1 Define the concept of canned food. canned food

Most of us are constantly eating. canned food, some more, some less. And no one thinks about how people used to do without similar products how they stocked up for the winter. What is conservation, by what processes winter preparations do not spoil? In this article, we will try to understand all this. And let's start from the information about when canning was invented, how a person learned to store meat, vegetables, fruits, drinks for a long time.

What is canning?

Man has long found ways to store products, and over time, progress has solved this problem completely and irrevocably. Now people have a slightly different task - to preserve products in such a way that they are as close as possible to their natural state. So, every special event that contributes to this is called canning.

Thanks to this invention natural properties most products can be saved. In fact, even the word "conservation" - from the Latin word and it translates as "preservation." This process has scientific justification. After all, why was canning invented? To defeat visible organisms that break down foods - fungus, mold, and invisible - yeast fungi and bacteria. The French scientist, Louis Pasteur, laid the foundation for their destruction. That is why sterilization elevated temperature called pasteurization.

The first canning experiments, similar to the current ones

But, if you thought that you got the answer to the question of when canning was invented, then you are greatly mistaken. Pasteur - not who practically used the method of preservation. Nicholas Appert was such a man. He conducted experiments on the preservation of products by boiling cans, at that time - tin cans. What they were going to save was put in a jar and heated over steam or in hot water. Air escaped through a small hole and was immediately soldered.

Thanks to boiling with salts, the temperature rose to 135 degrees. Over time, people found out all the reasons for changes in products, the importance of metabolism and learned to apply more rational canning, which allows you to save long time perishable fruits and vegetables.

Canning in antiquity

After all, when was canning invented? Birthday can be considered the date of opening of the first cannery - it happened in England on September 3, 1812. The technology appeared in France in 1809. But interestingly, the secrets of this process have been known for several thousand years. During excavations in Egypt, when they found the very first canned food in the world. These were ducks that were roasted and embalmed in an earthenware bowl, consisting of two halves glued together, the bay olive oil. Three thousand years have passed, but they have not disappeared, they have remained conditionally suitable for consumption.

People themselves did not take risks, but the dogs ate them with pleasure. In the last century, in the USA, even more ancient (created by nature this time) "canned food" were found. At a depth of one hundred meters, laying a tunnel, people passed a layer of transparent And in it they saw several frozen fish! They were soft and most likely edible, but on fresh air quickly petrified. Their age is more than ten thousand years. The Indians from North America. Back in the 17th century, they ground meat into powder, mixed it with different spices and stored without problems for six months in leather bags. At the same time, people already mastered the technologies of marinating, smoking and drying.

Tin cans as an impetus for the development of canning

To find the answer to the question of when canning was invented, you need to understand what drove the progress in its development. One such factor was the invention by Peter Durand, an English mechanic, of the tin can. Thanks to its compactness and light weight, transportation became possible, and canned food began to be imported further - to the British colonies. Although, for a long time, it was possible to open such banks only with the help of a chisel and a hammer. Then the cover began to be soldered more carefully, and the tin was made thinner.

Finally, in 1860, they invented and in the middle of the twentieth century - an engineer from the USA, Ermal Freyz, came up with cans with a key. The impetus for this was the situation when he and his friends went to the forest for a picnic and found that special knife for no one took. Progress does not stand still, now with a built-in knife you can already cut the contents of the container.

Canning in Russia

And when was canning invented in Russia? More precisely, when did it reach our lands? In 1763, organizing an expedition to the polar regions, the scientist Mikhail Lomonosov ordered his assistants to dried soup with spices. I also ordered without spices, one and a half pounds of one and the other.

The first factory producing canned food was launched in our country 58 years later than in Europe (1870). For the needs of the army in St. Petersburg, they produced jars of porridge, pea soup, stew, meat with peas, and fried beef. canned fish added to the range for the general public.

