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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2014
Animal food is of so much importance, in relation to our wants as to diet, that I have been induced to make some experiments on it, with the hope of obtaining useful results. These I now submit to the Society, imperfect as they are, trusting that they may not prove altogether useless, and that they may lead to further inquiry.
page 629 note * The droppings from the putrifying meat have had some resemblance to chyme, being found to consist of a fluid coagulable by heat, in which wero suspended, as seen with a high magnifying power, innumerable granules, some fibres, and some minute crystals.
page 629 note † Transactions, vol. xxiv. p. 137.
page 630 note * This may help to account for what is stated of a body long buried, which, after forty-three years, was found as reported almost entirely covered with hair. According to the narrative: “The cover of the coffin having been removed, the whole corpse appeared perfectly resembling the human shape, exhibiting the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and all the other parts, but from the very crown of the head to the sole of the feet covered over with hair, long and much curled.” A specimen of this hair-like substance was considered worthy of a place in the repository of Gresham College.
page 630 note † Spores were found also on the inner surface of the glass covers. When thrown off, it may be inferred that they are readily diffused in currents of air.
page 631 note * This was in June 1824, about midsummer.
page 632 note * It is well known to cooks, that whilst the outer surface of meat, such as venison, may be offensively tainted, the inner portion may be comparatively sweet and fit for use, especially if the deer, as soon as shot, has, according to the practice of the skilled forester, been well blooded. It need hardly be remarked, that if the blood is allowed to remain, it is itself a source of putrefaction, owing to the oxygen which it retains. The butcher, guided by experience, is most careful in expelling as much blood as possible without delay from his slaughtered animals.
page 632 note † I may refer, in proof of the above, to the results of experiments given in vol. ii. of my Researches, published in 1838, confirmed by others in a later vol., that of 1863. In the former I have quoted an instance from the “Philosophical Transactions, Abridged,” vol. ix., of the futility of burying the carcasses of diseased cattle with quicklime. Yet quicklime is still ordered to be used in the interment of such carcasses, but with the addition of some disinfectant. Such a procedure, no doubt, will vastly delay the decomposition of the bodies, and prevent the formation of offensive gases. Carbolic acid one of the disinfectants recommended, has the advantage, I find, of being repulsive to dogs. A portion of meat moistened with this acid was refused by three hungry dogs.
page 634 note * Researches Anatom. and Physiol. vol. i.
page 635 note * Since the experiments above referred to were made, others have been tried, the results, too, of which I may briefly describe.
On the 9th of September, a fresh parr, laid open and eviscerated, was suspended by a thread in a bottle in which was a little vinegar, the parr not in contact with the acid. Another parr, similarly prepared, was moistened with vinegar and wrapped in blotting-paper, also moistened with the acid. Thus enclosed, it was placed in an ale-glass and covered with a tumbler. After eight days the suspended parr was found well preserved; it had not the slightest unpleasant smell; its surface was not distinctly acid to the taste, and its teeth retained their sharpness. The other parr was also free from any unpleasant smell, but was softening in places; the bones were quite soft. After ten days the body of thr first parr was found detached from softening, and had fallen into the acid, the head remaining suspended, and it was still free from any unpleasant smell, as was also the softened body. The parr in paper was little changed; it showed no marks of putridity.