June 8, 1883. 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



543 



attributed the English prejudice against baked meat. So 

 long as any water remains the dripping cannot be raised 

 more than two or three degrees above 212°. 



The tube i; Fij;. 1, is £or carrying away vapour, if 

 necessary. Tliis tube may be opened or closed by means of 

 a damper moved by the little handle shown on the right. 

 The heat of the roaster is regulated by means of the register 

 c in the ash-pit door of the fireplace, its dri/nens by the 

 above-named damper of the steam tube v, and also by the 

 blowpipes, b p. 



These are iron tubes, about 2 J in. in diameter, placed 

 underneath, so as to be in the midst of the flame as it 

 ascends from the tire into the enveloping flue, shown by the 

 dotted lines, Fig. 4, where their external openings are shown 

 at b p. It p, and the plugs l)y which they may be opened or 

 closed in Fig. 1. It is evident that by removing these 

 plugs and opening the damper of the steam pipe a blast of 

 hot, dry air will be delivered into the roaster at its back 

 part, and it must pass forward to escape by the steam pipe. 

 As these blow pipes are raised to a red heat when the tiro 

 is burning briskly, the temperature of this blast of air may 

 1)6 very high ; with even a very moderate fire, suliiciently 

 high to desiccate and spoil the meat if they were kept open 

 during all the time of cooking. They are accordingly to be 

 kept closed until the last stage of the roasting is reached ; 

 then the fire is urged by opening the ash-pit register, and 

 when the blow-pipes are about red-hot their plugs are 

 removed, and the steam-pipe damper is opened for a few 

 minutes to brown the meat by means of the hot wind thus 

 generated. 



It will be observed that a special fire directly under the 

 roaster is here designed, and that this fire is enclosed in 

 brickwork. This is a general feature of Rumford's 

 arrangements, which I shall have to discuss more fully 

 when I come to the subject of kitchen fires. The economy 

 of the whole device will be understood by the fact that in 

 a test experiment at the Foundling Institution of London, 

 he roasted 112 lb. of beef with a consumption of only 

 22 lb. of coal (three pennyworth, at 2.5s. per ton). 



Rumford tells us that " when these roasters were first pro- 

 posed, and before their merit was established, many doubts 

 were entertained respecting the taste of the food prepared 

 in them," but that, after many practical trials, it was 

 proved that " meat of every kind, without any exception, 

 roasted in a roaster, is better tasted, hiijlier Jhivoured, and 

 much more juicy and delicate than when roasted on a spit 

 before an open fire." These italics are in the original, and 

 the testimony of competent judges is quoted. 



I must describe one experiment in detail. Two legs of 

 mutton from the same carcar.s made equal in weight before 

 cooking were roasted, one before the fire and the other in 

 a roaster. When cooked both were weighed, and the joint 

 roasted in the roaster proved to be heavier than the other 

 by 6 per cent. They were brought upon table at the sanu; 

 time, "and a large and perfectly unprejudiced company 

 was assembled to eat them." Both were found good, but 

 a decided preference given to that cooked in the roaster, 

 "it was much more juicy, and was thought better tasted." 

 Both were fairly eaten up, nothing remaining of either 

 that was eatable, and the fragments collected. " Of the 

 leg of mutton which had been roasted in the roaster, 

 hardly anything visible remained, excepting the bare bone ; 

 while a considerable heap was formed of scraps not eatable 

 which remained of that roasted on a spit." 



T his was an eloquent experiment ; the G per cent, gained 

 tell of juices retained with consequent gain of flavour, 

 tenderness, and digestibility, and the subsequent testimony 

 of the scraps describes the diflference in the condition of 

 the tendonous, integumentary portions of the joints, which 



are j ust those that present the toughest practical problems 

 to the cook, especially in roasting. 



But why are these roasters] not in general use ? Why 

 did they die with their inventor 1 I will take up these 

 questions in my next. 



^eDitoiial <go06ip. 



The story of the three black crows might be matched 

 by some stories spread with modifications by newspapers. 

 Two years or so ago I learned quite a number of new 

 things about myself from some papers in America, which 

 certainly meant all in kindness which they wrote ; and, 

 knowing precisely what the grain of truth was around 

 which had gathered these accumulations of error, I was 

 more amused than annoyed at the mis-statements which 

 came under my notice. But I should have liked to trace 

 the growth of error, to see precisely how a trivial matter 

 had grown into something surprising and almost por- 

 tentous. In particular, I should like to have known how 

 a column or so of nonsense, which appeared in I know not 

 how many American papers, under the title of "Pro- 

 fessor Proctor's Romance," came into being — by what 

 process of evolution it was developed from one little germ 

 of truth contained in it. 



What has recalled this amusing experience to me has 

 been the receipt of news from Aiistralia that, "according 

 to home papers, Air. R. A. Proctor has taken to wearing 

 stays." Readers of Knowledge will perhaps be rather 

 surprised at this item of news, seeing that I have rather 

 roundly ridiculed in these columns the practice of wearing 

 stays (at least, if tightly-laced), even by those who, per- 

 haps, have right and reason to wish to improve the figures 

 Nature has given them. But to me the chief interest 

 arises from the recognition of the rapid growth of error 

 around a little germ of truth. Consider how robust the 

 seedling must have been to germinate in this remarkable 

 way : — I mentioned, only a few months ago, that once 

 upon a time, having seen it stated and asseverated that 

 wearing — not stays — but a broad waistband, with a 

 strong and rather long busk — had led to rapid dimi- 

 nution of weight, I had thought it worth while 

 to try the experiment ; and that in my case, at any rate, 

 the experiment had altogether failed. So much for the 

 germ of truth. I might have added a few details, if I had 

 cared, which would perhaps have robbed the story of some 

 of the attractiveness which it seems to have had for the 

 anonymuncules of the press. For in.stance, the thing 

 happened fourteen or fifteen years ago, when, being but 

 recently " turned thirty " (whatever that expression may 

 signify), I might not have reached that unconcern about 

 figure which, Anthony Trollope has told us, comes on men 

 who have reached the forties. But again, the question 

 of figure had nothing to do with my anxiety to be 

 rid of superfluous fat, but — a rather more serious 

 matter — a certain unwillingness to die before my time. 

 I had been threatened with sudden cessation of circulation 

 such as had, only two years before, befallen a sister (whose 

 constitution resembled my own), and through the same cause, 

 fatty oppression of the heart. I had been willing enough, 

 till thus threatened, " to expand wisibly," and to receive 

 from the earth increased attentions in the way of gravita- 

 tion ; but I did not want to go to earth altogether for 

 awhile, if I could help it. An experimental attempt (and 

 a failure at that) to reduce my weight through waist com- 

 pression, fifteen years or so ago, referred to casually in 

 Knowledge, comes back to me from the Antipodes, after 



