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THE QUARTERLY

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE.

JANUARY, 1868.

I. ON AN EXTRANEOUS MEAT SUPPLY.

By JAMES SAMUELSON, Editor.

THERE is no subject which has engaged the attention of the British public during the last few years, of such paramount importance as the great "meat question." That staple food of our countrymen of all ranks has been gradually becoming more costly and difficult of acquirement; the highest class of agriculturists, the lettered men of the farm, although they have lost no opportunity to improve our breeds of domestic cattle, have observed with anxiety the constantly increasing demand and the disproportionate supply of live-stock; whilst our labouring classes, the muscle and sinew of the nation, have found the description of food which is, to them, indispensable for the performance of their daily toil receding month by month from their reach. And in this, as in all similar emergencies, it is becoming the fashion to look to "Science" for aid, and to censure her should the relief not be immediate and effective. Our coal supply threatens to fail us-"Science" must enable us to penetrate more deeply into the bowels of the earth; and whilst she teaches us to economize and husband our present supply, must provide us with a larger store in the future. She, too, must bring distant lands nearer, enabling us to draw upon their mineral wealth. Already we are told that an exorbitant price in the London market would attract a supply of coal from Westphalia. Civil war sweeps over the great cotton-growing districts of the West, and, in consequence, famine makes rapid inroads into our manufacturing centres. The products of other lands in the far East are considered unfit for our purposes; but soon the staple is improved abroad, new machinery is fitted up at home, and the bitter cup is averted by "Science."

Nor must it be supposed, because one section of the scientific community is directing its attention to abstract questions with respect to food, as, for example, the relative heat-giving and worksustaining properties of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous substances,

VOL. V.

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that therefore scientific men are regardless of the more practical aspect of that matter.

As we have already said, agriculturists are improving the breed of our cattle and seeking to bring a better supply to the meat market; manufacturers are multiplying our stores of artificial fodder, so that a good or bad season for pasture is of less moment than formerly, and each succeeding year brings us stores of fresh materials for this purpose from some new quarter of the globe; whilst chemists and meat curers are engaged in the keenest competition to preserve beef and other kinds of flesh abroad and at home; so that all the resources of art and science are being brought to bear in the effort to counteract the result of cattle plagues, the rapacity of butchers, and a rapidly increasing population.

But there is, at present, one grave obstacle in the way of obtaining effectual relief from a short supply of meat, which extends to hardly any similar substance, and that is the difficulty of importing it from abroad in its fresh condition. Cotton shipped from distant parts arrives here unimpaired in quality and undepreciated in value; so too coffee, tea, wheat, and hundreds of other necessaries and luxuries of life; but with the exception of smoked or salted flesh imported from a distance, and the limited supply of lean cattle brought from nearer countries, and rendered still more limited by cattle plague regulations, we have so far been unable to avail ourselves to any large extent of the live-stock of other parts of the globe. Something has, however, been accomplished, and in what condition we should have been, were that not the case, it is impossible to surmise. From Holland, Belgium, and other European countries we have for a long time past obtained supplies of leanstock which has been rapidly fed in England (chiefly upon food originally the produce of Russia, India, and Africa), and placed upon our markets. Hams, bacon, and pickled or salted beef have formed a considerable feature in our North American import trade, and recent advertisements have informed the public that South American press-packed beef, of the finest quality and free from bone, is retailed "at a handsome profit to the dealer at fourpence per pound; of the last named, it is right to say, that it cannot be looked upon as a description of food which will long maintain its footing, and the enterprising men who have so far succeeded in preserving their meat, must improve its quality, or it will not find its way into competition with our best English beef: to this subject we shall refer fully hereafter. A not unimportant feature in our meat-supply, and one for which we are solely indebted to Science, is the manufacture of the so-called "Extractum Carnis" of Professor Liebig, a process, as our readers are doubtless well aware, by which the nutritive properties of meat are condensed into a portable form, and brought from other parts of the world, from whence it would be difficult at

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present to import live stock or fresh meat with any chance of its arriving here in a sound or healthy condition. From its concentrated form, and comparatively reasonable price, this extract of meat is now largely used in the preparation of soup, and the readers of such papers as the 'Pharmaceutical Journal' must see with surprise with what energy it is being pressed by the manufacturers upon the notice of the medical profession; it cannot fail to relieve in some degree the demand for fresh meat.

Still, there is a great outcry for an artificial, or rather for an extraneous supply of fresh meat, and when we come to look abroad, and consider the relative value of this commodity there and at home, we are not a little startled at the result of our inquiries. "First-rate meat is sold in the market at Buenos Ayres by the piece and not by weight, a leg of mutton costing from 10d. to 1s., and beef is comparatively cheaper; "* the flocks of sheep about the River Plate are so numerous, that "the term of natural life of the animal renders it henceforth necessary that there should be annually slaughtered and, for want of a better means of utilizing them, 'boiled down' more or less 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 sheep, otherwise they would die natural deaths or from starvation, and their carcass-products, the main sources of a breeder's profit, be lost,"† and on an "Estancia" belonging to a well-known firm of breeders in Uruguay, which is now being converted into a joint stock company, with a view to the breeding and feeding of cattle and the preservation of meat for the English market, there are nearly 90,000 sheep, 5,600 head of cattle, and 1,200 horses, valued together at 59,2277.; in other words, the sheep are valued at about thirteen shillings each, and about 7,000 head of cattle and horses are thrown into the bargain gratis, whilst the "freehold" land is said to be "rich bottom land, with scarcely a stone to be found on it, irrigated by numerous rivulets, producing most luxuriant fodder for sheep and cattle," and it is set down in the valuation at eighteen and ninepence per acre. In short, whilst in England the half-starved people are breaking into butchers' shops to enforce a reduction of meat upon tenpence a pound, the same staple may be bought within five weeks' steaming of us at a nominal price, and is annually destroyed in immense quantities to save the more valuable (because more easily preservable) fat and hides; and the land upon which the cattle is pastured may be bought under a pound an acre! We

'Report on the Methods Employed in the River Plate for curing Meat for European Markets,' by Francis Clare Ford, Esq., Brit. Chargé d'Affaires at Buenos Ayres. Presented to both Houses. 1866. London: Harrison & Sons.

