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diff --git a/36781-8.txt b/36781-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa52e3e --- /dev/null +++ b/36781-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8140 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Household Administration, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Household Administration + Its Place in the Higher Education of Women + +Author: Various + +Editor: Alice Ravenhill + Catherine J. Schiff + +Release Date: July 19, 2011 [EBook #36781] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION *** + + + + +Produced by Katherine Ward, Jonathan Ingram, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION + +ITS PLACE IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN + + +EDITED BY ALICE RAVENHILL AND CATHERINE J. SCHIFF + + + NEW YORK + HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY + 1911 + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh + + + + +PREFACE + + +The object of this book is threefold. (1) It endeavours to define +the importance and scope of household administration in the twentieth +century, which, when analysed into its component parts, is found +intimately to concern the right conduct and domestic care of individual +human lives, from their inception to their close. (2) It seeks to +demonstrate the necessity of an adequate preparation for all who assume +the responsibility of such administration; particularly for those who, +in consequence of their parental responsibilities, their wealth, their +social status, or their professional duties, exercise far-reaching +influence through their standard of life and example. (3) Finally, it +gives prominence to the fact that the domestic arts are no collection +of empirical conventions, to be acquired by imitation or exercised +by instinct. It is clearly demonstrated that the group of sciences +upon which they rest is more comprehensive than most people suspect, +and that their contribution to the solution of pressing domestic +problems has so far been but partially realised. It is, therefore, of +considerable interest to observe the remarkable consensus of opinion on +each of these points among the recognised experts in their subjects, +to whom were entrusted the preparation of the various sections of this +book. The writers of the papers, untrammelled by editorial restrictions, +each writing from the fulness of her knowledge, tested by ripe +experience, reached independently conclusions conspicuous for their +unanimity. It will be evident to the most casual reader that, in the +opinion of these thoughtful women, blind instinct must yield place to +trained intelligence, if home life is to be preserved and modern +conditions of existence adequately adjusted to human requirements. + +Progressive changes, social, commercial, industrial, and, last but not +least, educational, now require that this trained intelligence be +fostered by organised instruction outside the home, adapted to the +needs, present or prospective, of girls in every grade of society. Such +instruction, whether in the fundamental sciences or in the applied arts, +must be associated with individual practice in laboratory, studio, +workroom, and kitchen; the details to be varied as circumstances +dictate. + +If, however, consistent applications of such knowledge are to be made in +order that desirable saving in time, labour, money, health, or happiness +shall be effected, graduate women of high attainments are urgently +needed for the work. It is they only who can bring to bear upon the +problems of childhood and adolescence, of food, of clothing, of housing, +of domestic economics, of occupation, rest, and recreation, the patient +study and research in the interests of humanity, which men of similar +standing have lavished upon the advancement of commerce and industrial +processes. It is by their skilled labour in the almost untrodden field +of domestic science that the millions of homes will benefit which are +committed to the charge of women who possess neither time, opportunity, +nor ability to carry out these indispensable investigations, but who can +yet effectively fulfil their responsibilities, if they be supported by +systematic training and organised common sense, based on sound +knowledge. + +It is in the hope of forwarding these objects that this book has been +prepared. + + ALICE RAVENHILL. + CATHERINE SCHIFF. + + _Nov. 1910._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + INTRODUCTION--A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF + WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE FAMILY 11 + + By CATHERINE SCHIFF, Officier d'Académie + + THE PLACE OF BIOLOGY IN THE EQUIPMENT OF WOMEN 35 + + By WENONA HOSKYNS-ABRAHALL, M.A. (Dub.) + + SCIENCE IN THE HOUSEHOLD 71 + + By Mrs. W. N. SHAW, formerly Lecturer of Newnham + College, Cambridge. Author of "First Lessons in Observational + Geometry." + + THE ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF THE HOUSEHOLD 121 + + By MABEL ATKINSON, M.A. (Glasgow), Lecturer in + Economics, King's College for Women (University of + London), formerly Scott Scholar in the University + of Glasgow; Research Student at the London School of + Economics; and Fellow of Economics, Bryn Mawr + College, U.S.A. Author of "Local Government in Scotland." + + SOME RELATIONS OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO FAMILY LIFE + AND INDIVIDUAL EFFICIENCY 207 + + By ALICE RAVENHILL, late Lecturer in Hygiene, + King's College for Women (University of London), &c. + Author of "Practical Hygiene," "Some Characteristics + and Requirements of Childhood," "Elements of Sanitary + Law," "Household Foes." + + MODERN WOMAN AND THE DOMESTIC ARTS-- + + I. NEEDLEWORK AND DRESSMAKING 295 + + By Mrs. R. W. EDDISON, Gen. Hon. Sec. Yorkshire + Ladies' Council of Education, Added Member of Education + Committee of County Council of West Riding of + Yorkshire, &c. + + II. HOUSECRAFT 308 + + By MAUD R. TAYLOR, Examiner in Domestic Science. + + + + +A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF WOMAN'S POSITION IN THE FAMILY + +BY CATHERINE SCHIFF + + +The home must always claim the first place in the large majority of +women's lives. It has done so in the past, it does so in the present, it +will continue to do so in the future. But woman's activities are no +longer to be merely confined to her own fireside, though that must +always hold a prominent place. The real problem of the day is the right +conduct of the home on scientific lines. + +In some ways the management of the home has never been more difficult. +The servant problem has never been more acute than to-day; the cost of +living and the standard of comfort is going up by leaps and bounds, and +the old recipe of "Feed the brute," as far as the husband is concerned, +is no less inefficient. It is essential to-day to know something about +food values, the arrangement of meals, which avoid monotony, and provide +that requisite variety in nourishment, on which the good health and +ultimately the good temper of the household depend. + +Again we are realising the great complexities of all questions dealing +with child-rearing and education. We have travelled far from the +self-complacency of the woman of thirty years ago, who based her claims +to a thorough knowledge of the up-bringing of children on the fact that +she had buried ten. This need for wider knowledge in all branches of +housekeeping is equally important to the unmarried woman, who is more +and more being called upon to act as a foster-mother, whether as a +teacher or in some other capacity, to the nation's children. + +The care of the children is considered by all shades of opinion to be +the _clou_ of a woman's life, and every day more and more responsibility +is cast upon her in this respect. How can she, then, fulfil these duties +as they should be fulfilled if she is utterly ignorant of the laws of +health and of child-life, and how both are affected by environment and +all the other grave and fundamental truths which lie at the root of the +successful up-bringing and development of the child? It is now a +hackneyed saying "that the child of to-day is the man or woman of +to-morrow," but a whole world of truth lies enshrined in those words; +the children are the assets of the nation, and if their up-bringing is +not of the best they can never attain to that full heritage of +development which is the right of every soul born into the world. + +Scientific training in Household Administration can alone save the +sorely taxed housewife of to-day from becoming more than a slave to her +domestic responsibilities. It is only by being a mistress of her craft, +"whether China fall or no," that she can make sufficient time to devote +herself to necessary self-culture and recreation as well as to those +ever-growing outside duties which the twentieth century is imposing upon +her in the shape of public and social work. If there is one thing which +is becoming increasingly obvious, it is that the help and advice of +scientifically trained women are absolutely necessary in the management +of hospitals, the administration of the Poor Law, and the general +solution of social problems. + +At no other epoch in the history of mankind has woman stood on the same +high plane as she does to-day, and at no other period has so much been +demanded of her, intellectually, morally, and physically. It is only +within recent years that Science has attempted to come to the aid of +woman in helping her firstly to obtain, and then to maintain, the +position for which she was originally designed, as the complement of man +and as the chief element of preservation in human society. + +If the history of mankind is traced back to primordial times, we find +that it was the female who possessed power over the emotional nature of +man, and it is becoming increasingly evident that the family owes +its origin as a social factor to the Mother, not to the Father. +Lippert is convinced "that the idea of an exclusively maternal kinship +at one time extended over the whole earth," and McLennan says, "We shall +endeavour to show that the most ancient system in which the idea of +blood-relationship was embodied was a system of kinship through the +females only." + +Occupation seems to have been the main factor in determining that the +mother rather than the father should be the founder of the family. +Agriculture originally appears to have been entirely the woman's +industry, while the men were engaged in hunting or looking after the +cattle, and wherever agriculture was the predominant feature of life we +find that relationship is traced through the mother; while on the other +hand those tribes who were chiefly pastoral had a paternal system of +relationship--that is to say, that descent was counted through the +males. + +Drummond, in his book on the "Ascent of Man," places the Evolution of +Motherhood long before that of Fatherhood. "An early result, partly of +her sex, partly of her passive strain, is the founding through the +instrumentality of the first savage Mother of a new and beautiful social +state--Domesticity--while Man, restless, eager, and hungry, is a +wanderer on the Earth, Woman makes a Home!" And according to the same +authority we find "that to Man has been assigned the fulfilment of the +first great function--the Struggle for Life--Woman, whose higher +contribution has not yet been named, is the chosen instrument for +carrying on the Life of Others." Nature took many æons to make a mother, +whose gift to the world was Love and Sympathy; the evolution of the +Father came still later. "It was when man's mind first became capable of +making its own provision against the weather and the crops that the +possibility of Fatherhood, Motherhood and the Family were realised." +"The Mother-age, with its mother-right customs, was a civilisation, as I +have indicated, largely built up by woman's activity and developed by +her skill; it was an age within the small social unit of which there was +more community of interest, far more fellowship in labour and +partnership in property and sex, than we find in the larger social unit +of to-day."[1] + +In connection with this theory of the "Mother-age" it is interesting to +note that the Etruscans traced their descent through the female line, +and it was from the Etruscans that the Romans derived nearly all their +institutions; thus many of the "initiative forces of civilisation" have +come down to us from women. + +It is believed that the patriarchal system--where the man was the head +of the family, as amongst the Jews--which succeeded the Mother-age, grew +out of the custom of capturing women belonging to other tribes, this +being succeeded later on by purchase, and "as soon as the woman ceased +to be protected by the force of ideas, as soon, that is to say, as she +lost her position as head of the family, her downward path was certain." +But even among primitive people we find that it was an almost universal +custom that a woman should be provided with an independent property, +"Mitgift," though as time went on and the patriarchal system became more +firmly established, it appears that this Mitgift became the husband's +property, and that every bride was expected to bring a dowry to her +husband, whose property she became, thus losing all independence. + +However, in Greece the position of woman, during the Heroic times was to +a certain extent an independent one, as is clear from the poems of Homer +and the treatment of Homeric and Heroic themes by the Athenian +dramatists. But one has only to compare the "Nausicäa" of Homer or the +"Electra" of the Tragedians with the women of the time of Pericles, to +see how much the status of the female sex had deteriorated. The Athenian +wife of that time was treated as a mere "Hausfrau," expected to spend +her whole time at home in the managing of the household, while the +husband satisfied his intellectual tastes by intercourse with the +"Stranger-women" attracted to Athens from other towns. "Thus arose a +most unnatural division of functions among the women of those days. The +citizen-women had to be mothers and housewives--nothing more; the +stranger-women had to discharge the duties of the companions, but remain +outside the pale of the privileged and marriageable class."[2] To this +artificial condition of domestic and social life may be partly +attributed the downfall of Athens, for it is impossible to divide the +functions of woman without serious risk to State and race. + +In ancient Rome the patriarchal system was the prevailing custom. Under +the Roman law the husband was the only member of the family possessing +legal rights. "The family (_familia_) in its original and proper meaning +is the aggregate of members of a household under a common head; this +head was the paterfamilias, the only member of the household who +possesses legal rights."[3] It is true that there were many honoured +women under the Roman Republic, such as Cornelia and Portia, the +daughter of Cato, but the lot of the majority was not an enviable one. +Gradually, however, the tutelage of women became less severe, and +Justinian in revising the whole Roman code placed married and family +life on an altogether new basis, "the husband lost his absolute control +over his wife's dower, and in case of separation he had to restore it +entire." + +Women had been for so long under such strict tutelage that they were +unfit to benefit by these new laws. Doubtless it will be remembered that +the corruption of the women of the period is practically unparalleled in +history, but it must be also borne in mind that the whole system of +Imperial government was so vicious that it was almost impossible for +women to escape from the widespread influence of vice and corruption. + +Christianity as a force began to make itself felt while woman was yet in +this low moral state, and it is not therefore surprising that to the +leaders of Christianity the freedom which women then enjoyed and the +easy method of divorce obtainable were in a large measure responsible +for the vitiated state of Roman life. In their eyes the only means of +producing a more salutary state of affairs was to put a check on what +they considered a menace to a Christian society. + +It is of interest to notice how the attitude of the Early Fathers +towards women differs from that of Our Lord as recorded in the Gospels. +There indeed are women highly honoured, and it is to a woman that Christ +often gives a message of the highest import. It was to Mary Magdalen +that the Risen Lord first appeared and bade her tell the others, and +again it was the woman of Samaria who became the instrument of salvation +to her people. But to the Early Fathers the ascetic ideal was the +predominant one, and in consequence thereof women were treated as the +chief source of temptation to man. "Woman was represented as the door of +Hell, as the mother of all human ills. She should be ashamed at the very +thought that she is a woman. She should live in continual penance on +account of the curses she has brought upon the world. She should be +ashamed of her dress, for it is the memorial of her fall. She should be +especially ashamed of her beauty, for it is the most potent instrument +of the demon."[4] In fact a decree of the Council of Auxerre (A.D. 578) +forbade women to receive the Eucharist in their naked hands owing to +their impurity. + +Unfortunately "the bigotry of the Early Christian teachers gave the +first check to the tendency to freer institutions, the next was given by +the fall of the Empire." + +With the influx of the Teutonic tribes we find a new code of ideas and +morals, but eventually a compromise was effected between the Germanic +and Roman laws. Thus from very early times we find that it was a German +custom to provide every bride with a dower, and this is remarked upon by +Tacitus. Afterwards the Church adopted this custom, which was strangely +enough both Roman and Teutonic in origin. + +From the time when the Empire went down in a cataclysm which shook the +foundations of the world, until the beginning of the Middle Ages, we +hear but little of woman. It was the Sturm and Drang period in the +world's history, in which woman had no real position. The women of the +upper classes were of necessity confined either to the castle or the +convent, and woman's sphere was therefore a small one; man demanded +nothing more than that they should minister to his physical wants in the +short periods of peace he then enjoyed. Hallam says, "I am not sure that +we could trace very minutely the condition of women for the period +between the subversion of the Roman Empire and the First Crusade ... +there seems however to have been more roughness in that social +intercourse between the sexes than we find at a later period."[5] + +With the end of this stormy period comes the dawn of the Age of +Chivalry, and from that time forward until the Reformation, woman +enjoyed a portion at least of her rightful position. It is said that +"Chivalry not only bestowed upon the woman perfect freedom in the +disposal of hand and heart, but required of the knight who should win +her, devoted and lengthened service"; this may be, however, a rather +idealised view of the situation; but there is no doubt that the Court +and the Cloister became the two centres of women's lives, and an +intimate connection was maintained between the two. Nearly all women of +gentle birth were educated in nunnery schools, and by the eighth century +we find that these schools had attained a high standard of learning, +which increased and developed in the succeeding centuries. The convent +afforded a shelter to the woman who did not marry and to whom the +marriage state did not appeal; there she was able to a certain extent to +follow the career she desired, at the same time her personal safety was +assured. "The scholar, the artist, the recluse, the farmer, each found a +career open to him; while men and women were prompted to undertake +duties within and without the religious settlement, which make their +activity comparable to that of the relieving officer, the poor law +guardian, and the district nurse of a later age."