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The bacon is imported already "cured" from Denmark, Sweden and Holland,
the Continental method of "curing" bacon is, first to pump it, i.e., brine is
injected into it, and then the bacon is put into brine or pickle for about four days,
after which it is drained for two or three days.
(The "dry-cure" method, practised chiefly in the West of England, is to
"pump" the bacon in the thick parts, and then to place it in layers of dry salt.
This process requires about 21 days to complete, and the bacon should then be left
a little while to mature. The "dry-cure" method is obviously more expensive,
but it is held to produce a higher quality article.)
Before export from the Continent, imported bacon is examined and certified
as wholesome and free from disease by duly qualified men appointed by the various
countries concerned, in accordance with the requirements of the British Government—in
other words, the usual arrangement with regard to official certificates are
carried out. The bacon is sent over in canvas wrappers, and is labelled and branded
with the mark of the producer and the country of origin. Upon arrival at either
of the Holborn depots the wrappers are removed, the carcases examined, wiped
and dusted with pea meal before being placed in the smoke holes.
Some English bacon is also smoked here; one of the firms owns bacon curing
factories in the West of England, from which they draw supplies as required. This
arrives at Holborn "green," i.e., "cured," and is then smoked in the same way
as imported bacon.
Deal sawdust is laid upon the floors of the smoke holes; it is ignited and
allowed to smoulder, and so produce the smoke in sufficient volume to ensure
adequate smoking. Great care must be taken in order that sawdust from the
correct source is obtained; sawdust from certain woods gives off pungent vapours
which impregnate the bacon and gives it an undesirable flavour.
During the year, 3,067 lbs. of bacon have been condemned as unfit for food.
Of this, 2,680½ lbs. were tainted and in varying stages of decomposition and the
remaining 386½ lbs. were condemned on account of deep seated abscesses, the
presence of which could not be determined until the sides were cut up.
The Making of Barometers and Thermometers.
Barometer and thermometer making appear to have been started in Holborn
and Clerkenwell about the end of the 18th century by Italians who employed a
number of young fellow countrymen as apprentices who lived on the premises in
which they worked. The descendants of some of these Italians can still be found
in Holborn, working as master men at the same trade.
Owing to the conditions under which the work was carried on, mercurial
poisoning was at one time relatively common; usually the basement rooms of
dwelling houses were used as workrooms in which the workers and apprentices
not only ate their meals, but lived. The causes were not far to seek: the vitiation
of the air by vapour from mercury, the gases given off by blow lamps, in the earlier
days fed by colza oil and later by coal gas, combined with inadequate means of
ventilation and inadequate arrangements for washing the hands before partaking
of food.