The Chemistry of Cookery

whole of the carcass. The animal is rendered insensible, either by a stunning blow or by an anæsthetic, with the heart still beating. A vein—usually the jugular—is opened, and a small quantity of blood let out. Then a corresponding quantity of a solution of boric acid, raised to blood heat, is made to flow into the vein from a vessel raised to a suitable height above it. The action of the heart carries this through all the capillary vessels into every part of the body of the animal. The completeness of this diffusion may be understood by reflecting on the fact that we cannot puncture any part of the body with the point of a needle without drawing blood from some of these vessels. After the completion of this circulation the animal is bled to death in the usual manner. From three to four ounces of boric acid is sufficient for a sheep of average weight, and much of this comes away with the final bleeding. On April 2, 1884, I made a hearty meal on the roasted, boiled, and stewed flesh of a sheep that was killed on February 8, the carcass hanging in the meantime in the basement of the Society of Arts. It was perfectly fresh, and without any perceptible flavour of the boric acid: very tender, and full-flavoured as fresh meat. On July 19, 1884, I purchased a haunch of the prepared mutton, and hung it in an ill-constructed larder during the excessively hot weather that followed. On August 10, after twenty-two days of this severe ordeal, it was still in good condition. The 11th and 12th were two of the hottest days of the present century in England. On the 13th I examined the haunch very carefully, and detected symptoms of giving way. It had become softer, and was pervaded throughout with a slight malodour. On the 14th it became worse, and then I had it roasted. It was decidedly gamey; the fat, or rather the membranous junction between fat and lean, and the membranous sheaths of the muscles had succumbed, but the substance of