"Three things are essential to life: air, water and food; and the order in which these are named expresses their relative importance to life."- Hoy.

Without air we suffocate at once, without water we may live from two to seven days, and without food from seven to forty days. Oftentimes the term "food" is made to include both air and water, but a true food by its oxidation in the body liberates force and produces heat; air and water are in reality simply a means to this end, but of themselves undergo no chemical alteration in digestion, liberate no force and produce no heat. Water acts as a solvent and a carrier of nutritive and waste materials, and by its evaporation on the surface of the body controls the heat produced by the oxidation of true food. Some knowledge of the part that both air and water play in the economy of nature is essential to a proper understanding of the subject of food, and the study of chemistry should precede and accompany the study of cookery. In short, there is scarcely any branch of learning from which the art of cookery does not demand tribute.

Food is that (liquid or solid) which satisfies hunger and replaces the solid waste of the'body.-Hoy.

Water is that which slakes thirst and replaces the fluid loss of the body. - Hoy.

Food, in order to replace the waste of the body, needs contain such elements, in combination, as are found in the body substance; these complex substances are found in the material world around us. There are various ways in which changes in the natural condition of these material substances may be brought about so as to make them better adapted to satisfy hunger and replace waste. The principal of these is by cooking. In cooking we apply heat and often moisture to food products in such manner that they are made more digestible (soluble and diffusible) either directly, as when starch is changed to dextrine, or tough and fibrous substances are softened and thus rendered easily divisible; or, indirectly, through the development of new and pleasing odors and flavors that excite the flow of the digestive fluids. Cooking also sterilizes food.

The Kitchen Range

Fire is one of the first essentials in cooking food. Fire for this purpose is usually confined in a cooking stove or range. Outside the modern accessories of warming oven, water tank, front or coil, the common cooking range consists of a rectangular iron box divided into three compartments, viz., fire-box, ash-box and oven. The fire-box is lined with fire-brick and is separated from the receptacle below, which holds a pan for waste products, by a grate. The oven occupies the rest of the box, and with the lids or covers on the top is the principal feature of the range. Means are provided to convey hot air entirely around the oven before it enters the flue or chimney. The fire is regulated and controlled by dampers; these admit air to the burning fuel, check the strength of the draft (of air) and control the circulation of heat about the oven.

How To Build A Fire

The ash-pan is empty; the flue about the oven clean - the ash-pan needs be emptied each day and the flue cleaned each month - the draft below the fire-box is open, the damper that opens or closes the flue is drawn, affording free draft to the chimney, and the covers over the fire-box are lifted. Everything being in readiness, the fire may be built. First put into the fire-box a generous layer of shavings, or wisps of paper twisted in the middle so that they may lie loosely in the box; above these put in, crosswise, short pieces of soft wood that lights readily, and then, in the same way, pieces of hard wood that burns more slowly; above these put one or two shovelfuls of coal. Cover the top of the range, and apply a lighted match between the bars of the grate to the shavings or paper; when the wood is fairly ignited, add coal to fill the fire-box nearly even to the top of the bricks. The coal will settle down as the kindling burns. The fire-box should not be kept more than three fourths full; much less coal even will do the work in a family of ordinary size. When the blue flame disappears, close the stove door, leaving the damper in the door open. Adjust the damper in flue to send the current of hot air round the oven, instead of directly up the chimney. To check the fire still further, close the damper in the door, and open check-draft above; this lets in a current of cold air above the burning coal, and thus gently diminishes the strength of the draft. To keep a steady fire, add a few pieces of coal, occasionally, as the top coals begin to glow. After coal has once become glowing red in color it begins to part with its strength. Keep in mind that air below a fire causes it to burn briskly; air above cools and deadens a fire; also the fact that most food is subjected to too much rather than too little heat.