The hand-book of household science. A popular account of heat, light, air, aliment, and cleansing, in their scientific principles and domestic applications

Front matter

Book yG % ,

THE

HAND-BOOK

Part I.— Heat. Pagx

PREFACE, 7

INTRODUCTION, 11

I. Sources axd Distribution op Terrestrial Heat, .... 17

II. Influence of Heat upon the Living World, .... 19

III. Measurement op Heat — The Thersiometer, 23

IV. Radiation and its Effects, 27

V. Conduction of Heat, and its Effects, . . . . . .34

VI. Heat conveyed bt moving Matter, .... 36

VII. Various properties and effects of Heat, ... 37

VIII. Physiological effects op Heat, 48

IX. Artificial Heat — Properties op Fuel, 49

X. Air-cureents — Action and management op Chimneys, ... 55

XI. Apparatus op Warming, 60

1. Open fireplaces, 62

2. Stoves, 67

3. Hot-air arrangements, 70

Part Ii.— Light

I. Nature of Light — Law of its Diffusion, 76

II. Reflection of Light, 79

III. Transmission and Refraction of Light, 82

,■' rV. Theort op Light — Wave movements in Nature, .... 84

' V. Composition and mutual relation op Colors, 88

.' V'l. Practical suggestions in combining Colors, .... 102

IV CONTENTS.

PABa

VII. Production of Artificiai. Light.

1. The Chemistry of Illumination, .... . 105

2. Illumination by means of Solids, .... 108

3. Illumination by means of Liquids, 112

4. Illumination by means of Gases, 11a

5. Measurement of Light, 12A

V'lII. Structcrb and Optical powers of the Ete, 126

IX. Optical defects of Vision — Spectacles, 131

X. Injurious action of Artificial Light, 137

XI. Management of Artificial Light, 146

Part Iii.— Air

I. Properties and composition of the Atmosphere, .... 150 II. Effects of the constituents of Air.

1. Nitrogen, 154

2. Oxygen, 154

3. Moisture, 157

4. Carbonic acid, 161

5. Ozone and electricity, 164

III. Condition of Air provided bt Nature, 165

IV. Sources of impure Air in Dwellings, 168

V. Morbid and fatal effects of impure Air, 174

VI. Rate of contamination within doors, 181

VII. Air in Motion — Currents — Draughts, 185

VIII. Arrangements for Ventilation, 193

Part Iv.— Aliment

I. Source of Aliments — Order of the subject, 205

II. General properties of Alimentary Substances.

1. Principles containing no Nitrogen.

A Water, ... 20i'

B The Starches, 2n

C The Sugars, 216"

D The Gums, 223

E The Oils, 223

F The Vegetable Acids, 225'

2. Principles containing Nitrogen.

A Vegetable and Animal Albumen, 227

B Vegetable and Animal Casein, 228

C Vegetable and Animal Fibrin, 228

D Gelatin, 230

CONTENTS. y a Compound Aliments— Vegetable Foods,

A The Grains, 231

B Leguminous Seeds, 241

C Fruits, 243

D Leaves, Leafstalks, etc., 244

E Roots, Tubers, Bulbs and Shoots, 245

4. Compound Aliments — Animal Foods.

A Constituents of Meat, 248

B Production and composition of Milk, .... 250 IIL Cplinart Changes of Alimentary Substances.

1. Combining the elements of Bread, 256

2. Bread raised by Fermentation, 259

. 267 271

. 274 277

. 281 285

. 287

8. Properties and action of Yeast, .

4. Raising Bread without Fermentation,

5. Alterations produced in baking Bread,

6. Influence of foreign substances upon Bread, .

7. Vegetable Foods changed by boiling,.

8. How cooking changes Meat, ....

9. Preparation and properties of Butter, 10. Preparation and properties of Cheese, .

rV. Common Beverages.

