THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 95 



in Birmingham, Sheffield, and South America), preferred his porridge 

 when thus soured ; other members of his family say that it lost the 

 original aroma of the oatmeal. Be that as it may, I have no doubt 

 that the ensilaged porridge, ounce for ounce, supplied more nutriment 

 and demanded less work from the digestive organs than the freshly- 

 made porridge. Probably this advantage may be obtainable more 

 agreeably by Rumf ord's three hours' boiling, and his willful addition of 

 the vinegar. 



XXXIX. — COUNT RUMFOEd's DIETETICS. 



In the formula for Rumford's soup given in ray last, it is stateu 

 that the bread should not be cooked, but added just before serving 

 the soup. Like everything else in his practical programmes, this was 

 prescribed with a philosophical reason. His reasoning may have been 

 fanciful sometimes, but he never acted stupidly, as the vulgar majority 

 of mankind usually do, when they blindly follow an established custom 

 without knowing any reason for so doing, or even attempting to dis- 

 cover a reason. 



In his essay on " The Pleasure of Eating, and of the Means that 

 maybe employed for increasing it," he says : "The pleasure enjoyed in 

 eating depends, first, on the agreeableness of the taste of the food ; and, 

 secondly, upon its power to affect the palate. Now, there are many 

 substances extremely cheap, by which very agreeable tastes may be 

 given to food, particularly when the basis or nutritive substance of 

 the food is tasteless ; and the effect of any kind of palatable solid 

 food (of meat, for instance), upon the organs of taste, may be in- 

 creased almost indefinitely, by reducing the size of the particles of 

 such food, and causing it to act upon the palate by a larger surface. 

 And if means be used to prevent its being swallowed too soon, which 

 may easily be done by mixing it with some hard and tasteless substance, 

 such as crumbs of bread rendered hard by toasting, or anything else 

 of that kind, by which a long mastication is rendered necessary, the 

 enjoyment of eating may be greatly increased and prolonged." He 

 adds that "the idea of occupying a person a great while, and afford- 

 ing him much pleasure at the same time, in eating a small quantity of 

 food, may perhaps appear ridiculous to some ; but those who con- 

 sider the matter attentively will perceive that it is very important. 

 It is, perhaps, as much so as anything that can employ the attention 

 of the philosopher." 



Further on he adds, "If a glutton can be made to gormandize 

 two hours upon two ounces of meat, it is certainly much better for 

 him than to give himself an indigestion by eating two pounds in the 

 same time." 



This is amusing as well as instructive, so also are his researches 

 into what I may venture to describe as the specific sapidity of different 

 kinds of food, which he determined by diluting or intermixing them 

 with insipid materials, and thereby ascertaining the amount of surface 



