498 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



country near the place where it is taken, and is in no way 

 changed by transportation ; third, it does not become altered, 

 but remains sweet for any length of time, even when the 

 boxes are left open ; fourth, for children as well as the infirm 

 it constitutes a uniform and regular nutriment, which can bo 

 dejDended upon for days, weeks, and months; fifth, a reliable 

 company will always exercise the greatest care in taking no 

 milk except that which is of good quality and in good con- 

 dition (it should be transported in packages hermetically seal- 

 ed and in no way disturbed) ; sixth, the milk is always at 

 hand at any hour of the day or night, ready for any domes- 

 tic use. 3 B^May 15, 1873, 96. 



ACETATE OF SODA AS A PRESERVATIVE. 



Dr. Sacc, whose new process of preserving animal and veg- 

 etable substances has attracted considerable attention, has 

 lately published a more detailed account, which may be 

 of interest and importance to some of our readers. The 

 method consists in the use of powdered acetate of soda, in- 

 stead of common salt or other article, and is equally applica- 

 ble to the preservation of both meat and vegetables. For 

 keeping meat fresh, this is placed in a cask with layers of the 

 powdered acetate of soda interposed, in the proportion of 

 one fourth of the weight of the meat. In summer, the action 

 is immediate ; in winter, it is necessary to place the casks or 

 barrels in a room heated to 58 Fahr. As the salt abstracts 

 the water from the meat, at the end of twenty-four hours the 

 cask is turned upside down, or the meat is overhauled ; that 

 which was above being now placed below. The operation is 

 complete in about forty-eight hours, and the meat may then 

 be packed up with its pickle, or it may be dried in the air. 

 If the casks are not full, they may be filled up by a fresh 

 pickle, made by dissolving one part of acetate of soda in three 

 of water. When the pickle is drawn off from the meat, half 

 the salt evaporates in crystals, and may be used again. 



Meat thus treated is prepared for cooking by steeping for 

 at least twelve and not more than twenty-four hours in tepid 

 water (according to the size), to which 150 grains of sal am- 

 moniac have been added. This salt decomposes the acetate 

 of soda that remains in the meat, forming chloride of sodium 

 or common salt and acetate of ammonia, which causes the 