1. Properties and preparation of Tea, 289

2. Properties and preparation of Coffee, 293

3. Cocoa and Chocolate, 298

V. Preservation op Alimentary Substances.

1. Causes of their Changeableness, 300

2. Preservation by exclusion of Air, 302

3. Preservation at Low Temperatures, 305

4. Preservation by Drying, ..%.... 309

5. Preservation by Antiseptics, 311

6. Preservation of Milk, Butter, and Cheese, . . . 314 VL Materials of Culinary and Table Utensils, 318

VII. Physiological effects of Food.

1. Basis of the demand for Aliment, 324

2. Digestion — Changes of food in the Mouth, .... 330

3. Digestion — Changes of food in the Stomach, . . . 335

4. Digestion — Changes of food in the Intestines, . . . 344

5. Final destination of Foods, 347

6. Production of Bodily Warmth, 353

7. I'roducfion of Bodily Strength, 360

VI CONT32NTS.

PAG«

8. Mind, Body, and Aliment, ... ... 364

9. Influence of Special Substances.

A Saline Matters, 369

B Liquid Aliments, 374

C Solid Aliments 383

10. Nutritive value of Foods, 392

11. The Vegetarian Question, 402

PART v.— CLEANSING

I. Peincipal Cleansing Agents, ........ 422

II. Cleansing of Textile Articles, 428

III. Cleansing of the Pekson, 431

IV. Cleansing of the Aib, 436

V. Poisons, • 441

APPENDIX, 443

INDEX, . 445

Preface

A DESIRE to prepare a better statement than has hitherto been offered, of the bearings of science upon the economy of the household, has led to the following work. The purpose has been, to condense within the limits of a convenient manual the largest possible amount of interesting and valuable scientific information of those agents, materials, and operations in which we have a concern, chiefly as dwellers in houses.

The subjects are treated somewhat in an elementary way, but with constant reference to their domestic and practical relations. Principles are universal; their applications are special and peculiar. There are general laws of light, heat, and air, but they may be studied in various connections. There are many things about them which a person, as a resident of a house, cares little to know ; whUe there are others In which he has a profound interest. To consider these, we assume to be the province of household science. The question of moisture in the air, for example, is one of universal scien tific interest to meteorologists ; but it has also a special antl vital import for the occuj)ants of stove and furnace heated rooms. Different colors, when brought together, alter and modify each other according to a simple and beautiful law and the Painter, the Decorator, and the Dyer, have each s technical interest in the principle ; but hardly more than ihi Lady at her toilette or engaged in furnishing her house. Thi Agriculturist is interested in the composition of food, as a producer; the Householder equally, as a consumer. Thn

Vm PREFACE.

Doctor must know the constituents of air and its action upon the living system for professional purposes, and he studies these matters as parts of his medical education ; but for the same reasons of life and death, the inhabitants of houses are concerned to understand the same things.

These examples illustrate the leading conception of the present work. Its jireparation has been attended with grave difficulties. Of course, a volume of this compass can present only a compend of the subjects it considers. Heat, light, air, and aliment are topics of large extent, wide and complex in their i^i-inciples, which are of boundless apjili cation. We do not profess to have treated them with any completeness, but only to have brought distinctly forward those aspects which have been formerly too much neglected. In deciding what to state, and what to omit, we have been guided by two rules ; firsts to present such facts and principles as have the directest bearing upon household phenomena ; and, second, to bring into prominence many important things not found in common books nor included in the ordinary range of school study. As elementary principles may be found fully treated elsewhere, we have been brief in their statement, thus gaining opportunity for important hints and views not generally accessible. Our chemistries are deficient in information of the composition and properties of food, while the physiological class-books are equally meagre in statements of its effects ; we have accordingly dwelt upon these points with something of the fulness which their importance demands. So with heat, hght, and air. It is hoped that the following pages wiQ vindicate the fidelity with which we have labored to enrich the v'olume with new and valuable facts and suggestions, not procurable in our family manuals or school class-books. Many of the subjects presented have recently undergone searching investigation. They are rapidly progressive ; facts are multiplying, and views widening. We have si:)ared no pains to give the latest and most authentic results. Although the volume is to a great extent self-explanatory, and adapted for family and general reading, yet in the proper order of school

PEEFACE. Vt

study it will find its most appropriate place after a course of elementary lessons in chemistry and physiology.

