[D]Since the end of the seventeenth century—i. e., since a time when medical delusions made every hospital a death trap—longevity has slightly increased, but, as compared with the first century of our chronological era, it has enormously decreased. Peasants outlive men of letters, and yet the records of the ancients show that nearly half their poets, statesmen and philosophers were centenarians. If the years of the patriarchs were solar years their average longevity was 280 years; if they were seasons (of six months), at least 120 years. The Bible years were certainly notmonths, for men who “saw their children and children’s children,” can not have died before their thirtieth year.
[D]Since the end of the seventeenth century—i. e., since a time when medical delusions made every hospital a death trap—longevity has slightly increased, but, as compared with the first century of our chronological era, it has enormously decreased. Peasants outlive men of letters, and yet the records of the ancients show that nearly half their poets, statesmen and philosophers were centenarians. If the years of the patriarchs were solar years their average longevity was 280 years; if they were seasons (of six months), at least 120 years. The Bible years were certainly notmonths, for men who “saw their children and children’s children,” can not have died before their thirtieth year.
[D]Since the end of the seventeenth century—i. e., since a time when medical delusions made every hospital a death trap—longevity has slightly increased, but, as compared with the first century of our chronological era, it has enormously decreased. Peasants outlive men of letters, and yet the records of the ancients show that nearly half their poets, statesmen and philosophers were centenarians. If the years of the patriarchs were solar years their average longevity was 280 years; if they were seasons (of six months), at least 120 years. The Bible years were certainly notmonths, for men who “saw their children and children’s children,” can not have died before their thirtieth year.
BY BYRON D. HALSTED, SC. D.
Barley(Hordeum vulgare[1]) is thought by some historians to be the oldest of the cultivated grains. Professor Brewer says it was the chief bread plant of the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. There are several varieties, the principal ones being the two-rowed and the six-rowed. Like wheat and rye, barley is both a spring and winter grain; though with us the seed is usually sown in the spring.
Barley is the most hardy cereal, and may be successfully cultivated over the widest range of climate. It is grown in central Siberia, northern Russia, and in Lapland to latitude 70°. At the opposite extreme, barley flourishes in semi-tropical countries. In 1880 the area of barley in the United States was 1,997,717 acres, with a yield of 44,113,495 bushels. The average yield, therefore, is not far from twenty-five bushels per acre. Though adapted for a wide range of growth, its cultivation is principally confined to a few states, the leading ones of which are California, with twelve and a half million bushels; New York, seven and two-thirds millions; Wisconsin, five million; Iowa, four millions; and Minnesota, three millions bushels. It will be seen by comparing these figures with the total above given that California and New York produce nearly one half (46 per cent.) of all the barley grown in this country. These two states are very unlike in soil, climate, etc. In California the conditions are not favorable for the growth of oats and corn, and for similar reasons barley is the leading grain in Nevada and Arizona. The cultivation of this crop in New York and other eastern states has been stimulated by the great demand for the grain in the manufacture of beer. It has proved more profitable than wheat in many localities, especially where the latter grain has been infested with the Hessian fly. It is interesting to note that Pennsylvania produces less than half a million bushels, or not over one eighth as much as New York. This only shows, as is abundantly illustrated in many other cases, that market, soil and climate may have everything to do with the area devoted to any particular crop.
Barley was largely grown by the early settlers of New England, who used the grain for making bread, but for this purpose corn supplanted it in later years, it being better fitted for table dishes. Barley forms an important food for domestic animals, the greater part of the immense quantities grown on the Pacific coast being used for this purpose. Professor Brewer says: “Only a very insignificant quantity is used for food in this country; less than of any other cereal.” “Pearled barley” is the grain with the outer hull removed, and in this condition it is used to a considerable extent in soups and in other foods. The following is the chemical composition of barley, pearled barley and barley meal:
The chemical constituents of barley do not vary greatly from those of wheat. There is more ash and fiber because the hull is thicker. It is seen that the per cent. of these two constituents is much reduced in the analysis of the pearled barley, in which the outer covering is removed. We here have a demonstration of the fact that the starchy matters are more abundant in the central part of the grain, while the albuminoids, ash, fiber, and fat abound near the surface. Barley, when ground into meal, makes a rich feed for live stock.
