9GG 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[June 1, 1672. 
only abstract the chief particulars, lie endeavours 
to show (1) that the extracts of meat have no nutritive 
value, and (2) that they have a certain action due 
to the mineral principles—chiefly salts of potash— 
which they contain. 
In the first part of his memoir, after glancing at 
some of the writings of Liebig and others upon this 
subject, Dr. Muller disputes an opinion of M. Pog- 
giale, that broths and extracts are nourishing in 
proportion as they contain nitrogenous principles, 
and he la} r s it down as an axiom that their alimen¬ 
tary value depends on the presence of albumenoid 
matters capable of being transformed in the digestive 
canal into albuminose or peptose, which he con¬ 
siders to be the only nitrogenous aliment. 
The usefulness of the extract of meat as an ali¬ 
ment has long been asserted on account of the nitro¬ 
genous compounds that it contains ; but the author 
says that the fact has been lost sight of that 
this nitrogen is not in a state suitable for assimila¬ 
tion. He points out that the principal nitrogenous 
products present in extract of meat are creatine and 
creatinine, both of them crystalline substances. 
Creatine (C 4 H 9 N 3 0 2 -fH 2 0) is a neutral body, 
which is changed into creatinine by the action of 
concentrated acids, through the elimination of water 
^(Liebig). 
C 4 H 9 N 3 0 2 = C^HyNgO + H 2 0 
Creatine. Creatinine. 
Moiled for some time in a solution of baryta creatine 
breaks up into urea and sarcosine :— 
C 4 H 9 N 3 0 o + H 2 0 = CH 4 N 2 0 + C 3 H.N0 2 
v_^ ** N._ v \__/ 
Creatine. Urea. Sarcosine. 
There is also inosic acid (C 5 H 6 N 2 0 5 ), a substance 
•as yet little studied, to which is generally attributed 
the origin, during the changes which it undergoes in 
cooking, of the perfume of the meat. It has there¬ 
fore probably a stimulating action. 
With regard to creatine and creatinine, Dr. 
Muller refers to some experiments of M. Hitter, 
tending to show that they are not fixed in the system, 
but are immediately eliminated in the urine. To 
ascertain whether they might have an action similar 
to such substances as theme, cafeine, etc., in retard¬ 
ing the waste of tissue, the author undertook a series 
-of dietetic experiments upon himself, using an in¬ 
creasing quantity of extract with both a normal and 
•a vegetable diet; the conclusion to which he came 
being that they exercise no such power. He is 
therefore of opinion that the crystallizable nitrogen¬ 
ous principles contained in extract of meat have no 
nutritive value either directly or indirectly : not di¬ 
rectly, since they are identical with the products of 
dissimilation that are carried off from the system 
with the excrementitious matter ; nor indirectly, 
.since they do not arrest the waste of tissue. 
Dr. Muller then proceeds to estimate the value of 
•various preparations by this test. As the result of 
an examination of several broths, prepared accord¬ 
ing to the formulae of MM. Clievreul, Liebig and 
Beneke, he reports that neither of them contained 
more than one part of albumenoid matters to the 
thousand, a proportion which he considers to be of 
no service for the purpose of nourishment. But 
while disputing their usefulness according to the 
commonly accepted notion, he is of opinion that the 
aromatic principles, salts and condiments which 
they contain promote the secretion of the gastric 
juice, and so facilitate digestion. To this property 
lie attributes the origin of the general custom of 
commencing dinner with soup, quoting the words of 
Brillat-Savarin, who says, in his Physioloyie da 
Gout, that a scup is a light healthy diet, suitable to 
every person, which comforts the stomach and dis¬ 
poses it to receive and digest food. 
Dr. Muller next passes in review some of the ex¬ 
tracts of meat most commonly met with in commerce, 
and enters into considerable detail concerning their 
preparation and alimentary value. 
The first mentioned is M. He veil’s meat jelly, 
made by boiling down to half its volume, over a 
moderate fire, and keeping carefully free from scum : 
Beef muscle, minced and de¬ 
prived of fat. 500 grams. 
Water.1000 „ 
Salt. 3 ,, 
Chloride of potassium .... 1 „ 
Carrots, turnips and leeks . . 30 ,, 
50 grams of gelatine is then dissolved in it at a 
gentle heat, and it is run into moulds to cool. 
M. Reveil claims for this preparation great virtues 
in restoring the strength of convalescents; but Dr. 
Muller considers that, being really only a mixture of 
broth and gelatine, it can yield nothing for assimila¬ 
tion. 
In Frankfort, MM. Meyer-Beck and Ripps pre¬ 
pare what they call “ Sirupus Extractus Carnis,” of 
which 82 grams should contain the salts of 3 lb. of 
beef.* M. Hayer has analysed this preparation and 
says that it has nothing in common with extract of 
meat but the name, and that the albumen present is 
due to blood that has been added. He found— 
Cane sugar.17*54 
Albumen.3'95 
Gelatine, phosphates and chlorides . . 9-49 
The author considers that this analysis shows it 
to possess no nutritive value worth mentioning. 
M. Reveil has proposed to replace this syrup by 
what he calls “ Sirop de Musculine,” made from— 
Muscular part of veal, minced 
and deprived of fat.100 grams 
Water. 500 ,, 
Hydrochloric acid.50 centigrams 
Chloride of potassium.50 ,, 
Chloride of sodium.50 ,, 
Tliis is macerated with occasional agitation for 
twelve hours, filtered, a kilogram of sugar dissolved 
in it at between 35° C. and 40° C., and water sufficient 
added to make up 500 c. c. of the liquid. 
This preparation the author considers to be of 
scarcely more value than the preceding, M. Ritter 
having found upon analysis but 0'455 per 1000 of 
albumenoid matter. 
M. Bellat prepares an extract by exhausting meat, 
chopped fine and free from fat and bone, with cold 
water until the liquor runs through uncoloured and 
insipid. The meat is then digested at a temperature 
of 90° C., with an equal weight of water and a pro¬ 
portion “of bones, in vessels closed by strong covers 
fitted with safety valves, [for six hours, during 
which time it is stirred by an agitator. It is then 
put in a hydraulic press, and the liquor, mixed with 
water and previously cooked peas, is added to the 
solution obtained by the cold operation, clarified by 
heating sufficiently to coagulate the blood, filtered, 
* 1 Pliarmaceutische Central-IIalle,’ vol. iii. p. 297. 
