DOMICULTURE. 471 



spoken, in treating of Hygienics, (p. 420). The principal meats, 

 such as beef, venison, mutton, and fowls, are generally preferred 

 roasted ; the process consisting in exposing them before the fire, on a 

 spit which is constantly turned. Mutton is sometimes, and fish are 

 generally, boiled ; by keeping them, for a sufficient time, in water at 

 a boiling temperature. Meats are said to be baked, when roasted in 

 a close oven ; broiled, when cooked upon a gridiron ; fried, when 

 heated with lard or butter ; and stewed, or fricaseed, when boiled to 

 a soft state, with but little water. At entertainments, where several 

 courses are served, soup is generally the first dish; and fish is intro- 

 duced before meat ; the dessert, of confectionary and fruits, conclud- 

 ing the service. 



Farinaceous food, is that derived from plants called cerealia ; as 

 wheat, rye, and corn ; or from esculent roots, as the potato, beet, and 

 turnip, which contain more or less farina or starch. Among these, 

 wheat contains the greatest proportion of gluten, and hence makes 

 the lightest bread. Bread, is formed, by mixing flour with water, 

 and with leaven or yeast ; which latter excites the panary fermenta- 

 tion ; partly converting the starch into sugar, and the sugar into alco- 

 hol and carbonic acid : and this latter, being retained, in gaseous 

 bubbles, by the gluten, causes the dough, or unbaked bread, to rise. 

 It is then baked, at a regulated temperature ; during which process 

 the alcohol, and sometimes the carbonic acid escapes ; in the Blatter 

 case causing the bread to fall, or become heavy. Cakes are made in 

 nearly the same manner ; but pastry, including pies and puddings, 

 does not require yeast ; the flour, when used, being mixed with 

 butter. Rice, and potatoes, and other esculent roots, are usually 

 cooked by boiling ; and are the most healthy when thoroughly 

 cooked. 



The term confectionary, from the Latin conficio, I concoct, or 

 prepare, is properly applied to both sweetmeats, and pickles ; the 

 former being preserved with sugar, and the latter with vinegar. 

 Sweetmeats, are made of various kind of fruit, as the apple and 

 peach ; and require a large quantity of sugar, to prevent them from 

 fermenting and moulding. They are sometimes reduced, by means 

 of boiling and straining, to a jelly ; resembling hydrous gelatin, or 

 animal jelly, only in form. Pickles, are made from various vege- 

 tables, as the cucumber, and mango, simply preserved in vinegar, 

 with the occasional addition of salt and spices. Pickles should never 

 be made in brass or copper vessels : nor should either pickles or 

 sweetmeats be kept in vessels containing copper or lead, nor in 

 earthen vessels glazed with lead ; as the acid which they contain 

 would form, with these metals, salts which are poisonous. 



Of beverages, water is the natural drink of man, after the period 

 of infancy ; and if it be pure, none can be more healthy. Milk, 

 especially when diluted, forms also a healthy drink, and quenches 

 the thirst better than liquids which are stimulant. Chocolate, is 

 made from the cacao nut, which grows of the shape and size of the 

 almond; and a drink is sometimes matfe of the shells of the same 

 nut. This latter drink is purer than the chocolate ; which contains 

 a large portion of oil or butter ; and they are both less stimulating 



