ESSAYS, Political, Economical and Philosophical. Volume 1.
by
Benjamin Rumford
Part 7 out of 7
This printed Form is filled up as follows:
Munich Military Workhouse,
1795 the 1st Sept. No 134.
Mary Smith received
1 lb. of Flax, No 3,
Delivered back 2 skains 3 knots
of Thread, weighing 1 lb. --- oz.
Is entitled to receive per lb. xrs. 10.
Total, ten creutzers.
Attest. this 4th Sept. 1795
Will Wildmann.
An improved Form for a Spin-Ticket, with its Abstract; which
Abstract is to be cut off from the Ticket, and fastened to the
Bundle of Yarn or Thread.
----------------------------------------------------------------
: Spin-Ticket. :: Abstract of :
: Munich House of Industry. :: Spin-Ticket. :
: 1795 the 10th Sept. No 230. :: Munich House :
: Mary Smith received :: of :
: 1 lb. of wool, No 14. :: Industry, :
: Delivered back 2 skains 4 knots :: 1795, the 10th Sept. :
: of yarn, weighing 1 lb.--oz. :: No 230. :
: Wages per lb. for spinning 12 xrs. :: 2 skains 4 knots :
: Is entitled to receive twelve xrs. :: of woollen yarn, :
: Attest. this 14th of Sept. 1795. :: Spinner, Mary Smith. :
: J. Schmidt. :: Attest. J. Schmidt. :
: :: :
----------------------------------------------------------------
In order that the original entry of the Spin-Tickets in the
general tables, kept by the clerks of the Spinners, may more
readily be found, all the Tickets for the same material, (flax,
for instance,) issued by the same clerk, during the course of
each month, must be regularly numbered.
APPENDIX, No VII.
An Account of EXPERIMENTS made at the BAKE-HOUSE of the
MILITARY WORKHOUSE at MUNICH, November the 4th and 5th, 1794.
In baking RYE BREAD
The oven, which is of an oval form, is 12 feet deep, measured
from the mouth to the end; 11 feet 10 inches wide, and 1 foot
11 inches high, in the middle.
November 4th, at 10 o'clock in the morning, 1736 lbs.[6] of
rye meal were taken out of the store room, and sent to the
bakehouse, where it was worked and baked into bread, at six
different times, in the following manner:--
FIRST BATCH
At 45 minutes after 10 o'clock, the meal was mixed for the
first time, for which purpose 16 quarts (Bavarian measure) of
lukewarm water, weighing 28 lbs. 28 loths, were used.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the little leaven (as it is called)
was made, for which purpose 24 quarts, or 43 lbs. 10 loths of
water were used; and at half an hour after 7 o'clock, the great
leaven was made with 40 quarts, or 72 lbs. 6 loths, of water.
At 11 o'clock this mass was prepared for kneading, by the
addition of 40 quarts, or 72 lbs. 6 loths, more of water.
At 15 minutes after 10 o'clock at night, the kneading of the
dough was commenced; 2 1/2 lbs. of salt being first mixed with
the mass. The dough having been suffered to rise till a
quarter before 2 o'clock, it was kneaded a second time,
and then made, in half an hour's time, into 191 loaves, each of
them weighing 2 lbs. 16 loths. These loaves having been
suffered to rise half an hour, they were put into the oven
10 minutes before 3 o'clock, and in an hour after taken out again,
when 25 loaves being immediately weighed, were found to weight
55 lbs. 15 loths. Each loaf, therefore, when baked, weighed 2 lbs.
5 1/2 loths; and as it weighed 2 lbs. 16 loths when it was
put into the oven, it lost 10 1/2 loths in being baked.
The whole quantity of water used in this experiment, in making
the leaven and the dough, was 216 lbs. 18 loths.--The quantity
of meal used was about 310 lbs.
First Heating of the Oven
This was begun 35 minutes after four o'clock, with 220 1/2 lbs.
of pine-wood, which was in full flame 15 minutes after five
o'clock.--At 8 minutes after 8 o'clock, 51 lbs. more of wood
were added;--12 minutes after 11 o'clock, 32 lbs. more were put
into the oven;--51 lbs. at one o'clock, and 12 lbs. more at
30 minutes after 2 o'clock; so that 366 lbs. 16 loths of wood
were used for the first heating.
SECOND BATCH.
At 20 minutes after 11 o'clock, the proper quantity of leaven
was mixed with the meal, and 44 quarts, or 79 lbs. 25 loths,
of water added to it. At 10 minutes after 3 o'clock, the meal
was prepared for kneading, by adding to it 52 quarts, or 93 lbs.
