EXTRACTS FROM GERMAN PERIODICALS. 
29 
EXTRACTS FROM GERMAN PAPFRS, 
By Richard Middleton, D.V.S., Philadelphia, Pa. 
MATURITY OF THE CALF FOR SLAUGHTERING PURPOSES. 
Redner emphasized the great importance attached to the 
question of maturity in the calf, and the difficulty of formulat¬ 
ing any specific rule respecting the age at which the 
same should be slaughtered. The views upon this point are 
multitudinous, and indicate the several opinions of the oldest 
inhabitants of each locality. 
This same subject received consideration in the Mosaic 
laws. We read in Moses, Bk. II, Chapter xxii, a command- 
which in substance states that the calf must remain seven days 
by its mother, and on the eighth day it is eatable. As a cri¬ 
terion of the requisite age, the law given furthermore says 
the umbilical cord must be dry and cicatrized and the claws 
hard. 
The Talmud, of a more ancient origin, contains similar di¬ 
rections. The Romans also passed a well-defined code of rules 
upon the consumption of young animals. Pliny relates in 
Book V, chapter xxix, and in Book VIII, chapter xlix, that 
the matured calf, and one eligible for offspring, must have 
passed its thirtieth day of existence. Sheep must be at least 
six davs old. 
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Young animals are considered unclean in Greece and 
Italy. 
From the year 1582 there has existed in Kuopfalz a law 
which prescribes three weeks as a reliable age at which to 
slaughter, or when the calf reaches a weight of twenty-four 
pounds. 
Not much dependence may be placed upon the age at this 
time as evidenced by the teeth. According to Gerlach 
(Fleischkost, Seite 154), the calf is born with six incisor teeth, 
and at the expiration of the first five days it acquires the cor¬ 
ner incisors; the gums must lie smooth upon the teeth until 
the tenth day, when the crown becomes well exposed. Prac- 