[6] It is perhaps of +interest to us to note that the first hospital for lepers in England was +founded by a woman, "good Queen Maud," in 1101 at S. Giles' on the +East. + +The rule of an abbey or a priory called for no mean business capacity on +the part of their heads, and as a rule the abbess and prioress were +women of great business and administrative ability. Before the Norman +Conquest nearly all the nunneries founded in England were abbacies, +subsequently priories were the most usual foundations, as according to +feudal law women were unable to hold property. + +The latter half of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries are renowned +throughout history for their women, who, occupying foremost positions in +the government, were clever, cultured, and liberal-minded. One has but +to mention the names of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, the "Lady +Margaret" of Oxford and Cambridge; of Leonore d'Este, the mother of +equally famous daughters, Isabella and Beatrice d'Este; Marguerite de +Valois, sister of Francis I., and Isabella of Castile, to conjure up +before one's eyes the whole procession of the proud and capable women of +these days. + +"One and all have been fruitful as successive stages of growth, yet they +can never recur, and only the fanatic or visionary could wish that they +should recur, for each is narrow and insufficient from the standpoint of +a later age." + +In England "the women who were the mothers of the men who created the +great Elizabethan epoch were almost without exception brought up in +nunnery schools"[7] and, alas, the destruction of the nunneries and the +rise of the Puritan spirit sounded the death-knell of women's education. +After the Reformation the position of woman was peculiarly degrading; in +the eyes of the law she possessed practically no status, and "the old +chivalrous feeling for woman seems to have faded out with the romance of +the Middle Ages--she now figured as the legal property of man, 'the +safeguard against sin,' the bearer of children _ad infinitum_." + +So woman was left once more to sink back into a slough of despond, until +with the end of the eighteenth century there arose the humanitarian +movement and the gradual awakening of woman to the sense of her +responsibility, with the inevitable corollary of her rightful position +as the social equal of man. + +If these ideals are to be realised, woman must recognise her +responsibilities and act accordingly. She has proved herself a more than +apt student in all the liberal studies, she has practically forced the +door of nearly all the professions, now she must realise that she must +apply her higher learning to what is probably the most difficult +profession of all, the management of the home, or in other words she +must see that the knowledge she has acquired be adapted and turned to +practical aims. + +Up to the present time the conduct of the home has been regulated purely +by rule of thumb methods; if however in the future it can only be +administered with the same method and scientific exactitude as prevail +in other great business enterprises, the drudgery of housekeeping will +diminish and woman will cease to be a slave to household duties. She +will have more time to devote to the cultivation of her own mind, and +thus, while becoming a more real companion to man, she will be free to +take a more enlightened interest in the education and development of her +children. + +"Incidentally this may go to prove that a sound knowledge of the +household sciences and arts may serve, not to tie a woman more to the +storeroom and kitchen, but to enable her to get better results with the +expenditure of less time and energy, by enabling her to apply to +everything simple and complex within the household the master-mind, +instead of the mind of the uncertain amateur." + +Her responsibilities are great not only as an individual but as a member +of the community to which she belongs; and if she is to fulfil these +responsibilities in respect to the home, she cannot do so without a +thorough scientific preparation. + +The home is the "cradle of life," it was the birthplace of those +industries which to-day form the great centres and constitute the means +of livelihood for millions. In some of these there is reason to believe +that woman took her share as originator. With the process of time, +these primitive practices have grown into the great industries and arts +of to-day, yet it is still to the woman that the call comes to cultivate +and use her taste in these matters, so that when it falls to her to be +responsible for the decoration and furnishing of a house, she may be +able to choose in all departments of life what is _the best_, to the +everlasting benefit of herself and her family, both physically and +morally. + +If man be the producer and distributer of wealth, woman is certainly the +director of consumption. On her rests the responsibility of expending +wisely and well the money entrusted to her for the nutrition and +clothing of her family, and how can this be adequately fulfilled if she +have no real knowledge of the subject beyond what she is able to pick up +as she goes along, a method detrimental to all concerned? Little would +be thought of any business house which entrusted its most delicate +operations to inexperienced buyers, or of any municipality which allowed +its affairs to be conducted by an amateur. Far less would be heard of +misery, poverty, and ill-health if the art of buying and preparing food, +for instance, were properly understood by those whom it most concerns. + +Again, the chief racial responsibility falls on woman; it is just in the +most precious years of childhood that her influence is so potent, and it +is the mother, who besides helping to sow all the ethical and spiritual +seeds, should safeguard the perfect physical condition of her children, +in order that an unimpaired vitality and constitution be handed on from +generation to generation. No proverb is truer than "Mens sana in corpore +sano"; the two go hand in hand together, and their accomplishment is the +proud privilege of the woman. + +From the family flows the life of the nation, and the power to guide it +aright lies largely in the hands of women, whether they be married or +single. With the married woman her own family comes first of all, and +then through it her duty as a citizen; the unmarried woman's duties as a +citizen are manifold, and each year they increase and expand. Nearly all +the activities of public life are open to her; for instance she may sit +on County Councils, Municipal Councils, District Councils, urban and +rural Parish Councils,[8] Boards of Guardians, &c.; in fact in the +growing field of social work, her services are being more and more +recognised as indispensable, and it is impossible in a few words to +enumerate all the possibilities of service which lie before her, both +professional and philanthropic. + +Consequently if a healthy nation is desired, the women of a country must +be educated both academically and scientifically. "If women are to be +fit wives and mothers they must have all, perhaps more, of the +opportunities for personal development that men have. All the activities +hitherto reserved to men must be open to them, and many of these +activities, certain functions of citizenship, for example, must be +expected of them. Moreover, whatever the lines may be along which the +fitness of woman to labour will be experimentally determined, the +underlying position must be established that, for the sake of the +individual and race character, she must be a producer as well as a +consumer of social values."[9] + +Now how is this most desirable end to be attained? The succeeding papers +will deal with the subject _in extenso_; here can only be briefly +indicated the scope and purpose of the majority. + +An eminent authority tells us that "the objects of nature may be +designated as the objective point of view. It is the standpoint of +biology and affords the natural conditions for the successful +investigation of the laws of life, not only of the lower organisms but +of the human race as well."[10] This immediately demonstrates the vital +necessity that women should know something of these fundamental laws of +life, which biology alone can teach, in order that she may apply these +to her ordinary daily life and recognise them as operating in all her +surroundings. + +The transition from this stage to the next is an easy one. Woman +having learnt the laws of life, will immediately view her economic +responsibilities with a clearer eye and fuller understanding. It is +true that throughout the ages woman has striven to acquit herself as +best she could, but until the present day it has mostly been a +groping in the dark, without the aid of any exterior agency. Now +light is beginning to be thrown on many points hitherto obscure. + +Household economics has been well said "to rest on two chief +cornerstones, the economy of wealth and the economy of health, and +encloses the groundwork of human happiness and human aspirations ... +even all departments of science must contribute to its development." + +But a mere knowledge of biology and economics is useless without bodily +efficiency, and true bodily efficiency is only possible where the +environment is favourable to growth and life. It cannot be expected that +full physical development can ever take place in ill-lighted, badly +ventilated, defectively drained or otherwise objectionable houses. And +it must never for a moment be forgotten that if the body be neglected, +then, as an inevitable consequence, the mind and spirit must also become +warped. It is not that we desire man to develop his physical nature at +the expense of his spiritual, but rather that we would see him placed in +such a condition that he is able to apply those great faculties, which +distinguish him from the brute creation, to their highest and best use. + +The ancients recognised in very early times the need of sanitary +precautions to protect themselves from the onslaught of disease and the +consequent decimation of their race. + +We find Mena, King of Egypt (5000 B.C.), mentioning in his Ordinances +that offences in diet were one of the things through which "the genius +of death becomes eager to destroy men." + +The Levitical Laws contain many enactments of a sanitary character, they +are one of the oldest known sanitary codes, and have many wise and +necessary provisions for the health of the people. + +Rules for the conduct of rural life were formulated so far back as +100-500 B.C. in Boeotia. Tarquinus Priscus began and Tarquinus Superbus +completed the great works for the drainage of Rome in the fourth and +fifth centuries B.C., of which the Cloaca Maxima was the most remarkable +feature; even to-day the ancient water-supply of Rome and her system of +baths are still a source of admiration to the modern world. And to +their credit be it said that the Romans carried this knowledge with them +to the countries which they conquered; we find aqueducts at Great +Chester and Lanchester, an arterial sewer at Lincoln, and the well-known +baths at Bath. + +From the destruction of Rome until well-nigh ten centuries later was a +period in which no advance in sanitation was made; on the contrary, +retrogression was the keynote of the time. Warfare, religious +segregation, and the spread of asceticism were the chief reasons for +this; the ideals of both Christian and Pagan were opposed to personal +and public hygiene. "The ascetic violated all laws of personal hygiene, +the monastery's ideal was inconsistent with public hygiene, and both +glorified God by teaching submission to pestilence,"[11] which from time +to time swept over the country, devastating it from end to end. + +But with the increase of trade it became necessary to adopt certain +measures for the preservation of human life, and in 1348 we hear of +the first street-cleaning and quarantine in those two great centres of +commerce, Venice and Cologne. It was in the same year that the most +terrible plague which the world has ever known attacked Britain and +practically depopulated it, finding its chief prey in the filthy +streets of the City. This led in 1379 to an Order in Common Council +for keeping the streets clean. But despite this, all through mediæval +times personal health was shamefully neglected and public health +practically unknown. The consequences are easy to trace; the country +was again and again swept by epidemics which were naturally followed +by severe famines, and thus on every side progress was checked. The Fire +of London at least cleansed London of its filth, and from that time +forward matters began to improve. All through the eighteenth century, +smallpox, typhus, scurvy, and ague were rampant, and it is not till +1834 that we find the beginning of sanitary legislation. In 1837 the +Act for the Registration of Births and Deaths was passed, which at +once provided the indispensable foundation for reliable statistics; +previous to that date all that there was to depend upon were the +Baptismal Registers and the more or less accurate Bills of Mortality. +This has been followed by a long series of Public Health enactments +concerned with practically every department of life. In fact during +the last fifty years the public conscience has been quickened to an +extraordinary degree. Much however has yet to be done which cannot +be touched by legislation, and it is to the woman, who has been trained +in the right conduct of life both private and public, that the world +looks for the preservation of healthy human life, much of which is now +needlessly sacrificed on the altar of ignorance. In many cases the +woman is the only person who can prevent this, therefore she must +equip herself for her high and noble duty with all that Science can +provide and Art can suggest, neither must she forget that her own +home must ever be the starting-point of every endeavour. For the +"Mrs. Jellabies" of this world are not those who help forward its +progress, rather are they the clogs on its wheels. + +Not only charity, but all other virtues begin at home. "So long as the +first concern of a nation is for its homes, it matters little what it +seeks second or third." + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] Karl Pearson, "The Chances of Death," p. 3. + + [2] Donaldson, "Woman," p. 58. Longmans & Co. + + [3] Greenridge, "Roman Public Life," p. 18. Macmillan & Co. + + [4] Lecky, "History of European Morals," vol. ii. p. 358. + + [5] Hallam, "History of the Middle Ages." + + [6] Eckstenstein, "Woman under Monasticism," p. 106. + + [7] "The Mediæval Education of Women in England," _Journal of + Education_, June 1909. + + [8] It is interesting, however, to note the following Electoral + Disabilities for women in England and Wales, which, however, do + not exist in Scotland or Ireland:-- + + No married woman can vote in any Town Council election or in any + County Council election outside London. + + No woman owner has any right, in virtue of her ownership, to + vote in any local election. Until 1894 women owners, as such, + were entitled to vote in Poor Law Guardian elections, but the + Local Government Act of that year disfranchised them, while + enlarging the voting rights of men owners. + + No woman lodger can vote in any local election, although men + lodgers can vote in District and Parish Council and Guardian + elections, and in the election of the London County and London + Borough Councils. + + For women there is no service franchise--such as entitles men to + vote in District and Parish Council and Guardian elections, and + in the election of London Borough Councils--_i.e._ no occupation + of a dwelling as an official or servant (for example, as matron + or caretaker) entitles a woman to be placed on the Register. + + For neither men nor women is there any ownership franchise, + lodger franchise, or service franchise for Town Council + elections or for County Council elections outside London. + + [9] Parsons, "The Family," p. 346. + + [10] Lester Ward, "Dynamic Sociology," vol. ii, p. 120. D. Appleton and + Co., New York. + + [11] _Sanitary Record and Journal_, Nov. 24, 1904. + + + + +THE PLACE OF BIOLOGY IN THE EQUIPMENT OF WOMEN + +BY WENONA HOSKYNS-ABRAHALL, M.A. (DUBLIN) + + +In considering what is the best mental equipment for women in civilised +countries it is as well not to contemplate only the great general facts +of life, such as wifehood, motherhood, and the woman's position in the +household. It is necessary to take into account also the special +characteristics and circumstances of our own times and civilisation; +for, unless a woman is prepared to meet these successfully, she cannot +be deemed adequately equipped, even if from other points of view her +education be ideal. In the beautiful old-fashioned education of Japanese +women we have an instance of such ideal excellence, which is yet proving +unable to cope with the requirements of actual life in modern Japan. + +The most striking, and also the most radical and pervasive, +characteristic of our time is, of course, the progress made in +scientific knowledge. Month by month enormous numbers of facts are, in +every department, added to the knowledge already acquired. To let one's +imagination range, even in a cursory way, over the work that is being +done in chemistry and physics merely as they concern biology--to +enumerate the subdivisions of these sciences, or to look down a list of +recent publications relating to research carried on in them, is enough +to make one's brain reel. + +This ceaseless widening of the borders of knowledge is, we must gladly +allow, most inspiriting; and yet, seen from another side, it may well +give rise to fears. For it is fairly obvious that the progress of human +happiness goes by no means _pari passu_ with this progress of knowledge; +and, on looking more closely, we may even observe miseries and +degradations which can be traced up directly to the practical +application of some of those scientific discoveries. + +To what must we ascribe this? It would seem to be the outcome of two +lines of tendency just now predominant. + +The first of these is that very strong bent towards mere accumulation of +fresh facts which may be noted in the most able and active workers all +over the world. Just as, in other times, the best minds have flung +themselves with enthusiasm upon art or literature or philosophy or +statesmanship or war, so now they fling themselves eagerly upon the +discovery of more and more recondite truths in science--leaving the +ordinary government of affairs, on the whole, to minds of the second +order. + +The next is the reckless way in which isolated scientific +discoveries--more especially in physics and chemistry--are brought to a +practical application and introduced into the scheme of everyday human +life. This is done without consideration of anything beyond ensuring +some obvious superficial convenience, and--what is a principal +determinant--the opening up of new financial enterprises. Advantages of +a sort no doubt are won--but often only at a fearfully disproportionate +cost. The game--if we would but look at it unconventionally, from the +standpoint of true biological science--is not worth the candle; for it +involves a sacrifice of life itself to what can hardly be considered +even as the means of life. + +Thus the chemicals used to preserve food impair its nutritive qualities; +while other chemicals, as well as a number of ingenious mechanical +processes, serve to facilitate adulteration. We all know how difficult +it is to obtain pure milk and butter, or pure bread from pure flour, or +jams made with sugar from fresh and good fruit. Bread may be made from +flour which has passed through no less than seven processes,--a sad +contrast this to the old home-made bread, the product of home-ground +meal, whole and sweet as nature made it. What is sold in enormous +quantities to the people as sugar, whether alone or as part of +preserves, turns out often to be glucose. Butter, so-called, is often +only skilfully-treated fats, the weight helped out by water. These three +articles of diet alone, when adulterated as they thus often are, mean +serious deterioration in the food--and therefore in the physique--of the +nation; and to them we have yet to add the effect of the chemicals used +for keeping fish and meat in place of the genuine, old-fashioned +pickling, salting, and smoking. + +Machinery, again, growing ever more and more complicated, has destroyed +an incalculable wealth of traditional activity: and therewith, +generation by generation, it tends to destroy the finest capacities of +individual men and women, whether producers or consumers of the finished +product. The consumers suffer through the lack of opportunity to acquire +and exercise manual dexterity and resourcefulness--as well as through a +great lack of experimental knowledge. The producers suffer through the +monotony and narrowness of their labour. + +We may take as other instances of recklessness our common use of +unprotected illuminants--electric light and incandescent +gas-mantles--which give off ultra-violet rays injurious to the eyes; the +use of portable electric lamps and switch lampholders, which is by no +means free from risk; and again the extreme recklessness of the +so-called "medical electrician," who will actually venture to give +electrical massage to a patient immediately after wet pack.