MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 75 



ordinarily practised in this coiintr}^ namely, of packing the meat in 

 tin cases, varying in weight from 1 to 6 lbs. As practised by 

 McCall in England, after the raw meat is tightly packed in the 

 cans, a little water is added and the lids closed, a small hole beino* 

 left in each. A considerable number are then placed, in such a 

 manner as to leave the upper part exposed, in a boiling solution 

 of cliloride of calcium. While the contents of the cans are boilin'T', 

 the water escapes as steam through the holes in the lids. When 

 the air is expelled, the holes are soldered up, and the tins trans- 

 ferred to a bath at 260^*, when, should any be imperfectly soldered, 

 they begin to leak. After boiling for some time the meat is in a 

 fit state for being kept any length of time. In order to ascertain 

 if the air has been perfectly excluded, the cans are placed in a 

 dry chamber at about 90^, and there left for a time. If, on a light 

 tap at the upper end a hollow sound is emitted, indicating a space 

 below, the workman is satisfied that there is a vacuum and that 

 the can is perfect ; if the sound be dull, as if the meat were in 

 contact with the lid, the can is set aside. 



Without going to the river Plate, we have in our plains of Texas 

 and the new States and territories west of the Mississippi, an 

 inexhaustible storehouse from which to draw our supply of first- 

 quality meat, to be preserved on the spot by the last-named 

 simple process, and to be brought to the north and east to suppl}' 

 the demand for animal food, which, at present, for the reasons 

 above named, is too expensive for the subsistence of the laboring 

 classes, who most need its life-sustaining properties. Establish- 

 ments of this kind, conducted by competent and trustworthy 

 persons, could not fail to be highly remunerative for years to 

 come. 



PROCESSES FOR PRESERVING MEAT. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 Prof. Gamgee, of London, offered some remarks on antiseptics for 

 the preservation of meats. He stated that the insufficiency of the 

 supply of animal food in the markets of Great Britain had led him 

 to investigate the various groups of maladies affecting cattle in 

 the Old World, especially those which spread with such frightful 

 rapidity from one country to another through the lines of transit 

 of cattle trains; but efforts in that direction proving only partially 

 successful, and the price of many kinds of meat having risen from 

 30 to 40 per cent, in 17 years, he had commenced in 1865 a series 

 of experiments on preserving meats in bulk, without the use of 

 salt or desiccation. 



The conclusion was early reached that the tissues of the animal 

 should be fixed previous to its death. Ingredients containing tan- 

 nin were first used, and the carcasses, which were packed in fat, 

 remained in good condition for a great length of time ; this failed, 

 however, in the case of one animal, which persistently refused to 

 partake of the drug ; and as herds of cattle could not readily be in- 

 duced to feed on tannin, some other expedient was necessary. 

 Having proved the antiseptic effects of carbonic oxide gas by its 



