THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



70 



meat which we wish to preserve to the smoke 

 of burning wood, of which creosote is the effec- 

 tive constituent, or else in immersing it for a 

 short time in water containing a few drops of 

 creosote. Articles of food prepared by either 

 of these methods may be kept for a long time; 

 but both these modes of using the creosote are 

 attended with the inconvenience that the food 

 acquires the taste and smell peculiar to smoked 

 meat. This may be entirely avoided. During 

 the past summer it struck me that perhaps the 

 vapors of creosote might be found efficient. — 

 The method adopted was the following very 

 simple one: I placed a small plate containing a 

 little creosote under each piece of meat as it 

 hung suspended in the larder, and covered both 

 over with a cloth. The creosote soon gave off 

 vapors which formed an antiseptic atmosphere 

 around the meat, and kept it quite fresh three 

 or four days longer than it would otherwise have 

 kept. If the plate is gently heated before the 

 creosote is put into it the vapors rise more 

 quickly, and if the additional precaution is taken 

 of suspending the meat in a box or jar closed 

 w T ith a lid the beneficial effect is still more dis- 

 cernible. I tried this process during the greater 

 part of last summer with invariable success, and 

 a butcher, who tried it on a larger scale, was 

 equally convinced of its efficacj 7 . The meat 

 when cooked has not the slightest smell or taste 

 of creosote. Another advantage attending the 

 use of creosote is, its smell is so disagreeable to 

 flies that it frees a larder from the presence of 

 these noxious insects. The same quantify of 

 creosote may be used for weeks, but on being 

 long exposed to the air it loses most of its 

 smell, and is partly changed into a species of 

 resin. — Dr. Sienhouse's New Mode of Employing 

 Creosote for the Preservation of JSleat and Fish. 



Our farmers are much incommoded by the 

 liability of having their fresh meat spoiled before 

 it can be consumed, during the summer months, 

 and we should like very much to ascertain if 

 there is any thing really practical and valuable 

 in the preventive recommended above. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 CHEWING THE FOOD. 



Mr. Editor, — I do not wish to run down a 

 subject too for ; but a little work of the cele- 

 brated Dr. Abernethy contains three paragraphs, 

 which display the importance of thorough c/iciv- 

 ing so happily, that I cannot forbear asking you 

 to insert them, as a confirmation of what I said 

 in your February number concerning ripe bread. 



"For the purpose of reducing our food to a 

 pulp or paste, we are provided with an appara- 

 tus more complete than those who have not ex- 

 amined the subject can conceive. The teeth 



are admirably adapted to grind the food ; and 

 the tongue, with its flexibility and its endless 

 motions, to turn it. in the mouth, while it is mixed 

 with a fluid supplied in abundance from several 

 pairs of fountains or glands in the vicinity, from 

 which pipes or ducts are laid, and run into the 

 mouth. 



"The whole surface, indeed, of the mouth 

 and tongue, as well as the other internal parts 

 of the body, give out more or less moisture; but 

 this is not enough for the purposes of mixture 

 with the food in eating, without the fluid, popu- 

 larly termed spittle, (saliva,) prepared by the 

 fountain glands. 



"When the food has been properly masticated, 

 comminuted, and mixed with saliva, it is pre- 

 pared for digestion in the stomach: but it is 

 most important to remark, that if it is not tho- 

 roughly mixed with the fluid in the mouth, it will 

 be unfitted far digestion, and will probably derange 

 the health. So indispensable is this, that serious 

 diseases, arising from indiges'.ion, have been 

 cured simply by ordering the food to be eaten 

 slowly, and carefully mixed with the saliva. It 

 is worthy of remark, that no kind of drink will 

 supply the place of this singular fluid. 11 



In another place, Dr. Abernethy says it is a 

 fact of great importance, that the stomach can- 

 not digest food when it is diluted with water or 

 other fluids : they must all be removed before 

 digestion can proceed. He adds, "there is not 

 a more pernicious, vulgar error, than that which 

 ascribes rich nourishment to beef tea, mutton 

 broth, and other strong soups; for no digestion 

 can go on, while the stomach is full of liquid." 

 Hence we may infer, that the common practice 

 of drinking even water, at or soon after meals, 

 is hurtful, — by impeding digestion. 



An anecdote of Count Rumford (that illus- 

 trious New Englander,) strikingly shows the 

 economy of good chewing. He told the Elector 

 of Bavaria, that there was a very simple means, 

 by which he might feed his troops at half the 

 actual cost. " How ?" — said the Elector. " By 

 obliging them to masticate each mouthful of 

 their food twice as leng as they usually do," re- 

 plied Rumford. "It will go twice as far, and 

 half the quantity wdl do." 



By the bye, the greatest of living writers 

 uses this anecdote to check the voracity of those 

 book-gluttons, who are continually stuffing them- 

 selves with literary trash, which they neither 

 chew nor digest. There can be no doubt, says 

 Macaulay, that one page, digested, noirishes the 

 mind more than a volume, devoured. 



Medicus. 



We are in frequent and intimate communica- 

 tion with an old physician of rare attainments 

 and very great celebrity: he is a curiosity in 

 his way, and has no doubt cured as well as killed 



