Miscellaneous.

CAN WORK BE DONE WITHOUT BEER?-Paul Bartlett is employed as a labourer at Tudhall Iron Works, Durham, says a correspondent of the Mining Journal, and has been a teetotaller fourteen years. His employment consists in wheeling iron to the furnaces. He works nine hours per day, and five days per week. He wheels 24 tons of iron each day, 4 cwt. at a time. The distance traversed is nearly nine miles per day. He thus walks 45 miles per week of five days, wheeling in the same time 120 tons of iron. During the fourteen years, Paul has driven his barrow, with its 4 cwt. of iron, not less than 630 miles, and has wheeled in the same time 87,360 tons. He can on a "pinch" place a ton weight on his barrow and wheel it several yards.

NOVELTY IN SLAUGHTERING.-A good many years ago a plan was suggested by the late Dr. Carson, of this town, by which, he stated, the quality of meat would be greatly improved. Dr. Carson, it may be remembered, was an eminent physician and learned physiologist, who contributed no small amount of valuable information to the medical and physiological literature of this country. The improvement suggested by Dr. Carson, and now alluded to, was the introduction of a new mode of slaughtering the animals, by which the vessels shall not be thoroughly drained of all the juices which constitute the blood, as in the ordinary mode. The process recommended by the learned gentleman was the admission of air into the thorax of the animal by means of puncturing between the ribs, by which process the lungs are collapsed, and cannot be again inflated. Simultaneously with this puncturing, be by means of a short stiff knife severed the spinal marrow at the junction of the skull with the first joint of the neck, an operation producing instantaneous paralysis and almost inmediate death. The physiological explanation of this process is the sudden stoppage of breathing, and the immediate suspension of the circulation of the blood, by which all the venous or carbonated blood is prevented from entering the lungs, and is drained off from the carcass, while the arterial blood and sanguineous lymph are retained, which, it is said, renders the flesh more succulent and nutritious than when it is completely drained of the fluids named, as in the ordinary way. Two fine sheep have been killed in the manner described at the slaughter house of Mr. Lowthian, Tue-brook, under the superintendance of Mr. Carson, the son of the gentleman who first recommended the process. It was in every respect successful. The animal was deprived of life apparently without pain, and the blood-comparatively a small quantity-which was drained off, by its very dark and inky colour, gave unmistakeable evidence that it was altogether venous, and had no characteristic of arterial blood. The process is simple and expeditious, and it is said to be regularly practised by Mr. Cain, butcher, at Bootle. Among other recommendations of Dr. Carson's method of slaughtering, it is said that meat so prepared sets sooner and keeps longer, besides being richer in flavour than that prepared by the ordinary mode.- Correspondent of the Liverpool Mercury.

A CURIOUS LEGEND.-It is related that Eblis (may God curse him) came to Dahak, the son of Alvan, in the shape of a human being, and said to him: "O king, I am a man excelling in the preparation of palatable food; wilt thou s t me over thy kitchen?" Now the king was pleased therewith and appointed him. Before that time men had not been accustomed to eat flesh. Now the first thing which he prepared for the king were eggs. He ate of them and was pleased. Then said Eblis to him: "O that I had prepared for thee a dish of that which these eggs come from!" Now, when the time approached for the next repast, Eblis killed for him a fowl, and prepared of it a dish for him with which he was pleased; then on the third day he slaughtered for him some sheep; then on the fourth day he slaughtered for him a camel and an ox. Now his intention was through this to arrive at the slaying of human beings; so he continued in this for a time until the king became accustomed to the eating of the flesh. Then said Eblis to the king: "Thou hast honoured and favoured me; now give me leave to kiss thy shoulder." He gave him leave. So he approached the king and kissed his two shoulders. And there came forth from the place where he had kissed him two reptiles of the shape of snakes, with mouths and eyes. When Dahak saw them, he knew that Eblis was with him, and he said: "O, thou hast killed me!" Then he said to Eblis: "What is the remedy for these, O cursed of God?" And Eblis replied: "The brains of men!" Then he turned from him and was not seen again. Henceforth Dahak ordered every day his vizier to slay four fat and fair men; and with the brains of them he fed those serpents! Thus he continued to do for three hundred years; then his vizier died, and he instituted another vizier. This vizier introduced four men, but he slaughtered of them only two. He took their brains and mixed them with the brains of sheep, and fed therewith the serpents; but the other two men he ordered to fly into the mountain. They remained there, and this continued for seven hundred years, during which time they increased and be gat children, and became men and women, and acquired sheep and oxen and other property, and those are the Okrad (Curds, Chaldees.)—Ahmad Shahab Al-Din Al Guolyoobi: Book of Anecdotes. Edited by W. Nassau Lees and Mawlaivo Kabin Al-din; page, 21; narrative, 26. Calcutta, 1856. (Translated for the " Dietetic Reformer.")