27 loths, of water.
At 30 minutes after 5 o'clock, the kneading of the dough was
begun; 2 1/2 lbs. of salt having been previously added.
At 15 minutes after 6 o'clock, the dough was kneaded a second
time, and formed into 186 loaves, which were put into the oven
at 15 minutes after 7 o'clock, and taken out again 9 minutes
after 8 o'clock, when 25 loaves being immediately weighed,
were found to weigh 55 lbs. 4 loths.--Water used in making the
second dough, 173 lbs. 8 loths.
Second Heating of the Oven
This was begun 20 minutes after 4 o'clock in the morning, with
54 1/2 lbs. of wood; 20 lbs. were added 10 minutes after 5 o'clock,
and 60 lbs. more 6 minutes after 6 o'clock; so that the second
heating of the oven required 134 lbs. 16 loths of wood.
THIRD BATCH
At 20 minutes after 3 o'clock, the proper quantity of leaven
was mixed with the meal, and 48 quarts, or 86 lbs. 20 loths,
of water were put to it.
At 6 minutes after 8 o'clock, this mass was prepared for
kneading, by adding to it 48 quarts, or 86 lbs. 20 loths, of
water.--At 30 minutes after 9 o'clock, this dough was mixed
with 2 1/2 lbs. of salt; and at 30 minutes after 10 o'clock,
it was made into 189 loaves, which, after having been suffered
to rise for half an hour were put into the oven 10 minutes after
11 o'clock, and taken out again at 12 o'clock.
Fifty loaves of bread, which were weighed immediately upon
their being taken out of the oven, were found to weigh 110 lbs.
30 loths; which gives 2 lbs. 5 1/2 loths for the weight of
each loaf. The water used in making this batch of bread was
173 lbs. 8 loths.
Third Heating of the Oven.
This was begun 30 minutes after 8 o'clock, with 50 lbs. of
wood; and 50 lbs. more being added 30 minutes after 9 o'clock,
the whole quantity used was 100 lbs.
FOURTH BATCH.
At a quarter before 8 o'clock, the proper quantity of leaven
was mixed with the meal, and 48 quarts, or 86 lbs. 20 loths,
of water being added, at 30 minutes past 11 o'clock, this mass
was prepared for kneading, by adding to it 52 quarts, or 93 lbs.
27 loths, of water.
Four minutes after 1 o'clock, 2 1/2 lbs. of salt were added.
The dough being kneaded at 15 minutes after two o'clock, 188
loaves of bread were made, which were put into the oven 5
minutes before 3 o'clock, and taken out again at the end of one
hour, when 25 of them were weighed, and found to weigh, one
with the other, 2 lbs. 5 1/2 loths.
The water used in making this batch of bread was 180 lbs. 15 loths.
Fourth Heating of the Oven.
This was begun 15 minutes after 12 o'clock, with 40 lbs. of wood,
and 50 lbs. more being added at 30 minutes after 1 o'clock,
the total quantity used was 90 lbs.
FIFTH BATCH.
At 1/4 before 12 o'clock, the proper quantity of leaven was
mixed with the meal, and 52 quarts, or 93 lbs. 27 loths,
of water put into it.--This mass was prepared for kneading at
15 minutes after 4 o'clock, by the addition of 48 quarts,
or 86 lbs. 20 loths, of water. The kneading of the dough was
begun at 5 o'clock, and at 30 minutes after 5 it was made into
loaves, 2 1/2 lbs. of salt having been previously added.
186 loaves being made out of this dough, they were put into the
oven at 10 minutes before 7 o'clock, and taken out again at the
end of one hour, when 25 loaves were weighed, and found to
weigh 55 lbs. 18 loths.--The quantity of water used in making
the dough for this batch of bread was 180 lbs. 15 loths.
Fifth Heating of the Oven
The oven was begun to be heated the fifth time at 15 minutes
after four o'clock, with 40 lbs. of wood, and 40 lbs. more
were added at 6 o'clock; so that in this heating no more than
80 lbs. of wood were consumed.
SIXTH BATCH.
The meal was mixed with leaven at 30 minutes after 3 o'clock;
for which purpose 32 quarts, or 57 lbs. 24 loths, of water
were used at 15 minutes after 7 o'clock. This mass was
prepared for kneading, by the addition of 44 quarts, or 79 lbs.
