SCIENCE. — P UBLISHER'S DEPARTMENT. 



tigated the question of antiseptics, he found 

 the properties and chemical analyses of the 

 different kinds of food, and then, after thou- 

 sands of experiments, having fully learned 

 what antiseptics and what proportions were 

 best adapted for each, he compounded his 

 preparations intelligently, each to the purpose 

 for which it is especially designed. Herein lies 

 his success, and it is herein that all others 

 have failed. 



VIII. HIGH TESTIMONY. 



The famous Miss Juliet Corson, in a recent 

 article in "Harper's Bazar," on "Diet for 

 Invalids," and treating especially of game and 

 poultry, says, — 



" While the general rule holds good, that fresh food 

 is the most wholesome, and that actual decay in ani- 

 mal flesh used for food is aj^t to produce symptoms 

 of irritant poisoning, game is often eaten in an ad- 

 vanced stage of decomposition without any percep- 

 tible injury to the epicure. Microscopic examination 

 of meat which has been exposed to a medium sum- 

 mer temperature .from 85° to 90° Fahrenheit, for 

 three or four days, proves the development, at that 

 stage, of a minute organism, termed by physiologists 

 the death vibrio. This parasite seems to be present 

 in other meats than pork, and, like trichinie, is not 

 destroyed by the process of salting and smoking 

 meat, or of curing it in brine. There is no reason to 

 suppose that the flesh of game is exempt from the 

 presence of this natural product of decomposition. 

 When meats containing it are imperfectly cooked, 

 their consumption produces gastric disturbance, 

 sometimes fatal in its result. As game is generally 

 broiled or roasted, the action of intense heat may 

 destroy the septic influence of the organism. 



" I have considered this rather unpleasant- subject 

 at length with the hope that when game is ordered 

 for an invalid the caterer may be induced to supply 

 it as fresh as possible. As a rule, the flesh of game 

 is less dense and tough than that of domestic animals, 

 so that there is not the same reason for keeping it, in 

 order to let it become tender by the first action of 

 decomposition. Game is also more digestible than 

 butcher's meat, and for that reason may be eaten 

 fresher. Its comparative freedom from fat makes it 

 relatively more nutritious, while its intense flavor is 

 tempting to the appetite. As the taste of the flesh 

 and blood of game is nearly identical, the latter is 

 generp,lly carefully preserved in cooking." 



It is in such cases as referred to by Miss 

 Corson that Rex Magnus plays a most impor- 

 tant part. It is of the utmost moment that the 

 food of invalids, as well as of people in good 



health, should be tempting in qualitj- and ap- 

 pearance, appetizing in flavor, and tender and 

 easy of mastication ; but at the same time, 

 and above all, it must be perfectly sweet and 

 fresh. Special care must also be taken that 

 the living creature from which it is derived was 

 in a pei'fect state of health, as otherwise germs 

 of disease may be taken into the weak and 

 enfeebled system, which perhaps would have 

 no detrimental effect upon a state of health. 

 Rex Magnus will, as we have already shown, 

 enable invalids and others to keep meats, wild 

 game, and other like delicacies, in a condition 

 perfectly sweet and fresh for any reasonable 

 time : sweet-breads have been kept four mouths, 

 and cream nearlj' as long, and both sweet, and 

 known as difficult to keep. Game can be 

 treated with it when first killed, and then 

 shipped to market ; or, hy taking care to pur- 

 chase only that which, is sound and good, it 

 can be treated at home, and then kept until 

 wanted, improving in quality, and growing 

 more tender, digestible, and wholesome. It 

 goes farther, and is of even greater value to the 

 million as a preventive of disease and an aid 

 to health. It not onlj- arrests and prevents 

 decaj', and thereby obviates the danger of eat- 

 ing partially decomposed food, but it counter- 

 acts and destroys anj- hidden germs of disease, 

 and renders all articles treated by it wholesome 

 and harmless. In this respect it is a great 

 boon to mankind. 



Professor Humiston is a little over fiftv 

 years of age, is a native of that grand old 

 town. Great Barrington, Mass. He received 

 his M.A. at the Western Reserve College. He 

 has the honor of being a Fellow of the Chemi- 

 cal Societ}' of London, and also of the Geo- 

 logical Society, being elected after unusually 

 severe examinations. President Huxley, of 

 the latter society, said that " no American 

 should boast of an election without a hard 

 struggle. ' ' In evidence of this prejudice toward 

 Americans, the fact that Professor Humiston 

 was given two hundred and fifty questions — 

 five times the usual number — may be cited. 

 He is now superintendent of the company's 

 works, which will insure the most careful prod- 

 uct for this " mightj' king " of food- preserva- 

 tives. This company is meeting with great 

 success, and deservedlv. 



