SOUTHERN AFRICA. 433 
as an opinion said to be founded on facts is circulated in 
many parts of England, that a pointed instrument thrust 
into the spinal marrow at the nape of the neck produces in- 
stantaneous death, it may not be amiss to mention here the 
substance of a report of several experiments made at the 
slaughtering-house at Deptford, under the direction of the 
Victualling Board, in consequence of an application to that 
effect from the Bishop of Durham to the Lords Commissioners 
of the Admiralty. 
In this report the chief clerk of the cutting-house states that, 
having requested the attendance of Mr. Mellish, his foreman, 
and a gentleman of the faculty, " on the knife being thrust 
** into the spine up to the hilt, it was evident the creature 
" suffered very considerably ; and so far from its producing 
*' insfant death, on the contrary, it continued alive and ap- 
" parently in great pain. Two out of ten thus treated were, 
after their throats were cut, not less than ten mmutes in 
dying; and all of them, it was evident, retained their 
** senses, sight, breathing, and feeling to the last : two 
*' groaned most piteously, from which and their violent 
" plunging it was but too obvious to what degree the animals 
" suffered. The people usually employed in slaughtering 
" oxen were so distressed that they could not help exclaiming, 
*' This is butchering indeed ! This is downright murder ! For 
" the purpose of making a comparison between this and our 
" present practice, three beasts were slaughtered in the usual 
" way. The first fell with a single blov/, the second with 
" two, and the third with one only : in all the breathing in- 
3 K 