[12] + +As a last example we may take the rage for speed, and in particular +the use of electrically driven motor-cars. The exact effects upon the +human frame of the rapid motion, of the vibrations, of the presence +of the electric current and escaping gas have never been adequately +investigated--though sundry ill consequences of motor-driving have +been noted without any diminution of the practice. + +A very cursory reflection may show us that, while the progress of +science is the great characteristic fact of modern life to which we all +have to adjust ourselves, we must be prepared not only to take advantage +of the good it offers, but also to discern and counteract the perils it +brings with it, when applied to human life in our present somewhat +random way. + +The random nature of our proceedings may be illustrated from yet another +side. There are a number of facts and principles, long since agreed upon +as truly ascertained, which have never, or only very partially, been +brought to bear upon custom and daily life. We all know that plenty of +fresh air is a first condition of health and vigour; and are so far +convinced of this verity that open-air treatment is generally accepted +as the proper mode of attacking and mastering consumption. Yet we crowd +together into cities: our houses are often very imperfectly ventilated, +and our public buildings--churches, theatres, halls, schools and +institutions, as well as our railway-carriages and tram-cars--provide +only for the very minimum of change of air. Similar neglect of +definitely ascertained facts may be seen in dress, in food and drink, in +furniture, in occupations. Noise is well known to be injurious to the +brain, and destructive to thought: more than that, it has been +discovered that it is harmful to the viscera. We insist, more or less, +upon quiet for the sick: but no trouble is taken about quiet for those +who are well. Our thoroughfares echo with noises of all kinds, from the +roar of traffic to the howling and whistling of errand-boys; and the +authorities would be much surprised if they were accounted specially +negligent for not making some effort to suppress them. Yet to any +biologically trained person this noise must appear not disagreeable +merely, but a real handicap to the health and energy of the community. +Wherever faithfulness to scientific principle involves trouble without +prospect of money-making, it is likely to be shirked, however great the +benefits known to come from it. + +This is not entirely due to laziness, nor yet to ignorance, it is due +quite as much to circumstance and to the pressure of our present social +institutions. It is closely bound up with the great social question of +the ownership of land, and with the husbandry and use of the resources +of the land, our rivers and our sea-shore. Wasting a great measure of +what these have to give us, polluting them in different ways by our +manufactures and by the refuse of our cities, we are constraining whole +masses of our population to look to the work and the products of other +countries for the first necessities of life. Whole masses of our +population are removed from direct contact with the soil, which is the +nursing-mother not only of the body, but also of the mind of man; the +people and the land being thus alike impoverished. Inquiring how so +dangerous an error can have arisen, we may find at least part of its +cause to lie in an ignorance of the fundamental principles of biology, +the science of life. + +What, it may now be asked, is to be done to counteract these +disadvantages and dangers? And, again, how does all this bear on the +equipment of women? + +Taking the latter question first: it is indisputable that an enormous +proportion of our commerce and manufactures is concerned with food and +with articles required for the home. But things for the home are made to +be dealt with and used by women. In so far as science comes in and +modifies this material it is imperative that women should be placed in a +position, not only to know what are the essentials for life, but also to +criticise and estimate accurately that which is offered to them as +scientific improvement. For we need, in this connection also, to +remember that science can only be fought by science--that is, by +knowledge belonging to the same plane. + +We have now in part answered our former question. What we need is a +central or basal science to which--for practical purposes and in regard +to its practical application--the work done in other sciences can be +brought to be accepted, or rejected, or modified. This central science +can, in the very nature of things, be none other than biology: the +science, that is, which gives an account of the functions and +inter-relations and structure of all living things, and deduces +therefrom those principles which, in a rather loose way, we speak of as +the laws of life. + +It would, we think, be a very happy turn of affairs if, not all, but +some of that genius, which is now spending itself in the research for +fresh facts, could be diverted to the work of correlating with one +another facts already known, and bringing all those that are appropriate +to be grouped as it were in order of service around biology. + +But perhaps not less important than this is what we may call the +practical synthetic work of women in their households. There are, +indeed, two circumstances which would give the ordinary woman of average +intelligence, if she were but adequately instructed, some advantage, so +far as the service of mankind goes, over even the most brilliant man of +genius. The first is the vantage-ground of her position in the home--at +the very point, that is, where so many sciences thrust themselves up +together to the surface of actual life--where in some way or other, +however roughly, they have to be correlated, compared, their different +claims adjusted. The second is the natural inclination of the womanly +mind towards synthesis rather than analysis, towards practice rather +than theory. + +We ought now to consider rather closely--exhaustively we cannot--what +is included under the term Biology. It stood for some time chiefly to +mean an account of the structures of animals and plants, structure +being pursued into ever further minuteness, down to the cell and the +constituents and parts of the cell. With this has gone insistent +inquiry into the process of reproduction and growth; and more lately, +in bio-chemistry and bio-physics, the conformity of living substance +to the order recognised in non-living matter has been, and is being, +most eagerly investigated. And now a school of biologists is arising +whose aim is the vindication of the claims of function as against +the too exclusive study of structure. Function, of course, involves +activity; and activity, in a complex, multicellular organism, involves +the interplay of parts. This interplay, again, cannot be studied +without reference to the environment, and to the relations between the +organism in question and others--whether of its own or of other species. +In this way it seems likely that biology--moving as it were in a +spiral--will by-and-by return, though at a much higher level, to the +standpoint of the older naturalists, whose interest in plants and +animals was focussed more upon their activities, habits of life and +special environment than upon their morphology--and even disdained +not to consider their possible uses for man. Also, more thoroughly and +extensively than before, the study of man himself is being caught up +into the great web of Biology. It is seen as an integral part of +Biology, and pursued in the biological spirit. Whether we look to +psychology on the one hand, or to anthropology and its associated +sciences on the other, the present is a most propitious moment for +drawing public attention to this vast science, as being the true +centre and foundation of that practical knowledge which is needed as +a guide, and also as a stimulus, for practical everyday life. + +It will, of course, be instantly objected that the subject is indeed +vast--much too vast. But not too vast, surely, if, by means of a very +simple principle, we select out what is of immediate definite use, and +necessary for everybody, from what may be, by the majority, safely left +on one side. We shall then get, on this side, the highly specialised +Biology of the laboratory with its minute researches and nicely +calculated experiments, and, on that, what we may, for our present +purpose, call Common-sense Biology. + +Just one word of explanation is perhaps needed at the outset. +Common-sense Biology does not mean anything like that slipshod dealing +with miscellaneous phenomena of nature which sometimes goes by the name +of Nature Study. It is a course of work systematic and strictly +scientific, conducted as truly as any other in the scientific spirit. It +presents, however, two points of contrast with special or analytical +Biology, in that, whereas, in analytical Biology, a beginning may be +made practically anywhere, with any series of facts one may prefer to +take first, in Common-sense Biology there is only one right mode of +starting, and that of the utmost importance; while, secondly, +Common-sense Biology combines some of the characteristics of an art with +the ordinary characteristics of a science. + + +COMMON-SENSE BIOLOGY + +It is this latter form of the science--this science, which is also an +art--that we would advocate as essential for the equipment of women. +With this view let us examine it further. + +And first, what is its proper starting-point? Its proper starting-point +is accurate instruction concerning the living things with which the +student is, or can easily be, brought into immediate practical contact. +And, again, in the study of these living things--plants and animals +alike--attention is directed first towards the organism in its totality +and in its activities--towards function rather than towards structure; +and also towards mode of life, relations with environment, and, where +possible, towards its use or danger to mankind. Structure will, no +doubt, early have to be introduced, but only in its larger details as +explanatory of function, for the sake of a better knowledge of the +animal or plant as a whole. + +What are to be the types and examples of organisms studied? + +This is an important question, and the writer would most strongly urge +that the principle of selection should be that of locality; that the +student should start with those plants and animals--both wild and +domestic--which are to be found within a given radius of the place where +she is living and working. The first things to know about are habit, +activity, inter-relation and use to human beings. In respect to these, +the presence of one organism will react upon others, and therefore no +plant or animal within the area should be lightly overlooked. + + +THE IMPORTANCE OF BACTERIOLOGY + +We must not, however, confine attention to the higher multicellular +animals and plants. One of the most important factors in the environment +is the existence of bacteria; and it is of great importance that an +outline of bacteriology should be included in our course of Common-sense +Biology. This outline should be kept close to the common necessities of +everyday life. For the sake of making clear and real to the mind the +manner in which bacteria multiply and the extreme rapidity of the +process, a certain amount of microscopical work ought to be done, the +examples being few, but carefully chosen. This kind of work, +nevertheless, should be kept subordinate. The effects wrought by +bacteria in water, earth and air, in stored foodstuffs, and in the +tissues of the living body are the important subjects for study; and +naturally, connected with these, the conditions which permit the access +of bacteria or which, in the case of noxious bacteria, will best ensure +protection. + +The rationale of toxins and anti-toxins, with the relations of these to +the blood-serum should also, in a general way, be known; and moreover +the student should be prepared to learn that many diseases, which are +at present very imperfectly understood--we may take, for instance, forms +of insanity--have their _vera causa_ in the action of toxins, and +require to be treated accordingly. + +Perhaps, for those who cannot take more than the shorter courses of our +Common-sense Biology, it will be sufficient to consider only those forms +of inimical bacteria which we have to combat in our own islands. But the +writer would strongly urge that, at least among women of the leisured +classes, this instruction should be extended to cover the bacterial and +other minute parasitic forms of disease most prevalent in our colonies +and in our foreign possessions. The wives of officers, civil servants +and missionaries ought to know, in a clear, scientific way, the causes, +modes of attack, and methods of prevention of the principal tropical +diseases, so far as these have at present been made out. + + +METHOD OF STUDY + +What should be the method of this study? + +The sketching out of a course would be far beyond the scope of this +paper. Here it may only be said that the work must, of necessity, fall +into two main parts. There must be, on the one hand, field-naturalist's +work, for the greater proportion of the animals and plants studied +ought--so far as is in any way practicable--to be observed in their +natural surroundings; and there must be, on the other hand, work allied +to that of the gardener and farmer, the rearing of selected plants and +animals for purposes of experiment and of closer examination. Nothing +worth mentioning can be done on either of these lines without some study +of the food and climatic conditions required by each creature; and this +will involve a study of soils, temperature, atmosphere, and so on--and +also a study of the nutrient properties of those organisms which furnish +forth the food of other organisms. From this knowledge, gained thus +through direct observation and experiment, would be deduced the general +principles which--so to express it--govern life; and upon it as +foundation would be reared the more specialised knowledge of all that +pertains strictly to the life of mankind. Throughout the aim should be +to use books mainly for reference. + +It is not necessary--as it might have been a few years ago--to show that +a training on these lines is better, as a preparation for life, than +that offered by the ordinary school and university curriculum; but it +may be worth while to show how far and why it is superior to a +well-planned course in the analytical biology of the laboratory. The +superiority is surely twofold: in that the kind of knowledge acquired is +of greater practical utility; and, again, in that the development which +it ensures, to the powers, bodily and mental of the student, is more +varied, thorough, and effective. + + +COMMON-SENSE BIOLOGY AS AN ART + +As has been said, this Common-sense Biology partakes of the nature of an +art. Now it is characteristic of any art that, for its satisfactory +exercise, it demands not only knowledge, but also intuition;--not only +conscious volition, reflection, and endeavour, but also subconscious +nervous and muscular activity, and, together with that, a certain +emotional state--a trend, tendency, disposition of the whole being, +which likewise is chiefly subconscious. + +Without such a disposition to begin with you cannot have an artist. +Neither will you get an artist, if, on the other hand, this disposition +is never given an opportunity for displaying itself and developing its +capacities. You cannot play an instrument properly if you have no music +in you, and the music in you will never come forth if you have no +instrument to play upon. When disposition and opportunity are happily +met, and the true artist arises, it is in the subconscious that the +chief riches, gained by her work and experience, are stored, and from +the subconscious that she draws her skill; while in the subconscious, +again, lie the mysterious sources of original inspiration. We all know +well how over-consciousness spoils art, as it spoils most kinds of +action. The happiest effects, the loveliest deeds spring, as it were, +spontaneously. + +What is true of such arts as music and poetry is at least equally true +of the art of living. The rich and well-harmonised subconsciousness is +the proximate source whence all that is strongest and most beautiful in +human activity is derived. The domestic arts, conversation, power of +rapid judgment at a crisis, the care of the sick, the care of children, +tactful daily dealing with one's fellows, all these, and so much else, +we recognise to be dependent for perfection upon practice; and that is +only another way of saying that they depend on the efficiency and the +character of the subconscious. But the character and efficiency of each +person's subconscious being depend in their turn--not solely, yet +principally--first, upon the knowledge she has acquired, and secondly, +upon the actions she has habitually performed. Action and being, as we +all know full well, are for ever acting and reacting upon one another. + +Action is a more potent influence upon the subconscious even than +knowledge; and when to mere activity there is added emotion--such +emotion, for instance, as pleasure or love, or solicitude, or desire for +truth--we may feel assured we have brought into play the most powerful +of all the forces which, in an ordinary way, go to vivify and to form +human character. + +The subconscious is even more important for women than for men, because +women have more calls upon their emotions, and more need for intuition, +and also more need for general resourcefulness and skill. It is because +the Common-sense Biology whose claims we are urging involves so much +activity, such care, quickness of observation, patience and ready wit, +that it makes a better preparation for life than the more highly +specialized work in the Biology of the laboratory alone could be. + + +THE GAINS AND LOSSES OF CIVILISATION + +Is there, it may now be asked, anywhere any definite evidence to bear +out this contention. There is: and in abundance. For it, however, we +must look away from civilised communities, especially from the educated +portion of their populations. Civilisation, no doubt, gives much; but it +also takes much away. It has taken away much of the traditional lore of +women, and more and more of their traditional activities. This does not +merely mean that the practical ability and knowledge of civilised women +is greatly restricted; it means also that the peculiar intuitive wisdom +of women--the fruit of a richly-stored subconsciousness--is much +diminished. In capacity for pure thought the educated woman of civilised +communities no doubt excels all the rest: in most other respects the +barbarian or savage woman will--with some few exceptions--probably be +found her superior, whether judged merely by her mastery of the +conditions amid which she has to work, or, more broadly, by the amount +of her real knowledge and the range of her effective capacities. + +Take, as an example, the Eskimo woman, who is considered to represent +the woman of palæolithic times. As there is no Eskimo Board of +Education--no paraphernalia of Primary, Secondary, Technical, and other +Schools, with their red tape and officialism--she is free to carry on +the tradition of her ancestresses, and to rear, in the good old ways, +children who grow up to be sturdy men and women. The preparation she had +for her task was chiefly that of watching and imitating her own mother. +Thus, as a child, she followed all the processes of turning the dead +reindeer to account--learning thereby an economy and an unwillingness to +waste which were essentially scientific--learning, too, subconsciously. +She saw the flesh of the reindeer made into pemmican--cut into thin +slices, and dried in the sun or in the smoke of a slow fire, then +pounded between stones (the use of stones is worth noticing) and stored +under a cover of melted fat, poured over it in due proportion. She saw +the bones--after the marrow had been extracted from them--pounded down +and boiled to get out the residual fat; the horns set aside to make +fish-hooks, chisels, needles, and