FOOD-PRESERVING PROCESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 23 May 1889, Page 17

FOOD-PRESERVING PROCESS.

(Fbom Qub London Cobbespondent.) the new chemical process. London, April 5. I have little more information for you concerning the Food Preservation Company of which I wrote in my Briudiai letter., One or two interesting details have come to me since, of which these are samples. The powder being an antidote to decomposition is a potent antN septic, and it ib more than probable will come into large use in surgery, and replace the clumsy antiseptic methods now in vogue. • Mr Bowden informs me that experiments are being made with it even now, and just the other day water impregnated with the vapour was given to a patient .suffering from ulceration of the mouth,' and completely cured him. If we can get rid of internal ulcerations in this easy way, the world of surgery and medicine is indeed revolutionised. Moreover, the powder applied externally with , some greasy matter has cured dogs of the mange in a very short time, and this is quite in the lines of expectation, as sulphur and lard have hitherto been much used for the mange, and the powder contains a great deal of sulphur. The impregnated water smells' rather strongly, of the powder, but the taste is not disagreeable, nor indeed very marked. As several said to me, "It will' be used instead of Pollinaris water in time." I have myself tested the success of the process on hides, which I saw, a week ago, and again yesterday, aud which' were as fresh and soft as ever. I find that out-i siders are iuclined to pooh-pooh the invention, and say there is nothing iv it, and that people will not take to food which has been chemically; treated; but the fact is that no one' ,can tell it has been chemically treated, for, as I have repeatedly said, there is no sign of medication whatever. The other! day I took down to the offices a party of New Zealanders, consisting, of Mr Purvis Russell, late of Napier, Mr , M'Hardy, of Hawke's Bay, and Mr Maclean, of. Otago, and they were all astounded at what they saw, as; j well as highly excited at the prospect of a vast inorease in the value of their sheep.' We tasted the remains of the saddle of mutton which nine days previously had been served at the lunch- at the Continental, and all pronounced it to be sweet and delicious. This was to my knowledge the. same saddle, 'for I recognised the way it had been cut. The exploitation is so new that' people have not yet had time to realise what it is all about, and it has not become as known as, it undoubtedly will shortly. Mr Cordner tells me that, the patent rights for Lancashire and Yorkshire are as good as sold, and, he expected to complete arrangements for two other counties this week. An objection has been urged against the use of the invention in ship-, ment, which is not to be passed over. It 'is said that' if the carcases are not hard, as they would be if frozen, it is impossible to bring them over as ordinary cargo, for the undermost layers would be crushed and spoilt by the weight on them. There is something in this. But; the sheep which are hanging in the office, from one month to two months old,, are to sill appearances as hard as frozen mutton, and it is certain that after a few weeks they would present a stubborn resistance, on the outside at least, by reason of contaot with the air. When cooked the juicy soft aspect returns.' However, supposing it were not possible to pack sheep treated by this process as ordinary cargo, they might be sent hanging as they are when frozen, and while this arrangement would add to the expense of the freight, it would still be an enormous improvement on the freezing system, as all expenses of freezing ' and maintaining refrigerators would be ouviated.' In this case the saving would certainly . be onehalf, if not more, while if packing as ordinary cargo obtained, the saving would be ' nearly; four-fifths. I hear that several people are' in treaty with the patentees for the' purchase of the Australian rights, and possibly also the New Zealand rights. The danger is that a company may buy up the rights, and constituting a | monopoly, put a high price on the powder, and { thus neutralise a good deal of the, profit to the colonists. MB HBNBY BUSSELL AND THE NEW COMPANY. ' ' Mr Henry Russell informs me that the Imperial and Colonial Trading Company has delayed its issue of the prospectus. Many things have conduced to this, for, on examination, it was found that there were many arrangements which must be made before formalising the company. The question of stay, in different ports of New Zealand has become an important one. Mr Russell goes to Liverpool on Monday again, and hopes to have things in shipshape order soon. As I say to' him, however, it is highly necessary that he should look into this new process, for it would never do to float a company on what may (aud I think will) prove to be an old-fashioned bottom. He is to go down this week to examine for himself, and will, I suppose, make a report upon his iuquiry later to his co-directors. ; ANOTHBB INVENTION— A NEW FBEEJSING PBOCESS. Meanwhile he has. been making inquiries as to a new invention, which is calculated to improve' the freezing process. I went with him and a party, mostly New Zealanders, to Messrs Perkins, and Co.'b place in Regent square on Wednesday, and we wentoverthe wholeinvention. Itcertainly is a remarkable improvement on the old complicated system, but I am afraid its value is discounted by i the powder process. Here, however, is a brief summary of what we saw. Mr Perkins' invention 1 depends, upon the chemical nffiuity of ammonia for water, and is , extremely simple. It may bs remembered, by dome of your readers that a well-known New Zealand squatter undertook some experiments in connection with ammonia, under tbeidea that it was possible to utilise it in freezing sheep. Bat his efforts failed,' and it has been reserved for Mr Perkins to prove that what he attempted was possible. The ' apparatus is, as I say, ' very simple and easily understood. There is a closed cylinder full of liquid ammonia, a lengthy curved pipe connecting it with another closed cylinder, a gas stove or small furnace, and that is all. This is the way the apparatus works $ The gas is lighted beneath the cylinder containing the ammonia, and gradually the heat, separates the .ammonia frpm, the water, aiidi ': ,drives<it up through the. pipe into the other. : cylinder. Dating its transit it ia' cooled by a'

i water-jacket supplied from, a tank of water.' 'No sooner is all the ammonia expelled into > the second cylinder .than fhe gas is put out, and the chemical affinity' of the ammonia for the water begins to assert itself. This results in the passage back of the ammonia into the first cylinder, where the water is, and so great is the' heat absorbed in the recombination thai;'' all' the heat is extracted from the neighbourhood, and ,the temperature of the second cylinder .sinks rapidly. Within a- quarter of an hour of tha gas being put out we watched the thermometer fall to 55deg below zero, and saw, a pot of merc.ury in the vicinity of the second' cylinder frozen. The power of freezing is' .enormous, and. the apparatus can be made on any sctfle. It is called an arcfeos, and several arctoses can be worked from one furnace. I, saw some worked by a furnace, and others by gas. The application of the principle is readily seen. The second cylinder is made, to run through a room, while the first and the connecting tube are fixed below where the gas or furnace is. Directly the fire is put out the temperature beginß to fall, and in half an hour is as low as you wish it to be. The cost of maintaining, the apparatus after the initial expense is very slight, for the ammonia need never be renewed, 1 while the cost of gas or fuel is, for 480 superficial feet, or about 4000 cubic feet, Is a dayj The gas or fire need only be maintained' for a couple of hours in the 24. If proof ot the, efficacy of this arctos had been needed by us we should have been amply convinced by visits paid to various chambers in which it was at work. Some we entered were lddeg below zero, and others we looked into were- even lower in' temperature. Piles of carcases littered the floor, and mutton, game, and food of all kinds hod been kept for months. Mr Perkins is fitting up small arotoses for sideboards, one of which we saw, and found within the compass and appearance of a cheffoDier— 4ft by 3ft— a perfect, frozen, chamber, with blocks' of ioe and so forth. The cost of this, the smallest arctos, made, is £25, and with that initial outlay the expense practically ends. Other sizes are £60. Mr Perkins is fitting up arktoses'for the Japanese Embassy and other places, and they seem about to come into use in private houses and offices.