Enquire Within Upon Everything: To which is Added Enquire Within Upon Fancy ...

PLEASURE IS PRECARIOUS, BUT VIRTUE IS IMMORTAL.

is exceedingly poisonous. A few drops only should be used to several pounds of syrups, pastry, &c. Cost: oil of bitter almonds, 1s. per ounce; spirit, 2s. 6d. per pint. Usually sold in quarter or half-ounce bottles at 1s.

1915. Syrup of Orange or Lemon Peel-Of fresh outer rind of Seville orange, or lemon peel, three ounces, apothecaries' weight; boiling water, a pint and a half; infuse them for a night in a close vessel; then strain the liquor; let it stand to settle; and having poured it off clear from the sediment, dissolve in it two pounds of double refined loaf sugar, and make it into a syrup with a gentle heat.

1916. Indian Syrup. (A delicious summer drink.)-Five pounds of lump sugar, two ounces of citric acid, a gallon of boiling water: when cold add half a drachm of essence of lemon and half a drachm of spirit of wine; stir it well, and bottle it. About two tablespoonfuls to a glass of cold

water.

1917. Apples in Syrup for Immediate Use.-Pare and core some hard round apples, and throw them into a basin of water; as they are done, clarify as much loaf sugar as will cover them; put the apples in along with the juice and rind of a lemon, and let them simmer till they are quite clear; great care must be taken not to break them. Place them on the dish they are to appear upon at table, and pour the syrup over.

1918. Pounding Almonds. They should be dried for a few days after being blanched. Set them in a warm place, strewn singly over a dish or tin. A little powdered lump sugar will assist the pounding. They may be first chopped small, and rolled with a rolling pin.-ALMOND PASTE may be made in the same manner.

1919. Blanched Almonds. Put them into cold water, and heat them slowly to scalding; then take them out and peel them quickly, throwing them into cold water as they are done. Dry them in a cloth before serving.

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1920. Freezing without Ice or Acids.-The use of ice in cooling depends upon the fact of its requiring a vast quantity of heat to convert it from a solid into a liquid state, or in other words, to melt it; and the heat so required is obtained from those objects with which it may be in contact. A pound of ice requires nearly as much heat to melt it as would be sufficient to make a pound of cold water boiling hot; hence its cooling power is extremely great. But ice does not begin to melt until the temperature is above the freezing point, and therefore it cannot be employed in freezing liquids, &c., but only in cooling them. If, however, any substance is mixed with ice which is capable of causing it to melt more rapidly, and at a lower temperature, a still more intense cooling effect is the result; such a substance is common salt, and the degree of cold produced by the mixture of one part of salt with two parts of snow or pounded ice, is greater than thirty degrees below freezing. In making ice-creams and dessert ices, the following articles are required: Pewter ice-pots with tightly-fitting lids, furnished with handles; wooden ice-pails, to hold the rough ice and salt, which should be stoutly made, about the same depth as the ice-pots, and nine or ten inches more in diameter,-each should have a hole in the side, fitted with a good cork, in order that the water from the melted ice may be drawn off as required. In addition, a broad spatula, about four inches long, rounded at the end, and furnished with a long wooden handle, is necessary to scrape the frozen cream from the sides of the ice-pot, and for mixing the whole smoothly together. When making ices, place the mixture of cream and fruit to be frozen, in the ice-pot, cover it with the lid, and put the pot in the ice-pail, which proceed to fill up with coarsely-pounded ice and salt, in the proportion of about one part of salt to three of ice; let the whole remain a few minutes (if covered by a blanket, so much the better), then whirl

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WHEN ALONE WE HAVE OUR THOUGHTS TO WATCH;

to be capable of producing by themselves an amount of cold more than thirty degrees below the freezing point of water, and this the ordinary mixtures will not do. Much more efficient and really freezing mixtures may be made by using acids to dissolve the salts. The cheapest, and perhaps the best, of these for ordinary use, is one which is frequently employed in France, both for making dessert ices, and cooling wines, &c. It consists of coarsely powdered Glauber salt (sulphate of soda), on which is poured about two-thirds its weight of spirit of salts (muriatic acid). The mixture should be made in a wooden vessel, as that is preferable to one made of metal, which conducts the external heat to the materials with great rapidity; and when the substance to be cooled is placed in the mixture, the whole should covered with a blanket, a piece of old woollen carpet doubled, or some other non-conducting material, to prevent the access of the external warmth; the vessel used for icing wines should not be too large, that there may be no waste of the freezing mixture. This combination produces a degree of cold thirty degrees below freezing; and if the materials are bought of any of the wholesale druggists or drysalters, it is exceedingly economical. It is open, however, to the very great objection, that the muriatic acid is an exceedingly corrosive liquid, and of a pungent, disagreeable odour: this almost precludes its use for any purpose except that of icing wines.

