Chapter XVI: Front Matter (16)

As the putrefactive changes set up in dead flesh are dependent upon the combined influences of moisture, air, and a certain temperature, it follows that most of the various methods of meat preservation resolve themselves into so many different efforts to remove the meat from the operation of one of the conditions above specified as necessary for its decomposition.

The _charqui_ or jerked beef of South America affords an example of meat preserved by means of being deprived of moisture. It occurs in thongs or strips which have been prepared by placing freshly killed meat between layers of salt and drying them in the sun. _Charqui_, although it retains its soundness for a great length of time, and is rendered eatable by soaking in water and prolonged cooking, is difficult of digestion and wanting in flavour, and if any fat be associated with it, this is liable to become rancid.

_Pemmican_ is meat which, after being dried and powdered, is mixed with sugar and certain spices, both of which assist to preserve the meat as well as to improve its flavour, and to remove the tendency to rancidity caused by any fat that may be accidentally present.

Another process for the preservation of meat by means of desiccation is that of MM. Blumenthal and Chollet, who, in 1854, obtained a patent for preparing tablets composed of dried meat and vegetables, which, after being several times dipped into rich soup, were dried in warm air after each immersion.

At a meeting of the Food Committee, held at the Society of Arts, in May, 1868, specimens of dried beef and mutton in powder, from Brisbane, were shown by Mr Orr, who said they had been dried on tinned plates by means of steam. Dr A. S. Taylor, F.R.S., who examined the sample, found it perfectly fresh and good. It had been prepared at least six months previously.

At a subsequent meeting, the Committee reported that the soup prepared from this desiccated meat, with the addition of a small quantity of vegetables, was considered very successful, and the Committee were of opinion that meat so preserved was likely to prove a valuable and cheap addition to the food resources of the people.

The specimen from which the soup was made had been in the Society’s possession, and formed part of the contents of a tin opened upwards of two years ago. The preservation was perfect.

We have only space briefly to describe some of the more prominent of the processes which have been devised for the preservation of meat by excluding atmospheric air.

Mr Tallerman, a large importer of Australian meat, stated in evidence before the Food Committee of the Society of Arts, in May, 1870, that in the preservation of the meat he sent over to this country he had recourse to a very old practice, which was that of packing the joints in fat, the meat being previously salted or cured. Instead of the meat being packed in brine, the casks with the meat are filled up with melted fat.

In Mr Warrington’s patent, which dates from 1846, it is proposed that animal substances shall be preserved by enveloping them in a layer of glue, gelatin, or concentrated meat gravy, or otherwise by dipping them in warm solutions of such substances, or by wrapping them in waterproof cloth, or by covering them with caoutchouc, gutta percha, or varnish, or thin cream of plaster of Paris, which when set was saturated with melted suet, wax, or stearin.

The patent of Prof. Redwood, which resembles Mr Warrington’s in seeking to exclude atmospheric air by surrounding the meat with an impervious substance, claimed the use of paraffin for this purpose, the paraffin being afterwards coated with a mixture of gelatin and treacle, or gelatin and glycerin. The paraffin is easily removed from the meat by plunging this latter into boiling water, which dissolves the outer coating of gelatin mixture, and at the same time melts the paraffin and liberates the enclosed joint.

Messrs Jones and Trevethick’s patent consisted in exhausting of air the vessel containing the meat, then forcing into it a mixture of nitrogen and sulphurous acids, and subsequently soldering the apertures. Dr Letheby says meat, fish, and poultry preserved in this manner have been found good after seven or eight years; and specimens of them were exhibited in the London Exhibition of 1862.

The removal, however, of atmospheric air from the vessels containing the meat it is designed to preserve is now principally accomplished by means of steam. The germ of this idea originated with M. Pierre Antonie Angilbert more than half a century ago, but the modification of Angilbert’s process, which in principle is that generally adopted by the importers of Australian and South American _cooked_ meat, as well as by the English preparers of the article, originated with Messrs Goldner and Wertheimer, nearly forty years since, and, briefly, is as follows:——The freshly killed meat is placed in tins, with a certain quantity of cold water. The tins and their contents are then securely soldered down, with the exception of a small opening not larger than a pin-hole, which is left in the lid. The tins are next placed in a bath of chloride of calcium, the effect of which is to heat the water in them up to the boiling point, and after a certain time to more or less cook the meat contained in them. When the meat is thought to be sufficiently cooked, and whilst the steam arising from the boiling water is escaping from the aperture, this last is carefully soldered down, the steam not only having driven out all the atmospheric air from the vessel, but in the act of escaping having prevented the ingress of any from without. To still further guard against the entrance of air, the tins are covered over with a thick coating of paint.

Previously to their being allowed to leave the preserving works they are tested by being placed for some time in an apartment in which the temperature is sufficiently high to set up putrefactive action in the meat if any air has been left in the tins, the evidence of which would be the bulging out of the tins, owing to the liberation of certain gaseous products of decomposition. When no distension from inside takes place, the result is considered satisfactory, and the vessels are regarded as properly and hermetically sealed. In some cases the vessels, instead of being heated in a bath of chloride of calcium, are exposed to the action of steam. If the operation be successfully performed, the meat so prepared will keep perfectly good avid sound for years.

Mr Richard Jones effects the removal of the air from the vessels containing the meat as follows:——The meat is put into the tins and entirely soldered up, with the exception of a small tube about the size of a quill, which is soldered on the top of the tin. This tube is placed in connection with a vacuum chamber, and the air exhausted from the tin by means of it. In cooking the meat he also employs a chloride of calcium bath.

Dr Letheby, in one of his Canton Lectures on Food, delivered in 1865, speaking on this part of the subject, and on the above method of meat preservation, says:——“To-night, through the kindness of Messrs Crosse and Blackwell, I am able to show you a specimen of preserved mutton which has been in the case forty-four years, and you will perceive that it is in excellent condition. It formed part of the stores supplied by Messrs Donkin and Gamble, in 1824, to His Majesty’s Exploring ship _Fury_, which was wrecked in Prince Regent’s Inlet in 1825, when the cases were landed with the other stores, and left upon the beach.

