422 EVENING DISCOURSES 
our imports of fresh or slightly salted meat were 45,000 cwt. ; in 1932 over 
30 million cwt. were imported, thanks largely to refrigeration. 
To-day practically all the cold used for preserving food is artificially 
produced, and the achievement of the refrigerating engineer during the 
past fifty years can only be described as prodigious. Here are a few facts 
to illustrate the advances which have been made. Whereas sixty years ago 
there was no refrigerating machine and no cold storage provided in ships, 
to-day the refrigerated space used in bringing foodstuffs overseas to this 
country alone amounts to not less than 100 million cubic feet, equivalent 
to a floating cold store 20 ft. high, 50 ft. wide and 20 miles long. 
The capacity of the public cold stores in Great Britain amounts to about 
half of this, while our annual output of artificial ice is one and a quarter 
million tons, of which the fishing industry uses three-quarters of a million 
tons. 
REFRIGERATED IMPORTS. 
What do these ships and stores and ice do forus ? Here, in round figures, 
are some of the main items which the ships brought us in 1932 : 
Meat . 2 , F : . 1,500,000 tons 
Fruit . : : : 500,006" & 
Butter and cheese - : L 2 MS O0s0007F 
Eggs in shell ¢ 4 ; . 480 millions 
Fish . ‘ f : ‘ : 69,000 tons 
So much for quantity, impressive enough in itself, but not, perhaps, so 
impressive as the way in which mechanical refrigeration has enabled this 
country to obtain its food from the four corners of the earth. Not fewer 
than thirty countries contribute to our food-supply by the help of refrigera- 
tion, and it may truly be said that the food which we eat is now practi- 
cally independent of the seasons. Apples are now obtainable in excellent 
condition, and at prices within the means of the bulk of the population, the 
whole year round. North America supplements our home-grown crop 
and carries us through till April, when Australia and New Zealand take up 
the task and supply us till our own season comes round again. South 
Africa refreshes us with her oranges and grape-fruits throughout the summer, 
and at Christmas graces our tables with her peaches, pears, nectarines and 
plums. 
Before artificial refrigeration came, the population was obliged to depend 
for its food, other than relatively imperishable products, such as cereals, 
upon an area within a radius of a few hours’ journey. As the density of 
the population increased, these areas became less and less able to furnish 
the necessary supplies, and had such conditions persisted, the dietary of the 
population must have suffered severely. As it is, refrigeration has had 
the effect of rendering dense populations less and less dependent upon 
adjacent agricultural areas for their food. But for refrigeration, the density 
of the population found in Great Britain could hardly have been possible. 
Such was the kind of knowledge that was available to Hardy when he 
commenced his work in 1917. ‘The risé and achievements of the refri- 
gerating engineer were apparent to him, and he realised all that they meant 
politically and socially. He was fond of pointing to a coster’s barrow piled 
with fruit in winter-time, and summing up the situation in such words as 
‘ Science and the Engineer. Fruit for the poorest all the year round!’ 
But, as I have already stated, a survey from the outside did not satisfy 
Hardy. He deemed it essential to find out why refrigeration preserved 
food ; this was not possible without more knowledge of the nature of food 
