THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Domestic (Enmctnj). 
CONDUCTED 3Y EMILY MAPLE 
THAT COFFEE. 
A few days since I bought at a grocery a few 
pounds of coffee, had a portion of it roasted 
in our own stove oven, had some of it for break¬ 
fast next day, when the question was raised 
“ What ails the coffee?" Bad roasting, bad set¬ 
tling, lack of cream, poor quality, were all sug¬ 
gested and given up as untenable. Bridget, who 
roasted it, was appealed to without a solution of 
t ho problem. Iliad thus far, as in duty bound, 
remained silent; but finally expressed mv opin¬ 
ion that only one thing ailed it, and that was 
“ ’twa'n’t” good. Next day it was no better, and 
my wife said “ Hmell of it-’’ I detected nothing 
but a mingled perfume of sugar, cream and 
bad coffee. I presented the dish of roasted cof¬ 
fee to my olfactories. Bah!—dead mouse! No 
mistake! 1 had become too well acquainted 
with that perfume by having to remove from 
traps those dead for some time. I remembered, 
too, that coffee had a peculiar faculty of receiv¬ 
ing or taking up odors, and also that heating 
sometimes brought out odors that were not 
otherwise sensible. 
This gavtf rise to a lecture from me on the 
grocery business as now conducted. I was once 
ft grocer myself, long, long ago, and I never al¬ 
lowed tea, coffee, crackers, rice or anything edi¬ 
ble to stand uncovered. The tea had a sheet- 
lead cover, and woe to the clerk who left it un¬ 
covered. Bat now, you go into a fashionable 
grocery-and you find displayed in open packages 
accessible to cats and dogs, rats and mice, Hies, 
dust, and all manner of scents and impurities, 
dozomj of samples of tea, sugar, and coffee by 
the side of butter, onions, fish, and perhaps de¬ 
caying vegetables and fruits. No wonder that 
you don’t got good buiter that has been through 
ft grucory store, nor that your coffee smelts of 
dead mice. Temperance, municipal and civil 
Rei vice reforms, arc now the most popular orders 
of the day, and 1 propose to wld to these most 
desirable reforms, reform lu the grocery busi¬ 
ness in which 1 propose—if allowed—to take ac- 
ti° n - Viellaud. 
THAT BAD RECIPE. 
If the conductor of the Domestic Economy 
Department found “How to Make Bu iff wheat - 
Oakes,” in the Rural of October 20th, a ••find 
recipe” she couldn’t have given i a. fair trial. 
There must havo been something lacking, for 
my mother, who is considered as goon a cook as 
the country affords, has made stacks of thorn, 
in the same way. so delicious that when placed 
on the tablo they disappeared like frost before 
the sud. It is nothing unusual for us to havo 
our buckwheat, or any other griddle-oakes, 
“ stirred up” and ready to be eaten within thirty 
minutes time, thus avoiding til standing around 
in the way, and all odor. Nice griddle-cakea of 
three parts Graham Hour and one of o< in meal 
can be made after the name directions. 
CrEKALDUtE GeHICANE. 
REMARKS. 
My experience with griddle-cakes—whether of 
buckwheat, Indian meal, or of wheat flour has 
been that when made of sour milk and soda 
alone, they were invariably sticky and raw with¬ 
in. I prononneed that buck wheat-on ko recipe 
had, becai.so I had never made buck wheat- 
cakes with the stated ingredients, tuat proved 
satisfactory. There is, especially with Imekwheat- 
flour when ucruised, a raw taste, which to me, 
at least, is very unpalatable. Iu fact, as a rule, 
1 mo yeast, in all kinds of griddle-cates, and 
fchould l use sour milk and so la I would add, 
except for buck wheat-cakes, two or tmeo eggs 
to each quart of milk, the beaten yolks stirred in 
with the milk, flour ami salt, tho soda and whites, 
beaten to a froth, tho last thing. My buck- 
wheat-cukes I make as follows: Pour into a pint 
of new milk one pint of hot water and thicken 
with about five teacups of pure buckwheat flour : 
beat leiy smooth and add suit, one tablespoonfill 
of molasses, and a small teacup of potato yeast; 
stir, and let it rise in a warm place over night 
Tliis I do just before retiring. In the morning I 
do not stir tlie batter but as I bufce take out 
carefully with alargo spoon. The small quantity 
reserved in the stone crock to raise the cakes 
the following night, Z keep in a cool place until 
needed. I also start the cakes afresh ouco a 
week, washing and scalding the crock thor¬ 
oughly. 
I should be pleased, Miss Germane, if you 
would state tho exact quantity of flour, sour 
milk and soda used to mucufueturo those buck¬ 
wheat cakes w hich “ dirappeared like frost be¬ 
fore the sun,” for as you say. there may have 
been something lacking in my- way of preparing 
them. 
