562 
Extract  of  Beef  and  Pepsin. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharm, 
Nov.,  1892. 
which  in  1890  numbered  nearly  14,000,000,  including  horses  and 
calves.  It  is  one  of  the  curious  sights  of  the  place  to  see  the  cattle 
lured  from  the  yards  to  the  slaughtering  pen  by  a  white  decoy  steer, 
"  Old  Billy,"  who  calmly  walks  ahead  of  the  drove  and  deftly  turns 
aside  at  the  entrance  gate,  while  the  rest  rush  in  to  their  fate.  It 
takes  less  than  ten  minutes  to  convert  the  live  steer  into  a  carcass 
of  beef  ready  for  the  cooling  room,  and  nothing  from  the  tip  of 
his  horns  to  the  last  hair  of  his  tail,  inside  or  out,  is  allowed  to  be 
wasted. 
Armour's  works  occupy  about  54  acres  within  the  enclosure, 
where  the  slaughtering,  curing,  manufacturing  and  packing  of  the 
various  products  are  carried  on  to  an  extent  of  seventy  millions  of 
dollars  per  annum. 
The  making  of  extract  of  beef  and  pepsin  has  been  added  to 
the  other  industries  and  is  of  special  interest  to  pharmacists.  Under 
the  guidance  of  Mr.  Manwaring  and  Mr.  Walton  we  were  shown 
through  this  department  and  saw  such  of  the  processes  as  were  in 
operation. 
For  the  extract  of  beef  prime  lean,  well  trimmed  meat  is  finely  cut 
up  and  digested  with  steam  heat  in  huge  wooden  vats ;  the  juice  is 
expressed,  filtered  through  muslin,  and  sucked  into  vacuum  pans, 
each  capable  of  reducing  seventy-five  cubic  feet  to  the  proper  con 
sistence  in  thirty-five  minutes.  The  facilities  for  obtaining  the  best 
and  freshest  meat  from  the  finest  cattle  are  obvious,  and  the  use  of 
improved  machinery  insures  the  absence  of  all  unpleasant  burnt  taste. 
In  the  preparation  of  the  various  pepsins,  they  have  the  great 
advantage  of  an  unlimited  supply  of  perfectly  fresh  hogs'  stomachs 
and  can  use  from  10,000  to  14,000  daily.  About  two  ounces  are 
cut  out  of  the  whole  stomach,  the  rest  being  rejected  as  inferior,  the 
mucous  membrane  is  scraped  off  and  digested  for  six  or  eight  hours 
in  a  dilute  solution  of  muriatic  acid,  and  by  some  peculiar  process 
the  peptones  are  eliminated,  the  solution  clarified  by  settling  at  a 
very  low  temperature,  and  finally  dried  on  glass  plates.  Saccha- 
rated  pepsin  is  also  made  by  Scheffer's  process,  and  pepsins  of 
various  digestive  power  are  put  up  for  market. 
With  an  experienced  and  capable  chemist,  who  has  unlimited 
material  and  capital  to  back  him,  there  should  be  no  reason  why  we 
should  not  be  supplied  with  the  very  best  products  from  an 
American  laboratory. 
