cooK 



COOK KUY 



451 



and <li-cii--ing nodal and political questions, 



IM-IMUM- MTV ]. pillar; and in INHO lie 



an extended lecturing tour around the world. 



Besides hi-, Icctlirr-, hr li;i> plllili>hed a IillliilMT 



works on such subjects as BMoffy ( 1H77), llt-ml 

 il7S), Marriage (1878), Labor (1879), Socialism 

 (1880), &c. 



Cook, THOMAS, railway excursion and tourist 

 pioneer, was born at Melbourne, Derbyshire, 

 November 22, 1808. His educational advantages 

 were few, ami his early days were spent in gar- 

 dening pursuits, and then in wood-turning and 

 cal.inet work. In his twentieth year he became a 

 village missionary, and whilst thus occupied his 

 sympathies were actively enlisted in the cause of 

 temperance and free trade. But from 1841 his 

 time and toil were engaged chiefly in the initiation 

 and promotion of railway excursion*. His first 

 trip was from Leicester to Loughborough in 1841, 

 his aim being the furtherance of the temperance 

 cause. The M id land Railway was for some years 

 the centre of his operations, and the town of 

 Leicester his home. But overcoming the great diffi- 

 culties, he extended the business not only through 

 all Great Britain, but throughout the world, and 

 the tourist-tickets of Thomas Cook & Son are found 

 everywhere. In connection with the previous wars 

 in Egypt and the Soudan, the English and Egyptian 

 governments were largely aided by their enterprise; 

 and the firm undertake on behalf of the Indian gov- 

 ernment the conveyance of Mohammedan pilgrims 

 from India to Mecca. He retired in 1878 in favor of 

 his son, and died July 18, 1892. 



Cooke, GEORGE FREDERICK, actor, born in 

 Westminster in 1756, made his first public appear- 

 ance at Brentford in 1776, and in the period be- 

 tween 1784 and 1800 became very popular in the 

 English provinces and in Ireland, attaining a front 

 rank in nil profession, in spite of drinking habits 

 that increased with his years. From 1801 to 1810 

 he played at Covent Garden both in comedy and in 

 tragedy, and rivalled Kemble in the public favour ; 

 although here, also, from 1803, when he was hissed 

 off the stage for drunkenness, his intemperance was 



ylock, la 



In 1810 he visited America, and appeared before 

 enthusiastic audiences in the chief northern cities, 

 where admiration for the actor secured indulgence 

 and pity for the extravagances of the drunkard. 

 He died in New York city, 26th September 1811 ; 

 a monument marks his grave, erected in 1821 by 

 Edmund Kean, who regarded Cooke as the greatest 

 of actors. See his Life by William Dunlap (Lond. 

 1813). 



Cooke, SIR WILLIAM FOTHERGILL, electrician, 

 bom at Baling in 1806, served in the Indian army 

 from 1826 to 1831, and after studying medicine at 

 Paris and Heidelberg, abandoned this for tele- 

 graphy, and in 1837 entered into partnership with 

 Professor Wheatstone. After experiments on vari- 

 ous railway lines, they patented the single needle 

 apparatus in 1845. In 1846 Cooke formed a com- 

 pany, which paid 120,000 for the partners' earlier 

 patents. In 1867 Cooke and Wheatstone received 

 the Albert gold medal ; Wheatetone was knighted 

 in 1868, and Cooke in 1869. He died 25th June 

 1879. 



Cookery. The art of cookery, like other arts 

 and handicrafts, is one which cannot be taught in 

 an encyclopaedia article, but the general principles 

 which underlie the operations of cookery may be 

 briefly expounded. This part of the subject 

 the chemistry and physics of cookery has been 

 much neglected until very lately. 



The chief agent in cookery is heat, and therefore 



a large part of our subject is the consideration 

 of tin- cliemiral and physical change* which occur 

 in food materials when subjected to the agency of 

 heat. We may apply this agent either by bringing 

 the food into direct contact with the source of h.-at , 

 or by exposing it to radiations from the source of 

 heat. Roasting, toasting, grilling, and to a partial 

 extent, baking, are examples of the latter ; while 

 stewing, frying, and the so-called ' boiling ' of food 

 Le. immersion in hot water are examples of 

 heating by contact. The term 'boiling' is com- 

 monly misapplied in a manner that leads to con- 

 fusion of ideas. Thus we speak of boiling a leg of 

 mutton, boiling fish, boiling potatoes, Arc. quite 

 improperly. The food in question is not boiled, 

 should not be boiled ; it is merely immersed in 

 water, which is conveniently used as a heating 

 agent. As will presently be shown, even the 

 water itself should not in most cases boil. Frying, 

 properly conducted, is another example. Here a 

 bath of fat is used to convey the heat. 



What are the changes eftected on the food by the 

 action of cookery ? is the fundamental question to 

 be answered in treating cookery as a branch of 

 applied science. What is the difference between 

 a raw and a cooked potato ? What is the difference 

 between a raw and a cooked leg of mutton? and 

 other such questions throughout. We all know 

 the difference in flavour, but the chemical and 

 mechanical changes are but little understood. To 

 answer these questions we must first know some- 

 thing of the composition of the uncooked viands. 



For this purpose the old-fashioned division of 

 the elements of organic substances into proximate 

 and ultimate is very convenient. The ultimate 

 elements carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, &c. 

 are not cookable, and in their uncombined state 

 do not concern our subject; but the proximate 

 elements, or more properly proximate constituents, 

 such as albumen, gelatin, starch, cellulose, &c., are 

 altered, and the whole subject will be best under- 

 stood by considering separately the alterations 

 which occur to these in the course of cookery. 



Taking first the constituents of vegetable food, 

 the largest of these is the material of the cell walls 

 of the vegetable, cellulose, or woody fibre. The 

 next in quantity, as existing in ordinary articles of 

 food, is starch, or fecula, or farina. Both of these 

 are carbohydrates i.e. compounds of carbon with 

 water, or the elements of water, and they contain 

 these elements in the same proportions, out their 

 structure and digestibility are very different. 

 Starch in its raw state consists of small granules 

 (see STARCH) which, placed in cold water, sink 

 to the bottom without any degree of solution or 

 other change by union with the water. In this 

 condition they are practically indigestible in the 

 human stomach, but when cooked, starch is the 

 most easily digestible of all human food. 



The changes that take place in the cookery of 

 starch are considerable. If pure starch (arrow- 

 root is such) be placed in water raised to 

 the temperature of 140 F., the granules swell 

 considerably, and the mixture becomes pasty or 

 viscous. A little stirring breaks up the distended 

 granules, and we obtain a glairy paste such as 

 used by the laundress, and seen in cooked arrow- 

 root. If the heat be now raised from 140 to 

 the boiling-point, and the boiling continued, the 

 ?elid mass becomes thicker and thicker; and if 

 there are more than 50 parts of water to 1 of 

 starch, a separation takes place, the starch settling 

 .lown with its 50 parts of water, and the excess of 

 clear water standing above. We have here a case 

 of hydration or combination with water as the 

 result of cookery, and the probable cause of the 

 mproved digestibility. Dry starch maybe raised 

 to 300 without becoming thus semi-soluble. 



