Nine years after independently discovering chloroform, Baron Justus von Liebig synthesized a meat substitute in 1840 that was eventually marketed as “Liebig’s Extract of Meat.” A Belgian engineer encouraged Liebig to open a processing plant in Fray Bentos, Uruguay, to generate the extract from cattle carcasses otherwise underutilized after processing for leather. In a time period before refrigeration when meat costs were high, this German–Belgian–Uruguayan collaboration prospered. As part of its advertising campaign, the company produced a colorful series of collectible trading cards. “Extracted” from the final card (in a series of six saluting “The Life of Liebig”) are images of Baron Liebig himself (left) and of his factory in Uruguay (right). In 1979 the factory closed. It is now a museum celebrating how a German chemist and a Belgian engineer founded a company which economically revitalized the nation of Uruguay and nutritionally supplemented the diets of people worldwide. (Copyright © the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc.)
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
Anesthesiology Reflections from the Wood Library-Museum|
July 2013
From Chloroform to Extract of Meat: Chemist and Entrepreneur Liebig
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H.
George S. Bause, M.D., M.P.H.
Honorary Curator, ASA’s Wood Library-Museum of Anesthesiology, Park Ridge, Illinois, and Clinical Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. UJYC@aol.com.
Search for other works by this author on:
Anesthesiology July 2013, Vol. 119, 155.
Citation
George S. Bause; From Chloroform to Extract of Meat: Chemist and Entrepreneur Liebig. Anesthesiology 2013; 119:155 doi: https://doi.org/10.1097/ALN.0b013e31829e3fe7
Download citation file:
381
Views
Citing articles via
Most Viewed
Related Articles
Darmstadt, Birthplace of Chloroform Pioneer Liebig
Anesthesiology (February 2013)
Giessen’s Most Famous Chemist: Professor Justus von Liebig
Anesthesiology (April 2013)
Liebig on the 100 Reichsmark Banknote
Anesthesiology (February 2011)
From “Hog Bean” to “Fowl Murder”: Liebig’s Henbane Advertising Card
Anesthesiology (January 2017)
Crimean Thornapple Depicted by Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company
Anesthesiology (February 2018)