The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years, 2nd ed.

1. That of considerably diminishing the consumption of sugar, the produce of the cane, and of giving the greatest extension to the manufactories of grape syrup.

2. That of preserving for use in all countries and all seasons, a number of alimentary and medicinal productions, which being very abundant in some places at certain seasons, are therefore wasted, being considered as of no value; while the same substances, under other circumstances, being much wanted, become of double and even four-fold value; and sometimes cannot be procured at any price, such as butter and eggs.

3. That of procuring for civil and military hospitals, and even for the armies the most valuable assistance, the details of which would be superfluous here. But the great advantage of this method consists principally in its application to the service of the Navy. It will supply fresh and wholesome provisions for his majesty’s vessels on long voyages with a saving of more than fifty per cent. Mariners will in case of illness be furnished with broth, various and cooling beverages, vegetables and fruits; in a word, they will be able to partake of a number of alimentary and medicinal substances, which will alone be sufficient to prevent or cure the diseases contracted at Sea, more especially the worst of them all, the scurvy. These advantages eminently merit the public attention when we reflect that salted provisions, and, above all, their bad qualities, have caused the loss of more lives at Sea than shipwrecks and naval engagements.

4. Medicine will find in this method the means of relieving humanity, by the facility of meeting every where, and in all seasons, animal substances, and all kinds of vegetables, as well as their juices, preserved with all their natural qualities and virtues: by the same means it will obtain resources infinitely precious in the production of distant regions, preserved in their fresh state.

5. From this method will arise a new branch of industry, relative to the productions of France, by their circulation through the interior, and the exportation abroad, of the produce with which nature has blessed the different countries.

6. This method will facilitate the exportation of the wine of many vineyards: wine which can scarcely be kept a year, even when not removed from the spot, may hereafter be preserved many years though sent abroad.

Finally, this invention cannot fail to enlarge the domain of Chymistry, and become the common benefit of all countries, which will derive the most precious fruits from it.

So many advantages, and an infinity of others which the imagination of the reader will easily conceive, produced by one and the same cause, are a source of astonishment.

SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY

Paris, 7th April, 1809.THE SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF NATIONAL INDUSTRY, TO MR. APPERT, PROPRIETOR AT MASSY

Sir,

I have the pleasure to transmit to you a copy of the Report made to the Société d’Encouragement, by Messrs. Guyton-Morveau, Parmentier, and Bouriat, on your preserved vegetable and animal substances. Nothing can be added to the judgment passed by the Committee upon your discovery. They announce, that it has not been in their power to make any experiments, either sufficiently exact, or continued for a sufficient length of time, to enable them to verify to what extent the substances prepared by you may be preserved; but what they have themselves observed, suffices to enable them to form an opinion to which they were previously disposed, by the numerous and decisive testimonies which attest your success.

The Society are of opinion that they are rendering a service to the country and humanity, when they make known so useful a discovery with the eulogies which it merits. Their desire will be accomplished, should their suffrage determine the public to make use of your productions, and so contribute to confer upon you the just rewards of your labours.

Accept, Sir, the assurance of the perfect respect with which I have the honour to salute you.

MATH. MONTMORENCY,Secretary, &c.

EXTRACT FROM THE PROCÈS-VERBAL OF THE SITTING OF THE COUNCIL OF ADMINISTRATION, WEDNESDAY, 15TH MARCH, 1809.

Report made by Mr. Bouriat, in the name of a Special Committee, on Vegetable and Animal Substances, preserved by Mr. Appert.

The council referred to a committee, consisting of Messrs. Guyton-Morveau, Parmentier, and myself, the examination of vegetable and animal substances presented by Mr. Appert, and preserved by his process, for more than eight months.

These substances were,

• 1. Pot-au-feu [a standing French dish of boiled meat, fowls, &c.]

• 2. Consommé, gravy.

• 3. Milk.

• 4. Whey.

• 5. Green Peas.

• 6. Small Windsor Beans.

• 7. Cherries.

• 8. Apricots.

• 9. Currant Juice.

• 10. Raspberries.

Each of these articles was contained in an earthen vessel hermetically sealed, the cork being fastened with iron wire and pitched. Proceeding methodically in our enquiry:

We found in the pot-au-feu a jelly tolerably rich, with a piece of beef and two pieces of fowl in the middle. Warming the whole with care, to a suitable degree, the soup was found good, and the meat which was separated from it, very tender, and of an agreeable flavour.

The consommé appeared to us to be excellent; and though prepared fifteen months before, there was scarcely any discernible difference between its then state, and what it would have been, if made fresh the same day.

