Eels (Abbreviated from “The People’s Book of Modern
Cookery,” by Eliza Acton. Simpkins Marshall).—“Eels should
be alive and brisk when purchased, but the ‘horrid barbarity,’ as
it is rightly called, of skinning or dividing them while they are
alive, is without excuse. They should be killed by piercing the
spinal marrow close to the back part of the skull with a sharp-
pointed knife or skewer. If done in the right place, all motion
will instantly cease.
“Absolutely boiling water also kills them instantly, and is
perhaps the most humane and ready method.”