The record-union., 1892-11-26
ELECTRICITY IN THE KITCHEN.

Here we have scientific journal declar-
ing the possibilities for electricity in the
kitchen. Speed the day when they may
be developed and the fuel question be
settled-not so much its cost as its annoy
ance. If there comes into the kitchen
sufficient electrical heat to do our cook
ing, so it will enter our living rooms.
Then will disappear the annual tribula-
tion about the winters fuel supply, the
nuisance of kindlng and the preparation
of the coalbin or woodbox each day for
the twenty-four hours run.
Domestic service Will become more in
viting, because less Iaborious; our food
will be better cooked, because the heat
needed can be accurately adjusted to the
demand, and for each dish will be sepa-
ratelyprovided, according to the necessity
of the end to be accomplished. There
Will be no more cleaning of chimneys;
indeed, space will be econonized by the
elimination of the chimney from house
construction, and the substitution of
small tlues to carry off foul vapors and
the fumes from cooking. There viii be
no ashes to take up; careless servants
will not be able to burn us out by de-
posting live Goals in wooden boxes at the
rear of the house. There win be no stove
and ash dust to be blown about: neither
north nor east wind will send the s'draf''
downward through stove or range, to fill
the house with smoke.
On shivering mornings under the
new promised system no one need to
''turn out' to start the fires to warm the
dwelling for the family; the turn of but
ton at the headboard of ones bed will
suffice to set things aglow and prepare
the atmosphere for our morning air
bath.
Servant maids and serving men will
find their lots so much easier and so
greatly better cast that they will become
more amiable, accomplish more work,
have service more timely rendered and
duty more promptly performed. This
will relieve the housewife of a world of
worry, preserve the gentleness of her dis
position and enhance the amiability of
her character. As this operates upon the
temper of her husband the benignity of
his countenance will reflect greater con-
tent with his castle and love for his home,
with corresponding radiation from this
paternal head of the sweet influences of
peace and kindliness.
So from kitchen 10 nursery and boudoir
to iving-room the introduction of resist
ance coils into the kitchen stove. is to
augment human happiness, contribute to
strengthen home ties, domestic bonds.
marital content, and parental regard: and
so the world viii be the better and hap
pier, and society the stronger-all for the
electric spark in the kitchen.
How soon may this dawn of the mil
lenium be looked for? Not long distant
let us hope Will be the time Of its advent,
As yet electric heating is in its infancy;
It is somewhat in use in England
as g luxury, and is being here
and there tried in this country
1t is not only immature, but it is too ex-
pensive, and the output of power and the
results attained are too uneconomicallv
disproportionate. But it will be on the
safe side to predict that before our babies
in long clothes have reached the knicker-
booker stage, there viii be developments
of the possibilities of electricity in the
kitchen that will astonish us.
Where power is cheap the people will
soonest get a glimpse of the promised
day. Where power is costly they must
wait until it is cheapened. For like all
else in the achievements of electrical
science there must be initial independent
motive power. Nikola Tesla and Edison
both hold out to us faint hopes, which
are constantly growing brighter, OF
gathering electrical potenhality from the
electrical ether that they claim pervades
all space in our atmosphere, and possibly
in the universe. If that is accomplished
the problem of initial independent motive
power will be reduced to the lowest unit
of solution.
Aladdin had but to rub the lamp to
command the presence and an-powerful