--*-«-*-—— 
QUESTION. 
Will Emily Maple please answer tho follow¬ 
ing questions on etiquette at the table .-—First 
When ono is served, should he commence 
eating at ono3, or wait until all are helped? 
Second.—When rending tho plate to be refilled, 
should the knife and fork be loft upon it, or 
should they be removed ? A Bubal Friend. 
ANSWER. 
First.—The determination of this question is 
arbitrary and the propriety or impropriety must 
be fixed by rule. Tho rule laid down is that 
each guest should commence eating as soon as he 
is helped. This nee-ms to me to have something 
of unseemly haeto about it, and for my part, I 
have always preferred tho old-faBhioned method 
of wailing until all are helped; nevertheless, 
persons who are guided in such matters by se¬ 
vere etiquette recognize the rule. 
Second —Until of late it has been the custom 
to leave the knife and fork upon the side of the 
plate. But now it is deemed bettor to take 
both off resting them upon a piece of bread or 
napkin-ring. 
BY Dll. GOODENOUGH. 
The name, diphtheria, originated from tho 
term diphtherite — a derivative of the Greek 
*ord, diphthera, a membrane—first applied by 
IIRETONNEAU, in 1821, to a disease which had 
previously beer: known by a variety of Latin ap¬ 
pellations «ud not a few English ones, such as 
malignant sOro throat, epidemic croup, etc. It is 
this recent introduction of the word that has led 
many to think that tho malady it represents is 
also of recent origin. Its first recorded outbreak- 
in this country, however, was away back in 1735, 
when it appeared, in May, at Kingston, Now 
Hampshire. From that point it spread gradually 
during upwards of a year, w ith disastrous effects 
throughout the country, reaching Boston, fifty 
mhos southward, iu September, and before its 
disappearance at the clooe of the following sum¬ 
mer, extending its ravages as far ss North Caro¬ 
lina. During this visitation, it was known by 
tho name of “the throat distemper," and either 
owing to the virulence or its typo or the ignor¬ 
ance of contemporaneous physicians as to its 
proper treatment or, perhaps; to both causes, it 
proved peculiarly fatal. Of the first forty who 
had it, not one recovered ; and among the sparse 
population of New Hampshire alone, upwards of 
a thousand perished by it, mostly children, niue- 
tenths of the victims having been under twmty- 
oilO years of age. From that time dowu to 
1851-5, only a few sporadic cases wire observed, 
hut tiiieo the latter date, it has repeatedly ap- 
P< - 1 red in an epidemic form in different parts of 
the country, and at the present day seems to be 
unusually prevalent. 
Iu this ailment a false membrane, accompan¬ 
ied by inflammation, appears almost invariably 
iu tho throat, it sometimes extends, more or 
less, over tho mucous surface within the mouth 
and nostrils. It also is not infrequently pro¬ 
duced witbiu the larnyx or windpipe, and then 
the chances of recovery are few. os death gen¬ 
erally lakes place from suffocation. In fatal 
casts in which the windpipe is not affected, death 
is usually due to exhaustion. Paralysis of the 
mu-eles of the throat, or of tho lower limbs, or 
of an upper -ud lower limb on one side, frequent¬ 
ly occurs ss a sequel to the malady. Strabismus, 
or squinting, as well as injury to the hearing, 
taste and smell, are also rarer consequences of 
the disease. These various affections arc as 
likely to follow mild as severe forms of tho dis¬ 
order. and generally occur within a few weeks of 
the patient's convalescence. As a rule, however, 
when recovery takes place, it is complete ; but 
in such cases it leaves the sufferer feeble and 
bloodless for a considerable time, and sudden 
death from fainting tits due to some muscular 
effort, lias repeatedly happened after convales¬ 
cence ; houco the necessity of quietude until tho 
patient’s strength has been restored. 
In almost every case the first symptoms of 
the disease are a slight linskiuesa iu the voice 
and a weakness of uIterance. These are gener¬ 
ally soon followed by a high fever and more 
severe trouble with the throat. On examining 
the priate and tonsils there will be seen a whit¬ 
ish exudation of various shapes and from the 
size of a pin’s head to that of a tive-cent piece— 
not like pus, loose and capable of being easily 
detached, hut tough, like wash-leather. If the 
lUsoa'Jc is not checked, this spot—the commence¬ 
ment of the false membrane from which the 
malady derives its name—grows larger and 
thicker until, like a dirty whitish bridge, it 
stie fdies from one tonsil to the other, and in¬ 
vades tlie upper and lower wind-pipe as well as 
tlie bronclucil tubes, unless life is sooner 
ended. Upon it is frequently found a parasitic 
fungus, the sports and s purities of a crypto- 
gami*) plant, lo the presence of which some eon- 
sider tho disease is due, while others deem that 
these mo merely incidental to the local affec¬ 
tion. Other symptoms are muscular weakness, 
extreme listlesfmcss, greater difficulty in swal¬ 
lowing liquids than solids, swelling of the glands 
of the throat, f tertorious respiration, and com¬ 
plete loss of appetite—the last a very unfavor¬ 
able sign. 
