Evening star., 1899-03-08
AN ADVISER
Beef Court of Inquiry Accompanied
by Chemist.
FIRST WANTED DOCTOR WILEY 70 GO
His Assistant, DR.. BigeIow, Sent by
Secretary Wilson.
THE JOURNEY WESTWARD

Accompanied by a scientific adviser, the
beef court of inquiry left this city last
night, and will reach Chicago this after
noon. The party consisted of Maj. Gen,
Wade. the president of the court; Brig,
Gen. Davis. Col. Gillespie and the recorder
Col Davis; John F. Hulse, the stenog-
rapher, and DR.. W. d. Bigelow. the scien-
tific adviser. The duties of the latter have
| very important bearing on the work OF
the court. and the fact that he was 10 ac-
company it has been sedulously kept from
the public.
The court applied. through Col. Davis to
the Secretary OF Agriculture In the first in
stance to detail DR. II. W. Wiley, the chem
ist of the department, who conducted the
war commissions investigation into the
chemical character of the meat furnished
the army. as the adviser. As DIR. Wiley is
engaged upon a number OF scientific in
quiries IL was found impossible for him IN
go, and the Secretary detailed. instead Dr
BlSelow, who is a valued assistant of the
chief chemist.
The Scientific Adviser
Dr. Wiley instructed DIR. Bigelow that he
is TO assist the court in its inquiry in every
possible way to the scientific matters
within its knowledge. He will aceompanv
the court 10 the packing and canning es-
tabishments visited In the west and will
make part inquiry and investigation
as TO the use Of chemical preservatives or
or chemicals of any kind in the preparation
or preservation of meat
he VIII make 4 close examina tion of the
cold storage chambers and analyze the
nold he t1nds upon the carcasses hanging
therein. This mold Is n natural forynr,
tion and the custom is to scrane it fror,
the meat before using the latter. II anv
chemicals have been placed upon or In the
@ nieat Tor the purpose of preparing or pre-
serving II, indications of this will be found
IN the mold. as the moisture rising iron,
WITHIN 10 the outside of the carcas. carrias
with ii the chemicals 1e'
.ho Df; Big Bise;ow win obtain also samples OF
me meat In all the concerns, particularly
OF an that are preserved or kept FROM
decay by any of the various procesees
Snown to chemists and the trade. II, win
ueii&lnu access 10 all parts of the buildings.
and II he is refused or not shoUn ali ba
VIII make report of the facts
Ahother important function he will per-
wbinb WIZ VIZ De tae drawing up of questions
@ @mniSh the court will put to the numerous
hSao chemists and their assistants ero-
pi1f"d py the beef packers and Gamers
an1I w WIN report his work TO Dr. Wiley,
ana ths latter Will forward 1T to the score
tary Oh Agriculture. who will then ofiicialIv
pace the court of frquiry in possessioI
vi II LOT ming as part of its record Sur
ss 20 as zs wnole, ne VIII advise the court
as 10 meat preservation. storing and di-
sestoh anu their mutual relation.
He VIII Get Samples.
Secretary Wilson also has instructed DR..
Wileys assistant that, while in the west
ne is TO obtain in every direction samples
OF all meat sold or used and to make care
lul analyses To determine the presence or
absence OF any chemicals
Analyses conducted by Dr. Wiley I'm HIS
laboratory show that the much-despised
canned roast beef is actually more nutri-
Ia Fr3r- -
the army. This is somewhat surprising IN
view of the allegations against the former,
put numerous exhaustive tests have clear
ly demonstrated the fact that nutrlfiys
value of the canned meat is much greater
than that of the fresh product
IN recent report upon the subject Or.
Wiley states:
In the case of certain meats. such as
roast beef and corned beef, il is the GUS
tom TO cook them before they arc chopped
and put into the can. The process of cook
ing, as Is well known, does not impair the
digestibility of the food. If meat be boiled
in water previous to preserving In sealed /
packages. portion of the fat may be re- +,
moved and also some OF the soluble nitroee-
nous compounds which all meats contain +,
The most important nitrogenous compounds
which may be removed by the boiling of the {,
meat are glutin, carnin, kreatin. kreatinn /
and sarkin. All these are bodies which are
very rich in nitrogen; they are not true pro-
ted bodies, but are known as flesh bases
These are the bodies which exist chiefly IN
tritious as the insoluble nitrogenous bodies
of meat, and their abstraction therefrom
does not tend to diminish but rather to in
crease the food value OF the meat.
Animal fats when removed from other
animal tissues are not easily decomposed,
and preserve their freshness without the
addition of any preserving agent. or with
out being placed in air-tight packages for
a greater or less length of time. In the pre-
serving of meats, therefore, some of the
fatty tissues are removed and only small
portions of animal fat, comparati lively, are
found in the packages. Preserved meat ,
then, consists chiefly of the insolube nj
trogenous elements of the meat. l. e., all
those elements which are especially useful &
in building and restoring tissue. That
great class of foods known as carbohydrates
is almost entirely unrepresented I'm meat i
products, the small quantity of glycogen 3
which exists In meat being practically neg
iigible in comparison with the other nutri- .
ents. Preserved meat, therefore. presents a
eharacter of food which is almost eNelu-
sively nitrogenous in its nature"
S = A-