All who are concerned in soup-kitchens or other economic dietaries should carefully study the details supplied in these ‘Essays’ of Count Rumford; they are thoroughly practical, and, although nearly a century old, are highly instructive at the present day. With their aid large basins of good, nutritious soup might be supplied at one penny per basin, leaving a profit for establishment expenses; and if such were obtainable at Billingsgate, Smithfield, Leadenhall, Covent Garden, and other markets in London and the provinces, where poor men are working at early hours on cold mornings, the dram-drinking which prevails so fatally in such places would be more effectually superseded than by any temperance missions, which are limited to mere talking. Such soup is incomparably better than tea or coffee. It should be included in the bill of fare of all the coffee-palaces and such-like establishments. Since the above appeared in ‘Knowledge,’ I have had much correspondence with ladies and gentlemen who are benevolently exerting themselves in the good work of providing cheap dinners for poor school-children and poor people generally. I may mention particularly the Rev. W. Moore Ede, Rector of Gateshead-on-Tyne, a pioneer in the ‘Penny Dinner’ movement, and who has published a valuable penny tract on the subject, ‘Cheap Food and Cheap Cookery,’ which I recommend to all his fellow-workers. (He supplies distribution copies at 6_d._ per 100.) His ‘Penny Dinner Cooker,’ now commercially supplied by Messrs. Walker and Emley, Newcastle, overcomes the difficulties I have described in the slow cookery of Rumford’s soup. It is a double vessel on the glue-pot principle, heated by gas. FOOTNOTE: [17] Such lixivium is essentially a dilute solution of carbonate of potash in very crude form, not conveniently obtained by burners of pit coal. I tried the experiment of soaking some ordinary Indian corn in a solution of carbonate of potash, exceeding the ten or twelve hours specified by Count Rumford. The external coat was not removed even after two days’ soaking, but the corns were much swollen and softened. I suspect that this difference is due to the condition of the corn which is imported here. It is fully ripened, dried, and hardened, while that used by the Indians was probably fresh gathered, barely ripe, and much softer. CHAPTER XV. COUNT RUMFORD’S SUBSTITUTE FOR TEA AND COFFEE.