We toast bread not merely to brown it, but to take out all the moisture possible, that it may be more perfectly moistened with the saliva and thus easily digested ; then we brown it to give it a better flavor. If the slice be thick and carelessly exposed to a blazing fire, the outside is blackened and made into charcoal before the heat can reach the inside. The moisture is only heated, not evaporated, and makes the inside doughy or clammy ; and butter, when spread upon the bread, cannot penetrate it, but floats on the surface in the form of oil, and the result is one of the most indigestible compounds.

The correct way is to have the bread stale and cut into thin uniform slices, and to dry it thoroughly before browning it. Such toast, even if moistened with water or milk, may be easily and thoroughly acted upon by the digestive fluids.