PRESERVATION of HUMAN FOOD.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 28, 17 September 1842, Page 112

PRESERVATION of HUMAN FOOD.

[From the Colonial Magazine.'] Our attention has lately been called to a new invention for the preservation of " animal substances," which has been patented by Mr. Charles Payne, of Buckingham-street, Strand, London. As everything connected with the preservation of human food is necessarily of paramount importance to all classes of the community, we have considered it due to our readers to investigate the merits and pretensions of this new invention; the more so as we were given to understand that its results were peculiarly applicable to many of our colonies, and more particularly such as are situated in tropical climes. The patentees have kindly afforded us every facility in their power for this purpose, and we now proceed to detail our observations.

We must, in the first place, premise that the sysfem" of preserving animal substances by the application of salt, and which, it may be said, has been known and adopted from the beginning of time, has undergone'less change, and been the subject of less improvement, than almost any other operation upon which the light of science, for so many ages has been brought to bear. And yet there was in it much to be remedied. In all those tropical climates where the heat generates decomposition so rapidly after extinction of life, it has been found impossible to preserve animal matter by this mode, the elements of decay being brought into action before it was possible, by any known means, to* penetrate the substance with the antiseptic. Hence in those extensive and prolific regions an immense mass of animal production, fitted for the food of mankind, has lain dormant, and has been totally unavailable for transmission, to supply the wants of other quarters of the world deficient in such productions. One great object proposed by the present invention is to render effective the cure of these productions in such climates ; and it may well be imagined the important revolution such a result would be calculated to produce in what is considered the principal necessary for the support of life. Nor is it in tropical climates alone that the defective system of curing hitherto used has been felt. During the hot season of the year in our own, and indeed in all other countries, the loss of animal food, from the baneful influence of the atmospheric temperature at such periods, is enormous ; and out of this arises another evil of daily occurrence and of increasing magnitude, namely, that large quantities of unwholesome and! tainted meats are disposed of at low prices to poorer classes. Again, by the common system of curing provisions, which is effected by a laborious process of rubbing and draining, the nutritious elements of the meat are necessarily in a great measure expressed out of it and lost, rendering the remaining substance hard and indigestible; objections which are still further increased by the necessity of packing it, when barrelled, with additional quantities of salt and saltpetre, immersed in which it soon assumes the character of what is well known to seamen by the appellation of " salt junk," or mahogany." It is one of the principal merits of Mr. Payne's process that these nutritious elements are left in the meat undisturbed ; while the means by which* his object is attained are equally effective in the preservation of the substance, saving all the labour of rubbing, not requiring one-twentieth part of the material (salt), besides economizing time in an extraordinary degree, the operation being, indeed, almost instantaneous. We shall now shortly describe the ingenious machinery Mr. Payne employs : — ■ t 1 . There is an iron vessel, which may be of any form, that of a cylinder being preferable on account of its strength ; this vessel, which is to contain the meat, may be of any size required, and is made air tight. 2. To this vessel is attached an air-pump and a pressure-pump, which communicate, by separate pipes, with the top part of the machine ; the latter also communicating, by another pipe, with 3. A tub, or reservoir, which is filled with a saturated solution of salt and water, forming the brine ; another, the filling-pipe, from the bottom of the machine, communicates with the brine-tub, and all three pipes have stop-cocks upon them. The meat is placed in the machine, and brine filled in it till it rises nearly to where the air and pressure-pipes enter; the lid, or bonnet, is then fastened down air tight. The cocks upon the pressure-pipe and filling-pipe being closed, that upon the air-pipe is now opened, and, by working the air-pump, a vacuum (indicated by a gauge attached to the pipe) is in two or three minutes obtained, when the cock is shut. The cock on the filling-pipe is then opened, when the brine immediately rushes in, under the atmospheric pressure, filling up the vacuum, and bearing upon the meat with a pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch. This cock is then shut, and that upon the pressure-pipe opened; the pressure-pump is now worked, forcing in additional brine, until a pressure equal to 200 pounds on the square inch is obtained, indicated by the blowing of the safety-valve after a few strokes of the pump. After this, a process of filtration, or changing of brine, is kept up for five minutes, and the operation is finished, having occupied not more than a quarter of an hour. The cock on the filling-pipe is then opened (this pipe being now the channel for the escape of the brine) ; on taking off the bonnet, the atmospheric, pressure drives the brine back into the tub, wherein a bag of salt is kept, and it is immediately ready for the next operation. After this the meat is taken out of the machine, having been thoroughly penetrated with the antiseptic; a fact which no one can doubt, when the means employed are considered. Indeed, a very simple experiment of Mr. Payne's satisfactorily establishes this : in the cavity of the half of a large marrow-bone is placed a piece of meat, the end hermetically sealed, and the bone submitted to the process; on taking it out, the inner part of the bone was found full of brine, and the meat in it thoroughly cured, the seal being unbroken by the process. On examining the brine that had been used for many weeks, in daily operation, no perceptible change of colour had taken place in it, proving that none of the nutritious elements of the substances had been extracted ; for, had such been the case, colour would have been easily detected, even after one operation. The machines are extremely simple, perfectly safe, not liable to get out of order, are of great durability, and the manipulation is at once understood. There are many minor points into