the pot briskly by the handle for a few a cooling one, the materials used ought minutes, take off the lid, and with the spatula scrape the iced cream from the sides, mixing the whole smoothly; put on the lid, and whirl again, repeating all the operations every few minutes until the whole of the cream is well frozen. Great care and considerable labour are required in stirring, so that the whole cream may be smoothly frozen, and not in hard lumps. When finished, if it is required to be kept any time, the melted ice and salt should be allowed to escape, by removing the cork, and the pail filled up with fresh materials. It is scarcely necessary to add, that if any of the melted ice and salt is allowed to mix with the cream, the latter is spoiled. From the difficulty of obtaining ice in places distant from large towns, and in hot countries, and from the impracticability of keeping it any length of time, or, in fact, of keeping small quantities more than a few hours, its use is much limited, and many have been the attempts to obtain an efficient substitute. For this purpose various salts have been employed, which, when dissolved in water, or in acids, absorb a sufficient amount of heat to freeze substances with which they may be placed in contact. We shall not attempt, in this article, to describe all the various freezing mixtures that have been devised, but speak only of those which have been found practically useful, state the circumstances which have prevented any of them coming into common use, and conclude by giving the composition of the New Freezing Preparation, which is now exported so largely to India, and the com- 1921. FURTHER DIRECTIONS.-Ac position of which has hitherto never tual quantities-one pound of muriate been made public. Many of the freezing of ammonia, or sal ammoniac, finely mixtures which are to be found de-powdered, is to be intimately mixed scribed in books are incorrectly so with two pounds of nitrate of potash or named, for although they themselves saltpetre, also in powder; this mixture are below the freezing point, yet they are not sufficiently powerful to freeze any quantity of water, or other substances, when placed in a vessel within them. In order to be efficient as a freezing mixture, as distinguished from

we may call No. 1. No. 2 is formed by. crushing three pounds of the best Scotch soda. In use, an equal bulk of both No. 1 and No. 2 is to be taken, stirred together, placed in the ice-pail, surrounding the ice-pot, and rather less

IN OUR FAMILIES OUR TEMPERS, AND IN SOCIETY OUR TONGUES.

cold water poured on than will dissolve the whole; if one quart of No. 1, and the same bulk of No. 2 are taken, it will require about one quart of water to dissolve them, and the temperature will fall, if the materials used are cool, to nearly thirty degrees below freezing. Those who fail, may trace their want of success to one or other of the following points: the use of too small a quantity of the preparation, the employment of a few ounces; whereas, in freezing ices, the ice-pot must be entirely surrounded with the freezing material: no one would attempt to freeze with four ounces of ice and salt. Again, too large a quantity of water may be used to dissolve the preparation, when all the excess of water has to be cooled down instead of the substance it is wished to freeze. All the materials used should be pure, and as cool as can be obtained. The ice-pail in which the mixture is made must be of some nonconducting material, as wood, which will prevent the access of warmth from the air; and the ice-pot, in which the liquor to be frozen is placed, should be of pewter, and surrounded nearly to its top by the freezing mixture. Bear in mind that the making of ice-cream, under any circumstances, is an operation requiring considerable dexterity and practice.

269

employed. Of course the quantity of sugar must be proportionately diminished.

1925. STRAWBERRY-WATER ICE.One large pottle of scarlet strawberries, the juice of a lemon, a pound of sugar, or one pint of strong syrup, half a pint of water. Mix,-first rubbing the fruit through a sieve,-and freeze.