The chief use now made of barley grown in the eastern states is in the making of beer. Barley has been employed for this purpose from very early times. The old Egyptians made beer, and the ancient Greeks and Romans were acquainted with its manufacture, as well as with its effects upon the human system. The process is as follows: First soak the grain in water, and then allow it to germinate or sprout. Chemical changes take place in the starchy materials of the grain, by which they become soluble in water. After the sprouting has advanced far enough the grain is heated and dried, when the product is called malt. This malt, or kiln-dried sprouted grain is ground or crushed between rollers, and placed in mash tubs with warm water. During this gradual heating the changed starch is dissolved by the water. After the infusion settles the clear liquid is drawn off and boiled in a vessel with hops. The boiling liquid is strained, cooled, and run into the fermentation vats, where yeast is added. During the fermentation a part of the sugar derived from the starch is converted into alcohol. After a refining process the beer is ready to go into the casks. Ale, Scotch ale, small beer, porter, stout, and lager beer are the malt products of barley. The amount of capital now invested in the manufacture of beer is very great, and to those who carefully measure the evils of the beer shop it seems like a very poor place for one’s money.
Barley is imported in large quantities from Canada, in 1880 the amount being over seven million bushels, chiefly for malting. Enormous quantities are imported by Great Britain from several countries, the leading being Turkey, France, Germany and Russia. Professor Brewer says: “The cultivation of barley is doubtless on the increase, and there are many reasons, too, for the belief that its production in America will very greatly increase during the present century.”
The enemies of barley are nearly the same as those of wheat. It is more free from rust and smut, and less liable to be attacked by insects. The crop, though disagreeable to harvest, owing to the penetrating beards and poisonous effects to many who handle the straw, is a comparatively sure one.
Oats(Avena sativa[2]) rank third in importance among the grains grown in the United States. The native country of the oat is not certainly known. “It was cultivated by the prehistoric inhabitants of Central Europe and is found in the remains of the lake habitations[3]in Switzerland.” In Scotlandoats have long been a leading crop for human food, and in compiling his dictionary, Dr. Johnson took occasion to fling a sarcasm at the Scotch by defining oats as being a food for horses in England and for men in Scotland. Had he lived now, and seen how generally oats are employed as an article of human food, his definition would have been far different and much more valuable. It is due to Scotland, in passing, to say that she produces a very superior quality of oats.
There are many varieties of oats, all of which have probably arisen from the same species ofavena. The ordinary oats have the hull or husk adherent to the kernel, and are divided into two classes. In one, the flower cluster branches from both sides of the stem, while in the other, the branches are all upon one side. There is a group of “skinless” sorts, but little grown, in which the husk separates from its contents.
The total area in oats in the United States in 1880 was 16,144,593, with a yield of 467,858,999, or an average of not far from twenty-nine bushels per acre. Illinois, Iowa, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin lead in the amount of oats grown, and in the order mentioned. These five states produce over half of all the oats grown in this country. Maine, Vermont, New York and Wyoming raise more oats than any other grain.
Oats vary greatly in weight per bushel, the heaviest being produced in a cold, moist climate. In Scotland they frequently weigh fifty pounds to the bushel, while with us the legal weight is thirty-two, with a range of from twenty to forty-five pounds to the bushel. Oat straw is much relished by sheep and cattle, and is superior to that of barley or wheat. Oats are grown extensively in some localities as a substitute for hay, and are cut before they begin to ripen. They also make an excellent forage crop, and after being pastured off the ground the soil is left in a fine condition for the next crop.
The chemical composition of oats and oat meal is as follows:
The composition of corn meal and Graham is given for the sake of a convenient comparison. It will be seen that oats, and especially the meal, or flour, is rich in nitrogenous or muscle forming compounds, namely, the albuminoids. There is also a very large per cent. of fat, and less starch than in corn or wheat.
Of the nutritive value of oatmeal Professor Brewer notes: “Whether it is true that oatmeal is actually more wholesome or more nutritious than cracked wheat, for example, is very questionable, but it certainly is more palatable to work people. In the United States oatmeal in any form has been but sparingly used for human food until within a few years, but of late its consumption has increased enormously, many grocers now selling as many barrels a year as they sold pounds less than a score of years ago. This increase in the use of oatmeal is most marked in the cities of the older states, but it has extended to the villages and farms and even to the farthest frontier settlements.”
The enemies to the oat crop are not as many as of wheat. The rust and smut do some injury, as also the insects that feed upon wheat and other cereals.
