that he may be able to reproduce esteemed dishes with certainty, all
terms of indecision should be banished from his art. Accordingly, what
is known only to him, will, in these pages, be made known to others. In
them all those indecisive terms expressed by a bit of this, some of
that, a small piece of that, and a handful of the other, shall never be
made use of, but all quantities be precisely and explicitly stated. With
a desire, also, that all ignorance on this most essential part of the
culinary art should disappear, and that a uniform system of weights and
measures should be adopted, we give an account of the weights which
answer to certain measures.
A TABLE-SPOONFUL is frequently mentioned in a recipe, in the
prescriptions of medical men, and also in medical, chemical, and
gastronomical works. By it is generally meant and understood a measure
or bulk equal to that which would be produced by _half an ounce_ of
water.
A DESSERT-SPOONFUL is the half of a table-spoonful; that is to say, by
it is meant a measure or bulk equal to a _quarter of an ounce_ of water.
A TEA-SPOONFUL is equal in quantity to a _drachm_ of water.
A DROP.--This is the name of a vague kind of measure, and is so called
on account of the liquid being _dropped_ from the mouth of a bottle. Its
quantity, however, will vary, either from the consistency of the liquid
or the size and shape of the mouth of the bottle. The College of
Physicians determined the quantity of a drop to be _one grain_, 60 drops
making one fluid drachm. Their drop, or sixtieth part of a fluid drachm,
is called a _minim_.
[Illustration: _Fig_. 22.]
Graduated class measures can be obtained at any chemist's, and
they save much trouble. One of these, containing a wine pint, is
divided into 16 oz., and the oz, into 8 drachms of water; by
which, any certain weight mentioned in a recipe can be
accurately measured out. Home-made measures of this kind can
readily be formed by weighing the water contained in any given
measure, and marking on any tall glass the space it occupies.
This mark can easily be made with a file. It will be interesting
to many readers to know the basis on which the French found
their system of weights and measures, for it certainly possesses
the grandeur of simplicity. The metre, which is the basis of the
whole system of French weights and measures, is the exact
measurement of one forty-millionth part of a meridian of the
earth.