336 Of the Use of Steam 



erable. Mr. Gott informed me that, from the best 

 calculation he had been able to make, it would amount 

 to near two thirds of the quantity formerly expended, 

 when each copper was heated by a separate fire. 



But these savings are far from being the only advan- 

 tages that will be derived from the introduction of these 

 improvements in the management of heat. There is 

 one, of great importance indeed, not yet mentioned, 

 which alone would be sufficient to recommend the very 

 general adoption of them. As the heat communicated 

 by steam can never exceed the mean temperature 

 of boiling water by more than a very few degrees, the 

 substances exposed to it can never be injured by it. 



In many arts and manufactures this circumstance will 

 be productive of great advantages, but in none will its 

 utility be more apparent than in cookery, and especially 

 in public kitchens, where great quantities of food are 

 prepared in large boilers ; for, when the heat is con- 

 veyed in this manner, all the labour now employed in 

 stirring about the contents of those boilers, to prevent 

 the victuals from being spoiled by burning to the bot- 

 toms of them, will be unnecessary, and the loss of heat 

 occasioned by this stirring prevented ; and, instead of 

 expensive coppers or metallic boilers, which are some- 

 times unwholesome, and always difficult to be kept clean, 

 and often stand in need of repairs, common wooden 

 tubs may, with great advantage, be used as culinary 

 vessels ; and their contents may be heated by portable 

 fireplaces, by means of steam-boilers attached to them. 



As these portable fireplaces and their steam-boilers 

 may, without the smallest inconvenience, be made of 

 such weight, form, and dimensions, as to be easily 

 transported from one place to another by two men, 



