease ; and not only producing disease, but at 

 the same time an hereditary tendency in their offspring to 

 disease. It will no doubt be equally difficult to convince them 

 that little food consumed and heavy weights in return is not 

 the most profitable system of feeding. And yet the facts of 

 the case leave both these conclusions manifest. The above 

 artificial food now given to cattle is a very imperfect 

 equivalent for the natural food they ought to receive, 

 while their close confinement in badly-ventilated houses and 

 household treatment generally are incompatible with the 

 development of healthy organism, yielding a fine quality of well- 

 mixed fat and lean. In both these respects there is a wide field 

 for improvement ; and with regard to obesity and its kindred 

 maladies, " it is not all gold that glitters," says the proverb; 

 and the farmer is sadly mistaken if he thinks he gets a large 

 price for what goes to the tallow-chandler, the dripping-pan, 

 and the dog-kennel, or even for the inferior meat that reaches 

 the table of the consumer. Cattle salesmen make the best 

 they can of both good aad bad. Butchers may "cut their 

 fingers" once or twice, but they cannot make a practice of 

 this as a general rule, while the public is beginning to adopt 

 very stringent measures for putting an end to the commerce 

 and consumption of diseased meat of every kind, so that the 

 grievance of bad meat, like all similar grievances, is likely 

 sooner or later to rectify itself. The hereditary tendency to 

 obesity and the other maladies producing an extra quantity of 

 inferior fat and lean, unfit for human food, is almost invaria- 

 bly attended with its counterpart — a tendency to " con- 

 sumption," " worms," " lice," and the long list of maladies 



