What  is  Yeast?— II. 
BAKERS  of  bread  were  doubtless  the  most  uncon¬ 
cerned  of  all  people  during  the  progress  of  these 
investigations  into  the  nature  of  yeast,  for  what  rela¬ 
tion  existed  between  fermentation  and  good  bread  ? 
Between  fungi  and  light  sponge  or  dough  ?  Yet  it  is 
due  to  the  proper  culture  of  this  yeast  fungus  that  we 
arc  able  to  make  perfect  bread.  Whatever  interferes 
with,  or  arrests  the  vital  activity  of  the  torulao,  pre¬ 
vents  them  from  causing  fermentation.  I  f  our  sponge 
becomes  too  warm  or  too  cold,  growth  ceases,  and  ver¬ 
ily  a  sad  consequence  follows.  It  is  not  claimed  that 
we  can  bake  better  bread  because  we  know  that  when 
our  bread  rises  it  is  fermenting  or  growing,  and  that 
this  growth  is  caused  by  the  germination  and  multi¬ 
plication  of  microscopic  germs  or  spores,  just  as  we 
can  walk  no  better  because  we  may  know  the  names 
and  position  of  the  bones  in  our  bodies.  The  blood 
does  not  make  its  circuit  by  a  shorter  route  since  the 
discovery  of  its  circulation,  but  it  was  a  revelation 
which  threw  light  upon  kindred  subjects.  An  intel¬ 
ligent  understanding  of  this  common  substance  we 
call  yeast  renders  us  more  capable  of  comprehending 
other  truths  which  follow  in  its  train. 
Matthew  Williams  says,  in  his  “Chemistry  and  Cook¬ 
ery,”  that  “among  all  our  modern  triumphs  of  applied 
science  none  can  be  named  that  is  more  refined  and 
elegant  than  this  old  device  in  the  every-day  business 
of  making  bread.  Millions  of  particles  of  flour  must 
be  moistened,  but  when  moistened  they  are  so  adhesive 
that  each  one  sticks  to  its  neighbor.  A  barrier  must 
be  interposed  which  will  separate  these  millions  of 
particles,  but  in  such  a  delicate  manner  as  neither  to 
wholly  part  them,  nor  allow  them  to  entirely  adhere.” 
This  delicate  manipulation  is  performed  by  the  yeast. 
It  is  not,  however,  an  absolute  impossibility  to  make 
yeast  without  the  addition  of  the  neighbor’s  cupful. 
Among  the  microscopic  germs  that  are  continually 
floating  in  the  air,  there  are  germs  or  spores  of  the 
torulao.  I  once  prepared  some  yeast  in  the  ordinary 
manner,  except  that  1  did  not  add  any  old  yeast,  and 
I  was  much  surprised  to  find  how  the  torulao  had  fallen 
into  my  trap.  The  mixture  was  prepared  at  noon,  and 
the  next  morning  it  was  swarming  with  torulao;  not 
in  such  numbers  as  in  the  full-grown  yeast  (if  I  may 
use  the  expression),  but  still  they  seemed  “like  unto 
the  sands  of  the  seashore.”  The  third  day  a  loaf  of 
bread  was  baked  from  this  yeast,  which  though  not 
perfect,  was  pronounced  good.  The  results  of  the  two 
processes  of  making  yeast,  with  and  without  yeast  to 
“start”  with,  may  be  compared  to  the  returns  of  the 
careful  husbandman  and  the  improvident  savage:  the 
former  sows  the  seed,  and  is  reasonably  sure  of  reap¬ 
ing  a  harvest ;  the  latter,  though  sowing  nothing  may 
yet  glean  from  Nature’s  abundance. 
MRS.  W.  A.  KELLERMAN. 
An  Anti-Corset  Tirade. 
ORSETS  or  no  corsets,  is  the  question  which  is 
being  agitated  by  the  dress-reformers  of  the 
present  day,  and  it  should  be  kept  before  the  public 
until  an  emancipation  proclamation  shall  be  issued 
that  will  secure  our  American  women  liberty  to  dress 
in  accordance  with  Nature’s  laws.  It  is  not  only  for  lib¬ 
erty  for  grown  people,  but  for  slender  sb.ps  of  girls 
who  have  no  more  need  for  corsets  than  a  fence  rail 
would  have,  that  our  dress  reformers  are  fighting. 
Yet  thoughtless  mothers,  not  content  with  Nature’s 
efforts  to  repair  the  injury  which  they  have  already 
transmitted  to  their  children,  hasten  to  mould  these 
tender  slips  of  girlhood  after  Dame  Fashion's  pattern; 
and  if  fashion  says  corsets  are  required,  health  counts 
for  nothing  against  it.  The  consequences  are  that 
health  is  wholly  sacrificed,  and  a  generation  of  con¬ 
firmed  invalids  is  the  result. 
