Abattoir (ȧb′ȧt′twȧr′), originally merely a slaughter-house, but now inclusive of a number of industries connected with the disposal of the parts of animals unfit for food. The term is sometimes made to include also the market at which the products are sold.
What to do with the waste parts of slain animals has always been a problem where population was dense enough to necessitate much butchering. In the time of the Roman Empire the killing was restricted to one section of the city, and here there was a public market, and sometimes, as in Rome, a splendid market building. Previous to 1810 in Paris killing of animals was allowed even along the principal streets, and conditions had become so bad that a commission was appointed in that year to do away with the nuisance. Under the direction of this commission five great abattoirs were opened in September, 1818, and these have to a great extent been models for the world. London did not take up the matter in a serious way until 1852, and then in 1855 opened a great establishment at a suburb called Islington. But it has remained for America, in very recent times, to perfect the greatest of these institutions. Machinery has been so much brought into use that an almost marvelous speed and economy is attained. Perhaps an even more wonderful advance has been made in the matter of using the various parts of the animals which were once a nuisance. Such products as special foods, medicines, building materials, chemicals, manures, etc., utilize practically every particle of an animal and so solve the problem of their disposal.