13 loths, of water, and a proportion of salt; at 19 minutes
after 9 o'clock the dough was kneaded the first, and at 1/4
before 10 the second time; and in the course of half an hour
160 loaves were made out of it, which were put into the oven at
10 minutes before 11 o'clock, and taken out again at 8 minutes
before 12 o'clock at midnight.
The water used in making the dough for this batch of bread was
137 lbs. 5 loths.
Sixth Heating of the Oven.
At 1/4 after 8 o'clock, the sixth and last fire was made with
40 lbs. of wood; to which, at 15 minutes before 10 o'clock at
night, 34 1/2 lbs. more were added; so that in the last
heating 74 1/2 lbs. of wood only were consumed.
GENERAL RESULTS of these EXPERIMENTS.
The ingredients employed in making the bread in these six
experiments were as follows: viz.
lbs. loths.
Of rye meal, -- -- 1736 0
Of water,-- -- -- 1061 5
Of salt, -- -- -- 15 0
-----------
In all, 2812 5 in weight.
Of this mass 1102 loaves of bread were formed, each of which,
before it was baked, weighed 2 1/2 lbs.; consequently, these
1102 loaves, before they were put into the oven, weighed 2755
lbs.: but the ingredients used in making them weighed 2812 lbs.
5 loths. Hence it appears, that the loss of weight in these
six experiments, in preparing the leaven,--from evaporation,
before the bread was put into the oven,--from waste,
etc.--amounted to no less than 57 lbs. 5 loths.
In subsequent experiments, where less water was used, this loss
appeared to be less by more than one half.
In these experiments 1061 lbs. 5 loths of water were used to
1736 lbs. of meal, which gives 61 lbs. 4 3/4 loths of water to
100 lbs. of meal. But subsequent experiments showed 56 lbs.
of water to be quite sufficient for 100 lbs. of the meal.
These 1102 loaves, when baked, weighed at a medium 2 lbs. 5 1/2
loths each; consequently, taken together, they weighed 2393 lbs.
13 loths: and as they weighed 2755 lbs. when they were
put into the oven, they must have lost 361 lbs. 19 loths in
being baked, which gives 10 1/2 loths, equal to 21/160 or
nearly 1/8 of its original weight before it was baked, for the
diminution of the weight of each loaf.
According to the standing regulations of the baking business
carried on in the bakehouse of the Military Workhouse at Munich,
for each 100 lbs. of rye meal which the baker receives from the
store-keeper, he is obliged to deliver 139 lbs. of well-baked
bread; namely, 64 loaves, each weighing 2 lbs. 5 1/2 loths.
And as in the before-mentioned six experiments, 1736 lbs. of
meal were used, it is evident that 1111 loaves, instead of 1102
loaves, ought to have been produced; for 100 lbs. of meal are
to 64 loaves as 1736 lbs, to 1111 loaves. Hence it appears
that 9 loaves less were produced in these experiments than
ought to have been produced.
There were reasons to suspect that this was so contrived by the
baker, with a design to get the number of loaves he was obliged
to deliver for each 100 lbs. of meal lessened;--but in this
attempt he did not succeed.
Quantity of Fuel consumed in these Experiments.
Dry pine-wood.
lbs. loths.
In heating the oven first time, -- -- 366 16
second time,-- -- 134 16
third time, -- -- 100 0
fourth time,-- -- 90 0
fifth time, -- -- 80 0
sixth time, -- -- 74 16
------------
Total, 845 16
Employed in keeping up a small fire
near the mouth of the oven while the
bread was putting into it, -- -- -- 34 16
Total consumption of wood in the six
experiments,-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 880 lbs.
The results of these experiments show, in a striking manner,
how important it is to the saving of fuel in baking bread,
to keep the oven continually going, without ever letting it cool:
for in the first experiment when the oven was cold, when it was
begun to be heated, the quantity of wood required to heat it
was 366 1/2 lbs.; but in the sixth experiment, after the oven
had been well warmed in the preceding experiments, the quantity
of fuel required was only 74 1/2 lbs.
As in these experiments 2393 lbs. 13 loths of bread were baked
with the heat generated in the combustion of 880 lbs. of wood,
this gives to each pound of bread 11 1/3 loths, or 34/96 of a
pound, of wood.
In the fifth experiment, or batch, 186 loaves weighing (at 2 lbs.
5 1/2 loths each) 304 lbs. were baked, and only 80 lbs. of wood
consumed, which gives but a trifle more than 1/4 of a pound of
wood to each pound of bread; or 1 pound of wood to 4 pounds of
bread.
