THE DEAD-MEAT MARKETS. 353 



with a view to discover if there be any way of lessening the 

 suffering necessarily inflicted. When it is considered that from 

 thirty to forty thousand animals, poultry and game not included, 

 are put to death weekly, for the supply of the city of London 

 alone, it becomes a grave question of humanity whether any, 

 and if any, what amount, of the physical suffering necessarily 

 incident to such operations, can be saved. 



&quot; The poor beetle, that we tread upon, 

 In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 

 As when a giant dies.&quot; 



The moral influences of the employment, in this case, are cer 

 tainly deserving of consideration. The notions of former times 

 were such, that a butcher was not allowed to sit as juror in a 

 trial of life and death. I cannot sympathize in these prejudices ; 

 but any practice, which tends in any degree to render us indif 

 ferent to the infliction of pain, even in the case of a dumb 

 animal, any practice bordering upon cruelty, cannot be with 

 out its pernicious effects upon the temper and character of persons 

 accustomed to it. It may seem to some persons a ridiculous 

 squeamishness, but I confess that I never see cooked animals 

 brought upon table as near as possible in the form of life, 

 whether it be game or any thing else, without a painful disgust. 

 which I find it impossible to overcome. It is a mysterious law 

 of nature that animals should feed upon each other ; and cer 

 tainly, as we cannot doubt, like all the laws of nature, a benefi 

 cent law ; but it is the ferocity of a tiger, and not becoming a 

 man, which delights to regale itself with the warm blood of his 

 victim ; and though I am no Bramin, I wish always that the 

 food which I eat should be as far as possible separated from al 

 associations of life. 



Sheep are slaughtered by thrusting a straight knife through 

 the neck, between its bone and the windpipe, &quot; severing the 

 carotid artery and jugular vein on both sides,&quot; by which they 

 bleed freely, and life soon becomes extinct. They are kept 

 fasting twenty-four hours before death, as it is said that, if killed 

 upon a full stomach, the meat is not so agreeable to the taste, 

 and sooner passes into a putrid state. Sheep are placed here 

 upon a cradle or stool, to be killed, as with us. I am not very 

 well able to describe the mode of cutting up and dressing, fur 

 ther than to say, that it exhibits a remarkable neatness : that the 

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