We have striven to present the subject in such a manner as to make reading and study both agreeable and instructive. Technical terms constitute a formidable obstacle, on the part of many, to the i^erusal of scientific books. This is a veiy serious difficulty, and requires to be managed as best we can. In works designed for general use they should be avoided as far as possible, and yet it is out of the question to think of escaiDLng them entirely. If we would enjoy the thoughts of science we require to learn at least a portion of the language in which alone these thoughts are conveyed. The new objects and relations must be named, or they cannot be described and considered. We have stiidiously avoided obstructing the course of the common reader with many technical words, yet there are some which it was impossible to omit. The terms carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbonic acid, and some others, though hardly yet familiarized in popular speech, must soon become so. They are the names of substances of universal interest and importance ; the chief elements of air, water, food, and organized bodies by which Providence carries on the mighty scheme of terrestrial activity and life. They are the keys to a new dej)artment of intellectual riches — the latest revelation of time respecting the conditions of human existence. The time has come when all who aspire to a character for real mteUigence, must know something of the objects which these terms represent.

As respects the body of its facts and principles, any Avork of this kind must necessarily be of the nature of a compilation. We make no claim to discovery. The materials of the volume — the result of laborious and life-long investigations of many men — ^have been gathered from numberless sources, — from standard books i;pon the various topics, scientific magazhies, original memoirs, personal correspondence, observation, household experience and laboratory examinations. Constant reference is made to authorities followed, and the language of others employed whenever it appeared to convey the most

X PREFACE.

suitable statement. Exemption from errors can hardly be expected in a work of this kind — errors of oversight and errors of judgment. Besides, many of its questions are in an unsettled state and involve conflicting views. Yet the utmost care has been taken to make an accurate and rehable presentation of the subjects considered.

The Author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to his sister, Eliza A. YouMAifs, for constant and invaluable aid in the preparation of the work, not only in various experimental operations incident to its progress, but also in several parts of its Uterary execution. To his friend Mr. Richard H. Manning, who, though engaged in absorbing mercantile j)ursuits, has yet found time for thought in the direction of science and its applications, his thanks are due for valuable suggestions and important manuscrij)t corrections.

If the work shall serve, in however small a degree, to excite thought, to give additional interest to household phenomena, and awaken a stronger desire for domestic improvement, the labor of its preparation will not have been perfonned in vain.

New Yoek, August, 186T.

INTKODUCTION.

"Wheit a work is presented, claiming place in a systematic course of school study, two questions at once arise in the mind of the discriminating educator : first^ what is the nature, rank, and value of the knowledge it imparts ? and, second, what will be its general influence upon the mind of the student ? In this twofold connexion there are some thoughts to which we solicit the reader's earnest and considerate attention.

The present volume has been prepared under a conviction that the knowledge it communicates is first in the order of importance among things to be considered by rational and civilized people. "Every man's proper mansion-house and home," says Sir Henet "Wotton, " is the theatre of his hospitality, the seat of self-fruition, the comfortablest part of his own life, the noblest of his son's inheritance, a kind of private princedom ; nay, to the possessors thereof an epitome of the whole world." Nothing needs to be added in eulogy of the household home, the place of life's purest pleasures and sweetest experiences, the perpetual rallying point of its hopes and joys. Whatever can render it more pleasant or attractive, or invest it with a new interest, or in any way improve or ennoble it, is at once commended to our sympathy and regard. To consider all the agencies which influence the course and character of household life, is far from the object of the present work. Our concern is chiefly with its more material circumstances and conditions. That we should understand something of the wonderful physical agencies which have control of our earthly being, and which are so incessantly illustrated in the dwelling, and be at least partially acquainted with those fixed natural ordinances upon which our daily welfare, comfort, health, and even life, immediately depend, must certainly be acknowledged by all. One of the most starthng facts of man's history is, that placed in a world of immutable order, and endowed with such exalted gifts of understand-

XU INTKODUCTION.

