5 86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



were due to the entrance of germs into the wound, and that this 

 dangerous complication could be prevented. By excluding the para- 

 sites from the wound, the surgeon spares his patient the unnecessary 

 and risky struggle, giving the wound the chance to heal in the most 

 perfect manner. Only he who has compared the uncertainty of the 

 surgery prior to the antiseptic period, and the misery it was incom- 

 petent to prevent, with the ideal results of the modern surgeon, can 

 appreciate what the world owes to Mr. Lister. The amount of suffer- 

 ing avoided and the number of lives annually saved by antiseptic 

 surgery constitute the first practical gain derived from the applica- 

 tion of the germ-theory in medicine. 







THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 



By "W. MATTIEU WILLIAMS. 



AS stated in my last, the subject of roasting occupied a large 

 amount of Count Rumford's attention, especially while he was 

 in England residing in Brompton Road, and founding the Royal Insti- 

 tution. His efforts were directed not merely to cooking the meat 

 effectively, but to doing so economically. Like all others who have 

 contemplated thoughtfully the habits of Englishmen, he was shocked 

 at the barbaric waste of fuel that everywhere prevailed in this country, 

 even to a greater extent then than now. 



The first fact that necessarily presented itself to his mind was the 

 great amount of heat that is wasted, when an ordinary joint of meat 

 is suspended in front of an ordinary coal-fire to intercept and utilize 

 only a small fraction of its total radiation. 



As far as I am aware, there is no other country in Europe where 

 such a process is indigenous. I say "indigenous " because there cer- 

 tainly are hotels where this or any other English extravagance is per- 

 petrated to please Englishmen who choose to pay for it. What is 

 usually called roast meat in countries not inhabited by English-speak- 

 ing people is what we should call " baked meat," the very name of 

 which sets all the gastronomic bristles of an orthodox Englishman in 

 a position of perpendicularity. 



I have a theory of my own respecting the origin of this prejudice. 

 Within the recollection of many still living, the great middle class of 

 Englishmen lived in town ; their sitting-rooms were back parlors 

 behind their shops, or factories, or warehouses, their drawing-rooms 

 were on the first-floor, and kitchens in the basement. 



They kept one general servant of the " Marchioness " type. The 

 corresponding class now live in suburban villas, keep cook, house- 



