Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1852-08-18
PRESERVED MEATS.

appedT CO uS peculiarly iHlcleSIlliS
In the year l799, ut place called Jac-
tush, in Liberia, an enormous elephant was
discovered embedded in translucent block
of ice, upwards of two hundred feet thick.
The animal was perfect in its entire fabric,
rs on the day when it was submerged, and
the wolves and foxes preyek upon its flesh
for weeks. Upon examination of its bones,
the great Cuyier pronounced it to have be-
longed to an animal Of the ante.deluvian
world. We might fairly presume this to be
the oldest specimen Of preserved meat on
record, and nature was therefore clearly the
first discoverer of the process, although she
took out no patent nor made any secret Of
her method The exclusion Of the external
air in this natural process, combined with
the effect of low degree Of temperature
which prevented fermentation taking place
in the tissues themselves, man has long
initiated. In the markets Of St. Petcrsburgh
vast quantities of frozen meats are to be
found the greater part of the year, and our
own countrymcn have taken advantage of
the method to preserve Scoth and Irish
salmon for the London market.
The most scientific and enduring mode
of excluding the air from the article to be
preserved has long been known and cx-
tensively carried out Good housewives Of
the old school would have starved, perhaps,
if they could have been told, whilst boiling
and corkng down hot their bottled goose
berries, that they were practising an art,
which when carried out little more effec-
tuaily, would prove one of the most valua.
bic discoveries of modern times. But we
do not exaggeratc. The difference between
the bottled gooseberrics and the meats pre-
served in vacno, is only a question OF degree
aud the art of preserving n few vegetables
from year to year., and Of storing up whole
herds of oxen, and keeping them if needs
be, till doomsday, depends entirely upon the
power of pumping out more or less atmos-
pheric air from the vessels containing them.
The first successful attempt at preserving
meat by this latter process was made by M.
Apart, in France, in the year 1911, and
for his discovery the Emperor rewarded him
with gift of $4,000 francs. His method
was brought soon after to England, and
remained the only one in use until the year
1885, when NJ Eas!in sold a.Ee te Mr. Ga1dpe5
vacuum is formed in the cannisters, thereby
insuring the preservation of their contents
so long as the vacuum is maintained. This
process, which is patented, is carried on by
Messrs. Ritchie & Mccall in Houndsditch,
and is really well worth passing notice.
The room we first enter is the larder.
Lord Mayor would faint at the bare contem.
platon Of such an embarrass dc richesses.
What juicy rounds-what plump turkeys
what lively turte-what tempting sucking
irs and succulent tomatoes! AS we pass
through the court to the kitchen we see
dozen fellows opening oysters, destined to
be eaten perhaps by the next generation OF
opera gocrs. Here is the room where the
cannist.rs are made-the armour Of mail in
which the provisions are dressed to enable
them to withstand the assaults OF the enemy.
! The kitchen itself is spacious room, i'll
which stands Il series of vats. There is no
fire visible but look how simply those half a
hundred cannistcrs Of green peas are beng
dressed. There they stand, up to their
necks in a brown looking mibture, very like
chocolate; this is solution OF chloride oil
calcium, which does not boil under tenn.
perature of 32O degrees. Steam pipes
ranify through this mixture, and warm it up
to any degree that is required, within its
boiling point BY this arrangement great
heat is obtained without steam. The can
nsters containing the provisions were, pre-.
viously to being placed in this bath, closed
permanently down, with the exception OF
small hole, not much bigger than the prick
of cobbler's awl through the cover. The
cook stands watching with soldering tool,
and sponge. Steam issues in small
white let from one Of the covers; this drives
all the enclosed air before; and at the mo-
ment when experience tells him that the
viands are done to a turn, he squeezes from
the sponge a drop of water in the hole
The steam is instantly condensed, and as
instantly he drops with the other hand a
plug of molten solder, which hermetically
seals il. Rounds of beef, Of fifty pounds
weight, can be preserved by this method,
which the old process did not allow Of The
testing room gives the warrant to the pro-
visions. Here all the cannisters are brought
after they have been sealed, and submitted
for week to great heat As the light OF
the fire falls sideways upon the gitterng
metal, it discloses in an instant an unsound
canister, as each cover is q perfect anGroid
barometer, marking with the greatest nicely
the pressure upon it of the external air. II
concave they are passed as good; if convex
or bulged, they are undoubtedly bad, and
consigned to the anure heap. In proof OF
the value of this discovery, we would add
that dining the other day with friend not
hundred miles from Burlington garden
where wits were wont to congregate, with
appetites sharpened by our ride, we set
down to sumptuous rcpast, where the
mingled odour OF fish, flesh and game, in,
vited to more substantial testing of their
quality. "This pheasant is delicious" said
|. al am delighted to hear it, )" rejoined our
host, he gave up the ghost just ten years
ago." "Nonsense; but this wild duck
tumbed over with a broke wing, | see by
the fracture, in the same year.
, al suppose you will say next" said a
doubling guest, that this milk is not foam
ing fresh from the COVE" MIXED" re-
piled our imperturable host, when my little
godson was born, that now struts ir
breechcs." "Come now, what is the mos
juvenile dish on the tablet" was demanded
with a general voice. "These apples
al