INFILTRATION.
THE  NEW  PROCESS
Jjratrktimt uf  peat  for  Jfoofr,
INVENTED BY
, >
JOHN MORGAN, F. R. C. S. L,
rrofessor of Anatomy in the Boyal College of Surgeons

                in Ireland,



                  7
   And Patknted in toe Uktted States, September 27th, lJ&L-.i.r ^.
y/'
             NEW YORK:   ^V^#k

J. O. SEYMOUR & CO., STATIONERS, 9 & 11 NASSAU STREET.



                 6 5.'
V65;            t_ r  . <
0k., --V?--^V^ ^^~^^tt l*;-^£'~ 0^-^^-^^9^^^^~^^-
 
 
INFILTRATION.
      THE  NEW PROCESS

               FOB THE


Jjreserktimt  of  peat  for  Jfofffo,

             INVENTED BY

    JOHN MORGAN,  F. It. C. S. L,
Professor of Anatomy in the Royal College of Surgeons
              in Ireland,
            NEW YORK:
J. O. SEYMOUR <fc CO., STATIONERS, 9 A 11 NASSAU STREET.
18 65. 
  In drawing up the following brief account of Dr.  Morgan's process  of



" Infiltration," I have borrowed largely from his own original pamphlet on



the subject, published by Fannin & Co.,  of Dublin ;  but as he has there en-



tered somewhat minutely into  the discussion  of questions of science, I have



endeavored to offer a simpler and more elementary view of the practical ad-



vantages it presents.



  I shall be happy to furnish further information on the  subject, with fuller



particulars  as  to  the nature and results of  the operation, to any who  may



desire it.





                          COURTENAY ATWOOL, M. D.,




                Graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland,




                        Sole Agent for the Inventor in the United States.





