52

DOMESTIC MANNEltS OF THE HtUSSIANS.

The May-fish is generally eatcn " souced;" nor is it at allunpalatable.

To tlie above list of the kinds of animal food consumed inthe Rhenish provinces of Prussia must be added that whicli inEngland is considered fit only for cats and dogs — viz. horse-flesh {Pferdfleisch) ; but which in Germany constitutes a pro-portion of the meat eaten by the poorer classes. Philo-sophically viewed, there is, of course, no reason why a filletof pony should not be as toothsome as one of veal, anda loin of a galloway even more palatable than one of aporker — seeing that the horse is a far more dainty-feedinganimal than the pig. This view of the matter, however,requires that the beasts should be alike bred speciaüy for thetable, and killed, too, not only when young, but in goodand sound condition. At the price of horses, however, itis obvious to common sense that no Dauer could afford tosend Ins healthy colts to market to be slaughtered for food;so that the great objection to hippophagy in a country liesin the fact, that only the aged and diseased hacks—such,indeed, as are unfit for further work and are sent toour knackers — can possibly find their way to the nationalshambles. That this is considered likely to be the case inRhineland, is shown by the stringent Police Regulations(quoted below),* in order to guard against the slaughtering

* üßnltct Sttkgulattontf

HUspecting the slaughtering of H)orses for the ^Police Ästrict of Coblen? antl

lEhrcnbrcitstein.

E. En confotmitij toith the^Police latus of tlje llth JFKtarch, 1850, ant) aftcr a

«msttltation toith the .{Magistrates of Coblcn? antl 'EhtenbrEÜstein, ti)e follottiing

ortJers are heretoüh gioen loncerning the slaughtering of horses :—

§ 1. Tstienj butcher brho hrishes to slaugfjtcr must tust obtain tlje permis=sion of tfjc liorjal ^Qoüce tlirection, antl he must speeifu the place of sia»glj=tering the horses, as toell as the place of selling the horse=mcat: in ortjer toobtain such, permission.