1926. RASPBERRY-WATER ICE in the same manner.

1927. LEMON-WATER ICE.-Lemon juice and water, each half a pint; strong syrup, one pint: the rind of the lemons should be rasped off, before squeezing, with lump sugar, which is to be added to the juice; mix the whole; strain after standing an hour, and freeze. Beat up with a little sugar the whites of two or three eggs, and as the ice is beginning to set, work this in with the spatula, which will much improve the consistence and taste.

1928. ORANGE-WATER ICE in the same way.

1929. Nitrate of Ammonia as a Freezing Mixture.--Another substance which is free from any corrosive action or unpleasant odour, is the nitrate of ammonia, which, if simply dissolved in rather less than its own weight of water, reduces the temperature to about twenty-five degrees below freezing. The objections to its use are, that its frigorific power is not sufficiently great to freeze 1922. To make Dessert Ices, readily; and if it be required to form both Cream and Water. dessert ices, it is requisite to renew the 1923. STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM.- process, at the expiration of a quarter Take one pint of strawberries, one pint of an hour, a second, or even, if the of cream, nearly half a pound of pow-weather is very hot, and the water dered white sugar, the juice of a lemon; used is rather warm, a third or fourth mash the fruit through a sieve, and time. Again, the nitrate of ammonia take out the seeds: mix with the other is a very expensive salt; even in France, articles, and freeze. A little new milk where it is manufactured expressly for added makes the whole freeze more this purpose, it is sold at the rate of quickly. three francs a pound; and in this 1924. RASPBERRY ICE CREAM.-country it cannot be obtained under The same as strawberry. These ices a much higher price. One great reare often coloured by cochineal, but commendation, however, attends its the addition is not advantageous to the flavour. Strawberry or raspberry jam may be used instead of the fresh fruit, or equal quantities of jam and fruit

use, namely, that it may be recovered again, and used any number of times, by simply boiling away the water in which it is dissolved, by a gentle fire, until a

270

FEWER ACQUAINTANCES, AND MORE FRIENDS.

small portion, on being removed, crystallizes on cooling.

1930. Washing Soda as a Freezing Mixture.-If, however, nitrate of ammonia in coarse powder is put into the cooler, and there is then added twice its weight of freshly crushed washing soda, and an equal quantity of the coldest water that can be obtained, an intensely powerful frigorific mixture is the result, the cold often falling to forty degrees below freezing. This is by far the most efficacious freezing mixture that can be made without the use of ice or acids. But, unfortunately, it has an almost insuperable objection, that the nitrate of ammonia is decomposed by the soda, and cannot be recovered by evaporation; this raises the expense to so great a height, that the plan is practically useless.

1931. The New Freezing Preparation without Ice or Acids obviates all these objections. It is easy of use, not corrosive in its properties, and capable of being used at any time, at a minute's notice; is easy of transport, being in a solid form, and, moreover, moderate in its cost. In India, to which country it has been exported in enormous quantities, it has excited the most lively interest, and the Nepaulese princes, when in London, paid the greatest attention to its use. It consists of two powders, the first of which is composed of one part by weight of muriate of ammonia, or sal-ammoniac powder, and intimately mixed with two parts by weight of nitrate of potash, or saltpetre. These quantities are almost exactly in (what is called by chemists) the combining proportions of the two salts, and by reacting on each other, the original compounds are destroyed, and in the place of muriate of ammonia and nitrate of potash, we have nitrate of ammonia and muriate of potash; thus we have succeeded in producing nitrate of ammonia at a cheap rate, accompanied by another salt, the muriate of potash, which also produces considerable cold when dissolved: but this mixture, used alone,

cannot be regarded as a freezing one, although very efficient in cooling. The other powder is formed simply of the best Scotch soda, crushed in a mortar, or by passing through a mill; although, as hitherto prepared, its appearance has been disguised by the admixture of small quantities of other materials, which have, however, tended to diminish

its efficacy. The two

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powders so prepared must be separately kept in closely-covered vessels, and in as cool a place as possible; for if the crushed soda is exposed to the air, it loses the water it contains, and is considerably weakened in power; and if the other mixture is exposed, it attracts moisture from the air, and dissolves in it-becoming useless. use the mixture, take an equal bulk of the two powders, mix them together by stirring, and immediately introduce them into the ice-pail, or vessel in which they are to be dissolved, and pour on as much water (the coldest that can be obtained) as is sufficient to dissolve them; if a pint measure of each of the powders is used, they will require about a pint of water to dissolve them. More water than is necessary should not be used, as in that case the additional water is cooled instead of the substance that it is wished to freeze. Less than a pint of each powder, and about the same quantity of water, will be found sufficient to ice two bottles of wine, one after the other, in the hottest of weather, if a tub is used of such a size as to prevent the waste of materials.