The milk was found to be of a yellowish colour, resembling that of colostrum or beestings, more thick, as well as sweeter and more savoury than the ordinary milk: a superiority it derives from the concentration it has undergone. It may be affirmed that milk of this kind, though prepared nine months before, may supply the place of the greater part of the cream sold at Paris. What however will appear more extraordinary is, that this same milk having been put into a pint bottle which was uncorked a month before, to take out a part of it, and re-corked afterwards with little care, was also preserved, having undergone scarcely any change. At first it appeared to have somewhat thickened, but a slight shaking was sufficient to bring back its ordinary liquidity. I present it here in the same bottle, that you may convince yourselves of a fact, which I should have had a difficulty to believe, if I had heard of it only, without having the evidence before me.

The whey which we afterwards examined, presented some singular appearances not less astonishing. It had all the transparency of whey recently prepared. Its colour was deeper, it had a stronger taste, and it was somewhat thicker. It underwent a change also with less rapidity, having been exposed to the air at the end of a fortnight; for a bottle opened six weeks ago, occasionally shaken, and ill corked, did not begin to lose its transparency till the end of a fortnight. Its surface at the end of more than a month was covered with a somewhat thick mouldiness, which when carefully taken off, left the remainder still possessing the flavour of whey.

The green peas and the Windsor beans, boiled with the attention enjoined by Mr. Appert, furnished two excellent dishes, which the remoteness of the usual season of such vegetables appeared to render still more finely flavoured and agreeable.

Whole cherries, and apricots cut in quarters preserved a great part of the flavour they had when gathered. It is true Mr. Appert was obliged to gather them before they were quite ripe, lest they should lose too much of their figure in the glass jars in which they were preserved.

The currant and raspberry juice appeared to us to enjoy almost all their qualities. We found the aroma of the raspberry perfectly preserved, as well as the somewhat aromatic acid of the currant. Their colour only was a little faded.

Such were the results on our examining the substances prepared according to Mr. Appert’s process, more than eight months, and some of them a year, and fifteen months before; for instance, the whey. We could only receive his statement as to the time of the previous preparation of these articles, as they had been deposited but two months with the Society; but even this shorter period is sufficient to give us a favourable opinion of the author’s process. We are the more justified in relying on Mr. Appert’s declarations, as persons highly worthy of credit, have by their own experiments, convinced themselves that similar substances may be preserved for more than a year. Mr. Appert forwarded to the Council mere specimens of the articles I have enumerated; but he prepares a still greater variety of alimentary substances. He did not communicate his process to us.

Observations

The art of better preserving vegetables and animal substances in the state in which nature produces them, has been to a considerable degree the object both of pharmacy and chymistry. To attain that end various means have been employed. Desiccation, ardent spirits, acids and oils, saccharine and saline substances, &c. have been made use of; but it must be confessed that these means cause many productions to lose a part of their properties, or otherwise modifies them, so that their aroma and flavour are no longer to be recognized. From this point of view, the process of Mr. Appert appears to us preferable, if without having recourse to desiccation he adds no extraneous substance to that he wishes to preserve. There is every reason to believe that his method is by so much the better, as the substances on which he operates are more capable of sustaining so high a temperature without a sensible change.

Several persons of acknowledged merit, have by desire of the prefects in different Seaports, examined Mr. Appert’s preparations. It is only necessary to read the reports made by these well-informed persons, in order to be convinced of the excellence of the author’s process.

At Brest, for instance, on the 14th of April 1807, the committee named by the Maritime Prefect express themselves as follows:

“It is demonstrated by every thing just said, that all the alimentary substances, in number eighteen, embarked in the Stationnaire, December 12, 1806, and disembarked April 13, 1807, and which were examined by a committee for that especial purpose, under the presidency of a commissary of marine belonging to the hospitals, underwent no change while they were on board, and that they were in the same state at the several periods of the embarkation and disembarkation.

“It may be added that Mr. Appert’s process for the preservation of the articles examined, has been followed by all the success he had promised himself; and that with improvement, which he considers as very easy, and finding means to diminish the number of vessels employed, these provisions would offer great advantages on board his majesty’s and other vessels.”

The Committee nominated at Bourdeaux by the Prefect of the Department, assert, positively:

“The detail which we have just given, on the objects prepared by Mr. Appert, will point out to you that they were in a state of perfect preservation; that the means made use of do not depend on the addition of extraneous substances, and that these means are founded on a process invented or improved by Mr. Appert, which do not destroy the perfume or flavour of the subjects submitted to their influence.”

Rear-Admiral Allemand wrote a letter to Mr. Appert, of which I subjoin a copy.

“I communicated your letter, Sir, to the Captains, under my orders, and they tasted the day before yesterday the vegetables I purchased of you fourteen months ago, one bottle of which my maître-d’hôtel had by accident left in the store-room. As green peas and beans are just beginning to be gathered, the officers actually believed your preserved vegetables to be fresh, so well had you succeeded; they wish to purchase a large quantity of them, as well as soup, fruit, and meat in bottles. I shall also take a considerable quantity for myself at the end of the season.