fishing-spears, work for the long +winter evenings; the skin carefully dressed with a split bone and cut +into shape to make clothing, and snow-shoes, thongs, bow-strings, +fishing-nets, and so on. The very tendons make threads for sewing: and +the garments thus fashioned are not only strong and serviceable, but +beautiful with that particular beauty, which may perhaps be called +barbaric, but which almost invariably denotes vigour and fulness of +subconscious life. The Eskimo women also make their own boats and their +own tools; they are good fishers and hunters. Their year's work +comprises an exercise of dexterity and quick wit of which the ordinary +Englishwoman can have no idea. + +We might take as another example the North American Indian woman, with +her varied forest-lore; but, since space is limited, let us pass for one +further illustration to the despised Australian aboriginal. She too +knows and does things worthy of our admiration and imitation. For +instance the English housewife's preparation of the household food is +nothing like so conscientious as the Australian's, whose proceedings +have the keen disinterested concentration proper to a bit of scientific +research. Thus, to take but one example of the processes connected with +the preparation of one form of food--a seed of a species of eucalyptus: +"With a hooked stick she pulls down the terminal branches of the tree +and spreads them out to dry on a piece of ground cleared for the +purpose. After allowing them to lie there for a period determined by +temperature, she collects the distal ends of the branches, damps them +and brushes the seeds off into water. For a period of two or more hours +these seeds are kept soaking, but the water is repeatedly changed, so as +to remove all traces of the 'gum.' After this they are dried and ground +on a stone. Again, she builds their rough, but wisely devised home most +carefully according to ancient tradition. She takes her little girl, +armed with a miniature digging-stick, out to track the honey-ant with +her, and to learn by the way what are the birds and beasts and plants, +friendly or inimical, which surround their home-camp." + +Alongside of this direct learning about nature goes the learning of the +legends and traditions of the tribe, together with the customary +dances, rituals, and religious practices. The activity of savage life is +everywhere such that no anomalies like our physical exercises are +needed,--for the physique of the young men and women is as graceful, +strong, and enduring as need be. + +If we turn to savage or barbarian peoples higher in the scale we shall +find their knowledge, abilities, and accomplishments higher and also +more varied. But, on the whole, until we come to the average modern +woman of a civilised community, we shall find that the women--through +their happily developed subconsciousness--are equal to the best the +community requires of them. They do not call their training Common-sense +Biology, but that is what it practically is. They know all about their +surroundings, and what to do therein. And grace and beauty wait upon +what they do. + +This ideal is not, however, quite without parallel among the more highly +civilised peoples. The Greeks conceived of Athene, the great goddess of +wisdom and of war, as also Athene Ergane, the Workwoman, the goddess of +handicrafts in the home. In our own country--to take examples near to us +and familiar--the names of Caroline Herschel, Jane Austen, the Brontës, +Mary Somerville, and George Eliot not only attest the fact that +exquisite skill in domestic arts is not, in a woman, incompatible with +learning and genius, but may also lead us to suspect that the exercise +of this skill actually aided and furthered their better-known +achievements. + +In our civilised communities--from the point of view of the +subconscious--women are in two ways at a disadvantage. First, excessive +division of labour, with our dependence upon machinery, has made the +life of the State far more complicated than in former days; and +secondly, the activity of the individual, from the same causes, is far +more monotonous, far less well-calculated to bring out all her powers +and train her being as a whole, than it used to be. Hence, as we said, +women have lost a good deal subconsciously--even though, in +consciousness, they may have gained. + +There is nothing in which the character of the subconscious is more +clearly seen than in a person's attitude towards the great mysteries of +life: towards birth and marriage and death on the one hand--towards +religion on the other. It is, of course, matter of common knowledge that +in regard to marriage the customs of some savage tribes are what we +should describe as licentious. A truer understanding of the savage mind +has, however, mitigated many of the judgments passed even upon the worst +of these practices--at least in so far as they were taken to indicate +gross inward depravity on the part of the women. And among many peoples +there are found laws and customs of real beauty and noble significance, +witnessing to reverence, fine intuition, and real care for the highest +good of the tribe. And in general of all savage races it may be said +that whatever their laws and customs are--though perhaps born of +ignorance and selfishness--they feel seriously about them as about +sacred things, and observe them scrupulously. + +The better side is exemplified chiefly by the women. When +anthropological work is more largely undertaken by women, and when, +through their sympathy, the jealously guarded secrets of the women's +tradition, now almost entirely unknown, are yielded up to us, it is +probable that our conceptions of savage life and thought will have to be +radically modified. However that may be, it is even now sufficiently +well known that the women do not leave the question of reproduction and +marriage to chance in the education of their girls. The girls are +definitely, carefully, and it would seem often tenderly, taught; and if, +among some peoples, they are made to undergo great sufferings, a closer +study usually reveals in these the effects of the long subjection of the +women to the cruelty and uncontrolled passions of the men. All this +should not blind us to the fact that the maternal instinct is here +actively grappling with the great realities of life: and we may contrast +this with the ways of the modern woman who, less developed in +subconsciousness, is not so forcibly impelled to make any such attempt, +and, for the most part, practically lets the whole thing slide. Here, as +in other directions, the fuller development of the subconscious would +compel and also enable us to correct a grave omission: while the +knowledge necessarily acquired concerning reproduction and birth in the +course of biological work would fill up that which has hitherto often +been wanting even in the best-inspired women who have dealt with this +question. + +It must by now have been made clear that our object in advocating this +Common-sense Biology is to recover what was excellent in the equipment +of the women of the past, and to unite it with what is most excellent, +and most germane to woman's life, in the methods and knowledge of the +present. Since modern household life is deficient in the requisite +opportunities we are obliged to have recourse to definite educational +schemes. But education of this sort will assuredly continue to be +necessary even after many improvements in the home have been brought to +pass; because it will always be necessary to keep the knowledge and +activities of women in correspondence with the advance of science. At +the same time it is worth while to remember that the earlier the child +begins to observe living things, to live with them, learn about them, +and take care of them, the better the final result will be; while the +ideally trained mother in the ideal home, herself practical and active, +will be able to do more for her children in this regard than most +people, perhaps, would now dream of. + + +THE INFLUENCE OF COMMON-SENSE BIOLOGICAL TRAINING ON SOCIAL WORK + +Biological training of the order we have been considering is, we +believe, desirable for all women in the interests, first, of the home +and of the rearing of children. But it is equally desirable for the +women who are not destined to be wives and mothers, and particularly so +as a foundation for any kind of university work, even for the different +literary or philosophical schools. + +Here it is, perhaps, worth while to urge upon women the claims of the +other great division of Biology, that of the laboratory. A considerable +number of women who go up to the universities have, indeed, intellectual +abilities deserving special cultivation, yet abilities which show no +very distinct inclination in any one direction. These have been very +commonly drafted into the study of history. It may be questioned whether +some branch of Biology would not be better for them, and more useful to +the community. Women working at Biology in the universities ought to +serve, and to aim at serving, as the channels by which each fresh +addition of scientific knowledge finds its way to, and its appropriate +place in, the schemes of Common-sense Biology generally obtaining. + +In another field--the field of public work--it is to be hoped that ere +long a knowledge of biology will come to be considered a _sine quâ non_ +for women. It would be superfluous to point out in how many kinds of +public work women are gradually coming to the fore--in those especially +which deal with education and with the care of the disabled. Already the +influence and the peculiar gifts of women have in some degree made +themselves felt; but these might operate much more powerfully if they +were more commonly associated with scientific knowledge--with a +knowledge of those branches of biology, more especially of bio-chemistry +and bio-physics, which bear most nearly upon humanity. + +It would take up too much space to give an account of the many ways in +which biology is here of service: two great lines of utility may just be +indicated as examples. + +First, biology would lead to certain modifications of +practice--particularly in our treatment of children, and of persons +deemed criminal or insane. The biologist, when anything was +amiss--before she pronounced any one to be mentally or morally unsound, +defective, or bad--would presume, to start with, that there was some +definite physical trouble to be set right, not necessarily anything +dangerous in itself or mysterious. In New York they now make it a rule +to examine for adenoids every young offender against the law, before +punishing him; and it is amazing how often adenoids are found, and when +removed carry the child's wickedness away with them. Adenoids and divers +glands are responsible for a great proportion of youthful wrongdoing; +and yet other physical troubles will account for a great proportion of +the rest. The writer herself once came across a young girl who was, in +intention and attempt, a murderess--yet was so only through the effect +of a common physical condition, easy enough to treat when once +ascertained. Until our general conception of a child--or indeed of a +human being--is a more truly biological one, framed more closely upon +the facts of its bodily life, we shall have but little effective +intuition into its state. And such a sound biological conception is not +to be had apart from some good measure of sound biological knowledge. + +When, however, the most careful observation reveals no local or +definite mischief to be dealt with in the person under consideration, +the biologist will still not hastily set him down as bad--or even as +unsound or defective. He will next suspect that he is one whose physical +organisation is not fitted for its environment: if he can be placed in +a better environment perhaps he will grow better. If this change is, +from whatever circumstances, impossible, the biologist in treating +him, however troublesome he may be, will still never regard him as +wholly responsible for what he is, will still try to ascertain the +exact ways in which the environment presses injuriously upon him, and +to help him in those definite particulars. If we desire the work of +our reformatories and prisons and the disciplinary work of our +schools really to be and not merely to appear effective, it is only by +such nicely-calculated methods that we shall attain our object. + +This brings us to our second point. Biology, when a knowledge of it is +more widely spread among us, will assuredly work a change in public +opinion. We have among us thousands of men and women whom we account +failures in life; whose existence constitutes our gravest social +problem. The drunkard, the wastrel, the thief, the prostitute--these are +characters whom society thrusts out. They have proved themselves +unfitted for their environment; they cannot act in it with any +regularity or seemliness: its laws are not their laws. And the +assumption most generally is that these are beings of a lower stamp than +the average, unhappily surviving in, or at war with, an environment +which postulates a nobler sort of men and women. Is it so? + +The finer and more delicately poised a mechanism--whether it be chemical +balance, galvanometer, electroscope or what not--the more sensitive is +it to its surroundings. Thus the instruments once at Kew Observatory +have had to be transferred to the wilds of Scotland to ensure their +perfect working--rendered impossible at Kew by the noise and vibrations +of encroaching London. Thus, again, the mind of Darwin required for its +proper functioning the quiet of a study at Down, in the heart of the +country. A ray of light will spoil a delicate experiment: the presence +in an observatory of one steel key will hinder the work of the +instruments. A boy commits suicide because of the noise of the factory +in which he is compelled to work. A girl drowns herself because the +worries of her home are intolerable. + +The point I would press is that these different examples belong +fundamentally to the same category. Whether it be the instrument devised +by man, or whether it be the human nervous system itself, that which we +are looking at is a mechanism too delicate for the cruel exigencies of +an unyielding gross environment. We have but to reflect on one organ +alone--on the exceeding fineness of structure, and nicety of adjustment, +and definiteness of sense-limit, of the eye--in order to realise that +the comparison between the human nervous system and the most delicate of +our delicate instruments is more than justifiable. + +How do we know, when dealing with any given drunkard, that we have not +before us a fine, fine nature, to which the harsh and low conditions of +our Western civilisation have simply proved intolerable? How do we know +that, instead of blaming him and trying to adjust him to the world, we +ought not rather to blame the world, and try to make it a fit place for +him to live in? + +This consideration--strictly scientific as it is--ought to have very +great weight in that new department of biological work which has been +named Eugenics. Before lightly saying of any stock that it is not good +to breed from, or that it is good to breed from, pains should surely be +taken to ascertain whether irregularities and disease evinced by members +of that stock do not in reality proceed from their superiority to their +environment and to the average men and women about them. Individually +they may be irreclaimable, yet, thrown out of gear, miserable and wasted +as they are, they may be the carriers of the finest hopes of humanity, +of a promise for the fulfilment of which we are not yet ready. Perhaps +there is a tendency to be a little over-hasty in our estimates of good +and bad stocks to breed from. Perhaps we have not yet fully learnt +either the significance of recessive characters or the importance of the +mere fact that the unit-characters of a human being are immensely +numerous, and their inter-relations therefore extremely intricate. And +yet, again, perhaps we are too intolerant of variety, too eager for +uniformity. + +Here in England we have a mixed population, sprung from many diverse +origins. The differences between individuals are many and great. Yet the +majority of the population is thrust into the grooves of one educational +system, and thereafter compelled to settle down to occupations and modes +of life which are the same for thousands together. Any attempt to leave +the common rut is looked at askance. What wonder that there are rebels, +and that the rebels are unhappy! A society constructed in conformity to +true biological principles, instead of suppressing variety would give it +welcome as one of the most precious of national characteristics, and +would purposely adjust itself and its systems with more accuracy so as +to give every sort and type of person the best possible chance for +developing his or her peculiar gifts. In a society so constituted, very +rare indeed would be the occurrence of insanity. + +These considerations should have weight in yet another direction: in +determining the counsel which ought to be given to girls as to the +choice of a mate. + +The importance of soundness of stock has here too been well brought into +prominence by the workers in Eugenics; and perhaps it may not be amiss +to make one or two suggestions with a view to obviating a too narrow +application of the principle of the sound stock. + +We must remember, first, that disease is not necessarily evidence of +unsoundness. Like some forms of moral obliquity, it may be merely +evidence of a quality in the stock which renders it unable to tolerate a +given environment. And this quality may be in itself an excellence of +the most precious kind. This would be the true account of many cases of +insanity, while others would be covered by the action of toxins on the +brain. Heredity, we are told in many instances of "insanity," is more +probably a heredity of "special liability to the production of toxins or +to the action of toxins on the brain," than heredity of insanity proper. +This view will naturally entail modifications in our methods of treating +the "insane," as well as a considerable change in public opinion with +regard to the significance of insanity. + +And, secondly, we must remember the importance of the environment, more +especially of the human part of it. A man of sound stock is very +commonly brought up as a sportsman, whose first idea is to kill; or as +an idler, whose chief occupations are eating, drinking, and smoking, +with travel and some amount of gambling thrown in by way of variety. Or +he may easily be above all things a money-maker and a lover of money. +His habits of this sort will determine to a very great extent the +early--and that is the critical--environment of his children. The +tendency in his family will be towards uniformity, towards one level, +and that not a high level, of thought, activity, and character. His +example and influence will go very far to counteract the advantages +presumably ensured by the soundness of his stock. + +On the other hand, a man whose ancestry is eugenically not flawless +may have such wide interests, so many and such fine powers, so much +skill in different activities, and so high and generous a personal +ideal, that the environment which his manner of life would make for his +children--the inspiration he would be to them--might well be expected +very largely, if not wholly, to counteract the disadvantages of defects +in the stock. + +No doubt this principle should be applied with all reasonableness and +care, but it is extremely important for the highest welfare, for the +development of the best possibilities of the people, that it should be +definitely recognised. + + +ANTHROPOLOGY A BRANCH OF BIOLOGY + +A word must here be said as to the importance--more especially to the +biological student who aims at social work--of some knowledge of +Anthropology. Biology is, in fact, incomplete without anthropology; for +in its absence there is a danger of applying biological principles too +summarily, and therefore unscientifically, to humanity. Anthropology, of +course, goes behind art and history and the literary ideas current among +civilised peoples. It gives life and meaning to customs, legends, +handicrafts, details of dress, ornament, and furniture which otherwise +go unheeded or misunderstood. It helps to interpret for us the ways of +contemporary peoples and classes which are on a level different from our +own. It gives a unity in infinite diversity to our whole conception of +humanity. When more