  New  York,  1st April, 18G5, 
"INFILTRATION."
   As the scientific advantages of Dr. Morgan's process, with re-
 gard to the health of the consumers of meat prepared by it, have
 been fully treated of in his original phamphlet, I shall  not now
 attempt any minute discussion of them.  It will  be sufficient to
 state, on the authority of Baron Liebig,  (in his " Letters on Chem-
 istry," " Chemistry of Food," &c.,)  Dr.  Macleod (in his Notes on
 the Surgery of the War in the Crimea,) and other eminent writers,
 that the nutritive qualities of the meat  "cured" in the  ordinary
 way are considerably impaired by the abstraction of the juice, hold-
 ing in solution many important constituents, as albumen, fibrin,
 phosphoric acid, lactic acid, phosphate of potash, &c, &c.   This
 impairment is not due to the presence of salt in the meat, for, so
 far from being injurious in itself, the natural instinct of animals
 shows it to be necessary for health.  "  Some cause is in opera-
 tion,  which (as the  proportion of salt  in the blood  never goes
 beyond a certain limit) opposes the increase as well as the dimi-
 nution in its quantity.  Consequently, salt is not  merely  an
 accidental but an essential and constant ingredient in the blood,
 and its quantity is fixed within certain  limits."  The fact of the
 impossibility of drinking salt water proves amply that the blood,
 having already its fixed amount, will not take in water contain^
 ing salt disproportional to it.
   In  the preparation of meat, in  tins hermetically sealed, the
 fluid necessary for the boiling, is extracted from the bones, which
 contain gelatine, as  gelatine soup, and, of course, forms, and is
 intended to form, a considerable bulk and weight of the case  or
 tin, but of a material valueless for nutrition, and even hurtful, as
 shown by numerous experiments.  Contrary to general belief,
 gelatine is altogether innutritions, and the adoption of it as food,
 involves waste of money, space, and carriage, and still worse, ia
largely depended upon for  the  nourishment of the  sick, at a
great  expense, and with positive injury, instead of benefit.   The 
4
  Gelatine Commission of Paris, under Magendie,  1841, pursued
  a series of experiments for ten years, on gelatine made from
  Holland  broth, bones,  <$cc, and  by different modes.  Gelatine
  soup in abundance was supplied as long as the dogs, subjects of
  the experiments, would eat it; but by and by they refused, and,
  though amidst abundance of this soup, died of  hunger, and in
  the same  time as dogs of the same weights, &c, who ate nothing.
  Again, dogs supplied with water and  no food lived six, eight, or
  ten days longer than those supplied  with gelatine only.   But
  the instance of M.  Jules Lecoeur, who voluntarily went through
  a  series of experiments, is  most complete.  On  the 22d June,
  1S42, he took at mid day thirty five ounces of gelatine, and  three
  and a half ounces of bread.  He was "plus sature que rassaisie"
  more filled then satisfied; he felt  uncomfortable and was very
  thirsty.  At three o'clock was hungry; at six he took twenty-
  eight ounces of gelatine and  three and a half ounces of bread ;
  he felt more uneasy than before ; was tormented with hunger in
  an hour, and at ten that evening, to satisfy his appetite, had to
  eat fifteen ounces of bread, though he had consumed the product
 of the evaporation  of thirty litres of bone broth—about  twenty-
 five quarts.  So he continued for four  days of experiments, suf-
 fering daily more uneasiness, having severe  dyspeptic symptoms,
 perspiring much and feeling weak.  M. Donne also experimented
 on himself, with similar results.  Indeed, gelatine,  so far from
 increasing, diminishes the nutritive Value of food, as it does not
 disappear  in the body  without leaving  a residue;  (Liebig'g
 Letters on  Chemistry.)
   In a financial point of view the disadvantages of the ordinary
 method of  cure are  obvious, setting apart the important consid-
 eration  of  the intrinsic value of the meat as an article of food,
 The amount of labor  and time now expended is considerably
 greater  than will be  required  hereafter, and the new  process
 possesses the advantage of being so rapid and efficacious, that it
 can be used in the heat of summer, with an immense saving in
 ice, while  the  simple  apparatus required is so portable that it
can be used at  any  place, and  under any circumstances which
occasion may require.   In regard to the saleable properties of
the meat so cured, I  can state that  I  have  tried the process 
5
myself on hogs in the city of New York, and the bacon has been
pronounced by competent judges to be superior to any they had
before tasted.
  In January and February, 1864, Dr. Morgan was allowed to
prepare fifteen oxen for the Admiralty at Deptford.   In twenty-
four hours some of the meat was packed as usual in barrels, and
some pieces put to dry, in the most convenient situations, at the
victualling yard.  With part, a very great heat in the biscuit-
drying loft (about 120Q) was used successfully, and the drying
accomplished  in a  few  days.  Other pieces were hung  in the
cooperage chimney, and dried after a few weeks time.  By the
report of the officers, botli these meats, having  been packed dry
in ordinary barrels till August 30th,  1864,  when opened  and
examined at that date, were pronounced perfectly preserved,
showing  that  so  far, after  the lapse of several months,  the
material was sound and capable of preservation through the hot
summer months, in barrels, and that without the erection of any
special apparatus, in the first instance, as would be desirable for
the drying.
  In  June  and August, 1SG4, Dr. Morgan  operated before a
Commission at Pochefort, appointed by the French Government,
and prepared both sheep and oxen, in  the height of a continental
summer, with  perfect success,  though with  but  extemporized
apparatus.  When dried for some time the meats were prepared
as ragout, beefsteak, chops, the latter, of course, grilled. Nothing
could be better, particularly,  than the beefsteak. Soup was also
prepared of excellent  flavor  and appearance, thus showing the
Value  of this  material  for  invalids, while, from the artificial
addition of sugar, phosphoric acid, potash, &<■., it is  manifestly
particularly suited to the requirements of the sailor—invalid or
in health.
  Most important testimony in favor  of this method lias been
given  by Dr.  Parkes, Professor of Military Hygiene,  British
Army Medical School, in his work on Practical  Hygiene,
recently published.   At page 215, it is remarked, with reference
to the process,  " This is an excellent plan, and will, undoubtedly,
supersede the old system ;'' and again, under article  " Sieges,"
"If food threaten to run short, the medical officer should remem- 
6
ber how easily Dr. Morgan's  process of  salting meat can be
applied, and  in  this way cattle or horses which are killed for
want of forage, or shot in action, can be preserved."
  Dr. Morgan lias had meat preserved in Australia and South
America, which has  been  delivered  in  England in good  order
and condition.  In the first week in January, 18G5, I preserved
some bacon, parts of which were subjected to the most rigorous
tests, being hung for da}rs over the vat in which  fat is boiled.
The meat passed safely through this ordeal, and  a  portion of it
is still in my possession and perfectly sound, though it has  hung
in the closet of my office all the  time exposed to a high tem-
perature.
Extract of a Letter received from Baron Liebig, Professoi:
                     of Chemistry, &c.