which we do not enter, such, as attenuating the brine to different degrees of saltness, when the ■meat- is required to keep, for longer or shorter "periods — flavouring the brine with spices, herbs, &c, for different preparations of meats — the varied applicability of the process to fish, poultry, game, &c. These are for the consideration of the epicure and gourmand ; to us, the allimportant consideration is the fact that, by this means, throughout the world there will be brought into a state of usefulness to mankind a vast profusion of those animal productions with which Providence, in his inscrutable wisdom, has covered, the earth and stored the waters, for the support and enjoyment of his creatures. We feel assured we do not overrate the value of this invention, although we are prepared to expect that, as every improvement that takes place necessarily more or less affects what are termed " vested interests," it will have obstacles and difficulties to contend with in its introduction, which may require time and perseverance to conquer ; but of its ultimate success and universal adoption we entertain no doubt. As far as this invention more immediately affects our own country, it is unquestionable there are interests with which it must materially interfere. It is true that the importation of foreign cured meat is burdened with a duty of twelve shillings per cwt., say about five farthings perlb. ; but in South America, for instance, we know that there are hordes of cattle killed for their hides alone, the carcase itself having no value. It is not to be supposed that mercantile enterprise will long allow such an opening for beneficial investment to remain unoccupied; and what will our graziers and eurers say, when they find prime meat brought into our markets, duty paid, at two-pence to two-pence halfpenny -per lb. ? and this, observe, not hard salted junk, but merely slightly corned beef; and even suppose our Legislature should impose a total prohibition on all such importation, that could not affect foreign countries, to many of which we have hitherto had an export trade in provisions, and in whose markets our merchants will now be met by opposition from quarters formerly unthought of. We leave mercantile men to settle the point ; to us, however, one thing is clear, namely, that if the eurers of provisions in this country cannot compete with others in a foreign market by adopting this new system, which saves greatly in labour, time, loss of ma- , terial, and risk of failure, they certainly will .never be able to do so by the old mode. 4 One other consideration occurs to us, which demands, in our estimation, the prompt and serious attention of the " powers that be." The complaints amongst our seamen and our troops of the badness of the provisions with which they have been and are supplied, are of old date. To this much of the disease and mortality occurring amongst them hwe been ascribed ; and ho one can read the accounts received from China during the last twelve months, without feeling for the sufferings of our countrymen there, from this very cause. In the name of humanity, then, we would call upon the Government to fuHy investigate the subject upon which we have been treating, with the view of remedying, or, at all events, ameliorating, so great an evil. We have been assured, and our own conviction supports the assurance, that provisions for the army and navy, thus prepared, would not only be infinitely more wholesome and nutritious, but that, in a pecuniary point of view, a material, indeed a large, saving to the state would be effected. We have, we think, said sufficient to awaken attention to this interesting and important discovery. When we consider that by it the animal products of the water and the earth, throughout the whole globe, are rendered available for the uses of man; that by it the evil and destructive influences of climate, hitherto the great barrier to the preservation of such products, are conquered, and that thus a new and wide field, pregnant with relief to our wants and additions to our comforts, is laid open before us; we feel convinced our readers will not accuse us of having expressed ourselves too strongly on the subject ; and we trust our remarks will induce many to satisfy themselves of the facts we have stated, by investigation and personal observation, which it is in the power of any one to do, by calling at the office of the patentees.

Families of Litbrary Men. — The Quarterly Review, in discussing an objection to the Copyright Bill of Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, which was taken by Sir Edward Sugden, gives some very curious particulars about the progeny of literary men. "We are not," says the writer, " going to speculate about the causes of the fact— but a fact it is — that men, distinguished for extraordinary intellectual power of any sort, very rarely leave more than a very brief line of progeny behiwl them. Men of genius have scarcely ever done so. Men of imaginative genius, we might say, almost never. With the one exception of the noble Surrey, we cannot at this moment point out a representative in the male line even so far down as in the third generation of any English poet, and we believe the case is the same in France. The blood of beings of that order can seldom be traced far down even in the female line. With the exceptions of Surrey and Spencer, we are not aware, of any great English authorjf at all remote date from whose body any living person claims to be descended. There is no other real English poet, prior to the middle of the eighteenth century, and we believe no grett author of any sort — except Clarendon and Shaftsbury — of whose blood we have any inheritance amongst v*. Chaucer's only son died childless. Sbakspeare's line expired in bis daughter's only daughter. None of the other dramatists of that age left any progeny ; nor Raleigh, nor Bacon, nor Cowley, nor Butler. The granddaughter of Milton was the last of his blood. Newton, Locke, Pope, Swift Arbuthnot, Hume, Gibbon, Cowper. Gray, Walpole, Cavendish — and we might greatly extend the list— never married.

Neither Bolingbroke, nor Addison, nor" Warburton, nor Johnson, nor Burke, transmitted their blood. When a human race has produced its 'bright consummate flower.' in this kind, it.s eems commonly to be near its end." Poor Goldsmith might have been mentioned in the above list. The theory it illustrated in our own day. The two greatest names in science and in literature, of our time, were Davy and Walter Scott. The first died childless. Sir Walter left four children, of whom three are dead, only one of them (Mrs. Lockhart) leaving issue, and the fourth (his eldest son), though living, and long married, has no issue. These are curious facts.

We are enabled to state that his Royal Highness .Prince Albert has accepted the appointment of Warden of the Stannaries and Chief Steward «f the Duchy in Cornwall and Devon. The salary and emoluments hitherto attached to this important office have been abolished by his Royal Highness's desire. — Times.

Important to Masters op Vessels. — It appears, from the number of vessels which are in the habit of coming above Pinchgut during the night, that the masters are not aware they subject themselves to a heavy penalty by so doing ; we therefore give the ninety-ninth clause of the Port Regulations for their information : — " Vessels entering the Heads of Port Jackson after sunset, or before sunrise (steam vessels and packet vessels licensed by the Collector of Customs excepted), are not to come higher up the harbour than Pinchgut I&laod, under a penalty of not less than JGS nor more than £30."— Sydney Herald. Coal.— -A coal mine, worked by Mr. Keddie, of East Moitland, is now in successful operation, and affords a very pure mineral at 13s. per ton.