656 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



that cleanliness which excludes as much as possible all kinds of 

 extraneous ferments from food and its surroundings. We know 

 that micro-organisms are the agents of fermentation ; we know the 

 factors necessary to their life, namely, food, warmth, and moisture ; 

 deprived of any one of these, their growth is stopped and they 

 become inert, or die. To illustrate, a piece of meat deprived of 

 moisture that is, dried is proof against the growth of organisms 

 upon it so long as it remains dry, and it " keeps," as we say that 

 is, it does not decay ; or, it may be hung in an ice-box or frozen as 

 in winter that is, deprived of warmth with the same result. It, 

 then, is a possibility to control the multiplication of these forms 

 of life when we understand their modes of existence. 



Scientific cooking should include not only the proper construc- 

 tion, so to speak, of eatables, but a knowledge of their constituents 

 both inherent and extraneous, and some understanding of the 

 physical life of human beings. Heretofore, cooking has been done 

 for the most part upon what might be called " haphazard " lines, 

 without any special degree of exactness and with but little actual 

 information as to the nutritive value of the substances dealt with, 

 or of the processes which would render them most palatable and 

 digestible. This manner of conducting the cooking of a home 

 gives mainly two results : (1) a great deal of wretched food, which 

 directly or indirectly affects the health of the family, and (2) an 

 enormous amount of unnecessary waste. The primary considera- 

 tion is, of course, the one of health. When we recollect that hy- 

 gienists and medical men hold the opinion that disease does not 

 find lodgment in a sound body, that to be perfectly healthy means 

 no sickness, except from accidents and natural causes, is it not 

 enough to inspire all women to study and master the means which 

 conduce to health and the laws which govern healthy conditions ? 

 This point may be illustrated by the fact that pneumonia does not 

 attack healthy persons. Children, the old or enfeebled, and those 

 who are debilitated, are its victims. Pneumonia is a bacterial 

 disease, the germ of which is present in the mouths of about one 

 fifth of all well persons. Exposure to cold, the prolonged use of 

 poor food, or excessive fatigue, any of these may lower the tone 

 of the system to such an extent that its cells and fluids, being out 

 of their normal condition, can no longer resist or overpower the 

 germ of the disease, which, finding lodgment in the tissues of the 

 lungs, produces the malady known as pneumonia. It is on this 

 point, that the cells and fluids of a perfectly healthy body have the 

 power to protect the inner organs from the invasion of bacteria 

 and bacterial products, that we base our strongest argument for 

 more healthful ways of living. 



The greatest necessity of life is air, which is supplied to us 

 pure (outside of large cities), without the necessity of effort on 