widely studied, there can be little doubt that it +will cause us to reconstruct many of our judgments, both concerning the +history of the past and concerning the civilisations of the present +day. + +We cannot but believe that a time will come when it will be assumed of +all women that they know the broad truths of biology, just as it is now +assumed that they know the alphabet. It will be taken for granted that +they have mastered the essential domestic arts with their own hands, +just as we now take for granted they can write with their own hands. We +shall have reached then the beginning of a new era--an era which we may +hope will unite the excellences, moral, æsthetic, and hygienic, of +earlier times, with the excellences, more purely intellectual and +scientific, of our own day. + + +WOMAN'S SYNTHETIC POWERS AS AN INSTRUMENT TO EFFICIENCY + +The most effective instruments for bringing this about are the synthetic +powers of woman herself, combined with her practical skill and her ready +intuition. As we have tried to show, the best chance for the eliciting +and the disciplining of these powers of hers, so as best to fit them for +the struggle of modern life, is afforded by biology. + +It must be clear how many reforms--impossible to the nominally educated +women of the present day--would flow easily from this better training of +women; for those so trained could certainly not endure the futility of +some of our educational ideals, nor that haphazard disregard of the +nature and needs of the child, which still characterises so much of our +educational method. They could not support the continuance of many of +the common evils of modern life--the noise and dirt, the brutality of +manners, the scamping of work, the rush for pleasure. These, however +they may or may not affect the adult, are plainly impairing the best +promise of the children; and that fact will be enough for the truly +educated woman. + +Knowing, too, as she will, more accurately and scientifically than women +to-day generally know, how largely energy and depression, irritability +and calm strength are questions of right or wrong food, the educated +woman may be trusted to find a means to put an end to the crying +iniquity of adulteration. Directly or indirectly, by the pressure of her +determination that the race shall no longer be offered a sacrifice to +Mammon, she will assuredly find a way to put an end to all not +absolutely necessary dangerous trades. + +The opposition of such women to what is wrong in social custom, in +government, in education, will be a very different thing from the +opposition of well-meaning but imperfectly instructed women on the one +hand; or, on the other, that of a few thoroughly trained and informed +ones working more or less in isolation, scattered over the country. It +would mean a body of sound, enlightened, disinterested public opinion, +so vast, so far-reaching, yet so intimately cognisant of all the little +daily details of life in the home, that it is difficult to see what +other body of opinion could be found mighty enough to resist it. + +If, unhappily, this advance should not be made--if our present Western +civilisation be allowed to run unchecked down the groove into which it +has sunk--there seems nothing before it but destruction. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [12] "The Electrical Resistance of the Human Body." Gee and Brotherton, + Manchester Lit. and Phil. Soc., 1910. + + + + +SCIENCE IN THE HOUSEHOLD + +BY MRS. W. N. SHAW + + +The slow development of the demand for the training of girls of the +middle and upper classes in the details of household management has been +to a great extent due to the common observation that persons of +imperfect education are frequently proficient in the domestic arts, and +to the assumption that good housekeeping consists entirely in the +efficient exercise of those arts. + +The fact that in the early Victorian period girls living much at home +learned, almost insensibly, from their mothers the routine of daily +duties in the house, has made elder women look askance on the lectures +dealing with domestic economy which appear to them so needless, and has +led them to foster the superstition that woman _qua_ woman should be +equal to any demand that may be made upon her as organiser of her own +household. + +That the housekeeping of to-day is more complex than that of half a +century ago is incredible to the older woman who remembers the baking +and brewing, and divers other matters, that demanded the attention of +the notable housewives of the forties and fifties of the nineteenth +century. That the horizon of women's lives has widened, and that other +interests than those appertaining to their immediate circle claim their +attention, is not acceptable to all; it is however the claims of these +outside interests that have awakened in the more thoughtful the desire +so to order their households that they may in some degree free +themselves from petty cares, and be able to help in the amelioration of +the lives of less fortunate persons; or to pursue other branches of +knowledge in which they have learned to take a keen intellectual +pleasure. + +It is a paradox that one of the difficulties with which the modern +mistress has to contend is the fact that her house is "replete with +every modern convenience." Every labour-saving contrivance, every +mechanical convenience, calls for vigilance to ensure its proper use, +and for knowledge as to the ways in which it may fail, and of the method +of readjustment if it should happen to do so. No apparatus which is not +thoroughly understood by the mistress will be well used by the servants, +and servants will rarely if ever exercise any knowledge they possess to +prevent the expense of calling in a workman. If the mistress of a house +can use such ordinary tools as a hammer, a screwdriver, a gluepot, and a +soldering-iron, a great deal of expense may be saved in small repairs; +on the other hand, ignorant meddling with scientific apparatus may be +worse than useless. There can be no doubt that a course of instruction +in natural philosophy, combined with work in a well-equipped laboratory +and workshop, should find a place in the curriculum of every girls' +school, whether elementary or secondary, as this training lays the +surest foundation for a superstructure of experimental domestic science. +The argument against including the application of the physical sciences +to domestic methods in the ordinary educational course of every girl, +namely, that she may not be called upon to keep a house of her own, +cannot be sustained; there are no circumstances in which knowledge of +the laws which govern the health and well-being of human beings can be +useless. We all live in houses, either our own or other people's, and we +are all liable to disease and discomfort caused by the faulty +construction of the house or the unhealthy practices of the inmates. + + +THE AIM AND METHODS OF MODERN EDUCATION + +The aim of education is to enable a person to act wisely in every +emergency of life whatever his particular calling may be, but it is +hardly possible to act wisely without some knowledge of the relation +between cause and effect. This is true whether we are engaged in the +practical affairs of life, in the pursuit of knowledge, or in the effort +to extend knowledge by research. It is sometimes argued that a woman of +trained intellect can easily acquire the art of housekeeping, and this +is no doubt the case if we limit the art to the choice and supervision +of competent domestics, but there can be no doubt that there are many +women of trained intellect who not only suffer themselves but entail +suffering on others from inability to discern good housekeeping, in our +sense of the word, from bad. It must be remembered that courses of +education should be framed for the training of unmethodical and +unpractical minds, which may and often do accompany the highest forms of +intellect, as well as for those of a naturally orderly and practical +bent. + +We all consciously or unconsciously make use of the facts of science: we +do not send eggs by parcel post merely placed in a box, we do not even +send one egg in a box that exactly fits it, we are careful to surround +each egg with soft paper or some other elastic material in sufficient +quantity to distribute the effects of the blows that we know the box +will be subjected to in the post, so that the eggs may not be broken; if +we place a tray of china on a table, we are careful that it should not +project beyond the table so as to fall when we let it go; we do not pour +hot water into cut-glass tumblers, and we do not mix effervescing drinks +in wine-glasses. We should call a person ignorant who was unaware of the +probable results of doing the things enumerated above; but if the +accidents following want of knowledge were always so simple, ignorance +would not be a matter of much importance, and we might be willing to let +our girls learn by experience. Unfortunately, the neglect of a +scientific law has led in the past, and may lead in the future, to much +more serious, even fatal results, and Solomon has applied a not very +complimentary epithet to those who have wisdom forced upon them by +involuntary experience. It is to the publication of statistics which +show the alarming spread of such diseases as consumption and the +terrible waste of infant life, that we owe the awakening of the public +mind to the need for systematic training in science and scientific +method. + + +THE VALUE OF A SCIENTIFIC TRAINING + +Scientific method seeks to establish relations between isolated facts or +phenomena, and the relation generally takes the form of cause and +effect; so that persons with a scientific training are accustomed to +examine the grounds for considering this relation of cause and effect in +circumstances which are selected with a view to exhibiting the reality +of the relation. From that training it becomes possible for them, when +confronted with circumstances presenting some difficulty, to form a +better opinion as to what is the cause of the difficulty than they could +if they were confronted with the same difficulty without the previous +training. Any attentive observer of human nature will be struck by the +fact that every person is accustomed to refer every event to some cause; +if it is an illness, the occasion for contracting the illness is +defined; if it is any unforeseen event in the domestic economy, a reason +is nearly always forthcoming; the question which the housewife is called +upon to decide is whether the reason offered is a real and sufficient +one. Meteorologists tell a familiar story of an Indian nabob who found +that there was a deposit of moisture on the outside of his tumbler of +brandy and water, and tasting it with his finger, remarked it was very +curious that the water came through the glass but the brandy did not. +Plenty of reasons offered for domestic incidents have no better ground +of fact than the nabob's opinion that the water came through the glass. + +A good deal of the comfort of a modern house turns upon a right judgment +as regards cause and effect, and therefore some preparation which will +fit the housewife to appreciate the rights and wrongs of domestic +reasoning is an indispensable qualification for success. It is not +always possible for the most profound student to offer offhand the true +explanation of various facts of domestic life, but it is possible to +approach the consideration of these questions with some hope of deciding +whether the explanation offered is a true or a fictitious one. The +ability for this is largely a question of habit of mind or training; and +for our purpose the training must include those departments of +knowledge, the laws of which find daily expression in the manifold +experiences of domestic life. The ultimate foundation for these laws is +to be found in the study of Physics, which deals with those changes in +the state of matter which stop short of the alteration of its +composition; of Chemistry, which deals with changes involving an +alteration of the composition of the substances under consideration; and +of Physiology, which is the identification of the processes which take +place in living animals and plants and their relation to the laws of +physics and chemistry. Without a knowledge of the fundamental principles +of these sciences and of the methods by which those principles are +established, it is not to be expected that any person can deal +adequately with the common experiences of life. + +It is true that experience, if it is sufficiently extensive and +prolonged, may lead to the formulation of a set of practical rules that +will carry a housewife through the ordinary household round without +discredit, but the question which we have to put to ourselves is +whether, by organising and directing the experience, success may not be +made certain and more instructive. In these days domestic life is more +complicated than it used to be; at the same time experience is in a +sense more restricted. Many of the instructive processes, practical +experience in which conveyed valuable if unconscious scientific +training, are now conducted on a large scale, and are outside the range +of domestic duties, and the housewife has to supply, by special training +in scientific principles, the judgment that in days gone by was acquired +as a matter of habit. + +It is impossible in the short space of a single article to set out the +details of a systematic course of training sufficient to fit the +housewife to use her judgment wisely in circumstances which require a +knowledge of the principles of the fundamental physical sciences. The +most that we can attempt is to give a few examples which illustrate the +application of the principles of physics and chemistry. Our purpose in +doing so is to suggest illustrations which appeal to every householder, +and may create a desire for fuller knowledge rather than to supply a +course of instruction. What we aim at is not to provide the equipment of +scientific training, but to show that the scientific habit of mind will +find opportunities for useful employment in many of the most ordinary +affairs of life. The problems that present themselves in the course of +experience are sometimes difficult and intricate; patience and careful +observation as well as knowledge are required for their solution. +Sometimes this solution is beyond the immediate resources of those +concerned, and it is a part of scientific training to recognise when +this is the case, so that effort and money may not be wasted in +endeavours which are foredoomed to failure. We may cite a case in point +where an extra bell was desired in a system of electric bells in a flat +at a time when electric installations in private houses were somewhat +rare, and workmen with any knowledge beyond that necessary for carrying +out instructions were not easily found. To the confusion of the tenant, +the introduction of this extra bell caused all the bells in the flat to +strike work. A mathematical lecturer living in the same building was +consulted, and opined that the battery of two somewhat small-looking +cells was insufficient, so he obtained and added a larger cell, but the +bells were obdurate and did not resume work. A lady with knowledge of +physics examined the installations and discovered that the wire +connections as altered were entirely wrong and did not connect the bells +to the battery. A plan of the correct connections was shown to the +workman, who a few days later reported that now all the bells rang at +once, and he had had to disconnect the battery! He produced a sketch of +the connections he had made, and on his error being pointed out he was +able to rectify it, and the bells answered to touch without the use of +the extra cell. Generally speaking, a failure on the part of electric +bells is corrected by filling up the cells which compose the battery +with water, an operation which any one may undertake. + +It is not safe, however, for an inexperienced person to interfere with +electric light fittings further than to remove a worn-out lamp and place +a new one in the socket, and even this operation may be attended with +disaster. A young friend of ours who was taking part in some private +theatricals obtained the loan of a row of electric footlights. It did +not occur to any one concerned to ask the voltage of the lamps or of the +current to which they were to be applied. When the footlights were +turned up they blazed for a brief period, and then every light in the +house went out! Electrical science for the housewife has been resolved +into a knowledge of electric terms and of a few practical rules useful +and interesting in themselves, but not immediately suitable for our +purpose of showing how scientific study may aid the housewife in her +daily routine. + + +PHYSICAL SCIENCE IN THE HOUSEHOLD + +We may for this purpose examine some of the laws of common physical and +chemical phenomena, neglect of which has resulted in much needless +discomfort in daily life, and even more serious consequences. For +instance, the laws of expansion of gases and liquids with heat, and +their subsequent behaviour, are phenomena that are often imperfectly +realised. There is probably no person who is unacquainted with the law +of gravitation, but there are many persons who accept literally the +statements that smoke rises and that balloons ascend. A clear +understanding of what actually takes place when gases and material +masses appear to move in opposition to the law of gravitation is +essential to any scheme for warming and ventilating the house. + +A very simple experiment will serve to reconcile the apparent +contradiction of the universal law by the observed fact. Suppose we have +two fluids, oil and water, of which oil is, bulk for bulk, lighter than +water. If the oil be poured into a glass beaker, it will be seen to rest +at the bottom of the beaker; if water be now poured into the same +beaker the water will go to the bottom of the beaker and will displace +the oil and lift it up so that the oil will float on the water; the oil +may be lifted to any height we please if sufficient water be poured in +to lift it to that height. If a single drop of oil be introduced into +the water by means of a pipette and be liberated at the bottom of the +beaker the water will close in under it, and lift it up to the surface. +In both cases the oil "rises" through the water. Oil, however, has no +tendency to "rise" by itself, and in this case it lay motionless until +it was lifted by the heavier fluid. We may use colloquial language when +describing phenomena if we bear in mind what is really taking place. + +A balloon "rising" through the air is exactly analogous to the drop of +oil in the water. The balloon is, bulk for bulk, lighter than air; the +air therefore closes in under it and lifts it just as the water lifted +the bubble of oil. + + +EFFECTS OF CHANGES OF TEMPERATURE ON AIR + +Let us apply this to air. Air when warmed expands, and therefore warm +air is, bulk for bulk, lighter than cold air. Warm air behaves in the +presence of cold air as the balloon: it is displaced and lifted by the +cold air, the result being an ascending stream of warm air, which is +called a convection current. + +The movement of ascending smoke is essentially the same as that of the +warmed air. Smoke is warm air made visible by the particles of soot with +which it is laden. The particles of soot would fall to the ground except +that they are carried upwards in the stream of warm air. Dr. W. N. Shaw +has called attention to the importance of these phenomena in his book on +"Air Currents and the Laws of Ventilation," in the Cambridge Series of +Physical Text-books. He there says: "The dominant physical law in the +ventilated space is the law of convection. It is at once the condition +of success and the cause of most failures. Without convection, +ventilation would be impossible; in consequence of convection, nearly +all schemes of ventilation fail. + +"The law of convection is the law according to which warmed air rises +and cooled air sinks in the surrounding air. Its applications are truly +ubiquitous. Every surface, _e.g._ a warm wall, or a person warmer than +the air in the immediate neighbourhood, causes an upward current; every +surface colder than the air in contact with it causes a downward +current. + +"Ventilation would be much easier if warmed air or cooled air could be +carried along at any height required; but the law of convection is +inexorable: warmed air naturally finds the ceiling, cooled air the +floor." + +It is true