EQUINE STATISTICS. 15 



In conclusion, we protest against the senseless waste 

 of horse-flesh which has hitherto prevailed ; we invite 

 public trial of its qualities ; and in order that our read- 

 ers may have some idea of the ability of the Scottish 

 farmer to meet the demands of those we convert to 

 Hippophagy, we beg to add that, according to the agri- 

 cultural statistics for 1856, there were in Scotland very 

 nearly 180,000 horses. And M'Queen's statistics inform 

 us that in the British empire there are 2,250,000 horses, 

 valued at 67,000,000. A very considerable proportion 

 of these should be eaten. Malformation, incipient dis- 

 ease, accidental injuries, render it more profitable to 

 kill than to rear, at great expense, animals incapaci- 

 tated for labour. Send an injured or enfeebled horse 

 to grass, and in four months he will be fat and fit for 

 the table. In answer, therefore, to our next query, 

 " Should we eat our horses?" we reply, "Under certain 

 circumstances, undoubtedly;" and in no case ought we 

 to bury the flesh of the horse, when we have the strong- 

 est reasons for regarding it as alike nutritious and palat- 

 able. Owing to the great value of the horse, the use 

 of its flesh, as an article of human food, must in this 

 country be limited. Let us, however, avail ourselves 

 of it so far as practicable ; and in order that it may no 

 longer be wasted, let us dismiss the silly prejudice 

 which causes even a half-starved labourer to exhibit 

 irrepressible disgust when exhorted to partake of a 

 kind of food occasionally within his reach, and known 

 to possess in abundance those elements of nutrition so 

 scantily supplied by the common fare of the working 

 classes. 



We invite our readers to test its value, as we have 

 recently done, in a spirit of philosophical inquiry, and, 

 we solemnly declare, without the slightest digestive 

 remorse, though to the horror of our cook, a privileged 

 old servant, who rules the roast, and us too sometimes ! 

 Misled by her imagination, and not following her nose 

 assuredly, she declared that she perceived " a fearfu' 



