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a Society founded to try and introduce better methods of killing, sheep were actually killed by this system. A small bag containing carbonic oxide gas was slung on to the back of the slaughter-man. An indiarubber tube connected with a small mouth-piece was shaped so as to exactly cover the nose and mouth of a sheep. The mouth-piece having been affixed, the gas was turned on, and after some seconds the animal fell down unconscious. The apparatus was at once removed from its head, and the blood let out in the usual way. Considering that this was a first experiment, it may be said to have been successful; but it only demonstrated, what cannot now be doubted, that without much expenditure of time or money it would be possible to have every animal killed for food made insensible before death. No damage whatever is done to the quality of the meat. But it is, of course, absurd to suppose that butchers will take up such a reform of their own initiative. In a large abattoir special anaesthetic chambers could be constructed, into which not only sheep, but bullocks also, could, as a matter of course, be introduced before slaughtering. If established on a large scale, the cost of the construction of the chambers would not be heavy, and the cost of the gas used is insignificant. Moreover, in a large place the system could be so worked as to cause no loss of time in the slaughtering operation, because one animal could be being anaesthetised while another was being killed and cut up; whereas, in a small private establishment, the loss of time would be considerable—a fatal objection in the eyes of the practical butcher.
