300

DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM.

all the brewers' grains, and distillery slop that can be obtained. Second, being confined in stables, they are totally deprived of exercise. Whatever, therefore, may be the merits of the establishment in other respects, these alone are sufficient to condemn it. Proper food and exercise are essential to the health of cattle; and these being disregarded, all the animal secretions become vitiated, and the milk impure and unhealthy.

CHAPTER XXXI.

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED, AND THE DIFFICULTIES CF REFORM CONSIDERED.

Slop healthy food for cattle, because the refuse of grain.—Slop said to be eaten in the state of vinous fermentation.-Cattle said to thrive on small portions of slop.-Gradual correction of the evil.-Difficulties in the way of reform.-The evil stands not alone. Why distillers are opposed to reform.-A letter from distillers. The distillation of liquor encouraged by the patronage of the moral and temperate.-Cow-stables the nightly resort of thieves and vagabonds.-Responsibility of distillers.-Distilleries in NewYork, etc.-Production of whisky.- Destruction of grain.— Whisky from the west and south.-Dilution and sale of slop essential to the support of the distilleries.-The number of rectifying houses. The advantages of these establishments to the city distiller.-Distillation of spirit from molasses.-A grain distillery in Philadelphia.-Opposition of slop-men.-Diseased condition of the cattle. The stock and their management must be changed.-The evil, not necessary.-Reform practicable.-Desecration of the Sabbath by the traffic in milk and slop.

SOME few minds that appear soberly intent on truth, are not quite clear in relation to certain points involved in the general inquiry. It is, therefore, proposed to throw the difficulties which have been suggested into a tangible form, for the purpose of connecting therewith such elucidatory remarks as our information may enable us to make.

I. It is asserted, " that still-slop is healthy and proper for cattle, because it is composed of corn and rye."

This is most obviously leaping at an inference. We may say that whisky is healthy and proper because it is produced from corn and rye; but who does not in this

302

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

case see the fallacy of the conclusion? Every novice in chemistry knows, that in chemical combinations a slight change in the component parts will form an entire new substance. Thus the air we breathe, by a slight change in the constituent elements, becomes a deadly gas, and kills as soon as it is inhaled. Vinegar, though so different in its properties from sugar, is precisely analogous in its composition. But it is unnecessary to multiply examples to show the utter fallacy of the conclusions deduced from such premises. And if, for the sake of argument, we admit that there has been no change in the nature of the corn and rye, it by no means follows that when administered, as they are, in so dilute a form—a hogshead of slop, perhaps, containing no more nutriment than exists in a peck of Indian meal-that they constitute healthy food. It is like supporting a man daily on two spoonfuls of flour mixed with two gallons of water. The extreme dilution of the preparation, unfitted as it is for the gastric apparatus of ruminating animals, is probably one cause why their health suffers from its use.

II. It is said "that cattle get the slop in the state of vinous fermentation, the same state in which bread is eaten, and therefore it must be healthy."

How this assertion can be reconciled with the facts in the case, we are unable to determine. Bread is not eaten in a state of fermentation at all. Dough, by the process of panary fermentation, acquires porosity, and by the action of heat is baked or converted into bread, as every housewife knows, before it has passed into the acetous state, which spoils it. Slop is eaten by cows, indifferently, either in the vinous or the acetous state. In the vinous state, it probably contains alcohol, after the process of distillation ; and from the large quantities received into the system, and

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

303

the debilitated condition of the digestive organs, there is at least probable evidence that the process of vinous fermentation is carried on in the stomach of the animal, by which alcohol is developed and separated from the water and extractive matter with which it is combined. This opinion is strengthened by the fact that swine and cattle become intoxicated by eating large quantities of apple pomice, though in a saccharine state; and is further confirmed by the testimony of Denham and Clapperton, the intrepid African travellers. Speaking of the camels of Africa, they say, that they so frequently become intoxicated in consequence of eating freely of dates after drinking water, as seriously to diminish their health and strength. They make the statement as one of common occurrence in that country, and it it doubtless entitled to the fullest credence. Now, we know not how such results can be accounted for, except on the hypothesis named. If this is admitted, the stimulating properties of the slush, by the appetite which itself creates, will explain why cattle, that have acquired a relish for it, devour so voraciously this kind of food; and its narcotic properties account in part, for its deleterious effects on the health of the animals that freely partake of it. But not to anticipate what more properly falls under another head,

III. It is frequently urged, by interested witnesses, that "cattle fed upon slop, with a proper quantity of hay and meal, will thrive better, and are more healthy than on other food."

This, it will be observed, is a very indefinite statement. It would be a gratifying item of information to learn what quantity of still-slop with other food is "proper" for a cow. For while it might not be worth while to proscrite infinitesimal portions, we are homoeopathists in this partic

304

OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED.

ular at least, believing that so far as the health of the animal is concerned, the smaller the dose, the better the effect. But while there might be great diversity of opinion among milkmen as to the proper quantity, it is not ascertained that there is any difference in their practice. Any amount of testimony can be produced to prove that about a barrel per day is the usual allowance, or as much as the animal will swallow. But whatever may be the effects of small portions of slop on the animal's health, there is one objection to its use for dairy-cows, which is decisive and final; any appreciable quantity acidifies the milk, which renders it of course unhealthy, and unfit for human nourishment.

Some other particulars may here be considered, which though specially referring to the city of New-York, will be found to apply with little modification wherever the work of reform has commenced.

The entire removal of the evil cannot, perhaps, be immediate, but must be gradual and progressive. When public attention was first called to this subject, nearly all the dairies from which our city was supplied with milk, were fed on distillery-slop. The investigations and disclosures which were then made of the impure, unhealthy, and innutritious quality of the milk thus produced, occasioned an immediate and extensive demand for a pure article, the product of natural food. To meet this demand at once, was certainly desirable, but, for reasons which will appear, it was impracticable to furnish the necessary supplies, and correct the evil as soon as it was discovered.

In looking attentively at the subject, it will be seen, there were difficulties in the way, which lay a little behind the interests of those who were prosecuting the business. From the isolated situation of this city there is, unfortunately, but very little good pasturage in its vicinity;