Page images
PDF
EPUB

person as to the supply of sewage and as to works to be made for the purpose of such supply, they may contribute to the expense of carrying into execution by such person all or any of the purposes of such agreement, and may become shareholders in any company with which any agreement in relation to the matters aforesaid has been or may hereafter be entered into by such local authority, or to or in which the benefits and obligations of such agreement may have been or may be transferred or vested.-(P. H., s. 30.)

The making of works of distribution and service for the supply of sewage to lands for agricultural purposes is to be deemed an "improvement of land" authorised by "The Improvement of Land Act, 1864," and the provisions of that Act apply accordingly.(P. H. s. 31.)

Sewage Works without the District.-A local authority must, three months at least before commencing the construction or extension of any sewage or other work for sewage purposes without their district, give notice of the intended work by advertisement in one or more of the local newspapers circulated within the district where the work is to be made.

Such notice must describe the nature of the intended work, and state the intended termini thereof, the names of the parishes, the turnpike roads and streets, and other lands (if any) | through, across, under, or on which the work is to be made, and must name a place where a plan of the intended work is open for inspection at all reasonable hours; and a copy of such notice is to be served on the owners or reputed owners, lessees or reputed lessees, and occupiers of the said lands, and on the overseers of such parishes, and on the trustees, surveyors of highways, or other persons having the care of such roads or streets.—(P. H., s. 32.)

If any such owner, lessee, occupier, overseer, trustee, surveyor, or other person as aforesaid, or any other owner, lessee, or occupier who would be affected by the intended work, objects to such work, and serves notice in writing of such objection on the local authority at any time within the said three months, the intended work shall not be commenced without the sanction of the Local Government Board after such inquiry as hereinafter mentioned, unless such objection is withdrawn.-(P. H., s. 33.)

The Local Government Board may, on application of the local authority, appoint an inspector to make inquiry on the spot into the propriety of the intended work and into the objections thereto, and to report on the matters with respect to which such inquiry was directed; and on receiving the report of

such inspector, the Local Government Board may make an order disallowing or allowing with such modifications (if any) as they deem necessary the intended work.-(P. H., s. 34.) Entry upon Lands.-Whenever it becomes necessary for a local authority or any of their officers to enter, examine, or lay open any lands or premises for the purpose of making plans, surveying, measuring, taking levels, making, keeping in repair, or examining works, ascertaining the course of sewers or drains, or ascertaining or fixing boundaries, and the owner or occupier of such lands or premises refuses to permit the same to be entered upon, examined, or laid open for the purposes aforesaid or any of them, the local authority may, after written notice to such owner or occupier, apply to a court of summary jurisdiction for an order authorising the local authority to enter, examine, and lay open the said lands and premises, &c.

If no sufficient cause is shown against the application, the court may make an order accordingly, and on such order being made the local authority or any of their officers may, at all reasonable times between the hours of nine in the forenoon and six in the afternoon, enter, examine, or lay open the lands or premises mentioned in such order, for such of the said purposes as are therein specified, without being subject to any action or molestation for so doing provided that, except in case of emergency, no entry shall be made or works commenced unless at least twenty-four hours' notice of the intended entry, and of the object thereof, be given to the occupier of the premises intended to be entered.-(P. H., s. 305.)

Special Drainage District.-Rural authorities from time to time may find it necessary to constitute a portion of their area a special drainage district, in order to charge upon it exclusively the works of sewerage, watersupply, &c. This can be done by a resolution of the authority, but the resolution must be approved of by the Local Government Board. Any place formed into a special drainage district becomes a separate contributory place.— (P. H., s. 277.)

Districts may be combined for the purposes of sewerage.-(P. H., s. 279.) See ARBITRA TION; BUILDINGS; LANDS, PURCHASE OF; LOANS; NUISANCES; PENALTIES; SANITAKY AUTHORITIES; WORKS; &c.

Shellfish-Nearly all descriptions of shellfish are difficult of digestion, and should be avoided by people with delicate stomachs. Perhaps the least objectionable is the oyster, particularly if eaten raw, for when cooked it becomes hard and tough. The crab, crayfish, lobster, mussel, prawn, periwinkle, whelk,

and shrimp should be eaten with the great- | private slaughter-houses so decidedly objecest moderation, especially in hot weather. tionable in large towns, or indeed in towns of Poisonous, indeed fatal symptoms, have been any size. induced by partaking too freely of these varieties of shellfish. See LOBSTER, MUSSEL, OYSTERS, &c.