As each loaf weighed 2 lbs. 16 loths when it was put into the
oven, and only 2 lbs. 5 1/2 loths when it came out of it, the
loss of weight each loaf sustained in being baked was 10 1/2
loths, as has already been observed. Now this loss of weight
could only arise from the evaporation of the superabundant
water existing in the dough; and as it is known how much heat,
and consequently HOW MUCH FUEL is required to reduce any given
quantity of water, at any given temperature, to steam, it is
possible, from these data, to determine how much fuel would be
required to bake any given quantity of bread, upon the
supposition that NO PART OF THE HEAT GENERATED IN THE
COMBUSTION OF THE FUEL WAS LOST, either in heating the
apparatus, or in any other way; but that the whole of it was
employed in baking the bread, and in that process alone.
And though these computations will not show how the heat which
is lost might be saved, yet, as they ascertain what the amount
of this loss really is in any given case, they enable us to
determine, with a considerable degree of precision, not only
the relative merit of different arrangements for economizing
fuel in the process of baking, but they show also, at the sane
time, the precise distance of each from that point of
perfection, where any farther improvements would be impossible:
And on that account, these computations are certainly
interesting.
In computing how much heat is NECESSARY to bake any given
quantity of bread, it will tend much to simplify the
investigation, if we consider the loaf as being first heated to
the temperature of boiling water, and then baked in consequence
of its redundant water being sent off from it in steam.
But as the dough is composed of two different substances, viz.
rye meal and water, and as these substances have been found by
experiment to contain different quantities of absolute heat;
or, in other words, to require different quantities of heat, to
heat equal quantities or weights of them to any given temperature,
or any given number of degrees, it will be necessary to
determine how much of each of the ingredients is employed in
forming any given quantity of dough.
Now, in the foregoing experiments, as 1102 loaves of bread were
formed of 1736 lbs. of rye meal, it appears, that there must
have been 1.47 lb. of the meal in each loaf; and as these
loaves weighed 2 1/2 lbs. each when they were put into the oven,
each of them must, in a state of dough, have been composed of
1.47 lb. of rye meal, and 1.03 lb. of water.
Supposing these loaves to have been at the temperature of 55
degrees of Fahrenheit's Thermometer when they were put into the
oven, the heat necessary to heat one of them to the temperature
of 212 degrees, or the point of boiling water, may be thus
computed.
By an experiment, of which I intend hereafter to give an
account to the Public, I found, that 20 lbs. of ice-cold water
might be made to boil, with the heat generated in the
combustion of 1 lb. of dry pine-wood, such as was used in
baking the bread in the six experiments before mentioned.
Now, if 20 lbs. of water may be heated 180 degrees,
(namely from 32 to 212 degrees,) by the heat generated in the
combustion of 1 lb. of wood, 1.03 lb. of water may be heated
157 degrees, (from 55 degrees, or temperate, to 212 degrees,)
with 0.4436 of a pound of the wood.
Suppose now that rye meal contained the same quantity of
absolute heat as water,--as the quantity of meal in each loaf,
was 1.47 lb., it appears, that this quantity would have
required, (upon the above supposition,) to heat it from the
temperature of 55 degrees, to that of 212 degrees; a quantity
of heat equal to that which would be generated in the
combustion of 0.06405 of a pound of the wood in question.
But it appears, by the result of experiments published by
Dr. Crawford, that the quantities of heat required to heat any
number of degrees, the same given quantity (in weight) of water
and of wheat, (and it is presumed, that the specific or
absolute heat of rye cannot be very different from that of wheat,)
are to each other, as 2.9 to 1,--water requiring more heat to
it, than the grain in that proportion: Consequently, the
quantity of wood required to heat from 55 to 212 degrees, the
1.47 lb. of rye meal which entered into the composition of
each loaf, instead of being .06405 of a pound, as above
determined, upon the false supposition that the specific heat
of water and that of rye were the same, would, in fact, amount
to no more than 0.02899; for 2.9 (the specific heat of water)
is to 1 (the specific heat of rye), as 0.06405 is to 0.02899.
Hence it appears, that the wood required as fuel to heat (from
the temperature of 55 degrees to that of 212 degrees) a loaf of
rye bread (in the state of dough), weighing 2 1/2 lbs., would
be as follows, namely:
Of pine-wood,
To heat 1.03 lb. of water, which
enters into the composition of the dough, .. 0.04436
To heat the rye meal, 1.47 lb in weight, .. 0.02899
--------
Total, 0.07335 lb.
