coo 
firmer parts, as the tendinous, ligamentous, 
and membranous parts, can be duly soften- 
ed, and their gelatinous substance rendered 
subservient to nutrition. Yet these elFects 
are different according to the degree of 
boiling. A moderate boiling may render 
their texture more tender without much di- 
minution of their nutritious quality ; but if 
the boiling is extended to extract every 
thing soluble, the substance remaining is 
certainly less soluble in the stomach, and 
at the same time much less nutritious. But 
as boiling extracts, in the first place, the 
more soluble, and therefore the saline parts; 
so what remains is, in proportion, less alka- 
lescent, and less heating to the system. 
Boiling in digesters, or vessels accurately 
closed, produces effects very different from 
boiling in open vessels. From meat cook- 
ed in the latter, there is no exhalation of 
volatile parts; the solution is made with 
great success, and if not carried very far, 
the meat may be rendered very tender, 
while it still retains its most sapid parts j 
and this is esteemed always the most de- 
sirable state of boiled meat. If a small 
quantity of water only is applied, and the 
heat continued long in a moderate degree, 
the process is called stewing, which has the 
effect of rendering the texture of meat 
more tender, without extracting much of 
the soluble parts. This, therefore, leaves 
the meat more sapid, and in a state per- 
haps the most nourishing of any form of 
cookery; as we learn from the admirable 
essays and experiments of Count Rumford, 
who found very unusual effects produced 
on meat, by a low degree and long-conti- 
nued action of heat, both in the dry and 
humid way. 
The application of a di-y heat in the cook- 
ery of meat is of two kinds, as it is carried 
on in close vessels, or as it is exposed to 
the air. The first of these which we shall 
consider is baking. In this practice meat 
has generally a covering of paste, by which 
any considerable exhalation is prevented, 
and the retention of the juices renders the 
meat more tender. In all cases, when the 
heat applied loosens, and in some measure 
extricates the air, without exhaling it, the 
substance submitted to this process is ren- 
dered more tender than when an exhalation 
is allowed. In broiling, an exhalation takes 
place ; but as the heat of a naked fire is 
more nearly applied, the outer surface is in 
some measure hardened before the heat pe- 
netrates the whole, and thereby a great ex- 
halation is prevented, while the whole is 
COO 
rendered sufficiently tender; but this kind 
of cookery is suited to meats that are 
chosen to be eaten a little raw. Nearly 
a-kin to this is the practice of frying, in 
which the meat being cut into thin slices, 
and laid in a pan over the naked fire, the 
heat is applied more equally to the whole 
substance. But as the part of the meat ly- 
ing next to the bottom of the vessel would 
be suddenly hardened by the heat, it is al- 
ways necessary to interpose some fluid mat- 
ter, usually of an oily quality, as butter. A 
strong heat applied to the latter renders it 
empyreumatic, or at least less miscible with 
the fluids of the stomach : so that all fried 
meats are less easily digested tlian those of 
any other preparation. Sometimes, indeed, 
the same thing happens to baked meats, to 
which an oily matter, and that only, is ad- 
ded to avoid the too drying heat of the 
oven. It is obvious that the preparations 
of stewing and frying may be frequently 
joined together; and according to there be- 
ing more or less of the one or other, the ef- 
fects may be imagined. 
COOLER, among brewers, distillers, 
&c. a large vessel wherein certain liquors 
are cooled after having been boiled. 
COOMB, or Comb of corn, a dry mea- 
sure, containing four bushels, or half a 
quarter. 
COOPER, in the trades, an artificer who 
makes casks, tubs, barrels, and all kinds 
of wooden vessels which are bound toge- 
ther with hoops. This is unquestionably a 
very ancient trade, and is referred to 2000 
years ago by the writers on rural economy 
in Rome. Their descriptions correspond 
in a good measure with the construction of 
casks in our day. It is not known when 
the business of a cooper was first intro- 
duced into this country, but it has been sup- 
posed it was derived from the French. 
Wood used for the purpose of cask-making, 
should be old and tbick, strait trees are the 
best, from these are hewn thin planks, 
which are formed into staves. In France, 
we are told, the wood is prepared in win- 
ter ; the staves and bottoms are then 
formed, and they are put together in sum- 
mer. Planing the staves is one of the most 
difficult parts of the work, and it is at the 
same time one of the most important in the 
fabrication of casks. In the formation of 
the staves, it must be recollected that each 
is to constitute part of a double conoid. 
Each stave must therefore be broader at 
the middle, and gradually become nar- 
rower, but not in straight lines towards the 