Rice(Oryza sativa[4]) it is believed enters more largely into the nourishment of the human family than any other plant. It is a native of the East Indies, but is now cultivated in most tropical and sub-tropical climates. The rice plant requires an abundance of water in the soil, and thrives best on land subject to overflow for a portion of the year, or which is artificially flooded. Rice is most largely grown in India, China, Japan and Egypt—India alone producing nearly thirty million bushels per year. The rice grown in this country is confined to eight states, with an area of 174,173 acres in 1879, and a yield of 110,131,373 pounds, averaging 632 pounds per acre. Ninety per cent. of this crop is grown in the three following states: South Carolina, Louisiana, and Georgia. It is seen that the region suited to the growth of rice is much more limited than with the other cereals. The following description of rice growing in the South is from theAmerican Agriculturist: “The method pursued on the rice lands of the lower Mississippi is to sow the rice broadcast about as thick as wheat at the North, and harrow it in with a light harrow having many teeth, the ground being first well plowed and prepared by ditches and embankments for inundation at will. It is generally sown in March. Immediately after sowing the water is let on so as to barely overflow the ground. The water is withdrawn on the second, third or fourth day, or as soon as the grain begins to swell. The rice very soon after comes up and grows finely. When it has attained about three inches in height the water is again let on, the top leaves being left a little above the water. Complete immersion would kill the plant. A fortnight previous to harvest the water is drawn off to give the stalks strength and to dry the ground for the convenience of the reapers.… The same area of ground yields three times as much rice as wheat.… Rice, like hemp, does not impoverish the soil.… The pine barrens of Mississippi would produce ricead infinitumif it were not that the land, after a few years, owing to the sandy nature of the soil, becomes too dry for it.… No variety has been discovered which yields as much out of the water as it does in it.… It flourishes better when overflowed with pure running water than with the stagnant waters of impure lakes and marshes.”
The chemical composition of rice grain is as follows: Water 12.44, ash 0.38, albuminoids 7.44, fiber 0.19, starch, etc. 19.20, fat 0.35. It is seen to contain a less amount of the flesh forming or albuminoid compounds, and a greater per cent. of heat producing or starchy matter, than the other grains. The flour contains so little gluten that it can not be made into light bread. Rice is familiar to all as white, pearly grains, which are employed as the leading ingredient of puddings, etc. The outer covering or husk is removed in the process of threshing, but to separate the inner requires expensive machinery. “The rough rice is first ground between very heavy stones running at a high speed, which partially removes the hull chaff. The grain is conveyed into mortars, where it is pounded for a certain length of time by the alternate rising and falling of very heavy pestles shod with iron. From these mortars elevators carry the rice to the fans which separate the grain from the remaining husks. From here it goes through other fans which divide it into three qualities—‘whole,’ ‘middling’ and ‘small.’ The whole rice is then passed through a polishing screen, lined with gauze wire and sheepskins, which, revolving vertically at the greatest possible speed, gives it the pearly whiteness with which it appears in commerce.” The “small” rice is sometimes ground and employed to adulterate wheat flour. Rice, when prepared in the many forms of puddings, cakes, soups, etc., is very easy of digestion, and is specially fitted for the food of invalids. In Japan, where the rice crop is a leading one, an alcoholic drink calledsakeis made from it. A wine is made in China from this grain, and theArrackof the East is also a rice beverage.
Buckwheat(Polygonnum esculentum[5]). The six grains already treated in this and the preceding article are all members of the great grass family. The remaining cereal belongs to another and distantly related group of plants. Buckwheat is a member of a small family containing the knotweeds, bindweeds, smartweeds, dock and rhubarb. The buckwheat plant in its growth and structure is very different from the grasses. It is supposed to be a native of northern Asia, and has been cultivated for its large, triangular seeds, from very early times. The name is derived from the GermanBuck-weizen, “beech wheat,” the shape of the grain closely resembling that of the beech nut.
The buckwheat crop in the United States for 1879 was 11,817,227bushels, for 848,389 acres, or about fourteen bushels per acre. The increase in the total yield of buckwheat is not keeping pace with the increase in population. New York and Pennsylvania are the leading buckwheat producing states, sixty-eight per cent. of the whole crop of 1879 being grown within their borders. Hilly regions, with a thin soil, that are not suited to other grains, may be profitably devoted to growing buckwheat. It is known as a “wide feeder;” that is, the buckwheat plant produces long, wide-spreading roots which penetrate the poor soil for long distances and gather nourishment over a wide area. On this account this crop is frequently grown on worn-out soil and plowed under while green as a fertilizer, in preparation for some other crop requiring more plant food close at hand in the soil. The period of growth is short, being sown in midsummer and harvested before the autumn frosts have an opportunity to injure it. It frequently serves a good purpose as a second crop where the first has failed from poor seed, bad weather, destructive insects, or one or more of these or other causes. The grain is especially wholesome for poultry, and while the field is in bloom bees harvest a larger store of honey, though not of the best quality.