It has long been a mooted question whether 
this disease is spread by contagion or infection, 
that is, by contact, the breath or bodily effluvia, 
or by a hidden miasmatic influence. Recent 
developments, howover, strongly indicate that 
it is propagated in both ways. Persons between 
three and twelve years old are most likely to be 
affected by it, but no uge is exempt from liability 
to it, and like measles or the amall-pox, the 
danger from it increases with the age of those 
whom it attacks. It is moBt frequent and 
malignant wherever dampness and dirt prevail, 
and one of tho best preventives is a scrupulous 
attention to cleanliness. Abundant sunlight, 
dryness, cleanliness and pure air, ventilation of 
living and sleeping rooms, disinfection and 
abolishment of overflowing cesspools, undrained 
cellars, decaying garbage, defective sink traps, 
leaky drain-pipes, and all other sources of foul¬ 
ness are the best safe-guards against this devas¬ 
tating malady. 
The chief objects of tho treatment in this dis¬ 
ease are to mitigate tho symptoms and to sup¬ 
port the vital powers by tho judicious employ¬ 
ment of tonic remedies, nutritious food, and al¬ 
coholic stimulants. The latter are often given 
iu large quantities without producing any excit¬ 
ing or intoxicating effects, and are, without 
doubt, frequently the means of saving life. 
Numerous specifics are advertised for this ail¬ 
ment ; but the frequent fatality that still attends 
its attacks is sufficient proof that tho best of 
these are only partially successful. If treated 
iu its early stages, its dangers mu vastly dimin¬ 
ished, and on the appearance of it* first symp¬ 
toms the services of a skillful physician should 
be promptly obtained. Whenever a ease occurs 
in a family, tho sick person should be at ouce 
isolated, and nursed if possible, by ono person 
only ; the sick room should be well warmed, well 
ventilated, exposed to the sunlight and freely 
disinfected, us should also the vessels containing 
the expectoration and other discharges of the 
patient. For this purpose, solutions of nitrate 
of loud and chloride of zinc uro among the best 
disinfectants, as they destroy bad odors without 
causing others. In case of death, the body should 
ho placed us early as practicable in the coffin, 
with disinfectants, and the hd at. once tightly 
screwed down. Children certainly, and generally 
adults also, should not congregate for a funeral 
at a house where death has occurred from diph¬ 
theria. 
jlnnttiftt ant) fcful. 
ALKALIES. 
BY ENOCH SPENCER. 
The chemical term Alkali is derived from the 
two Arabic words al, tlie, and qoli , the ashes of 
the plant glass-wort which yield soda. It is 
applied to a group of compound substances, 
among whoso characteristic properties are the 
following: They have a bitter, acrid, burning 
taste, without acidity; they are many of them 
exceedingly caustic, destroying animal and veg- 
i table tissues ; they are so extremely soluble iu 
water that they combine with it in every pro¬ 
portion ; they unite with oils and fats, and by 
this union form, tho well known compound 
called soap; they change vegetable blue to 
green, red to yellow, and yellow to a reddish- 
brown, and if blue lias been reddened by an acid, 
they restore t lie Original color. Their chief dis¬ 
tinguish ing peculiarity, however, is them strong 
affinity for acids with which they readily com¬ 
bine to from a alia, thus neutra’izmg the prop¬ 
erties of tho acids, and losing t heir own. For in¬ 
stance, sulphuric acid, along with the other prop¬ 
erties of acids, is extra i eiy sour and corrosive, 
while pure soda has the alkaline characteristics 
just enumerated; but when this acid is poured 
upon Boda. they form a new substance, sulph¬ 
ate of soda—or Glauber’s salts—which has prop¬ 
erties entirely different from . hose of cither of 
the substances ot which it is composed. 
Fonueriy they were divided into two classes— 
fixed and volatile. The former included pota sh, 
known also as a vegetable alkali, because it was 
generally procured from the ashes of vegetables; 
and soda called, likewise, a mineral alkali, be¬ 
cause it was principally obtained from the incin¬ 
eration of marine plants. Neither of these, 
however, although found abundantly in plants, 
are vegetable alkalies, as they were proved by 
Sir Humphry Davy, in 1807, to be oxides of pot¬ 
assium mid sodium or chemical compound* of 
oxygen with these metals. Ammonia was callel 
the volatile alkali, because it readily evaporated; 
but this also has lately been proved to be an 
oxide of the metal ammonium. 