EFFECTS OF SMOKING ON COMMUNITIES.—That which smoking effects, either as a plea sure or a penalty, on a man, it inflicts on any national representation of the same man, and taking it all in all, stripping from the argument the puerilities and exaggerations of those who claim to be the professed antagonists of the practice, it is fair to say that, in the main, smoking is a luxury which any nation, of natural habits, would be better without. The luxury is not directly fatal to life, but its use conveys to the mind of the man who looks upon it calmly, the unmistakeable idea of physical degradation. I do not hesitate to say that if a community of youths of both sexes, whose progenitors were finely formed and powerful, were to be trained to the early practice of smoking, and if marriage were to be confined to the smokers, an apparently new and a physically inferior race of men and women would be bred up. Of course such an experiment is impossible as we live: for many of our fathers do not smoke, and scarcely any of our mothers, and thus, to the credit of our women, chiefly, be it said, the integrity of our race is fairly preserved: with increasing knowledge we may hope that the same integrity will be further sustained: but still, the fact of what tobacco can do in its extreme action is not the less to be forgotton, for many reasons are maintained because their full and worst effects are hidden from the sight. Again, on the ground of the functional disturbances to which smoking gives rise in those who indulge in it, an argument may be used which goes very deeply, and cuts none the less sharply because, in one sense, it is ridiculous. Put down the smokers of Great Britain at a million in number-they are more than that, but let it pass :- -Why should there exist perpetually a million of men, not one of whom can at any moment be writ down as in perfect health from day to day? Why should a million of men be living with stomachs that only partially digest, hearts that labour unnaturally, and blood that is not fully oxydized? In a purely philosophical point of view, the question admits of but one answer; viz., that the existence of such a million of imperfectly working living organisms is a national absurdity, a picture which, to a superior intelligence observing the whole and grasping it, would suggest a mania, foolish, ridiculous, and incomprehensible. I cannot say more against tobacco, however, without being led into a wider question-I mean the use of luxuries altogether; on which question, if I were equally fair for tobacco as against it, I should be forced to give it a place as one of the least hurtful of luxuries. It is on this ground, in fact, that tobacco holds so firm a position:-that of nearly every luxury it is the least injurious. It is innocuous as compared with alcohol, it does infinitely less harm than sugar; it is in no sense worse than tea; and by the side of high living altogether it contrasts most favourably. A thorough smoker may or may not be a hard drinker, but there is one thing he never is, a glutton; indeed there is no cure for gluttony and all its train of certain and fatal evils, like tobacco. In England this cure has been affected wholesale. The friends of tobacco will add to these remarks, that their "friendly weed" is sometimes not only the least hurtful of luxuries, but the most reasonable. They will tell of the quiet which it brings to the overworn body, and to the irritable and restless mind: their error is transparent and universal, but notwithstanding it is practical truth; for, in their acceptation, tobacco is a remedy for evils that lie deeper than its own, and as a remedy it will hold its place until those are removed.- Dr. Richardson in the Social Science Review.

A POET'S GARDEN.

Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite
Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love.
News from the humming city comes to it
In sound of funeral or of marriage bells,
And sitting muffled in dark leaves, you hear
The windy clanging of the minster clock;
Although between it and the garden lies

A league of grass, wash'd by a slow broad stream,
That, stirr'd with languid pulses of the oar,

Waves all its lazy lilies, and creeps on,

Barge laden, to three arches of a bridge

Crown'd with the minster-towers.-Tennyson.

To Readers and Correspondents.

All Communications for the DIETETIC REFORMER should be addressed to the Secretary, the Rev. JAMES CLARK, 12, King-street, Salford, Manchester. All articles or notices of meetings, &c., intended for insertion, must be accompanied with the real name and address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of good faith.

ALEXANDER IRELAND & Co., Printers, Pall Mall Court, Manchester.

THE usual business meeting was held in the Schoolroom, King-street, Salford, kindly lent for the occasion, when there were present W. Harvey, Esq., President; J. Davie, Esq., Treasurer; T. H. Barker, Esq., Hon. Secretary; Rev. J. Clark, Secretary; J. Haughton, Esq., J.P.; Messrs. J. Bishop, and E. Hayllar, Sheffield; J. H. James, Birmingham; W. Mc.Gowan, Liverpool; L. Parry, Tipton; W. Smith, Glasgow; J. Gaskill and J. Holt, Manchester; E. Smith, Sandbach; W. H. Richardson, Leicester; J. Irving, Rochdale; A. Whitworth, Heywood; W. Gates and E. Marshall, Barnsley; W. W. Castle, Honley, &c. In the temporary absence of the President, J Haughton, Esq., was unanimously voted to the chair. He announced that the first business would be to hear the Report, which the Secretary would read. The Rev. J. Clark then read the following

REPORT.

