inner consisting of bread, hot and tinged with
saleratus, meat fried to a crisp, potatoes swimming in grease, mince
pie, preserves, and pickles, demurred on the ground that the dinner was
"not worth a blessing." He might with equal propriety have added, "and
not worth eating."

The subject of diet and its relation to human welfare, is one deserving
of the most careful consideration. It should be studied as a science, to
enable us to choose such materials as are best adapted to our needs
under the varying circumstances of climate growth, occupation, and the
numerous changing conditions of the human system; as an art, that we may
become so skilled in the preparation of the articles selected as to make
them both appetizing and healthful. It is an unfortunate fact that even
among experienced housekeepers the scientific principles which govern
the proper preparation of food, are but little understood, and much
unwholesome cookery is the result. The mechanical mixing of ingredients
is not sufficient to secure good results; and many of the failures
attributed to "poor material," "bad luck," and various other subterfuges
to which cooks ignorance of scientific principles. The common method of
blindly following recipes, with no knowledge of "the reason why," can
hardly fail to be often productive of unsatisfactory results, which to
the uninformed seem quite inexplicable.

Cookery, when based upon scientific principles, ceases to be the
difficult problem it so often appears. Cause and effect follow each
other as certainly in the preparation of food as in other things; and
with a knowledge of the underlying principles, and faithfulness in
carrying out the necessary details, failure becomes almost an
impossibility. There is no department of human activity where applied
science offers greater advantages than in that of cookery, and in our
presentation of the subjects treated in the following pages, we have
endeavored, so far as consistent with the scope of this work, to give
special prominence to the scientific principles involved in the
successful production of wholesome articles of food. We trust our
readers will find these principles so plainly elucidated and the subject
so interesting, that they will be stimulated to undertake for
themselves further study and research in this most important branch of
household science. We have aimed also to give special precedence of
space to those most important foods, the legumes, and grains a