128 



KNOWLEDGE 



[AcG. 15, 1884. 



travelling at Jupiter's distance, or about 5 2 times the 

 earth's, the latter set would be travelling at a mean 

 distance greater by one-eighth of this, or -65 of the earth's 

 distance, say some sixty millions of miles. The latter 

 set would be at their nearest to the sun when at 

 Jupiter's distance, would pass sixty millions of miles 

 farther away to their mean distance, and as much 

 farther away still at their greatest distance. Prac- 

 tically, then, even in this case, as favourable for capture 

 as can be well imagined, the capture, though effected, 

 would result in .spreading out the comet, which had arrived 

 as a compact flight of meteors ten thousand miles only in 

 span, over a region one hundred and twenty millions of 

 miles broad. It is hardly necessary to say that nothing 

 like this is observed in the case of any member of Jupiter's 

 comet-family, ^^'e know that along their track meteors 

 are strewn to distances which, in some cases, may well 

 exceed even the enormous distance just named; but they 

 lie along the track, not ranging more than a few hundred 

 thousand miles on either side from the path of the comet's 

 head. This means that the orbit of every single meteor of 

 such a system has, practically, the same mean distance 

 from the sun. 



The difliculty last considered is simply fatal to the theory 

 that the comets forming what have been called the comet- 

 families of the giant planets were captured by those orbs in 

 the way imagined by Heis, Schiaparelli, and others. 



THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 



By W. Mattieu Williams. 

 XL.— COUNT RUMFORD'S SUBSTITUTE FOR TEA. 



TAKE eight parts by weight (say ounces) of meal (Rum- 

 ford says " wheat or rye-meal," and I add, or oat- 

 meal), and one part of butter. Melt the butter in a clean 

 iron frying-pan, and when thus melted sprinkle the meal 

 into it ; stir the whole briskly with a broad wooden spoon 

 or spatula till the butter has disappeared and the meal is 

 of an uniform brown colour like roasted coffee, great care 

 being taken to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan. 

 About half an ounce of this roasted meal boiled in a pint of 

 water, and seasoned with salt, pepper, and vinegar, forms 

 *' burnt soup," much used by the woodcutters of Bavaria, 

 who work in the mountains far away from any habitations. 

 Their provisions for a week (the time they commonly re- 

 main in the mountains) consist of a large loaf of rye bread 

 (which, as it does not so soon grow dry and stale as 

 wheaten bread is always preferred to it) ; a linen bag, con- 

 taining a small quantity of roasted meal, prepared as above ; 

 another small bag of 8alt, and a small wooden box con- 

 taining some pounded black pepper ; and sometimes, but 

 not often, a small bottle of vinegar ; but black jjepper is an 

 ingredient never omitted. The rye bread, which eaten alone 

 or with cold water would be verv hard fare, is rendered 

 palatable and satisfactory, Rumford thinks also more whole- 

 some and nutritious, by the help of a bowl of liot soup, so 

 easily prepared from the roasted meal. He tells us that 

 this is not only used by the woodcutters, but that it is also 

 the common breakfast of the Bavarian peasant, and adds 

 that " it is infinitely preferable, in all respects, to that most 

 pernicious wash, tea, with which the lower classes of the 

 inhabitants of this island drench their stomachs and ruin 

 their constitutions." He adds that, " when tea is taken 

 with a suflicient quantity of sugar and good cream, and 

 with a large quantity of bread-and-butter, or with toast and 

 boiled eggs, and, above all, when it is not drank too hot, it 



is certainly less unwholesome; but a simple infusion of this 

 drug, drank boiling hot, as the poor usually take it, is 

 certainly a poison, which, though it is sometimes slow in its 

 operation, never fails to produce fatil effects, even in the 

 strongest constitutions, where the free use of it is continued 

 for a considerable lensfth of time.' " 



This may appear to many a very strong condemnation 

 of their favourite beverage ; nevertheless, I am satisfied 

 that it is perfectly sound. This is not an opinion hastily 

 adopted, but a conclusion based upon many observations, 

 extending over a long period of years, and confirmed by 

 experiments made upon myself. 



The Pall Mall Gaze.Ue of Aug. 7 says :— "There is balm 

 for tea-drinkers in one of Mr. Mattieu Williams's ' Science 

 Notes ' in the Gentleman's Maija~.ine." This is true to a 

 certain extent. I referred to the Chinese as habitual 

 drinkers of boiled water, and suggest that this may explain 

 their comparative immunity from cholera, where all the 

 other conditions for a raging epidemic are fulfilled. It is 

 the boiling of the water, not the infusion of tea-leaves 

 therein, to which I attribute the destruction of the germs 

 of infection. 



In the note which follows, I proposed an infusion of fried 

 or toasted bread-crumbs, oatmeal, maize, wheat, barley, 

 malt, itc, as a substitute for the tea, the deep colour of the 

 infusion (poured off from the grounds in this case) serving 

 to certify the boiling of the water. Rumford's burnt soup, 

 taken habitually at breakfast or other meals, would answer 

 the same purpose, with the further advantage to poor people 

 of being, to a certain e.vtent, a nutritious soup as well as a 

 beverage. All that is nutritous in porter is in this, minus 

 the alcoholic drug and its vile companion, the fusel oil. 



The experience of every confirmed tea-drinker, when 

 soundly interpreted, supplies condemnation of the beverage; 

 the plea commonly and blindly urged on its behalf being, 

 when understood, an eloquent expression of such condem- 

 nation. " It is so refreshing " ; "I am fit for nothing when 

 tea-time comes round until I have had my tea, and then I 

 am fit for anything." The " fit for nothing " state comes on 

 at five p.m., when the drug is taken at the orthodox time, 

 or even in the early morning, in the case of those who are 

 accustomed to have a cup of tea brought to their bedside 

 before rising. With blindness still more profound, some 

 will plead for tea by telling that by its aid one can sit up all 

 night long at brain-work without feeling sleepy, provided 

 ample supplies of the infusion are taken from time to time. 



It is unquestionably true that such may be done ; that 

 the tea-drinker is languid and weary at tea-time, whatever 

 be the hour, and that the refreshment produced by "the 

 cup that cheere" and is said not to inebriate, is almost 

 instantaneous. 



What is the true significance of these facts ? 



The refreshment is certainly not due to nutrition, not to 

 the rebuilding of any worn-out or exhausted organic tissue. 

 The total quantity of material conveyed from the tea-leaves 

 into the water is ridiculously too small for the performance 

 of any such nutritive function ; and besides this, the action 

 is far too rapid, there is not sufficient time for the conver- 

 sion of even that minute quantity into organised working 

 tissue. The action cannot be that of a food, but is purely 

 and simply that of a stimulating or irritant drug, acting 

 directly and abnormally on the nervous system. 



The five o'clock lassitude and craving is neither more nor 

 less than the reaction induced by the habitual abnormal 

 stimulation ; or otherwise, and quite fairly, stated, it is the 

 outward symptom of a diseased condition of brain produced 

 by the action of a drug ; it may be but a mild form of 

 disease, but it is truly a disease nevertheless. 



The active principle which produces this result is the 



i 