† Letter of Mr. W. Latham to 'The Times,' dated Buenos Ayres, Sept. 25, 1867. Supply of Meat from South America,' by A. Prange, Esq. Mr. Prange wrote to the The Times,' Oct. 22, and his statement is confirmed by other writers in the same journal, that he can produce the best fed beef on his Estancia, Nueva Alemania, on the River Plate, at twopence per pound!

need not be surprised if here and there a practical man shakes his head sceptically, and asks, What is the use of Science if it allows such a state of things to exist?

As we have already said, the great difficulty to be overcome is the conveyance of the cattle to England or the preservation of the meat abroad, either in its raw state, or at least in such a condition as to render it fit to be brought into competition with English meat, and many persons are engaged both practically and experimentally in endeavouring to gain that end.

Mr. Ford, in his Report already referred to, notices three processes employed at Buenos Ayres for the preservation of meat, namely, Morgan's, Liebig's, and Sloper's; and Mr. Prange in his pamphlet mentions that of Messrs. Medlock and Bailey, of Wolverhampton.

"Mr. Morgan's process is based on forced infiltration," and he has adopted the circulatory system of the body as a means of introducing brine into the tissues. The operation is performed by allowing all the blood to escape through artificial incisions made in the heart of the animal after death, and by the subsequent injection into the heart, and through it into the whole circulating system, of a fluid consisting of water and salt ("one gallon of brine to the cwt."), and "a quarter to half-a-pound of nitre, carefully refined." The writer of the report considers this system of curing superior to that by means of salt outwardly applied, as he believes that the "natural juices and alimentary substances" are retained; and he says, "The meat has hitherto arrived in England sound and good, and I am enabled from personal experience to testify to the admirable quality of the samples I tasted which were inviting and palatable." It will occur to the reader, however, to inquire whether Mr. Ford tasted this "inviting and palatable" beef in Buenos Ayres before it was shipped (for his report comes from thence), or after it had passed through the ordeal of a long sea-voyage in the confined hold of a vessel; and if in Buenos Ayres, then, whence he derives the authority for his statement, that the meat "has hitherto arrived in England sound and good." We have often seen it exposed for sale, at a price below that of salted beef, and although it is sometimes purchased out of curiosity by the middle classes, we may confidently say that it does not compete with home-grown beef, and is of a very inferior quality.

Of Liebig's process, which Mr. Ford describes in detail, we have already spoken; and will now add a few particulars which may interest our readers. "The meat of the animal after being killed is allowed to cool for twenty-four hours; it is then placed in round iron rollers (armed inside with points) which, being revolved by steam, reduce the meat to a pulp. This pulp is thrown into a large vat with water, and allowed to steam for an hour, and is then passed into a reservoir (shaped like a trough with a sieve at

the bottom), from whence the fluid of the meat oozes into another vat from whence the fat is drawn off. The pure gravy is then put into open vats supplied with steam-pipes and with bellows on the surface, which produce a blast and carry off the steam, thus helping the evaporation and preventing condensation. Here it remains from six to eight hours, when it is passed into a filtering vat and drawn off in the form of extract of meat. When cool it partially hardens, and is ready for packing in tins and exportation." Mr. Ford tells us that eight small tins will hold the concentrated alimentary matter of an entire ox, at the price of 96s., and will make over 1,000 basins of good, strong soup, costing, therefore, rather less than a penny a basin.

Mr. Ford speaks rather doubtfully of Mr. Sloper's process; -and, whilst he is very enthusiastic about Morgan's (to which reference has been made), he says concerning that of Mc Call and Sloper, "These gentlemen profess to be able to preserve meat in its fresh and raw state, which is to arrive in England or elsewhere in the exact condition as butcher's meat just killed, &c., &c." He observes, in another part of his report, that the price paid for Morgan's beef is barely remunerative, so the other gentlemen are probably adopting the wiser course of bringing their system to perfection (if this can be done) before applying it in a practical manner. It must be clearly understood that we do not wish to discourage the attempt to preserve meat chemically, but believing that as at present imported it gains little favour, and is calculated to raise a prejudice which it may be found very difficult to remove hereafter, we would recommend the greatest caution in the practical application of any new system. Messrs. Medlock and Bailey use Bisulphite of Lime, and Mr. McCall Bisulphite of Soda in the preservation of his meat; both these processes are patented, and we believe the system of injection is employed as described above.

By far the most valuable, as it is the simplest, system of preservation, however, is that of packing the meat in tin cases as practised in America, Australia, and at home, and to this we shall now direct the reader's attention. At Mr. McCall's Factory in Houndsditch this operation may be seen in perfection, and no secret is made of the process. On entering the factory, the visitor is struck with the long rows of legs of mutton and venison, and pieces of meat to be preserved; and is introduced into a large shed where a great many butchers are employed in cutting the bone and a portion of the fat from the meat, and reducing it to a suitable form for preserving in tins. The raw meat is then packed tightly in these tins (varying in weight from half-a-pound to six

* We are quoting Mr. Ford, and must not be held responsible for the verbiage of a State document.

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