                                   Munich, Nov. 17, 1864.
   Dear Sir,—I knew  already your paper on your new process
for the preservation of meat for food, by the Journal  of the
Society of Arts (vol. xii., p. 595), and I have greeted it  as the
long-sought-for,  and the most  important  improvement of the
usual method of " cure " or salting;.
   Your process is based  on  correct scientific principles; it is
simple, rapid, economical, and, if after the  operation the flesh be
put to dry, most perfect, and will prove a blessing to  the Army
and Navy.  Packed in dry salt, in the fresh-cured state, would
certainly injure its good qualities by the formation of brine.
                              Yours very sincerely,
                                                LIEBIG,
       John Morgan,
Professor of Anatomy, Dublin. 
7
TABULAR COMPARISON OF THE OLD  AND NEW
                           METHODS.
    BY TnE METHOD NOW IN  USE.

  In the rubbing and laying in salt the
meat is deprived of its nutritive quali-
ties to the extent ot one-third (accord-
ing to the calculation of so eminent
an authority as Baron Liebig); so that,
apart from  the injury done by the
absence of these qualities, the financial
loss is enormous.
  The meat is then packed in salt and
brine, and a further abstraction of the
nutritive and essential elements thus
takes place, proportioned to the length
of time in cask.


  When thus  injured and  rendered
difficult of digestion by being hardened,
the meat can only be  prepared for the
table by boiling, any remaining soluble
elements being thus, as far as possible,
taken away and rejected.


  In consequence,  a  further expense
is incurred in  endeavoring to supply
the natural elements taken away, by
using lemon juice, &c.

  From the necessity of curing in the
winter season, the price of the meat is
considerably raised, and a large  quan-
tity of stores must be prepared  at the
same time.
       BY THE  NEW PROCESS.

  There is no rubbing or laying in salt,
and therefore no abstraction of nutri-
tive materials or financial loss.

  An entire ox can be preserved in
ten minutes, and at a merely nominal
cost.

  The flesh  is  put to  dry as soon as
convenient, and when dried, is packed
in barrels or cases with  sawdust or
some dry material, and  is therefore
more  portable   than  by  any  other
method.

   The meat can be eaten either  un-
cooked, or as beefsteaks, roasts, hashes,
soup, &c., thus  admitting of a suitable
nutriment  for  invalids, and  also of
variety.

   The elements of vegetables  as an-
 tiscorbutics can be artificially  added
 to the flesh, thus presenting meat and
 vegetable at the same time.

   Wherever a  ship touches, and at all
 seasons, meat can be prepared for stores
 on the spot with great economy.