Among modern chemists there is no little 
difference of practice with regard to the sub¬ 
stances that should be included under the term 
Alkali; for while all agree that the compounds 
just enumerated, with some others more rarely 
met with, are true alkalies ; there is a good deal 
of divergence of opinion with regard to including 
under this heading some of the allied alkaline 
earths and alkaloids. 
The alkaline earths, such as lime, magnesia, 
and strontia, derive their name from the fact 
that they possess some of tho properties of 
alkalies, snch as neutralizing acids and changing 
vegetable colors. The alkaloids are, in reality, 
vegetable alliolios aud possess the property of 
uniting with acids lo form salts, the same as the 
ammonia, while many of them have the power 
of affecting vegetable colors, the same as the 
alkalies with metallic bases, from which, how¬ 
ever, they differ in that they aro insoluble or 
only slightly soluble in water; alcohol being 
their best solvent, while ether, chloroform and 
hydrocarbons dissolve some of them. They are 
divided into two classes: volatile liquids and 
permanent solids. Of the former only three are 
known, coniine, nicotine and spartino. Of the 
latter upwards of a bundled have already been 
discovered. Some of the best known of these 
are quinia, morphia, strychnia aoonitina and 
coffeino. Most of them possess powerful medi¬ 
cinal properties. Many artificial alkaloids havo 
been made,of recent years, in which phosphorous 
arsenic and antimony occupy the place of 
nitrogen, an essential constituent of all natural 
alkaloids. Of them tho most important is 
aniline. 
-*♦-*- 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL, 
The Latest Mechanical Makvel i 3 called 
“ the phonograph,” and its peculiar achieve¬ 
ment is the recording of speech by a series of 
indentations upon paper in such a fray that it 
may be multiplied and accurately reproduced at 
any future timo. A strip of indented paper trav¬ 
els through a little machine, the sounds of the 
latter are magnified, and posterity centuries 
hence hear us as plainly as if we wen 1 present. 
Speech has become, as if it were, itnmoi t d. The 
Scientific American says, “ The possibilities of 
(be future are not much more wonderful than 
those of the present. Tho orator in Boston 
speaks, the indented strip of paper is the tan¬ 
gible result ; but this travels unde r a second ma¬ 
chine which may connect with a telephone. Not 
only is the speaker heard now in San Francisco 
for example, but by passing tho strip again un¬ 
der the reproducer, ho may be heard to-morrow, 
oruext year, or uexl century. His speech in 
the first instance is recorded and transmitted si¬ 
multaneously, and indefinite ropititiou is possi¬ 
ble. “The new invention is purely mechanical 
—no electricity is involved. It is a simple affair 
of vibrating plates, thrown into vibration by the 
human voice. It is crude yet, but tlie principle 
has been found, and modifications and improve¬ 
ments arc only a matter of time. Nor are we re¬ 
stricted to spoken words. Music may be crystal- 
ized as well. Imagine an opera or an oratorio, 
sung by the greatest living vocalists, thus re¬ 
corded, and capable of being repeated as we de¬ 
sire.” Mr. Thomas A. Edison, the Inventor of 
one variety of tho telephone, is the originator of 
this remarkable device. 
(tbcrifliiljm. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
.steubkn County, N. Y. 
The present year seems to be one of encour¬ 
agement to the fanner. Nearly all crops have 
been abundant, in this section. A part of 
May was quite dry—so dry, iu fact, a* to cause 
farmers to begin to look rather alarmed in re¬ 
gard to the coming hay crop ; but. after it be¬ 
gan to be showery, the grass took a start and 
grew very fast, so that the hay crop was fully 
up to the average. Although it was wet enough 
for all crops, we had no long rain during haying, 
and, therefore, the crop was secured in fine 
condition. Wheat, both wiuter and spring, was 
more than an average crop. One of our hill 
farmers informed the writer, a short time since, 
that he raised the past season, eighty bushels of 
wheat from two acres. With such facts in view, 
is it not strange that so many of our young men 
are not contented here, at home, where are all 
the advantages of railroads, good home markets 
and civilization, hut wish to “ go west,” where 
they are sure to meet disadvantages without 
number, and most especially if they go without 
capital ? Young man, better stay on the old 
farm in Steuben ; for if you will take hold 
in earnest, you can do far better here than 
to go to Texas, or Kansas either. Farmers 
do not fear the Colorado beetle as formerly, for 
they have learned how to deal with it. A large 
area was planted to potatoes this year and as 
they proved a good crop, they are very cheap. 
