_&c. &c. &c._
§ I.
All the expedients hitherto made use of for preserving alimentary and
medicinal substances, may be reduced to two principal methods; that
of dessication; and that of mingling, in greater or less quantities,
a foreign substance for the purpose of impeding fermentation or
putrefaction.
It is by the former of these methods that we are furnished with smoaked
and hung meat, dried fish, fruits, and vegetables. By the latter, we
obtain fruits and other vegetable substances preserved in sugar, the
juices and decoctions of plants reduced to syrups and essences, all
kinds of pickles, salted meat and vegetables. But each of these modes
has its peculiar inconveniences. Dessication takes away the odour,
changes the taste of the juices, and hardens the fibrous or pulpy
matter (the _porenchyma_).
Sugar, from the strength of its own flavour, conceals and destroys
in part other flavours, even that, the enjoyment of which we wish
to preserve, such as the pleasant acidity of many fruits. A second
inconvenience is this, that a large quantity of sugar is required in
order to preserve a small quantity of some other vegetable matter; and
hence the use of it is not only very costly, but even in many cases
pernicious. Thus the juices of certain plants cannot be reduced to
a syrup or essence, but by means of nearly double the quantity of
sugar. It results from this, that those syrups or essences contain much
more sugar than any medicinal substance, and that most frequently the
sugar counteracts the operation of the medicine, and is hurtful to the
patient.
Salt communicates an unpleasant acerbity to substances, hardens the
animal fibre, and renders it difficult of digestion. It contracts
the animal parenchyma.[C] On the other hand, as it is indispensable
to remove, by means of water, the greater part of the salt employed;
almost all the principles which are soluble in cold water, are lost
when the salt is taken away: there remains nothing but the fibrous
matter, or parenchyma; and even that, as has been said, undergoes a
change.
[C] “The salt meat with which the crews of vessels are fed, appears
to be one of the principal causes of the scurvy. It seems that the
same causes which operate to prevent the fermentation of meat, renders
it also difficult of digestion. Though a small quantity of salt may
be an obstacle in the way of putrefaction, the too abundant and
frequent use which is made of it, must cause great obstructions in
the smaller vessels of the body, and these obstructions cannot fail
to overload the stomach of men who have to digest dry vegetables and
biscuits, which sailors advanced in years are not always able to chew
completely. Bad digestion and obstruction in the smaller vessels may
occasionally give rise to ulcers in the mouth, and spots, which denote
the scurvy.”--_Santé des Marins, by Duhamel._
Vinegar can seldom be made use of, but in the preparation of certain
articles for seasoning.
I shall not enter into any details concerning what has been said and
published on the art of preserving alimentary substances. I shall only
observe, that as far as my knowledge extends, no author, either ancient
or modern, has ever pointed out, or even led to the suspicion, of the
principle which is the basis of the method I propose.
It is known, how much, within a certain period, the public attention,
both at Paris and in the departments, has been directed towards the
means of diminishing the consumption of sugar, by supplying its place
by the use of various extracts, or essences, of indigenous substances.
The government, whose philanthropic views are turned towards all useful
objects, does not cease to invite all those who pursue the arts and
sciences, to investigate the means of drawing the utmost advantage from
the productions of our soil, in order to develope, to the utmost,
our agriculture and manufactures, and so diminish the consumption of
foreign commodities.
In order to attain the same end, the Society for the Promotion of
National Industry[D] stimulates, by the offer of flattering rewards,
all those whose talents and labours are directed towards discoveries,
from which the nation and humanity may draw substantial benefits.
Animated by this laudable zeal, the Agricultural Society, by its
resolution of the 21st of June 1809, and its official notification of
it, the 15th of the July following, made an appeal to the whole nation,
in order to collect all the information and documents which might
contribute to the composition of a work on the art of preserving, by
the best possible means, every kind of alimentary substance.
[D] _La Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie nationale._
It was after invitations of so great weight, that I resolved to make
known a method of effecting this object, of great facility in the
execution, and at the same time very cheap, and which, by the extension
it admits of, may afford numerous advantages to society.
This method is not a vain theory. It is the fruit of reflection,
investigation, long attention, and numerous experiments, the results
of which, for more than ten years, have been so surprising, that
notwithstanding the proof acquired by repeated practice, that
provisions may be preserved two, three, and six years, there are many
persons who still refuse to credit the fact.