   The apparatus  necessary  for  pre-
 serving any number  of  animals  is
 portable by one man, and costs but a
 few dollars.  No special machinery or
 building is necesary. 
8
DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PROCESS.
   The method introduced by Dr. Morgan is based on anatomical
principles; taking advantage of the means nature has already
used in supplying the circulating fluid to every most remote and
minute tissue of the body.   The difficulties hitherto were, that
if the animal was killed as usual, the fluid introduced into the
circulatory organs, capillaries, &c., would escape at the incisions
in the vessels by which the animal was bled to death, and there-
fore not enter or saturate the flesh ; and if,  on the other  hand,
the incision in the vessels was not made, and the blood not let
to escape, it would remain in the capillaries, &c, coagulated or
otherwise, and prevent the fluid entering, and  so attaining the
very parts  required ; and once a small  portion of meat would
become decomposed, it  would speedily propagate itself to the
mass.
  Endeavors have  been made to force  brine and preservative
fluids into meat by atmospheric pressure, but without success;
and even still the method of  " squirting" meat with a syringe,
introduced into the mass here and there, is practised with im-
perfect results naturally. For if the millions of channels afforded
by the circulatory tree for reaching in the natural  way all the
flesh be not made use of, no  other humanly devised method of
doing so can be as  successful.  Yet a  very simple,  rapid, and
most inexpensive method  can be attained, by rightly availing
ourselves of the means offered.   The  following is a brief de-
scription of the new process  Dr. Morgan has invented : " The
animaljs killed by  a blow  on the head, piercing the brain and
causing instantaneous death.   The chest is then at once opened,
and the heart exposed.   An  incision is made into the right side
of it, either the right ventricle or auricle,—and directly another
into the left side (the left ventricle); the blood  from the right 
9
side  (venous), and from the left  (arterial), immediately rushes
out.   When it has ceased flowing, a pipe is introduced into the
incision in the  left ventricle,—and so  into the aorta, or great
vessel leading through the  body, i. e., the trunk of the circula-
tory tree,  and is there firmly retained.  This pipe can  be  con-
nected by a coupling with a stop-cock fixed to a flexible tubing,
twenty to twenty-five feet long;  and  this tubing communicates
with a  tank raised the height of the length of the tube,  into
wtiich brine and a little nitre is put when well strained (about
one gallon to the cwt.)  The stop-cock is connected to the pipe in
the aorta, and the fluid let on ;  it will rush out at the incision
in the right side of the heart, after traversing all the circulatory
organs, in four or five seconds in  sheep, swine, and such like,—
and in nine or twelve seconds in oxen,—and in two  minutes  or
so in the latter, and proportionately less in the former, will have
all run through—thereby clearing the vessels and capillaries,.
and preparing for the second stage, which is performed simply
by closing the incision in the  right side with  a  strong sliding
forceps, and thereby rendering the circulatory system perfect, as
originally—but with the vessels  free and ready to  receive the
preservative fluid.
   Into the  tank  above alluded to,  the final materials to  be
used are  introduced, and  turned on as before,  when rushing
through and thus filling the circulatory tree, the opening in the
right side being now stopped up, the fluid  over-distends the
hitherto empty vessels; the flesh  around the capillaries takes up
the fluid in every part;  and it,  as well as every tissue in the
body, will thus be saturated  with preservative fluid ; whatever
may be used, a few minutes suffices for the whole operation.  It
is no exaggeration to say that, with proper arrangements,  an
entire ox could be preserved with ease in ten minutes—and this
 without labor or anything worth calling machinery, and with
nominal  expense.   The perfection of the process  is proved by
the fact, that when the animal  has lain about  three-quarters of
 an hour,  to let the tissues be thoroughly saturated, it may be cut
into pieces of suitable sizes—not  too thick, to  prevent  a reason-
able escape of the water  by evaporation, and hung up at  once
to  dry in a chamber with  a  good  current of air, and a little
smoke; or without it if preferred.  Failing these arrangements,
       2 
10
  it should be dried, if on board ship, by suspending in the air or
  aloft; if on land, in a chimney or some convenient situation dry
  and well ventilated.
    The amount of drying, smoking, and  size of pieces, and the
  appearance given to them, are of course matters of detail and
  taste, as well as are, to some extent, the materials.  I would use,
  as far as possible, those adopted in ordinary means, applied dif-
  ferently, but in accordance with the scientific view of presenting
  a perfect material.   Such substances may be added as will sup-
  plement those  ordinarily obtained from the vegetable kingdom,
  and also improve the meat by adding to it, as a plastic or nitro-
  genous element of nutrition, a carbonaceous  or respiratory con-
  stituent in the  shape of sugar, which at the same time improves
  the taste, gives softness, and acts as a preservative, while it sup-
  plies a normal  respiratory material for forming lactic acid, the
  importance of which has been fully demonstrated in the works
  before alluded to; but it is necessary to notice that, as the  meat
  prepared by this process is cut directly from the animal, it con-
  tains, of course, all the fat natural to it, being the normal respira-
  tory food or " producer of heat," combined with the meat, which
