742. _Proper method of making Toast and Water, and the advantages resulting therefrom._--Take a slice of fine and stale loaf-bread, cut very thin--as thin as toast is ever cut--and let it be carefully toasted on both sides, until it be _completely browned all over_, but nowise blackened or burned in any way. Put this into a common deep stone or china jug, and pour over it, from the tea-kettle, as much clean boiling water as you wish to make into drink. Much depends on the water being actually in a boiling state. Cover the jug with a saucer or plate, and let the drink cool until it be quite cold; it is then fit to be used. The fresher it is made the better, and of course the more agreeable. The above will be found a pleasant, light, and highly-diuretic drink. It is peculiarly grateful to the stomach, and excellent for carrying off the effects of any excess in drinking. It is also a most excellent drink at meals, and may be used in the summer-time, if more agreeable to the drinker. 743. _Baked Milk._--Put half a gallon of milk into a jar, and tie it down with writing-paper. Let it stand in a moderately warm oven about eight or ten hours. It will then be of the consistence of cream. It is used by persons who are weak or consumptive. 744. _Substitute for Cream, in Tea or Coffee._--Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well. Then turn the coffee to it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream. For tea, omit the butter, using only the egg. This might be of great use at sea, as eggs can be preserved fresh in various ways. 745. _Economical use of Nutmegs._--If a person begin to grate a nutmeg at the _stalk_ end, it will prove hollow throughout; whereas the _same_ nutmeg, grated from the _other_ end, would have proved sound and solid to the last. This circumstance may thus be accounted for:--The centre of a nutmeg consists of a number of fibres issuing from the stalk, and its continuation through the centre of the fruit; the other ends of which fibres, though closely surrounded and pressed by the fruit, do not adhere to it. When the stalk is grated away, those fibres, having lost their hold, gradually drop out, and the nutmeg appears hollow: as more of the stalk is grated away, others drop out in succession, and the hollow continues through the whole nut. By beginning at the contrary end, the fibres above-mentioned are grated off at their core end, with the surrounding fruit, and do not drop out and cause a hole. 746. _To ascertain the quality of Nutmegs._--Oil of nutmegs being of great value, it is often extracted from the nuts which are exposed to sale, and which are thereby rendered of very little value. To ascertain the quality of nutmegs, force a pin into them; and if good, however dry they may appear, the oil will be seen oozing out all round the pin.