PRESERVATION  OF  MEATS  BY  PARAFFIN. 
341 
filled  by  the  purveyors  from  the  supplies  received  during  the 
previous  quarter.  It  will  be  seen  that  six  to  nine  month*  might 
have  elapsed  before  the  medical  supplies  reached  those  points 
where  they  were  to  be  used,  and  that  nine  to  twelve  months 
might  pass  away  before  they  were  all  used.  This  is  entirely  too 
long  a  period  to  preserve  simple  cerate,  which  is  rendered  still 
more  inclined  to  change  by  the  heat  of  our  summer. — Sec.  Ann. 
Rep.  Alumni  Assoc.  JPhil.  Coll.  Pharm. 
ON  THE  PRESERVATION  OF  MEATS  BY  PARAFFIN. 
By  Prof.  Redwood. 
Mr.  John  Mack  ay  brought  before  the  meeting  a  new  method 
of  preserving  beef,  mutton  and  other  animal  substances  used  for 
food  in  a  perfectly  fresh  condition,  frqe  from  salt  or  any  other 
ingredient  likely  to  interfere  with  the  flavor  or  condition  of  the 
material  so  preserved.  Mr.  Mackay  stated  that  the  discovery 
of  the  process  about  to  be  submitted  was  due  to  Dr.  Redwood, 
who,  in  the  course  of  last  summer,  commenced  a  series  of  ex- 
periments  with  paraffin,  in,  of  course,  a  state  of  purity.  The 
following  peculiarities  of  this  substance  were  referred  to,  viz., 
its  solidity,  whiteness,  tastelessness  and  entire  freedom  from 
smell.  At  a  heat  of  about  130°  it  becomes  fluid,  and  will,  in 
this  condition,  bear  a  considerable  amount  of  heat  without  boil- 
ing, and  thus  enables  the  experimenter  to  raise  the  temperature, 
if  required,  several  hundred  degrees  above  212°,  the  boiling- 
point  of  water,  without  in  any  respect  altering  its  condition. 
It  was  found  that  animal  substances,  when  immersed  in  a  bath 
of  paraffin  heated  to  about  250°  F.,  rapidly  lost  the  air  and 
water  which  all  such  substances  contain,  leaving  the  juice  of  the 
meat  in  a  concentrated  state.  Mr.  Mackay  explained  how  this 
was  done.  According  to  the  thickness  of  the  mass  of  meat,  the 
time  of  its  immersion  is  increased  or  diminished.  By  this  pro- 
cess, the  germs  of  destruction  are  found  to  be  quite  destroyed, 
very  much  on  the  same  principle  that  the  various  articles  of  food 
are  prepared  in  hermetically  sealed  vessels,  or  calf-foot  jelly 
bottled  and  kept  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation.  When  the 
meat  has  thus  been  allowed  to  remain  a  sufficient  length  of  time 