To complete the computation of the quantity of fuel necessary
in the process of baking bread, it remains to determine, how
much heat is required, to send off in steam, from one of the
loaves in question (after it has been heated to the temperature
of 212 degrees), the 10 1/2 loths, equal to 21/64 of a pound of
water, which each loaf is known to lose in being baked.
Now it appears, from the result of Mr. Watt's ingenious
experiments on the quantity of latent heat in steam, that the
quantity of heat necessary to change any given quantity of
water ALREADY BOILING HOT to steam, is about five times and a
half greater than would be sufficient to heat the same quantity
of water, from the temperature of freezing, to that of boiling
water.
But we have just observed, that 20 lbs. of ice-cold water may be
heated to the boiling point, with the heat generated in the
combustion of 1 lb. of pine-wood; it appears therefore that 20 lbs.
of boiling water would require 5 1/2 times as much, or 5 1/2 lbs.
of wood to reduce it to steam.
And if 20 lbs. of boiling water require 5 1/2 lbs. of wood,
21/64 of a pound of water boiling hot will require 0.09023 of a
pound of wood to reduce it to steam.
If now, to this quantity of fuel,-- -- 0.09023 lb.
we add that necessary for heating the
loaf to the temperature of boiling
water, as above determined, -- -- -- 0.07335 lb.
--------
this gives the total quantity of fuel
necessary for baking one of these loaves
of bread,-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.16353 lb.
Now as these loaves, when baked into bread, weighed 2 lbs. 5
1/2 loths = 2 11/64 lbs. each and required, in being baked,
the consumption of 0.16353 of a pound of wood, this gives for
the expence of fuel in baking bread 0.07532 of a pound of
pine-wood to each pound of rye bread; which is about 13 1/4
lbs. of bread to each pound of wood.
But we have seen, from the results of the before-mentioned
experiments, that when the bread was baked under circumstances
the most favourable to the economy of fuel, no less than 80 lbs.
of pine-wood were employed in heating the oven to bake 304 lbs.
of bread, which gives less than 4 lbs. of bread to each pound
of wood; consequently, TWO THIRDS at least of the heat
generated in the combustion of the fuel must, in that case,
have been lost; and in all the other experiments the loss of
heat appears to have been still much greater.
A considerable loss of heat in baking will always be inevitable;
but it seems probable, that this loss might, with proper
attention to the construction of the oven, and to the
management of the fire, be reduced at least to one half the
quantity generated from the fuel in its combustion. In the
manner in which the baking business is now generally carried
on, much more than three quarters of the heat generated,
or which might be generated from the fuel consumed, is lost.
APPENDIX, No VIII.
The following Account of the Persons in the House of Industry
in Dublin, the 30th of April 1796, and of the Details of the
Manner and Expence of feeding them, was given to the Author,
by order of the Governors of that Institution.
Average of the Description of Poor for the Week ending
30th of April 1796.
Males. Females. Total.
Employed -- -- -- -- 74 352 426
Infirm and Incurable -- 172 585 757
Idiots -- -- -- -- 16 13 29
Blind-- -- -- -- -- 5 10 16
----- ----- ------
267 960 1227
In the Infirmary.
Sick Patients, Servants, etc. 88 200 }
}-- 343
Lunaticks-- -- -- -- 15 40 }
------
Total 1570
Employed at actual labour 322 Persons.
Ditto at menial offices 104 ditto
-----
Total 426
Amongst the 1570 Persons above mentioned, are 282 Children and
447 compelled Persons.
Of the Children, 205 are taught to spell, read, and write.
Saturday, April 30, 1796.
1227 Persons fed at Breakfast.
120 Servants in New-House,
a 8 oz. bread ------ 60 } lbs. loaves lb. value.
336 Incurables, Children, etc. } 186 is 41 1 1/2 L. 1 14
a 6 ditto --------126 }
771 Workers, etc. got Stirabout.
-----
1227
Weight of meal for Stirabout 4 cwt. costs L. 3 1 8
120 Servants in New-House }
get 1 quart butter-milk Gal. P.}
each 30 0 } 167 gallons of
1084 Workers, Incurables, etc. } butter-milk
1 pint ditto 135 4 } value 1 L.
23 Sucklers get no butter-milk }
----- Allowed for waste -- -- 1 4 }
1227
Brought down, L. 5 15 8
s. d.