ing and reason, lie should yet have contrived to maintain so dense and perfect an ignorance of himself and the familiar objects by which ho is surrounded. That exact knowledge of the ways of nature which puts her powers at human command, and bears the daily fruit of substantial improvement and universal beneficence, would seem to be the last and noblest achievement of mind; a fruition of long intellectual growth, the highest form in the latest time, after the preliminary and preparatory experience of ages. In its earlier strivings we observe the mind of man intently occupied with itself, and regarding material nature with unutterable disdain. It wandered aimless and dissatisfied in the misty regions of speculaticn. Its first great conquest was in the realm of abstraction, farthest removed from the vulgarities of mere matter — the discovery of mathematical principles. The earliest application of thought to physical subjects was away in the distant spheres, where imagination had revelled wildest from immemorial time, to the luminous points and mysterious movements of the heavens, which, according to Plato, were most admirably fitted to Ulustrato geometry. The skies were mapped and charted long before the earth. Copernicus struck out the grand law of celestial circulation before Harvey discovered that of the blood. The genius of Newton flashed an immortal light iipon the mechanism of the universe, many years before Rumford began his humbler domestic investigations. Centuries have passed since the establishment of universal gravitation, while there are men now living who may recollect the most gigantic stride of modern science, the discovery of oxygen gas by Priestly, and the earliest analysis of the air we breathe. Chemistry, which is the name given to the first serious grappling of human intelligence with all forms of common matter, belongs chiefly to our own century. This, too, has been progressive, and in its course has conformed to the general law we are indicating. Its earliest investigations were directed to inert mineral substances, stones and rocks ; while the formal and systematic elucidation of those conditions and phases of matter in which we have the deepest interest — vegetable and animal compounds and processes, agricultural, physiological, and dietetical chemistry — is eminently an affair of our own day. Thus, the spirit of inquiry, at first recoiling from matter, and circling wide through metaphysical vacuities, gradually closed with the physical world, and now finds its last and highest inquest into the material conditions of man's daily life. The course of knowledge has been expansive, as well as progressive; from narrow views to universal principles; from empty Bpeculations to world-wide utilities; from the pleasure of a few to

INTKODUCTION. , XIU

the advantage of the many ; from utter ignorance and contempt of nature, to the revelation of all-embracing laws, and a beautiful and harmonious order in the commonest objects and operations of daily experience. To the truth of this general statement, the existence of the present book may be taken as a strong attestation. The mass of its facts and principles are the result of recent investigation. A hundred years ago such a work would have been, in all its essential features, a blank impossibility ; indeed, it had lacked its richest mate rials if prepared for the last generation.

These facts should not be without their influence upon the schemt of popular education. It is its first duty to communicate that information which can be reduced to daily practice, and yield the largest measure of positive good. If recent inquiry has opened new treasures of available truth, it is bound to take charge of them for the genei'al benefit. It must report the advance of knowledge, and Keep pace with the progress of the human mind, or it is false to its trust. The subjects of study should be so modified and extended as to afford the largest advantage, intellectual and practical, of the labors of the great expounders of nature, — especially in those departments where knowledge can be made most useful and improving. A rational and comprehensive plan of education for all classes, which shall be based upon man's intrinsic and essential wants, and promptly avail itself of every new view and discovery in science, to enlighten him in his daily relations and duties, is the urgent demand of the time. Nor can it be always evaded. We are not to trundle round for ever in the old ruts of thought, clinging with blind fatuity to crude schemes of instruction, which belong, Avhere they originated, with the bygone ages. He who has surrendered his life to the inanities of an extinct and exploded mythology, but who remains a stranger to God's administration of the living universe ; who can skilfully rattle the skeletons of dead languages, but to whom the page of nature is as a sealed book, and her voices as an unknown tongue, is not always to be plumed with the supereminent designation of ' educated.'

There are many things, unquestionably, which it would be most desirable to study : but opportunity is brief, and capacity limited ; and the acquisition of one thing involves the exclusion of another. We cannot learn every thing. The question of the relative rank of various kinds of knowledge — what shall be held of primary importance and what subordinate, is urgent and serious. As life and Iiealth are the first of all blessings, to maintain them is the first of all duties, and to understand their conditions the first of mental requirements.

XIV - INTEODUCTION.

