SMOKED MEATS AND CORNED BEEF. 215 



danger to be dreaded from that source. The case is, however, 

 different as far as animals affected with tuberculosis or swine 

 erysipelas are concerned. 



In a former paragraph the prevalence of tubercular affections 

 among cattle was mentioned, and this should be sufficient to deter 

 the reader from indulging in uncooked beef, whether in the form 

 of "beefsteak a la tartare" or uncooked pickled beef. It is well 

 known that the flesh of swine that have been compulsorily 

 slaughtered on account of swine erysipelas is offered for sale ; 

 hence it naturally follows that many kinds of ("wurst") sausages 

 that are made from raw flesh, and eaten in an uncooked state, will 

 contain pathogenic germs. 



131. Smoked Meats and Corned Beef. 



Smoking forms a more reliable means of preserving meat from 

 putrefaction, the real active agents in the process being the 

 vapours of phenol, creosote, and allied compounds present in the 

 smoke. Beech wood being found to yield the smoke containing 

 the largest quantities of these substances, is therefore held in 

 particular esteem for this purpose. The volatile distillation pro- 

 ducts of heated wood chips are condensed on the pieces of flesh, 

 and arrest the development of the bacteria. Since, however 

 as A. SERAFINI and G. UNGARO (I.) have shown these anti- 

 septics do not penetrate far into the flesh, and are therefore 

 unable to exert much action in the interior of the pieces, smoking 

 can only be effectual when it is a question of preserving fresh 

 meat (from healthy animals) which is only superficially infested 

 with germs. The manner in which the process is carried out in 

 practice very often leaves much to be desired ; and thus it is 

 as shown by the exhaustive researches of H. BEU (I.) and A. 

 SERAFINI (I.) that the germ-content of commercial smoked meat. 

 varies considerably. The salting which precedes smoking, though 

 of such little efficacy in itself, is nevertheless useful, and forms an 

 essential part of the process, by withdrawing water from the meat, 

 and thus facilitating the penetration of the smoke. The certain 

 destruction of pathogenic germs is not effected by smoking, Petri 

 having found that the flesh of swine affected with swine erysipelas 

 contained erysipelas bacilli in a state of undiminished vigour, after 

 immersion for a month in brine, followed by careful smoking for 

 fourteen days. A similar unfavourable result was obtained by 

 J. FORSTER (III.) in the case of smoked meat from tuberculous 

 animals. 



The best method at present available for the preservation of 

 meat consists in steaming the same in vessels which remain her- 

 metically closed up to the time the meat is eaten. Such a food is 

 known as preserved meat (in the restricted sense), or as tinned 

 meat, the quality most in demand being corned beef (chiefly 