With time Soviet Union became a leader in the production of canned food. In addition, the situation was not only in the huge number of products (only one Moscow plant produced 100 million cans a year), but in the widest assortment. Imagine - about eight hundred items of products from fruit, vegetable, fish and juices. And, of course, we all know that canning for the winter, at all levels, was a strong point in our country in those days.

Many of you probably still remember those times when there were a lot of tin cans with stuffing. Do you remember which one has the most? That's right - sprats in tomatoes. Her canning recipes were completely unique. Like the price - 33-35 kopecks per jar, which only contributed to its popularity.

Where did she come from? Tons of sprat were caught in the sea, salted on board the trawler and quickly sent to the factory. There they were sprinkled with flour, dipped in vegetable oil, heated to a boil. The workers of the fish factory then rammed the sprat into tin cans with their hands and poured a small layer of tomato sauce on it.

Modern canning recipes

What does conservation mean? At the present time, it is quite diverse. Canning recipes include: salting, pickling, pickling, boiling with granulated sugar. If you will harvest homemade fruits, vegetables and berries with my own hands, then be sure that it will turn out to be healthier, more aromatic, and tastier than any factory analogues.

If only because you will choose the source material yourself, which means it will be of better quality. And for sure you will not use various aggressive preservatives that are not very healthy. And you will store as expected: at a low temperature, in a dark room, without getting sun rays. So if you are not too lazy and work hard in the summer and autumn, provide the whole family with a full-fledged vitamin diet for the winter!

Peas have been known in culture since the 4th century. BC e.

The first industrially prepared canned food appeared almost 200 years ago, but keeping food for long term people have been doing it for a long time.

Drying is one of the oldest methods of making canned food. The Indians who inhabited America had a food called pemmican, and it was already a kind of concentrate. Meat or fish was dried in the sun, sometimes rubbed between stones and dried the resulting powder, mixing it with spices. This mixture was pressed and stored in leather bags for more than six months. And in Siberia for a long time prepared from dried fish flour - "porsu". Close to this method is drying.

Another the old fashioned way canning - smoking is a prolonged exposure to smoke on products. Distillation products have preservative properties, which are enhanced by pre-salting and moisture removal. Also, the products were cooled, salted, fermented and marinated.

The first canned food produced by man was found during excavations of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen in Egypt. Products were stored in the bowels of the earth for about 3 thousand years. They were ducks roasted and embalmed with olive oil in an earthenware bowl, the oval halves of which were held together by resinous putty. Canned food of this quality has withstood the test for thousands of years and has retained relative suitability for food (there is evidence that ducks were edible for animals). They would be the envy of many of today's canned food.

The Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder was one of the earliest "canners". In his book "On agriculture he wrote: "If you want to have all year round grape juice, then pour it into the amphora, grind the cork and lower the amphora into the pool. Take it out after 30 days. The juice will stand for a whole year ... "

M.V. Lomonosov in 1763, while organizing an expedition to explore the polar regions and the Northern Sea Route, ordered: “Making dried soup with and without spices, one and a half pounds of each variety.” That is, two centuries ago, the soup concentrate traveled across Russia by land and the Arctic Ocean to Kamchatka.

The method of canning with the help of sterilization arose at the turn of the 18th - (there is evidence that ducks were edible for animals) 19th centuries. In 1795, a competition was announced for The best way long-term storage products. The winner of this competition was the Parisian chef and confectioner Nicolas Francois Appert. In 1809, he was awarded a state prize and awarded the honorary title "Benefactor of Mankind". The Society for the Encouragement of National Industry awarded Apper with a gold medal. He made the world's first canned food.

And it turned out this way. Scientific disputes between two scientists, the Irish Needham and the Italian Spallanzani (the first argued that microbes arise from inanimate matter, and the second argued that each microbe has its own progenitor) led the French chef to the idea that foods hermetically sealed and subjected to heat treatment can keep for a long time. He took several glass and metal jars, filled them with jam, broth, fried meat, tightly soldered and then boiled in water for a long time. They opened the jars only after eight months and made sure that the products were completely safe. His assumption turned out to be correct, and the products prepared by him in this way, after long-term storage, were recognized as high quality. The only drawback of this method is that in those days such processing was quite expensive, the containers weighed much more than the contents, and it was not easy to transport them.