that the ventilation of a house is generally considered to be +the business of the builder and architect, yet there are many unpleasant +phenomena that come under the observation of the housewife which are +due to this law of convection, and it will be useful to consider a few +of them. + +Let us take first the universal annoyance to housewives caused by the +sight of _dirt on the ceiling_. That all air is full of dust is seen +when a stream of sunlight crosses a room; the particles of dust are then +clearly perceived moving rapidly in all directions in the air. These +dust particles, when air is at rest, constantly fall to the ground under +the action of gravity, and are deposited on shelves and ledges, from +which they have to be removed daily by the housemaid. When air is warmed +and ascends it carries the dust particles with it, and these particles +striking against any cold surface with which they come into contact +stick to it. This is the cause of the necessity for the periodical +sweeping of chimneys. The walls of the chimney are colder than the smoke +that comes into contact with them, and the particles of soot in the +smoke striking against them are deposited on them. In the house the +effect of the bombardment of surfaces by dust-laden streams of air is +seen most conspicuously over burning gas-lights. Burning gas does not +itself produce all the dirt which is found on the ceiling above it, but +it causes upward streams of hot air, which carry up the dust and deposit +it on the ceiling. The practice of suspending a shade over the gas-light +does not lessen the amount of dust and smoke in the air, but the shade +serves to spread out the air over a larger surface, and thus to render +the dirt on the ceiling less apparent. That the shade itself remains +clean is due to the fact that it gets hot. A heated surface promotes the +activity of the motion of the air-particles in its neighbourhood, and by +this local activity the dust is repelled, so that a surface remains +clean or becomes coated according as it is more or less hot than the +invading current. The validity of this explanation may be tested by +holding a cold spoon over a lighted candle when it will be seen that the +spoon becomes blackened; if a hot spoon be substituted for the cold one +it will remain clean. + +In order that the hot, vitiated air of a room may escape easily, it has +been in many cases the custom to place an exit opening for it in the +chimney over the room fireplace. The wall in the neighbourhood of this +ventilator invariably becomes black; but as this wall is warm it is not +probable that dust is deposited on it by the outgoing air, the +explanation given by the housewife that the smoke from the chimney gets +through the ventilator into the room is probably correct, though these +ventilators are supplied with mica flaps which should swing open when +air from the room strikes against them, and close when the air from the +chimney does so. + +When a house is heated by hot-water pipes and radiators, the walls over +these pipes are another source of trouble (Fig. 1). A good deal of +scientific ingenuity is required if the walls are to be kept clean. + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.] + +That some ceilings appear striped with broad light and dark lines is +due to inequalities in the temperature of the ceiling. The light stripes +are under the joists, which prevent to some extent the escape of heat +from the ceiling, and the dark correspond to the unprotected parts of +the ceiling. The dust rising from the room is slightly repelled by the +currents from the warmer parts of the ceiling, and sticks more readily +to the colder parts. + +Let us take for our second example the apparently trivial matter of +_smells in the house_. Smells may be of various kinds from various +causes. The best judge of the kind, and therefore of the cause, is the +nose. Suppose the smell to be the common one in houses of all +classes--the smell of cookery! The smell of cookery in the house is +generally a winter phenomenon. The air in an inhabited house is always +in a state of motion, induced by the inequalities of temperature caused +by the inhabitants themselves, and to a greater extent by the fires, of +which there will certainly be one in the kitchen. We must remember that +cold air will get into the house through all available openings, to take +the place of the air which supplies the fires. The most obvious +available openings in an ordinary dwelling-house are the casual ones of +the open chimneys of unused grates, and the loosely fitting doors and +windows. In cold weather fires are lighted in the sitting-room grates; +these fires when lighted should warm the air in the chimneys above them +and cause an upward draught in the chimney. Sometimes however the +chimney will be found to be occupied by a current of air coming down to +feed fires in other rooms, and so long as this goes on the smoke from +the newly lighted fire comes into the room. The down-draught can be +stopped by opening a window to supply sufficient cold air to counteract +it, otherwise we have to adopt special devices to make the smoke go up +the chimney in the first instance. Sometimes a newspaper is burnt in the +grate to give the necessary amount of warm air, but this is a dangerous +practice by which the chimney may be set on fire. Sometimes air is +supplied by the bellows. A newspaper is often held in front of the grate +so as to close the opening above the fire and cause the cold air to pass +through the fire, thus promoting combustion and the supply of hot air in +the chimney. In any case, the warm air of the fire is carried up the +chimney by the cold air of the room, and this cold air is drawn from the +casual openings already referred to. It has been demonstrated by +laboratory experiments that the amount of draught in any chimney depends +on the height of the chimney and the fire in its grate. + +Smells are conveyed about a house by the flow of air to feed the fires, +and they nearly always find their way from all parts of the house to the +ground-floor sitting-rooms when the doors are left open and the fires +are burning. On their way they pass through passages and are therefore +nearly ubiquitous. The air of any room in the house is in communication +with that of every other room, and it is only by the nature of the smell +that we can tell its probable source. There are people who like when +they open the bedroom door in the morning to know that coffee and bacon +await them downstairs, or on coming into the house from a cold winter's +walk to meet a "delicious smell of Irish stew." To other people all +smell of cookery is abhorrent, and they feel a sense of irritation that +their guests should on entering the house be regaled with the odour of +the preparation of food. To many mistresses the only remedy that +suggests itself is a message to the cook, who is powerless in the matter +and returns an answer that she is sorry, but that she doesn't know why +there should be a smell of cooking upstairs as there is none in the +kitchen. A visit to the kitchen will generally confirm the cook's +statement as to that particular spot, but a considerable smell will be +encountered on the kitchen stairs. We may inquire into the cause of +this. The usual equipment of the kitchen includes a closed range, +supplemented in many cases by a gas stove. The kitchen fire draws a +plentiful supply of air from casual openings, and this air for the most +part passes with the smoke up such flues as are open. The oven is +provided with a ventilator, which carries off the odour of baked or +roasted meats. The odour in the hot air over the closed range has no +escape except into the kitchen--the cook says that ever so slight an +opening in the top of the range will prevent the oven from heating. This +odour-laden air therefore comes directly into the kitchen, and being hot +is directed to the ceiling, thus escaping the cook who is in the draught +of the fresh air supply. Travelling along the ceiling the hot air passes +through the opening at the top of the door and mingles with the fresh +air on its way upstairs. The same thing happens when the gas stove is +in use. The only remedy is to provide some exit for the hot air of the +kitchen which will be more easily accessible than that by way of the +door, for the hot air will travel by the easiest path. A considerable +knowledge of science is required to achieve this object. + +[Illustration: FIG. 2.] + +Closely allied with the smell of cookery is _the smell of the gas +stove_. Many persons consider that the use of a gas stove either in the +kitchen or in a bedroom is inseparable from the peculiar odour of +partially consumed gas. It may therefore be useful to consider how the +gas supplied to stoves and incandescent lights differs from that of an +open gas fire or that of an ordinary burner. Gas stoves and incandescent +lights get their supply of gas through what are known as Bunsen burners, +so called after the German chemist whose invention they are. In an +ordinary burner the gas mixes with atmospheric air at the opening at +which it burns; the supply of air obtained in this way is insufficient +for complete combustion until the outer layers are reached; the interior +part of the flame is bright and smoky. In the Bunsen burner the gas +issues from the main through a nozzle which opens inside a bulb. The +bulb is perforated to allow of the ingress of atmospheric air; the gas +and air mix in the tube which is a prolongation of the bulb, and the +mixture is lighted at the top of the tube. Fig. 2 shows a representation +of the Bunsen burner as applied to a gas stove. In this the gas escapes +from the main at the nozzle _n_, into a bulb of which the tube A is a +prolongation, air is admitted to the bulb at the openings _a a_, and +the mixed gas and air is burnt at the openings in the tube A. The amount +of air supplied is regulated by the size of the openings _a a_ and the +holes where the gas is lighted. The gas thus supplied with air is +completely consumed where combustion begins, and a clear, blue, +non-luminous flame is the result. If the holes through which the mixture +of gas and air issues are partially closed by rust or by accretions from +the "boiling over" of saucepans it is evident that, the gas supply being +unchanged, less air can be drawn through them; consequently the gas will +not be entirely consumed, and acetylene (C2H2, one of the products of +partially consumed coal gas) will pass into the atmosphere and will give +rise to the peculiar odour associated with gas stoves. This product of +partially consumed gas is very poisonous, and all gas stoves should be +furnished with chimneys to carry off the fumes to the open air. The +phenomenon known as "burning back," that is, the ignition of the gas at +the nozzle in the bulb, is caused by the pressure of gas being too small +for the supply of air. The gas should at once be turned out and +relighted till it burns at the proper places. The simple remedy for +smell from a gas stove is the cleansing of its burners, unless indeed +the kettle is too close to the holes from which the gas issues for +complete combustion to be possible. + +There is another winter phenomenon which is very disagreeable--the +presence of _fog in the house_; and the perplexed housewife asks, Where +does the fog get in when all outside doors and windows are closed? We +have already pointed out that the sitting-room fires must have air, and +that that air will be drawn from casual openings. Among these openings +are the chimneys of fireless grates; the greater part of the fog in the +house comes down these chimneys. On a foggy day it is wise to close the +chimneys of fireless grates and provide some other opening for the +supply of air; but all air from the outside is full of fog. The problem +of how to let in air and keep out fog suggests the question, What is +fog? Fog consists of material particles (dust or smoke) on which vapour +has condensed; if these particles can be removed the air will be clear. +The problem for the housewife is how to free a sufficient quantity of +air from these particles. + +_A smell of gas_ in any part of the house may be very dangerous if no +one on the premises has any scientific knowledge, for it may be premised +that the escape of gas is not where the smell is first perceived. Gas +being lighter than air is carried upwards, and the smell is at first +above the place of escape; it may even be in a room over where the gas +is escaping. The only safe detector of the source of mischief is the +nose; the mixture of coal gas and atmospheric air is explosive, and no +light must be struck. The upper sash of the window should be pulled down +to allow the gas to escape, and if the accident is at night time must be +allowed before searching for the source of escape further than can be +done by feeling the taps in the dark or following the scent by the +nose. + +Further illustration of the effect of convection currents in the air of +a dwelling-house are needless, but the student may profitably spend time +and thought in considering how fresh air may be introduced into a room +without causing cold air to lie on the floor or hot, vitiated air to +cling to the ceiling. It is the old problem (with a difference) of +teaching a grandmother to suck an egg. He may also interest himself in +seeking answers to the questions (1) What action is expected to take +place when a poker is placed against the bars of a grate to make the +fire draw? and (2) Does the sun put the fire out, and if so how? In +connection with the expansion of air with heat he may consider the +popular fallacy that an inverted empty pot in a pie keeps in the juice. + + +EFFECT OF CHANGES OF TEMPERATURE ON WATER + +Accidents have occurred in houses owing to ignorance of the full effects +of heating or cooling water from its ordinary temperature. Water at any +ordinary temperature expands when subjected to the action of heat; it +contracts on cooling till it reaches a temperature seven degrees above +the freezing point; from this temperature it expands until it becomes a +solid mass of ice. At still lower temperatures ice contracts. + +Let us consider first the effect of heating water. If water at the +ordinary temperature be poured into a vessel which is placed on a fire +or other source of heat the water at the bottom of the vessel will be +warmed and will expand; it will therefore be lighter, bulk for bulk, +than the water nearer the top of the vessel. The cold water will +therefore descend, and the warm water will rise. All ordinary water +contains air; presently the air in the water will become visible as +small bubbles which rise to the surface of the water and escape +noiselessly into the atmosphere. As more heat is applied some of the +water in the bottom of the vessel will be formed into steam, and bubbles +of steam will expand and rise into the cooler water above and collapse +there with a rattling noise which is characteristic of the state known +as simmering. These bubbles of steam rising and bursting aid the +convection currents in stirring and mixing the water so that it +presently becomes of even temperature throughout. When this occurs the +bubbles of steam rise to the surface and burst explosively into the +atmosphere, throwing the water violently about; the water is then +boiling. It is an important point to remember in cookery that boiling +water will not become any hotter with the application of more heat, but +it will "boil away;" that is, it will be completely converted into +steam. The steam resulting from any volume of water occupies a space +1700 times that of the water from which it is produced, but what +concerns the housewife most seriously is that the change of water into +steam is accompanied with the evolution of tremendous mechanical force +that will burst any vessel in which the water is enclosed. It is the +fact of this tremendous exercise of mechanical force that has led to +serious accidents when hot-water bottles have been put into the oven to +keep warm. It has been assumed by some people that if the hot-water +bottle be not completely filled, that if what they consider to be +sufficient room is left for the expansion of the water, no harm can +result from putting the bottle into the oven, but no arrangement can +make such a course safe. + +The bursting of the kitchen boiler is an accident resulting from +disregard of the phenomena of heated water. It sometimes happens that +the hot-water supply of the various taps in the house fails. If the +boiler supplying the water is a hand-fed one some one whose duty it was +to fill it has neglected that duty. An empty boiler with a removable lid +will do no harm, but it is not advisable to leave it empty, as the heat +of the fire will destroy the iron of which it is made. No attempt, +however, should be made to fill the boiler while it is hot, as the +result of pouring cold water into it will be the sudden and violent +conversion of the water into steam, and the person pouring in the water +will assuredly be scalded. If the boiler be one that is filled +automatically, one of two things has probably occurred: either the pipes +are blocked by fur--that is to say by sediment from the boiled water--or +the supply-pipe is frozen. In neither case is it safe to light the fire. +If the pipes are blocked by fur steam will be formed in the boiler and +it will burst; if the supply-pipe is frozen the heat may thaw the ice, +and the inrush of cold water will at any rate crack the boiler. + +[Illustration: FIG. 3.] + +When water expands with heating convection currents are formed in it, +and the hot water rises to any height we please if cold water be +available to take its place. This law of convection is applied to +maintain a circulation of hot water in pipes used for warming a house. +The general arrangement of such a system is shown in Fig. 3. The +furnace heats a boiler in the basement or on the lowest storey of the +house; HB and HL' are parallel vertical pipes connected with a +horizontal pipe H'H at the top of the house; C is a small cold-water +cistern which is furnished with a ball-tap to maintain the supply of +cold water to the pipe H'L if any water is drawn off at any part of the +circuit. The short pipe A acts as a valve for the escape of air from +the pipes. The pipes H'L, H'H, and HB are filled with water. When +the fire is lighted in the furnace, hot water is driven up the pipe +HB by cold water descending through H'L, and this circulation goes +on so long as a difference of temperature is maintained in the pipes; +that is, so long as the fire is burning. Any number of coils of pipes +may be introduced into the circuit between the boiler and the top of +the pipe HB. In filling the pipes with water allowance is made in these +coils for the expansion of the water with heat and for the air which we +have seen escapes from heated water, and a tap is fixed in each coil +for letting out any air that may have lodged in it. If free air +remains in the pipes the circulation of the water will be hindered and +the boiler may become dangerously overheated. It is therefore necessary +when the heating apparatus is in use to examine these taps and see that +water and not air escapes from them. + +The installation of a heating apparatus in middle-class houses is fairly +common, and where one is not found many persons use gas or oil stoves in +the passages in the winter, for it is now realised that it is not +possible to heat rooms by means of open fires without creating cold +draughts in them from the cold passages into which they open. And, +moreover, the constant change of temperature encountered in passing from +one warm room to another through cold passages is not only disagreeable, +but is not found to be conducive to health. + +Let us turn to the cooling of water. Water expands about one-eleventh of +its volume on becoming ice. This change of state, like that of change +into steam, is accompanied by the evolution of tremendous mechanical +force. If water freezes in pipes it bursts the pipes, and on a thaw +taking place the pipes are found to leak. The appropriate remedy for +this state of things is to protect the pipes from cold or to empty them +when a frost is apprehended. In all properly built houses there is a tap +by means of which the water supply can be cut off from the house, thus +allowing the pipes to be emptied on a frosty night. The custom of +leaving the taps dripping is effective, because the pipe is generally +liable to freeze at some particular point where it is in immediate +contact with the cold air, probably in the unclosed chink where the +pipe