56 Facts in Physiological Chemistry. [Julyj 



self or boiled with water is tasteless, and that the water in which 

 the fibre has been boiled derives no taste. The fibre, by boiling, 

 becomes hard and altogether unpalatable. 



All the ingredients having odor or taste, may of course be ab- 

 stracted with cold water. They are contained in the flesh-fluid 

 of slaughtered animals. 



You will not wonder, my most respected sir, if I now turn to 

 receipts for the kitchen. 



It follows from the above, that one can make for himself, in a 

 few minutes, the best and strongest broth, (Fleisch-briihe, Bouil- 

 lon de viande:) if, e. g. a pound of finely chopped beef (mince) 

 with a pound (pint) of cold water, be carefully mixed and then 

 slowly heated to boiling, and the fluid separated from the solid 

 parts by pressing through clean cloth. This broth, with the usual 

 condiments (broiled onions, vegetables, salt, etc.) added, will fur- 

 nish a dish beyond the criticism of the most fastidious gourmand. 



Longer boiling will not necessarily make the extract stronger. 



If the broth be slowly evaporated over a water bath, it will be- 

 become brown, and assume a fine taste like broiled meat. If 

 evaporated (by exceedingly gentle heat,) to dryness, it yields a 

 brown mass, of which, upon a journey, for example, half an ounce 

 would convert a pound (pint) of water into the strongest broth. 



By boiling a piece of meat in the water, a separation of the 

 solution from the insoluble ingredients takes place. The soluble 

 ingredients go into the extract — the broth — the soup. Among 

 these besides those bodies mentioned above, are the alkaline phos- 

 phates. The thoroughly boiled meat contains no alkaline phos- 

 phates. 



Now as these salts are necessary for the formation of the blood, 

 it is clear that the fully boiled* meat, by the loss of them, loses its 

 capacity to become either blood, or through blood to become flesh: 

 it loses: its nutriment when eaten ivithout the juices — the extract. 



In the extract the materials for the formation of albumen and 

 fibrin, are both wanting. Jilone also, it is not nourishing. Both 

 must be eaten together. The method of roasting is obviously the 

 best to make flesh most nutritious. But as the extract — the broth 

 — contains all the. ingredients of the acid gastric juice, it may 

 perhaps be the best agent to aid the process of digestion in cases 

 of dyspepsia. 



Finally, I have found that the brine which forms in the salting 

 of meat, contains all the ingredients of the flesh-fluid. The com- 

 position of salted meat is essentially different from that of fresh 

 meat — inasmuch as phosphoric acid, lactic acid, and the salts of 



• By this term it is intended to convey the idea of boiled till no further 

 change occurs, or nothing more is extracted. 



