condemned as injurious to health.
Greater knowledge of the chemistry of cooking, and of the action of
acids upon metals, has enabled the scientific cook to differentiate
between the pots and pans to use according to the various foods
prepared. The beautifully finished light, handy, and convenient
porcelain-enamelled saucepans and stewpans and aluminium cooking pots
used on modern gas stoves and ranges, would have been just as unsuitable
on the open fires of the older grates as what are now regarded as the
curios of the kitchen would be deemed to be in modern culinary
operations. In almost every house there are to be found obsolete
utensils, some of which are valued on account of their great age, others
because of their unusual forms, and some because of the beauty of
workmanship and the costly materials of which they have been made. It is
when turning out the kitchen and storeroom on the occasion of periodical
cleanings that these old-world pots and pans come to light; at such
times the collector may be able to secure scarce specimens and rescue
them from oblivion.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--MECHANICAL ROASTING JACKS.

(_In the collection of Mr. Charles Wayte._)]

It is not always easy to realize what the old kitchen was like when
these vessels were in use, although in out-of-the-way places kitchens
may occasionally be discovered in which but little change has been made.
This is especially so in some of the Welsh villages, and in order that
visitors may see what such kitchens are like a Welsh cottage fireplace
showing the objects which might commonly have been found there a century
ago has been reconstructed in the National Museum of Wales. This we are
able to reproduce in Fig. 41 by the courtesy of the Director. The grate
came from Llansantffraid, and was made by a local blacksmith; the spit
and its bearers came from Glamorgan; the brass pot came from Barry, and
the dog wheel (referred to on p. 130) from Haverfordwest; most of the
minor accessories came from different parts of North Wales.

The Kitchen Grate.

The kitchen grate has evolved from the open fire; at first in the centre
of the room, then removed for convenience to the side or end in front of
which joints of meats were roasted on a spit in olden time. The spit, at
first quite primitive, was improved upon by local smiths, until quite
intricate arrangements provided the desired revolutions, and turned the
meat round and round until it was properly cooke