SCIENCE TEACHING. 529 



their schools. In order to be consistent they should recommend 

 cannibalism, and preach that — 



"The proper nourishment of man is man." 



The people of whom I am speaking usually write to the 

 papers. One shows how the condition of the workingman may 

 be made one of affluence and comfort by living chiefly on dande- 

 lions, nettles, and sorrel (with perhaps a pinch of pepper). An- 

 other shows how the weight of a pound of steak may be doubled 

 by cutting it up fine and stewing it with sixteen ounces of water. 

 A third demonstrates how essential to the human frame is a cer- 

 tain amount of lime, and deplores the wastefulness of throwing 

 away the shells of oysters, lobsters, and eggs. Yet another, of a 

 more synthetic turn of mind, is familiar with heat-producers and 

 flesh-formers, with carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus compounds. 

 His knowledge of chemistry enables him to recommend a cheap 

 dish consisting of charcoal, saltpeter, tallow, and glue, flavored 

 with singed feathers and stirred up with a few matches. 



I need not apologize for speaking at some length on this sub- 

 ject. Food is as important to the human being as fuel is to the 

 steam engine. It was once made a subject of reproach or banter 

 against our nation that we had a .hundred religions and only one 

 sauce, while the nation of our critic had only one religion and a 

 hundred sauces. I suppose if this epigram were fairly analyzed 

 it might be found to be based upon the fact that our meats had a 

 hundred different flavors, and our hundred religions only one; 

 while the one religion of our critic's countrymen had a hundred 

 different flavors and their hundred meats a single one. For I 

 need not remind you that when and where the cooking has 

 become most elaborate the feeding is at its worst ; for, instead of 

 depending upon the exquisite flavors of the simply cooked con- 

 stituents of a meal, a sort of " Ur-wurst," or universal sausage, 

 containing a thousand flavors, and therefore none, is the result. 

 As good wine needs no bush, so good food needs little cookery 

 and less sauce. 



In the next place should be considered materials used in clean- 

 ing, such as soap, soda, hearthstone, sponge, vitriol, emery. And 

 finally the materials used in writing and in books — the manufac- 

 ture of paper and of pens, of inks, of pencils, of type, and the rest. 



I can not but think that some such system as I have laid 

 before you will be — will have to be — introduced into elementary 

 education, into the education of our school boards. Not only 

 that the lads on leaving school may be more useful citizens, but 

 that they may have that knowledge which alone gives happiness, 

 and which never turns to bitterness, or proves to be vain, the 

 knowledge of the ways and the beauties of almighty Nature. 



VOL. 3XII. 35 



