THE QUARTERLY 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
JANUARY, 1868. 
I. ON AN EXTRANEOUS MEAT SUPPLY. 
By James Samvenson, Editor. 
. THERE is no subject which has engaged the attention of the British 
public during the last few years, of such paramount importance as 
the great “meat question.” That staple food of our countrymen of 
all ranks has been gradually becoming more costly and difficult of 
acquirement; the highest class of agriculturists, the lettered men 
of the farm, although they have lost no opportunity to improve our 
breeds of domestic cattle, have observed with anxiety the constantly 
increasing demand and the disproportionate supply of live-stock ; 
whilst our labouring classes, the muscle and sinew of the nation, 
have found the description of food which is, to them, indispensable 
for the performance of their daily toil receding month by month 
from their reach. And in this, as in all similar emergencies, it is 
becoming the fashion to look to “Science” for aid, and to censure 
her should the relief not be immediate and effective. Our coal 
supply threatens to fail us—‘ Science” must enable us to penetrate 
more deeply into the bowels of the earth; and whilst she teaches 
us to economize and husband our present supply, must provide us 
with a larger store in the future. She, too, must bring distant lands 
nearer, enabling us to draw upon their mineral wealth. Already we 
are told that an exorbitant price in the London market would 
attract a supply of coal from Westphalia. Civil war sweeps over 
the great cotton-growing districts of the West, and, in consequence, 
famine makes rapid inroads into our manufacturing centres. The 
products of other lands in the far East are considered unfit for our 
purposes ; but soon the staple is improved abroad, new machinery 
is fitted up at home, and the bitter cup is averted by “ Science.” 
Nor must it be supposed, because one section of the scientific 
community is directing its attention to abstract questions with re- 
spect to food, as, for example, the relative heat-giving and work- 
sustaining properties of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous substances, 
VOL. V. B 
