366 
ON THE ALLEGED POISONOUS QUALITY OF BEEF-TEA. 
I can only say that for some years all the syrup of iodide of iron prepared by 
me has been placed in a window as soon as made, and used from the window 
without any precaution as to keeping the bottle full, or at any particular tem¬ 
perature, which things are more or less impracticable, and, happily, unnecessary. 
I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
Thomas Henry Holloway. 
Upper Sydenham , November 14f/i, 1868. 
ON THE ALLEGED POISONOUS QUALITY OF BEEF-TEA AND EXTRACT 
OF MEAT. 
BY BARON LIEBIG. 
Although it is contrary to common sense to believe that the daily food of men and 
animals could possibly contain a substance injurious to health, it was nevertheless to 
be expected that the experiments made by Dr. Kemmerich on the effect of beef-tea and 
its salts on animals would produce anxiety and fear in some weak minds; and, indeed, 
the article which appeared in ‘Once a Week,’ entitled, “A Word of Warning to Cooks,” 
is a proof that such fears really existed. I believe, however, that a simple acquaintance 
with the experiments of Dr. Kemmerich will be sufficient to dispel them completely. 
The results of these experiments are of a very harmless character. Dr. Kemmerich 
made most of his experiments, not upon men, but upon graminivorous animals, viz. 
upon rabbits, and only one experiment was made by him upon a dog. The broth was 
made from horseflesh, and injected into the stomach of the animals in progressively 
augmented quantities, the chief results of which are as follows:— 
A rabbit weighing not quite two pounds, which had received the broth from one 
pound of horseflesh (equivalent to half an ounce of extract), remained perfectly well. 
It polished itself with its paws, was very lively, and no disturbance in the state of its 
health was afterwards perceptible. 
A second rabbit of two pounds weight, into the stomach of which the extract of one 
pound and a quarter of horseflesh had been introduced, deported itself in just the same 
manner; its pulse became more vigorous, its breathing slower, and it remained lively 
and healthy. 
When, however, the doses were increased, and the extract of two pounds and of two 
pounds and a quarter of flesh were injected into the stomach of the rabbit, such quan¬ 
tities of concentrated animal food were evidently too much for the little graminivorous 
creature, which by such doses Dr. Kemmerich succeeded in killing, a result at which no¬ 
body will be surprised. It follows that Dr. Kemmerich could likewise have killed 
stronger animals with beef-tea; and it may be assumed that he would have killed even 
a man of 140 lb. weight (seventy times heavier than the rabbit) by a dose of beef-tea 
seventy times as large,—namely, by the broth of 140 lb. of flesh, equivalent to about 
4 lb. of extract of meat. Less than a couple of pounds of extract would, however, scarcely 
have been sufficient, for one of the experiments of Dr. Kemmerich on a carnivorous 
animal contrasted with the experiments on the rabbits; he did not succeed in poisoning 
that animal with beef-tea. 
It was a small but very strong terrier, which had taken the broth of four pounds of 
flesh (equivalent to two ounces of extract), which the animal seemed to enjoy consider¬ 
ably. As however the whole quantity was too much for it, it became necessary to inject 
the remainder into its stomach. Notwithstanding the enormous quantity of extract of 
meat which had been introduced by force, the terrier remained very comfortable and 
lively, and no symptom of any disturbance of its health became manifest. Double the 
quantity of meat-broth which killed the rabbit had not the least injurious effect on the 
little dog. 
These experiments and the above calculations show sufficiently what is to be thought 
of the poisonous effect of beef-tea; it belongs to the category of cases where people 
have eaten pate de foie gras , turtle soup, or oysters to such excess as to cause death ; but 
no sensible person will ever dream of ascribing, on that ground, poisonous qualities to 
pate de foie gras , turtle soup, or oysters. 