Later, Appert opened a store in one of the streets of Paris called "Miscellaneous Foods in Bottles and Boxes", where he sold canned food in sealed and hermetically sealed containers. closed bottles. The store operated a small factory producing canned food.

The results of this discovery - the first canned food made by sterilization - Apper outlined in his book, published in 1810: "The Art of Preserving Animal and Vegetable Substance for Several Years".

Only almost 60 years later, on September 3, 1857, in the French city of Lille, in the society of natural scientists at that time, the little-known scientist Louis Pasteur made a report that there are microbes in nature that cause the process of decay. He said, “I have done many experiments. And now I am firmly convinced that beer, wine and milk spoil microbes that are invisible to the eye ... They cause a disastrous process that leads to spoilage of products ... ”Although two hundred years before Pasteur, the Dutchman Anthony Leeuwenhoek described microbes, but then there was no question that they can be food pests.

And yet, at first, canned food was not very popular in France. In England, there were much more fans of canned food. It was here that mechanic Peter Durand invented food tin cans. Naturally, they were much different from modern ones - they were made by hand and had an uncomfortable lid. The British acquired a patent and began to produce canned food according to the Upper method, and since 1826 the British army received canned meat as allowances. True, in order to open such a jar, the soldiers had to use not a knife, but a hammer and a chisel.

In the Russian Archive magazine for 1821 there is an entry: “Now we have reached such a degree of perfection that ready meals from Roberts in Paris they are sent to India in some kind of tin dishes of a new invention, where they are saved from spoilage. And we all remember the words of Gogol: “... soup in a saucepan came from Paris right on the ship; open the lid - steam, which the like cannot be found in nature. Despite such awareness of the Russians, the first cannery appeared in Russia in 1870. The main customer was the army. Five types of canned food were produced in St. Petersburg: fried beef (or lamb), stew, porridge, meat with peas and pea soup.

Enhanced view cans we owe to the Americans. Beginning in 1819, canned lobster and tuna were produced in the United States, and fruits were also canned. Things were going so well that it became extremely difficult to produce canned food. profitable business- factories for the production of cans appeared, new items were literally swept off the shelves. And in 1860, the can opener was invented in America.

In the modern canning industry, the method of preparing canned food by sterilizing the product and hermetically sealing it in a glass or metal container has received mass application. With this method, color, aroma, taste, nutritional value are almost completely preserved. original product and its shelf life is very long.

P.S. And one more thing: in 1966 in the USSR. An elderly citizen entered the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of the Canning Industry and put a can of canned food on the table with the inscription “Peter and Paul Cannery. Stewed meat. 1916". Andrei Vasilyevich Muratov, the owner of this can, received it at the front during the First World War. The analysis and subsequent tasting showed that the "Meat Stew" was perfectly preserved, despite the fact that it had lain in the jar for 50 years!!!

The current version of the page has not yet been reviewed by experienced contributors and may differ significantly from the one reviewed on January 3, 2017; checks are required.

Usually, in the applied sense, canned food is called food products packaged in airtight containers (mainly cans or glass) and subjected to sterilization (eg by heat treatment).

The inventor of this method of preservation is considered french chef Nicolas Appert (1749-1841). For the first time, canned food began to be made during the Napoleonic Wars. During the first Russian Antarctic expedition 1819-1821. travelers ate "boiled beef in cans, harvested in England."

So-called preserves should be distinguished from canned food, which are food products in sealed containers that have not been sterilized or pasteurized. Preserves include salted and pickled fish products, unpasteurized fruit jams, preserves, marmalade, sweetened condensed milk and other products.

Tin cans are prefabricated (shell, bottom and lid) and solid, consisting of a lid and the can itself with a rounded bottom. This rounding allows you to put the cans in a stack and does not allow them to move. The outer rows rest on the container wall along the entire length. Prefabricated cans do not adhere to each other and can move horizontally and create a concentrated load on the wall, which requires stronger packaging and stricter technological discipline during transshipment operations. To reduce this effect, cardboard is laid between the rows of cans.