The Executive Committee present to their fellow members a brief report at the close of the official year of the position of the movement, its operations during the year, and its possibilities for the future.

At the present moment there are 924 persons on the roll of members, of whom 161 either belong to the American Society, or are gone abroad to various countries since they joined the Society, leaving 763 belonging to the United Kingdom, who as far as we know are faithful to the Vegetarian practice, but out of these there are 191 whose present addresses are unknown, and who do not communicate with the secretary, nor receive, as far as is known, any information respecting the Society and its labours. From this statement it will be seen that in point of numbers the Society has not retrograded during the last few years. Nor in point of influence and importance has the Society on the whole suffered any material deterioration since the heavy and irreparable loss it undoubtedly sustained in the death of the late President. On the other hand it must be admitted that the work done by the Society has been greatly diminished from two or three palpable causes. The first of these is the limited means now available for the purposes of the agitation as compared with past times. By Mr. Simpson's princely aid the Society for many years was able to use every opportunity that presented itself for opening or forwarding the question in any part of the country, by means of lectures, meetings, and banquets, as well as by the press. All these means are now still open to us, but often the question of expense prevents prompt and successful action.

Within the Society there are all the elements except one, of a successful and vigorous agitation. There are able lecturers, skilful and practised writers, persons of wealth, position, and social influence, but unfortunately for this particular movement, its members are nearly all (and especially all the active ones) engaged in other works of a moral and religious nature, that make great demands upon their time and energies, and are more alluring, inasmuch as many of them meet with more acceptance with the public. In such a state of affairs our friends need to be continually reminded not to neglect this movement in prosecuting others, but rather to aid this as the handmaid of all other beneficent and useful reforms.

After pointing out this hindrance, your Committee are gratified to be able to report that some few lectures on the Vegetarian question have been delivered during the year. Our faithful and earnest friend, the Rev. Wm. Sharman, to whose hearty zeal the Society is otherwise much indebted, has lectured at Malvern, Oldham, Prince's End, and Birmingham, and your Secretary lectured to a very intelligent audience at Sheffield. Mr. W. G. Ward buckled on his armour for a contest with the Editor of the Hereford Times, who was aided and abetted by the Editor of the "Family Herald," and several other persons. The discussion is in the course of publication in the "Dietetic Reformer," and shows that Mr. Ward's pen has not rusted nor his interest abated in our question. Our champion succeeded in scattering the flimsy arguments of his opponents by the power of truth.

The last Annual Meeting, though on the score of comfort not entirely satisfactory, was a success in the way of agitation. The Metropolitan press took an unfavourable view of our arguments as was to be expected, but the very fact of discussing the subject had the effect of shewing where there was weakness. Some of these hostile articles have been replied to in the organ of the Society, and in the replies the material portions of the other articles were treated.

The diseased meat question has now obtained very general notice throughout the country, creating feelings of alarm and disgust amongst those who have innocently been its consumers hitherto. Learned professors have traversed the land, warning, teaching, and exhorting against the mischief which is continually being perpetrated by this disgusting traffic. The press has reported their addresses, and in numerous instances has echoed in "leading articles" the cry of danger. Officers of Health have carried on the war against the "slink" dealers, seizing the offensive stuff and prosecuting the owners, but after all continuing to lament the inadequacy of their numbers to put down the offenders. Some of the "articles" have been reproduced in the "Dietetic Reformer." We give a very brief extract from one of the latest, that appeared in the Lancet:

"On several occasions we have drawn attention to the numerous proofs coming before the public, as related in the daily journals, that the flesh of animals slaughtered while in a state of disease is extensively sold as food for human beings. If this is done in London and other cities where there is a pretty vigilant inspection in some of the larger markets, what must be the case in those towns where there is deficient inspection. The disgusting practice in question has in Edinburgh become so common that the Town Council has at length been forced to move in the matter; and notice was recently given for the following motions to be considered at an early meeting;

"1. That the public of Edinburgh is entitled to have a thorough inspection of all flesh meat before it leaves the slaughter houses-to the effect that the flesh of all diseased animals shall be condemned and destroyed on the premises, and none but sound and wholesome flesh be permitted to pass from the slaughter house to the market. 2. That the public of Edinburgh is entitled to have a similar thorough inspection of all dead flesh brought into the town-to the effect that all flesh of diseased animals shall be condemned and destroyed at the sight of a competent inspector appointed by the council. 3. That the present superintendence and inspection at the slaughter houses, and of dead meat coming into the city, do not give the public such thorough inspection and protection as it is entitled to. 4. That the public can only be guaranteed in such a thorough inspection as it is entitled to by the appointment of a thoroughly qualified inspector or inspectors, competent to detect disease in the live animal and in the dead carcase, whose whole time shall be devoted to inspecting the booths of the slaughter houses and the dead flesh meat coming into the town. 5. That all condemned flesh meat shall be boiled down in the shambles at the sight of the inspector; the boilings being put into the dung pit, and the bones and tallow only saved.