The chemical composition of buckwheat and its flour is as follows:
The albuminoids are seen to be only about half as abundant as in wheat flour. The fiber (bran) is in large quantity and the starchy matter abounds. As a food buckwheat is less strengthening but somewhat more fattening than wheat. The popular notion that buckwheat when eaten regularly will induce a feverish state of the system and eruption of the skin, is probably well founded. The plant belongs to a family, many members of which have peculiar medicinal principles, and doubtless there is some oil or other substance present in the buckwheat that does not appear in a chemical analysis, though active upon the animal system.
There are very few enemies to the buckwheat plant. So infrequent are the attacks of insects that the crop is recommended by Professor Riley as a means of driving insects away from fields. It is a very cleansing crop as regards weeds also, the rank growth smothering out the various forms of plant pests that may spring up. The buckwheat field is, of course, not exempt from the ravages of those insects like locust and army worms, that devour everything green in their line of march.
Other Cereals.—Small quantities of a number of other cereals have been and are still cultivated in the United States. There are several millets grown for forage, but the aggregate amount is only a trifle compared with the other cereals, and they are not on the increase. One of these millets is quite extensively grown for the dried branches of the seed-bearing tops called the “brush,” and is familiar to every housekeeper as brooms, when attached to long handles. Another variety of the very fertile species,Sorghum vulgare,[6]is the durra or doura grown to some extent in the Southern States as a forage crop. But it is not our purpose to discuss the many varieties of plants that have been experimented with or are grown to only a small extent. Professor Brewer, than whom there is no better authority, and who has been laid under liberal contribution for facts in our two papers on the cereals, says: “The established cereals have been so long cultivated, are so differentiated into varieties, so adapted to different phases of cultivation, and to various uses to which man applies them, that it seems probable that the number will not be materially increased in cultivation, and, moreover, in our agriculture Indian corn so fills a part which in other countries is occupied by a number of other plants, either for forage or bread, that it will doubtless continue to exclude various species whose cultivation is practiced elsewhere.” If we do the best we can with the six cereals now grown we will have no cause for distress.
The cereals furnish the cook materials for many of her most valuable articles of food. Wholesome, easily prepared, and inexpensive, their use on the table can not be too strongly commended. Barley is not in general use among Americans, but the pearled barley ought to form an indispensable article in every larder. In soups it is excellent. The stock for barley soup should be made with the greatest care. Into your soup-kettle—every housewife needs one—put a carefully washed beef bone, and with it all your scraps of cold meat, trimmings from steaks, and bones of chickens, turkey and beefsteak. Put your meat into cold, clear water and for the first half hour allow it but a moderate heat; after that the pot should be placed on the back of the stove, allowing the soup to simmer for four or five hours. This low heat extracts all the juices from the meat, and, this done, the liquor should be strained and allowed to cool. When ready to use the thick layer of grease which forms on the top of the stock should be removed, and the vegetables—the more the better—which are to flavor the soup added. Allow this to simmer until the vegetables have given up their juices, then strain, and into your soup put pepper and salt, with a cup and a half of barley, and allow the whole to come to a boil. Serve hot. Cold and greasy soup is detestable. To prepare the barley for use it should be soaked for several hours and cooked until soft over a slow fire.
Beef with Barley.—Beef is nice served with barley. A beef roast may be garnished with barley which has been boiled, and a steak is oftentimes served in barley. Pieces of cold beef may be warmed over with this cereal in the following way: Mince into dice the scraps of meat, butter a sauce pan thoroughly, pour in a little water and add equal quantities of the minced meat and cold boiled barley. Stir until hot, then pour in two eggs slightly beaten, and stir until the eggs are cooked; season with salt and pepper. Cold mutton may be prepared with rice in the same way.
Barley for the Sick.—“From the times of Hippocrates[1]and Galen,”[2]says a writer, “barley drinks have been in high repute in febrile and inflammatory complaints. They possess mild, soothing qualities, while at the same time they impart nourishment.” Forbarley waterthe following is a standard recipe: Wash pearled barley in four waters, rub two or three pieces of sugar on a lemon cut open and put them in a jug with the washed barley and a few slices of lemon; then pour boiling water over the whole and cover it until it is cold.Barley gruelis made by boiling two ounces of the pearled barley in half a pint of water; strain off this water and put the barley into three pints and a half of salted boiling water, and let it boil half away, then strain it for use.