“Eight years afterwards, in August, 1833, they were found by Sir John Ross in the same condition as they were left; and he wrote to Mr Gamble at the end of that year, saying, ‘that the provisions were still in a perfect state of preservation, although annually exposed to a temperature of 92° below and 80° above zero.’ Some of the cases were left untouched by Sir John Ross; and after a further interval of sixteen years the place was visited by a party from Her Majesty’s ship _Investigator_, when, according to a letter from the captain, Sir James Ross, ‘the provisions were in excellent condition, after having lain upon the beach, exposed to the action of the sun, and all kinds of weather, for a period of nearly a quarter of a century.’ Messrs Crosse and Blackwell have placed the original letters in my hands for perusal, and they show beyond all doubt that meat preserved in this manner will keep good for nearly half a century——in fact, the case of boiled mutton now before you has been preserved for forty——four years.”

The generality of the samples of preserved meat from Australia are excellent in quality and flavour,[33] except that in most cases the meat has been overcooked, which has arisen from the too prolonged contact of the meat with the steam, which it is judged necessary shall be generated in such quantities as to ensure the certainty of the exclusion of the air. Another inconvenience attending the process, viz. the liability of the sides of the tin to collapse, owing to the vacuum formed in its interior, has been remedied by the introduction into the vessel of some inert gas, such as carbonic acid, or nitrogen.

[Footnote 33: The Food Committee of the Society of Arts, who have carefully and impartially examined numerous samples of Australian and South American preserved meat, say: “It is perfectly sweet and fresh, but somewhat insipid from overcooking, and it seems likely the flavour could be improved if the duration of exposure to heat could be shortened without endangering the preservation.”]

Preserved meat at the present time forms a very considerable article of export both from Australia and South America. In the former country there are several establishments of a colossal character, where the work of tinning the meat is carried on, in many of which establishments hundreds of cattle are slaughtered daily. The largest establishments of the kind are at Sydney and Melbourne, whence extensive shipments are being constantly made. The following figures are taken from the Board of Trade returns:——

_Value of Meat preserved otherwise than by Salting._

Imports from Total
Australia. Imports.

1871 £481,093 £610,228
1872 657,945 816,463
1873 557,552 733,331
1874 509,698 757,001
1875 249,611 592,196

Since 1876 tinned meat has been imported from North America.

Several methods have been proposed for the preservation of meat by subjecting it to such conditions that the surrounding temperature should be sufficiently low to arrest putrefaction. In Mr Harrison’s process the reduction of temperature was effected by the application of melting ice and salt, made to run down the outside of the iron chambers containing the meat. It is affirmed that although the joints submitted to this treatment were solidly frozen, no loss of either flavour or immediate decomposition of the meat took place. Mr Harrison’s experiment was perfectly successful in Australia, but broke down during the voyage of a large cargo of meat shipped from Australia in 1873, owing to a defect in the construction of the ice chamber of the vessel and the failure of the supply of ice.

Of other forms of refrigeration applied for this purpose we may mention the process of M. Tellier, by which he proposes to place (on ship-board or elsewhere) joints of meat in a chamber through which a current of air charged with ether or other volatile substance may be passed, with a view to reduce the temperature to 30° F. Also that of M. Poggiale, from whose report to the Paris Academy of Medicine it appears that in chambers contrived on principles similar to M. Tellier’s, all kinds of butcher’s meat and poultry have been hung for ten weeks, at the end of which time they were found perfectly fresh and wholesome. The agent used in the latter case for the production of cold was methylic ether.

The process, however, of refrigeration which has proved not only the most, but in every respect successful, was first satisfactorily carried out since 1876, in which time large cargoes of dead meat have been constantly sent to our metropolitan markets, as well as to Glasgow, from New York. The following extract from the ‘Dundee Advertiser’ gives some interesting details of this process:——

“As to dead meat, the first sale was held on the 5th of June, when 100 carcases of beef and 72 of mutton were disposed of. Since then there has never been a smaller supply, and on the average about 150 carcases have been sold weekly. Last week 210 carcases were sold, and on Wednesday evening there were no fewer than 33 lorries, each laden with three tons of butcher’s meat. The freight paid for carriage to Glasgow, Liverpool, and London, last week amounted to £1900. Altogether, since the importation began, a million and a quarter pounds of dead meat have been sold in Glasgow. The result of this importation has been a reduction in retail price of 1d. per lb., instead of an increase in price, which must have taken place without the increased supply.

“The oxen are collected chiefly in the states of Illinois and Kentucky. They are there reared in enormous numbers on the prairies. Before they reach New York they are driven over railway for fully a thousand miles. Those animals the carcases of which are to be sent to this country are killed the day before the departure of the steamer. As soon as the carcases are dressed they are put into a cooling room capable of containing 500, and subject to a constant current of cold air, supplied by means of a 25 horse-power engine. This sets the beef and extracts the animal heat. Each carcase is next cut into quarters, and these are sewn up in canvas, and during the night transferred on board the vessel. Six of the Anchor Line mail steamers have been fitted up with refrigeration compartments, constructed on a patented principle specially for the conveyance of meat.

“After the quarters have been hung up in the room the door is hermetically closed. Adjoining the compartment is a chamber filled with ice. Air tubes are connected with the beef room, and through them the animal heat ascends, and by means of a powerful engine it is blown across the ice, and returned to the beef room in a cold state. A temperature of about 38° is thus maintained in the beef-room. If it were to get so low as 32°——freezing-point——the meat would be seriously injured.[34] The heat is, therefore, regulated by a thermometer, and when the temperature gets too low, the speed of the engine is slackened, the normal degree of cold being thus maintained almost without variation during the voyage. Cattle killed on Thursday in New York are sold that day fortnight in Glasgow.”

[Footnote 34: Mr Harrison’s experiments make this statement doubtful.]

The first patent for the preservation of food by means of ice was granted to Mr John Ling in 1845.

Lastly, mention must not be omitted of another method for the preservation of meat, which consists in the application to it of certain antiseptic substances, the action of which in preventing putrefaction is due to their power of destroying minute parasitic organisms of low animal or vegetable life, that would otherwise attack and set up decomposition in the meat. Our ordinary salted meats owe their immunity from decay, as is well known, to the presence in their tissues of common salt. Meat preserved, however, by this means is tough, indigestible, and wanting in many of its most important soluble constituents, which, dissolving part of the salt, run off from the meat and are lost.