“I am so well persuaded, Sir, of the infinite advantage which would attend the providing a quantity of articles for the use of the sick on board, that if his Excellency, the Minister of the Marine and Colonies, should do me the honour to ask for my opinion, I shall not hesitate to confirm this my opinion, as well for the sake of the government and of the sick, as of yourself. I shall take the earliest opportunity to speak with him on the subject. Accept the assurance of my high consideration.

“On board the Imperial Ship le Majestueux, at anchor off the Ile d’Aix.

(Signed) “Allemand.”“7th March, 1807.”

Copy of a Letter of Vice-Admiral Martin, Maritime Prefect, to Mr. Appert, at Brest.

“I have received, Sir, your letter of the 27th of last April. According to your desire, I have addressed to his Excellency, the Minister of the Marine and Colonies, a report of the examination of a variety of provisions prepared according to your process.

“I shall neglect no opportunity of making known a discovery which appears to be as useful to the State as it is interesting to seamen. I have the honour to salute you.

“The vice admiral, maritime-prefect,(Signed) “Martin.”“Rochefort, 22d May, 1807.”

It is apparent from these reports, which appear to be almost the same, though made in towns remote from each other, at different periods and by different persons, that the process of Mr. Appert is as certain as it is useful. It affords the means of enjoying throughout the empire, during the whole year, and with great convenience, the productions which belong alone to a part of it, without fearing that they may have undergone any change by their having been transported to a great distance, or from the remoteness of the season of their growth. Merely under this point of view, the advantage appears to be great: and it has not escaped the notice of the poets and amiable writers, who, to amuse themselves, sing the art of cookery. Mr. Appert has repeatedly received from them the most flattering and highly deserved praises.20

The process of this manufacturer is not less valuable in the sparing of sugar in the use of fruit; for without the aid of that article, it preserves the juice till the moment of its consumption, when only a small portion needs to be added to the juice; double the quantity would have been necessary to preserve the same fruit. It may be further added that the flavour and aroma of substances are better preserved by Mr. Appert’s process, than by the decoctions usually made use of in order to preserve them with sugar. This will be considered as a very great advantage, when we reflect how prodigious a quantity of this colonial produce is every year employed to preserve the different kinds of fruit and their juices. The establishment of Mr. Appert has not perhaps been duly appreciated by rich capitalists, who might have given it that desirable extension which it will only gradually receive, if the author is abandoned to his own resources.

The success he has already met with, increases his zeal and makes him carry his views further. He promises to transmit, unchanged, the most agreeable productions of our soil beyond the Line. He purposes to multiply the enjoyments of the Indian, the Mexican, and the African, as well as of the Laplander, and to transport into France from remote regions, an infinity of substances which we should desire to receive in their natural state.

The experiments already made on board several vessels, prove that the sick among a crew will be well satisfied with Mr. Appert’s preparations, which furnish them with the means of procuring, when necessary, meat and broth of a good quality, milk, acid fruits, and even anti-scorbutic juices; for Mr. Appert assures us he is able to preserve these also.

With respect to the embarkation of meat necessary for a whole crew on a long voyage, a slight difficulty seems to lie in the requisite multiplicity of bottles. But Mr. Appert will, without doubt, find means to obviate this inconvenience, by the choice of vessels less fragile and of a larger size.

Our opinion of the substances preserved by Mr. Appert, and transmitted to our examination, is, that they were all of a good quality, that they may be made use of without any inconvenience; and that the Society owes great praise to the author for having so far advanced the art of preserving vegetable and animal substances. We are happy to render this homage to the zeal and disinterestedness with which he has laboured to attain his end.

When the relations of commerce shall be rendered more easy, Mr. Appert will require nothing beyond his own talents and perseverance, to establish a branch of commerce as useful to himself as to his country; but at the present moment his fellow citizens cannot better recompense his labours, than by employing the produce of his manufactures.

Note.– Mr. Appert desires to preserve his connection with the Society, in order to inform them of the result of the fresh exertions to which he is about to devote himself, on the invitation of your committee.

The council concurring in opinion with its committee, adopts the present report and its conclusions, and resolves that it shall be inserted in the minutes of the Society.

(Signed) Guyton-Morveau,Parmentier,Bouriat.(A true copy.)Math. Montmorency, SecretaryFINIS

1

Mon Bureau consultatif des Arts et Manufactures.

2

About £500 sterling.

