356 
UTILIZATION  OF  BRINE. 
brine  had  been  removed,  and  that  the  liquid  contained  in  the 
bladders  was  pure  juice  of  flesh,  in  a  fresh  and  wholesome  con- 
dition.   The  juice,  as  obtained  from  the  "dialysers,"  might 
now  be  employed  in  making  rich  soups  without  any  further  pre- 
paration, or  it  might  be  concentrated  by  evaporation  to  the 
state  of  solid  extract  of  meat.    Mr.  Whitelaw,  at  this  stage, 
requested  a  friend  present  to  heat  a  portion  of  the  juice  of  flesh 
so  as  to  produce  a  soup,  and  he  asked  the  members  to  taste  it 
and  experience  the  result.    He  also  had  prepared  more  careful- 
ly a  soup  from  the  brine,  to  which  he  directed  attention.  (Both 
were  found  to  be  very  palatable.)  The  brine  used,  he  continued, 
was  from  one  of  the  most  respectable  curing-houses  in  Glasgow^ 
and  was  perfectly  pure  and  wholesome.    The  liquid  from  the 
dialysers  might  be  treated  in  several  ways.    It  might  be  evapo- 
rated in  an  enamelled  vessel  to  a  more  or  less  concentrated 
state,  or  to  dryness,  and  in  these  various  conditions  packed  in 
tins  or  jars  for  sale.    It  might  be  concentrated  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  120  degrees,  by  means  of  a  vacuum  pan  or  other  suita- 
ble contrivance,  so  as  to  retain  the  albumen  and  other  matters 
in  a  soluble  form.     Again,  the  more  or  less  concentrated  liquid 
might  be  used  along  with  flour  used  in  the  manufacture  of  meat 
biscuits.    The  products  he  had  named  were  all  highly  nutritive, 
portable,  and  admirably  adapted  for  the  use  of  hospitals,  for  an 
army  in  the  field,  and  for  ships'  stores.    The  dialysis  of  brine 
might  be  conducted  in  salt  water,  so  as  to  remove  the  greater 
portion  of  its  salt,  and  the  process  completed  in  a  small  quan- 
tity of  fresh  rain,  or  other  water.    In  this  way  ships  at  sea 
might  economize  their  brine,  and  so  restore  to  the  meat  in  a 
great  measure  the  nutritive  power  that  it  had  lost  in  the  process 
of  salting.    Thus  then,  Mr.  Whitelaw  said,  he  obtained  an  ex- 
tract of  flesh  at  a  cheap  rate,  from  a  hitherto  waste  material. 
Two  gallons  of  brine  yielded  one  pound  of  solid  extract,  con- 
taining the  coagulated  albumen  and  coloring  matter.     For  the 
production  of  the  same  directly  from  meat,  something  like 
tweuty  pounds  of  lean  beef  would  be  required.    The  quantity 
of  brine  annually  wasted  was  very  great.    He  believed  he  was 
considerably  under  the  truth  when  he  said  that  in  Glasgow 
alone  60,000  gallons  were  thrown  away  yearly.    If  they  esti- 
mated one  gallon  as  equal  to  seven  pounds  of  meat  in  soup- 
