THE KNACKERS AT MONTFAUCON. 
601 
other formed; and this went on for nearly three months after 
he was under my care, until, at last, the continued irritation 
wore him out, and the colt died. I can give no correct account 
of the morbid appearances of this patient, as his owner lived 
nearly twenty miles from Oswestry; but I was informed that the 
windpipe and other parts about the throat were very much dis¬ 
eased and ulcerated. 
THE KNACKERS’ HORSE ABATTOIR, OR SLAUGH¬ 
TER-HOUSE, MONTFAUCON, NEAR PARIS. 
A TRANSLATION into German has been made of Mr. Bab¬ 
bage’s late work, The Economy of Machinery and Manufac¬ 
tures,” to which the translator has added some valuable notes. 
One of them contains an extract from a paper read by Professor 
Burdach to the Physico-Economical Society of Kbnigsberg, on 
what is called the Flaying Establishment at Montfaugon, near 
Paris. This is probably the most curious example in the world 
of the manner in which materials, which are commonly thrown 
away, and scarcely even pay the cost of removing them, may be 
turned to profit. There are, no doubt, many other substances as 
well as bones, flesh, and entrails of dead horses, which are daily 
allowed to run to waste in great quantities, and which, in like 
manner, under judicious and systematic management, and by 
the application of processes familiar to the present advanced 
state of the arts, might be saved and converted to important uses. 
The present account may serve as an illustration and indication 
of how this might be done. 
The first person who instituted an establishment, on a consi¬ 
derable scale, for the profitable employment of what are com¬ 
monly regarded as the waste parts of dead animals, was the son 
of the celebrated Cadel de Vaux. This was in the year 1816. 
Another chemist, named Fouques, also about the same time car¬ 
ried on a manufactory for the preparation of various soups and 
other sorts of food for beasts, from the flesh, bones, and en¬ 
trails of animals that had died or been put to death as useless. 
But, at present, the principal establishments of this description 
are the two at Montfaugon, on the high ground to the north of 
Paris, where the business is confined to the flaying and profita¬ 
ble preservation of the parts of dead horses. One of these esta¬ 
blishments belongs to a M. Dussaussais, and the other to a com¬ 
pany. Some of the horses are dead when they are received,— 
others are brought to be killed on the spot. They then undergo 
the following processes:— 