You can’t eat canned food from swollen (bomb) cans, since there is a high probability of getting sick (poisoning) with botulism, a deadly disease. Crumpled cans are also best avoided, because. the consequences of deformation, possibly safe, but certainly different from standard conditions. Scratches on the outer surfaces do not affect the contents or shelf life.

Even in ancient times, mankind faced the question: what to do so that food does not spoil for as long as possible? At first, our ancestors tried to save food for themselves and for their tribe. Then, as time passed, they began to make stocks for the equipment of armies or expeditions.

Drying is the oldest way to preserve food. The North American Indians, for example, had a dish called pemmican. It was made from sun-dried meat, ground between stones, with the addition of various seasonings. This mixture was pressed and stored in leather bags.

Another way is cooling. The ruins of an ancient temple built in the second millennium BC have been found on the island of Crete. In the deep and always cold underground galleries of the palace, large clay jugs were found in which food was stored.

Later, people noticed that foods are better preserved if they are well salted or smoked. Then they invented pickling and pickling. In those places where the climate allowed, food was frozen.

Drying, smoking, fermentation, pickling, salting products were used to protect against spoilage and transportation over long distances. But the search for ways to preserve products continued. It was of great importance for travelers, merchants, military.

IN early XIX V. an invention was made that radically changed the idea of ​​​​humanity about the shelf life of products, greatly simplifying life professional chefs and ordinary housewives around the world. It's about about the invention of canned food.

Even at the end of the XVIII century. in revolutionary France, a competition was announced for the best way to store food. During the campaigns, Napoleon Bonaparte faced the problem of providing the army with provisions. It was far from always possible to completely resolve this issue at the expense of the population of the conquered regions, and it did not make sense to carry supplies with you: they would have deteriorated along the way.

The famous Parisian culinary specialist Nicolas Francois Appert solved this problem. Once he presented to the emperor's court a fried leg of lamb, porridge with stewed pork and compote of peaches, sealed in airtight jars about three months ago.

Dishes were no different excellent taste, but were quite high quality and edible.

Apper called his invention canned food - from the Latin conservo - to preserve. It is said that Apper was inspired by an interesting observation: boiled, tightly closed juice bottles do not spoil for a long time. According to other sources, he took advantage of the experiences of a certain Italian.

Bonaparte ordered to allocate substantial funds to Apper to continue the experiments.

The invention of canned food saved the Napoleonic army in numerous campaigns. Thanks to the Napoleonic Wars, Nicolas Appert's canned food became famous throughout Europe. Soon the author of the invention received the title of "Benefactor of Humanity" from the French government, along with a solid cash prize and a beautiful commemorative medal.

Later, the enterprising Frenchman opened a store called “Miscellaneous Foods in Bottles and Boxes” on one of the streets of Paris, where products were sold in sealed and hermetically sealed bottles. The store operated a small factory for the production of canned food.

Subsequently, Apper sold his business in Paris and founded the canning empire Apper and Sons. The business of his life expanded and developed, the people more and more willingly bought meat, fish and canned fruits and vegetables manufactured by his network of factories throughout Europe.

In addition to his business activities, Apper wrote the book The Art of Preserving Plant and Animal Substances for a Long Period.

At the London Exhibition in 1857, canned food made by Upper in 1812 for Napoleon was tested and found to be quite edible.

Canning, which at first did not receive recognition in France, was appreciated in England. English mechanic Peter Duran was the first to make tin cans from food tin. At first they were very clumsy handmade tins with an awkward lid. The British took a patent for the production of canned food according to the Upper method and from 1826 supplied their army canned meat. True, to open such cans, the soldiers needed a hammer and a chisel.

