Description of the abattoirs of Paris / by Richard Boxall Grantham ; with an abstract of the discussion upon the paper.
- Richard Boxall Grantham
- Date:
- 1849
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Description of the abattoirs of Paris / by Richard Boxall Grantham ; with an abstract of the discussion upon the paper. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![Montmartre it is pumped up into a reservoir, H, by a steam-engine. At Grenelle the celebrated artesian well affords an ample quantity, but the water being naturally warm, it is allowed to cool before it is used. At Ville Juif the water is pumped up by horse power. The two other abattoirs are supplied by a water company. On each side of the entrance gates are tlie lodges, D> bi which the superintendents and police reside, and where the office of the administration is kept. At the commencement of 1847, a new system of collecting the dues of the abattoirs was introduced, by whicli, instead of charging so much per liead for the cattle upon entering, and weighing the tallow, all the meat Avhich leaves the abattoirs is now weighed and a uniform rate of toll is charged; toll- houses have thus become necessary, and one is therefore erected in each abattoir, opposite to the entrance, having a weighing machine attached to it. The returns of the annual expenditure and income of these establishments, prove that, as well as being highly important in the internal economy of the metropolis of France, they are profitable in a commercial point of view. It is essential to impress these facts very strongly, because, great as the cost of their erection in this country must be, any doubts as to their becoming profitable investments will be removed, and thus one great objection to their introduction be obviated. The population of Paris is about a million, and the following table* gives the number of cattle which have been slaughtered during the last four years at all the abattoirs:— 1844 1845 1840 184T Oxen .... Head 76, 565 77, 543 80,256 82 519 Cows .... > > 16, 450 20 954 21,980 24 990 Calves.... y > 78, 744 83, 282 84,444 83 577 Sheep .... 439, 950 59 470 487,644 503 113 Pigs and Wild Boars 87, 987 96, 880 93,501 • « Tallow melted in the abattoirs lbs. • * • 11,085,963 11,867, 567 The original cost of the five abattoirs was about £ 680,000, in- cluding the purchase of land and every contingency ; but there is no account as to the cost of each. The following is a general statement of the income and expendi- ture of all the abattoirs in ]846:|— * Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes, page 118. ■f From the “ Compte Ge'ne'rale des Recettes et Ddpenses de Paris,” Slieet No. 11, and page 92, Paris, 1846.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22285192_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
