94 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



for three hours with no visible result. According to her positive and 

 superlative experience, the mess is cooked sufficiently in one third of 

 the time, as soon as the peas are softened. She don't, and she won't, 

 and she can't, and she sha'n't understand anything about hydration. 

 " When it's done, it's done, and there's an end to it, and what more do 

 you want ? " Hence the failures of the attempts to introduce Rum- 

 ford's porridge in our English workhouses, prisons, and soup-kitchens. 

 I find, when I make it myself, that it is incomparably superior and far 

 cheaper than the " skilly " at present provided, though the sample of 

 skilly that I tasted was superior to the ordinary slop. 



The weight of each portion, as served to the beggars, etc., was 

 19"9 ounces (one Bavarian pound) ; the solid matter contained was 6 

 ounces of No. 2, or 4f ounces of No. 1, and Rumford states that this 

 " is quite sufficient to make a good meal for a strong, healthy person," 

 as " abundantly proved by long experience." He insists, again and 

 again, upon the necessity of the three hours' cooking, and I am equally 

 convinced of its necessity, though, as above explained, not on the same 

 theoretical grounds. No repetition of his experience is fair unless this 

 be attended to. 



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

 soup. In reference to this he has published a very curious essay en- 

 titled " Of the Pleasure of Eating, and of the Means that may be em- 

 ployed for increasing it," the discussion of which must be postponed 

 until my next, together with the details of the more luxurious menu 

 of the first company of the Elector's own grenadiers, who were fed 

 upon boiled beef, soup, and dumplings, at the large cost of twopence 

 per day, and other regiments variously fed at about the same cost. 



Before concluding this paper, I must add a few words in reference 

 to the amusing fiasco of Mr. Albert Dawson, described in No. 139, 

 p. 48G. I scarcely thought it necessary in writing for intelligent peo- 

 ple to remind them that the length of time which any kind of moist 

 food may be kept varies with the temperature and the place in which 

 it is kept. Most people know that a leg of mutton, which, on the aver- 

 age, should hang for about a week, may advantageously hang for a 

 month or more in frosty weather, and be spoiled if kept at mid-sum- 

 mer in an ill-ventilated place for two days. The fate of Mr. Daw- 

 son's porridge is an illustration of this simple principle. Judiciously 

 kept, it becomes slightly sour ; this sourness is due to the conversion 

 of some of the starch into sugar, and the acetous fermentation of some 

 of this sugar. The vinegar thus formed performs the function of that 

 supplied by Count Rumford to his porridge. It renders it more digesti- 

 ble, and assists in its assimilation. The reheating of the oatmeal-por- 

 ridge drives off any disagreeable excess of acid that may have been 

 formed, as acetic acid is very volatile. 



Tastes may vary as regards this constituent. For example, my old 

 friend (to whom I referred), the late William Bragg (so well known 



