THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY, x 



NOVEMBER, 1889. 



|u. 



THE ART OF COOKING.* 



By EDWAED ATKINSON, LL.D. 



THE cost of materials which are used for food comes to one 

 half or more of the average income of at least ninety per 

 cent of the people of this country ; yet our product of food mate- 

 rial is more abundant in ratio to population than that of any other 

 country which holds a prominent position in the civilized world. 

 This food consists in greatest measure of grain, meat, dairy prod- 

 ucts, and roots or tubers ; in small part of fish, green vegetables, 

 and fruit. The greater part of this food must be converted into 

 a digestible and appetizing form by the application of heat to it 

 at the right temperature, the degree varying with different kinds 

 of food ; this heat must be applied for a suitable time, also varying 

 with the kind of material which is to be converted into a nutri- 

 tious form by its action. Yet there are no popular treatises or 

 definite instructions on the scientific application of heat to food. 



Good health depends in greater measure upon adequate nutri- 

 tion and upon the conversion of food material into a digestible 

 form than upon any other factor in life. A well-nourished man 

 can bear adverse conditions of life in the dwelling-house, the 

 factory, the mine, and the furnace, to which the ill-nourished man 

 will succumb in a very short time. On the other hand, the ca- 

 pacity of the man to perform his work is as fully dependent 

 upon the quality and adequacy of his food as the capacity of the 

 horse, ox, or mule. The force of the man depends on his food as 

 much as the force of the engine upon the fuel used under the 



* This essay has been prepared for the American Public Health Association : delivered 

 at their meeting in Brooklyn, October 23, 1889. With their consent it is published in this 

 number of " The Popular Science Monthly." 

 vol. xxxvi. 1 



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