662 VETEEINARY HYGIENE 



mask appears to be the occasional difficulty of its applica- 

 tion, and the alterations which occur in the bolt through 

 use. The latter is capable of being remedied, but the 

 former objection remains. 



Shooting masks have been employed, but firearms in a 

 crowded place are not without risk, and can never become 

 popular. 



The practice in this country is to stun the larger animals 

 but not the smaller. As was pointed out by Hunting* ox 

 stunning was not carried out from humanitarian motives, 

 but simply for the protection of the butcher from injury, 

 while sheep were killed with the knife in a most cruel 

 manner. 



Whatever method of blood-letting is employed, the main 

 principle should be that no cutting instrument should be 

 used to any animal that was not already unconscious from 

 a blow on the head. Holburn in his paper points out that 

 the larger animals are not easily stunned on account of the 

 anatomy of the skull, the structure of which enables the 

 head of the animal to be its means of offence. This is 

 all the stronger reason for not allowing any man to kill 

 animals who is not certified to be properly trained and fit 

 for his work. 



The Jewish method of slaughter is generally regarded 

 as cruel, and no doubt roughness is experienced in the 

 preliminary casting. What amounts to very nearly decapi- 

 tation must cause early loss of consciousness, and Holburn 

 in comparing the Christian and Jewish methods considers 

 from a point of hygiene the latter to be more commendable. 



Animals so destroyed bleed better, and it is said rigor 

 mortis sets in quicker and lasts longer than in the Christian 

 method. 



A Committee appointed by the Admiralty in 1904 to 

 consider the 'Humane Slaughtering of Animals,' recom- 

 mended that the Jewish system should not be permitted in 

 any establishment under Government control, as the method 



* In the discussion on ' Slaughtering of Animals for Human Food ' : 

 Mr. A. Holburn, M.R.C.V.S., Congress Sanitary Institute, 1903. 



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