Oatmeal.—Of the good qualities of this Scottish favorite, most of us are aware. “Oatmeal is,” says one authority, “when eaten with milk, a perfect food, having all the requisites for growing children and the young generally. Oatmeal requires much cooking to effectually burst its starch cells, but when it is well cooked it will thicken liquid much more than equal its weight in wheaten flour. The oats of this country are superior to those grown on the continent and in the southern parts of England, but certainly inferior to the Scotch, where considerable pains is taken to cultivate them; and it is needless topoint out that the Scotch are an example of a strong and robust nation, which result is justly set down as being derived from the plentiful use of oatmeal. Dr. Guthrie has asserted that his countrymen have the largest heads of any nation in the world—not even the English have such large heads—which he attributes to the universal use of oatmeal.” The almost universal method of using oatmeal is in porridge, or mush, as we almost always call this excellent dish. There are two methods of preparing mush: To one quart of boiling water add one teaspoonful of salt; take a heaping cupful of oatmeal and sprinkle it slowly in with one hand while it is stirred with the other. When the meal has been all put in it should not be stirred more than is necessary to keep it from burning at the bottom. If much stirred the porridge will be starchy and flavorless. A better porridge may be made by stirring at night into two pints of salted boiling water half a pint of oatmeal. Let it boil for two or three minutes, then cover closely and place on the back of the range where it may simmer until breakfast time. Oatmeal may also be steamed.Fried oatmealis a nice breakfast dish. Take steamed oatmeal when it is cold, cut it in thin slices, and fry until it is brown in a little lard or butter.
Oatmeal Gruel.—A valuable item on an invalid’s bill of fare is oatmeal gruel. “Take two tablespoonfuls of oatmeal, half a blade of mace, a piece of lemon peel, three gills of milk, and a little sugar. Mix two spoonfuls of oatmeal until smooth in a little milk, and stir it gradually into the remainder of the milk; add the lemon peel and blade of mace; set it over the fire for fifteen minutes, stirring it constantly. Then strain it and add sugar to taste.”
Rice.—For simply boiling rice we have an excellent “black man’s recipe” given in one of our favorite cook books by an old sea-captain friend of ours. Here it is just as it was told the “captain:” “Wash him well; much wash in cold water; the rice, flour, make him stick; water boil already very fast; throw him in, rice can’t burn, water shake him too much; boil quarter of an hour or a little more; rub one rice in thumb and finger; if all rub away him quite done; put rice in cullender, hot water run away; pour cup of cold water on him, put back rice in saucepan, keep him covered near the fire, then rice all ready; eat him up.”
Equally good is rice cooked by steaming. After washing thoroughly, soak for an hour in warm water, three pints of water to one of rice. Set the dish containing the rice and water in which it has been soaking into the steamer and allow it to steam for an hour. It should be salted after put to steam and stirred frequently. Milk may take the place of part of the water.
Rice Waffles.—Into one and a half pints of flour stir a little salt, and rub in evenly a piece of butter the size of a walnut, add three beaten eggs, mixed with half a teacupful of sweet milk, one and a half pints of boiled rice and half a teacupful of sour milk, with one teaspoonful of soda; bake immediately in waffle irons. Rice pancakes may be made by adding an extra half cupful of milk. These pancakes may be served with jelly. When hot from the griddle spread them with butter and almost any kind of preserves or jelly; roll them up as you do roll jelly-cake, cut off the ends, arrange them on a platter, sprinkle sugar over the tops, and serve immediately.
Rice Served with Meat.—Rice may be used as a side dish with any kind of meat.Risotto à la Milanaise[3]is a favorite dish. Put one ounce of butter into a stew-pan and when hot mix in a quarter of a small onion minced, cook until it turns yellow; put in a cupful of uncooked rice and stir it until it has become yellow from the butter and onion; now add a pint of stock and boil slowly until the rice is tender. The stock should be nearly all absorbed; before serving add an ounce of grated cheese and stir for a few moments over the fire without letting it boil. Sprinkle a little grated cheese over the top. Another very simple side dish is prepared from rice by mixing a tablespoonful of minced parsley or shives into a pint of boiled rice. Put an ounce of butter into a sauce pan, heat it until it becomes a light brown; mix the rice in the butter and serve as a vegetable.