passes through the wall; keeping the water moving in the pipe +prevents any part of it getting cold enough to freeze, but the practice +should not be resorted to, as it wastes water. + + +RADIANT HEAT + +[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Section of a Convex lens.] + +It is pleasant on a dry, still day in winter, when the ground is covered +with crisp snow or glistens with hard frost, to feel the warmth of the +sun's rays, and it is becoming quite a fashion for people of leisure to +spend the winter months at the pleasure resorts amid the snow-laden +mountains of Switzerland. It is a matter of some interest to inquire how +it happens that the sun's rays are warm when the thermometer tells us +that the temperature of the air is below freezing-point. There is an old +and pretty experiment in which a burning glass is made of ice; it is not +a difficult thing to do. If the scale-pan of an ordinary balance be made +hot and be pressed against a slice of ice (the concave side of the +scale-pan towards the ice), first on one side of the slice and then on +the other, the ice can be formed into a convex lens (Fig. 4). If now +this lens be placed in the path of a sunbeam and the light be brought to +a focus, that is, to a bright spot on a piece of paper, the paper will +be heated and will take fire while the lens through which the heat +passes remains ice. From this we may surmise that the heat of the sun +does not affect the medium through which it passes. + +Clerk Maxwell suggested yet another experiment in illustration of this +law. By means of an ice lens he collected the sunlight to a focus in the +middle of a basin of clear water, and observed that no effect was +discernible in the water. He then directed the focus (the spot of light) +on to a mote in the water. The mote became hot, the water was agitated, +convection currents were formed, and the mote was carried up in them. +This showed that rays of light from the sun do not affect the substances +through which they can pass, and that they heat bodies through which +they do not pass. It has been demonstrated by laboratory experiments +that all hot bodies emit rays of heat, whether we see the rays or not. +When we see the rays the bodies are said to be red or white-hot. The +process by which heat passes from one body to another without warming +the intervening medium is called radiation. Radiation takes place only +through transparent bodies. Rays of heat, like rays of light, pass +through transparent bodies; whereas they are absorbed by, that is they +make hot, opaque bodies. Heat rays travel in straight lines and are +reflected from polished surfaces; their intensity varies inversely as +the square of the distance of the object on which they fall from their +source. The heat of an ordinary fire is radiant heat; when we sit round +the fire we act as opaque bodies and absorb the heat, and are what we +call scorched if the fire is very bright. If we move away from the fire, +still letting the same firelight shine on us, we are not scorched; this +is because the heating power of the rays varies inversely as the +distance from their source, therefore if we move away double the +distance we receive one quarter of the heat that we received before we +moved. If we draw our chairs to one side we are not scorched, because +the rays of heat do not travel round a corner. + + +CONDUCTION OF HEAT + +We have seen that the ice-lens was not affected by the passage of heat +through it. If we now take hold of the lens we shall experience a +feeling of cold, and the lens will begin to melt. Heat has passed from +our hand into the ice. The process by which heat passes from one body to +another in contact with it is called conduction. The fundamental law of +conduction is, that heat always passes from a warm body to a cold one. +Clerk Maxwell illustrated this law in a series of very simple +experiments. He placed a silver teaspoon in a cup of hot tea, and noted +that the handle became warm gradually from the hot tea; the heat passed +from the bowl of the spoon in the tea to successive parts of the handle +until the whole spoon was hot. His second experiment was to put two cold +spoons, one of silver and one of German silver, into the tea, when he +found that the same phenomenon took place, but that the silver spoon +became hot much more quickly than did the German silver one. He then put +three spoons into the tea, made respectively of silver, of German +silver, and of bone. In the result, he found that when the other two +were hot, the bone spoon hardly showed any sign of heat at the end of +its handle. + +The conclusion to be drawn from these experiments is that heat passes at +different rates through different substances. Substances through which +heat passes quickly are called good conductors of heat. The law of the +conductivity of heat is that in a homogeneous body the flow is +continuous, and is from the region of high temperature to the region of +low temperature, and that it continues until the body is of uniform +temperature throughout. The law is the same for bodies of different +materials when in contact one with another. + +The conduction of heat is in operation in every department of domestic +life. People live in houses and are clothed to protect them from the +vicissitudes of the weather, including the cold of winter and the heat +of summer; use is made of the phenomenon in warming the house and in the +preparation of food. + +In selecting materials for various purposes, account has to be taken of +their conductivities, for in some cases it is desirable that the +transfer of heat should take place slowly, and in others that it should +take place quickly. It might be thought that the conductivity of a +substance could be estimated by touch, but a little reflection will +show that this cannot be the case. The flow of heat between two bodies +depends upon the difference of temperature between them, and if there +should be no difference of temperature between them at the moment of +touch there will be no flow of heat, though both are bodies of greater +or less conductivity. Let us take, for example of the uncertainty of +estimation by touch, a well-known experiment. Suppose we have a basin of +hot water and a basin of cold water, and place a hand in each for a few +moments; suppose we withdraw the hands and plunge them into a basin of +tepid water, we shall find that the tepid water feels cold to the hand +that was in the hot water and warm to the hand that was in the cold +water. + +Luckily, it has been found possible in the laboratory to refer +substances to a common standard and to assign numerical values to them +in order of their conductivities, so that substances can be compared and +a selection made for any desired purpose. Pure silver has the highest +conductivity; other useful materials take the following order: copper, +zinc, lead, iron, steel, marble, glass, brick, slate, wood, fur, cotton, +flannel, water, air. Fur and wool no doubt owe much of their warmth to +the fact that they consist of fibres which enclose a good deal of air, +but as a matter of fact the warmth of loosely woven woollen and knitted +articles in general is often overrated; they are very warm as under +garments or in calm weather, but in windy weather the air in them is +rapidly changed and the cold seems to blow through them. If for any +purpose we select a material from its place in a table of comparative +conductivities, and use it without reference to the law of conduction of +heat, we shall probably be disappointed with the result. We know that +cotton burns easily; if we stretch a cotton handkerchief over the back +of a gold watch and place a red-hot cinder from the fire on the +handkerchief on the watch, the handkerchief will not be burnt. + +Many interesting problems present themselves when a house has to be +built or rented. There is often opportunity for some choice of material +in walls or roof, and some peculiarities to be considered. Are the top +rooms of a thatched cottage warmer or colder than the top rooms of a +house covered with slates? Is a wooden or an iron building warmer? What +difference does it make if the iron building is lined with wood? If the +iron walls were twice as thick, what would be the effect inside the +room? Would the walls of such a building be always dry inside? It +sometimes happens that the end wall of a row of houses is covered with +slates to preserve it from the effects of storms of wind and rain; will +that inside wall be always dry? + +But the housewife is probably more interested in those articles in +use in the house which it is her business to provide. Shall the +stoves be of slate or iron? In olden days warming-pans were made of +copper. What change in the manner of use justifies making them of +earthenware or India-rubber? The slow transmission of heat through thick +woollen materials has been applied to the construction of Norwegian +cooking-stoves (Fig. 5). These stoves consist of a wooden box, lined +with well-padded felt. The cooking vessels are of metal; the food when +at boiling point is placed in these vessels and the lids put on, a +thick padded felt is placed on the vessels and entirely fills the +wooden lid of the box which is then closed; the heat is preserved so +that the cooking is continued without further attention. Would it be +possible to use the Norwegian stove as a refrigerator? Would it keep +an ice pudding cold without any alteration? In connection with this +we may ask why freezing machines have the inner vessel in which the +freezing takes place of zinc, and the outer vessel which contains the +ice and salt of wood? What would be the effect of interchanging the +materials? + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.] + +It is possible that the excellence of some continental cookery is due to +the extensive use on the continent of earthenware cooking utensils +through which heat passes very slowly. The growing fashion of using +enamelled cooking vessels must have some effect on the food cooked in +them as heat certainly passes quickly through them. Reference has been +made to them simply to demonstrate the universality of the application +of physical laws, and we may now return to the house and its arrangement +for the comfort of the inmates. + + +METHODS OF DOMESTIC HEATING + +The two methods of warming a house are by radiation and conduction. We +may surmise that in any case both methods will be in use, but the one +will predominate; for instance, in heating by an open fire radiation +will predominate, and in heating by stoves and radiators conduction will +predominate. In planning a house a decision must be made between the +two. This decision being made there is the further consideration of +where the source of heat shall be placed. In the case of an open +fireplace shall it be in an end wall, in a corner, in an outside wall, +and so on, the object being to make the greatest possible use of the +heat that passes up the chimney and of that which radiates into the +room. The same consideration must be paid to the situation of the closed +stove; where will it pass heat by conduction to the greatest volume of +air, and where can its radiant heat be utilised? + +In a room heated by a stove there is frequently a vessel of water placed +by or on the top of the stove. If we ask what is the purpose of this +water we shall be told that the stove dries the air in the room. Now, it +is impossible that the heat of the stove should remove any moisture from +the air; we must therefore seek an answer to the question, What is dry +air? The sensation of the dryness or moisture of the air does not depend +only upon the amount of vapour in the air but upon the ratio of the +amount present to the amount that the air is able to hold at the given +temperature. The warmer the air is the more vapour it can hold, hence +when the air is warmed the percentage of water present to the possible +amount in it is lowered; that is its humidity, which is the percentage +amount, is lowered, and we feel it to be dry. The question may arise why +we should feel this when the room is heated by a stove and not when it +is heated by an open fire? It may be that in a room with an open fire we +are warmed by radiation and give out heat to the surrounding air which +is constantly changed by convection currents, so that the air we breathe +is colder than we ourselves; and that in a room warmed by a stove we +receive heat from the air and are constantly breathing air that is +warmer than we ourselves. But it is more than probable that the custom +of providing a source of moisture to the air persists from the +suggestion of a single person in seeking to relieve the disagreeable +feeling attending the breathing of air laden with the poisonous products +of half-consumed gas, and that it has no real scientific foundation. + +_How to estimate temperatures._--Whatever method is adopted for warming +a room, the housewife may be assured that the resulting temperature will +not be pleasing to every member of the family. One will find it too +warm, and another will at the same time find it too cold, and this not +from any wilful captiousness but from the cause that we have already +alluded to, that the feelings are a very uncertain test of temperature. +It is therefore advisable to keep the air of the room as far as possible +at a standard temperature. To do this it will be necessary to have a +thermometer in the room, and to know what its readings indicate. When +the thermometer registers 32° Fahr. or less, water will freeze in the +room, and the vessels in which it is kept will burst; it is therefore +wise, when it is anticipated that the temperature will fall below 32° +Fahr., to empty the ewers and bottles that may be in the room. From 32° +Fahr. to 40° Fahr. the room will be very cold, up to and including 58° +Fahr. it will be too cold to be pleasant; the standard temperature may +be taken as between 62° and 64° Fahr. + +It may appear a simple matter to hang up a thermometer and read it, but +a little thought will show that it is not so easy as it seems. If, for +instance, the thermometer is placed in front of the fire at a distance, +say of four feet from it, what will its reading indicate? Will it be the +temperature of the air of the room or the temperature of the fire, or if +neither, what will it be? Suppose we have two identical thermometers, +and hang them on adjacent walls, one of which is an outside wall, which +of the two readings shall we take as that of the temperature of the +room? It is not an easy matter to decide. In a sick-room, where one +person's comfort only has to be considered the doctor will order the +thermometer to be hung at the bed-head, but we cannot adopt this plan in +a general sitting-room. + + +CHEMICAL SCIENCE IN THE HOUSEHOLD + +In our endeavour to establish the claims of the science of chemistry to +a prominent place in the educational equipment of women, all reference +to those most interesting and important chemical phenomena that +accompany the exercise of the physiological functions will be omitted; +as also those which are most immediately concerned with the preparation +of food. Attention will be confined to some of the common occurrences of +daily life, the methods of dealing with which are typical of the method +adopted in considering more important and abstruse problems. + +Perhaps one of the most disappointing experiences of the novice in +housekeeping is the rapidity with which everything assumes a shabby +aspect. Bright paint grows dull, dull paint wears away, curtains and +fabrics fade, and very soon mistress and maids alike feel that the +house no longer repays the trouble incurred in the spring-cleaning +that it must still undergo. This spring-cleaning, the primary object +of which is the preservation of the beauty and substance of the house +and its appointments, is in the result the cause of much of their +deterioration. + +Cleaning consists in removing dirt by means that are partly physical and +partly chemical; for instance, the removal of dust by sweeping, shaking, +or brushing is a physical operation, and the removal of dirt and grease +by dissolving them in soapy water involves their change by a chemical +process. If the surfaces or materials to be cleaned include a substance +on which the cleansing agent can operate the agent will not confine its +work to the removal of the dirt only; in washing coloured fabrics we +know how often the colour comes out with the dirt. Knowledge therefore, +not only of the composition and properties of cleansing agents, but also +of the surfaces and materials to which they are to be applied, is +essential, and we should find that it is not always the powder or paste +which makes the greatest show of cleanliness in the shortest time, with +least expenditure of labour, that is the most to be desired. + +_The use of alkalies._--The most common cleansing agents are hot water, +soap, and soda. Hot water is itself a detergent; that is, it has the +power of dissolving dirt. It does not, however, dissolve grease, and all +household dirt is more or less greasy, hence we cannot do our cleansing +with water only, and we are accustomed to add to it soap or soda. + +It is not easy or even possible to discuss the chemical properties of +substances without the use of chemical terms. Substances are +classified for chemical purposes in groups, every member of which +exhibits the same chemical property, and we shall require to distinguish +between the group called acids and the group called alkalies. It +will be sufficient for our purpose just now to know that acids have a +sour taste and that alkalies counteract acids. From this definition +lemon-juice will easily be recognised as an acid. If we add soda to +lemon-juice there will be a brisk effervescence and the lemon-juice +will no longer be sour, hence soda is an alkali. Alkalies have +another well-known chemical property--they dissolve grease and oil and +enable them to mix with water. If we have some hot water in a +tumbler and pour oil into it the oil will float on the water, and if +we stir the two together the oil will break into globules but will still +float on the water; we cannot mix them together. If we dissolve some +soda in hot water and pour in oil we shall find on stirring that the +mixture becomes milky or soapy in appearance and the oil and water are +no longer discernible as different fluids. Moreover, on standing the +oil will not again separate from the water; it has been emulsified. +Oils themselves have the chemical power of dissolving resins. Resins +are hard, bright vegetable gums which will come under our notice when +we consider the composition of varnishes. + +All hard soaps are made from soda, grease, and resin; the cheaper soaps +contain free soda, the dearer ones contain an excess of fat. Yellow +scrubbing soap contains about eight per cent. of free soda. Both soap +and soda can be dissolved in water, and are so dissolved for cleaning +purposes. Knowing the constituents of our cleansing agents, we can +consider their action on paint and varnish. Paint contains white-lead, +linseed-oil, and colouring matter. It is not very hard when dry and can +be easily scratched with the nail. Varnish is made from linseed-oil, +resin, and turpentine. When dry it should be very hard and bright. + +The whole of the painted woodwork of the house is subjected to +spring-cleaning whatever its appearance with regard to dirt may be. The +operator throws into a pailful of hot water a "handful" of soda, soaks a +scrubbing-brush in the mixture, rubs it well with soap, and uses it to +brush the somewhat soft paint or harder varnish. The soda and soap, +aided by the heat, soften the paint and the brush removes a quantity +equal to about a coat of paint. The effect is certainly pleasing for the +time being, but there will be no difficulty in understanding that the +process can only be repeated until the paint and varnish grow shabby or +disappear. + +It is not wise for the inexpert housewife to trust to unscientific +friends for advice as to the best materials to use when cleaning paint. +A foreman painter once gave, as a recipe for this purpose, an +instruction to add a tablespoonful of "salts of tartar" to +three-quarters of a pailful of water. The result was a very rapid and +complete removal of dirt from the paint, but the housewife, being +dissatisfied with the rather dull appearance of the white varnish, +stroked it with her finger and found that it was covered with a fine +white powder. The maid's assurance that this was all right and only +needed to be removed by dusting did not satisfy her, and she began to +wonder what