Life of Count Rumford. 237 



the metropolis, and which covered all its prominent 

 edifices with a dingy and sooty mantle. He saw in 

 that smoke the unused material which was turned 

 equally to waste and a means of annoyance and in- 

 salubrity. He said, playfully, yet in the sincerity of a 

 true economical philosophy, that he would bind himself, 

 if the opportunity were allowed him, to prove to the 

 citizens, that from the heat and the material of heat 

 which were thus wasted he would agree to cook all 

 the food used in the city, warm every apartment, and 

 perform all the mechanical work done by means of fire. 

 There have been many wise and skilful experiments 

 since his day, and many scientific papers have been pre- 

 pared on the loss and the nuisance represented by that 

 same smoky atmosphere of London. But probably no 

 one has intermeddled with it more effectually than did 

 he who first turned full attention to the philosophy of 

 light and heat. 



" The Rumford Roasters," so called, came into 

 extensive use in Great Britain, and were imported into 

 this country, very many of them being set up in Bos- 

 ton and the neighboring towns in the best houses. 

 The Roaster, if not the first, was the most scientific, 

 ingenious, and effective apparatus of the kind which, by 

 its arrangement of flues for conveying hot air around 

 the food in the oven, as well as by economizing fuel, 

 allowed of the preparation of many articles by one fire, 

 and greatly facilitated the labors and added to the com- 

 fort of the cook. The families which practised a gen- 

 erous hospitality found it to be a most welcome addition 

 to their culinary arrangements. There was at one time, 

 so to speak, an enthusiasm and an epidemic excitement 

 about it. Count Rumford's Essays on Food and its 