Fuel to cook the Stirabout, 3 bush. cost 2 3 }
} 0 3 0 1/2
Salt for ditto, 1 qr. 3 lb cost-- -- 0 9 1/2 }
-------------
The Breakfast cost L. 5 18 8 1/2
Quantity of water, 5 barrels 6 gallons.
1227 Persons fed at Dinner.--BREAD and MEAL POTTAGE.
120 Servants a 9 oz. -- 68 }
bread } lbs. loaves. lb. value.
1107 Workers, Incurables, } 621 1/2 is 138 0 1/2 L. 5 10 4
etc. 8 oz. ditto--553 1/2}
Weight of meal for the pottage, 1 cwt. 3 qrs.-- -- -- 0 13 5
Pepper for ditto, half a pound -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 1
Ginger for ditto, 1 pound -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 3
Salt for ditto, 21 pound -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 0 7
Fuel for ditto, 3 bushels 2 pecks-- -- -- -- -- -- 0 2 7 1/2
-------------
Dinner cost L. 6 9 3 1/2
SUPPER.
For 165 Sickly Women on 6 oz, bread. 62 } lbs. loaves lb. value.
251 Children, 3 oz. do. 47 } 109 is 24 1 0 19 11
N.B. The expenses of Food for the Hospital, in which there are
343 persons, is not included in the above account.
Sunday, May 1, 1796.
1220 Persons fed at Breakfast.
120 Servants, a 8 oz. bread.
330 Incurables, Children, etc. 6 oz. do.
770 Workers, etc. get Stirabout.
-----
1220 Persons.
The same quantity of provisions delivered this day
for Breakfast as on Saturday, and cost the same: viz.
5L. 18s. 8 1/2d.
1220 Persons fed at Dinner.--BREAD, BEEF and BROTH.
Cost
120 Servants, a 9 oz. bread, 68 } lbs. loaves lbs. L. s. d.
1100 Workers, Incurables, etc. } 618 is 137 1 1/2 5 9 6
8 do.-- -- -- -- -- 550 }
-----
1220 Persons.
Cwt. qrs. lbs.
Weight of raw beef, 4 2 10
Allowed for bone, 1 0 0
-------------
5 2 10 -- 7 19 3
Meal for the broth, 1 2 0 -- 1 3 1 1/2
Waste bread for do. 1 0 0 -- 0 0 0
Salt for do. 0 0 24 -- 0 0 8
Pepper for do. 0 0 0 1/2 -- 0 1 1
Fuel, 4 bushels 2 pecks, -- 0 3 4 1/2
---------------
Total L. 14 17 0
SUPPER.
The same number of women and children as yesterday, and the
Supper cost the same: viz. 19s. 11d.
Wednesday, May 4, 1796.
1216 Persons fed at Breakfast.
120 Servants in New-House, a 8 oz. bread
334 Incurables, Children, etc. a 6 oz. do.
762 Workers, etc. get Stirabout.
-----
1216 Persons.
The same quantity of provisions, etc. delivered this day
for Breakfast as for Saturday, and cost the same: viz.
8L 18s. 8 1/2d.
1216 Persons fed at Dinner.--CALECANNON and BEER.
Cost.
Weight of raw potatoes Cwt. qrs. lbs. L. s. d.
for Calecannon,-- -- 19 0 0 -- 3 6 6
An allowance for waste, 1 0 0
-------------
Weight used, 18 0 0 --
Raw greens for ditto,-- 8 0 0 -- 1 6 0
Butter for ditto,-- -- 1 0 0 -- 3 12 0
Pepper for ditto,-- -- 0 0 0 1/2 -- 0 1 1
Ginger for ditto,-- -- 0 0 1 -- 0 1 3
Onions for ditto,-- -- 0 0 14 -- 0 2 0
Salt for ditto, -- -- 0 0 24 -- 0 0 8
Fuel, 4 bushels 2 pecks, -- 0 3 4
Time of boiling about four hours.
1193 Persons get 1 }
pint of beer Galls. p. } Barrs.
each, making 149 1 }Galls. Galls.
23 On the breast } 151 is 3 31 2 5 3
---- get no beer. }
1216 }
Allowed for }
waste, -- 1 7 }
Bread to Incurables and Children on the
breast, 43 loaves,-- -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 15 4
-----------
Total L. 12 13 5
SUPPER.
The same number of Women and Children as on
Saturday, and cost the same: viz. 19s 11d.
N.B. All these accounts are in avoirdupois weight,
and Irish money.
