ch is apparently
the less cruel, for some oxen require many blows to make them fall. Some
butchers, however, allege that the separation of the spinal cord, by
producing a general nervous convulsion throughout the body, prevents the
blood from flowing as rapidly and entirely out of it as when the ox is
stunned in the forehead. The skin is then taken off to the knees, when
the legs are disjointed, and also off the head. The carcass is then
hung up by the tendons of the hough on a stretcher, by a block and
tackle, worked by a small winch, which retains in place what rope it
winds up by means of a wheel and ratchet.

After the carcass has hung for twenty-four hours, it should be cut down
by the back-bone, or chine, into two _sides_. This is done either with
the saw, or chopper; the saw making the neatest job in the hands of an
inexperienced butcher, though it is the most laborious; and with the
chopper is the quickest, but by no means the neatest plan, especially in
the hands of a careless workman. In London, the chine is equally divided
between both sides; while in Scotland, one side of a carcass of beef has
a great deal more bone than the other, all the spinous processes of the
vertebrae being left upon it. The bony is called the _lying_ side of the
meat. In London, the divided processes in the fore-quarters are broken
in the middle when warm, and chopped back with the flat side of the
chopper, which has the effect of thickening the fore and middle ribs
considerably when cut up. The London butcher also cuts the joints above
the hind knee, and, by making some incisions with a sharp knife, cuts
the tendons there, and drops the flesh of the hind-quarter on the flank
and loins, which causes it to cut up thicker than in the Scotch mode. In
opening the hind-quarter he also cuts the aitch bone, or pelvis through
the centre, which makes the rump look better. Some butchers in the north
of England score the fat of the _closing_ of the hind-quarter, which has
the effect of making that part of both heifer and ox look like the udder
of an old cow. There is far too much of this scoring practised in
Scotland, which prevents the pieces from retaining--which they should,
as nearly as possible--their natural appearance.

In cutting up a carcass of beef the London butcher displays great
expertness; he not only discriminates between the qualities of its
different parts, but can cut out any piece to gratify the taste of his
customers. In thi