Before proceeding to describe the further requirements of an abattoir or group of slaughter-houses, I think the following plan will be of use to show the arrangement which I have described with regard to lairs and slaughter-houses:—

[Large illustration] (133 kB)

The following plan shows the arrangements adopted in the Metropolitan Cattle Market slaughter-houses:

METROPOLITAN CATTLE MARKET SLAUGHTER-HOUSES.

(3.) The condemned meat department.

This should consist of a lair for suspected cattle, a lair and slaughter-house for the condemned cattle similar to that already described, and a condemned meat store: this being the place where not only all the diseased animals’ carcasses are temporarily stored pending destruction, but also any meat of sound beasts that may have gone bad after killing, &c. The whole of the meat thus placed in the condemned store must be taken to the boiling-down house, where it is destroyed by being boiled down to fat, which is disposed of for various trade purposes.

The following description of the method employed for this purpose at the Deptford Foreign Cattle Market will here be of use:[228]

“There are several killing houses for diseased cattle, and excellent apparatus for boiling down condemned meat. For this purpose two boilers are suspended from a strong platform through which they pass, and the bottoms of them are several feet above the floor. They are each 4 feet 6 inches in diameter and 10 feet in length under platform. At the bottom the cylinder tapers to 2 feet 8 inches in diameter. Under this there is a semispherical bottom to the boiler hinged and kept shut by a back-weighted lever and screws. On the top of each there is a semispherical cover and safety valve.