APPENDIX, No IX.
An Account of an EXPERIMENT made (under the Direction of the
AUTHOR) in the Kitchen of the HOUSE of INDUSTRY at DUBLIN,
in COOKING for the POOR.
May the 6th, 1796, a dinner was provided for 927 persons of
Calecannon, a kind of food in great repute in Ireland, composed
of Potatoes, boiled and mashed, mixed with about one-fifth of
their weight of boiled Greens, cut fine with sharp shovels, and
seasoned with butter, onions, salt, pepper, and ginger. The
ingredients were boiled in a very large iron boiler, of a
circular, or rather hemispherical form, capable of containing
near 400 gallons, and remarkably thick and heavy. 273 gallons
of pump water were put into this boiler; and the following
Table will show, in a satisfactory manner, the progress and the
result of the experiment:
Heat Contents of the Boiler
Fuel laid of the
Time. on Coals. Liquid Quantity
Pecks Weight Ingredients. Gall. lbs.
7h 48m 4 106 lb. 55 Water to boil 273
8h 15m 1 26 1/2 the Greens
40m 1 26 1/2 and Potatoes
9h 0m 1 26 1/2
15m 2 53 80
30m 1 26 1/2 90
45m 2 53 110
10h 0m 1 26 1/2 150
20m 212 The Greens
were now put 295 1/2
in.
2m 180
30m 1 26 1/2 190
45m 212
11h the Greens
taken out and 1615
Potatoes put
in.
11h 10m 2 53 180
20m 1 26 1/2 200
30m 212
45m Potatoes done.
GENERAL RESULTS of the EXPERIMENT.
The fuel used was Whitehaven coal: the quantity 17 pecks,
weighing 450 1/2 lbs.
The potatoes being mashed, (without peeling them,) and the
greens chopped fine with a sharp shovel, they were mixed
together, and 98 lbs of butter, 14 lbs. of onions boiled and
chopped fine, 40 lbs. of salt, 1 lb. of black pepper in powder,
and 1/2 lb. of ginger, being added, and the whole well mixed
together, this food was served out in portions of 1 quart, or
about 2 lbs. each, in wooden noggins, holding each 1 quart when
full.
Each of these portions of Calecannon (as this food is called in
Ireland) served one person for dinner and supper; and each
portion cost about 2 1/14 pence, Irish money, or it cost
something less than ONE PENNY sterling per pound.
Twelve pence sterling, make thirteen pence Irish.
The expence (reckoned in Irish money) of preparing this food,
was as follows: viz.
L. s. d.
Potatoes, 19 cwt. at 3s. 6d. per cwt. -- -- 3 6 6
(N.B. They weighed no more than 1615 lbs.
when picked and washed.)
Greens, 26 flaskets, at 10d. each, -- -- -- 1 1 10
Butter, 98 lbs. at 72s. per cwt. -- -- -- 3 3 0
Onions, 14 lbs. at 2s. per stone, -- -- -- 0 2 0
Ginger, 1/2 lbs. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 3
Salt, 40 lbs. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 1
Pepper, 1 lb. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0 1 1
---------
L. 7 16 9
Expence for fuel, 17 pecks of coal,
at 1L. 3s. 3d. per ton, -- -- -- -- -- 0 3 2 1/2
-------------
Total L. 7 19 11 1/2
With this kind of food there is no allowance of bread, nor is
any necessary.
It would be hardly possible to invent a more nourishing or more
palatable kind of food, than Calecannon, as it is made in Ireland;
but the expence of it might be considerably diminished, by
using less butter in preparing it.
Salted herrings (which do not in general cost much more than a
penny the pound) might be used with great advantage to give it
a relish, particularly when a small proportion of butter is used.
In this experiment, 273 gallons of water, weighing about 2224 lbs.
avoirdupois, and being at the temperature of 55 degrees,
was made to boil, (in two hours and 32 minutes,) with the
combustion of 346 1/2 lbs. of coal; which gives rather less
than 6 1/2 lbs. of water, to each pound of coal consumed;
the water being heated 157 degrees, or from 55 to 212 degrees.
According to my experiments, 20 lbs. of water may be heated
180 degrees, (namely from 32 degrees the freezing point,
to 212 degrees the temperature of boiling water,) with the
heat generated in the combustion of 1 lb. of pine-wood;
consequently, the same quantity of wood (1 lb.) would heat
23 lb. of water 157 degrees, or from 55 to 212 degrees.
