Page:Description of the Abattoirs of Paris.djvu/12

8 fat from the insides of the animals is collected and taken to the tallow-melting house, which is also on the premises.

Over each slaughter-house is a floor paved with hexagonal tiles, having a passage upon one side, the other part being divided off by a kind of wire netting. These were originally built for drying hides and skins in, or for keeping meat cool until it was required to be transmitted to the butchers' shops. For these purposes this floor was admirably adapted, in consequence of the great projection of the roof, which keeps away the sun, and its being open to the tiling; but of late years these lofts have not been used for either of the above purposes.

The buildings containing the stalls, B, generally placed parallel to the slaughter-houses, or at their ends, are nearly similar in external appearance to those for the slaughter-houses, except that the roofs do not project so much, and the walls are carried up to the roof. The interior of them is, however, very different; they have a passage up the centre, and on one side the stall, or division for cattle, which, being about 16 feet wide, will each hold five beasts; on the opposite side of the passage are pens, which will each contain about twenty sheep and calves. The whole is lighted by windows, and has a door at each end, and sometimes one in the centre. Over each stall is a loft, reached by a staircase, divided off in the same manner as the stalls beneath. In these compartments each butcher, holding a stall, keeps his hay and straw locked up. The roof presents no particular feature worth recording.

There is also another kind of building, F, in which the fat is manufactured into tallow. The ground floor is generally occupied by the boilers, which hold from 1000 lbs. to 4000 lbs. each, in which the fat is melted. After it has boiled a sufficient time over a slow fire, the tallow is run off into tubs, and left to cool; the residuum, or cellular tissue, is then put into a powerful press, and the remaining tallow forced out, leaving a cake of greaves, which is used as food for dogs and pigs. Under these buildings are cellars, in which the tallow is kept till it is required for the market.

The buildings marked I in the plan, are the triperies,' in which the tripes are cleaned and prepared, and the sheep's feet and calves' heads dressed for the markets. These are fitted with boilers and washing places, but have no upper story, so that the effluvia from the processes may ascend and pass through the tiling.

There are suitable buidingsbuildings [sic], G, for stables and coach-houses, and other conveniences.

The water is supplied by different means to each abattoir. At