Polytechnic Association Proceedings. gQl 



by Gen. M. C. Meigs, engiueer-in-chief of the Washington aque- 

 duct. This aqueduct brings the water of the Potomac river over 

 sixteen miles, and is capable of supplying one hundred million 

 gallons per day. 



FRENCH METHOD OF PRESERVING MEAT. 



Frangois Cerio, of Turin, exhibited at the Paris Exposition an 

 apparatus for preserving all flesh and other kinds of food usually 

 treated by salt or saltpetre. It consists of an air-tight receiver, 

 which has two stop-cocks and pipes, one connected with an air- 

 pump used for producing a vacuum in the receiver, and the other 

 with a vessel containing a solution of common salt; with the addi- 

 tion of from two to five per cent of nitrate of potash (saltpetre), 

 if meat of a high color is required. After the meat is placed in 

 the receiver, and the cover is fitted air-tight, the passage connect- 

 ing with the air-pump is opened, and the air is exhausted, if 

 possible, down to five millimetres pressure. The passage is then 

 closed, and the other stop-cock is opened, allowing the brine to 

 overflow the meat for a few minutes, when the meat is removed and 

 hung up to drain and dry, and in a place where it can receive fresh 

 currents of air. After a few days it will be fit to be packed in a 

 case and sent any distance. In this operation the meat subjected 

 to an approximate vacuum swells up to about one-third more than 

 its original bulk, and, in consequence of this wide opening of the 

 pores, the brine is rapidly absorbed, and in such quantities as to 

 insure the preservation of the substance, if not indefinitely, at 

 least until it could be transported to very distant places. By this 

 process the fibrin, albumen, creatine and other nutritive qualities 

 are preserved, and the interior of the meat retains its original color, 

 odor and taste, and when cooked the trace of the salt is so slight 

 that it may be substituted without objection for the meat of recently- 

 killed animals. The principal advantages claimed in the process 

 are the rapidity and certainty of complete preservation, and the 

 saving of about eighty per cent of the salt and saltpetre usually 

 applied. 



An interesting discussion followed the reading of the last item. 



Dr. Rowell said he believed it was not true. Dr. Lardner tried 

 the plan many years ago, and the meat spoiled in three days. 



Mr. S. H. Maynard said the same thing had been done long since 

 in this country, and the preserved meats by a similar process had 

 been shown at the American Institute. 