Sliall the thousand matters of mere distant and curious concernment be suffered to hold precedence of the solemn verities of being which are woven into the contexture of familiar life ? The physical agents which perpetually surround, and act upon, and within us, hent, light, air, and aliment, are liable to perversion through ignorance, so as to produce suffering, disease, and death; or they are capable through knowledge of promoting health, strength, and enjoyment. What higher warrant can be asked that their laws and effects shall become subjects of general and earnest study. It may seem strange that in regard to the vital interests of life and health, man should be left without the natural guidance of instinct, and be driven to the necessity of reflection and study ; that he for whom the earth seems made should be apparently less cared for in these respects than the inferior animals. Nevertheless, such is the divine ordination. Neither our senses, instincts, nor uninstructed faculties are suflacient guides to good, or guards from evil, in even the ordinary conditions of the civilized state. Things which most deeply affect our welfare, the senses fail to appreciate. They can neither discern the properties nor the presence of the most deadly agents. The breathing medium may be laden with noxious gases to the peril of life, and the senses fail to detect the danger. Hunger and thirst impel us instinctively to eat and drink, but they fail to inform us of the nutritive value of alimentary substances or their dietetical fitness to our varying requirements. For all those things which are independent of man's will, Providence has taken abundant care to provide ; while in the domain of voluntary action, blind instinct is replaced by rational forecast. "Whatever may have been those original conditions of bare animal existence which some yet sigh for, as the ' true state of nature,' we are far removed from them now. They have been successively disturbed as, generation after generation, intelligent ingenuity has been exercised to gain control of natural forces for the securing of comforts and luxuries, and to liberate man from the privations and drudgeries of the uncivilized condition. But unmingled good seems not permitted ; the benefits are alloyed with evil. Thus, the introduction of the stove, while affording the advantage of economy and convenience in the management of fire, was a step backward in the matter of ventilation. Gas-lighting was a great advance on the methods of artificial illumination, but there came with it augmented contamination of the breathing medium and new dangers to the eyes. Against these and similar incidental mischiefs — ' residues of evil ' that accumulate against the predominating good, there is no other protection than intellect, instructed mTRODucnoN. rv

in the material conditions which influence our health and life, for these, and kindred considerations of practical moment to all who occupy dwellings and assume civilized relations, we urge the study of Tiousehold science as an essential part of general education.

It deserves to be better understood, that the highest value of science is derived from its power of advancing the public good. It is more and more to be consecrated to human improvement, as a sublime regenerative agency. Working jointly and harmoniously with the great moral forces of Christian Civilizatiop, we believe it is destined to eftect extensive social ameliorations. That it is not yet fuUy accepted in this relation is hardly surprising. The work of presenting scientific truth in those forms which may best engage the popular mind, is not to bo fairly expected of those who give their lives to its original development. There is a deep satisfaction, an intrinsic compensating interest to the discoverer in the naked quest of truth, which is largely independent of any utility that may flow from the inquiry. In the exalted consciousness of achievement, the man of science finds an intellectual remuneration, 80 royal and satisfying that other considerations have comparatively little weight. Hence the inditference, to a great degree inevitable, with which original explorers contemplate the reduction of scientific principles to practical use. Moreover, this utter carelessness of results, where the mind is not biased, nor the vision blurred by ulterior considerations, is far the most favorable for successful investigation. Conscious that the effects of his labors are finally and always beneficial in society, the enthusiast of research may be excused his indifference to their immediate reception and uses. But the formal denial that the allegiance of mind is supremely due to the good of society is quite enother affair. The sentiment too widely entertained in learned and educational circles, that knowledge is to be firstly and chiefly prized for its own sake, and the mental gratification it produces, we cannot accept. The view seems narrow and illiberal, and is not inspired of human sympathy. It took origin in times when the improvement of man's condition, his general education and elevation, were not dreamed of. It came from the ancient philosophy, which was not a dispensation of popular beneficence, an all-diffusive, ennobling agency in society, but confessed its highest aim to be a personal advantage, shut up in the individual soul. It was not radiant and outflowing like the sun, but drew all things inward, engulfing them in a malstrom of selfishness.

The baneful ethics of this philosophy have given place to the higher and more generous inculcations of Christianity, which lays upon human nature its broad and eternal requirement, ' to do good.' From

XVI rNTEODUCTIOW.

tliis authoritative iiioral demand science cannot be exempted. The power it confers is to be held and used as power is exercised by God himself, for purposes of universal blessing.

