lOO Edward Livingston Youmans. 



The Handbook of Household Science was not 

 the ordinary collection of scrappy comment, recipe, 

 and apothegm, but a thoroughly scientific treatise on 

 air, water, fuel, food, and cleansing materials, writ- 

 ten in a simple and lucid style, and it is still a sound 

 and authoritative book. Mr. Youmans had much in 

 mind the need of such a book in girls' schools, and w^as 

 disappointed at the comparatively small demand for it 

 in that quarter. Teachers complained that it w^as too 

 full, that its study consumed too large a portion of the 

 time allotted to '' the course," and to meet this objec- 

 tion he sometimes spoke of condensing the volume. 

 But the general demand for the book was so satisfac- 

 tory that he was led to amplify rather than to reduce 

 it. In this mood he planned a comprehensive House- 

 hold Cyclopaedia, and after working at it from time 

 to time, as opportunity offered, for the rest of his life, 

 he bequeathed to his brother William the task of com- 

 pleting it. 



In connection with the popularization of science, 

 the following letter to Mr. W. T. Henderson, of Cin- 

 cinnati, who had charge of the common-school libra- 

 ries of Ohio, is an illustration of the zeal with which 

 Youmans was sure to extend a helping hand to any 

 fellow-worker : 



New York, October 8, i860. 



My dear Sir: I send you this day a copy of a book. 

 What may be Learned from a Tree, which possibly may 

 not have fallen under your notice. I do it though I am 

 assured that the matter of books for the Ohio libraries is 

 closed hermetically; yet, in the hope that there may be 

 somewhere some possible slip or gap or surplus, I never- 

 theless write. My object in soliciting your attention to the 

 book is, first, I am persuaded you have not a better book 



