SWITZERLAND. 295 



herdsman lives and sleeps with his cows from spring until autumn. If 

 the morning is fair and the sun warm he turns them out to graze upon 

 the short, sweet mountain grass, and busies himself with mowing and 

 bringing in a supply that will serve to sustain his herd during night or 

 stormy weather ; but at the first approach of cold wind or rain his jodelj 

 or his horn, is heard and the cows hasten to their accustomed shelter. 

 Naturally purely blooded cattle treated in this way, curried and brushed 

 daily like well-kept horses, trained to be led and handled, always cared 

 for, and never beaten or abused, have become in the course of genera- 

 tions perfectly domesticated. If the American stock-growers, who are 

 now seeking to import Swiss cattle for breeding purposes, will only im- 

 port Swiss herdsmen to take care of them the result cannot fail to be 

 valuable in more than one respect. Even the fat oxen on their way to 

 the shambles are led in pairs like horses, and instead of being jammed 

 into crowded cars, mauled through the streets to noisome, muddy stock- 

 yards and abattoirs, they are carefully and humanely treated until the 

 last moment of their lives. 



THE SWISS SYSTEM OF SLAUGHTERING. 



The arrangement for slaughtering cattle in the city of Basle is so 

 perfect that a brief allusion to it may be pertinent to the object of this 

 report. 



On the Ehine bank, below the city, is a large, newly-constructed abat- 

 toir, built by the city government and placed under the care of Di- 

 rector Siegmund, an accomplished veterinary surgeon, who inspects all 

 animals before they are allowed to be slaughtered, and controls all the 

 processes of preparing the meat for market. 



Dr. Siegmund has invented and put in use at this establishment per- 

 haps the most perfect and merciful instrument yet constructed for kill- 

 ing cattle. 



It consists of a mast or plate of iron, which fits the forehead of the 

 animal, and is readily attached by straps which are fastened round the 

 horns. In the center of the mask is fixed a steel gun, 10 inches long 

 and of about .38 caliber, the breech being outward and provided with 

 a steel needle, which, on being struck with a small hammer, explodes 

 the ordinary metallic cartridge with which it is loaded. The barrel is 

 fixed at such an angle to the interior surface of the mask that the bul- 

 let pierces the center of the brain and is buried in the spinal marrow, 

 producing instantaneous and painless death. With tame, quiet cattle, 

 a form of this implement is used which is not bound to the head, but 

 simply applied to the forehead and fired. In either case the result is 

 the same. The ox walks without fear or apprehension to the shambles, 

 a touch is given to the fatal needle, and the huge creature drops, utterly 

 dead and incapable of suffering. The bleeding afterwards is perfect, 

 and thus the only excuse that can be decently urged for killing cattle 

 by long and painful methods is met and overcome. 



Compare this instantaneous process with the barbarous methods in 

 use elsewhere, of pounding cattle on the head with a sledge or swinging 

 them up alive by a hind leg to bellow and struggle until they bleed to 

 death. 



MEAT PRODUCT OF VARIOUS CATTLE. 



The following interesting statistics, which were collected for this pur- 

 pose at the Basle abattoir, will show the origin and live and dressed 

 weight of a number of cattle recently slaughtered there, together with 



