FLESH FOOD FROM MAMMALS. 97 



game. The mode of its preparation is described by M 

 Soyer, in his celebrated work. 



The ancient mode of killing swine was as refined in 

 barbarity as in epicurism. Plutarch tells us that the 

 gravid sow was actually trampled to death to form a de- 

 licious mass fit for the gods. At other times pigs were 

 slaughtered with red-hot spits, that the blood might not 

 be lost. 



The famous Hungarian pork sausage or " salami," as 

 big as a man's arm, is very largely consumed throughout 

 Austria. It is a great favourite with the poorer classes, 

 who not only eat it at home, but take it to the beershops 

 with them. Indeed, in the smaller suburban gardens it 

 is the only solid food, besides bread and cheese, to be got, 

 and is generally purveyed by a provision pedler, who 

 carries Emmenthaler cheese and salami with him, together 

 with an enormous pair of scales. A good deal of the 

 salami comes from the Tyrol. With the prevalence of 

 trichinous pork both in America and Europe, great care 

 ought to be exercised in eating any products of swine 

 not thoroughly cooked. 



The number of " Wurst," or sausages, sold in Austria 

 is bewildering to those who are unacquainted with the 

 German love for this style of food : there are " Mett- 

 Wurst," " Leber- Wurst " (liver sausages), " Blut- Wurst " 

 (black puddings), " Hammel- Wurst " (mutton sausages), 

 etc. In many country and farm-houses a " Rauchkam- 

 mer," or smoking chamber, is frequently attached for the 

 sole purpose of smoking sausages, but modern houses 

 dispense with them, and modern science teaches the 

 dubious substitute of brushing the sausages over with 

 pyroligenous acid, so as to give the smoky flavour. 



Many of the sausage-makers know that a small quan- 

 tity of starch or ordinary flour boiled, absorbs a great 

 quantity (about one-fifth) of the water, and forms a thick 

 paste. They take advantage of this property to incorpo- 

 rate the paste in their sausages. To overcome the ab- 

 sence of colour in this fraudulent addition, they, add 

 f uchsine to the sausages. This food product, while con- 



H 



