EXTRACT OF MEAT.

Otago Witness, Issue 746, 17 March 1866, Page 6

EXTRACT OF MEAT.

BT BARON JUSTUS YON LIEBIG.

I see that rather contradictory views are expressed by different English writers on the value of the extract of meat, some taking it to be a complete and compendious substitute for meat, while others assert that it has no nutritive value whatever. The truth, as is usually the case, lies in the middle, and as I was the first who entered more fully into the chemistry of meat, I may be allowed shortly to state the results of my investigations as far as the extraction carnis a3 nutriment is concerned.

The meat as it comes from the butcher contains two different series of compounds. The first consists of the so called albuminous principles (i.e., fibrin and albumen) and of glue-forming membranes. Of these, fibrin and albumen have a high nutritive power, although not if taken by themselves.

The second series consists of crystallizable substances, viz., creatin, creatinin, sarcin, which are exclusively to be found in

meat ; farther, of non-crystallizable organic principles and of salts (phosphate and chloride of potassium.) All of these together are called the H [ex» tractive 3of meat.'' To this eecond series of substances beef-tea owes its flavour and efficacy, the same being the case with extractum carnis, which is, in fact, nothing but solid beef tea— that is, beef tea from which the water has been evaporated. Besides the substances already mentioned, meat contains, as a non-csentiil constituent, a varying amount of fat. Now neither fibrin nor albumen are to found ia the extractum carnis which bears my name, and gelatine (^lue) and fat are purposely excluded from it. In the preparation of the extract the a'buminous principles are left in the residue. This residue, by the separation of all soluble principles, which are taken up in the extract* loses its nutritive power, and cannot bo made an article of trade in any palatable form. Were it possible to furnish the market at a reasonable price with a preparation of meat combining in itself the albuminous together with the extractive principles, such a preparation would have t* be preferred to the extractum carnis, for id would contain all the nutritive constituents of meat. But there is, I think, no prospect of this being realised. Happily th« albuminous principles wanting in the ex--tract of meat can be replaced by identical ones derived from the vegetable kingdom at a much lower price. Just the reverse is the case in regard to the extractive matters of meat ; for (their salts excepted) it is impossible to find an; substitute for them ; or, on the other hand, they may be extracted from the meat and brought into the market in a palatable and j durable form. | In conjunction with albuminous principles of vegetable origin they have the full j nutritive effect of meat. > From the extractive matters then contained in extractum carnis in a concentrated form, the latter derives its value as a nutriment for the nations of Europe, provided it can be procured in large quantities, and at a cheap rate, from countries where meat ha 3no value. The albuminous principles of vegetable origin are principally to be found in the seeds of cereal?, and the European markets are sufficiently provided with them ; on the other hand, the supply of fresh meat ia insufficient, and this will get worse as the population increases. For an array, for example, it will not be difficult to provide and store up the necessary amount of grain or flour ; sugar, too, as well as fatty substances and the like, will be procurable, their transport and preservation offering scarcely any difficulty; but there may easily occur a deficiency of fresh meat. Salted meat but inadequately replaces fresh meat, btciuse in the process of saltiug a large quantity of tbe extractive principles of the meat is lost; b2sides, it is well known that those who live on salt meat for a continuance become subject to different diseases. Dried meat generally means tainted meat scarcely eatable. Extractum carnis, combined with vegetable albumen, enables us to make up the deficiency ; and that combination is the only one at our disposal. What was 3iid of an army also holds good of those European nations in general that do not produce a sufficient quiutity of meat. By making the most of the herds of South America, iv using them for the preparation of extractum carnis, and by the importation of corn from the west of the United States and other corn- growing countries, the deficiency may be madti up, although not to the full extent. For, supposing ten manufactories, producing together ten millions of pounds of extract of meat i from a million oxen, or ten millions of I sheep, that whole quantity would provide the population of Great Britain only with one pound yearly for every three persons, that is, one pound a day for 1,100 persons. On the value of extract of meat as a medical substance it ia unnecessary to say a word, it being identical with beef-tea, about the usefulness and efficiency of which opinions do not differ. At the same time, I may remark that it is a mistake to think that beef- tea contains any albumen — that there ou^ht to be any gelatine or drops of fat to swim on its surface. But beef-tea does not contain any albumen, and if rightly prepared, ought to ba free of gelatine (or plue), whilst the supernatant drops of fat form a non-essential, and, for many, an unwelcome addition.

Ga£ACtoztme. — Galactozyme, or galozyme, is the result of the fermentation of milk by means of yeast, and ia u«ed, as stated by Dr Schnaepff in the Gazette Hebdomadaire, by the inhabitants of the Steppes of Russia as a sovereign remedy in phthisis. Cases are mentioned in Dr Schnaepft's article where the patients gained considerably in weight by taking half a tumblerful night and morning ; but the doses must be regulated by the pecuculiarities of the patient. Nor is it indifferent whether tbe fermentation is carried to a greater or less extent.