74 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



it supple, about a pint of glycerine is occasionally incorporated 

 with a hundred weight of the mass. It is less permeable than 

 ordinary sole leather, harder, closer, more compact, and 50 

 per cent, cheaper than the natural hide. It is not suited for 

 machine bands or harness, but is well adapted for boots and 

 shoes, especially for nailed soles and heels, and for inner soles. 

 It promises to be an important branch of economic industry in 

 utilizing a very abundant waste material. — Mechanics' Magazine. 



SUPPLY OF FRESH MEAT. 



Fresh meat has of late years become more and more costly, 

 notwithstanding the improvement in the breeds of cattle and in 

 the manufacture of artificial food ; so that the laboring classes, 

 the bone and sinew of the country, find it difiicult to obtain, in 

 sufficient quantity and of good quality, the animal food which ex- 

 perience shows to be necessary for the daily performance of hard 

 work in temperate and cold climates. Cattle-plagues, the dev- 

 astation of war, the increase of population, and the greed of 

 man, have all combined to produce this unfortunate result. The 

 public naturally look to scientific men for the remedy. 



Much attention has been given to the relative heat-giving and 

 work-sustaining properties of nitrogenous and carbonaceous sub- 

 stances, in the matter of food in the abstract ; while the chemist 

 and the meat-curer have devised many methods for preserving 

 meat both for home and foreign consumption. The perishable 

 nature of animal food has been a serious obstacle in the way of 

 bringing it from distant points in a fresh condition, and the un- 

 avoidable difficulties in the way of securing proper food, water, 

 air, and rest, render cattle thus transported more or less diseased, 

 and their flesh unwholesome. Among the processes for preserving 

 meat may be mentioned that of Baron Liebig for the manufacture 

 of "Extractum Carnis," described in the "Annual of Scientific 

 Discovery," for 1866-67, pp. 90-93. By this the nutritive properties 

 of meat are condensed into a portable form, highly concentrated, 

 of reasonable price, and extensively used in the preparation of 

 soup, especially for armies and hospitals. Eight small cans will hold 

 the concentrated alimentary matter of a whole ox, sufficient for 

 1,000 basins of good strong soup, at about 2 cents a basin. 

 Morgan's process (see "Annual of Scientific Discovery," 1865, 

 pp. 52-3) is based on forced infiltration, and makes use of the 

 circulatory system for introducing the solution of brine and nitre, 

 instead of the usual method of applying salt outwardly. In the 

 process of McCall and Sloper ("Annual of Scientific Discovery," 

 1866-67, p. 94:) bisulphite of soda is used ; and in that of Medlock 

 and Bailey ("Annual of Scientific Discovery," 1868, p. 80) the 

 bisulphite of lime ; both used by injection. Chemical preservative 

 operations have not as yet inspired much confidence in the public, 

 and, by all, the natural flavor of the meat must be more or less 

 impaired. 



The most valuable as well as the simplest system is the one 