But  good  often  comes  out  of  suffering,  and  our  young 
people  are  crying  for  health  at  any  cost;  and  many  of 
them  have  decided  to  relinquish  the  long-loved  corset 
if  that  is  the  rock  which  is  wrecking  so  many  young 
lives.  It  is  amusing  to  note  how  our  mothers  and 
grandmothers  cling  to  corsets  in  face  of  the  growing 
opposition;  and  various  are  the  flimsy  arguments  they 
bring  forward  to  uphold  their  need  of  them,  one  of 
their  strongest  arguments  being,  that  they  would  “feel 
as  if  they  were  falling  all  to  pieces  without  a  corset;” 
which  is  only  an  argument  against  their  use.  I  will 
warrant  that  they  never  experienced  auy  such  sensa¬ 
tion  before  they  donned  corsets,  and  if  mother  Nature 
kept  them  from  falling  to  pieces  until  they  were  nearly 
grown,  surely  their  muscles  would  have  continued  to 
strengthen  instead  of  growing  weaker— as  they  confess 
they  have— until  it  requires  a  murderous  ease  of  steel, 
starch  and  stiffening  to  hold  their  bodies  in  the  proper 
position.  Such  extreme  remedies  may  be  necessary  in 
cases  of  broken  bones,  but  as  a  comfortable  protection 
for  the  delicate  organs  of  our  bodies  they  are  alto¬ 
gether  too  harsh,  and  the  present  generation  of  women 
are  becoming  too  wise  to  follow  such  barbaric  customs 
even  if  fashion  does  so  decree.  Another  strong  argu. 
ment  which  our  elders  bring  forward  in  defense  of 
corsets  is,  that  they  have  worn  them  without  realizing 
any  harm  from  them  and  they  don’t  believe  they  would 
hurt  young  people.  It  is  only  a  foolish  notion  people 
have  nowadays.  Perhaps  it  is,  but  when  a  slender 
girl  feels  upon  first  donning  a  corset  as  if  she  were 
encased  in  a  vise  which  makes  all  freedom  and  grace 
of  movement  an  actual  impossibility,  and  when  her 
first  impulse  when  sick  or  tired  is  to  remove  or  loosen 
that  object  of  torture  it  is  plain  that  it  is  harmful  and 
dangerous. 
I  fancy  I  hear  some  one  say,  “  Because  you  found  the 
corset  harmful  to  you,  it  is  no  sign  that  it  will  be  dan¬ 
gerous  for  other  people  to  wear.”  I  reply  that  it  is 
just  the  reason  why  I  do  claim  them  to  be  dangerous 
for  other  people,  and  it  is  the  very  reason  why  I  warn 
other  girls  and  women  against  wearing  them  at  all. 
I  have  learned  from  experience  the  truth  for  myself, 
and  would  save  my  sisters  the  pain  of  learning.  I  well 
remember  the  feeling  of  relief  I  experienced  when  I 
was  tired,  and  I  would  slip  away  and  unl*>ok  those 
barbaric  corset  steels  for  a  little  while,  and  I  often  re¬ 
gret  that  some  of  my  sister  women  were  not  brave 
enough  to  advise  me  to  throw  the  deadly  corsets  away. 
That  would  have  been  a  sinful  waste  indeed,  but  I 
might  have  given  them  to  the  poor  !  For,  no  matter 
how  poor  a  woman  might  be,  corsets  were  indis¬ 
pensable  ;  in  fact  they  were  and  are  considered  by  some 
among  the  necessities  of  life. 
But,  when  such  women  as  Frances  Willard  say  that 
corsets  have  filled  more  graves  than  whisky  ;  and, 
when  the  subject  is  discussed  in  such  public  places  as 
the  Chautauqua  Circle  by  ladies  of  prominence  and 
culture,  and  the  arguments  are  always  of  the  same 
tenor — life  and  health  on  one  side  and  corsets,  invalid¬ 
ism  and  death  on  the  other — women  of  sense  should  not 
be  slow  to  choose  :  this  especially  where  there  is  no 
advantage  to  be  gained  by  deliberating,  unless  it  is 
that  if  you  keep  the  corset  you  may  continue  to  wear 
the  fashionable  long,  slender  waisted  dresses  which 
have  been  popular  so  long,  for  a  short  time  longer. 
