PRESERVING MEATS. 301 



The wants of Western Europe, especially of Great Britain, 

 and the resources of the New World, have opened up a vast 

 field for enterprise and investigation in relation to the preser- 

 vation and transportation of animal food. For more than a 

 century various processes have been devised, introduced and 

 often patented, and it may not be unimportant to state generally 

 the principles which have been involved in the successful plans 

 hitherto suggested. 



Drying meat in the sun, or artificially, forms the groundwork 

 of the simplest methods. The charqui or jerked beef of South 

 America and the lumps of beef preserved by savages, constitute 

 excellent examples. Travellers have often been amazed at the 

 absence of putrefaction and at the tendency to natural preser- 

 vation of the carcases of animals met with on many plains in 

 the South. Heat, with rapid currents of dry air not far from 

 the Atlantic coast, seems to furnish the conditions of this spon- 

 taneous process which has been modified in the hope of meeting 

 the wants of mankind in the manufacture of charqui. But 

 from time immemorial have the people in Scotland skinned and 

 cut up the carcases of sheep which had died of braxy, and 

 having squeezed much moisture out of the flesh, have smoke 

 dried the hams, once so eagerly sought after in the London 

 market. The fact that braxy hams were the produce of dis- 

 eased animals put an end to the trade when rapid communica- 

 tion with the British metropolis was first established. 



Salting meats came into great request with the development 

 of the European navies. The trade in salt provisions of all 

 kinds is only limited by supply, but it is evident to all that much 

 of the meat-juice is wasted. Simple salting is almost impossible 

 in hot countries, and the production of scurvy from the use of 

 such food must lead to the introduction of other processes of 

 preservation. By Dr. Morgan's process of injecting the salt into 

 the blood-vessels of animals, it was hoped some of the incon- 

 venience arising from the ordinary curing process might be 

 overcome ; but it has not realized the expectations of commer- 

 cial men. Antiseptic salts, such as the hyposulphites of soda 

 and bisulphite of lime, have been recommended to a limited 

 extent. 



Various plans have been successfully adopted for the preser- 

 vation of spiced and cooked meats. The Spaniards long since 



