ABATTOIR (Fr. abattre, to fell or destroy), a slaughter-house. The use of this term has passed into England from France, where the example was first given of public estab lishments for the slaughter of animals used as food, on such a scale and with such san itary arrangements as to obviate the injurious effects that are found to result from the existence of private slaughter-houses in the midst of a crowded population. This great public improvement originated with Napoleon, who passed a decree in 1807 for the erection of public abattoirs. The extensive works connected with this design were nearly completed before the fall of the Empire; but it was not till the close of 1818 that the Parisian butchers ceased to slaughter in their private establishments. There tire now live of these abattoirs in Paris—three on the right and two on the left bank of the Seine, containing 240 slaughter-houses in all—which, both in architectural propriety and com pleteness of internal arrangement, may be regarded as models of their kind. The charge
per head is, for an ox six fr. a cow 4 fr., a calf 2 fr., and a sheep 50 cents. Of the appearance and management of one of the great Parisian abattoirs, a good account is given by Sir Francis Bead in his A Faggot of French Sticks. Other towns in France have similar abattoirs; and so have Mantua and Brussels.
The erection of similar establishments in Britain is of comparatively recent date. Public slaughter-houses formed part of the plan in the establishment of the new cattle market in the metropolis in Copenhagen fields. Those built are well arranged, and such of the old slaughter-houses as remain are placed under sanitary inspection. The increased use of country-killed meat obviates the necessity for further abattoirs. In Edinburgh an excellent A. was erected by the town-council in 1851.