But M. Lavoisier has shown us by his experiments, that the
quantity of heat generated in the combustion of any given
weight of coal, is greater than that generated in the combustion
of the same weight of dry wood, in the proportion of 1089 to 600;
consequently, 1 lb. of coal ought to make 40 3/4 lbs. of water,
at the temperature 55 degrees, boil.
But in the foregoing experiment, 1 lb. of coal was consumed in
making 6 1/2 lbs. of water boil; consequently, more than 5/6
of the heat generated, or which might with proper management
have been generated in the combustion of the coal, was lost,
owing to the bad construction of the boiler and of the
fire-place.
Had the construction of the boiler and of the fire-place been
as perfect as they were in my experiments, a quantity of fuel
would have been sufficient, smaller than that actually used, in
the proportion of 6 1/2 to 40 3/4, or instead of 450 1/2 lbs.
of coal, 71 3/4 lbs. would have done the business; and,
instead of costing 3s. 2 1/2d., they would have cost less than
6 1/4 Irish money, or 5 3/4d. sterling, which is only about
1/3 per cent. of the cost of the ingredients used in preparing
the food, for the expence of fuel for cooking it.
These computations may serve to show, that I did not exaggerate,
when I gave it as my opinion, (in my Essay on Food,) that the
expence for the fuel necessary to be employed in cooking ought
never to exceed, even in this country, TWO PER CENT. of the
value of the ingredients of which the food is composed; that is
to say, when kitchen fire-places are well constructed.
Had the ingredients used in this experiment, viz.
2234 lbs. of water
1615 lbs. of potatoes,
98 lbs. of butter,
14 lbs. of onions,
40 lbs. of salt,
1 lb. of pepper, and
0 1/2 lb. of ginger,
------
making in all 3992 1/2 lbs., been made into a soup, instead of
being made into Calecannon, this, at 1 1/4 lb. (equal to one
pint and a quarter), the portion would have served to feed 3210
persons.
But if I can show, that in Ireland, where all the coals they
burn are imported from England, a good and sufficient meal of
victuals for 3210 persons may be provided with the expence of
only 5 3/4d. for the fuel necessary to cook it; I trust that
the account I ventured to publish in my first Essay, of the
expence for fuel in the kitchen of the Military Workhouse at
Munich, namely, that it did not amount to so much as 4 1/2d.
a day, when 1000 persons were fed, will no longer appear quite
so incredible, as it certainly must appear to those who are not
aware of the enormous waste which is made of fuel in the
various processes in which it is employed.
I shall think myself very fortunate, if what I have done in the
prosecution of these my favourite studies, should induce
ingenious men to turn their attention to the investigation of a
science, hitherto much neglected, and where every new
improvement must tend directly and powerfully to increase the
comforts and enjoyments of mankind.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
Footnotes for Essay V.
[1]
The number of horses in Bavaria alone amount to above 160,000
[2]
A particular account of these military posts is given in the
Second Chapter of the First Essay.
[3]
Suffice it to mention one among numberless facts, which might
be brought to prove these assertions: The Beggars of our
capital carry on an increasing and very lucrative trade, with
confessional and communion testimonials, which they sell to
people who daringly transgress the holy ecclesiastical laws,
by neglecting to confess and receive the holy sacrament of the
Lord's Supper at Easter. Some of these impious wretches
receive the sacrament, at least twice in a day, in order not to
lose their customers; if the demands for communion testimonials
are great, or come late.----Ye priests and preachers of the
gospel, can you still forbear raising your voices against Beggars?
[4]
To these the President of the Chamber of Finances has since been added.
[5]
Since the year 1792 the Elector, to relieve the Institution
from that burden, has ordered the police guards to be paid out
of the Public Treasury of the Chamber of Finances.
[6]
The Bavarian pound which was used in these experiments,
and which is divided into 32 loths, is to the pound Avoirdupois
as 12,384 is to 10,000,--or nearly as 5 to 4.
This the end of Volume 1 of Count Rumford's Essays
***Etext editors notes follow...
Some modernizations of old spellings have been applied, these are:
show for shew
showed for shewed
showing for shewing
shown for shewn
increased for encreased;
economical for oeconomical
crowded for crouded
control for controul
Appendix III contains a table that originally appeared landscape
across a number of pages.
I have split this into two, so it will fit comfortable across a
normal display screen. I have however added letters to match the
two parts together. Also as the concept of pages does not apply,
the various 'Carried forward' and 'Brought over totals' have been
omitted.
***End of Etext editor's notes.
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