Desserts from Rice.—The rice pudding is undoubtedly the standard rice dessert, but it is only one of numberless wholesome and toothsome dishes which may be prepared. The simplest form of this pudding and the most delicious is a simple compound of rice, sugar and milk. To two quarts of milk add one cupful of rice and one of sugar, a small pinch of salt, and the desired flavoring. Place the mixture where it will heat very slowly. When the milk becomes boiling hot place the pudding in a slow oven and let it bake for an hour. Do not stir after placing in the oven. A more elaborate pudding is made by dissolving a tablespoonful of corn starch in three cupfuls of milk; add the yolks of two eggs beaten into three-quarters of a cupful of sugar. Put this mixture over the fire and when hot add one cupful of hot boiled rice; stir this until it thickens, then take it off the fire and add the flavoring. Put it into a pudding dish and place in the oven until it is slightly brown; remove and spread over the top the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth and thickened with a little sugar, return the pudding to the oven for a few minutes until the frosting is of a delicate brown color.
Among the many other practical and excellent desserts of rice, the following from Mrs. Henderson’s “Practical Cooking” we know to be good:
Rice Cones.—Mould boiled rice, when hot, into cups which have been previously dipped in cold water; when cold turn them out on a flat dish; with a teaspoon scoop out a little of the rice from the top of each cone, and put in its place any kind of jelly. Any sauce preferred may be served with it.
Rice Cake with Peaches.—Cook the rice in a steamer with milk, and when still hot add a little butter, sugar, and one or two eggs. Butter a plain pudding mould, strew the butter with bread crumbs and put in a layer of rice half an inch thick; then a layer of peaches, and continue alternate layers of each until the mould is full. Bake this for about fifteen or twenty minutes in an oven; when done turn the cake out of the mould, and pour into the dish any desired sauce. Other fruits may be used with rice in the same way.
Orange Snow Balls.—Boil some rice for ten minutes, drain, and let it cool. Pare some oranges, taking off all the thick, white skin; spread the rice in as many portions as there are oranges, on pudding cloths. Tie the fruit, surrounded by the rice, separately in these and boil the balls for an hour; turn them carefully on a dish, sprinkle over plenty of sifted sugar, serve with sauce or sweetened cream.
Apple Snow Ballsmay be prepared in the same way, the apples being pared and cored without dividing them.
Rice Croquettes.—Soak a half a pound of rice three or four hours in water; drain and put into a basin with one quart of milk and a little salt. Set the basin in the steamer and cook until thoroughly done; then stir in carefully one teacupful of sugar, the yolks of two eggs, a very little butter and flavoring. When cold enough to handle, form into small balls; press the thumb into the center of each; insert a little marmalade or jelly of any kind, and close the rice well over them; roll in beaten eggs (sweetened a little) and bread crumbs. Fry in boiling hot lard.
Rice for the Sick.—Rice jelly is an excellent food for invalids. It is made from rice flour, two heaping teaspoonfuls of which are mixed with water and made into a thin paste. This paste must be stirred into a cupful of boiling water, and the whole sweetened. It should be boiled until it is transparent and then put into a mould.
Ground Rice Milkis prepared by boiling together two tablespoonfuls of ground rice with a pint of milk. Sweeten it according to taste, adding the juice of a lemon. Let it boil half an hour over a moderate fire.
Parched Rice.—Brown rice as you do coffee. Put into boiling salted water and cook thoroughly; serve with cream and sugar.
Buckwheat.—Our last cereal, buckwheat, bears the burden of many complaints. It is called the cause of much of our dyspepsia, and in many households it has been displaced by corn, rye or flannel cakes. As usually made buckwheat cakes are heavy, greasy and sour. Great quantities of butter and syrup are consumed with them to hide the taste of the cake itself, but when properly made there is little doubt but that they are as digestible as any warm breakfast cake. An unfailing recipe is the following, which if a little more troublesome than the usual method, still is worth the trouble. Add to two quarts of boiling water half a pint of corn meal, wet with a little cold water; boil until it forms a thin gruel, to which, when cool, add half a pint of wheat flour, three pints of buckwheat flour, one gill of yeast, and a little salt. The imperfect fermentation or rising of the batter causes most of the “heavy” cakes. To avoid this set your batter thus prepared at noon of the day before you use them; in the evening beat them well and let them rise in a cool place until morning. A little soda and a little warm water are the only additions which will be required before baking for breakfast.
BY PROF. J. T. EDWARDS, D.D.Director of the Chautauqua School of Experimental Science.
CARBONIC DI-OXIDE FROM THE LUNGS PASSED INTO LIME WATER (CAO₂H₂).Experiment.—Dissolve some quicklime (CaO₂H₂) in water. Let it settle and pour off the clean part. Blow your breath into this. What follows, and why?
CARBONIC DI-OXIDE FROM THE LUNGS PASSED INTO LIME WATER (CAO₂H₂).