If  you  give  them  up  now,  you  may  live  to  wear  the 
beautiful  fabrics  which  will  be  made  up  intoteagowns, 
wrappers,  loose  waists  and  the  princess  and  Grecian 
styles  which  are  sure  to  find  favor  again,  and  who  will 
dare  to  say  that,  with  the  health  which  will  attend 
such  dress  reform,  our  women  will  not  appear  to  as 
good  advantage  as  those  slim- waisted,  narrow-souled 
creatures  who  cling  to  corsets  with  one  hand  and  point 
to  the  grave  with  the  other  ?  Let  us  farmers’  wives 
and  daughters  show  our  good  sense  by  immediately 
adopting  the  sensible  styles  that  are  offered  us  which 
will  enable  us  to  say  good-by  to  corsets  forever. 
ALICE  E.  PINNEY. 
The  Latest  on  Cookery  for  the  Sick. 
SPECIAL  REPORT  OF  MRS.  RORER’S  LECTURE. 
E  desire  to  call  the  especial  attention  of  our 
readers  to  certain  recipes  given  by  Mrs.  Rorer 
in  a  late  lecture.  They  have  an  uausual  value,  because 
they  represent  the  greatest  advance  in  the  line  of 
dietetics  for  the  sick  known  to  the  best  physicians  of 
the  day.  The  recipe  for  kumyss,  given  some  weeks 
ago,  was  one  of  these.  Matzoom  is  a  sort  of  attenuated 
kumyss — homeopathic,  one  might  say — which  may 
sometimes  be  assimilated  when  even  kumyss  fails. 
MATZOOM. — Begin  as  with  kumyss,  omitting  sugar, 
that  is,  make  one-lialf  pint  of  milk  lukewarm,  add  one- 
fourtli  of  a  compressed  yeast  cake,  incorporate  it  com¬ 
pletely  with  the  milk,  bottle  tightly  and  let  stand  for 
12  hours  in  a  comfortable  temperature.  Now  add  two 
tablespoon fuls  only  of  this  mixture  to  a  fresh  half¬ 
pint  of  lukewarm  milk,  bottle  as  before,  and  let  stand 
12  hours;  repeat  with  fresh  milk,  using  always  for  a 
ferment  two  tablcspoonfuls  of  the  previous  product, 
until  the  fifth  potency  is  reached.  It  is  now  two  days 
old.  Now  add  the  half-pint  of  product  to  two  quarts 
of  luke-warm  milk,  bottle,  tie  down,  stand  12  hours  in 
a  warm  place,  then  place  in  refrigerator  exactly  as 
with  kumyss.  Mrs.  Rorer  instanced  its  value  by  tell¬ 
ing  of  a  patient  who  lay  at  the  point  of  death  for  many 
months,  but  was  kept  alive  by  matzoom,  the  only 
thing  that  the  stomach  would  retain  for  a  moment. 
Beef-tea. — Prefacing  the  recipe  by  the  statement 
that  the  juices  of  beef,  being  largely  albumen,  are 
rendered  wholly  indigestible  by  cooking,  Mrs.  Rorer 
gave  the  recipe  for  perfect  beef-tea  as  follows  :  Use 
one  pint  of  water  to  each  pound  of  very  finely  chopped 
meat.  Cover  the  beef,  freed  from  all  fat,  with  the 
water,  cold,  (in  a  granite  or  porcelain  kettle,  because 
the  juices  of  meat  are  acid).  Set  in  a  cool  place  two 
hours,  first  adding  one-lialf  teaspoonful  of  salt  to  draw 
out  the  juices,  and  mashing  the  particles  apart  as 
much  as  possible.  The  vital  point  is  not  to  cook  the 
mixture.  Cooks  try  to  please  the  palate  and  forget 
the  mucous  lining  of  the  stomach.  When  ready  to 
use,  this  beef-tea  is  to  be  brought  carefully  to  the 
steaming  point  merely;  it  must  not  be  cooked.  The 
lecturer  stated  beef-tea  to  be,  contrary  to  the  usual 
impression,  entirely  without  nutritive  value.  It  pre¬ 
vents  waste  of  tissue,  but  is  more  dangerous  as  a  stim- 
lant  than  brandy.  One  patient  was  stimulated  into  the 
insane  asylum  with  beef-tea. 
Barley  Water. — This  is  often  the  most  valuable  in 
rendering  milk  assimilable.  Place  in  a  granite  kettle 
four  tablespoonfuls  of  pearled  barley,  cover  with 
two  quarts  of  boiling  water,  boil  five  minutes,  and 
drain.  This  removes  the  seam  dirt  from  the  grain. 
