Nov. 1 6, 1876] 



NATURE 



5! 



cessfuUy applied as to give some hope that this or some 

 other chemical process will aid us in this important 

 question. 



The author gives some useful details and statistics 

 regarding the " tinned meat " process. This well-known 

 method depends upon the exclusion of air by the substi- 

 tution of steam, and in the consequent destruction of 

 organic germs. So far as mere preservation is concerned, 

 it has undoubledly proved a great success, and has 

 already been of some benefit to us ; but the long cooking 

 process hitherto employed to expel the air has so de- 

 stroyed the texture of the meat as to have rendered its 

 use unpopular in spite of the efforts of enthusiasts to 

 force the over-cooked product upon an unwilling public. 

 So soon as the very primitive plan of heating the tins in 

 a bath of chloride of calcium for three or four hours be 

 replaced by one exhausting the air and replacing it by 

 steam at a high temperature successively, and occupying 

 no more than half an hour, then will the tinned meat pro- 

 cess prove a real success, and possess many advantages 

 over all others. Mr. Manley has done good service by 

 his description of what has been attempted, and though 

 he suggests but little himself, he may induce some of his 

 readers to experiment upon a matter of such national 

 importance. 



The paper on " Sugar Refining " is one of the best 

 contributions in the series, written by one not only 

 an able chemist but also a thoroughly practical .«;ugar 

 refiner. As a clear, accurate, and scientific exposi- 

 tion of an important industry it serves as an example 

 of what such contributions should be. Its only fault 

 is that it is somewhat too brief. After the usual 

 historical account of the industry, the author explains 

 the more important properties of sugar, and shows 

 how these are made use of in the various stages of 

 extraction and purification from the cane and the beet. 

 The author has not considered it within his province to 

 refer to the serious injury to our sugar manufacturers by 

 the heavy export premiums paid by the French nation on 

 all high class products exported to this country. Doubt- 

 less so soon as the French financiers have completely 

 extinguished the manufacture of loaf and other high class 

 sugars in England, they will then remove the export pre- 

 miums, being full well assured that the memory of the 

 ruined English sugar refiners will for a long time at least 

 deter our capitalists from competing with French re- 

 fineries. Though the " beet " produces one-third of the 

 total amount of sugar grown, and has proved of such 

 value to agriculture on the Continent, yet hitherto the 

 growth of beets for sugar manufacturing purposes has not 

 proved a success in our own country. Nor indeed is it 

 likely to prove remunerative so long as it pays better to 

 grow beef and mutton. In concluding this brief notice 

 we cannot refrain from once more praising the author's 

 valuable — though brief— contribution. 



Mr. Evans contributes a short article on dairy produce. 

 He gives some interesting information upon the factory 

 system of cheese-making introduced with so much success 

 into England within the last few years. It is to be re- 

 gretted that Mr. Evans has given no information upon 

 the mode of preparing the French, Italian, and Swiss 

 cheeses so much appreciated by connoisseurs. 



The article on " Brewing and Distilling " is a useful 



contribution on two important industries, by OQe evi 

 dently well acquainted with them. Some valuabl 

 statistics are given, showing the vast developmen 

 which has taken place in the production of alco 

 holic beverages in the United Kingdom. Accord 

 ing to the author, on March 31, 1873, there wer 

 31,010 brewers, 144,425 dealers and retailers of beei 

 The income derived from beer in 1873 amounted t 

 8,027,408/., a sum which fully explains the hesitation of th 

 present Government to please the agricultural interest b; 

 the removal of the malt-tax. In addition to these thirt 

 thousand brewers, of whom, however, only some thre 

 thousand are licensed common brewers — there are, i 

 appears, 318 distillers and rectifiers, producing 30,644,751 

 gallons of spirit, yielding a revenue of 14,895,769/, ; th 

 number of licences issued in 1875 to persons dealing ii 

 and retailing spirits was 138,845. The author calculate 

 that in the brewing and distilling industries, and in thos 

 originated and sustained by them, there is a capital c 

 two hundred millions invested. Without following Si 

 Wilfrid Lawson in all his statements, one cannot but viev 

 an annual consumption of twenty-eight to thirty million 

 of gallons of spirit as a most'serious feature in our socia 

 life. 



Those interested in this matter and desirous of obtain 

 ing a general knowledge of the technical processes, wil 

 with advantage consult Mr. Pooley's articles. In con 

 eluding this notice of the volume before us we mus 

 congratulate the publisher and the editor on their succes 

 in obtaining the aid of writers so well acquainted wit] 

 their respective subjects. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 



[The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expresset 

 by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return 

 or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manuscripts 

 No tiotice is taken of anonymous communications^ 



Sea Fisheries 



Mr Holdsworth, at the close of his animadversion 

 (Nature, vol. xv. p. 23) on the address I recently deliverec 

 in the Biological Section of the British Association at Glas<jow 

 says that he does not know on what evidence I gr.iunded m; 

 belief in the decline of our sea-fisheries. I am therefore anxiou 

 to state that the evidence to which I trusted in what I then sai< 

 was mainly, if not entirely, that collected by the Royal Commis 

 sion of which he was the hard-working secretary. The kindnes: 

 of my good friend in giving me private notice of his intention tc 

 make his comments public enables me the more promptly to fur 

 nish a reply to them, and for so doing he has my best thank=. 



I do not pretend to have read through the whole of the 1,50c 

 and odd somewhat closely-printed folio pnges which form the twc 

 " Blue-books " embodying the labours of that Commission. Bui 

 soon after they appeared — about ten years ago — I looked intc 

 them sufficiently, as I thought, to give me a fair notion of theii 

 contents. Whether that notion was mistaken your readers will b< 

 better able to judge by the time I have done. When I wrote mj 

 address I had not these books by me. I have since refreshed mj 

 memory by consulting them. I find that deep as was the im- 

 pression left by my first examination of them it is now stif 

 deeper, 'and were I to write my address over again I shouW 

 express myself in far stronger terms. 



The second and most bulky volume of these blue-books con' 

 tains the " Minutes of Evidence " taken before the Sea Fisheries 

 Commission, and reports the 61,831 questions and answers pul 

 by or given to the Commissioners. At first the attempt to find 

 the particular needles one may be seeking in this immense botth 

 of hay seems hopeless. But fortunately the volume (as most blue^ 

 books are) is furnished with a copious index, extending to 2$ 



