8 



of dialysis, while appHed to so humble a use as the separation of 

 meat-brine into pure salt and excellent soup, at the same time ex- 

 plains one of the profound mysteries of animal and vegetable life. 



"Woman's happiness, moreover, would be negative as well as posi- 

 tive. Ignorance is full of fear and disgust towards innocent things. 

 That odorous fermenting pail-full of waste from the table is really 

 an interesting mixture of many acids and bases, entering into new 

 combinations. That dreadful spider is not poisonous, and has eight 

 jewels of eyes in Ms head. That medicine is no more a metaUic 

 poison than the oxidized metal, hme, which makes your bones. 

 " Do not be afraid of dirt, young gentlemen," said a distinguished 

 medical professor ; " dirt makes bread, and bread makes the lips 

 you kiss." 



Our lady bachelor of science would likewise have the pleasui'e of 

 exact economy in the use of materials. Woman, natvu-ally, is im- 

 pulsive. If she thinks the biscuit requires more soda, she throws 

 in enough to neutrahze a gallon of the acid in the milk, — "There, 

 111 see if I can't make that biscuit right ihis time ! " Whether it be 

 impulsiveness or ignorance, it would be rectified by knowing the 

 exact proportions in which all substances combiae. At least, there 

 would be knowledge enough to use a bit of cheap test-paper, as the 

 chemist does, to know exactly when an acid is neutrahzed. 



And the exactness of nature teaches habits of neatness, careful- 

 ness, attention. Scientific work is the most nice and precise of any 

 in the world, and inevitably affects all habits. 



But this is not all. There is an element of moral illustration, 

 often humorous, that would be enjoyed by the scientific housekeeper. 

 There is a tragedy in a loaf of bread. Gluten is a gummy weak- 

 minded individual, having too much nitrogen in his composition, 

 and exists in flour, hence in dough. He is easily demoralized by 

 the least association with that restless son of a brewer. Yeast, or 

 with that destructive rogue. Oxygen. And when Gluten loses what 

 Httle stability he has, his example at once affects the sweet children 

 of the Sugar family, also present in the dough, until they become 

 as ungovernable as alcohol and carbonic acid, — in fact, are changed 

 into these. But Gluten maHciously holds them as they struggle to 

 get away ; and at last Heat comes on with a vengeance, and, striking 

 Gluten stiff for his mischief, drives them away from their bread, and 

 £0 they go to bed supperless, because they have been in bad com- 

 pany. That is the way bread is raised ; and the scientific housewife 

 would be able to tell her children the edifying story. 



