"But when water is the medium through which heat is applied--as in BOILING, STEWING, and BAKING, the effects are somewhat different, as the heat never exceeds 212°, which is not sufficient to commence the process of browning or decomposition, and the soluble constituents are removed by being dissolved in the water, forming soup or broth; or, if the direct contact of the water be prevented, they are dissolved in the juices of the meat, and separate in the form of gravy."
Vide Supplement to _Encyclop. Brit. Edin._ vol. iv. p. 344, the article "FOOD," to which we refer our reader as the most scientific paper on the subject we have seen.
[21-*] "Health, beauty, strength, and spirits, and I might add all the faculties of the mind, depend upon the organs of the body; when these are in good order, the thinking part is most alert and active, the contrary when they are disturbed or diseased."--Dr. CADOGAN _on Nursing Children_, 8vo. 1757, p. 5.
[22-*] "We have some good families in England of the name of _Cook_ or _Coke_. I know not what they may think; but they may depend upon it, they all originally sprang from real and professional cooks; and they need not be ashamed of their extraction, any more than the _Parkers, Butlers, &c._"--Dr. PEGGE'S _Forme of Cury_, p. 162.
[22-+] It is said, there are SEVEN _chances against even the most simple dish being presented to the mouth in absolute perfection_; for instance, A LEG OF MUTTON.
1st.--The mutton must be _good_. 2d.--Must have been kept a _good_ time. 3d.--Must be roasted at a _good_ fire. 4th.--By a _good_ cook. 5th.--Who must be in _good_ temper. 6th.--With all this felicitous combination you must have _good_ luck; and, 7th.--_Good_ appetite.--The meat, and the mouths which are to eat it, must be ready for action at the same moment.
[23-*] To guard against "_la gourmandise_" of the second table, "provide each of your servants with a large pair of spectacles of the highest magnifying power, and never permit them to sit down to any meal without wearing them; they are as necessary, and as useful in a kitchen as pots and kettles: they will make a _lark_ look as large as a FOWL, a _goose_ as big as a SWAN, a leg of mutton as large as a hind quarter of beef; a twopenny loaf as large as a quartern;" and as philosophers assure you that pain even is only imaginary, we may justly believe the same of hunger; and if a servant who eats no more than one pound of food, imagines, by the aid of these glasses, that he has eaten three pounds, his hunger will be as fully satisfied--and the addition to your optician's account, will soon be overpaid by the subtraction from your butcher's and baker's.