FLESH FOOD FEOM MASIMALS. 101 



good deal to do with the breaking down of Danish pre- 

 judice in the matter. In Iceland, the practice had sur- 

 vived from the first. The islanders were willing to have 

 their souls saved by the Church, but they would not 

 submit to any interference with their stomachs ; so, 

 rather than lose them, the Church gave them special per- 

 mission to eat the '' execrable food," which they have 

 continued to do to this day. 



The first State to imitate the example of Denmark 

 was Wiirtemburg, which legalised the sale of horseflesh 

 in 1841. Bavaria followed in 1842, Baden in 1846, and 

 Hanover, Bohemia, Saxony, Austria, and Belgium the year 

 after. In 1853 the prejudices of Switzerland and Prussia 

 were overcome, and two years later Norway and Sweden 

 were added to the list of countries authorising the sale 

 of the long rejected food. 



The ancient Germans and Scandinavians had a marked 

 liking for horseflesh. They possessed a certain race of 

 white horses to be sacrificed to Odin, and after the sacri- 

 fice they boiled the flesh and feasted on it. 



The struggle against religious prejudice continued 

 long in France, and now an impression prevails that the 

 revival is a Gallic eccentricity, rather than the result of 

 Germanic good sense. 



In 1841 horseflesh was openly adopted at Ochsen- 

 hausen, where it continues to be publicly sold under 

 the surveillance of the police, and five or six horses are 

 weekly brought to market. A large quantity of horse- 

 flesh is also sold at the Lake of Constance. In 1842 

 a banquet at which 150 persons assisted, inaugurated 

 its public use at Konigsbaden near Stuttgart. In 1846 

 Schaffhausen authorised its public sale, and in 1857 

 Weimer and Detmold witnessed public banquets of 

 the hippophagists, which went off" with much eclat; 

 in Karlsbad and its environs the new beef came 

 into general use, and at Zittau 200 horses are eaten 

 annually. 



At one time the feeling against the use of this here- 

 tical diet must have been exceedingly intense in the land 