Amongst other agents which have been found serviceable as antiseptics, and for which from time to time numerous patents have been taken out, are nitrate of potash, acetate and hydrochlorate of ammonia, the sulphates of soda and potash, and bisulphate of lime. The writer remembers partaking, some years since, of some Canadian turkey, which had been preserved by means of this latter substance, and the turkey having been killed some two months before being eaten. It was perfectly sound and of excellent flavour. In this instance the bird had been sent from Canada, with several others, packed in waterproof casks, filled up with a weak solution of bisulphite of lime.

In some cases the saline solution is merely brushed over the outside of the meat; whilst in others it is injected into the substance of the flesh.

Thiebierge’s process consists in dipping the joints for five minutes into dilute sulphuric acid, of the strength of about ten of water to one of acid. The meat after being taken out is carefully wiped and dried, and is then hung up for keeping.

Sulphurous acid also forms the subject of several patents for the preservation of meat. In the process of Laury, for which a patent was taken out in 1854, the gas was introduced into the vessels containing the food. In that of Belford, for which a provisional specification was granted the same year, the meat was soaked for 24 hours in a solution of sulphurous and hydrochloric acids (the latter being in the proportion of a hundredth of the volume of the former). The addition of the hydrochloric acid was made with the intention of decomposing any alkaline sulphites that might be formed by the combination of the alkaline salts of the meat with the sulphurous acid.

Dr Dewar’s process, which is very similar to the foregoing, proposes, instead of exposing the meat to sulphurous acid fumigation, to immerse it in a solution of the acid of the same strength as that of the British Pharmacopœia. On being taken out of the liquid the meat, or other article, is, as speedily as possible, dried at a temperature not exceeding 140° F., so that the albumen may be preserved simply in a desiccated, and not in a coagulated condition.

In the patent of Demait, which dates from 1855, the meat was directed to be hung up in a properly constructed chamber, and exposed for some time to the action of the gas. More recently, Professor Gamgee has taken out a patent, which is a modification of Demait’s, and which consists in hanging up the carcase of the animal, previously killed when under the influence of carbonic oxide, in a chamber filled with this latter gas, to which a little sulphurous acid has been added, the chamber having been first exhausted of air. The carcase is allowed to remain in the chamber from 24 to 48 hours, after which it is hung in dry air. It is stated that meat subjected to the above treatment has been found perfectly sound and eatable after an interval of five months.

M. Lanjorrois proposes to preserve animal substances from decay by the addition to them of 1 per cent. of magenta. He states the process had been applied to slices of beef, which, after being kept for several months, yielded, after being washed and boiled, very good soup. Commenting on this suggestion for the preservation of meat, the ‘Chemical News’ very sensibly and properly remarks: “It is to be hoped the magenta employed will be free from arsenic.”

The patent of M. de la Peyrouse (which dates from 1873) also consists in excluding the air by enveloping meat in fat. In this process, however, the fat is mixed, when in a melting condition, with a certain quantity of the carbonates of sodium, potassium, and ammonium, as well as with some chlorides of magnesium and aluminium, with the object of preventing the fat becoming rancid and decomposing, and thus imparting a disagreeable flavour to the meat.

In M. George’s process the meat is partially dried, and then steeped in successive waters containing hydrochloric acid and sulphate of soda.

=MECON′IC ACID.= H_{3}C_{7}HO_{7}. _Syn._ ACIDUM MECONICUM, L. A peculiar acid, first obtained by Sertuerner from opium, in 1804.

_Prep._ Meconate of lime is suspended in warm water, and treated with hydrochloric acid. Impure meconic acid crystallises on cooling, and may be purified by repeated treatment in the same way with hydrochloric acid. Its purity is ascertained by its leaving no residue when heated in a platinum or glass capsule.

_Prop._ Meconic acid forms beautiful pearly scales; possesses a sour astringent taste; is soluble in boiling water, and to a less extent in cold; it is also soluble in alcohol. With the acids it forms salts called ‘meconates,’ most of which are crystallisable. Meconate of lime is obtained by heating a solution of chloride of calcium with an infusion of opium made with cold water, and neutralised by powdered marble, and collecting the precipitate. Meconate of potassa is prepared by direct solution of the base in the impure acid obtained from meconate of lime till the liquor turns green, heat being applied, when the salt crystallises out as the liquid cools; it may be purified by pressure and recrystallisation.

_Tests._ Meconic acid is characterised by——1. Turning ferric salts red, and the red colour not being destroyed by the action of corrosive sublimate.——2. Precipitating a weak solution of ammonio-sulphate of copper green.——3. With acetate of lead, nitrate of silver, and chloride of barium, it gives white precipitates, which are soluble in nitric acid.——4. It is not reddened by chloride of gold.

=MEC′ONIN.= C_{10}H_{10}O_{4}. A white, crystalline, odourless, neutral substance, discovered by Couerbe in opium.

=MECO′NIUM.= See OPIUM.

=MED′ICINES.= However skilful the medical practitioner may be, and however judicious his treatment, both are interfered with, and their value more or less neutralised, if the remedies he orders are not administered precisely according to his instructions. It is the duty of the attendant on the sick to follow implicitly the directions of the physician, as well in exactly complying with his orders as in doing nothing that she has not been ordered to do. At the same time there are exceptions to this rule, in which a suspension of the remedy, or a deviation from the order of the physician, is not only allowable, but is absolutely required. Thus, from idiosyncrasy or some other cause, the remedy in the doses ordered may have no effect, or may produce one widely different from that intended or expected. In such cases it is evident that a strict adherence to the direction of the physician would be productive of evil; but he should be immediately apprised of the circumstance. The common practice of neglecting to administer the doses of medicine at the prescribed time, or after prescribed intervals, and then, to compensate for the omission, giving the medicine more frequently or in larger doses, cannot be too severely censured, as destructive to the welfare of the patient and injurious to the credit of the physician.