Experiment.—Dissolve some quicklime (CaO₂H₂) in water. Let it settle and pour off the clean part. Blow your breath into this. What follows, and why?
A quaint old book called “The Tin Trumpet” remarks that “three bad mothers have borne three good daughters.” Long-Suffering begat Patience, Astrology gave birth to Astronomy, and Chemistry is the daughter of Alchemy. The facts of science have taken the place of the fancies of the early investigators. Men used to be attacked, when they entered ravines and caverns, by supernatural beings, as they supposed, who choked, and sometimes killed them. In 1754 Joseph Black showed that these fatal results were due alone to the presence of an invisible gas, which he called “fixed air,” as he found it locked up in limestone. “Geist,” the name invented by Van Helmont to represent this strange power, signified ghost or spirit, so that the “ghosts” of the seventeenth century are the gases of the nineteenth. The word gas is derived fromgeist.
In studying the history of science we often wonder at the near approach which men made to truths which remained undiscovered for a long time after. One finds, all along, intimations of approaching disclosures which resemble those peculiarities in animals and plants that the geologist notes in the lower strata of the rocks, as prophesying the development of future species. The astrologer failed in his attempt to read human destiny, but he led men forward to the time when, in the stars, they should read the “thoughts of God.” The alchemist did not succeed in distilling the “elixir of life,” but he prepared the way for chemists to make those useful discoveries which have greatly promoted the safety and comfort of men and extended the period of human life. Some of the most important investigations in which science is now engaged concern the character and contents of that all-pervading aërial ocean which surrounds our earth to the height of from fifty to five hundred miles. Pure air is one of the great essentials of health and life. How to secure it is a difficult but beneficent inquiry which the spectroscope, microscope and chemical analysis may yet answer.
NITRIC ACID DISSOLVING COPPER.Experiment.—Place copper in nitric acid. Also try iron and zinc successively.
NITRIC ACID DISSOLVING COPPER.
Experiment.—Place copper in nitric acid. Also try iron and zinc successively.
Air is amixture, and not a compound. This distinction, as before intimated, is one of great importance. A cup of coffee is a good illustration of the former; there we have united water, coffee, cream, and sugar, but no new substance is thereby produced, and each of these ingredients may be removed without affecting the others. Gunpowder is a mixture, being composed of sulphur, nitre, and charcoal—a most admirable mixture it is, too, for every particle of it contains these three substances, as may be shown; the sulphur may be removed by heat, and the nitre by washing, leaving the carbon alone; the microscope also would reveal in each grain these three substances. That the air is a mixture can be proven in two ways. First, water will absorb each of its two principal ingredients, and, secondly, they do not exist in air in that definite ratio which always characterizes chemical combination. The principal materials in air are oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic di-oxide, watery vapor, ammonia, and very minute portions of many other materials. Professor Steele says, that if the entire atmosphere were compressed to the density of that immediately surrounding the earth, it would extend above it only about five miles. Now, if the substances entering into its composition were to be arranged in the order of their specific gravity, watery vapor would form a sheet about the earth five inches deep, carbonic di-oxide another just above it, thirteen feet in depth, then a layer of oxygen one mile thick, and nitrogen another layer above that, four miles in thickness.
In short, four-fifths of the air is nitrogen, about one-fifth is oxygen, four ten-thousandths is carbonic acid, and waterexists in variable quantities. It will be readily seen that the chemical and physical changes constantly going on in the surface of the earth must be throwing off other materials into the atmosphere. For example, the spectroscope has shown that common salt exists almost everywhere in the air. This arises from the fact that the ocean surrounds all lands, and its yeasty waves are broken into foam which is caught up by the winds and borne over the whole earth. One of the most remarkable facts connected with this subject is the wonderful uniformity of this mixture. Upon the whole, the amount of each ingredient is nearly the same. Some slight variations, such as the following, are observable: More CO₂ is found near cities than in the country, and there is more of the same over the land than over the sea. That the substances which enter into the composition of air do not arrange themselves according to weight, is due to a most interesting law called
PHOSPHORUS BURNING IN AIR.Experiment.—Prepare nitrogen as described elsewhere in this article.
PHOSPHORUS BURNING IN AIR.
Experiment.—Prepare nitrogen as described elsewhere in this article.
