SCIENTIFIC COOKING. 661 



mirable course in domestic science is offered to those intending to 

 teach — all these in their different lines are excellent, and all tend 

 toward the same thing, namely, better ways of living. 



Mrs. Ellen H. Richards, of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology, is the inspirer of the New England Kitchen, and W. O. 

 Atwater, of the National Agricultural Department at Washing- 

 ton, D. C, is the director of the Storrs experimental station. A 

 series of articles written by him and published in the Century 

 Magazine, 1887-'88, are among some of the most valuable contri- 

 butions (in English) on the subject of food and dietaries that we 

 possess. 



Society may be roughly separated into three divisions. In the 

 first are the wealthy and the well-to-do ; the second comprises the 

 great and powerful middle classes ; and the third is made up of 

 the poor. In the first, the household affairs, for the most part are 

 managed by servants ; in the second, by the wives and daughters 

 of the family ; and in the third we may say they are not man- 

 aged at all. If no other than the latter class — the poor — were to 

 be benefited, my plea for the cooking school would have more 

 than ample excuse for being written. Among them, alas ! who can 

 least afford it, do we find the greatest amount of waste in cooking, 

 much ignorance in the caring for and buying of food, the most 

 unsanitary surroundings as to pure air and cleanliness, and the 

 greatest amount of sickness resulting from bad living. 



The following item alone gives one a glimpse of the misery 

 among the poor: In the city of Baltimore, during the year 1891, 

 in a single hospital thirty-three thousand patients were treated 

 in its free dispensary, and in the same city for the same year 

 $1,250,000 spent in public charity through the various charitable 

 organizations and societies for the relief of the poor. 



When we bear in mind that statistics of hygiene show that at 

 least seven tenths of all forms of illness and disease originate 

 directly or indirectly from bad food, bad air, and unsanitary sur- 

 roundings, and unhygienic ways of living in general, can any 

 one fail to see the infinite amount of good that it is possible to do 

 by establishing schools in which the people may be taught the 

 principles and practice hand in hand of household science ? 



It is to the public school, not simply a school of methods, but 

 of principles as well, that we must look for the greatest and most 

 lasting good in this direction. There the children of all classes 

 may gain correct instruction in hygienic living; there the subject 

 can be brought to their notice and presented in its true educa- 

 tional light ; and there, and there only, can the great middle and 

 lower classes be reached. Private schools may do locally much 

 good, but their influence is not widespread unless they are great. 

 It is only through the public school that this necessary and most 