The baton of canned food production was picked up by the Americans. They improved tin cans, and from 1819 began to produce canned food from tuna, lobster and oysters. Later, fruits were also preserved. The business of the American manufacturers went excellently: buyers accepted the novelty with pleasure. There were factories for the production of cans. Almost 40 years after the start of canning in the United States, in 1860, such an indispensable thing in the household as a can opener was invented there.

In Russia, the first cannery appeared in 1870. The main customer was the army. Petersburg produced five types of canned food: roast beef(or lamb), stew, porridge, meat with peas and pea soup.

In addition to the above methods, in the XIX century. canning began to be carried out also with the help of sugar. The high concentration of sugar in the solution (at least 60-65%) due to the high osmotic pressure makes it impossible to be absorbed by microbes nutrients and exposes microbial cells to severe dehydration. This method is used for preserving fruits (making jam, jam, jam, jelly).

The scientific justification for the preservation processes according to the Upper method was received in 1857. A little-known French scientist at that time, Louis Pasteur, spoke at a conference of the Society of Naturalists with a report that in nature there are creatures invisible to the eye - microbes that cause the process of decay, which leads to spoilage products.

The vital activity of microorganisms is manifested only in the presence of a certain temperature regime, sufficient moisture, in the absence of antibiotic substances in the product, the presence or absence of oxygen. If these conditions are violated, microorganisms die. This provision is the basic principle on which the methods of preservation are based - pasteurization and sterilization.

Currently releasing the following types canned food:

– meat: natural ( beef stew, pork, lamb, boiled poultry); culinary processed poultry products and meat; pate, goulash, beef stroganoff; canned sausages, sausage minced meat, sausages; offal (kidneys, brains, scar);

- meat and vegetable: meat with peas, beans, lentils, cereals and pasta;

– canned milk: condensed milk products (milk, cream, skim milk), sterilized sweetened condensed milk;

– canned fish: natural (salmon, sturgeon, seafood - crabs, shrimps, mussels, squids in own juice), from fish fried in tomato sauce or butter, from smoked fish. All types of canned fish are subjected to sterilization. In addition to canned fish, preserves are made from fish - canned fish that are not subjected to sterilization from fish spicy salting in different sharp fills;

- canned vegetables: natural (carrots, beets, green peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.), juices - carrot, tomato, beetroot, tomato products (paste, puree, sauces), snack bars (stuffed, chopped vegetables, cabbage rolls, vegetable caviar) , ready meals(borscht, soups, hodgepodges, stews), marinated and pickled vegetables, canned mushrooms;

- canned fruit: natural, compotes from fresh fruit with sugar, sterilized purees, juices, jams, jams, jellies, syrups.

Canned food is packaged and hermetically packed in metal (tin, aluminum), glass and polymer containers.

Thanks to various types canning has become possible storage products for a long time, transporting them over long distances to places where they are in demand.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

); sauerkraut ; dried mushrooms, vegetables, fruits, etc.; smoked, dried meat and fish; jams and other candied products, etc. (see Canning).

Usually, in the applied sense, canned food products are packaged in sealed containers (mainly tin cans or glass) and subjected to sterilization (for example, by heat treatment).

Story

The French cook Nicolas Appert (1749-1841) is considered to be the inventor of this canning method. For the first time, canned food began to be made during the Napoleonic Wars.

The canning industry of the USSR produced about 600 types of various canned food.

