[Sca-cooks] Deer Gelding

[Johnna Holloway]

As to gelding deer, the practice is described and appears in

The natural history of Lancashire, Cheshire, and the Peak in Derbyshire.
The author is Leigh, Charles, 1662-1701?
Oxford : Printed for the author, , 1700.

On page 2
Not far from thence lies Lime-Park, belonging to Peter Legh of Lime, Esq
in which there are a great Number of Red-Deer, of which this is
remarkable, that once a Year the Keepers drive them together upon a
grass Plain before the Gates of the Hall, a thing, I believe, not
practis'd upon these Wild Creatures in any other part of the World; The
won|derful consent there is betwixt the Horns and Testicles of these
Creatures is scarce to be imagin'd, as likewise their Yearly casting
their Horns, it is most certain if these Deer be
gelded before the Eruption of their Horns, they never
produce any afterwards, and if before the usual time of casting them,
they then never cast those they are possest of; which Phoenomenon to me
seems to argue, that the principal occasion of casting their Horns is,
that about Rutting time their Testicles are more pregnant than at o|ther
Seasons, hence their Blood being raised to an higher Fer|ment, nay
indeed to so touring a Pitch that Nature it self is al|most unhing'd,
hence the Blood Vessels being distended beyond their Natural Tone, are
uncapable to contain any longer, but are forcibly burst asunder, by the
disruption of these, the Horns, which abound with them, are dispoiled of
all possible Commu|nication of Nourishment, by which means the Nerves
are render'd Weak and Languid, the Horn consequently by its own Weight
declines, and falls off; these Horns afford us in Chymical
Prepa|rations, an Oil, and a Spirit, which is indeed nothing but the
Volatile Salt dissolved in Phlegm, and a Volatile Salt, which are all of
them of Extraordinary use in Languors, and Convulsive Distempers, or in
any Malady of the Nerves; It is affirm'd, by the Learned Dr. Brown in
his Travels in Hungary, that in Servia where the Plague frequently
rages, they find no better Antidote against it than Eating the Flesh of
these Creatures, for which there may be this Reason, it is probable the
Flesh of these Crea|tures, contains a greater quantity of Volatile Salt
than other Flesh may, by which means it becomes a more generous Food,
and by a more than an Ordinary Volatilized Chyle, prevents Coa|gulation
of the Blood which causes that Pestilental Distemper, those Volatile
Alkalies, destroying the other Saline, Acid par|ticles
PAGE 3
that make the Coagulum; The Horns of these Creatures by their own
Effluvia are Convertible into a Jelly, which is of great use to
Emaciated Persons, and a noble Food to any, it may be it was from this
Preparation that Monsieur Papin recei|ved the first hint of his New
Digester, by which he Converted Bones into Marrow by their own Effluvia,
which I have seen frequently Experimented by that Excellent Chymist
Christopher White of Oxford, Operator in the Publick Laboratory of that
most Flourishing University; it is affirm'd by the Huntsmen, that these
Creatures when they find themselves Encompassed by the Dogs, and no
possibility of escape, will weep most Mourn|fully, a sight that to a
Tender Spirit wou'd damp the Diver|tisement of that days Recreation, so
endearing a Principle is Life to all Creatures.

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I thought it was interesting that he mentioned Papin's New Digester.


Johnnae



Sam Wallace wrote: snipped

  I>came across a reference to "A gelded Deare."
>
>Has anyone seen a reference to this practice anywhere else? 
>  
>