K. DOMESTIC AND HOUSEHOLD ECONOMY. 499 



meat to swell and assume the color and reaction of fresh 

 meat. Meat thus prepared may be applied to every use to 

 which it is fitted when fresh, while the bones supply in 

 abundance a very palatable soup. 



According to Dr. Sacc, animals may be preserved entire, 

 for market purposes, in a pickle of acetate of soda ; fish, chick- 

 ens, ducks, etc., being particularly adapted to this treatment, 

 the only precaution necessary being that of the removal of 

 the intestines. Under the influence of the pickle the meat 

 loses about one fourth of its weight, and another quarter dis- 

 appears when dried. Cold-blooded animals may be readily 

 dried in a stove. If the attempt be made to dry salmon and 

 trout in this way, they lose their brilliant red color, and at 

 the same time a reddish oil is found, which quickly drains 

 away, leaving an insipid and fibrous mass. 



The process is said to be very well adapted to the preser- 

 vation of vegetables, which generally lose thereby five sixths 

 of their weight. When needed for use, it is only necessary 

 to soak them for twelve hours in w^ater, and then cook them 

 as if entirely fresh. It is necessary to scald the vegetables 

 until they lose their stiftness before aj^plying the acetate of 

 soda. At the end of twenty-four hours their juices are drain- 

 ed or pressed out, and they are then dried in the air. Mush- 

 rooms can be readily kept by pouring upon them a pickle 

 made with equal parts of acetate of soda and water, and just 

 moistening them with it. The temperature should be kept 

 at about 86 Fahr. for twenty-four hours. They are then to 

 be removed, j^ressed, and dried, in which process they will 

 lose, like other vegetable substances, about five sixths of 

 their weight. To prepare potatoes in this way, as they are 

 not readily penetrated by the pickle, they must be first 

 steamed, and then treated. All articles of food prepared by 

 this process should be kept in a dry place, as they would 

 otherwise absorb moisture very quickly in a damp atmos- 

 phere. 11 B, May 15, 1873, 277. 



TKADE IX PRESERVED OR CANNED MEATS. 



According to Dr. Senfleben,.the application of scientific 

 principles to the preparation of canned meats was first sug- 

 gested by Liebig, and his meat extract obtained a world-wide 

 celebrity. This was, after all, however, only a substitute for 



