8 THE CANNING OF FOODS. 



vation. His work was stimulated by offers of reward on the part of 

 the Government for better methods of preparing foods for the army 

 and navy. According to Appert's own story he was unsuccessful 

 until 1804. At that time he learned the secret of preserving by heat 

 in a sealed container, then continued his experiments until 1810, when 

 he published his methods in detail. According to the records he 

 succeeded with many products and produced results which it would 

 be difficult to improve upon at this time. The essential points in the 

 method described by him are that the food to be preserved is placed 

 in glass bottles with water and corked carefully, after which the 

 bottle is placed in a water bath and heated for a period dependent 

 upon the nature of the food used. At the end of the heating period 

 the bottles are removed from the bath and cooled. By this method 

 the temperature attained was from 190 to 200 F., the maximum 

 being 212 F. He says ? " I chose glass as the matter most impen- 

 etrable by air and have not ventured to experiment with vessels of 

 any other substance." Appert's publication won for him the prize 

 of 12,000 francs offered by the French Government and general recog- 

 nition as the founder of the art of canning. 



In 1807 a Mr. Saddington presented a paper before the English 

 Society of Arts, entitled "A method of preserving fruits without 

 sugar for house or sea stores." Mr. Saddington did not claim the 

 discovery of the method, and being a traveler it is supposed that he 

 learned the general facts abroad, though he may have made some 

 modifications. His method was essentially as follows : The fruit was 

 placed in bottles and loosety corked. The bottles were placed in 

 cold water up to the neck, heat applied gradually until 75 C. was 

 reached, and then kept at that temperature for an hour. After this, 

 the bottles were filled with boiling water, corked lightly, and laid 

 on their sides to swell the cork. Later the corks were cemented. 



Peter Durand, early recognizing the possibilities of preserved foods, 

 took out an English patent in 1810, covering both the preserving of 

 " animal, vegetable, and other perishable foods." and also the con- 

 tainer, covering " vessels made of glass, pottery, tin, or any metal, or 

 fit materials." The essential feature of the preservation was that the 

 food be heated and hermetically sealed in the container. This is the 

 first record of using the tin can as a container ; therefore its invention 

 is attributed to Mr. Durand. It is known, however, that even pre- 

 vious to 1800 the Dutch put up fish in tin, though their methods were 

 not those now generally recognized for canning. The fish, on being 

 caught, were dressed at once, boiled for a short time in salt brine, and 

 smoked for two days, after which they were put in the cans, covered 

 with hot butter or olive oil, and sealed. The tin can was practically 

 coincident with the art of canning. 