Brought up to the business of preserving alimentary substance by the
received methods; having spent my days in the pantries, the breweries,
store-houses, and cellars of Champagne, as well as in the shops,
manufactories, and warehouses of confectioners, distillers, and
grocers; accustomed to superintend establishments of this kind for
forty-five years, I have been able to avail myself, in my process, of
a number of advantages, which the greater number of those persons have
not possessed, who have devoted themselves to the art of preserving
provisions.
I owe to my extensive practice, and more especially to my long
perseverance, the conviction:
1st. That fire has the peculiar property, not only of changing
the combination of the constituent parts of vegetable and animal
productions, but also of retarding, for many years at least, if not
of destroying, the natural tendency of those same productions to
decomposition.
2d. That the application of fire in a manner variously adapted to
various substances, after having with the utmost care and as completely
as possible, deprived them of all contact with the air, effects a
perfect preservation of those same productions, with all their natural
qualities.
Before I state the details of my process, I ought to observe that it
consists principally,
1st. In inclosing in bottles the substances to be preserved.
2d. In corking the bottles with the utmost care; for it is chiefly on
the corking that the success of the process depends.
3d. In submitting these inclosed substances to the action of boiling
water in a water-bath (BALNEUM MARIAE), for a greater or less length
of time, according to their nature, and in the manner pointed out with
respect to each several kind of substance.
4th. In withdrawing the bottles from the water-bath at the period
described.
§ II.
_Description of my Rooms set apart for carrying on the Process on a
large Scale._[E]
My laboratory consists of four apartments. The first of these is
furnished with all kinds of kitchen utensils, stoves, and other
apparatus, necessary for dressing the animal substances to be
preserved, as well as with a kettle for broth, gravy, &c. containing
180 French pints, raised on brick work. This kettle is provided with
a pot to be put within it, pierced with holes like a skimmer, with
divisions for holding various kinds of meat and poultry. This pot
can be put into and taken out of the kettle with ease. The kettle is
provided with a wide cock, to which is fitted, within, a little rose,
like that of a watering-pot, covered with a piece of boulting-cloth. In
this way I can procure broth or gravy quite clear, and ready to be put
into bottles.
[E] It is obvious, that for the use of private families, and for
carrying on the process on a small scale, nothing further will be
requisite, than such vessels and other conveniences as are found
in every house in the country, where provisions are cured for the
consumption of the family during winter.
The second apartment is appropriated to the preparing of milk, cream,
and whey.
The third is used for corking and tying the bottles and vessels, and
putting them into bags.
The fourth is furnished with three large copper boilers, placed upon
stones raised on brick work. These boilers are all furnished with a
stout lid, fitted, to rest upon the vessels within. Each boiler is
furnished with a wide cock below, in order to let out the water at a
proper time. These large boilers are destined to receive, generally,
all the objects intended to be preserved, in order to apply the action
of heat to them in a suitable manner; and thus they constitute so many
water-baths.[F]
[F] The reason why it is necessary that large boilers should be
furnished with wide cocks is, that it would take up too much time to
let so large a body of water, always placed over a heated stove, remain
till it became cool; and that, on the other hand, it would do great
injury to those substances to let them remain too long exposed to
the heat. Without inconvenience, therefore, in private families, any
cauldron or earthen vessel may be taken for a water-bath, provided the
water rises to the rim of the bottle. In case there should be no vessel
sufficiently high, the bottles may be laid down in the water-bath, care
being taken to pack them well together, lest they should be broken.
Many operations have succeeded well with me this way. The corks are
somewhat more liable to burst outwards; but if the bottles are well
corked, there is nothing to be feared. For instance, it would not be
advisable to lay on their sides, bottles, or other vessels stopped up
with stoppers consisting of different pieces of any substance, because
the action of the fire upon this kind of stopper is stronger; and
however well the vessel might be corked, it would not be advisable to
incur the risque.
Small water-baths are the more convenient, because they may be placed
any where, and removed at will. They soon become cold. The bottles are
taken out when the water is sufficiently cool to allow of the finger
being put in, and thus the operation is terminated.
The utensils which furnish the third apartment for the preparatory
process consist of