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14 on the knob of the punch, the sharp part is driven with great force into the skull, and the animal drops to the ground stunned. It is not dead, and it has to he "pithed" and its throat cut in the usual way before death takes place. The theory on which humane slaughterers go is that the animal is rendered by the first blow unconscious to everything afterwards. At any rate, there can be no doubt that Baxter's mask prevents all the cruelty involved by clumsy or inexperienced operators striking blow after blow at the head of a bullock with the pole-axe before succeeding in felling it. The apparatus fastens on to the bullock's head by a spring, so that there is no loss of time in fastening it on. It has been tried in various slaughter-houses, and constantly used, and some butchers report that their men rather prefer using it than otherwise. Others assert that it would be impossible to fix the mask on the heads of wild Scotch or American beasts. It is astonishing that the use of this mask has not been more fully tried in places where a number of animals are killed daily, such as the Deptford and Birkenhead foreign cattle depôts, or the abattoirs at Manchester, Liverpool, and elsewhere. Private butchers will not adopt it unless compelled to do so, for the simple reason that each mask costs about thirty shillings. But to corporations and abattoir companies the expenditure of a few pounds is not a matter of much moment.

In the mask invented by Mr. Baxter a heavy blow with a mallet is needed. But a Frenchman, M. Bruneau, has invented a mask in which, instead of a punch, a small