The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1881-09-17
Extract of Meat.

Baron von Liebig, Germany sgreat chem
list, ascertained that the soluble comstitu-
ents of 81 pounds of pure muscle meat
equal to 10 pounds of ordinary mca; as
it is received from the butcher) may be
concentrated by boiling to one pound Of
extract, sufficient for the preparation Of
100 parts of bouillon With his keen
perception he foresaw that the manufacture
of this extract might become IA great iu-
duStry. He conceived the idea that the
transmarine countries rich in cattle might
become tributary to the necessities of
Europe,
In the year 1850, at the beginning of
the manufacture, the Royal Apotheeary
at Munich consumed scarcely one hun
dredweight annually, that is, one-tenth
part of an OK, and Liebig himself did not
imagine that in score of years the num-
Der of cattle falling victims to this indus
try would number millions. This state
ment will not appear exaggerated when it
is considered that in the summer season
there are led daily to the slaughtering
bench from one thousand to twelve hun.
dred oxen
The manufactory of Liebig's Extract of
Meat Company lies on the eastern (left)
shore of the Uruguay River, in that
State.
Proceeding Systematically, we should
consider first the immense pasturing lands
upon which the cattle peacefully Craze
These cattle are children of the Pampas,
descendants of the European cattle intro
dueed by the Spanish conquerors. The
large level pastures were especially suited
to them, and here they increased greatly
and now rove in innumerable herds.
For the manufacture Of the extract the
best pieces of meat are selected, for the
simple reason that these pieces are the
most profitable for the extract When
the animals are driven in from the Pam
pas to Fray Bentos they are kept for q
week upon the pasturing places mentioned,
where they are permitted to rest and feed.
Then they are driven to the eorrals, great
Enclosures capable of containing five thou
sand oxen; from here men mounted on
horseback, swinging their lassos, drive the
cattle by degrees into other smaller corrals,
until finally the way is so narrow that the
animals can only proceed one behind the
other. A man stands at the side upon a
staging with short knife. With uner-
ring certainty he strikes the animal close
behind the horns into the spinal marrow
As if struck by lightning the animal falls
dead upon platform which rests upon
wheels. The body rolls upon track to
the slaughter house, where with almost in
credible celerity it is skinned and cut in /.
pieces by skilled aud practised men. In
less than seven minutes whole OK is cut
up. In the slaughtering season over five
hundred men are employed, powerful fel-
lows, who are very good hearted and harm
less characters in spite of their bloody oe-
cupation, and notwithstanding the fact
that their nourishment consists almost ex-
clusively of meat. The dexterity with
which they handle the knife excites as
tonishment. The meat is separated from
the bones, as if the knife were guided
through soft butter. One hundred aud
ffty to two hundred oxen can be handled
in this way per hour.
The raw material is conveyed in vari-
Gus ways from the slaughter house. The
hides are salted, the horns stored, and the
tongues are cooked and preserved in tin
cans The best pieces, as free from fat as
possible, are used for the manufacture of
the extract, while the inferior pieces are
made into tasqjo (meat salted and then
dried in the air, which is favorite arti-
Gle Of food with the black population of
Brazil and the West Indies. The fatty
parts furnish material for the large tallow
buying honses. The refuse and oifal are
dried and made into fertilizers.
The meat for the manufacture Of the
concentrated extract is freed from fat
and gelatine, and passes through the fol-
lowing processes: First it passes through
four cutting machines, which discharge it
into nine large wrought iron tubs, each
one holding FIVE thousand kilogrammes.
In these the meat with an equal weight Of
water is heated to boiling. Then the Ii
quid passes through pipes into an apparatus
invented by Prof Max Pettenkofer, where
it is clarified and separated from the fatty
part Air pumps carry the remaining
fluid mass into two reservoirs placed seven
meters higher, from which it passes into
the evaporating apparatus after it has gone
through several straining processes.
The evaporating is effected in five large
reservoirs, each having hundred disks of
the same material, which reyolye in the
liquid; then the extract remains quiet in
other reservoirs until the next morning,
when it is placed in two cast iron kettles
surrounded by hot water jackets, each
containing 10000 liters of the extract,
where it is reduced to a uniform mass.
Then samples are taken which are sub
iected to the careful tests of the chemist
of the establishment. If these turn QUITO
be perfectly satisfactory as to purity, arO-
ma, and consistency, the extract Is packed
in tin chests, each containing one hundred
pounds, and sent to Europe. Packing the
extract in small stone jars for the retail
trade is done at the general depot it Ant
.werp. The cooked meat remaining in the
kettle is dried in the air, and with the ad
dition of few nutritive salts, and after
ward being ground, is manufactured in the
SO called meat-food meal.
Connected with the establishment are
tin, locksmith, and joiner shops, foun-
dry, pump works, steam cranes, etc. The
company import coal from England at
great cost, from 1000 to 5000 tons being
consumed yearly. -Four thousands tons of
salt are consumed yearly for sailing the
hides and tasajo. The cattle slaughtered
for the extract are at least four years old,
as younger animals will not supply strong
extract Scientific american.
OLD SHoEs.-You probably think that
if you look sharply at an old shoe when
you throw it away you viii know it again
if it ever comes back to you. But that
doesn't at all follow. Que of these days