56 



On the best Mode of extracting the Nutritious Portion of Bones, 

 tind on its Economical Applications. By M. Charles de 

 Gimbernat. 



Fortified places, however well provisioned, are occasionally 

 exposed to scarcity in time of war, either in consequence 

 of the length of the blockade, or from the provisions being 

 spoiled and decayed, or destroyed by bombardment, where 

 the magazines are not bomb-proof. Tn these cases, it is 

 important that the garrisons should have some means of sub- 

 sistence without resorting to unwholesome and disgusting sub- 

 stances, in order to prolong the defence ; for, where the fate 

 of states depends on the preservation of their fortresses, mili- 

 tary annals attest that famine and epidemic diseases produce 

 greater ravages than the bayonet, or even than artillery. Thanks 

 to the progress of science, the effects of these scourges may now 

 be -avoided, or at least diminished. The discovery made by 

 Guyton-Morveau on the disinfecting property of chlorine, and 

 certain acids, renders it possible to preserve armies from conta- 

 gious diseases ; and since the Guytonian fumigations have 

 been practised in barracks and military hospitals, mortality from 

 such cause has considerably diminished. But, unfortunately, 

 the preservative against famine recommended by Dr. Papin more 

 than a century ago, has not been hitherto sufficiently attended 

 to : I allude to the use of bones in alimentary economy. True 

 it is that the difficulty of employing steam in extracting the 

 nutritious substance of bones prevented the application of 

 Papin's method ; but that is no excuse for the indifference 

 shown by military administrations as to so important an object ; 

 for all danger in the use of Papin's digester would long ago 

 have disappeared, had as much attention been given to it as 

 to the boiler of the steam-engine ; nor can another serious 

 inconvenience of this process, namely, the decomposition 

 of a great part of the gelatine, occasioned by the high tem- 

 perature of the steam, excuse the negligence of not having 

 profited by this resource in case of famine. The learned phi- 

 lanthropist. Cadet de Vaux, with a view to remedy the incon- 

 venience just mentioned, proposed to crush bones in the first 



