SctEXTiric Lectures. 



99 



SCIENTIFIC LECTUEE-Vn. 



THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE OYEN. 



DEtn-EEED WEDSESDAY EraOTNO, JAN. 6 1869 



Labies a™ Wlemek: I shall occupy the hour that has been 

 a» gued to the lecture of this evening i„ brie% sketchiu., o e 



• ''X^ ''"f ., "' , ^»" ™'»y ™ >nake good bread ?" Our interest 

 n The Pulosophy of the Oven," is .ery nearlv related "or 

 nte,est .n the p-ocess of baking, the oldest branch of the art of cook 

 >g. T^e use of heat to increase the savor and digestibilit,- of food 

 IS one of the distinguishing arts of man. Domestic architecture he 

 shares with the foxes and tlie birds of the air. Enginee L' 



har to him on y m degree. The beavers build d«ns aud^CcH e 

 canals and subterranean galleries. The ants have granarieTand 

 soldiei-s, and slaves. The bees have a social organization and co kn "s 

 and a royal head, and reject the salic law. fn every departmen of 

 inferior animal life .e find types of arts which, more or less d ^e oprf 

 n man, const.tnte evidences of civilization. But the tvpe of cookh f 

 be ongs to man. Not among the highest of the anthroi'id m::t:f 



::•": tr;r„t:t^«;:'° --'^'^ ----^ep-tab.^^^^^^ 



Baking or i^oasf ing is certainly very old. In the winter of 1S5.3-54 

 tie sur ace of Lake Zurich, in Switzerland, was greatly deiressd' 



the shoie The owners of the adjacent main land threw up dikes to 

 prevent the return of the water. In the mud thus shelteied heaps 



leached Di. Ferdmand Keller, of Zurich, aud he hastened to find 

 among the ashes and charcoal, fragments ^f bnrned bones 'd its 

 blackened by fire. Scattered among these were implements o Z 

 and bone, and ornaments and weapons of bronze. The bones w re 