For the purpose of disguising the taste of medicine, or lessening their nauseating properties, Dr Pollio has recommended a means founded on the physiological fact that a strong impression on the nerves (whether of vision, hearing, or taste) renders that which follows less perceptible than under the usual circumstances. Instead, therefore, of applying to the mouth agreeable substances after swallowing nauseous medicines, we should prepare it beforehand, in order that the taste of the medicine may not be perceived. Aromatic substances, as orange or lemon peel, &c., chewed just before taking medicine, effectually prevent castor oil, &c., being tasted. In preparing the mouth for bitters, liquorice is the only sweet that should be used, the others creating a peculiarly disagreeable compound taste. We have noticed already the effect of oil of orange peel in correcting the nauseating qualities of copaiba. See DOSE and PRESCRIBING.

=MEDICINES FOR PASSENGER SHIPS.= The annexed scale of medicines, medical stores, and instruments for ships clearing under the Passengers Acts, other than steamships engaged in the North Atlantic trade, has been issued and caused to be published by the Board of Trade, and is intended to supersede the scales hitherto in force.

The quantities mentioned in the scale are for every 100 passengers, when the length of the passage, computed according to the Passengers Act, is 100 days and upwards. Half the quantity of medicines indicated, but the same kind and quantity of medical stores should be taken when the passage is less than 100 days.

_N.B.——There is a separate scale for North Atlantic steam passenger ships._

The medicines are to be prepared according to the British Pharmacopœia, to be plainly labelled in English, and the average doses for an adult stated, according to the British Pharmacopœia.

All bottles are to be stoppered, and all medicines indicated thus (*) are to be marked with a red poison label. All fluid quantities are to be measured by _fluid_ lbs., oz., or dr.

Lbs. oz. dr.
Acid, Acetic 0 6 0
*Acid, Carbolic 0 1 0
*Acid, Carbolic (a powder containing
not less than 20 per
cent. of pure carbolic or
cresylic acid) 112 0 0
Acid, Citric 0 3 0
Acid, Gallic 0 1 0
Acid, Hydrocyanic Dil. 0 0 4
Acid, Nitric 0 1 0
Acid, Sulph. Dil. 0 6 0
Æther 0 1 0
Alumen 0 1 0
Ammon. Carb. 0 6 0
Amylum 1 0 0
Argent. Nit. (Stick) 0 0 2
Calx Chlorate 7 0 0
Camphor 0 6 0
Charta Epispatica, 4 sq. ft., in case
*Chlor. of Zinc (Burnett’s sol. of) 16 0 0
*Chloroform 0 8 0
Copaiba 0 8 0
Creosote 0 0 2
Cupri Sulph. 0 1 0
Emp. Cantharidis 0 1 0
Ferri et Quiniæ Cit. 0 1 0
Ferri Sulph. 0 0 4
Glycerin 0 6 0
Glycerin Acid. Tannic 0 4 0
*Hydrat. Chloral 0 1 6
Hydrarg. cum Cretâ 0 0 4
Hydrarg. Subchloridi 0 0 4
Lini Farina 6 0 0
Lin. Camph. 0 8 0
Lin. Opii 0 2 0
Lin. Saponis 1 0 0
*Liq. Atropiæ 0 0 1
Liq. Calcis 1 0 0
*Liq. Morphiæ Acetatis 0 1 0
*Liq. Plumbi Subacetatis 0 2 0
Liq. Potassæ 0 2 0
*Liq. Potassæ Permanganatis
(B. P. or Condy’s Crimson
Fluid) 3 0 0
Magnes. Sulph. 4 0 0
Mist. Sennæ Co. (omit Extract of
Liquorice and substitute Aromatic
Spirit of Ammonia, 1
oz. to 1 pint of the mixture) 3 0 0
Ol. Croton 0 0 1
Ol. Lini 0 8 0
Ol. Menthæ Pip. 0 0 2
Ol. Morrhuæ 3 0 0
Ol. Olivæ 1 0 0
Ol. Ricini 2 0 0
Ol. Terebinthinæ 1 0 0
*Opium 1 0 0
Plumbi Acetatis 0 1 0
Potassæ Bicarb. Pulv. 0 4 0
Potassii Iodid. 0 2 0
Pulv. Antimonialis 0 0 3
*Pulv. Astringens (double the
quantity indicated to be
taken to all tropical ports.
Pulv. Catechu Co., Pulv.
Cretæ Arom. cum Opiô——equal
parts) 1 0 0
Pulv. Cretæ Arom. cum Opiô. 0 2 0
Pulv. Ipecac. 0 2 0
Pulv. Ipecac. Co. 0 2 0
Pulv. Jalapæ Co. 0 3 0
Pulv. Potassæ Nitratis 0 4 0
Pulv. Rhei Co. 0 4 0
Pulv. Scammon. Co. 0 0 6
Quiniæ Sulph. (double the
quantity indicated to be taken
to all tropical ports) 0 1 0
Sodæ Bicarb. 1 0 0
Sp. Æther. Nitrosi 0 8 0
Sp. Ammon. Arom. 0 8 0
Sp. Rectif. 0 4 0
Sp. Sulphur Sublimatum 3 0 0
Syr. Ferri Iodidi 0 4 0
*Sol. Morphiæ Acetat. (a neutral
solution containing 4 grains
in a drachm, and so marked.
To be labelled——for hypodermic
injection) 0 0 4
Tr. Arnicæ 0 6 0
Tr. Camphoræ Co. 0 8 0
Tr. Digitalis 0 0 6
Tr. Ergotæ 0 6 0
Tr. Ferri Perchloridi 0 4 0
*Tr. Opii 0 6 0
Tr. Scillæ 0 2 0
Tr. Valerian. Ammon. 0 3 0
Ung. Cetacei 1 0 0
Ung. Hydrargyri 0 2 0
Ung. Hydrargyri Ox. Rub. 0 1 0
Ung. Sulph. 1 0 0
Ung. Zinci 0 2 0
Vin. Colchici 0 1 0
Vin. Ipecac. 0 1 0
Zinci Sulphatis 0 1 0
Desiccated Soup 4 0 0

_All pills to be made and marked +5+ grains._
Pil. Aloes cum Myrrhâ 2 doz.
Pil. Col. c. Hyoscy 4 doz.
Pil. Hydrarg. 3 doz.
Pil. Ipecac. cum Scillâ 5 doz.
Pil. Quiniæ 6 doz.
Pil. Sapon. Co. 6 doz.