1932. Muriate of Ammonia as a Freezing Mixture. If the ordinary sal ammoniac of the shops is used, it will be found both difficult to powder, and expensive; in fact, it is so exceedingly tough, that the only way in which it can be easily divided, except in a drug mill, is by putting as large a quantity of the salt into water which is actually boiling as the latter will dissolve; as the solution cools, the salt crystallizes out in the solid form, and if stirred as it cools, it separates in a state of fine division. As this process is troublesome, and as the

EVERY ONE BASTETH THE FAT HOG, WHILE THE LEAN ONE BURNETH.

sal ammoniac is expensive, it is better to use the crude muriate of ammonia, which is the same substance as sal ammoniac, but before it has been purified by sublimation. This is not usually kept by druggists, but may be readily obtained of any of the artificial manure merchants, at a very moderate rate; and its purity may be readily tested by placing a portion of it on a red-hot iron, when it should fly off in a vapour, leaving scarcely any residue.

1933. COLDNESS OF THE MATERIALS USED. It is hardly necessary to add, that in icing wines, or freezing, the effect is great in proportion to the coldness of the materials used: therefore, every article employed, viz., the water, tubs, mixtures, &c., should be as cool as possible.

1934. Blackbirds. The cock bird is of a deep black, with a yellow bill. The female is dark brown. It is difficult to distinguish male from female birds when young; but the darkest generally are males. Their food consists of German paste, bread, meat, and bits of apple. The same treatment as given for the thrush applies to the blackbird.

1935. Food of Blackbirds.The natural food of the blackbird is berries, worms, insects, shelled snails, cherries, and other similar fruit; and its artificial food, lean fresh meat, cut very small, and mixed with bread, or German paste.

1936. Thrushes.-A cock may be distinguished from a hen by a darker back, and the more glossy appearance of the feathers. The belly also is white. Their natural food is insects, worms, and snails. In a domesticated state they will meat raw meat, but snails and worms should be procured for them. Young birds are hatched about the middle of April, and should be kept very warm. They should be fed with raw meat, cut small, or bread mixed in milk with hemp seed well bruised; when they can feed themselves give them lean meat cut small, and mixed with bread or German

271 paste, plenty of clean water, and keep them in a warm, dry, and sunny situation.

1937. Canaries.-To distinguish a cock bird from a hen, observe the bird when it is singing, and if it be a cock you will perceive the throat heaving with a pulse-like motion, a peculiarity which is scarcely perceptible in the hen. Feed young canaries with white and yolk of hard egg, mixed together with a little bread steeped in water. This should be pressed and placed in one vessel, while in another should be put some boiled rape seed, washed in fresh water. Change the food every day. When they are a month old, put them into separate cages. Cut the claws of cage birds occasionally, when they become too long, but in doing so be careful not to draw blood.

1938. Canaries. - Especial care must be taken to keep the canary scrupulously clean. For this purpose, the cage should be strewed every morning with clean sand, or rather, fine gravel, for small pebbles are absolutely essential to life and health in cage-birds: fresh water must be given every day, both for drinking and bathing; the latter being in a shallow vessel; and, during the moulting season, a small bit of iron should be put into the water for drinking. The food of a canary should consist principally of summer rape seed, that is, of those small brown rape seeds which are obtained from plants sown in the spring, and which ripen during the summer; large and black rape seeds, on the contrary, are produced by such plants as are sown in autumn and reaped in spring. A little chickweed in spring, lettuce leaves in summer, and endive in autumn, with slices of sweet apple in winter, may be safely given; but bread and sugar ought to be generally avoided. Occasionally, also, a few poppy or canary seeds, and a small quantity of bruised hemp seed may be added, but the last very sparingly. Cleanliness, simple food, and fresh but not cold air, are essential to the wellbeing of a canary. During the winter,

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