"We place a high estimate upon the advantages which society may reap from a better acquaintance with material phenomena, for life is a stern realm of cause and effect, fact and law. To the poetic day-dreamer it may be an affair of sentiment, an ' illusion,' or a ' vapor,' but to the mass of mankind, life is a solid, unmistakable reality, that will not dissolve into mist and cannot be conjured out of its qualities. As such, we would deal with it in education, giving prominence to those forms of knowledge which will work the largest practical alleviations and most substantial improvement throughout the community. But it is wisely designed that those studies which may become in the highest degree useful are also first in intellectual interest. It is a grievous mistake to suppose that the study of natural science martyrizes the more ethereal faculties of the soul, and dooms the rest to painful toil among the naked sterilities of commonplace existence. So far from being unfriendly to the imagination, as is sometimes intimated, science is its noblest precursor and ally. Can that be unfavorable to this faculty, which infinitely multiplies its materials, and boundlessly amplifies its scope ? Can that be restrictive of mental sweep, which unlocks the mysteries of the universe and pioneers its way far into the councils of Omniscience ? Who was it that lifted the veil, and disclosed a new world of exquisite order and beauty in all the commonest and vulgarest forms of matter, below the former reach of eye or thought ? Who was it that dissipated the fabulous 'firmament,' which primeval ignorance had mounted over its central and stationary earth ; set the world in motion, and unfolded a plan of the heavens, so appalling in amplitude that imagination itself falters in the survey ? Who was it that first read the handwriting of God upon the rocks, revealing the history of our planet and its inhabitants through durations of which the mind had never befoi-e even presumed to dream ? In thus unsealing the mysteries of being — in turning the commonest spot into a museum of wonders — who can doubt that science has opened a new and splendid career for the play of the diviner faculties ; and that its pursuit affords the most exhilarating, as well as the healthiest and purest of intellectual enjoyments? Nor should we forget its elevating tendencies; for in contemplating the varied scheme of being around, its beauties, harmonies, adaptations, and purposes of profoundest wisdom, the thoughts ascend in unspeakable admiration to the infinite Source of truth and light. We should educate and elevate our nature by these studies, storing our

INTRODUCTION. XVU

minds with the richest materials of thought, enlarging our capacities of benign exertion, and rising to a more intimate communiou Avith the spirit of the Great Maker of all.

But beyond these considerations, physical science has another claim upon the Instructor, in the kind and extent of the mental discipline it affords. The study of mathematics has a conceded value in this relation, being eminently favorable to precision and persistence of the mental operations — to steadfast concentration of thought upon abstract and difficult subjects. But we hope not to incur the charge of educational heresy,by expressing the opinion,that its training is somewhat defective — is neither sufficiently comprehensive, nor altogether of the right kind. Its influence is limited to certain faculties only, and the metJiod to which it accustoms the mind is too little available in grappling with the practical problems of life. The starting-point of the mathematician is certain universal truths of consciousness, intuitive axioms — assumed without proof, because they are self-evident, and thei-efore incapable of proof. From these, by various operations and chains of reasoning, he proceeds to work out special applications. His direction is from generals to particulars — it is inferential — deductke. But when we come to deal with the phenomena of the external world, and the actualities of daily experience, this plan fails, and we are driven to the very reverse method. In the phenomenal world we are without the eternal principles, settled and assumed at the outset ; these become themselves the objects of investigation ; they have to be established, and we must begin with particulars, special inquiries, experimental investigations, the observation of facts, and from these we cautiously proceed to general truths — to universal principles. The process is an ascent from particulars — generalization — induction. That the whele is greater than a part, or that two parallel lines will never intersect each other, are irresistible intuitions, taken for granted at once by all minds. But that matter attracts matter with a force proportional to the square of its distance ; or that chemical combination takes place in definite unalterable proportions, are truths oi induction — general laws, only arrived at after long and laborious investigation of particular facts. These are essentially opposite methods of proceeding in different departments of inquiry, each correct in its own sphere, but false out of it. The human mind started with the mathematical method, and the greatest obsti'uction to the progress of physical science for many centuries arose from the attempt to apply it to outward phenomena ; that is, to assume certain principles as true of the external world, and to reason from them down to the facts; m*