61 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



before, he has found abstracted by the brine), and a most essential com- 

 pound, not only of muscle juice, but of gastric juice as well as an important 

 respiratory food. I would suggest the use of ' saeur kruit,' or some other 

 vegetable product containing lactic acid, or lactic acid itself. Sugar is in 

 an economic point of view, specially advantageous, as it is about two-thirds 

 the price of meat, or less, while it improves the flavor and keeps soft the 

 flesh, aiding al^-o in the preservation." 



ON THE P PRESERVATION OF MEAT. 



The following is an abstract of a lecture on the above subject recently 

 given before the Society of Arts, Lond >n, by Prof, Grace Oil vert. 



Preserving Meat by Cold. A low temperature is most favorable to 

 the preservation of fle.-i'i and other animal substances, and under that 

 condition it will not enter into putrefaction, the best proof of which is 

 that elephants in a perfect state of preservation have been found in Si- 

 beria buried in ice, where they have doubtless existed for many thousands 

 of years. 



Preserving Meat and Vegetables bij Drying. A high state of desic- 

 cation or dryness also contributes powerfully to the prevention of decay. 

 Thus in Buenos Ayres and Monte Video meat is cut into thin slices, 

 covered with maize flour, dried in the sun, and it is consumed largely, 

 under the name of tasago or charke, by the inhabitants of the interior, 

 and also by the black population in Brad] and the West Indies. Fur- 

 ther, dried meat reduced to powder is used by travelers in Tartary and 

 adjacent countries. A remarkable instance of the preservation of animal 

 matter by extreme desiccation is related by Dr. Wefer, who states that 

 in 17S7, during a journey in Peru, he found on the borders of the sea 

 nuny hundreds of corpses slightly buried in the sand, which, though 

 they had evidently remained there for two or three centuries, were 

 perfectly drv and free from putrefaction. I will also mention in this 

 connection the process of M. M. Masson & Gannal, for the preservation 

 of vegetables, which consists in submitting the vegetables for a few 

 minutes to the action of high-pressure steam (70 pounds to the square 

 inch), then drying them by air heated to 100; when, after compression 

 by hydraulic pressure, they are made into tablets for sale. When 

 required for use it is only necessary to place the tablets for five hours 

 in cold wiiler, when the vegetable substances swell out to their former 

 size and appearance, and are ready for cooking. 



By excluding the Air. As the presence of oxygen or air is an 

 essential condition of putrefaction, the consequence is that many methods 

 have been invented to exclude that agent, or rather the sporules or 

 germs of cryptogamic plants or animals, which are the true ferments or 

 microscopic source of fermentation and putrefaction. Permit me to 

 describe concisely some of the methods proposed; and I believe that 

 one of the best processes for excluding air was that invented by Appert, 

 in l<S->i. It consists in introducing the meat or other animal substance, 

 with some water, irto vessels which are nearly closed ; these are then 

 placed in a large boiler with salt (which raises the boiling point of the 

 liquor), and the contents of the vessels are kept boiling for about an 

 hour, so as to exclude all air, and destroy, by the high temperature, all 

 the sporules or germs of putrefaction they may contain, when they are 



