444 
mon to make free with the fluid, had 
lefs difficulty in crediting the teftimony 
of his fenfes, when he faw the folid and 
mufcular parts of the fame animal ap- 
propriated to the fame ufe. In the 
county of Northumberland, it Is a cuf- 
tomary difh, at leaft, once a year; and I 
have eaten of it ae It may be 
drefied in various modes—but the moft 
eommon, and the beft, is to mix with it, 
while warm, a fmall proportion of cat- 
méal, and fry it asa pancake ; ; in which 
ftate, as the Vienna author obfery ves, it 
aflumes the copiiften ce of liver, but its 
tafte is, in gpy opi nion, much preferable, 
as it is notto bitter. 
EF have not a doubr, fir, that in former 
ages, the blood of horned cattle, obtain- 
ed from the living animal, was generally 
ufed as an article of food in this co ERITy 5 
-and muft have been particularly grateful 
a the inhabitants, at a feafon when their 
falted meat exhaufted, ae 
carla: fed only on fpontaneous herbag 
yet unt for flauchier. Now, when oy 
{aie neceflity no jonger exilis, it is ftill in 
the month of June that the northern 
farmer bleeds his cattle ; not indeed for 
the fake of the blood, but from an idea 
that it is neceflary to their health, be- 
pele his father and grandfather never 
mitted it;—the frue reafon, by the bye, 
for more thi ings than we are alw ays per- 
ce tiy aware of. 1 know not why € C fhould 
fuppote that “the blood of the a3 is 
BHIV 7 y eaten without difguft;” for, 
in th e highlands of Scotland, snl: the 
blood of horned cattle is eelihe as a 
foxury. the people could not even think 
of eating either the fleth or the blood of 
the hog, without horror; and only about 
a century ago, actually preferred itarving 
to ithe eating of an eel. Your valuable 
correfpondent, the Bugle s has fatd, 
and faid truly, “chat lesiflators have 
- 7 
tury, eh 
J = 
gi h the eftablifhment of 
truth ; 7? but they have much to anfwer 
for on the fcore of error; and why the 
blood of horned cattle did not fhare the 
fame fate with the fleth of fwine,. and of 
fifh without fins and {cales, can only be 
accounted for by fuppofing, thar it was 
too firmly eftablifhed as a neceffary arti- 
cle of food, for the promulgation of tae 
foe of Mofes to extirpate it; yet, to do 
he Hebrew legiflator juftice, he certainly 
never intended that his inftitutions fhould 
extend to the Hebrides. 
In this communication, Mr. Editor, 
it were only fair for me to acknowledge, 
that I am not aétuated by the fe 
benevolent motives as your correfpondent 
C. Indeed, when f confider the lavith 
watte and mifapplication of human food, 
and of the means of producing it, I am 
Was ana 
as we = 
Hothine ts do WHE 
Ufe of Blood in Foods 
tained twenty miilions 
[Junes 
inclined to regard the article of blood as 
a remarkable exception, and in this 
country, at leaft, as an object of fingular 
economy. For were it Is not eaten, it 
is carefully colleéted, and applied in the 
chemical proceffes of Various manufac- 
tures; by which means, in all probabi- 
lity, it contributes more to the comfort 
of mankind, than if it were entirely con- 
fumed as food. That it will in any wife 
tend to * diminifh the price of any of 
the neceffaries of life,’ a certain train of 
ideas prevents me from eatertaining the 
leaft expectation :—but I have already 
troubled you with fome opinions on that 
headsyiw hich, whether confidered as 
proper, or improper, for infertiom in yeur 
Mi ifcellany, would, with equal impro- 
pricty, be repea ated here. ‘Phere was a 
time when, with fome of your correfpond - 
ents, I might have attri ibuted the {carcity 
a erence of thefe articles to the ap- 
parently obvious iffcreafe of population, 
had I not recalleéted that corn was ex- 
ported by Spain, when that country con- 
of inhabitants ; 
and imported now, when its population 
is eftimated at little more than a-third of 
nave number. And I might, to this day, 
ave exulted in the profperity, the 
a €s, at the glory of my own coun- 
tr oD could I have affigned any other 
adequate caufe for the decline ef Spain, 
than an influx of jfach tious wealib. But 
thefe dificulties led to enquiries and 
conclufions which preclude me from at- 
taching that degree of merit their labours 
might otherwife claim, to the late re- 
fearches of many ingenious. Men, inte 
the befk manner of preparing food, which 
ought not to be prepared at all: it is 
with difeutt that I have feen the manner 
in which the members of the Board of 
Agriculture have amuied themfelves, and 
tantalized the nation: and it is with 
regret that I have feen {cience direéted. 
to the difcovery of what, when difeover- 
ed, was not worth knowing. ForIT rauf ~ 
own, fir, that it affords me very little 
fatisfaéiion to know, that foup may be 
made of bones, and bread of potatoes, fo 
long.es Jaknow that better foup may be 
madecof t peed, and better bread of grain 5 
and that, were the exertions'of mankind 
dire€ted to the means of mutual pre- 
fervation, inftead of their mutual de- 
ftruction, every inhabitant of this ifland, 
were its inhabitants more numerous, by 
many millions, than, they are, might be 
fupplied with a fufficiency of both thefe 
articles, without fending to-Ireland for 
the: one, or to the fhores of the Baltic 
orthe other. Iam, &c. 
A Poor NORTHUMBRIAN. 
March 13, 1797- 
tte es 
