Extract of meat / by Baron Liebig.

  • Liebig, Justus, Freiherr von, 1803-1873.
Date:
[1872]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extract of meat / by Baron Liebig. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Bv “ common food” must be understood those distances which serve for the preservation of the mperature and restoration of the machine. Coflee, •a and extract of meat are not suited to these pur- ges ; by their effect, however, on the nerves they cercise a decided influence.. „ The experiments made with extract oi meat m ussia, France and Sweden are what in the scientific orld are termed “ sham experiments. 1 hey are ot undertaken to find out that which is not known, ut as the result is known beforehand, appear really nlv to be made with a view to deceive others, and ie conclusions drawn from them are simply absurd, t will suffice to describe one of these experiments l order to convince any one wlio bears in mind that , has been scientifically determined that extract of ieat docs not contain any substances necessary for ie formation of albumen in the blood, and for the ^storation of the waste of museulai tissue. Two dogs of almost equal weight were fed, the one ith meat, the other with extract of meat. The inner was fed with 400-500 grm .fresh meat, the other •ith 12|-15 grm. extract of meat (the quantity con- fined in 400-500 grm. fresh meat). The dog fed on ieat flourished, his weight rather increased, while tie other fed on extract of moat only, became thin, ms attacked with diarrhoea, and would have died if lie experiment had been continued. The inference .rawn from this experiment is :—Extract of mentis iot nutritious, it rather has poisonous effects, causes liarrhcea, and would produce death. That the other tog had likewise consumed 12|-15 grm. extract of neat in the 400-500 grm.of meatwithout being seized vith diarrhoea or feeling any injurious effects, this act does not trouble the experimentalist, nor docs it ■oncern him that a dog weighing from 2 to 3 kilo- grammes requires from 40 to 50 grm. of carbon in lis food for the process of respiration and to keep up ;he weight of his body, while 12 to 15 grm. extract if meat only contains 3-4 grm. of carbon.. These experiments, made by Dr. Beljawski, in Moscow, and the conclusions drawn from them, are identical with the French (vide ‘ Moniteur Seienti- Gque Quesneville’ 1-15 Dec. 1871). That no experi- ments have been made in England similar to those in liussia and France proves that English physiolo- gists possess more common sense. Concerning the standing of lJrofessor Almen, in Sweden, it will suffice to mention here his assertion that “a glass of warm water with a little pepper must produce the same effect as a cup of beef-tea.” What sensible physician would venture to prescribe warm water with pepper instead of meat broth to a patient recovering from typhoid fever ? Nor in spite of Professor Almen is this done in the Swedish hospitals. Beef-tea is used there in the same cases and for the same purpose as with us. That in Gottingen extract of meat is generally used in family households and also in that of Profes- sor Meissner, I may venture to affirm. In order to understand correctly the significance of meat diet and extract of meat, it is necessary to turn one’s attention to the difference,of the component parts of meat arid those of vegetable foods. Meat contains in its albuminates the chief requirements for the renovation of the muscular tissues and for the preservation of lasting muscular action. Those constituents of the meat which are soluble in boiling I nerves they exercise a most decided influence muscular work wherein meat differs from all o! animal and vegetable food By the use of meat we consequently obtain I effects, the one (effect on the nerves) perfecting* strengthening the other (muscular action) prices of other articles of food, even of those contj ing a considerable amount of muscle-forming terial, are much lower than that of meat, and aref in proportion to the contents of muscle-forming stance. According to calculations made in myo household, we obtain in 100 lb. of butchers’ m (67 lb. muscle, 12| lb. bones, 8| lb. fat, 3 lb. me pa| brane) 13 91b. albuminates. In 100 lb. cheeseth are from 26 lb. to 30 lb. albuminates, and the li and brain are likewise richer in albuminates than' same weight of butchers’ meat. The blood of i mals is richer still in albuminates in proportion its price. Nevertheless, nobody thinks of pla4 blood, liver, or cheese fully on a par with butclu meat. Vegetable albuminates are still lower in price, from these is produced in the bodies of animals the muscular food which man consumes. 100 of ordinary wheaten flour contain very nearly much muscular food as 100 parts of fresh meat,’ how small is the price of bread as compared to j of meat. This clearly shows that the instinct of man covered a difference in the effects of his various foj and that he does not estimate and judge the proportion to their contents of carbon and nitr or of muscle-forming and heat-producing subst; but that he pays a higher price for meat be meat contains certain other substances which totally wanting in other articles of food, and these very substances which form the comp parts of beef-tea as well as of extract of meat. These substances, as is well known, impart to its peculiar value for nutrition, and constitute difference between vegetable and animal diet, difference between the two, therefore, is not base the dissimilar nature and facility of assimilatio the albuminates contained in the animal and v< table food, but consists in the fact that meat conti certain elements which are not to be founi cheese, in blood, or in vegetables. I believe that the researches of Pettenkofer Voit are calculated to throw some light on the e of the component parts of extract of meat. In experiment on the tissue waste of a man in noi condition while abstaining from food, the indivi breathing in the apparatus of respiration was le three instances without food with the exceptio water, salt (15 grm.) and a little extract of : (12.\ grm., rather less than half an ounce), and respect to the results obtained the two experime ists say, *'< The state of health during the privj of food for thirty-six hours was a completely no one, and according to the assurance of the fa man, he could have borne it longer.” This fa plains, I believe, the physiological importance o soluble parts of meat or extract of meat; they 4 serve for the renovation of the machine, but maintain it by their effects on the nerves di temporary disturbances, even when deprived of in normal action, and it cannot be doubted th this effect which is paid for by the higher pi