Our slaughter-house system : a plea for reform / [C. Cash].

  • Cash, C.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Our slaughter-house system : a plea for reform / [C. Cash]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    207/230 (page 191)
    the dark old-fashioned type, with drab-coloured walls. The sight of such an establishment makes the public realise the superiority of the modern cold store as com- pared with the wooden structures formerly in vogue as cold stores or ice-houses. The proper size of the cold store has been differently computed. Osthoff, taking as his basis the average amount of meat consumed per head in the course of a year—namely, 150 pounds—and the requisite space for every individual inhabitant—namely, iV square foot— arrives at a space of 10 square feet for every 120 inhabitants. Schmitz, Linde, Stetefeld, and Dr. Schwarz, on the other hand, start with a different principle—namely, the storage capacity of the individual cold cells. These well- known authorities are agreed that 330 pounds of meat can be stored in every 10 square feet. Supposing, therefore, that in a town of 20,000 inhabitants there are annually slaughtered 1,860 large cattle, 5,380 small cattle, and 6,840 pigs, then on any of two principal slaughtering days per week 18'6 large cattle, 53’8 small animals, and 68'4 pigs are slaughtered. If we take the average weight of cattle, as established by statistics— namely, for large cattle, 603 pounds ; for calves, 82 pounds; for sheep, 48 pounds; and for pigs, 180 pounds—we get 18‘6 x 603 pounds = 11,216 pounds; + 53'8x65 pounds = 3,497 pounds; + 68’4xl80 = 12,312 pounds; total, 27,102 pounds of meat, which must be stored at one and the same time in the cold store. Besides this, we have to take into consideration a quarter of the amount stated—that is to say, 6,7754 pounds, which has remained over from the preceding slaughtering day. Altogether, therefore, the total will reach 33,877 pounds. If, therefore, as we have stated, 330 pounds of meat