proteose or peptone. The process which is employed is a simple one, namely, the comminution of the meat into as fine particles as possible and its admixture with hydrochloric acid and pepsin. It is then subjected to artificial digestion until a considerable portion of the meat is soluble. Another method of preparation is to omit the pepsin and after the addition of hydrochloric acid to place the meat in a digestor where it is subjected to a temperature of steam under pressure for a considerable length of time. A goodly proportion of the meat becomes soluble under this process. After the preparation is completed the residual hydrochloric acid is neutralized by carbonate of soda, forming common salt, which gives the proper flavor to the compound.
The composition of soluble meat prepared in this way is given in the following table (Foods and Principles of Dietetics, by Robert Hutchinson):
Water, 67.21 percent
Fat, 5.93 "
Albumin, 11.00 "
Peptone, 6.51 "
Meat extract, 7.55 "
Ash and salt, 1.74 "
A meat solution of this kind is not really a solution, since not only is that part which passes into solution contained in it, but also the residual meat fibers which are not dissolved but so softened by the process that they lose their distinct form and can be rubbed up to a thick pasty mass. The product, therefore, consists not only of the part of the meat rendered thoroughly soluble in water by the process, but also of a residual part, softened and reduced to a paste. The mass has practically the same nutritive value as an equivalent amount of meat with the claimed advantage that a large portion of it is already soluble. This partial predigestion may be of value in cases of disease or disordered digestion of any kind, but there is no reason for believing that the healthy stomach requires any sort of artificial predigestion for the proper conduct of its functions. On the other hand, there is every reason for supposing that any kind of predigestion which is at all effective will in the end prove injurious to healthy digestive organs by depriving them of a part of their normal functions and thus tending to bring them to a condition of feebleness which may result in the omission, in part, of the normal functions of the vital organs.
Preparations of Blood.—There is no doubt of the valuable nutritive properties of blood and its preparations are sometimes used as foods. There is a deep-seated prejudice against the use of blood as human food, doubtless based on older and more effective grounds than even the laws of health promulgated by Moses. Man is an animal of some refinement of character and the sight or use of blood is repugnant to his finer instincts. Sometimes blood is dried and powdered and the blood powder mixed with other food.