_Medical Stores._
Lint 10 oz.
Tow 1 lb.
Adhesive Plaster 3 yds.
Male Syringe 1
Male Syringe Glass 1
Female Syringe 1
Phials (assorted) 2 doz.
Phial corks 6 doz.
Sponges 3
Bed-pan 1
Paper of Pins 1
Hernia Truss, 36 in., reversible 1
Paper of Pill Boxes 1
Gallipots 6
Leg and Arm Bandages 6
Calico 3 yds.
Flannel Bandages, 7 yds. long, 6
in. wide 2
Flannel 2 yds.
Triangular Bandages, base 48
in., sides 33 in. each 2
† Minim Measures 2
† 1 oz. Measures 1
† 2 oz. Measures 1
† Set of Splints 1
† Waterproof sheeting 4 yds.
† Oiled Silk 1 yd.
† Enema Syringe and Stomach Pump 1
† Box of Small Scales and Weights 1
† Wedgwood Mortar and Pestle 1
Wedgwood Funnel 1
† Spatulas 2
† Authorised Book of Directions for
Medicine Chests 1
† British Pharmacopœia 1

† One set only of these articles required, irrespective of number of passengers.

N.B.——Only one set of instruments required, without regard to the number of surgeons, passengers, or the length of the voyage.

_Instruments._

I { 1 Tenaculum.
n { 1 Artery Forceps.
{ 1 Operating ditto.
P { 1 Finger Knife.
o { 1 Curve Bistoury, Probe Point.
c { 1 Curve Bistoury, Spear Point.
k { 2 Probes.
e { 1 Silver Director.
t { 1 Caustic Case.
{ 1 Scissors.
C { 1 Spatula.
a { 12 Needles.
s { 1 Skein Ligature Silk.
e { 3 Lancets.
1 Amputating Saw.
2 Amputating Knives.
1 Bone Forceps.
3 Tooth Forceps.
1 Skull Forceps.
1 Trephine.
1 Elevator.
1 Hey’s Saw.
1 Trephine Brush.
2 Scalpels.
1 Hernia Knife.
2 Trocars and Canulas.
1 Aneurism Needle.
1 Hernia Director.
1 Tourniquet.
2 Silver Catheters (Nos. 4 and 8).
4 Elastic Gum Catheters (Nos. 3, 5, and 7).
1 Clinical Thermometer.
1 Hypodermic Syringe.
1 dozen charged Tubes for Vaccination.
1 Set of Midwifery Instruments.

=MEER′SCHAUM.= _Syn._ ECUME DE MER, L. A native silicate of magnesia. It has a sp. gr. ranging between 2·6 to 3·4; is readily acted on by acids, and fuses before a powerful blowpipe into a white enamel. The finest qualities are found in Greece and Turkey. Its principal application is to the manufacture of tobacco-pipes. The Germans prepare their pipes for sale by soaking them in tallow, then in white wax, and, finally, by polishing them with shavegrass. Genuine meerschaum pipes are distinguished from mock ones by the beautiful brown colour which they assume after being smoked for some time. Of late years some of the pipemakers have produced a composition clay pipe, which closely resembles meerschaum in appearance, and is “warranted to colour well.” The composition, which is comparatively valueless, is made up into pipes of suitable patterns, which are frequently sold to the ignorant for “meerschaums.” See CEMENTS, HYDRAULIC.

=ME′GRIM.= _Syn._ MEAGRIM, HEMICRANIA, L. A pain affecting one side of the head only, often periodic, like an ague, and generally of a nervous, hysterical, or bilious character. It is clavus when there is a strong pulsation, conveying the sensation of a nail piercing the part. See HEADACHE.

=MEG′RIMS.= _Syn._ MEAGRIMS, VERTIGO. In veterinary medicine this term is applied to horses which when at work reel, then stand for a minute dull and stupid, or fall to the ground, and lie partially insensible for a few minutes. “Horses subject to this affection should be driven with a breastplate or pipe collar, so as to prevent pressure on the veins carrying the blood from the head; the bowels should be kept in good order; an occasional laxative is advisable, and a course, either of arsenic or quinine, or of arsenic and iron.” (Dun.)

=MEL′ANCHOLY.= See HYPOCHONDRIASIS and INSANITY.

=MELIS′SIC ALCOHOL.= A substance obtained by Brodie from beeswax. By oxidation it yields ‘melissic acid.’

=MELLA′GO.= The old name for a medicine having the consistence of honey, with a somewhat sweetish taste. Mellago taraxaci is fluid extract of dandelion.

=MELTING-POINT.= The temperature at which solids assume the liquid form.

=MEN′STRUUM.= [L.] A solvent or dissolvent. The principal MENSTRUA employed in chemistry and pharmacy to extract the active principles of bodies by digestion, decoction, infusion, or maceration, are water, alcohol, oils, and solutions of the acids and alkalies.

=MERCU′′RIAL BAL′SAM.= See OINTMENT OF NITRATE OF MERCURY.

=MERCU′′RIAL DISEASE′.= _Syn._ MORBUS MERCURIALIS, HYDRARGYRIASIS, L. This results from the injudicious or excessive use of mercury, or exposure to the fumes of this metal. The common and leading symptoms are a disagreeable coppery taste; excessive salivation; sponginess, tumefaction, and ulceration of the gums; swollen tongue; loosening of the teeth; exfoliation of the jaws; remarkably offensive breath; debility; emaciation; ending (when not arrested) in death from exhaustion. Fever, cachexia, violent purging and griping, a species of eczema (ECZEMA MERCURIALE, LEPRA MERCURIALIS), and other forms of skin disease, are also phases of the same affection, the first of which occasionally proves fatal under the influence of sudden and violent physical exertion.

The treatment, in ordinary cases, may consist in free exposure to the open air, avoiding either heat or cold; the administration of saline aperients, as Epsom salts, phosphate of soda, &c.; the free use of lemon juice and water as a common drink; with weak gargles or washes of chloride of soda or chloride of lime to the gums, mouth, and throat. Severe cases often resist every variety of treatment, and instances are recorded in the medical journals in which the use of even small doses of mercurials, administered by the faculty, have, owing to the peculiar idiosyncrasy of the patients, been followed by the most horrible sufferings, terminating in death.

