y fortified in their
dislike with official reports of the seizure of diseased horses on their
way to the four specially appointed slaughter-houses. I remember, that
in one week, twenty-four animals were thus confiscated by the sanitary
inspectors, "the flesh of which," added the _Moniteur_, "would have
probably found its way to the tables of the better class Parisians, in
the shape of Arles, Lorraine, or German sausages. These commodities," it
went on, "are never offered by the manufacturer to the experienced
proprietors of the ham and beef shops (charcutiers), but to fruiterers,
grocers, vendors of so-called dainties, and dealers in preserved
provisions." The article had the effect of arousing the suspicion of the
better classes as well as of the poorer.

The number of "horse-butchers" had decreased by four during the four
years that had elapsed since their first establishment with the
Government's sanction, and the remaining eighteen were not very
prosperous when the siege brought the question to the fore once more.
The public could not afford to be positively hostile to the scheme, but
the assertion of the rare advocates of the system, that they were
enthusiastic, is altogether beside the truth. They had to make the best
of a bad game, that was all. It is a very curious, but positive fact,
nevertheless, that I have heard Parisians speak favourably afterwards of
dog's and cat's flesh, even of rats baked in a pie; I have heard them
say that, for once in a way, even under ordinary circumstances, they
would not mind partaking of those dishes: I have never heard them
express the same good will toward horseflesh. Of course, I am alluding
to those who affected no partisanship, either one way or the other. One
thing is very certain, though: at the end of the siege the sight of a
cat or dog was a rarity in Paris, while by the official reports there
were thirty thousand horses left.

Meanwhile, the Academie de Sciences is attracting notice by the reports
of its sittings, in which the question of food is the only subject
discussed. Professor Dorderone reads a paper on the utilization of beef
and mutton fat; and he communicates a new process with regard to kidney
fat, which, up till then, had withstood the attempts of the most
celebrated chefs for culinary purposes. He professes to have discovered
the means of doing away with the unpleasant taste and smell which have
hitherto militated against its use, he undertakes to give it