Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 4, 1802).djvu/97

77&#93; -SLA oval form ; of different colours ; and seldom exceeds half an inch in length. Millepedes have a faint, unplea- sant smell, and a slightly pi:ngent, sweetish, though nauseous, taste. Theyhave been greatly recommend- ed in suppressions of urine ; in the jaundice; for weakness of sight; ijn obstruftions of the intestines ; and various otiier complaints. Their efficacy, however, in these disor- ders, is doubtful. When dried, pulverized, and infused in wine, they arp- said to have afforded great relief in the hooping-cough. — In dropsies, and pituitous atFe6tions of the chest, Gesen^ius direfts the expressed juice of slaters to be con- verted into syrup, with an equal fjuantity of retined sugar, and to be taken in single table-spoonfuls by adults, or in a tea-spoonful by children, several times in the day : this preparation has, in many des- perate cases, proved uncommonly efBcacious. SLA [77 SLAUGHTERING op, Cat- tle, a term used to denote the killing of calves, oxen, or other horned cattle. The instrument at present gene- rally employed for this purpose, is a common axe ; by which the aiii- mal is at least stunned, in case it does not fall after one or two blows ; yet, as the knocking doivn of cattle carries with it an idea of ferocity, a milder and more hu- mane method of terminating their existence, ought to be substituted for that practice. Such desirable obje£t may be attained, by adopting the mode of slaughtering which prevails in Portugal ; namely, the " laying down cattle," by separat- ing the spinal marrow with a pe- culiar knife ; in consequence of whidfi, the animal is unnerved, and falls mstantaneously : we therefore subjoin the following Cut, repre- senting the instrument employed in (hat kingdom : The whole knife here represent- ed, is 11 inches in length; the han- dle being 4^, ahd the blade 6 inches. In order to use it, the person who is about to " lay down" an animal, must place himself in front of the latter, holding it by the horn in the left hand ; and passing the knife over its brow, through the vertebrae of the neck, into the spinal marrow. — For the knowledge of this pradice, we are indebted to the humane Lord So-' merville; who, during his late residence in Portugal, caused a per- son to be instructed in the use of the knife above delineated. His Lordship has liberally offered to. comply with the request of those whose business is to slaughter cat- tle, and who may be desirous of additional information. He far- ther observes (in The System fol' lowed during the two last years by. the