Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-01-28
:
HORSE MEAT.

ordinary meat. The Gazette de France
is of opinion that henceforward horse
meat will be rs common an article Of
food in France as beef or mutton. Is
this a symptom Of decadence or pro-
This meat possesses In an emil
nent degree all the best hygisnlc quail
ties of food, and in ancient times it
much appreciated. There are
some interesting historical facts con-
nected with the use Of it. In 742,
when the celebrated missionary Boni-
face undertook to convert the Germans
to Christianity, he was present at q
grand festival hold by them In honor
Of the goddess Frsya, and on that occa-
sion horses were sacrificed to her, and
nothing but the flesh Of that animal
was eaten. At Copenhagen, Phals-
burg, and other cities which have been
besieged, the inhabitants lived for sew
eral weeks upon horse flesh. And
even in Paris, for several months in
1893 and 1874, it was in use, and was
not found to produce disease or indl-
gestion. It is worthy of remark, also,
that the meat and broth of horse, adj
ministered from time to time to the
sick and wounded by military SUR
geons, have been eminently useful. In
Egypt, during the siege Of Alexandria,
this aliment caused a %scorbutic cpl
demic, which was injecting the whole
army, to disappear. According to the
report of the Berlin Society for the
Suppression of Cruelty to Animals,
from 1874 to 1865 ten thousand horses
had been killed in that city for con-
sumption. The slaughter house is
superintendent by veterinary surgeon,
to prevent the sale of any unsound
animal, and the Society recommends
the owners Of horses to sell them when
they are In a healthy state. for food,
rather than to let them succumb to
harsh treatment. They can be instan-
taneously killed by n blow on the head,
or by piercing the heart. The Gazette
de France asserts that there can be no
doubt as to the wholesomeness OF horse
meat. 1t Is perfectly innocuous to
healthy persons, and is often beneficial
to the sick. And the same may be said
of the congeners Of the horse, such rs
the zebra, the ass and the mule, which
in some countries are considered excel
lent game, and in other countries the
best of all game. "In his excellent
work OH ailments, DR.. Letheby says:
1--WE have, perhaps, often eaten horse
flesh on tho continent without know
ing it. The chateaubriand, or double
beefsteak, in Paris Is, they say, that
which Is made with horse meat. Doubt
less those who frequent the restaurants
Of Paris have taken a liking to 1t,
without knowing what 1t really was,
and they relish 1t as good beef Horse
flesh is excellent roasted, and If 1t Is
not so good boiled, it is because 1t fur
nishes one of the best of broths-the
best, perhaps, that Is known. 1t 10
found good even when'it comes from
horses not fattened, and sixteen, nine
teen, and even twenty-three years old
animals considered scarcely worth
more than the value Of their skins.
Combining the statements furnished
by our official statistics and BY other
documents, as to the number Of horses
in France and the duration Of their
life, we find that the meat Of those
animals which have died naturally, or
have been slaughtered every year, Is
equivalent to n sixth Of the meat Of OK
or pig; to two-thirds Of that Of sheep
and goat, put together ; and to a sew
enth Of all the meats, put together,
sold by ordinary butchers and pork
butchers-that is to say, to more than
two millions and a half Of our present
average rations Of meat" NJ. St.
Hilaire concludes thus: "Singular
social anomaly, and IL which we
shall some day be astonished at having
submitted to so long! Millions OF
Frenchmcn are deprived of meat !
They eat it six times, twice, once a
year! And In the face Of this distress,
millions of kilogrammes Of good meat
are every month abandoned to manu-
facturers for secondary Use, or given to
pigs and dogs, or wen thrown into the
sewers! See what science herself has
authorized up to this day-at least by
her silence, as II she had feared to
como in collision with popular preju-
dice" The siege of Paris and the
necessities of the people Of France
will doubtless do more to enlighten the
world as to the value Of horse meat
than science has done. But there Is
II consideration which NJ. st. Hllaire
has overlooked, and TINT is the money
value of the horse rs q beast of burden.
The use of horses for labor Is so great,
and their estimation for pleasure pur-
poses, rs we'll rs for hcalthful exercise,
is so high, that it becomes a question
whether the world can afford to eat
them for food as a general rule, apart
from any consideration of liking or
disliking such meat.
THE utility Of the system Of storm
signals adopted by the Government has
been shown more than once. In De-
ccmber last n storm swept over the