952 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



to the dryness of circmnambient air, will, like frozen fisli, decompose on 

 exposure to warmtli. The decomposition is activated by atmospheric 

 impurity, and it is easy to understand how, in the mountains of Thibet, 

 the rarefied air, of great dryness, mobility, and freedom from putrefac- 

 tive germs, would satisfy the conditions for abstracting sufficient moist- 

 ure, even from frozen meat, whilst effectually precluding decay. Pure 

 dry air, either hot or cold, being an admu-able desiccant, is, under suita- 

 ble conditions, an excellent jireservative. The charqui of South America, 

 salted, it is true, is a product of sun-drying; and the desiccation of car- 

 casses without decomposition, on the plains, has been a matter of com- 

 mon observation. 



In preserving meat in England by the use of antiseptic gases, I en- 

 countered no difficulty, especially as to temperature; but in sending 

 meats to different parts of the world, I soon learned that close packages 

 favored mould, whereas a very mild preservative, with desiccation, would 

 keep meat at all temperatures. Some mutton that I brought over to 

 America with me from England in January, 18G8, having been well pre- 

 served by means of carbonic oxide and sulxDhiu-ous acid, arrived in New 

 York mouldy, from having been packed in canvas and wooden boxes. 

 The mould was scraped off and the meat proved excellent, some being eaten 

 in Chicago as late as September of 1808, having been preserved about 

 ten months. The meat was fresh and juicy. In Chicago and Texas the 

 difficulties of high temperature were encountered, and in the early part 

 of 1809 I first attempted the cooling of meat, for its after chemical pres- 

 ervation, by blowing air through a chamber in which bullocks and other 

 animals were hung. I adopted two plans : one with ice in the room, the 

 air-current being produced by a Eoot's blower; the other was by pass- 

 ing the air through a coil surrounded by frigorific mixtures. These ex- 

 periments satisfied me that diy cold-air currents were indispensable to 

 the preservation of meats in the South, and I was thus led to study the 

 Carre ice-machines in ]^ew Orleans. Thence I returned home, by way of 

 Washington, and devoted myself to the study of artificial refrigeration. 

 The best machine for my purpose at that time was Harrison's ether-ma- 

 chine, as constructed by Messrs. Siebe & West, and I erected one, shortly 

 after my return home, for the purpose of completing my investigations. 

 Three concrete chambers were built with a metal roof, over which the 

 cooled brine flowed and passed into an air-cooler composed of pipes, 

 through which the air i)assed and around which the brine flowed back to 

 the machine. As in Texas, I used a Boot's blower, and estabUshed a 

 continuous current, using the same air over and over again, so as to dry 

 and cool the meat. I used burnt air and sulphui'ous acid to complete the 

 l^reservation, and shii)ped large quantities of meat to all parts. The 

 result of all these costly and vaiied experiments may be summed up 

 under two heads : 



First. All meat packed in hermetically-sealed cans, in wooden boxes, 

 in salt and oat-hulls, like hams for the China trade, became mouldy and 



