80 
REMARKS  ON  EXTRACTS  OF  MEAT. 
that  the  Extractum  Carnis  was  equal  to  the  amount  of  beef 
which  it  was  supposed  to  represent,  i.  e.,  to  thirty  times  its  own 
weight.  For  a  person  in  full  health,  the  fibrous  portion  of  the 
flesh  was  probably  required  as  plastic  material,  or,  at  any  rate, 
as  a  diluent  for  the  extractive  matter ;  but  the  case  was  far  dif- 
ferent with  invalids ;  and,  probably,  no  food  which  had  been 
proposed  was  of  equal  value  in  preventing  the  waste  of  the 
tissues  during  illness.  Professor  Pettenkofer  had  spoken  of  the 
extraordinary  effects  of  a  mixture  of  a  strong  solution  of  the 
extract,  with  wine,  as  a  restorative  after  severe  accidents,  and 
of  the  striking  statistics  obtained  by  himself  and  Baron  Liebig 
in  the  convalescent  wards  of  the  Royal  Military  Hospital  at 
Munich,  which  seemed  to  indicate  that,  under  the  free  use  of  the 
extract,  the  period  of  convalescence  was  reduced  to  one-third 
of  the  duration  common  under  the  old  regimen.  The  mere 
quantity  of  phosphates  and  chlorides  contained  in  the  extract, 
upon  which  so  much  stress  had  been  laid  by  some,  was  not 
enough  to  account  for  these  facts.  That  the  extractive  matter 
was  the  most  important  nutritive  portion  of  flesh  was  also  shown 
by  the  circumstance  that  dogs  fed  upon  the  exhausted  fibrine 
rapidly  starved. 
If  the  Extractum  Carnis  could  be  procured  in  quantity,  it 
seemed  likely  to  be  of  incalculable  value  as  an  addition  to  the 
somewhat  limited  dietary  of  sea-going  vessels  on  long  voyages. 
In  salted  meats,  the  potash  salts  were  replaced  by  the  chloride 
of  sodium,  and  to  this  cause  the  prevalence  of  scorbutic  dis- 
eases was,  with  fair  reason,  assigned ;  but  this  preparation  would 
supply  the  deficiency,  and  thereby  conduce  to  the  health  of  the 
seamen. 
The  author  trusted  that,  at  no  very  distant  time,  the  present 
uncertainty  in  the  supply  might  be  obviated  by  the  manufacture 
being  carried  on  in  many  other  parts  of  the  globe  where  there 
was  large  trade  in  hides.  Our  own  great  colony  of  Australia 
ought  not  to  be  behindhand  in  the  matter ;  and  when  it  was 
known  that  the  comparatively  valueless  flesh  of  wild  or  semi- 
wild  cattle  might  be  turned  by  a  simple  process  into  a  remunera- 
tive article  of  commerce,  the  supply  must  surely  keep  pace  with 
the  demand. 