│ ├ Meat │ ├ natural │ │ ├ beef, pork, stewed lamb │ │ └ chickens, ducks, boiled geese - in their own juice │ ├ from culinary processed poultry products and meat, including ready-made meat dishes│ │ ├chicken stew in jelly │ │ ├chakhokhbili │ │ ├chicken in white sauce │ │ └other │ ├ in the form of pates │ │ ├ meat │ │ ├ ham │ │ └ liver │ ├ goulash, beef stroganoff │ ├ canned sausages, sausages │ ├ sausage mince │ │ ├ tongue │ │ ├ ham │ │ └ minced meat │ └ offal │ ├ kidneys, │ ├ brains, │ └ tripe │ ├ Meat and vegetables (meat with) │ ├ peas, │ ├ beans, │ ├ lentils, │ └ cereals and pasta │ ├ Dairy │ ├ condensed dairy products with sugar │ │ ├milk, │ │ ├ cream, │ │ └ skimmed milk │ └ sterilized condensed milk without sugar │ ├ Fish │ ├ canned food (sterilized) │ │ ├ natural - in own juice │ │ │ ├ salmon, │ │ │ ├sturgeon │ │ │ └from frozen products│ │ │ ├ crabs , │ │ │ ├ shrimp , │ │ │ ├ trepangs , │ │ │ ├ squids lanched fish in tomato sauce or oil; │ │ └from smoked fish │ └preserves (non-sterilizable) │ ├sprat, │ ├herring, │ └spicy salted herring in various marinade and other spicy filling │ ├Vegetables │ ├natural │ │ ├ carrots │ │ ├ beets │ │ ├ colored cabbage │ │ ├ asparagus │ │ ├ green peas , │ │ ├ whole canned tomatoes , │ │ ├ cucumbers , │ │ ├ sweet corn , │ │ ├ green beans , │ │ ├sorrel │ │ └other juices │ ├ canned snacks │ │ ├ fried in vegetable oil│ │ │ ├ eggplants, │ │ │ ├ zucchini, │ │ │ ├ carrots, │ │ │ └ onions │ │ ├ stuffed vegetables, │ │ ├ cabbage rolls , │ │ ├ chopped vegetables. │ └other │ ├ pickled and pickled vegetables │ ├ homogenized canned food for baby food│ ├dietary │ └other │ ├canned mushrooms, │ ├sauces, │ └dressings │ └fruit ├natural ├compotes ├sterilized purees, ├juices │ ├clear or clarified, │ └juices with finely ground pulp ├jam, ├jams, ├ jelly, ├syrups └frozen fruits, berries, vegetables

Can labeling

Storage of canned food and their danger

The shelf life of canned food is not the period for which the contents of the can will deteriorate (sterilized food in an airtight jar is stored almost forever), but the period for which the tin can corrodes to a hole (through) if the tin coating (tinning) is scratched to iron. At the same time, it is believed that the tin coating will be scratched as soon as the jar of canned food is made, and after the loss of tightness, the food in the jar will deteriorate immediately.

Tin coating protects iron well from corrosion, but only as long as the iron part is tin coated. all, being fully it is isolated from a chemically aggressive environment (eg from moist air). But at the same time, tin for iron is a cathodic coating, so if the tin coating of tin plate is scratched down to iron, then in an aggressive environment (for example, in humid air), contact of tin with iron will occur, which will act as a galvanic cell, and tin will accelerate iron corrosion.

So, according to the rules, tin cans should be stored, if possible, insulated from each other with cardboard, and boxes or boxes with cans should be loaded carefully - so that the cans do not collide and rub against each other, so that they do not scratch, which is far from always respected by movers.

You can’t eat canned food from swollen cans, since there is a high probability of getting sick (poisoning) with botulism, a deadly disease.

Canned food in culture and art

• IN works of art a humorous plot is repeatedly encountered when people, being far from civilization, have canned food (in cans) but do not have a can opener and therefore cannot open cans (for details, see Tin can#Tin cans in popular culture).
• Another popular plot with canned food is that the heroes have spoiled canned food in swollen jars, in the absence of other food. Examples:
  • Alexander Belyaev, science fiction novel Leap into Nothing.

In such cases, on the basis of hunger (see also mass famine) or under the threat of starvation, the heroes may be tempted to eat spoiled canned food, which is fraught with death. For example:

• • Maksud Ibragimbekov, story "For all good - death".

