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THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[October 12, 1872. 
portion of water), the salts of meat and the phosphates, 
extractive matters of a soluble kind, the peculiar flavour 
of roasted meat and common salt, which are added to it.” 
( It is utterly impossible to suppose that Dr. Edward 
Smith intends to make us believe by this sentence that 
extract of meat is water, to which are added common 
salt, the phosphates of meat, the flavour of roasted meat 
and soluble extractive matters. It is rather to be assumed 
that Dr. Edward Smith would have expressed himself 
quite differently and more correctly respecting the com¬ 
position of extract of meat if he were possessed of even 
a faint notion of the science of chemistry. 
As regards the proportion of water contained in ex¬ 
tract of meat, it is well known, through innumerable 
analysis, that it amounts on the average to 19 per cent. 
(maximum 22 per cent., minimum 16 per cent.) Ex¬ 
tract of meat is beef tea made from fresh beef—not roasted 
—in the purest state, condensed to the consistency of a 
thick honey, to which nothing whatever is added by 
the manufacturer. The assertion that common salt is 
added to the extract is an unjustifiable invention. The 
juice of the muscles contains, as a never absent com¬ 
ponent part, a small quantity of chloride of potassium, 
but no chloride of sodium (common salt). 
The eminent African traveller, Dr. Schweinfurth, 
dwells on the extract of meat as follows:— 
“ Those only are probably fully able to appreciate the 
value of extract of meat who, like myself, were com¬ 
pelled for weeks together to live upon purely vegetable 
food. Such a diet engenders a peculiar state of weakness, 
and lowers the mental and bodily energy, which is raised 
again through the use of meat. I can state from my 
own experience that in the absence of meat, the addition 
of extract of meat to vegetable food produces the same 
good effect on the body as fresh meat, and that under 
such circumstances it is the only means of supplying the 
lack of meat. When my American extract of meat was 
consumed I prepared some myself from the flesh of ante¬ 
lopes which did excellent service.” 
With regard to the considerable saving effected by 
the use of extract of meat we are indebted to Dr. von 
Schneider (Chief of the Chemical Department of the Im¬ 
perial Mint in St. Petersburg) for the following highly 
interesting communications (‘ Norddeutsche Allgemsine 
Zeitung, No. 12, 1872, Sonntagsblatt) :— 
“In order to ascertain the economical value of extract 
of meat, all soups consumed during the months of 
November and December, 1871, and January, 1872, in 
my small household, consisting of three persons, were 
prepared from remnants of bone, fat, and vegetables, 
with addition of extract of meat, and all the meat 
(mutton, pork, beef, veal, poultry, and game) was 
roasted. 
“ In the month of October, 1871, on the other hand, 
the beef was used for the preparation of the pot au feu 
(with the addition of rice, semolina, maccaroni, potatoes, 
etc., exactly as in the other three months), consequently 
without any extract of meat, and all the meat was con¬ 
sumed as boiled meat. 
“ It was proved at the end of these experiments that 
in the month of October 40 per cent, more money was 
spent for meat than on the average in any of the other 
three months—viz., the consumption in the month of 
October of boiled meat amounted to 120 lb., in any of 
the other three months on the average, 80 lb.; of roast 
meat, therefore, 40 lb. less. We used daily 6 grammes 
extract of meat, in 83 days 1 lb.” 
These facts prove incontrovertibly, in my opinion, the 
physiological effect of extract of meat. The necessity 
for the consumption of meat is considerably lessened 
when extract of meat is added to the vegetable food; in 
addition to the nutritive value which vegetables possess 
in themselves, they acquire in the soluble component 
parts of meat those substances which give to a meat diet 
its peculiar effect. In view of the present high price of 
meat Dr. von Schneider’s observations are deserving the 
most careful attention. The trial is easily made, and it 
is in everybody’s power to make it. 
ARTIFICIAL BUTTER. 
In an extract from the ‘ Revue Hebdomadaire de 
Chimie,’ given in the.‘ Chemical News,’ it appears that 
Monsieur Mege-Mouriez, some years ago, was requested 
by the Victualling Department of the French Navy to 
try to find a wholesome substitute for butter, which 
would not become rancid by keeping. Experiments 
made with cows submitted to a very severe and scanty 
(Retried to the discovery that these animals continued 
to give milk, although in very much smaller quantity, 
and that this milk always contained butter ; the author 
surmised that this butter was due to the absorption of the fat 
contained in the animal tissues, which was converted into 
butter under the influence of the milk-secreting glands. 
This led to experiments on the splitting up of animal fats, 
and, further, to the following process for making butter 
artificially. Best fresh beef-suet is first mechanically cut 
up, "by means of circular saws fitted to a cylinder, and is 
next placed in a vessel containing water, carbonate of 
potassa, and fresh sheep’s stomachs previously cut up 
into.small fragments; the temperature of this mixture 
having been raised to 45°, the joint influence of the pep- 
sine of the stomachs and heat causes the fat to be sepa¬ 
rated from the cellular tissue ; the fatty matter floating 
on the top is decanted, and after cooling submitted to 
very powerful hydraulic pressure; the stearine is used 
in candle-making, and the semi-fluid oleomargarine is 
used for making the artificial butter in the following 
manner:—Fifty kilos, of the fat are poured along with 
25 litres of milk and 20 litres of water into a churn, 
while there is added 100 grms. of the soluble matter 
obtained, by soaking for some hours in milk, from cows’ 
udders and milk glands ; a small quantity of annatto is 
also added, and the operation of churning then proceeded 
with. The butter thus obtained is well washed with 
cold water, and, if required to be kept for a long time, 
melted by a gentle heat, to eliminate all the water. 
According to reports of sanitary committees, as well as 
of the authorities of the Victualling Department of the 
French Navy, this artificial butter is really an excellent 
substitute for genuine butter, and can be exposed for 
sale if the vessels are marked to distinguished the arti¬ 
ficial from the genuine butter.— Journ. Hoc. Arts. 
RECENT PROGRESS OF THERAPEUTICAL 
SCIENCE.* 
The properties of cicutine and atropine (from hemlock 
and belladonna respectively) have of late been carefully 
investigated. MM. Martin Damourette and Pelvet, in 
their study of the former, have been able to verify, 
through experiment, some of the historical details in the 
death of Socrates. Atropine has opened a new way of 
treatment for diseases of the eye, from its curious property 
of causing that organ to dilate when applied to it; and 
its effects on the whole nervous system, now better 
known, also throw light on accounts, in ancient authors, 
of poisoning by belladonna. 
The properties of the alkaloid contained in the Calabar 
bean (first separated by M. Vee in 1865) are the opposite 
of those of atropine; it causes rapid contraction of the 
pupil of the eye. The pupillary constriction reaches its 
maximum about an hour after ingestion of the substance, 
and continues at this for about three hours ; thereafter 
gradually disappearing. This antagonistic quality is 
being utilized by ophthalmologists. 
It is found that each alkaloid, independently of its 
general action on the system, has a special action on 
* Abstract of part of a paper by M. Papillon in the ‘ Revue 
des Deux Mondes.’ 