By this we mean that gases tend to intermingle, the lighter even descending, and the heavier ascending, until they occupy the same space. This can be shown in the following manner: Fill one bottle with hydrogen, and another with carbonic acid gas, fit into each a cork, perforated so as to admit a tube, connect the two by inserting a tube, placing the bottle of hydrogen above with the top downward; although the carbonic acid is twenty-two times heavier than the hydrogen, in an hour or two it will rise into the bottle above, as can be proved by pouring into it some lime water, which will immediately become milky, showing that the carbonic acid has united with the lime, forming calcium carbonate. That the hydrogen has passed down into the other bottle may be demonstrated by first absorbing such portions of the carbonic acid as still remain by pouring in cream of lime, when there will be found still in the bottle a substance (hydrogen) which will burn with a faint yellowish light. Another pleasing experiment may be performed in the following manner: Take an unglazed porcelain cup, fit to it a brass cap, perforated so as to admit tightly a long glass tube, insert one end of the tube into some colored water contained in a goblet, the inverted cup being supported above on the other end of the tube; now hold over the cup a jar filled with hydrogen; bubbles will soon be seen escaping through the water from the lower end of the tube, showing that the hydrogen has entered and mingled with the air; remove the jar, and the liquid will rise in the tube, proving that the gas has escaped from the cup. This diffusive force in the atmosphere prevents the accumulation of noxious gases by distributing them throughout the whole mass. The constant agitation of the air in gales and storms facilitates this operation, and it is only in certain confined places like caves, such as the Grotto del Cane,[1]mines, and wells, that we find apparent exception.
SILVER COIN DISSOLVING IN NITRIC ACID.Experiment.—Place a five-cent piece in some nitric acid for two or three hours. Drop into a portion of the liquid a little salt; you show the presence of the silver. Drop into another portion some aqua ammonia; the blue color reports the presence of the copper.
SILVER COIN DISSOLVING IN NITRIC ACID.
Experiment.—Place a five-cent piece in some nitric acid for two or three hours. Drop into a portion of the liquid a little salt; you show the presence of the silver. Drop into another portion some aqua ammonia; the blue color reports the presence of the copper.
Lieutenant Maury has said that the atmosphere makes the whole world akin. The breezes that blow overourland may in turn visit every other, carrying bane or blessing. Alas! we fear, to-day, that the feverish breath which poisons the air of Italy may spread its pestilence to our shores. One lesson we learn from this is, that the misery or prosperity of any one portion of the earth may affect every other; and that which benefits a part, contributes in this way a blessing to the whole.
In our first article of this series somewhat extended reference was made to oxygen, and we shall therefore not dwell upon that element at this time.
Nitrogen, which constitutes bymeasure79.04, and byweight76.8 of the air, is remarkable for the absence of positive qualities. It is a colorless, tasteless, odorless gas, will not burn, nor support life or combustion. Its chief office is that of a diluter. Without it we should live too fast; even as it is we live too fast! With oxygen alone to breathe, ours would be a short and fevered existence. All flames and fires would be kindled into furious combustion, stoves themselves would burn, and the very “elements melt with fervent heat.”
MERCURY DISSOLVING IN NITRIC ACID.
MERCURY DISSOLVING IN NITRIC ACID.
We can prepare air artificially, by mixing one part of O with four parts of N, thoroughly shaking them together. Nitrogen can easily be obtained in the following manner: Make a small cavity in a piece of cork; line this by sifting into it a little plaster or crayon dust. Place the cork on some water in a deep plate. Insert now in the cavity a piece of dry phosphorus (always handle phosphorus with care), touch the P with a heated wire, and quickly place over it an inverted jar. White fumes will instantly rise, which are phosphoric anhydride, P₂O₅. These will be quickly absorbed by the water, and the water will rise and fill one-fifth of the jar. It will be necessary to add water as that in the plate rises. The remaining four-fifths of the jar will be occupied by nitrogen.
The following is an instructive experiment: Take two jars of equal size (one open at both ends), one of which is fitted with a stopper; fill one with O and the other with N. Place a smooth glass plate under each before removing the pneumatic trough, and holding the plates closely over the top, invert one jar on the other—plate to plate—the jar of O being below. Now carefully remove the plates, and also the stopper from the jar of N, and quickly insert a lighted taper with a long snuff. As it descends through the N it will be extinguished, but as itenters the O it will be rekindled. This may be repeated many times by raising and lowering the taper. N does not seem to be strongly attached to anything; that is, it has but slight affinity for the substances with which it combines. Strange enough, from this sluggishness results a marvelous activity. Being held with such little force it is liable at any time to be liberated in the form of a gas, and the decomposition of the whole compound of which it formed a part will take place. Hence, instability is the most marked characteristic of N. It reminds one of some loafer, without steady occupation or aims, restless, vacillating, but always a factor in every turbulence or outbreak.