50 PRESERVATION OF FOOD BY REFRIGERATION ; 
own immediate wants and requirements. When, however, 
we come to consider the matter in a broader and more 
general sense, it is then that the great capabilities of the 
subject become evident, and it is seen to be of national 
importance. 
The late Sir J. P. Bell stated, and probably with truth, 
that the time would come when the export of meat would 
approach in value that of wool; and when we look at the 
great and increasing populations in Europe, with their food 
supply already insufficient, as evidenced by the enormous 
and ever-increasing importations from America and else- 
where, we cannot but be struck by the truth of his remarks. 
A careful study of the price-lists of meat imported from 
America, and the consideration of the cost of its production 
in the great cattle-raising States, make it evident that beef 
and mutton can be grown here at as small a cost as in any 
of these countries, especially when regard is had to the prices 
at which cattle and sheep are sold by the growers in these 
colonies. Up to the present time, the greatest drawbacks 
to a successful development of such a trade seem to be, 
not in the supply being deficient, or the quality inferior, 
but in the difficulties of preparation and transport, and the 
cost of conveying the chilled meat to the place of consump- 
tion. Not the least difficulty, however, is to be found in 
the want of scientific knowledge on the subject of refrigera- 
tion and preservation in all its branches. This lies at the 
very root of the matter, and before any successful attempt 
at refrigeration can be made, it is necessary to have some 
knowledge of the causes which produce decomposition and 
putrefaction ; of the laws which govern the transmission of 
heat, and the process of cooling; what heat itself is, and 
how it operates in the preservation or otherwise of perishable 
articles of food; and what is the action of cold, or, in other 
words, the absence of heat. All these questions should be 
carefully considered, as, without a precise knowledge of the 
various and complicated actions of nature, any work 
attempted in the above direction is simply striking at 
random, or, at best, working upon some antiquated and 
obsolete theory, which will mislead our endeavours, and 
bring about failure and loss. Also, in the construction of 
buildings for the purpose of refrigeration, a great want of 
