Book III. MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE. 311 



2094. In the old method of slaughtering, a concussion of the brain takes place, and therefore the power of 

 feeling is destroyed. The animal drops, and although convulsions take place generally longer and more 

 violent than when the spinal marrow is divided, yet there is, I think, reason to believe that the animal 

 suffers less pain. The immediate consequence of the blow is the dilatation of the pupil of ttie eye, without 

 any expression of consciousness or fear on the approach of the hand. 



2095. From all these circumstances, Du Gard concludes that the new method of slaughtering cattle is more 

 painful than the old. The puncture of the medulla spinalis does not destroy feeling, though it renders the 

 body quiescent, and in this state the animal both endures pain at the punctured part, and suffers, as it were, 

 a second death, from the pain and faintness from loss of blood in cutting the throat, which is practised in 

 both methods. Sir Everard Home, in a valuable paper {Shrew. Rep., p. 250.) has suggested a mode of per- 

 forming the operation, which would answer completely, could we be sure of having operators sufficiently 

 skilful ; but we may the less regret the difficulty of getting new modes established when we thus see the 

 superiority of an old custom under very improbable circumstances ; and if well meaning reformers wanted 

 any additional motives to care and circumspection, a very forcible one is furnished in the instance of the 

 time and trouble taken to introduce this operation, which, as it has been hitherto practised, is the very 

 reverse of what was intended. 



2096. Jewish modes. The Mosaic law so strictly prohibits the eating of blood, that 

 the Talmud contains a body of regulations concerning the killing of animals ; and the 

 Jews, as a point of religion, will not eat the flesh of any animal not killed by a butcher 

 of their own persuasion. Their method is to tie all the four feet of the animal together, 

 bring it to the ground, and, turning its head back, to cut the throat at once down to the 

 bone, with a long, very sharp, but not pointed knife, dividing all the large vessels of the 

 neck. In this way the blood is discharged quickly and completely. The effect is indeed 

 said to be so obvious, that some Christians will eat no meat but what has been killed by 

 a Jew butcher. Calves, pigs, sheep, and lambs, are all killed by dividing at once the 

 large vessels of the neck. 



2097. Animals ivhich are killed by accident, as by being drowned, hanged, or frozen, or 

 by a fall, or ravenous animal, are not absolutely unwholesome. Indeed, they only differ 

 from those killed methodically in not being bled, which is also the case with animals that 

 are snared, and with those killed by hounds. Animals which die a natural death should 

 never be eaten, as it is an undeniable instance of disease, and even death to the consumer 

 being the consequence. 



2098. Animals frequently nmlergo some preparation before they are killed. They are 

 commonly kept without food for some time, as if killed with full stomachs their flesh is 

 considered not to keep well. Oxen are commonly made to fast for two or three days, 

 smaller animals for a day ; but it is evident that the practice must not be carried too far, 

 as the opposite effect will be produced by the animal falhng off or getting feverish. 

 Dr. Lister has stated that nothing contributes more to the whiteness and tenderness of 

 the flesh of calves than often bleeding them, by which the colouring matter of the blood 

 is exhausted, and nothing but colourless serum remains. A much more cruel method of 

 preparation for slaughter used to be practised, though now much less frequently, in 

 regard to the bull. By some ancient municipal laws, no butcher was allowed to expose 

 any bull beef for sale unless it had been previously baited. The reason of this regulation 

 probably was, that baiting had the effect of rendering the flesh or muscular fibre much 

 more tender ; for it is a universal law of the animal economy that, when animals have 

 undergone excessive fatigue immediately before death, or have suffered from a lingering 

 death, their flesh, though it becomes sooner rigid, also becomes sooner tender than when 

 suddenly deprived of life in a state of health. The flesh of hunted animals also is soon 

 tender and soon spoils (Recherches de Physiologie et de Chimie Pathologique, par P. N. 

 Nysten. 8vo. Paris, 1811) ; and it is upon this principle only, that the quality of pig's 

 flesh could be improved by the horrid cruelty, said to be practised by the Germans, of 

 whipping the animal to death. 



BOOK IIL 



OF THE STUDY OF THE MINERAL KINGDOM AND THE ATMOSPHERE, WITH REFERENCE 



TO AGRICULTURE. 



2099. The nature of the vegetable and animal kingdom having undergone discussion, 

 the next step in the study of the science of agriculture is to enquire into the composition 

 and nature of material bodies, and the laws of their changes. The earthy matters which 

 compose the surface of the globe, the air and light of the atmosphere, the water precipi- 

 tated from it, the heat and cold produced by the alternation of day and night, and by 

 chemical composition and resolution, include all the elements concerned in vegetation. 

 These elements have all been casually brought into notice in the study of the vegetable 

 kingdom ; but we shall now examine more minutely their properties, in as far as they 

 are connected with cultivation. To study them completely, reference must be had 

 to systems of chemistry and natural philosophy, of which those of Dr. Thomson 

 {System of Chemist j-y) and Dr. Young (Lectures on Natural Philosophy) may be especially 

 recommended. 



X 4 