Cover  the  barley  with  two  quarts  of  freshly-boiled 
water,  cover  the  vessel,  and  let  it  simmer  gently  about 
two  hours,  or  until  reduced  to  one  quart.  Strain  with 
the  utmost  care,  as  a  single  grain,  lodging  within  a 
typhoid  intestinal  ulcer,  might  cause  death  in  a  few 
hours.  One  part  of  barley  water  to  be  used  with  two 
parts  of  milk.  In  this  connection,  Mrs.  Rorer  asserted 
with  positiveness  that  typhoid  fever,  rheumatism,  gout 
and  diabetes  were  absolutely  curable  without  medi¬ 
cine  ;  that  the  tendency  of  typhoid  especially  was 
always  to  get  well.  This  is  why  careful  nursing  is  so 
essential.  Typhoid  ulcers  catch  heavy  food,  and,  if 
diet  is  not  watched  with  the  utmost  care,  a  patient 
three  weeks  out  of  bed  is  almost  as  apt  to  die  as  one 
still  in  bed.  This  keen  watchfulness  must  be  exer¬ 
cised  from  the  very  first  until  14  days  after  the  tem¬ 
perature  is  normal.  The  movement  of  the  patient  in 
the  bed  is  another  point  demanding  constant  care  for 
the  same  reason ;  violent  movement  may  break 
the  thinned  intestinal  walls  and  cause  immediate 
death.  The  ulcers  are  sometimes  as  large  as  the  top 
of  a  pepper-box. 
Barthelow’s  Food. — A  concentrated  food,  of  which 
a  tablespoonful  is  equal  to  a  pint  of  beef  tea  ;  th’S  is 
especially  excellent  in  chronic  diarrhea  and  bowel 
troubles.  Oue  enthusiastic  patient  who  lived  on  it 
alone  for  a  long  time,  named  it  “  ye  perfecte  lunch,” 
and  had  the  recipe  printed  for  distribution  among  his 
friends.  Two  tablespoonfuls  of  granulated  sago  are 
added  to  one-half  pint  of  cold  milk,  and  the  mixture 
is  placed  in  a  farina  boiler  for  20  minutes,  or  until  the 
sago  is  perfectly  clear.  Have  ready  one-half  pint  of 
cold  beef  tea  made  as  already  directed.  Stir  well  to 
get  all  the  fibrine,  bring  to  the  steaming  point,  add 
another  half  teaspoonful  of  salt,  and  press  through  a 
coarse  sieve.  Add  this  to  the  sago;  as  soon  as  it  reaches 
the  scalding  point  only,  remove  from  the  fire,  add  the 
yolk  of  one  egg,  and  place  at  once  in  the  refrigerator. 
Heat  only  as  much  as  is  needed  at  each  serving  ;  serve 
as  hot  as  possible  without  bringing  to  the  boiling  point. 
Frothed  Egg. — Break  up  the  albumen  by  beating 
until  very  light,  with  a  pinch  of  salt.  Put  it  into  a 
cup,  stir  until  smooth,  and  make  a  tiny  hollow  for  the 
yolk.  Turn  the  yolk  in,  add  a  dash  of  salt,  and  stand 
the  cup  in  a  covered  saucepan  containing  about  two 
inches  of  boiling  water.  Cook  two  minutes ;  take  out, 
put  a  tiny  piece  of  butter  on  the  top,  and  serve  in  the 
hot  cup.  In  this  way,  almost  any  one  can  eat  cooked 
egg  without  harm. 
The  lecturer  mentioned,  incidentally,  that,  no  mat¬ 
ter  what  the  disease,  a  pepper  corn,  a  blade  of  mace, 
a  bay  leaf,  or  celery  seed  might  be  used  for  flavoring 
soups  and  beef  teas  without  harm  to  the  patient. 
We  cannot  explain  how  a  man  gains  a 
pound  a  day  by  taking  an  ounce  a  day  of 
Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil — it  hap¬ 
pens  sometimes. 
It  is  food  that  he  can  digest ;  we  under¬ 
stand  that.  But  it  must  be  more  than 
food  to  give  more  than  the  whole  of  itself. 
He  has  been  losing  flesh  because  he 
did  not  get  from  his  food  the  fat  he 
needed.  Scott’s  Emulsion  sets  his  ma¬ 
chinery  working  again. 
Shall  we  send  you  a  book  on  careful 
living?  Free. 
Scott  &  Bownk,  Chemists,  132  South  5th  Avenue,  New  York. 
Your  druggist  keeps  Scott’s  Emulsion  of  cod-liver  oil— all  druggists 
everywhere  do.  $1. 