Sherry (Vinum Xericum)-The only wine ordered in the British pharmacopoeias. See WINE.

Ship Fever-See FEVER, TYPHUS.
Ships-See HYGIÈne, Naval.

With the ancients, the slaughter-house and the place of sale were separate. In ancient Rome there were formed for the purchase and sale of oxen, companies or colleges of butchers, who confided to their substitutes the care of slaughtering the animals and preparing them for the use of the public. These butchers, at first spread over different parts of the town, were afterwards collected in one quarter, where other provisions were

Shoddy-Old, used, and worked-up wool sold. Under the reign of Nero, the great

and cloth made into a fabric.

Shrimp (Crangon vulgaris)-The shrimp is a favourite article of food with all classes, and although not easy of digestion, it is not so likely to prove injurious to a weak stomach as the lobster or crab. Essence of shrimps frequently contains Armenian bole as a colouring matter.

market or butchery was one of the most magnificent ornaments of the city, and the memory of it has been transmitted to posterity by a medal. The police of the Romans extended to Gaul, and particularly to Paris, where from time immemorial there existed a company, composed of a certain number of families, charged with the purchase of beasts and the sale of their meat. There is a

Sickness, Returns of-See BIRTHS, regular system of public slaughter-houses in DEATHS, AND SICKNESS RETURNS.

Siderosis-See TRADES, INJURIOUS.
Sieges-See WAR.

Slaughter-Houses-There is, perhaps, no trade which requires more constant supervision than that of the butcher. Thirty years ago, sanitary reformers arrived at the conviction that the slaughtering of animals ought not to be carried on in the midst of crowded populations. Parliament endorsed this view; but in consideration of vested interests, the system was allowed to proceed for a period of thirty years. Last year, therefore (1874), there should have come into force the prohibitory clauses of the Metropolis Building Act of 1844, by which the carrying on of certain trades and occupations in London is interdicted, except under special conditions, which in the vast majority of cases are unattainable. Among these trades was the slaughtering of cattle. If this Act had taken its course, at least 19,000 private London slaughter-houses would have been suppressed. The Legislature has, however, merely prohibited the formation of any new businesses or establishments (37 & 38 Vict. c. 67). This is truly a retrograde step, for even as early as Henry VII. butchering was forbidden in walled towns.

It is not, indeed, the mere act of slaughtering which is a nuisance, but the details of disposal of the offal, of the blood, of the fat, the catgut-spinning, the driving of animals through the streets, the ease with which unsound meat may be introduced, and other obvious attendant circumstances which render

large towns on the Continent at the present time, and our neighbours in this matter appear rather in advance of ourselves. A summary of the regulations in force in several of the principal Continental towns is as follows:

:

1. All markets are under strict supervision. 2. Cattle sent to the public markets, and to the public slaughter-houses, are scrupulously examined by the inspectors or officers appointed for that purpose.

3. Diseased cattle are carefully kept from healthy animals, and are either destroyed or disposed of in such a way as to prevent their communicating disease to other cattle or being sold for human food.

4. In all large cities the slaughtering of animals is either conducted in public slaughter-houses, or is so regulated as to ensure the condemnation of diseased meat.

5. To guard the public against the mischief which arises from the use or consumption of unwholesome meat, the animals destined for food are examined not only before they are killed, but afterwards.

There can be little difference of opinion as to the wisdom and sagacity of the above regulations. The scope of this article does not permit us to enter into all the details relative to foreign abattoirs; we will, however, describe those of Paris, and one lately introduced at Brighton, United States.

An order of Charles IX., dated February 15, 1567, first promulgated the principle of the Paris abattoirs; but, notwithstanding this and proposals made as early as the year 1689 by the provost of the merchants and aldermen

of Paris, and the officers of Sieur Chandoré in 1691, abattoirs were not definitely established until 1810. In that year five general abattoirs were instituted-three on the right, two on the left, bank of the Seine.