=MER′CURY.= Hg. _Syn._ QUICKSILVER, HYDRARGYRUM (B. P., Ph. L. E. and D.); MERCURE, VIF ARGENT, Fr.; QUECKSILBER, Ger. A remarkable metal, which has been known from a very early period. The Romans employed it as a medicine externally, as did the Arabs; but the Hindoos were probably the first to prescribe it internally.

_Sources._ The most important are the mines of Idria, in Carniola; Almaden, in New Castile; and New Almaden, in California, where it exists combined with sulphur, under the form of cinnabar. From this ore the pure metal is obtained by distilling it with lime or iron filings, in iron retorts, by which the sulphur it contains is seized and retained, while the mercury rises in the state of vapour, and is condensed in suitable receivers. Quicksilver is commonly imported in cylindrical iron bottles; containing 1/2 cwt. to 1 cwt. each. It is also imported in small quantities from China, contained in bamboo bottles holding about 20 lbs. each.

_Prep._ Mercury, as imported, is usually sufficiently pure for medicinal purposes without any further preparation. Mere mechanical impurities, as floating dust, dirt, &c., may be got rid of by squeezing the metal through chamois leather or flannel, or by filtering it through a small hole in the apex of an inverted cone of paper. It can be further cleaned by shaking well with a little strong nitric acid, washing with distilled water, and drying by blotting paper, or filtering through warm chamois leather.

_Prop., &c._ Mercury, at all common temperatures, is a heavy liquid, possessing a nearly silver-white colour, and a brilliant metallic lustre; solidifies (freezes) at -40° Fahr., and is then ductile, malleable, and tenacious; boils at 662° Fahr., and escapes in colourless transparent vapour, of great density; it also volatilises slowly at the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere. The presence of minute quantities of lead and zinc greatly retard its evaporation at its boiling heat. It unites with oxygen, chlorine, iodine, &c., forming numerous compounds. With the metals it unites to form AMALGAMS. The only acids which act directly on metallic mercury are the sulphuric and nitric, but for this purpose the former must be heated and concentrated. Nitric acid, however, even when dilute and in the cold, dissolves it freely. Pure mercury is unalterable in the air at ordinary temperatures. Sp. gr. 13·59 at 60° Fahr.; about 14· when in the solid state.

_Uses, &c._ Mercury is applied to various purposes in the arts; as the amalgamation of gold and silver, ‘wash gilding,’ the silvering of looking-glasses, the manufacture of barometers and thermometers, and the preparation of several very valuable medicines. In its metallic state it appears to be inert when swallowed, unless it meets with much acidity in the alimentary canal, or is in a state of minute division; its compounds are, however, all of them more or less poisonous.

Mercury has been employed in one or other of its forms in almost _all_ diseases; but each of its numerous preparations is supposed to have some peculiarity of action of its own, combined with that common to all the compounds of this metal. The mercurials form, indeed, one of the most important classes of the materia medica.

_Tests._ 1. _Metallic mercury_ is detected by its liquid condition and volatility; and, when in a finely divided or pulverulent state, by the microscope, or by staining a piece of copper white when the two are rubbed together.

Mercury, when present in combination, can be detected as under:

When intimately mixed with anhydrous sodium carbonate, and heated in a small test-tube, under a layer of the carbonate, decomposition ensues, and a crust of grey sublimate forms on the cooler portion of the tube. When examined by a lens this crust is seen to consist of minute metallic globules. By friction with a bright glass or iron rod these are united into globules, which are visible to the naked eye.

A perfectly clean and bright piece of copper, immersed in a slightly acid solution of mercury, becomes in a short time covered with a grey or whitish stain, which assumes a silvery lustre when gently rubbed with a piece of soft cork or leather, and is removed by the subsequent application of heat. A single drop of liquid may be tested on a bright copper coin in this way.

The plate of copper with the deposit of mercury, obtained as above, after being washed with a weak solution of ammonia, and in distilled water, and dried by pressure between the folds of bibulous paper, may be cut into small pieces, and heated in a test-tube, in order to obtain metallic globules. When the suspected solution contains organic matter, bright copper filings may be employed, and the process modified so as nearly to resemble Reinsch’s test for arsenious acid. According to Orfila, “scraped copper plate” is capable of detecting the presence of 1/80000th part of corrosive sublimate in a solution. MM. Trousseau and Reveil state that a plate of yellow copper (brass) is even more susceptible than one of red copper.

(Smithson’s electrolytic test.) This consists in the use of a polished wire or plate of gold or copper round which a strip or thread of zinc or tin is wound in a spiral direction. The suspected liquid is acidulated with a few drops of hydrochloric acid, and after immersion for a longer or a shorter period (as half an hour to an hour or two), the gold will have become white if any mercury is present. The coil of zinc or tin is then removed from the gold, and the latter, after being washed and dried between the folds of bibulous paper, is heated in a test-tube, to obtain metallic globules, as before.

An ingenious extemporaneous application of the electrolytic test may be made as follows:——Place a drop or two of the suspected liquid on a clean and bright gold or copper coin, and apply a bright key, so that it may at once touch the edge of the coin and the solution. (See _engr._) An electric current will then be established as before, and a white spot of reduced mercury will appear on the surface of the metal, which may be recognised in the manner already explained.

_a._ A gold or copper coin.
_b._ Drop of suspected solution.
_c._ A bright key.]

The salts of mercury are divided into two classes——mercurous, where mercury is a monad element, and unites with one atom of chlorine; and mercuric salts, where it plays the part of a dyad element, or unites with two atoms. The latter of these will be taken first.

=Mercury, Pure.= (Ph. B.) _Syn._ HYDRARGYRUM PURUM. Place commercial mercury, 3 lbs., in a glass retort or iron bottle, and applying heat cause 2-1/2 lbs. of the metal to distil over into a flask employed as a receiver. Boil on this for five minutes hydrochloric acid, 3 dr., diluted with distilled water, 9 fl. dr., and having by repeated affusions of distilled water, and decantations, removed every trace of acid, let the mercury be transferred to a porcelain capsule, and dried first by filtering paper, and finally on a water bath.

=Mercuric Salts.= _Tests._ Sulphuretted hydrogen and ammonium sulphide, added in very small quantities, produce on agitation a perfectly white precipitate, which acquires successively a yellow, orange, and brownish-red colour, as more of the test is added; and, ultimately, when the test is added in considerable excess, an intensely black colour. This precipitate is insoluble in excess of the precipitant, potassium hydrate, potassium cyanide, hydrochloric acid, or nitric acid, even when boiling; but it dissolves readily and completely in potassium sulphide and in ‘aqua regia’ with decomposition. These reactions are characteristic.

