“You will also see, and I hope taste, a pigeon pie. The pigeons and the steak have been preserved raw in stoppered bottles since the 21st of last November and the eggs since the 4th of July, 1881. I will also call your attention to a tongue which I myself placed in the solution Feb. 9 in this year, with some garlic, sugar, and juniper berries, my object being to show that salt can, if desired, be dispensed with. You will doubtless find that it will require salt; but you will readily infer that hams, tongues, etc., can be made just as salt as one pleases, and will yet keep perfectly sweet, in fact sounder, than those cured only with salt. This tongue was boiled out of pickle. I exhibit two shoulders of mutton, one cooked, the other raw; they are from sheep killed Jan. 10, 1882. Also a piece of beef preserved on the same day; this when you have inspected it shall be cut in slices and broiled. You will see some sausages, both cooked and uncooked; they were made for me by Mr. Bowron, poulterer, of Paddington, early in July last, before I went to Carlsbad. I took some with me to that place, and they were there eaten and pronounced good. These are some of the same lot; they were made as follows: The meat was chopped, put into the preserving fluid for one night, and then mixed with the other material in the ordinary way. They have been kept since in an earthenware jar; they have, therefore, been made more than nine months. I may remark that the bread in these sausages was not treated, and therefore it has become slightly sour, but the pork has kept perfectly fresh. I have also some other sausages which I bought Jan. 12, and at once preserved; these having been steeped, the bread has not turned in the slightest degree sour.

“Mock turtle soup, bought ready made from a confectioner’s shop in Oxford street, Jan. 25, treated with the preservative stuff, has remained quite good and unchanged in flavor.

“There is also a specimen of gravy soup made in October last, and some vermicelli soup made about three weeks ago. The preservative action of boroglyceride in cooked foods is, it seems to me, of great importance to hotel-keepers, confectioners, and restaurant proprietors, as it will enable them to buy large stocks when certain articles are cheap, and from the specimen I show of cooked beef you see it remains quite moist, as it can be kept, without getting sour, in its own gravy and under a layer of its own fat. To prove that articles can be kept and dried without losing their flavor, I had some partridges treated and dried last February twelvemonth, and I exhibit some soup made from two of these birds. The other articles on the table are one raw and one roast fowl, bought Jan. 17; one raw and one roast pheasant, bought Feb. 5; one rabbit boiled, bought Jan. 17. There are also from Jamaica a green lime, some fresh tamarinds, and some pieces of fresh ginger. * * *

“I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the patient hearing you have given me.”

DISCUSSION.

The Chairman said the paper was marked by the clear and philosophic way in which the subject was treated, and before inviting discussion upon it he would mention shortly his own experience of the process, the only interest of which was that it was quite independent of Prof. Barff. When he was asked to take the chair he communicated with Mr. Barff, and inquired what the process was. Mr. Barff kindly sent him a specimen of this substance, which he melted, and put some of it into one-half of a pint of cream. The other half very soon turned sour, and had to be thrown away, but that to which the substance was added was perfectly fresh that morning. He was confirmed in the opinion of its freshness by the cook, though she said there was a very slight tartness perceptible, by which she could distinguish it from fresh cream. He had also tried another experiment on meat which was chopped very fine, and divided into two parts; to one part he added merely tepid water, to the other, tepid water to which one-sixteenth of its bulk of this compound had been added. This was left on the meat for eighteen hours, and then filtered off through muslin. Several days ago the portion which had no preservative was very offensive, but the other portion was that morning perfectly free from any odor whatever.

The Rev. J. L. Dobson said he had had the pleasure of being associated with Mr. Barff in most of the experiments he had detailed, and might therefore anticipate his reply to one or two points raised by Dr. Graham. An experiment which was tried for some time in a large school would answer the question of wholesomeness. At the Beaumont College, Windsor, there was a large staff of teachers and over 200 pupils, and during the hot weather of last summer the dairymaid was very much annoyed at the milk turning sour, and applied to him to see if he could do anything to counteract it. He handed her some 14 or 15 lbs. of this material and during the whole of the hot weather and well on into September it was constantly used, and the milk was preserved; but the method was not detected by any one, either by the younger members or by those who might be expected to be more critical. No ill effects were observed by the medical officer or by individuals. From his own experience he thought the aroma was very well preserved throughout. For instance, in oysters which had been preserved over three months there was the characteristic aroma of the fresh oyster; mutton could be easily distinguished from beef, and the peculiar smell of the turtle was also very distinct. They had not yet tried beer with so much fullness as other articles, but about nine months ago a small quantity was treated and left exposed to the air, with only a loose stopper of cotton wool. It did not grow cloudy in the ordinary way, but owing to the severity of the experiment, and perhaps to not sufficiently treating it, after four months it lost all flavor, became extremely flat, and a slight fungus appeared.

