SCIENTIFIC COOKING. 659 



the probable for her to save a member of her family from even 

 the possibility of any form of insanity, would not devote months, 

 even years, to the study of those principles and conditions of life 

 by which robust health may be maintained ? It should not be 

 understood that I would imply that bad food is the cause of in- 

 sanity, but it can be said that we have sufficient proof to lead 

 us to believe that many cases of insanity might have been pre- 

 vented had the individuals been properly nourished ; of course, 

 it must be borne in mind that this means not only the eating 

 of proper food, but its proper and normal assimilation in the 

 body. 



It is woman's province to control and manage the household. 

 Whether she does it wisely or unwisely rests with herself. No 

 one else can absolutely fill her place. She should, therefore, 

 study the phases of home affairs with the same application and 

 assiduity that she would give to a difficult problem, which may 

 require weeks, months, even years, to work out, but which in the 

 end must be solved. 



A man enters the arena of business with the full purpose of 

 being master of whatever he undertakes. He knows that he must 

 succeed. Reputation, social position, comfort, progress, the hap- 

 piness of his family, even life itself, may depend upon his efforts. 

 If woman would feel the same responsibility in regard to her 

 home that she must succeed in making it a peaceable, health- 

 giving, moral-giving abode, and would never waver until she had 

 accomplished it we should reach a state of advancement in the 

 understanding of life which, except among some in the cultured 

 classes, is not general to-day. I do not maintain that the study of 

 household science will enable woman to do all this, but such study 

 will help greatly, perhaps more than anything else, toward that 

 end. It is one of the important factors in that result, and if for 

 no other reason than that it will make life for women in the per- 

 formance of their household duties pleasanter, more satisfactory, 

 sweeter, easier, it is more than worth trying. To work in the 

 dark is ever perplexing ; to work in the light of intelligent under- 

 standing is one form of happiness. 



The study of household science, taken in its full and broad 

 sense, leads into boundless fields of research. The phenomenon 

 of heat, the currents of the air, the life and chemical nature of the 

 products of the earth, the mysterious and complex processes of 

 nutrition, fall almost without mention into such work ; the sci- 

 ences of chemistry, physiology, and bacteriology are its founda- 

 tion stones ; in fact, whatever bears upon the physical life of man 

 is included in it. 



Now let us consider by what means the women of to-day and 

 of the future may obtain a scientific education in household af- 