Ammonia gives a white precipitate.

Potassium hydrate gives a reddish precipitate, turning yellow when the test is added in excess. The presence of ammonia causes the precipitate to be white, and when the solution contains much acid both reactions are imperfect.

Alkaline carbonates give a brick-red precipitate.

Potassium iodide gives a scarlet precipitate, which is soluble in excess, and in alcohol, and solution of sodium chloride.

The alkaline bicarbonates either do not disturb the solution, or only cause a slight degree of opalescence.

=Mercuric Acetate.= Hg(C_{2}H_{3}O_{2})_{2}. _Syn._ PROTACETATE OF MERCURY. _Prep._ By dissolving mercuric oxide in warm acetic acid. It crystallises in brilliant micaceous lamina, soluble in their own weight of cold water, and somewhat more soluble in boiling water. According to Robiquet, this is the basis of Keyser’s antivenereal pills, which do not contain subacetate of mercury, as has been asserted.

=Mercuric Bromide.= HgBr_{2}. _Syn._ PROTOBROMIDE OF MERCURY, HYDRARGYRI BIBROMIDUM. _Prep._ Two equal parts of bromine and mercury and sublime. Soluble reddish mass; resembles the iodide in its action.——_Dose_, 1/20 to 1/8 gr.

=Mercuric Chloride.= HgCl_{2}. _Syn._ PROTOCHLORIDE OF MERCURY, PERCHLORIDE OF MERCURY, BICHLORIDE OF MERCURY, CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE; HYDRARGYRI PERCHLORIDUM (B. P.), HYDRARGYRI BICHLORIDUM (Ph. L.), SUBLIMATUS CORROSIVUS (Ph. E.), SUBLIMATUM CORROSIVUM (Ph. D.), HYDRARGYRI CHLORIDUM CORROSIVUM (Ph. U. S.), HYDRARGYRI MURIAS CORROSIVUS, L. This is the ‘corrosive sublimate’ of the shops.

_Prep._ 1. (Ph. L.) Mercury, 2 lbs.; sulphuric acid, 21-1/2 fl. oz.; boil to dryness, and rub the residuum, when cold, with sodium chloride, 1-1/2 lb., in an earthenware mortar; lastly, sublime by a gradually increased heat.

2. (Ph. E.) Mercury, 4 oz.; sulphuric acid, 2 fl. oz. 3 fl. dr.; pure nitric acid, 1/2 fl. oz.; dissolve, add of sodium chloride, 3 oz., and sublime as before.

3. (Ph. D.) ‘Persulphate of mercury’ (mercuric sulphate), 2 parts; dried sodium chloride, 1 part; triturate, &c., as before.

4. (Ph. B.) Reduce sulphate of mercury, 20 oz., and chloride of sodium, dried, 16 oz., each to fine powder, and having mixed them add black oxide of manganese, in fine powder, 1 oz., thoroughly by trituration in a mortar, place the mixture in an apparatus adapted for sublimation, and apply sufficient heat to cause vapours of perchloride of mercury to rise into the less heated part of the apparatus arranged for their condensation.

_Obs._ In preparing corrosive sublimate, as well as calomel, by the common process, the solution of the mercury is usually made in an iron pot, set in a furnace under a chimney, to carry off the fumes; and the sublimation is conducted in an earthen alembic placed in a sand bath, or in an iron pot, covered with a semi-spherical earthen head. Corrosive sublimate may also be made by the direct solution of mercuric oxide in hydrochloric acid, or by bringing its constituents together in the state of vapour. The latter plan was patented by the late Dr A. T. Thomson.

_Prop._ The mercuric chloride of commerce occurs in white, semi-transparent, crystalline masses, of considerable density; it possesses an intense coppery taste, is soluble in about 16 parts of cold, and in 3 parts of boiling water; the boiling solution deposits its excess of salt in long white prisms as it cools; soluble in alcohol and ether, in the latter so much so that it has even the property of withdrawing it from its aqueous solutions; the addition of hydrochloric acid, ammonious chloride or camphor, increases its solubility in all these menstrua. It is decomposed by contact with nearly all metallic bodies, and in solution by various organic substances, and by exposure to light. Sp. gr. 5·2 (5·14 to 5·42——Liebig). It melts at about 509° Fahr., and boils and volatilises at a higher temperature.

_Tests._ The presence of mercuric chloride may, under most circumstances, be readily detected by the tests given. To distinguish it from other salts, special tests for chlorine or hydrochloric acid must be applied. If on filtering the solution, acidulating it with dilute nitric acid, and testing it with silver nitrate, a cloudy white precipitate be formed, which is insoluble in excess of the precipitant, and in nitric acid, but soluble in ammonia water, and blackened by lengthened exposure to light, corrosive sublimate is shown to be present in the substance examined. Calomel, the only compound of mercury with chlorine besides corrosive sublimate, is an insoluble powder, which could not, therefore, be found in the filtered liquid. Calomel, or the white precipitate formed by the mercurous salt, with hydrochloric acid and the soluble chlorides, is soluble in excess of the precipitant, and is not only insoluble in liquor of ammonia, but is immediately blackened by it.

For the purpose of demonstrating the presence of corrosive sublimate in a highly coloured liquid, or one loaded with organic matter, it is necessary to agitate it for some minutes with an equal volume of ether. After repose for a short time, the ethereal solution is decanted, and allowed to evaporate spontaneously. The residuum (if any) contains the corrosive sublimate, which, after being dissolved in distilled water, is readily recognised by the above characteristics.