3

“The salt meat with which the crews of vessels are fed, appears to be one of the principal causes of the scurvy. It seems that the same causes which operate to prevent the fermentation of meat, renders it also difficult of digestion. Though a small quantity of salt may be an obstacle in the way of putrefaction, the too abundant and frequent use which is made of it, must cause great obstructions in the smaller vessels of the body, and these obstructions cannot fail to overload the stomach of men who have to digest dry vegetables and biscuits, which sailors advanced in years are not always able to chew completely. Bad digestion and obstruction in the smaller vessels may occasionally give rise to ulcers in the mouth, and spots, which denote the scurvy.” —Santé des Marins, by Duhamel.

4

La Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie nationale.

5

It is obvious, that for the use of private families, and for carrying on the process on a small scale, nothing further will be requisite, than such vessels and other conveniences as are found in every house in the country, where provisions are cured for the consumption of the family during winter.

6

The reason why it is necessary that large boilers should be furnished with wide cocks is, that it would take up too much time to let so large a body of water, always placed over a heated stove, remain till it became cool; and that, on the other hand, it would do great injury to those substances to let them remain too long exposed to the heat. Without inconvenience, therefore, in private families, any cauldron or earthen vessel may be taken for a water-bath, provided the water rises to the rim of the bottle. In case there should be no vessel sufficiently high, the bottles may be laid down in the water-bath, care being taken to pack them well together, lest they should be broken. Many operations have succeeded well with me this way. The corks are somewhat more liable to burst outwards; but if the bottles are well corked, there is nothing to be feared. For instance, it would not be advisable to lay on their sides, bottles, or other vessels stopped up with stoppers consisting of different pieces of any substance, because the action of the fire upon this kind of stopper is stronger; and however well the vessel might be corked, it would not be advisable to incur the risque.

Small water-baths are the more convenient, because they may be placed any where, and removed at will. They soon become cold. The bottles are taken out when the water is sufficiently cool to allow of the finger being put in, and thus the operation is terminated.

7

The French litre, consists of nearly two wine pints and a half, English measure.

8

Many persons believe they have corked well, when they have forced the cork even with the mouth of the bottle; but this is a great mistake. On the contrary, whenever the whole of the cork, instead of withstanding the blows of the bat, is forced into the bottle, it is adviseable to draw it out and substitute another in its place. Thus the believing that a bottle corked very low is well corked, because no liquor escapes when the bottle is turned with its neck downwards, is an error, which, joined to the use of bad corks, causes a number of losses. He who corks with care and judgment is satisfied that the operation has been performed well by the resistance of the cork to the blows of the bat, and never thinks of turning the neck of the bottle downwards. It is besides sufficient to reflect on the punctures met with in cork, and on all the hidden defects which may subsist in the interior even of the finest cork, by means of which, the air may be introduced; in order to be convinced of the propriety of making use of none but the very best corks, and that, after having well compressed them in the machine for that purpose; and also of corking them so closely that they become very much compressed in the middle.

It is in this way only, that losses can be prevented from frequently taking place, which have often no other cause than bad corking; for, if a bottle does not instantly run when carelessly corked, it proceeds from this circumstance, that the air has not had time to penetrate through the apertures which may be in the interior of the cork: and, in fact, how different is the quality of wine, drawn from the same cask! and how many bottles do we meet with, which have lost more or less of their contents!

9

Jellies, essences of meat, the substance of ice and portable soups, which are prepared from the soft and white parts of animals, preserved at a great expence by means of evaporation, and drying in stoves with the aid of hartshorn and isinglass, furnish merely factitious aliments, without flavour or any other than a burnt or mouldy taste.

10

The celebrated Chaptal says, in his Elémens de Chimie, discours préliminaire, p. cxxxi. “We hear in manufactories of nothing but the caprice of experiment, but this vague phrase has its origin only in the ignorance in which the workmen are of the true principles of their art; for nature does not act according to any principle of discernment, but obeys constant laws. The dead matter which we employ in our manufactories, exhibits necessary effects in which the will can have no share, and consequently can have no caprice. Make yourself acquainted, we should say to the manual operator, with the substance on which you are to operate, study better the principles of your art, and you will be able to foresee, predict and calculate every thing. It is your ignorance alone which renders your operations a constant groping in the dark, and a discouraging alternation of success and disappointment.”

In fact, the operator who proceeds with a perfect knowledge of the principles of his art, and of the results of its application, will never ascribe the failure of his process to caprice, but will impute it to the neglect of some indispensable precaution in the application of his principle; and his disappointment will serve as a guide for him to calculate better and improve his preparatory process. Convinced that the effects that flow from his principle are invariable, he knows that every kind of loss and damage can proceed only from an error in the application of his principle.

11

This operation performed on a great scale, that is in a larger boiler, would require too much exactness, as it would be more difficult to command just the due degree of heat in such a boiler than in a small water-bath which may be set on and taken off at pleasure.

12

That is, of Reamur, or 200 of Fahrenheit, in like manner, the 80 of Reamur, or boiling point mentioned below, is 212 of Fahrenheit. T.