Besides buildings in which are situated the apartments of the officers, &c., each abattoir consists of the following departments: (1) the stables in which the animals to be killed are kept; (2) the abattoir, properly so called, with its accessories; (3) the place in which the offal is prepared; and (4) a building in which the fat and grease are rendered.

The days on which the animals arrive in Paris are seldom those on which they are killed; it is therefore necessary to have accommodation for their reception. These buildings, of the most simple form and construction, are about 29 feet 3 inches in width on the inside. Large stone arches supply the place of girders, and support the joists of the flooring of the upper rooms. A second range of arches supplies the place of principals for the roof, and receives the purlines. The upper floor is partitioned into as many divisions as there are slaughter-rooms, that each butcher may receive his own forage, and each building is supplied with a very large cistern. The abattoir, properly speaking, or, as it is sometimes called, échaudoir, has several courts, all of which are paved so as to lead liquids to a sink placed beneath the level of the pavement. The joints both of the stone walls and of the paving are carefully stopped up with a mastic of iron filings, so that no offensive matter can lodge in the interstices. The courts are well supplied with water-taps. The buildings are divided into a certain number of slaughter-rooms, called cases d'abat; the floors all paved and provided with a' tank for the blood, and with a system of blocks and pulleys for raising the carcases. The length of the slaughter-rooms is about 32 feet 6 inches; the breadth, 16 feet 3 inches. They are divided one from the other by partition walls of freestone.

The carcases of the oxen are hung upon a frame furnished with movable rails, those of the calves and sheep are suspended from iron brackets. The ceilings are whitewashed, and the roofs project 9 feet 9 inches beyond the exterior walls, thus affording the double advantage of protecting the slaughter - rooms from the heat of the sun, and the butchers from the weather while working in the courtyard beneath. Arrangements for ventilation are also made, and answer the purpose well. The cattle on arrival in the sheds are taken the greatest care of. Their bodies are first washed in a large granite bath, they are littered down with clean straw, and fed with

the most tempting and nourishing food. After slaughtering in the yard of the abattoir, the animal is drawn up by the pulleys before mentioned, and the butchers "blow up" the carcase that is, blow air into the subcutaneous cellular tissue-a practice common enough in all countries, but one to be reprehended; the real purpose being to make the meat look fuller, plumper, and heavier than it would in its natural condition. The butcher, however, excuses the practice by saying that he can by means of it remove the skin better and without injury to the flesh. The blood is carefully saved from every animal. It is principally used by the dyers, and is so valuable that it is said to pay the expenses of slaughtering. In England the butchers do not appear to find a ready market for this commodity, at all events there is great waste. Some is utilised in certain articles of diet, such as black - puddings, and some in the country is given to pigs, but much is wasted and allowed to decompose. The fat used to be rendered in the melting-houses before mentioned'; some of it is still utilised there, but the greater portion is put into sacks, and carted away daily by the candlemakers and perfumers, who work it up in their own manufactories.

[ocr errors]

There is no speck of the flesh of any animal that is not utilised, but particularly is this true of those meats that pass through this abattoir. The meats are graded not only at the wholesale market, but in their progress to the consumer. A constant separation of the qualities is being made until the dog and cat meat is reached, and even after they are supplied, there is a residuum, which goes to the growth of worms, which in turn feed the fish of the aquarium.”—(Letter of Mr. SCHULTZ, Fifth Annual Report of the State Board of Health, Massachusetts.)

The model abattoir erected at Brighton, United States, is thus described in the report above cited:

The following description of the Brighton abattoir is furnished by the architect, Mr. A. C. Martin :—

The abattoir now building at Brighton is well placed on the bank of the Charles river, in the most westerly suburb of Boston, and about 4 miles from the centre of the city. The grounds are about 50 acres in extent, bounded on the longest side by the river, and conveniently situated with reference to the Watertown and Brighton cattle market, the Boston and Albany Railroad, and the Watertown branch of the Filchburgh Railroad (see fig. 94).

Building operations were commenced in the spring of 1872, by the butchers of Brighton, under a charter granted by the Legislature. The original plan contemplates a central building, called the render nrhouse, 200 feet by 80, and four stories high, around which are to be grouped ten or more blocks of slaughter-houses, with the necessary cattle-sheds,

[blocks in formation]
[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« EelmineJätka »