When the substance under examination consists of food, or the contents of the digestive canal, or of animal tissue, it is in general necessary to destroy the organic matter in a nearly similar way to that described under ARSENIOUS ACID. The process adopted by Devergie for this purpose consists in dissolving the substance in concentrated hydrochloric acid, and passing a stream of chlorine through the liquid.——Flandin first carbonises the mass with 1/3 or 1/2 its weight of concentrated sulphuric acid, at 212° Fahr., and then saturates the acid in the cold, with dry ‘chloride of lime,’ added in fragments, assisting the action by stirring, and further adding, by degrees, as the matter thickens and becomes white, a sufficient quantity of distilled water.——Lassaigne boils the suspected mixture for some time with a solution of sodium chloride; a method which, according to Orfila, is not sufficiently delicate to withdraw minute portions of mercury from flesh.——Millon agitates organic liquids (more especially blood, milk, &c.) in large flasks containing gaseous chlorine, which is frequently renewed.——Orfila either dissolves the matter in aqua regia, and passes a stream of chlorine through the liquid, or he carbonises it by means of concentrated sulphuric acid, in close vessels.——Personne proceeds by a similar method, but avoids raising the temperature of the substances operated on.——Reveil employs either the last method or that of Millon. In all cases it is advisable to operate in close vessels, on account of the volatility of the bichloride; Orfila’s apparatus consists of a matrass, provided with a bent tube, the one end of which is plunged into a jar of cold distilled water. The corrosive sublimate is found both in the volatilised matter and in the carbonised residuum, and is extracted from the latter by boiling it for 15 or 20 minutes in aqua regia.

When the organic matter has been destroyed by any of the above processes, and a colourless and filtered solution in distilled water obtained, the usual tests may be at once applied. But in this way we can only detect the presence of mercury, but are unable to decide in what way it has entered the system, although we may infer it from other circumstances. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary, in all medico-legal investigations, to previously employ ether (see _above_), in order that we may be enabled to examine the deleterious matter in its original form, or that in which it was swallowed.

_Uses, &c._ Mercuric chloride is employed as an alterative, diaphoretic, and resolvent, in the chronic forms of secondary syphilis, rheumatism, scrofula, cancer, old dropsies, numerous skin diseases, &c.; and externally, as a caustic, in cancer, and made into an ointment, lotion, or injection, in a vast number of skin diseases, ulcers, gleet, &c., and as a preventive of contagion. It acts quicker than the other preparations of mercury, and it is less apt to induce salivation; but it has been said that its effects are less apparent.——_Dose_, 1/10 to 1/4 gr., either made into a pill, or in solution. It is highly poisonous, and must be exhibited and handled with the greatest caution. Its use is contra-indicated in cases complicated with pulmonary affections or nervous derangement.

_Pois._——1. _Symptoms._ Strong coppery or metallic taste; intense pain in the mouth, pharynx, œsophagus, stomach, and intestines; nausea, vomiting (often bloody), diarrhœa, and (sometimes) violent dysentery (these evacuations are generally more frequent than in poisoning by other metallic compounds). After a certain time there is generally an abatement of the severity of the symptoms; the circulation becomes slower, the pulse small and thready, the respiration gentle, and the skin cold; syncope then supervenes, and great general insensibility, always commencing at the pelvic extremities; and sometimes convulsions occur; the secretion of urine is generally diminished, sometimes even entirely suppressed; but the patients always urinate if the sublimate has been employed in a very diluted state, and if drinks have been administered. Death often appears to result from the shock to the nervous system, from intense exhaustion, or from mortification or intense inflammation of the primæ viæ. Poisoning by corrosive sublimate is distinguished from that by arsenic, by the countenance being flushed, and even swollen; whereas, in poisoning by arsenic, it is wholly contracted and ghastly, and by the whitened condition of the epithelium of the mouth.

2. _Antidotes._ White of egg, hydrated ferric sulphide or ferrous sulphide, and gluten, are each of them powerful antidotes. White of egg has proved efficacious in numerous cases. It requires the white of one egg to decompose 4 gr. of corrosive sublimate. (Peschier.) The recently precipitated protosulphuret of iron is, however, according to Mialhe, the antidote par excellence, not only to corrosive sublimate, but to the salts of lead and copper. The gluten of wheat has also been recommended (Taddei); or, what is equally efficacious, wheat flour mixed up with water. When any of the above are not at hand, copious draughts of milk may be substituted. Iron filings have been occasionally used as an antidote. All these substances should be taken in considerable quantities; the dose should be frequently repeated, and the general treatment similar to that in cases of poisoning by arsenic. Vomiting should be, in all cases, immediately induced, to remove, if possible, the poisonous matter from the stomach.

=Mercuric-ammonium Chloride.= HgNH_{2}Cl. _Syn._ AMMONIO-CHLORIDE OF MERCURY, AMMONIATED CHLORIDE OF MERCURY, WHITE PRECIPITATE, LEMERY’S W. P., COSMETIC MERCURY; HYDRARGYRI AMMONIATUM (B. P.), HYDRARGYRI AMMONIO-CHLORIDUM (Ph. L.), HYDRARGYRUM PRECIPITATUM ALBUM (Ph. E.)

_Prep._ 1. (Ph. L.) Mercuric chloride, 6 oz.; distilled water, 3 quarts; dissolve, with heat, and when the solution has cooled, add of liquor of ammonia 8 fl. oz., frequently shaking it; lastly, wash the precipitate with water, and dry it. The formulæ of the Ph. E. & D. are nearly similar.

2. Mercuric chloride and ammonium chloride, of each 1/2 lb.; water, 3 quarts; dissolve, and precipitate with solution of potassium hydrate, q. s.

_Prop., &c._ A white, inodorous, light mass, or powder; insoluble in alcohol, partially soluble in boiling water, and wholly dissolved by sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids, without effervescence. It is totally dissipated by heat. When heated with solution of potash, it exhales ammonia, and assumes a yellow colour. Used to make an ointment, which is employed in herpes, porrigo, itch, and other skin diseases, &c.; and by the lower orders as a dusting powder to destroy pediculi, an application which, from its liberal employment, is not always a safe one. It is highly poisonous, and must not be swallowed.

=Mercuric and Ammonium Chloride.= NH_{4}Cl,HgCl_{2}. _Syn._ CHLORIDE OF MERCURY AND AMMONIUM, SAL ALEMBROTH; HYDRARGYRI ET AMMONII CHLORIDIUM, L. _Prep._ (P. Cod.) From mercuric chloride and ammonium chloride, equal parts, triturated together. “The object in adding the ammonium chloride here is to render the corrosive sublimate more soluble in water. The action of the latter is not otherwise altered.” (Redwood.) It is chiefly used for lotions and injections.