Dr. Thudichum had listened with great pleasure to the paper, and had no doubt if the application of the invention could be effected on a large scale it would be very useful. He had some experience with regard to a portion of the ingredients used, viz.: boracic acid, though he had none of this beautiful new compound. It might not be known to the meeting that boracic acid had been used for a great many years for preserving food, and in fact many of them in summer time had their milk well dosed with it. It had been sold to milkmen in London for years under the name of “aseptin.” He had tested it in 1865 and found a great many of those effects which Mr. Barff described. For instance eggs were beautifully preserved, and steak immersed in the solution did not become either mouldy or decomposed, but on the contrary appeared to retain its flavor. A variety of other things, such as cheese and cream, were for a long time preserved by this application of aseptin. He hoped the addition of the glycerine would increase the power and prevent some drawbacks which would otherwise stand in the way of boracic acid alone as a preservative of raw or cooked meat.

Prof. Barff, in reply to the various questions which had been asked, said he had used salicylic acid and had found it useful in preserving food, but for several reasons discontinued further investigations, one being on the score of its unwholesomeness, and he found that his views on that point had been borne out by the action taken by the French Government. Dr. Graham had asked him about flavor; he had given Dr. Graham a few days ago some specimens of preserved fish, which he said had lost their flavor, but that would not be found to be the case with the box of sardines. The herrings had been kept in an open vessel exposed to the air ever since the day they were put into the liquid, and therefore it was not surprising that they had lost their flavor. If they would try any of the things which had been tinned, not soldered up, but such as the Jamaica pigeons, which were in a common corked bottle, it would be found that the aroma and flavor were retained. The only thing requisite was to keep the vessel so as to exclude the air, as you would with tea or coffee. Dr. Thudichum made some very interesting remarks which there was not time to refer to at length, if he were competent to do so, but not being a medical man he could not enter into medical questions. As to the wholesomeness of the compound, however, he might say that he had taken large quantities of it himself and it had never done him any harm; and a near relative had taken an ounce per week regularly for a year and a half, without any ill effect—a person, too, not very strong or of good digestive powers. The boys and teachers of Beaumont College drank milk preserved with it without distinguishing the taste or suffering any ill effects. He knew there were medical opinions in favor of boracic acid, and one physician he was acquainted with used it as a medicine. If it were at all unwholesome he certainly should not recommend it, but he did not think there was the slightest fear. As to boron getting into the system, it was not boron which was used, but oxide of boron; but even if it did—and he should not be surprised if traces of boron were found in the excreta—it did not follow that any harm was done. There were many things which went through the system without injury; for instance, silica, of which most people took a great deal in the twenty-four hours. As to the cost of the process the cost per gallon, as far as he could tell—he could not tell exactly—would be under 1s.—perhaps 8d. or 9d.—and a gallon would affect an enormous quantity. Most of the articles on the table were put into one pan of solution, and the cost of the whole stuff was about 9 1/2d. Should the process be adopted commercially experiments as to the cost would be most carefully made and the results published. A joint of any size could be soaked; the only thing was to give it plenty of time. You might soak a piece of beef of twenty pounds, forty pounds, or fifty pounds; or you might use an injecting syringe, such as butchers employed for salting meat quickly, and the meat so treated would keep for a week or a fortnight perfectly good, but he did not think it would keep well enough to pass under a tropical sun. In order to do that you must inject by the aorta, by means of a force pump, so as to send the liquid into all the interstices of the flesh. As to the proportions, 1 in 20 was the strongest he used, and 1 in 60 the weakest; for preserving meat 1 in 50 answered perfectly well—1 lb. of the compound added to 50 lbs. of water. The bottle should be put before the fire until melted, and then poured into hot water, and it would dissolve. With regard to preserving morbid specimens he thought it would answer perfectly well. He had had some practice in morbid anatomy, and he might say that, for the injection of bodies to be used for anatomical purposes it would keep them perfectly sweet. It should be injected by the aorta in the usual way before injecting with the red wax. In reply to Mr. Dipnall he would say that the compound penetrated right through into the innermost parts of the meat. If you had an earthen pan and put into it 1 lb. of this and 50 lbs. of water, and placed in it a joint which came home on the Saturday night in hot weather, you could take it out the next day and it would keep perfectly for a fortnight. Of course it took time to penetrate into the meat, but the first superficial penetration stopped the injurious effects of germs which set up putrefaction. Another important fact was this: if you had a roast leg of lamb, perfectly good, but did not eat it all, and put it away in hot weather, it would turn sour, but if it had been treated in this way it would not; it would keep for six months without going sour. By adding a small quantity from time to time, which you could only learn by experience, the bath would keep perfectly fresh and effective, though it would be found after a time to get rather dark colored. That arose from the juice of the meat, and the advantage of this process was that you need not throw it away, as you must brine, but could boil it down into very good soup. In conclusion he would only ask his hearers to read the paper and discussion carefully when published, and he was sure any one would be able to carry out the process.

The Chairman, in proposing a hearty vote of thanks to Prof. Barff, said the process he had described was remarkable for its great simplicity and the ease with which it could be carried out. Any cook could readily apply it.