126       On  Meat  and  the  Methods  of  Preserving  it.  {ASaJr°cuhRi,] 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
1872. 
One  of  the  most  rational  processes  of  modern  invention  is  the  pres- 
ervation of  meat  by  enclosing  it  in  air-tight  cans.  This  process  would 
undoubtedly  give  full  satistaction,  if  it  were  not  for  mechanical  diffi- 
culties, which  cannot  as  yet  be  surmounted.  If  property  carried  out, 
however,  it  is  the  best  process  known,  because  it  furnishes  the  meat  in 
its  pure  and  unadulterated  state,  the  great  agent  of  decomposition,  at- 
mospheric air,  being  excluded. 
When  we  come  to  consider  the  different  agents  of  decomposition, 
we  find  that  they  are,  first  the  atmospheric  air  with  its  myriad  germs 
and  spores,  and  secondly  water.  No  decomposition  is  possible  with- 
out the  latter,  and  I  propose  therefore  the  following  method  of  preser- 
vation. The  meat,  after  having  been  cut  in  slices,  should  be  dried  in 
a  hot  air-chamber,  at  a  temperature  below  140°  Fab.  If  the  appa- 
ratus is  well  constructed,  the  drying  may  be  completed  within  three 
hours,  if  filtered  air  be  drawn  rapidly  through  the  chamber. 
In  this  operation  the  meat  becomes  quite  hard,  and  can  easily  be 
ground  in  a  mill.  It  is  then  in  the  condition  which  is  best  adapted 
for  use.  The  fibrin  and  albumen  not  being  coagulated,  are  able  to 
take  up  water  and  the  fibres  expand  into  their  natural  state. 
The  powder  is  of  a  slight  brownish  yellow  color ;  has  a  trifling  odor 
of  roast  meat,  and  keeps  exceedingly  well.  This  proves  that  the 
salts  contained  in  the  meat  are  entirely  sufficient  for  its  preservation,, 
if  the  quantity  of  water  keeping  them  in  solution  is  greatly  diminished 
by  evaporation. 
Its  use  is  easily  understood.  For  beef  soup — two  ounces  of  the 
powder  are  boiled  for  a  few  minutes  with  one  pint  of  water  and  the 
other  usual  ingredients.  The  soup  thus  prepared  will  be  stronger 
than  that  prepared  from  half  a  pound  of  fresh  meat,  for  a  solid  piece, 
even  after  long  boiling  will  never  permit  as  thorough  extracting  as 
the  meat  powder. 
For  solid  roast  meat  dishes,  the  addition  of  one  egg  to  a  pound  of 
meat  powder,  together  with  the  requisite  quantity  of  water,  suffices  to 
reunite  the  separated  fibres  by  means  of  the  coagulating  egg-albumen. 
The  fact  that  the  albumen  and  fibrin  are  not  coagulated,  makes  it 
a  valuable  medicine  for  consumptives,  and  in  all  cases  of  debility 
where  good  nourishment  is  requisite.  It  is  even  more  easily  digested 
than  raw  meat,  for  the  reason  that,  if  it  is  taken  with  cold  or  luke- 
warm water,  the  process  of  swelling  will  take  place  in  the  stomach., 
where  being  surrounded  by  gastric  juice,  the  latter  is  absorbed. 
