246 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



Hence we should infer that a substance was digestible or indigestible just in 

 proportion to the provision that is made for its reduction to the standard of 

 healthy chyle; and that substances which have hitherto been incapable of 

 affording any nutrition whatever may at some future day be rendered highly 

 nutritious, simply by adding to them suitable ferments, artificially obtained 

 or otherwise, that shall secure their passage through the proper molecular 

 changes. Indeed, I think thi subject opens to us that very wide field of 

 inquiry, as to whether the cause and prevention of disease, and the beneficial 

 administration of remedies, may not, for the most part, if not entirely, be 

 dependent on the action of substances analogous to such bodies as ptyaline, 

 pepsin, cerealin, etc., actina: in con^orr! with, or retarding and opposing, the 

 vit ! factions of tissues; and that, by more profound inquiry in this field 

 of research, the physiologist and the pathologist may not at a future day lay 

 the foundation of true scientific medicine. 



PKESEEYATION OF FLESH BY VERDEIL. 



Having been separated from the bones, and, as far as possible, from fat, 

 the fleslT is cut into slices from one to five centimetres (one centimetre 

 = 0*3937 inch) in thickness; the slices being cut as nearly as possible across 

 the grain of the flesh. These are now laid upon hurdles of basket-work, 

 which are subsequently placed in a chamber. As soon as a sufficient num- 

 ber of the trays have been introduced into the chamber, it is closed, and 

 steam, under a pressure of three or four atmospheres, consequently of 135 to 

 1450 C. (= 275 to 293 F.), is admitted through several openings. The cham- 

 ber, which may be of lead or iron, must not be absolutely tight, a small 

 outlet for the steam being necessary, in order that the pressure may not 

 become too great. After from six to ten or fifteen minutes, according to the 

 kind of flesh and the thickness of the slices, the steam is shut off, this part 

 of the process being finished. The flesh is now very nearly in the condition 

 of boiled meat, but has retained all of its ingredients, the albumen having 

 been coagulated, its taste recalling that of roasted meat. It presents a 

 wrinkled appearance, is of a gray color, and may be readily divided. Being 

 removed from the steam-chamber, the flesh is now placed upon trays, or 

 hung upon hooks, in another chamber, which is warmed, but in which the 

 temperature is never allowed to exceed 40 or 50 C. (= 104 to 122 F.). 

 The drying process is completed in the course or eight or twelve hours. 



Packed in tight casks or in tin boxes, so that it may be protected from the 

 action of moisture and from insects, the flesh thus prepared may be pre- 

 served for any length of time which may be desirable. It is, nevertheless, 

 well to place a layer of salt in the casks, in order that it shall absorb any 

 moisture which the flesh may have retained. Before using this meat it must 

 be soaked for an hour or two in warm water, in which it softens and regains 

 its original condition. When boiled with water it affords an excellent soup, 

 and passes into a condition in which it cannot be distinguished from fresh 

 meat. Le Genie Industriel. 



INQUIRIES INTO THE PHENOMENA OF RESPIRATION. 



In a communication to the L. E. and D. Philosophical Journal, Jan., 1860, 

 Dr. Edward Smith gives the result of numerous inquiries into the quantity 

 of carbonic acid expired, and of air inspired, with the rate of pulsation and 



