152 Lectures on the Besults of the 



They lose from 87 to 89 per cent, of their water, or seven-eighths of 

 their original weight, after which they are forcibly pressed into 

 cakes and are ready for use. I saw, a year ago, the original of a 

 letter from the captain of the Astrolabe, a French vessel of war, 

 speaking in the highest terms of the supply of these vegetables for 

 the use of that vessel during her voyage. The French navy generally 

 mentions them in the most favourable terms ; and no reason appears 

 for doubting such statements. The specimens before you are, I 

 repeat, seen under unfavourable circumstances. They ought to have 

 been kept in tin and protected from the air ; instead of which, they 

 have been lying about more than nine months in the Exhibition 

 building, where they have been exposed to considerable dampness. 

 Yet they are not injuriously affected, although they are absorbing 

 moisture, as must necessarily happen in a damp place, and which, 

 if it were to continue, would spoil them. Now, I think this is a 

 matter of more consequence than it may appear to be, for the fol- 

 lowing reason : It is usual to supply the navy with preserved food 

 of different kinds ; and I am informed by a distinguished officer of 

 the Antarctic expedition under Sir James Ross, that although all the 

 preserved meats used on that occasion were excellent, and there was 

 not the slightest ground for any complaint of their quality, yet the 

 crew became tired of the meat, but were never tired of the vegetables. 

 This should shew us that it is not sufficient to supply ship's crews 

 with preserved meat, but they should be supplied with vegetables also, 

 the means of doing which is now afforded. 



5. Preserved Meats. — Preserved meats are out of favour just 

 now. We hear of little except condemned canisters, which the 

 Admiralty, unfortunately, have in store. It is the more proper, 

 then, to state, that the evidence before the Jury went to shew, that 

 it is possible to preserve meat in canisters, without undergoing 

 any change, for a great length of time. We had hashed beef, 

 which was excellent, dating back to 1836 : we had boiled beef 

 fifteen years old, preserved in canisters, and many other speci- 

 mens, none of which were changed. It is clear, therefore, that 

 the canister process of preserving is good, provided you keep a 

 sharp eye on the contractors, and upon those who act under them. 



What is more important than all other preserved provisions, is 

 the article to which I must next request attention. A great deal 

 of interest was excited when the contents of the Exhibition first 

 became known — and it did not diminish afterwards — by a certain 

 meat-biscuit, introduced among the American exhibitions from 

 Texas, by Mr Gail Borden. We were told that its nutritive pro- 

 perties were of a high order : it was said that ten pounds weight of 

 it would he sufficient for the subsistence of an active man for thirty 

 days ; that it had been used in the American navy, and had been 

 found to sustain the strength of the men to whom it had been given 



