104 ANIMAL FOOD EESOUECES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



67,809,460 lbs. of meat. The weight had increased from 

 171,300 kilos. (2J-lbs.) in 1866 to 1,789,010 kilos, in 1881. 

 In the principal cities of the provinces the consumption of 

 horseflesh may be considered to have fairly taken root. 

 At Marseilles, in 1870, there were 599 horses eaten; 

 1,031 in 1875 ; and 1,533 in 1878. At Nancy, 165 in 

 1873, over 350 in 1876, and 705 in 1878 ; at Rheims, 

 291 in 1874, 423 in 1876, and 384 in 1878 ; at Lyons, 

 1,839 in 1873, and 1,313 in 1875. In both the latter 

 cases some difficulties had been thrown in the way by the 

 town authorities, as was the case recently at Ch^lons-sur- 

 Mame, where the Mayor fixed the price of horseflesh 

 at a higher rate than that of beef. Horseflesh is capable 

 of being prepared in many by no means unappetising 

 ways, such as pot-au-feu, boiled, roast, hashed, haricot, 

 jugged, fillet, &c.* 



The official calculation now is, net meat from the horses 

 and mules, without including tongue, heart, brains, liver> 

 and kidneys, 456 lbs. ; for the asses, 120 lbs. 



Horses which formerly were only worth 15 to 20 

 francs in the knacker's yard, now fetch 90 to 150 francs, 

 according to the season and the condition of the animal. 



Horseflesh is sold at half the price of beef,' for corre- 

 sponding pieces, thus flllet is Is. 2d. per lb. instead of 

 2s. 6d., and pieces of the breast and other parts, 2^d. 

 and 3d., instead of 6d. and 6d. per lb. 



A banquet of horseflesh was served at the Langham 

 Hotel, London, on 6th Feb. 1868, to about 150 persons, 

 including Sir Henry Thompson, Sir John Lubbock, Dr. 

 Buckland, and others. Attempts have been made to 

 keep open butcher's shops for the sale of horseflesh in 

 London, but they proved unsuccessful, and the en- 

 deavours to popularise the use of this meat in England 

 have utterly failed. 



The innovation gains ground rapidly on the Continent, 



* An elaborate paper on " Hippophagy, the Horse as Food for 

 Man," by A. S. Bicknell, in the " Journal'of the Society of Arts," 

 vol. xvi. p. 349, may be consulted with advantage. 



