The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-09-30
The Abattoir.

| things. We have frequently eApiee'eu
oninions about it. Every body eats'--eVeIy-
| hodv Is interested in insuring the purify OF
| what he eats; therefore every BODY ousa'
IN demand the institution OF measures 10 pro-
| feet himself from impure food aud the rasca'y
devices of bad men, who impose upon the
! nublic the most Objectionable food.
| The subject is exercising the public inte-
rest in New York. Mr.. MORRIS, of the, Board
| NJ Health of that great city, brought TO tue
ot,ention of the Board the system pursued
at Milan, The East Side Butchers Asso'
c;,t;onn objected that "psblic opinion VIII
| ;. no, tolerate arbitrary ordinances OF the oid
{. world. !" as though humanity were not the
came in Europe asi is here, and what pro-
| tects men from poison there would not 40
here. MFR. MORRIS very apply responds 10
this nonsense as follows:
| at cannot see why the Board OF Health
cbon,d not have voice 10 protecting tne
| r;rb,s of those who. though not butchers,
have 70 cat their meat and pay for II, run the
r. K Of being gored by their beeves or trIpped
nm by their sheep when walking in the pup
| lie highways, and hold property IN the neisn,
borhood OF slaughter.houSeS, the price auo
occupancy of which is more or less anec'ea
thereby; and therefore. with the greatest re-
srect to the butchers, hope that your non
| orable body will devise some means whereby
we, the people, will be projected ID our h'eS'
/ health, and property
| AFR. NORRIS makes the following statement
of the Milan abattoir, which illustrates the
best points in the other European abattoirs.
| He says:
"Before the establishment Of the abaltoir
Milan had no public edifce devoted to such
an important branch of the public service.
| Butchering was permitted anywhere in the
CITY. subject to regulations passed by the city
| authorities as far back us 1928, which at
| tempted to regulate the business and d.
minish the !nconyeuierces arising there
from. Continued complaints, the public
health, and examples set by other
| large cities in Europe induced the au-
thorities in 1860 to establish single III.
| stitution in which could be collected the scat
| tered butcher-shops of the city, permitting
| the sale of meats, however, tcbe carried Oh
| in the markets and private shops. The de-
vising of such plan was entrusted to the
| Chevalier Nuzari, an engineer of distinction.
| The Cheyalier prepared his plans, in the
| main agreeing with those OF similar estab.
ishments in other cities, except in regard to
| the killing of beeves. The people leave the
| hide on their beeves. until the meat is ripe
| for the market, believing that this plan makes
the meat more tender. Each butcher vas
permitted TO have & separate STALL for slauSb-
tering his beef and keeping it until ready
for market. The smaller beasts, swine,
sheep, and goats, are slaughtered ut COM
mon abattoir, and Immediately after Slaugh.
tering are transported to the shops for sale
The manufacturing Of tripe is also coLcen.
trated in the establishment, where 1t Is
cleaned. washed, and cooked. Other indus.
tries incidental to the refuse OF an abaltoir,
such as tallow, chandelries, tannerles, and
glue factories, could have been concentrated
in the abattoir but as custom had already
removed them from The city 1t was not
deemed of any importance uselessly to dis
turb such occupations, which would have
suffered by a concentration at the abattOlr.
| The experience Of other cities gave to the
engineer the plan for making an abattcr in
Milan"
Milan is admirably adapted to the abat Dir.
Ii is walled city, and enabled to restrict
| the introduction Of meat slaughtered cut
side. No beef or meat of any kind can en-.
ter the city save 10y the tunnel which COM
] municatcs with the abattoir. As soon as the
animal enters the abattoir it is inspected as
to its fitness for food or association with other
animals, and, if passed, the tax is paid.
The alattoir occupies eight and three.quar-
| h,,;l
one another by paved streets. The sewage
is conveyed off by canal. The wafer for
the place is pumped from lake By steam
engine, which also supplies hot water for the
purposes of the abattoir, including the scald-
ing Of hogs.
The butchers have their private apart
| meut where they butcher bceyes and veal.
! The swine and sheep are killed in common
| slauchter.house. The business OF hog kill
| ing is in the hands of a company which does
the packing aud the sailing.
| Mr.. MORRIS thus sketches the general plan
OF the Milan abattoir:
"Inside the Enclosure the bulldogs are d.
| yided from each other by streets, and are de-
voted to the following objects: The com,nu-
pal administration, the sanitary department,
the offices of the com pany, the finance de-
partmenl. police, 234 stables for large beasts
| the slaughter.houses for large and small
beeves. including veal. Each of the groups
of buildings contains 16 large compartments
and 80 small ones, 2nd has three covered
streets, which serve also as porticoes. Then
there are the common slaughter:houseS for
4 Ia. tah nd
houses for teams and wagons belonging TO
the company, tripe and sausage factories,
with store houses and drying-horses
for bladders, hog slaughter-house with
wash rooms, hog pens, Steam.englDe and
water supply, store-hou>e for fuel
for engine aud engineers residence, &c.
The company employs about fifteen men
daily TO do the cleaning Of the establish
Iment. The drainage is by canals. The
; slaug htering cells are cleaned by iron pipes,
" hich let IN the water in The midst, and
then each cell connects with common drain
which carries the sewage to the canal. The
water from the boiler OF the engine is used
to scald the hogs. The Chief aim of the
abattoir has been to have the business pro.
. pery classified, to have the meat 20 out by
single gate and to keep the establishment
clean. Due regard is paid to good yentila
ton. The park is planted with trees 10 af
ford shade and to purify the air. The street:
throughout the establishment are provided
with asphalt sidewalks, and the roadway:
ure OF Belgian pavement.
"The cost Of erecting the establishment
was S32O,000 The revenue is based upon 8
per capita charge for each animal slaughtered
ihere, the tariff being arranged according to
the length of time the animal remains, TWEEN