We come now to another form of meat, that of edible ENTRAILS.  This includes Tripe, Haslet, or lights, &c.  More nitrogen is found here than in any other portion of the meat.  The cheap and abundant supply in this country has made us, as a people, reject all but the liver.  In the country, the sweetbreads or pancreas are often thrown away, and tripe also.  The European peasant has learned to utilize every scrap; and while such use should not be too strongly urged, it is certain that this meat is far better than no meat.  Fully one-third of the animals’ weight comes under this head,—­that is, feet, tail, head, and tongue, lungs, liver, spleen, omentum, pancreas, and heart, together with the intestines.  The rich man is hardly likely to choose much of this food, the tongue and sweetbreads being the only dainty bits; but there are wholesome and savory dishes to be made from every part, and the knowledge of their preparation may be of greatest value to a poorer neighbor.  Both ox-tails and head make excellent soup.  Tripe, the inner lining of the stomach, is, if properly prepared, not only appetizing but pleasant to the eye.  Calves’ feet make good jelly; and pigs’ feet, ears, and head are soused or made into scrapple.  Blood-puddings are much eaten by Germans, but we are not likely to adopt their use.  Fresh blood has, however, been found of wonderful effect for consumptive patients; and there are certain slaughter-houses in our large cities where every day pale invalids are to be found waiting for the goblet of almost living food from the veins of the still warm animal.  Horrible as it seems, the taste for it is soon acquired; and certainly the good results warrant at least the effort to acquire it.

VENISON comes next in the order of meats, but is more like game than any ordinary butchers’ meat.  It is lean, dark in color, and savory, and if well cooked, very digestible.

POULTRY are of more importance to us than game, and the flesh, containing less nitrogen, is not so stimulating as beef or mutton.  Old fowls are often tough and indigestible, and have often, also, a rank flavor like a close hen-house, produced by the absorption into the flesh of the oil intended by nature to lubricate the feathers.

GAME contains even less fat than poultry, and is considered more strengthening.  The flesh of rabbits and hares is more like poultry or game than meat, but is too close in fiber to be as digestible.  Pigeons and many other birds come under none of the heads given.  As a rule, flesh is tender in proportion to the smallness of the animal, and many varieties are eaten for the description of which we have no room here.