1 64 THE PRESERVATION OF MEAT, ETC. 



reproduction, and, as a matter of fact, A. KOCH (III.) found very many bacteria 

 in fish that had been treated in this way. 



If the meat be not stored at low temperatures, but merely put in the ice-chest 

 or laid on ice, whereby it attains, in the most favourable instances, a tempera- 

 ture of o C., then, as follows from the already reported labours of Forster and 

 others, an increase of the initial number of germs ensues. To the activity of 

 such cold-supporting organisms is attributable the peculiar, disagreeable taste 

 and smell acquired by edibles after remaining in the ice-chest for a few days. 

 Actual putrefaction is not, however, produced by these bacteria. 



We must not lose the present opportunity of issuing a warning against 

 bringing food-stuffs in immediate contact with natural ice, since this substance 

 contains not only numerous putrefactive bacteria, but also, under certain circum- 

 stances, pathogenic germs (especially typhus bacilli) as well. In this connection 

 we may refer to the researches into the bacterium content of ice that have been 

 made by C. FEAENKEL (V.), BORDONI-UFFKEDUZZI (II.), F. PEUDDEN (I.), and 

 A. HEYROTH (I.). In the cooling chambers of large abattoirs of the arrange- 

 ment of which there is an excellent description in a work by OSTHOFF (I.) the 

 meat is not exposed to this source of infection. 



The well-known fact that frozen meat, when thawed, undergoes decompo- 

 sition more rapidly than fresh meat is easily explained. The cellular structure 

 is loosened by freezing, and access to the interior is thereby facilitated for any 

 organisms present on the surface. 



130. Dried Meat and Salted Meat. 



The development and activity of the organisms exciting decomposition can 

 also be prevented by depriving them of the water necessary for metabolism. 

 The drying of meat has been practised, particularly in hot countries, from the 

 earliest times. The resulting conserve is known in South America under the 

 names of pemmican, charque, and tassajo. The process is as simple as it is 

 reliable, and has a great future in prospect, especially for the provisioning of 

 armies in the field. In the method of treatment hitherto practised, the meat 

 during drying suffers a great depreciation in flavour, but in recent years Hof- 

 mann and Meinert have devised and patented a process for the artificial drying 

 of meat without removing or destroying its flavouring matters. By this process 

 a Bremen firm manufactures a meat meal met with in commerce under the name 

 of Came pura. 



Under the same name inferior meat meals only fit for cattle food are shipped 

 to Europe from Argentina ; these are prepared from waste materials and require 

 some care in handling. The drying of flesh does not, of course, result in the 

 killing of all the bacteria present therein, and if the flesh of cattle suffering from 

 epidemic diseases has been employed, then, under the defective conditions of 

 live-stock inspection in South America, disease germs will be disseminated 

 by means of such infected food. A case of this kind has been reported by 

 R. BURRI (I.). 



The most important example of dried flesh is afforded by the dried cod-fish 

 (stock-fish), which forms the chief article of export from the Scandinavian 

 peninsula. It contains, in the dry state, nearly 80 per cent, of albumen, and 

 constitutes a favourite and cheap article of food among the poorer classes in 

 Central Europe. 



The salting and pickling of meat is generally credited with great efficacy, 

 but a closer examination reveals that it is really only the hygroscopicity of the 

 salt that comes into play and that the sole power the latter possesses is that of 

 setting up plasmolysis in the germs present in, or subsequently conveyed to, the 



