Year: 1875

Every branch Of science, says Serb


Ter's Magazine, has its marvels; but,
expecting to meet in nature with


wonders that battle knowledge, We
are not so much astOnished 81 these
as at the startling facts that are forced
upon US from day to day in social life.
I Some of the most surprising of these


confront Us in the developments Of
| the science OF housekeeping. They


are entirely beyond explanation, and


would be beyond belief If they rested
on mere sertion but as all OF US uc-


fortunately, have tested them by our
own senses, we accept them with


some show Of resignation.
Take an important branch of house


keeping-cookery. How inexplicabis
are some OF the results of culinary
study. A woman with whom We
once lived for time had kept house
for thirty-five years, had never had a


servant, and had, during that time, rs


she informed us, "baked twice q week


regular" Consequently, to go into


the statistics of the matter, bread had


been baked in that establishment
8, $40 times. Deducting 240 for Occa-
sional sickness or absence of the mis-


tress Ia large allowance, for she was


healthy, and seldom went from hOme)
and we have 3,4O0 times that this wO-


man had made and baked bread.


She used good flour, and yet her


bread was invariably damp, sticky,


and unfit for a savage to eat, and 10


Christian stomach could possibly di-
gsst it with comfort. Now surely


this was a wonderful thing By what


methods unfathomable to ordinary


reason coald she have avoided in
thirty-fve years practice learning


how to make good yeast, how much


to work the dough, how long IL should
stand to get light, what temperature


the oven should be, and the proper


length of time to bake it ? How could
she help doing it right the three thou
sand four hundredth time? 1t would
seem that vast amount of labor
would be necessary to do it badly
She was woman of average good
sense, and, no doubt, conscientious.
She had no aspirations and no mis-
sion," and read nothing but weekly
religious newspaper. Her whole mind
was in her housekeeping, aud here
was the result


Another woman, now over so years
of age, has cooked more or less, gen.
orally more, since she was II. She
has a special liking for lamb chops,
and has cooked them very many |
times. And to this day she serves up |
liver-colored chops, fried, and swim
ming in a greasy liquid Merely |
looking at them will give a right
minded person dyspepsia. This wO-
man has eaten lamb chops elsewhere, |
cooked according to the best civilized |
methods, and has praised them (; but
each time she returns serenely to her
frying-pan and grease. Now upon
what hypothesis can this be explain
ed ? Can it be possible that there are
human beings so constituted that
their bodies and minds act indepen-
IDENTIFY, so that the sensation of taste
has no mental effect whatever For
in these instances the results were
not the effect of carelessness or indif-
ference-they both thought the bor-
rid denominations were for the gods.


And not the least curious thing in
these cases is that these poor cooks
have sharp eyes for tie faults of the
butcher and the baker. The butcher
knows better than to offer stale or
tough chop to No. 3 and il the baker
were 10 serve No. with such bread
as she makes herself she would refuse
to pay for it, entirely unconscious of
the reflection she would thus cast up
on herself.


Why do some hOusekeepers contin-
ue, week after week, month after
month, and year after year, to use
raw flour for "thickening ?' Would
it not be reasonable to suppose that
after a number of years say ten-the
raw flour, and the sickness of the /
would suggest to them the
ofaltering their manner of
it ?


We have suggested but few things
that happened to occur to US, and
belong to only one branch of
but if we were to pur-
sue our inquiries into other depart
ments we should be met at every turn |
with phenomena similar to the above. |
They indicate the existence in the /
midst of cur home life of marvels that |
science has so far failed to explain,
and for which reason can find no law. |