"Mr. Gamgee has recently made his report, and in the last number of the Edinburgh Veterinary Review' will be found a very interesting commentary upon it. The points of interest in the report to which we may particularly direct attention are the following: The reporter establishes the fact that disease prevails very extensively in the United Kingdom amongst horned cattle, sheep, and swine; that the diseased state of an animal not only does not lead the owner to withhold it from being slaughtered for consumption as human food, but, on the contrary, in large

classes of cases, where the disease is of an acute kind, leads him to take immediate measures with a view to this application of his diseased animal; and that consequently a very large proportion, perhaps a fifth part, of the common meat of this country-beef, veal, lamb, mutton, and pork-is derived from animals considerably diseased. Horned cattle affected with pleuro-pneumonia are much oftener than not slaughtered on account of the disease, and when slaughtered are commonly eaten, though the lung disease shall have made such progress as probably to taint the carcase. Animals attacked by 'foot and mouth disease are not often slaughtered on account of it; but if they should happen to be slaughtered, are uniformly employed as food. Animals with anthracic and anthracoid disease' are, with the exception of the gangrenous parts, very extensively used; and the presence of parasites in the flesh of an animal never prevents the owner from selling it as food. Carcases, too obviously ill-conditioned for exposure in the butcher's shop, are sent in abundance to the sausage makers, and are also 'pickled' and 'dried;' and though specially diseased organs are generally thrown aside by most sausage makers, some will even utilitise the most diseased parts that they can obtain. Finally, in connexion with some slaughtering establishments, pigs-destined themselves to become human food-are habitually fed on the offal and refuse of the shambles, and consume with other abominable filth such diseased organs as are below the more conscientious sausage makers' standard of proper condition.

"This is a very horrible state of affairs and we can scarcely wonder at the Town Council of a modern Athens having not only qualms of stomach, but qualms of conscience about their own protection, and also that of the public."

Amongst the labours of the year has been the successful republication of Dr. Trall's pamphlet on the "Scientific Basis of Vegetarianism"-two thousand copies were printed, and nearly the whole of them are now in circulation. At the last Annual Meeting a falling off was reported in the sale of the "Dietetic Reformer." Your Committee regret to report a still further diminution since last year, arising as before from the want of adhesiveness in local associations which at first subscribed. Individual members are not so easily reached, and when the association ceases to meet, each one contents himself with a single copy for his own use. Some change must now be made, or it will soon cease to be worth the expense to print a periodical for the movement. Our friend, Mr. Mc. Gowan, has a proposal intended, amongst other things, to meet this difficulty, and it will be incumbent on the Annual Meeting to adopt this or some other mode of stimulating the circulation. During the present month one hundred and fifty copies have been sent to Mechanics' Institutes in the Yorkshire Union. If some of our wealthier friends would combine, the whole of the institutions of a similar kind in the country might be supplied, and by such an arrangement there would be an influence wielded of great moment to the cause. This is one of the possibilities of the future. The Rev. Wm. Sharman has a proposal also, whien, if means will allow, and suitable persons will undertake the duty, would do much to invigorate our local associations, whilst increasing the interest of the several members, and producing that intimate knowledge of each other which would greatly contribute to the stability of all. A single fact will serve to show the need of a closer connection between the managing body and their con stituents. Out of the number of members on the books, and with whom the Secretary can communicate, there are only 262 who have paid a subscription within the last three years. In every society constituted like ours there are many defaulters, and many who never think more about payments after they have joined the society; but amongst our friends who have not paid are many who would do so if called upon. This unsatisfactory state of things is therefore capable of at least a partial remedy.

In conclusion, the Committee beg to summon all friends of the movement to their aid, that by combined efforts, undertaken in a humble dependence upon God, they may help forward the cause of humanity, health, and intelligence; by such united exertion they believe it is possible to increase the roll to at least one thousand effective members by the next Annual Meeting.

Mr. BARKER moved and Mr. DAVIE seconded the adoption of the Report.Carried unanimously.

Mr. W. MITH moved and Mr. J. BISHOP seconded the re-election of the officers of the Society, with the addition of the name of J. Haughton, Esq., of Dublin, as a vice-president.-Agreed to.