The National tribune., 1895-11-28
CARCASS OF A HORSE.
Source of Haircloih, Boots, Gloves, Comb
Glue, and Various Acids.

Source of Haircloih, Boots, Gloves, Combs,
Glue, and Various Acids.
In these bicycle days, when n horse is hardly
worth the price of oats, and he Is better
source of revenue when dead than he was
when alive, it may be interesting TO know
what becomes of the carcass when it goes to
the rendering works in Paris or in Portland,
Ore. says the New York World Not long
ago the Portland concern bought one roundup
of Montana horses for So each The canning
OF horseflesh for European consumption is yet
in its tsihfancy, and there is but slight probabil-
ity that it will ever become a profitable in
dustry- As a matter OF fact the horse carcass
is more valuable for his chemical products
than he ever will be as an article of food.
Horses that have served useful and honor
able careers Of 30 or so years are fit only for
-the chemical process. When the retired ami
nal Is dragged in, it is first relieved Of its
hair by a shaving process. The tail and
name are specially valuable, and from these
is made the hairGloth. of commerce. The
short hair taken from the hide is used for
stufiing cushions and horse collars, and thus
the dead are madeI to minister to the COM
fort of the living. n
The hide of the horse is quite valuable, and
the leather known as cordovan is made from
the skin over the rump. This leather is used
in the manufacture of hjgh-class hunting and
wading boots, as il, can be made impervious
TO water. The other leather is soft, and is
used mostly for slippers and heavy driving
gloves The hoofs OF the animal are removed,
and after being boiled to extract the oil from
them, the horny substance is shipped to the
manufactures of combs and what are known
as Mikado goods.
Next the carcass is placed in a cylinder and
cooked by steam at a pressure of three atmos-
pheres. This separates the flesh from the
bones. The leg bones are very hard and
white, and are used for handles for pocket
and table cutlery. The ribs and head are
burned to make bone-black after they have
been treated for the glue that is in them. In
the calciniDg of these bones the vapors arising
are condensed and form the chief source of
carbonate of ammonia, which constitutes the
base of nearly all ammonical salts. There is
an animal oil yielded in the cooking process
which is deadly poison, and enters into the
composition of many insecticides and vermi-
fuges
The bones to make glue are dissolved in
muriatic acid, which takes the phosphate of
lime away; the soft element retaining the
shape of the bone is dissolved in boiling
water, cast into squares, and dried on nets.
The phosphate of lime, acted upon by sui
phuric acid and calcined with carbon pro-
duces phosphorus for lucifer matches. The
remaining flesh is distilled to obtain carbon
ate of ammonia. The resulting mass is
pounded up with potash, and then mixed
with old nails and iron of every description;
the whole is calcined and yields little yellow
crystals-prussiate of potash, with which tis-
sues are died Prussian blue and iron trans
formed into steel. 1t also forms cyanide of
potassium and prussic acid the two most ter
Tible poisons known to chemistry
In the course of law suit in st. Louis sew
eral years ago, it was put in evidence that the
River Rendering Company, which had the
contract for the removal of dead animals from
the city streets, made clear profit of $24 on
each horse carcass that they handled.