  is  the plastic, *. e., building-up food for the organs and structures,
 or " producer of force."
   In preparing meat  for army and navy use, the addition  of a
 small quantity of phosphoric  acid, half an ounce or  so to the
 hundred  weight,  is strongly recommended ;  and in  the  form
 found in the flesh of fowl,  namely, the monobasic,  or meta-
 phosphoric acid, as when  prepared in this form it has the power
 of  coagulating albumen.  Its  use  is obvious, by retaining  this
 very desirable "force-producing" element in the flesh, at the
 same time giving a phosphatic  supply, which, from analysis of
 the usual articles of food  is proved to  be most requisite.  It is
 to be explained that the addition of phosphoric acid is not neces-
 sary to this process, though to some extent useful as a preservative
 of albumen, but it is recommended for the  sailor and soldier in
 campaign as  a dietetic  addition, of great importance  in  the
 absence of vegetables.   Lemon juice, at present issued at much
 expense I believe only serves in making amends for the injury
 done to the meat in the ordinary process of "cure," and that in
this way lt acts chiefly as an antiscorbutic, for  as  the meat  has 
11
lost, acording to the estimate of Liebig, one-third of its properties
for sustaining the vital process, and as a scorbutic patient, though
still subsisting on this meat, with the addition of lemon juice,
will recover strength, it is evident that the meat  is injurious not
by its positive but  its negative  qualities;  so that  scurvy and
various forms of debility arise from malnutrition, and not from
the  addition of salt, as has been generally supposed; for even
salt water has been  given to scorbutic patients without aggrava-
tion of the symptoms.
   The addition of spices—pepper, cloves, and condiments; also
such flavors as may be desired,  lactic acid  itself,  &c, can be
made at  a trifling expense, in this  way pleasing all tastes and
requirements.
   Though any preservative fluid may be infiltrated, it  is pro-
posed at  present to  use that in most general use, such as pickle
 with  sugar, saltpetre, nitrate of soda, phosphoric  acid, spices,
 &c.   Pickle and saltpetre, or nitrate of soda suffice for the mere
 cure, so that an entire animal may be cured at the cost of a very
 few cents.   If the other materials recommended are added, they
 of course increase the expense, but make a much more agreeable
 and useful food, and are, therefore, in reality a saving.
   The fluid can be  used either cold or boiling, which latter state
 is desirable in some circumstances, where, for instance, it is de-
 termined to pack  the meat in brine afterwards.  The boiling
 fluid, on admission to the flesh,  coagulates the albumen and
 gives' a " set" to the meat, so that this albumen cannot separate
 from it in the casking.
   When the meat has been dried and smoked according to taste,
 it can be packed in the ordinary way, in cases of sheet iron, in
 barrels, or tins,  either protected from any accidental moisture
 which 'would harm them by dipping each piece m melted fat, so
 as to make a coating, or by packing in dry sawdust, either alone,
 or with powdered charcoal mixed in equal parts.  This packing
 material should be  sufficient to thoroughly cover the pieces.   ^
   When about to be used the meat should be washed, to free  it
 from the  packing dust, and steeped for a  few hours in water, or
 not, according to taste, and it admits of being prepared for food
 in any way the ingenuity of the cuisine may determine, thus  of 
12
 course presenting advantages not to be obtained  by any other
 known process.
   By the present system, the meat,  already deficient in nutri-
 tive power, is boiled, and the fluid thrown away ; whereas the
 "  hung" or " dried" meats can be prepared in  ragouts, hashes,
 soups and roasts ; so that the fluids containing  the soluble ele-
 ments would be taken along with the meats.  If for i oasting or
 grilling,  the meat may be steeped a few hours in cold water,—
 and if for making soup (which can be done even for invalids),
 after a little steeping it should be cut  up in very small particles,
 and so gently heated—such farinaceous matters being added as
 are accessible.
   Apart from the economy and efficacious nature of the process,
 there is presented this  very great  advantage,  that nothing is
 done hi secret.  All the stages of the  process can be  inspected,
 so that the health of the animals  and the wholesome  quality of
 the meat could be certified; while meats can be prepared at all
 seasons, and equally well in  summer and autumn, when the ani-
 mals having recently been fed on  the fresh grasses, are nearer to
 their natural condition, and  their flesh better food, being sup-
 plied with the earthy salts, &c.   The  price  is also less in the
 summer and autumn—for in winter, by the great demand on the
 market  for the " curing" months, the price  is considerably
 raised.
   In countries where animals are all  but valueless, and where
 labor is scarce or  unavailable, this process is peculiarly valuable,
 and will undoubtedly be the  means of introducing here a suit-
 able, wholesome,  and agreeable meat for the million,  at a most
 reasonable  price,  and  containing all  the nutritive [properties,
 while, at the same time, the hides will be preserved by the pro-
 cess which cures the meat.
   Though at first sight prejudice,  oj- the natural objection made
to any innovation or change, may present difficulties, I am sure
that experience and enquiry will satisfy both as to the mechan-
ical  applicability  and scientific  correctness of  the  method ;
while as to details of flavors,  appearances, and  size  of pieces',
experience alone on an extended scale of trial  can decide what
may be the most generally suitable, convenient, and pleasing