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An excerpt characterizing Canned Food

“I'm from the Archduchess. I didn't hear anything there.
“And didn’t you see that they were stacked everywhere?”
- I didn’t see ... But what’s the matter? Prince Andrew asked impatiently.
- What's the matter? The fact is that the French have crossed the bridge that is defended by Auesperg, and the bridge has not been blown up, so Murat is now running along the road to Brunn, and today they will be here tomorrow.
- Like here? Why didn't they blow up the bridge when it was mined?
- And I'm asking you. Nobody, not even Bonaparte himself, knows this.
Bolkonsky shrugged.
“But if the bridge is crossed, then the army is dead: it will be cut off,” he said.
"That's the point," answered Bilibin. - Listen. The French are entering Vienna, as I told you. Everything is very good. The next day, that is, yesterday, gentlemen marshals: Murat Lannes and Belliard, sit on horseback and set off for the bridge. (Note that all three are Gascons.) Gentlemen, one says, you know that the Taborsky bridge is mined and contramined, and that in front of him is a formidable tete de pont and fifteen thousand troops who were ordered to blow up the bridge and not let us in. But our sovereign Emperor Napoleon will be pleased if we take this bridge. Let's go three of us and take this bridge. - Let's go, others say; and they set off and take the bridge, cross it, and now, with the whole army on this side of the Danube, they are heading for us, for you, and for your messages.
“It’s enough to joke,” Prince Andrei said sadly and seriously.
This news was sad and at the same time pleasant to Prince Andrei.
As soon as he learned that the Russian army was in such a hopeless situation, it occurred to him that it was precisely for him that he was destined to lead the Russian army out of this situation, that here it was, that Toulon, which would lead him out of the ranks of unknown officers and open the first path for him. to glory! Listening to Bilibin, he was already thinking how, having arrived at the army, he would present an opinion at the military council that alone would save the army, and how he alone would be entrusted with the execution of this plan.
“Stop joking,” he said.
“I’m not kidding,” Bilibin continued, “there is nothing fairer and sadder. These gentlemen come to the bridge alone and raise their white handkerchiefs; they assure us that there is a truce, and that they, the marshals, are going to negotiate with Prince Auersperg. The duty officer lets them into the tete de pont. [bridge fortification.] They tell him a thousand Gascon nonsense: they say that the war is over, that the Emperor Franz has appointed a meeting with Bonaparte, that they want to see Prince Auersperg, and a thousand Gasconades, and so on. The officer sends for Auersperg; these gentlemen embrace the officers, joke, sit on the guns, and meanwhile the French battalion enters the bridge unnoticed, dumps bags of combustible substances into the water and approaches the tete de pont. Finally, the Lieutenant General himself, our dear Prince Auersperg von Mautern, appears. "Dear enemy! The color of the Austrian army, the hero of the Turkish wars! The enmity is over, we can give each other a hand ... Emperor Napoleon burns with the desire to know Prince Auersperg. In a word, these gentlemen, not for nothing, the Gascons, so bombard Auersperg with beautiful words, he is so seduced by his so quickly established intimacy with the French marshals, so blinded by the sight of Murat's mantle and ostrich feathers, qu "il n" y voit que du feu, et oubl celui qu "il devait faire faire sur l" ennemi. [That he sees only their fire and forgets about his own, about the one that he was obliged to open against the enemy.] (Despite the liveliness of his speech, Bilibin did not forget to stop after this mot to give him time to evaluate it.) The French battalion runs into tete de pont, the cannons are hammered in, and the bridge is taken. No, but the best thing,” he continued, calming down in his excitement at the charm of his own story, “is that the sergeant assigned to that cannon, at the signal of which it was supposed to light the mines and blow up the bridge, this sergeant, seeing that the French troops they were running to the bridge, they were about to shoot, but Lann took his hand away. The sergeant, who apparently was smarter than his general, approaches Auersperg and says: “Prince, you are being deceived, here are the French!” Murat sees that the case is lost if the sergeant is allowed to speak. He turns to Auersperg with surprise (a real Gascon): “I don’t recognize the Austrian discipline so praised in the world,” he says, “and you allow the lowest rank to speak to you like that!” C "est genial. Le prince d" Auersperg se pique d "honneur et fait mettre le sergent aux arrets. Non, mais avouez que c" est charmant toute cette histoire du pont de Thabor. Ce n "est ni betise, ni lachete ... [This is brilliant. Prince Auersperg is offended and orders the arrest of the sergeant. No, admit it, it's lovely, this whole story with the bridge. It’s not that stupid, it’s not that mean…]
