96 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



over which they might be spread befoi-e their particular flavor disap- 

 peared. He concluded that a red-herring has the highest specific sa- 

 pidity — i. e., the greatest amount of agreeable flavor in a given weight 

 of any kind of food he had tested — and that, comparing it on the basis 

 of cost for cost, its superiority is still greater. 



He tells us that " the pleasure of eating depends very much indeed 

 upon the manner in which the food is applied to the organs of taste," 

 and that he considers " it necessary to mention, and even to illustrate 

 in the clearest manner, every circumstance which appears to have in- 

 fluence in producing these important effects." As an example of this, 

 I may quote his instructions for eating hasty -pudding : " The pudding 

 is then eaten with a spoon, each spoonful of it being dipped into the 

 sauce before it is carried to the mouth, care being had in taking it up 

 to begin on the outside,.or near the brim of the plate, and to approach 

 the center by regular advances, in order not to demolish too soon the 

 excavation which forms the reservoir for the sauce." His solid Indian- 

 corn pudding is, in like manner, " to be eaten with a knife and fork, 

 beginning at the circumference of the slice, and approaching regularly 

 toward the center, each piece of pudding being taken up with the fork, 

 and dipped into the butter, or dipped into it hi part only, before it is 

 carried to the mouth." 



As a supplement to the cheap soup receipts given in my last, I will 

 quote one which Rumford gives as the cheapest food which, in his 

 opinion, can be provided in England : Take of water eigTit gallons, 

 mix it with five pounds of barley-meal, boil it to the consistency of a 

 thick jelly. Season with salt, vinegar, pepper, sweet-herbs, and four 

 red-herrings pounded in a mortar. Instead of bread, add five pounds 

 of Indian corn made into a samp, and stir it together with a ladle. 

 Serve immediately in portions of twenty ounces. 



Samp is "said to have been invented by the savages of North 

 America, who have no corn-mills." It is Indian corn deprived of its 

 external coat, by soaking it ten or twelve hours in a lixivium of water 

 and wood-ashes.* This coat or husk, being separated from the kernel, 

 rises to the surface of the water, while the grain remains at the bot- 

 tom. This separated kernel is stewed for about two days in a kettle 

 of water placed near the fire. " When sufficiently cooked, the kernels 

 will be found to be swelled to a great size and burst open, and this 

 food, which is uncommonly sweet and nourishing, may be used in a 

 great variety of ways ; but the best way of using it is to mix it with 

 milk, and with soups and broths, as a substitute for bread." He 

 prefers it to bread, because " it requires more mastication, and conse- 

 quently tends more to prolong the pleasure of eating." 



* Such lixivium is essentially a dilute solution of carbonate of potash in very crude 

 form, not conveniently obtained by burners of pit-coal. I will try the commercial car- 

 bonate, and report results in my next, stating quantities and other particulars. I have 

 but just come upon this particular soup receipt for the first time. 



