Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/733

Rh P II E P R E 709 V&amp;gt;y the substitution of an atmosphere of some inert gas have not proved successful, neither has the method pro posed and patented by Dr Redwood, which consisted in coating meat with a layer of paraffin. 4. Refrigeration. That cold checks putrefaction has long been knoAvn from ordinary experience. Bodies of the prehistoric mammoth have been found in the ice of the Siberian tundra so well preserved that the flesh was . eaten by dogs. Ice is much used by fish merchants and other provision dealers for the temporary preservation of their perishable stores ; but the cost and inconvenience of the process in temperate, and still more in hot, climates render it applicable only for brief spaces of time and to the more costly of food-products. But about the year 1875 ice began to be used on a large scale for the preservation of fresh meat during its transit from America to the European markets. This, the first practically successful method of preserving fresh meat for such a period as enabled it to be sold in remote markets, consisted in cooling a large meat chamber hung full of carcases by continually blowing into it air which had previously been cooled to near the freezing point by being made to pass through reservoirs of ice. The process was not all that could be desired, but it successfully solved a question which had previously been attempted many times and ways. It continued to be the method by which large quantities of fresh meat were brought in good condition to the European market, till in 1879 Mr J. J. Coleman inaugurated a new era by the introduction, in conjunction with Mr H. Bell and Mr J. Bell, of his Bell-Coleman dry- air refrigerator. In the Bell-Coleman machine atmospheric air is compressed to one -fourth or one -third of its normal bulk in an air-pump by means of a steam cylinder. The air so condensed becomes hot, and is cooled by injecting water into the air -compressor, after which it is still further reduced in temperature and freed from moisture by passing it through a range of pipes in the cold air of the chamber that is being refrigerated. Being then conveyed to the expanding cylinder, the work or energy it contains in virtue of its compression is expended in moving a piston which forms part of the machinery. From the piston the air, now cooled as much as 50 to 100, or even 200 Fahr., according to the degree of com pression to which it has been subjected, is distributed through the cold chamber by suitable pipes. Mr A. Scale Haslain has since brought out a refrigerator in which the temperature of the air is lowered by passing it through pipes cooled externally, instead of by injecting water into the tubes containing it. Numerous other machines have also been produced, the principle and action of which are illustrated in the article ICE, vol. xii. p. 612. By means first of the Bell-Coleman and subsequently of the Haslam method, fresh meat has been regularly imported into Europe from America since March 1879, when the Anchor liner &quot;Circassia&quot; delivered the first cargo. In February 1880 the first shipment from Australia, consisting of 34 tons of beef and mutton, was delivered in London by the &quot; Strathleven,&quot; and in June 1882 the sailing ship &quot; Dunedin&quot; brought from New Zea land to London, after a passage of ninety-eight days, 4909 carcases of sheep and twenty-two pigs, all in perfect con dition, notwithstanding the prolonged voyage and the ex cessive heat encountered during the passage. The dry-air refrigerators have also been largely adopted in passenger and emigrant vessels for preserving fresh provisions for daily use throughout their voyages, and preserving cham bers and freezing chambers have been erected on land at the ports of lading and delivery. The machinery at present in use is capable of freezing upwards of 300,000 tons of meat per annum, and it is rapidly being added to ; and it may be said that these machines have accomplished a perfect solution of the great problem of fresh-meat pre servation and distribution. Commerce. It is impossible to tabulate any reliable figures relating to the trade in products which are properly classed as 1881. 1882. 1883. 1884. New Zealand Australia 13 771 8,840 98,754 308,859 River Plate preserved food. Within the first five years in which the Bell- Coleman machine was in use there were brought from America by its agency alone 563,568 quarters of beef and 113,633 carcases of mutton. The following figures illustrate the development of the frozen-mutton trade from the great sheep-growing localities &quot;iviii&quot; the number of carcases imported. As these _imports bear only an insignificant relation to the supplies which might be drawn from the several countries at the present moment, it is obvious that a most important factor has been intro duced into the meat trade which will exercise a powerful influence on the markets. (j_ p^ PRESSBURG (Hung. Pozsony, Lat. Posonium], capital of the county of the same name and in former times also of the country, is a royal free town in Hungary, situated on the left bank of the Danube, in 48 8 N. lat. and 17 6 E. long. Pressburg is the see of an evangelical bishop, and the headquarters of one of the fifteen army-corps of the Austrian-Hungarian army and of a honved district; its civil departments include finance, posts, land-survey ing, state forestry, public instruction, river regulation, and Government buildings; it has also a district court of justice, a superior law court, and a chamber of trade and commerce. Among its numerous educational and benevolent institu tions the following are specially worthy of mention the academy of jurisprudence and philosophy, a Roman Catholic upper gymnasium, an evangelical lyceum, an evangelical seminary, an upper real school, a Government training- school for governesses and another of midwifery, schools of music and drawing, two free libraries, a lazaretto, a lunatic asylum, six hospitals, two workhouses, two public kitchens, &c. The most prominent buildings are a fine cathedral, dating from the llth century (in which many of the Hungarian kings were crowned), twelve other Roman Catholic churches, two evangelical churches, two syna gogues, the ancient town-hall, the parliament house (which served for this purpose until 1848), the now uninhabited palace of the archbishop of Esztergom (Gran), a number of palaces of nobles, and the theatre. On the Schlossberg there stood a royal castle (destroyed by fire in 1811), which was a strong fortress during the wars with the Turks. The inhabitants in 1881 numbered 48,326, of whom 8000 were Protestants, 5000 Jews, and the rest Roman Catholics; as to nationality, 30,000 were Germans, 9000 Slavs, and the rest (chiefly the upper classes) Hungarians. The inhabited houses numbered 2015. The town has five newspapers (three in Hungarian and two in German). A large business is carried on in tobacco and cigars, paper, ribbons, leather wares, chemicals, liqueurs, confectionery, biscuits, &c. There is also a good trade in corn and wine. The Danube, here of considerable width, is crossed by a pontoon bridge. There is a large traffic by water with both Vienna and Budapest. Pressburg is the terminus of the Vale of Vag Railway and is also one of the most important stations on the Austrian-Hungarian State Railway system. Although one of the finest towns in the country, its chief charin is its vicinity, which is of singular beauty. Eastwards and southwards stretches a long fertile plain, whilst to the north and west the town is enclosed by the lovely hills of the Little Carpathian range. Little is known of the early history of Pressburg. The name does not occur before the 9th century. In 1042 it was destroyed by the Germans, but was soon afterwards rebuilt and so strongly fortified that it sustained two other attacks and was not taken again until 1271. From its strategic situation it has always been an import ant place. When in 1541 Buda was taken by the Turks, Fressburg became the Hungarian capital, place of coronation, and seat of all the Government offices, and it remained so a good while after the Turks were driven from the country. It was here that the Austrian