Note 3 — Chapter III · On Water and Food.

Vide “Patent Foods and Patent Medicines,” by Robert Hutchison, M.D. (John Bale, Sons, and Danielsson, price 1s.). Although written mainly for the medical profession, this very able little pamphlet might be widely read by the too easily gullible general public with great advantage. The writer shows that some of the expensive “meat juices” are nothing more than diluted white of egg, and that even when genuine, their nutritive value is no higher than the fraudulently substituted egg albumen. Dr. Hutchison’s recipe for “meat” juice is not only amusing, but is well worthy of reproduction for its practical value, as it may save people from wasting many of the half crowns which they now contribute to enable the manufacturers of puffed rubbish to make the hoardings and country-side hideous with their advertisements.

“You can manufacture ‘meat juice’ yourself at a very low cost. Here is a bottle of it which I made this morning. Take the white of egg, add an equal quantity of water, and strain through muslin, then flavour the mixture with any quantity of Liebig’s extract dissolved in a little warm water which you think suitable. By that means you get a preparation extremely rich in coagulable albumen which you can produce at one penny per ounce; and it is one of which the patient can swallow a pailful, if he can get it down, without it doing him any harm. So I see no necessity to buy any of the juices in the market so long as hens exist. That which you make in this way is as good as what you buy, for egg albumen is as nutritious as meat albumen, and it is vastly inferior to it in price.”