The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1882-01-12
Mseful aud Curious.
A Broth for the Sick.

For one portion of broth take half pound of
freshly killed meat cnt it in small pieces, add to
it II pound of distilled water, to which has been
added four drops of pure ehlorhydric (muriatic)
acid, and half TO one draehm of common salt
mix them well together After standing an
hour, the whole is strained through 4 eonieal
hair seive, seh as is ordinarily used in the kiteh
en-, allowing it 10 pass through without pressing
The portion passing through first being cloudy,
| il is again poured through the seiye, and this
process repeated until it becomes perfectly clear
Upon the residue Of meat remaining in the seive,
half pound Of distilled water is poured, in small
portions. In this manner about one pound of
liquid (extract meat is obtained, of red color
and pleasant meat-broth taste. 1t is administer
ed TO the sick, cold, by the eup-full, according
| to their inclination. 1t must not be heated, as
| it becomes cloudy thereby, and thick coagulum
| of meat albumen and hematin is deposited.
A Young lady of IL years, in my family, being
ill with typhus fever, first introduced this pre-
paration. IL was called forth by the remark of
my family physician DIR. Pfeufer,) that, in a GER
tain stage Of this disease, the CREATES. difficulty
met with by physician lay in incomplete diges-
ton, consequence of the condition Of the intes-
| tines, and, besides, in the want Of nutriment
proper for digestion and for the formation of
blood The common broths prepared by boiling
are defcient-in fact, in all those constituents
necessary for the formation of the albumen of
| the blood-and the yolk of eggs, often added
thereto contains very little of this material for
it has s2f per cent. water and fat, and only I7}
per ccut OF n SUBSTANCE very 70,
| the same as the albumen of the egg; and whether
this is equal in nutritious qualities to the albumen
of meat is, according to the investigations of
Magendie, at least doubtful. The new broth
contains besides meat albumen, a certain guam
tity of hematin, and, therein, far greater guam
\ tity of iron necessary for the formation of the
| blood corpuscles, and, finally, the digesting
chlorhydric acid.
A great hndrance to the employment Of this
broth in simmer is its liability to change in
| warm weather; il commences regularly to fer
| ment, like sugar water with yeast, without the
usual ordor. (What substance is here formed il
well worthy investigation.) On account Of this
| the meat must he extracted with perfectly cold
water, and in q cool place. lee water, and re-
frigeration with ice, completely this diff
| hculty. Most important of all is it that the
meat be perfectly fresh, and not several days old.
This broth is now in use in the hospital and in
| the private practice of several of the most dis
| tinguished physicians of Munich.
| should, perhaps have hestated to give greater
publicity to so simple thing if new-and to
my family an especially important-case had
not convinced me of the great nutritious proper
| ties of this soup, and hence arises the natural
| wish that its benefits may be experienced by
wider circle, and other sufferers be restored by
| its benefcent effects. A young married lady,
| who, in consequence of an ovarian Inflammation,
eould take no solid food, livid for two months
entirely upon this broth, at the end Of which
period her health was perfectly restored. During
| this time she gained in flesh and strength. Cen
orally patients take this food without opposition
only so long they are i'll; as they can
| take other food they reject this, perhaps owing
| to the color and the faint meat Odor. IL might
| in many cases be of use to color the broth brown
by adding burnt sugar.-Reepe BY Professor Lisbig.