LARD is the melted and strained fat of the common hog. The bulk of the lard of commerce is obtained from the abdominal fat of the animal; but in the preparation of inferior qualities fatty scraps of all kinds which result from the preparation of pork are melted up, and occasionally entire flanks of pigs are treated for the fat they yield. Ordinary lard is a pure white fat of the consistency of butter, having a faint characteristic taste, and scarcely any odour. It melts at between 78° to 88° Fahr., has a specific gravity of 0*915, and consists of 62 per cent, of fluid fat (olein or lard oil), and 38 per cent, of the hard fats palmitin and stearin. If perfectly pure, it has no tendency to become rancid; but there is generally sufficient impurity present to develop a change in the olein, which gradually exhibits itself by a yellow colour and a rancid odour and taste. Lard is an article of considerable importance in commerce; it is calculated that the annual produce of the substance in the United States of America alone is not less than 5,000,000 cwts. Its preparation is conducted in connexion with the great pork-curing and packing establishments, mostly centred in Chicago, Cincinnati, St Louis, Milwaukee, Louisville, and Indianapolis,—Chicago alone now monopolizing about one-half of the American trade. In these establishments the fat is “rendered” in large vats heated by coils or worms of steam pipes, each charge being completely melted in from ten to twelve hours. The greaves or cracklings which remain are used for making “dog biscuits,” &c. The finest lard is prepared from the “leaf” fat of the abdominal cavity, and passes into commerce as “prime steam lard.” The intestinal fat, trimmings, and refuse yield No. 2 lard, which is mostly sent to the ...

LARDNER, Dionysius (1793-1859), a prolific scientific writer, was born at Dublin, April 3, 1793. His father was a solicitor, and intended his son to follow the same calling. After some years of uncongenial desk work, Lardner, determining on a university career, entered Trinity College, Dublin, and graduated B.A. in 1817. In 1828 he became professor of natural philosophy and astronomy at University College, London, a position which he held till 1840, when he eloped with a married lady, and had to leave the country. After a most successful lecturing tour through the principal cities of the United States, which realized 200,000 dollars, he returned to Europe in 1845. He settled at Paris, and continued to reside there till within a few months of his death, which took place at Naples, April 29, 1859....