intended for the Conveyance of Fresh Provisions. 761 
whereas live animals can be kept over without serious depre- 
ciation. With a good meat-van the grazing districts of Scotland 
would send all their produce in this way, both on the ground 
of economy and on that of the superiority of the meat. It was 
stated by a witness before the Contagious Diseases of Animals 
Committee, and never in any way disputed, that meat slaughtered 
in Aberdeen close to where it was fed, made one halfpenny per 
pound more in the London market than meat from similar beasts 
killed in London, owing to the loss of condition and bloom in- 
cidental to a long journey. Nor is this all ; a considerable loss 
of weight occurs for each day that the beasts are exposed to the 
fatigue of travelling ; and it occasionally happens that if 
slaughtered before they have recovered from the effects of the 
journey, the meat is tainted, and great losses result. The ex- 
perience of the American trade proves that the cost of transport 
of dead meat is much less than that of the live animal ; hence 
there is every reason why this subject should be taken up by 
the Society. Nor is it only as regards animal food that this 
experiment is important. Fruit, vegetables and dairy-produce 
are all perishable goods, which can be profitably transported 
long distances, if only the risk of ordinary carriage can be 
avoided. Colonel Mann told me that he was at the time of 
the trials in negotiation with the Russian Government as to 
the construction of vans to convey fruit and flowers from the 
South of France to St. Petersburgh. 
No. 1. Colonel Manns Meat-Van.— Total thickness of walls, 
floor, and roof, which are of similar construction, 3^ inches. 
Composed of jointed deals externally, next, an interval packed 
with sawdust, then layers of brown paper half an inch thick, on 
which the inventor places great reliance as a non-conductor, then 
similar casings of wood to the external one, and the whole lined 
with zinc. The roof, which is convex in form, is painted white 
externally, but for very hot countries a canvas covering is pro- 
vided. Under the centre of the roof, inside the van, and extend- 
ing nearly from end to end, is the ice-chamber, an oval vessel, 
with two openings for the admission of the ice. The reader 
will readily understand the construction of the van and its action 
by reference to the subjoined drawings (Figs. 1-4, pp. 762 and 
763), for which I am indebted to Mr. Devonshire, of Messrs. 
Eastons and Anderson's staff, who was in charge of the vans 
from June 19th to 28th. 
At the end of the waggon are two tubes, a a. Fig. 3 (p. 763), 
which have double orifices, so as to catch the wind in whichever 
direction the van travels. These orifices are covered with fine 
gauze, so as to exclude impurities as much as possible. Further, 
