MISCELLANY. 



637 



cerned, but the temperature was higher 

 than usual, and, on a microscopical exami- 

 nation of the blood, it was found to contain 

 certain ovoid bodies of at least double the 

 size of the ordinary blood-globules. Upon 

 withholding the water, the impurity of the 

 milk at once disappeared." Prof. Law 

 says : " The chain of evidence now appeared 

 complete. The water contained vegetable 

 spores, which developed into a luxuriant 

 growth of mycelium when allowed to stand, 

 or when added to milk of known purity. 

 The presence of similar germs in the blood 

 was demonstrated, by microscopical exami- 

 nation, by the further development of the 

 cryptogam when the blood was allowed to 

 stand, and by the appearance of the same 

 product in milk to which a drop of this 

 blood had been added. The constitutional 

 effect of its presence was slight, being mani- 

 fested by a rise of temperature not exceed- 

 ing 2 Fahr. The germs in question were 

 present in the milk, and grew with great 

 rapidity in this medium. Lastly, the disuse 

 of the contaminated water and the adminis- 

 tration of sulphites put an end to the affec- 

 tion." 



Preservation of Meat. Of the vacuum- 

 process for the preservation of meats the 

 Food Journal says : 



Taking the various methods as a whole, 

 there seems to be as yet nothing better than 

 the vacuum-proces3, and it is to the results 

 of our examination of a set of samples of 

 meat preserved by a new modification of 

 this plan to which we desire to direct atten- 

 tion. These specimens have been transmitted 

 to us by Mr. Richard Jones, and were pre- 

 served under his vacuum-method by Messrs. 

 Forbes & Co., of London and Aberdeen. 

 By Mr. Jones's process, the meat is put into 

 tins and entirely soldered up, except a small 

 tube, which is about the size of a quill, and 

 is soldered into the top of the tin. This 

 tube is placed in connection with a vacuum- 

 chamber, and the air exhausted. The cook- 

 ing is then commenced, and, without enter- 

 ing into details, we have simply to say the 

 principle involved is, the production of a 

 vacuum before beginning to cook, and the 

 maintaining of the same during the time that 

 the operation is in progress. The special 

 feature claimed for the system is, that 

 "poultry, game, fish, and whole joints of 

 beef and mutton, can be as readily preserved 

 with as without bone so obviating the 

 hitherto unsatisfactory appearance of pre- 

 served meat." Having thus given the ra- 



tionale of the process, we will proceed to the 

 results of the examination of samples. 



No. 1 was a roasted sirloin of beef pre- 

 served entire. Before opening the package, 

 the tin was observed to have the battered 

 appearance produced by the external press- 

 ure of the air, which is always indicative 

 of a perfect vacuum in such tins, and with- 

 out which no package of preserved meat 

 should ever find a purchaser. On opening, 

 the meat was found to be devoid of the usual 

 shrivelled appearance, and, in fact, present- 

 ed the characteristics of a joint of meat 

 cooked the day before, and served cold in 

 any ordinary household. Upon cutting into 

 the joint there was no appearance of over- 

 cooking and stringiness ; it came off in good 

 slices, and was even somewhat ruddy in the 

 centre. It was remarked by our friends 

 who were present at the trial, that the 

 flavor was not at all like the common tinned 

 beef. A portion from the inner part of the 

 joint was cut off for analysis, with the fol- 

 lowing result : 



Water 69.337 



Muscular fibre, coagulated albumen, etc. 17.653 



Soluble organic salts 2.790 



Fat 6.710 



Mineral matter 3.510 



100.000 

 No. 2 was a partridge roasted whole, 

 which presented no trace of a shrivelled or 

 discolored appearance, and stood carving in 

 the ordinary way without tearing into shreds. 

 The flavor was exceedingly fresh and agree- 

 able ; the only objection made to it by some 

 of the party was, that it was not sufficiently 

 " high " for their palates. 



No. 3 was a section of cod boiled in one 

 piece. This was an exceedingly happy spe- 

 cimen of food preservation. It was so firm 

 in consistence, and so perfect in flavor, that 

 no one would have imagined that it had 

 not been cooked the same morning. It 

 possessed, as one of the company remarked, 

 that peculiar liveliness of flavor which cold 

 fish only retains for a limited period after 

 cooking. 



It was not thought necessary to submit 

 either the game or fish to analysis. 



Looking to the results of our experi- 

 ments, we cannot but think that the method 

 of preservation in tins has at last reached 

 perfection in this process, for the develop- 

 ment of which we were informed that a 

 company has recently been formed with 

 every prospect of success. When it gets 

 into working-order, there is little doubt but 

 that this meat will head the market until 

 such time as some happy inventors can pro- 

 duce a reliable plan of importing raw meat 

 from our colonies in a sound state. 



Scientific Associations. The twenty-first 

 annual meeting of the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science will be held 