- With "est trahison peut etre, [Perhaps treason] - said Prince Andrei, vividly imagining gray overcoats, wounds, gunpowder smoke, the sounds of firing and the glory that awaits him.
– Nonplus. Cela met la cour dans de trop mauvais draps,” continued Bilibin. - Ce n "est ni trahison, ni lachete, ni betise; c" est comme a Ulm ... - He seemed to be thinking, looking for an expression: - c "est ... c" est du Mack. Nous sommes mackes, [Also no. This puts the court in the most ridiculous position; it is neither treason, nor meanness, nor stupidity; it's like at Ulm, it's... it's Makovshchina. We got dunked. ] he concluded, feeling that he had said un mot, and fresh mot, such a mot that would be repeated.
The folds on his forehead that had been gathered up to that time quickly unfolded in a sign of pleasure, and he, smiling slightly, began to examine his nails.
- Where are you going? - he said suddenly, turning to Prince Andrei, who got up and went to his room.
- I'm going.
- Where?
- To Army.
“Did you want to stay two more days?”
- And now I'm going now.
And Prince Andrei, having made an order to leave, went to his room.
“You know what, my dear,” Bilibin said, going into his room. “I thought about you. Why are you going?
And to prove the irrefutability of this argument, the folds all fled from the face.
Prince Andrei looked inquiringly at his interlocutor and did not answer.
- Why are you going? I know you think it's your duty to jump into the army now that the army is in danger. I understand this, mon cher, c "est de l" heroisme. [my dear, this is heroism.]
“Not at all,” said Prince Andrei.
- But you are un philoSophiee, [philosopher,] be it completely, look at things from the other side, and you will see that your duty, on the contrary, is to take care of yourself. Leave it to others who are no longer good for anything ... You were not ordered to come back, and from here you were not released; therefore, you can stay and go with us wherever our unfortunate fate leads us. They say they are going to Olmutz. And Olmutz is a very nice city. And you and I will calmly ride together in my stroller.
“Stop joking, Bilibin,” said Bolkonsky.
“I tell you sincerely and in a friendly way. Judge. Where and for what will you go now that you can stay here? One of two things awaits you (he collected the skin over his left temple): either you don’t reach the army and peace will be concluded, or defeat and shame with the entire Kutuzov army.
And Bilibin loosened his skin, feeling that his dilemma was irrefutable.
“I can’t judge this,” Prince Andrei said coldly, but thought: “I’m going to save the army.”
- Mon cher, vous etes un heros, [My dear, you are a hero,] - said Bilibin.

That same night, bowing to the Minister of War, Bolkonsky went to the army, not knowing where he would find her, and fearing to be intercepted by the French on the way to Krems.
In Brunn, the entire court population packed up, and heavy loads were already sent to Olmutz. Near Etzelsdorf, Prince Andrei rode onto the road along which the Russian army was moving with the greatest haste and in the greatest disorder. The road was so crowded with wagons that it was impossible to ride in a carriage. Taking a horse and a Cossack from the Cossack chief, Prince Andrey, hungry and tired, overtaking the carts, went to look for the commander-in-chief and his wagon. The most ominous rumors about the state of the army reached him along the way, and the sight of the army running in disorder confirmed these rumors.
"Cette armee russe que l" or de l "Angleterre a transportee, des extremites de l" univers, nous allons lui faire eprouver le meme sort (le sort de l "armee d" Ulm)", ["This Russian army, which English gold has been brought here from the end of the world, will experience the same fate (the fate of the Ulm army). ”] He recalled the words of Bonaparte’s order to his army before the start of the campaign, and these words equally aroused in him surprise at the hero of genius, a feeling of offended pride and the hope of glory. "And if there is nothing left but to die? he thought. Well, if necessary! I will do it no worse than others."