Aug. 3, 1883.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



67 



of duty. Not only are those actions which under par- 

 ticular circumstances seem absolutely indiii'erent ound 

 under other circumstances to be right or wrong and not 

 indifferent, not only do different persons form different 

 ideas as to what part of conduct is indifferent or other- 

 wise, but one and the same person in different parts of 

 his life finds that he draws different distinctions between 

 conduct in general and conduct to ,be guided by moral con- 

 siderations. In the evolution of conduct in a nation, in a 

 town, in a family, or in the individual man, the line separat- 

 ing conduct regarded as indifferent from conduct regarded 

 as right or wrong, is ever varying in position, — sometimes 

 tending to include among actions indifferent those which 

 had been judged bad or good, oftener tending to show right 

 or wrong in conduct which had been judged indifferent. 



If moral laws, then, are to be established on a scientific 

 basis, it is essential that conduct at large should be care- 

 fully considered ; and not conduct only as it is seen in man, 

 but as it is seen in animals of every grade. Thus and thus 

 only can the evolution of conduct be rightly studied ; by 

 the study of the evolution of conduct only can the scientific 

 distinction between right and wrong be recognised ; from 

 and out of this distinction only can moral laws be estab- 

 lished for those with whom the authoritative enunciation 

 of such laws has no longer the weight it once had, those who 

 find no other inherent force in moral statutes than they 

 derive as resulting from experience, and who reject as 

 unreasonable all belief in the intuitive recognition of laws 

 of morality. 



We proceed then to consider the evolution of conduct 

 in the various types of animal life from the lowest upwards 

 to man. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 



xiv. 

 By W. Mattieu Williams. 



BEFORE leaving the subject of caramel, I should say a 

 few words about French coffee, or " Coffee as in 

 France," of which we hear so much. There are two secrets 

 upon which depend the excellence of our neighbours in the 

 production of this beverage. First, economy in using the 

 water ; second, flavouring with caramel. As regards the 

 first, it appears that English housewives have been de- 

 moralised by the habitual use of tea, and apply to the 

 infusion of coffee the popular formula for that of tea, " a 

 spoonful for each person and one for the pot." 



The French after-dinner coffee-cup has about one-third of 

 the liquid capacity of a full-sized English breakfast-cup, but 

 the quantity of solid coffee supplied to each cupfull is 

 more than equal to that ordinarily allowed for the larger 

 English measure of water. 



Besides this the coffee is commonly, though not uni- 

 versally, flavoured with a specially and skilfully-prepared 

 caramel, instead of the chicory so largely used in England. 

 Much of the .so-called " French coft'ee " now sold by our 

 grocers Ln tins is caramel flavoured with coffee rather than 

 coffee flavoured with caramel, and many shrewd English 

 housewives have discovered that by mixing the cheapest of 

 these French coffees with an equal quantity of pure coftee 

 they obtain a better result than with the common domestic 

 mixture of three parts coffee and one of chicory. 



A few montlis ago a sample of " coffee-finings " was sent 

 to me for chemical examination, that I might certify 

 to its composition and wholesomeness. I described it in 

 my report as " a caramel, with a peculiarly rich aroma 

 and flavour, evidently due to the vegetable juices or ex- 



tractive matter naturally united with the saccharine sub- 

 stance from which it is prepared." I had no definite 

 information of the exact nature of this saccharine substance, 

 but have good reason to assume that it was a bye product 

 of sugar refining. 



Neither the juice of the beetroot nor the sap of the 

 sugar-cane consists entirely of pure sugar dissolved in pure 

 water. They both contain other constituents common to 

 vegetable juices, and some peculiar to themselves. These 

 mucilaginous matters, when roughly separated, carry down 

 with them some sugar, and form a sort of coarse sweetwort, 

 capable by skilful treatment of producing a rich caramel 

 such as I received. 



I tested its practical*, merits by making an infusion of 

 pure coffee of fine quality, dividing this into two parts, 

 adding to one a small quantity of the caramel, and leaving 

 the other half unmixed. I found the infusion greatly im- 

 proved in flavour by the admixture, and recognised the 

 peculiarity which characterises the coffee prepared by 

 Gatti and his compatriots, whose numerous establishments 

 are doing so much for the promotion of temperance in this 

 country. The aroma of this particular caramel is peculiarly 

 fine, and the greater part of it is soluble in boiling water ; 

 thus I was able to mix it by merely adding to the coffee as 

 we add sugar. 



I have used my best eloquence in trying to persuade the 

 manufacturers to sell it separately, but have not yet suc- 

 ceeded. They seem to have had painful experience of the 

 gastronomic bigotry of Englishmen who refuse to eat or 

 drink anything that is not hallowed by the sanction of their 

 great-grandmothers, unless it is surreptitiously introduced 

 by means of some device approaching as nearly as possible 

 to a commercial swindle. 



Returning to the subject of frying, we encounter a good 

 illustration of the practical importance of sound theory. 

 A great deal of fish and other kinds of food are badly and 

 wastefully cooked in consequence of the prevalence of a 

 false theory of frying. It is evident that many domestic 

 cooks (not hotel or restaurant cooks) have a vague idea 

 that the metal plate forming the bottom of the frying-pan 

 should directly convey the heat of the fire to the fried sub- 

 stance, and that the bit of butter or lard or dripping put 

 into the pan is used to prevent the fish from sticking to it 

 or to add to the richness of the fish by smearing its sur- 

 face. 



The theory which I have suggested (see No. 13, page 2) 

 is that the melted fat cooks by convection of heat, just as 

 water does in the so-called boiling of meat If that is 

 correct, it is evident that the fish, iVrc, should be completely 

 immersed in a bath of melted fat or oil, and that the turn- 

 ing over demanded by the greased-plate theory is unneces- 

 sary. Well educated cooks imderstand this distinctly, and 

 use a deeper vessel than our common frying-pan, charge 

 this with a quantity of fat sufficient to cover the fish, 

 which is simply laid upon a wire support, or frying-basket, 

 and left in the hot fat until the browning of its surface, or 

 of the flour or bread-crumbs with which it is coated indi- 

 cates the sufficiency of the cookery. 



At first sight this appears extravagant, as compai-ed \y\th. 

 the practice of greasing the bottom of the pan with a little 

 dab of fat, but any housewife who will apply to the frying 

 of sprats, herrings, itc, the method of quantitative induc- 

 tive research, described and advocated by Lord Bacon in 

 his " Novum Organum Scientarum," she may prove the 

 contrary. 



" Must I read the ' Novum Organum,' and buy another 

 dictionary, in order to translate all this," she may exclaim 

 in despair. "No !" is mj' reply. This Baconian inductive 

 method, to which we arc indebted for all the triumphs of 



