124 STATES OF THE EIVER PLATE. 



can be packed in the smallest possible compass, will keep 

 for years, and a very small quantity mixed with hot water 

 makes a highly nutritious and palatable soup, to which 

 vegetables and farinaceous matters can be added. 



I am informed that there is an establishment forming, 

 or formed, in the Banda Oriental for the manufacture of 

 extract of meat ; and I have no doubt that, if such is tlie 

 case, the principle adopted in its preparation will be that 

 propounded by Liebig,* which has for many years been 

 practised in Europe ; but as the meat is there dear, and 

 the extract cannot be produced at a cost less than that of 

 the meat itself, it is only manufactured for special purposes 

 and limited consumption. If Buenos Ayres can supply 

 this extract at a price within reach of the mass, it will 

 prove very beneficial to the producers as well as to the 

 consumers. 



There is no secret in the principle,! but there are 

 doubtless many details which it would be necessary for 

 any party undertaking to prepare the extract to be well 

 informed of, and which the discoverer will have perfected. 



A fair field, if not a most extensive one, is here open 

 to capitalists. It is one method, at least, of utilising our 

 beef to the very best possible advantage, as no particle of 

 nutriment contained in the flesh is lost ; whereas in all 

 other known processes the loss is excessive, and is, more- 

 over, greatly augmented by the necessary operations of 

 washing, steeping, and cooking salted meats — the best 

 way of cooking which is to stew them with vegetables, 

 rice, farina, &c. as in that way such nutriment as they 



* Since writing this, I have learned that my supposition was correct ; 

 that the party in charge of the establishment received his instructions con- 

 cerning the process from Baron Liebig ; and that the extract bears his name, 

 and is a decided success. 



t See Liebig's Letters on Chemistry (4th edition), Letter XXXIL, and 

 Appendix, p. 520. 