chemical action was to be expected from "salts of tartar." A +first search for information revealed that salts of tartar was an old +name for "potassium carbonate," but the housewife knew no chemistry and +had never heard of potassium carbonate, so this information was useless +to her. She had, however, had some scientific training and was not +satisfied to rest in ignorance. A search in a book on elementary +chemistry disclosed the further truth that the commercial name for +"potassium carbonate" is pearlash! She then remembered that being +desirous at one time to remove the paint from some oak carving said to +be two hundred years' old, she had successfully used a solution of +pearlash painted on with a brush. The paint when dry from the +application had been scraped off in long, tough ribbons. Of course the +mixture had been very much stronger than that prescribed by the painter, +but the effect had been very much more apparent. + +Acids and alkalies are to some extent responsible for the fading of +fabrics in the wash when these fabrics owe their colour to vegetable +dyes. Acids turn vegetable blues red, alkalies turn vegetable blues +green and vegetable yellows brown. It is easy to illustrate this action +of acids and alkalies on vegetable colours. A blue liquid can be +obtained by boiling a red cabbage in water. If we take two portions of +this water and add any acid, say lemon-juice, to one portion we shall +obtain a red liquid; if we add any alkali, say soda, to the other +portion we shall obtain a green liquid. If we go a step further and add +lemon-juice to the green liquid and soda to the red liquid we may +approach very nearly to our original blue liquid. These experiments +suggest a remedy for the change of colour in fabrics on washing with +soda, but the dyes most commonly used are not vegetable dyes, and the +fading of the fabrics is due to chemical changes, into which we have no +space to enter. + +Strong acids and alkalies act as caustics; that is they destroy fabrics. +Continued washing in strong soda and water not only tends to destroy, +but also spoils the appearance of all kinds of wearing apparel and +household linen. White silk and wool at once become yellow on being +washed with soap that contains free soda, and linen is affected in the +same way though not to the same extent. + +The widely advertised pastes and liquids for cleaning metal-work, +particularly brass, often contain acids or alkalies that are injurious +to metals. If after cleaning there should be a green deposit on brass or +copper it will be wise to inquire into the composition of such deposit, +and to discontinue the use of that paste or liquid. When brass pans are +used for boiling fruit for jams, it is usual to rub them inside with a +slice of lemon before putting in the fruit. A careful housewife will +consider the reason for this custom. We remember once seeing a copper +pan, that had been provided for the preparation of oatmeal porridge, +with a band about an inch wide of green crystals on the inside. Inquiry +elicited that the cook had thought it a convenient pan in which to +prepare the fish (salt haddock) for breakfast. Ignorance of the chemical +action of salt and acids on metals may lead to very serious results. The +common name for the green deposit on brass and copper is verdigris, and +most people know that verdigris is a poisonous compound; the difficulty +is that, not knowing its chemical composition, they do not recognise +verdigris when they see it. The cook thought that the complaint made had +reference only to the misuse of the pan, and said that it was quite easy +to clean the green deposit off! + + +THE CHEMISTRY OF THE BODY + +It is to the science of chemistry that we owe our knowledge of the +composition of the various foodstuffs from which dietaries are selected, +as well as of the several parts of the human body which relies for its +sustenance on those dietaries. But the adjustment of dietaries to the +work they have to do is a more complex problem than those we have +hitherto considered. We learn from the science of physiology that the +human body is a laboratory in which certain juices are secreted for the +digestion of foods, and that in this laboratory foods must be reduced +to the consistency necessary for their passage through animal membranes; +for it is by passage through membranes that the nutritive parts of food +find their way into the general circulation of the blood which carries +them to all parts of the system. Very few foodstuffs are available for +use in their natural state, and the majority of them are prepared for +consumption in the first place by more or less elaborate processes +included in the art of cookery. When thus prepared they should be in a +fit state to undergo in the body the physical changes comprised in +mastication, and the chemical changes associated with the process of +digestion. + +It might be surmised by the thoughtful parent that as the child's body +lacks some of the external features of the adult body, such as hair and +teeth, so there might, and probably would, be corresponding lapses in +the internal economy, and that therefore the food prepared for the adult +would be, even in the smallest quantity, unsuited to the child. +Physiologists tell us that this is so, and in particular that the +secretions which in adult life are called saliva and pancreatic juice +and which have the function of preparing starch for digestion, are at +this time scanty in amount and deficient in chemical action. But these +secretions are essential for the digestion of starchy foods, and +chemists tell us that starch abounds in the vegetable kingdom from which +most of the food of children is derived. It is therefore a matter of +some importance that every person in charge of an infant should have +that amount of knowledge of chemical reactions which is requisite to +enable them to detect whether a food does or does not contain starch. A +child fed entirely on starchy foods suffers from malnutrition of so +serious a character that death may, and often does, ensue. Even if other +suitable food, such as modified milk, be given, the internal economy of +the child will be seriously disturbed. + +The names by which patent foods are advertised are very often misleading +to unscientific persons, and invalids have suffered much from the +mistaken idea that jellies and meat extracts are foods. Meat extracts +have their use, but any invalid fed on extract of beef only would die +sooner than one left with no food at all. The reason for this can be +learned from the knowledge of the constituents of beef extracts and the +part they play in the human organism. + + +CONCLUSION + +If we have seemed to lay stress on the value of a knowledge of the +sciences of physics and chemistry to the exclusion of the mention of +others, our justification of the fact is that space is limited, and that +we believe that physics and chemistry underlie all the other sciences +and are of paramount importance to students of all other subjects. In +the sciences of biology, physiology, botany, geology, &c., little +advance can be made without a knowledge of the fundamental laws of +nature. The physical laws control movement, and the chemical laws +control growth, whether of animate or inanimate nature. Physical and +chemical phenomena are concerned in the upheaval of rocks and mountains +which govern the contour of the continents of the world. These contours +influence climates and peoples; as the contours change the people +change. The dwellers in the mountain regions differ in character from +the dwellers in valleys and plains; the inhabitants of cold districts +differ from the inhabitants of warm districts; but it is people who make +history, and historians cannot afford to pass by natural environments +and natural laws. + +If a foundation of the fundamental sciences be laid at school the +student can subsequently build upon it the special science that is +suited to his career. It matters little what the calling in life of any +person may be; if he aim at success in that calling he must acquaint +himself with the laws by which he has his being, and by which he must +perforce be guided in all his actions as well as in his intercourse with +his fellow-men. + +The many avenues now open to women for public work entail on them the +responsibility of fitting themselves for that work. They as much as, if +not more than, the housewife need to study the sciences which treat of +the safeguarding of human life. As councillors dealing with sanitary and +building laws, as inspectors of workrooms, of institutions, and of the +conditions of child-life, they owe it to themselves and to the community +they serve not to undertake those duties without adequate knowledge. +Adequate knowledge must be taken to mean scientific knowledge of those +matters of which, by offering themselves for such appointments, they +assume an expert knowledge. It is an irony that scientific training +should be willingly and even eagerly acquired when it is a question of +qualifying for a salaried post for work among strangers, and that a +mother should be content to bring to bear on the well-being and lives of +her own circle unscientific and amateur experience. + +We have only been able to touch the skirt of a great subject, but our +end will have been achieved if we have succeeded in pointing the way for +a fuller realisation of the aims of earnest men and women for the saving +of child-life and the mitigation of disease, and if we have shown how +great that subject is--how much too great for anything but the most +superficial treatment in a single article. + + + + +THE ECONOMIC RELATIONS OF THE HOUSEHOLD + +BY MABEL ATKINSON, M.A. (GLASGOW) + + +I. INTRODUCTORY + +The household has been treated by economists with curious negligence. +The founder of political economy showed so little insight into the +real nature of the work carried on there as to class those whom he +described as menial servants with unproductive labourers.[13] The +later classical economists have followed his lead. Marshall, it is +true, shows throughout his books an appreciation of the position and +responsibilities of the housewife and the mother which is foreign to +most of his colleagues.[14] But he has never attempted to analyse the +economic functions of the household, or to show its varying relations to +the rest of the community; neither has he pointed out the peculiar +factors which differentiate the position and remuneration of the women +employed in domestic activities from those of all other workers. On +the other hand, the more modern school of economists, those who devote +themselves to the history of economic development in the past or to +the intensive study of special economic institutions in the present, +have equally failed to discuss with any adequacy the organisation of +the household. + +The economic historians describe with minuteness the rise and fall of +gilds and chartered companies, the workings of different methods of +education and of poor relief in successive epochs. They rarely indicate +how the various forms of industrial organisation translated themselves +into the domestic expenditure of the people. It would, for instance, be +very difficult to extract from the pages of the economic historians an +answer to the question, "What were the conditions determining the supply +of domestic servants at the close of the Middle Ages, in the eighteenth +century and in the nineteenth century respectively?" It is not easy to +answer definitely even simpler and more fundamental questions than +these. It is often stated, for example, that the household arrangements +of the serfs on the mediæval manors were rude and uncomfortable to the +last degree,[15] but it is certain that this is not so universally true +as has been thought. Some at all events of the more prosperous +inhabitants of the manors possessed household furniture and equipments +of a kind not inferior to the outfit of the casual labourer to-day. +Sheets, for example, are mentioned several times in extant inventories. +But much more investigation than has yet been possible would be +necessary before it could be determined whether these instances of a +higher standard of comfort are or are not exceptions to a general rule. + +To take other instances of unsettled problems: How was pottery made in +the Middle Ages--by travelling potters as in the East to-day, by gilds +of potters, or by the inhabitants of the manor directly for their own +use? Or again: When did the custom of building houses to let on rent +first become general in England? It is clear that the habit of living in +rented houses has and must have the most profound influence on family +life and national character. But so far, neither from economic histories +on the one hand nor from histories of architecture on the other, have I +been able to obtain any reliable information on this point. + +When one turns to even more important questions--such, for instance, as +the industrial position of women at different epochs--it is equally +difficult to obtain precise and detailed knowledge. Without a very +lengthy and elaborate investigation of the extant original materials, +many of them scattered in municipal chambers in distant parts of +England, it would be quite impossible to say on what terms women were +admitted as members of the gilds and fraternities which extended over +the whole area of industrial life in the Middle Ages. The character and +organisation of the household and the position of women in the Middle +Ages are subjects still practically untouched by the economic +historians.[16] + +When we turn to modern times, a little more material has been collected. +There is an investigation by the Board of Trade into the wages of +domestic servants, and a book on domestic service by Professor Lucy +Salmon of Vassar College. It deals of course mainly with American +conditions, but cannot be neglected by any English student of the +economic relations of the household. + +Humanitarianism has prompted studies more or less elaborate of the +dietaries and housing conditions of the working classes, especially in +towns,[17] but it would be idle to pretend that there has been yet more +than a beginning made of the task of determining how for each class of +the community its share of the national income as stated in money is +translated into the necessaries, comforts, and luxuries of life, into +house-room, fuel, food, cleanliness, clothing, insurance, domestic +service, recreation, and culture. The generalisations available are of +the most meagre description. We can, for instance, say with tolerable +certainty that the agricultural labourer spends three-fourths of his +income on food, the town labourer two-thirds, the artisan a half, the +middle-class man from a third to a fourth; but there is practically no +reliable information with regard to very large incomes, or to sums spent +on clothing in _any_ section of the community. + +Moreover, there is one class--large, growing in importance, and an +essential element in modern civilisation--about whose domestic +expenditure we have no scientific knowledge at all. This is the class +which may be named "the routine brain-workers," the people who as +clerks, book-keepers, salesmen, typists, &c., are responsible for the +routine administration of modern commerce. They have been compared to +the nervous system, for like that system in the animal body they serve +for the communication and the mechanical record of the life of the +community on its industrial side. With them may be classed elementary +school-teachers, reporters, and the lower ranks of the Civil Service, +though I should not be prepared to say that some of these--especially +the teachers--ought to be regarded as performing only routine +brain-work. But all these workers can be conveniently studied together +in that their labour is carried on under somewhat similar conditions--it +is sedentary, highly regimented, exhausting to the brain and nervous +system, and is generally remunerated by a fixed salary, &c. They earn an +income larger than that of the manual labourer, but considerably less as +a general rule than that of the professional man. There is a total +absence of information as to the domestic expenditure of this class. It +is sometimes declared that its less well-paid members suffer as severely +from poverty as do sections of the working-class, and that the poor +clerk is really much more to be pitied than the well-to-do trade +unionist, the skilled manual worker. + +But no one has yet attempted to test the truth of this view by the only +scientific means, namely, by the collection of precise details as to +the domestic expenditure of the routine brain-working class, showing +what sums are spent on house-room, food, clothing, &c., and what kind +of accommodation is obtained for the money spent. In short, the +investigation of domestic expenditure has never yet been carried out +in a purely scientific spirit solely for the sake of the resultant +knowledge. It has always been undertaken with some special practical +problem in view, and is consequently always fragmentary and frequently +biassed. + +Yet if it is important to know how the wealth of the country is +produced, it is of equal importance to know how it is consumed, and that +whether the consumption takes the form of porridge and flannelette for +the child of a dock-labourer, of drink and admission to a football match +for the miner or cotton-operative, or of a gardener, and a holiday in +Switzerland for the hard-working doctor or stockbroker. Domestic +expenditure should be investigated as impartially by the economist as +are the variations of plants or animals by the biologist. His one aim +should be the discovery and statement of truth, as complete and as +unbiassed as he can make it. + +Hitherto, as I have said, this field of research has remained +comparatively untouched. In the first place, economists have generally +been men, and have naturally devoted their energies to the elucidation +of the problems of industry and business which concern men most closely. +Few women, on the other hand, have until recently received any training +in economics, and it has never occurred to them that the familiar and +wearisome problems of the rent, the butcher's bill, and the children's +clothes, together with the difficulty of finding a satisfactory cook, +may have a wider aspect than the narrow and personal one. But even as it +is, the few women who have distinguished themselves in the sphere of +economics have in a note or a casual remark pointed out distinctions +between household management and other branches of industry which cast a +flood of light on the whole subject. There is a paragraph in the second +volume of "Industrial Democracy"[18] which lays down the difference +between the underlying principles of business and of the administration +of the home in a few words which might serve as the text for a volume. +It is precisely this difference, first clearly indicated by Mrs. Webb, +which constitutes the second ground for the common neglect of this +branch of economics. A factory or a shop is run for profit; a household +simply to provide comfort and convenience for its members. To put it in +technical language, in the world of industry we are concerned with +exchange values, but in the home with use values alone. From this +distinction, overlooked by reason of its obviousness, there flow a large +number of consequences which will be discussed later. At present we are +only concerned to show that economists, with their eyes fixed on trade +and the mechanism of trade, very naturally neglected that section of +life in which values, material and immaterial, were being continually +created, but for use alone, not for commercial purposes. + +The wife who cooks her husband's dinner, or caters, organises, and keeps +accounts for him, is really engaged in work which in any rational +interpretation of the word has far more right to be called productive +than is much of the labour employed in manufacture or business. But the +work accomplished by the wife in the household has never yet received +its full acknowledgment from the economists. The truth is that, although +they constantly warn students to avoid the vulgar error of confusing +money wages with real wages, they themselves have been so biassed by the +commercial conception of profit-making that they have almost completely +overlooked even the purely economic value of much work, such as cooking, +cleaning, and clothes-making, which is carried on within the home, not +for profit-making or for a salary, but as part of the duties attaching +to the status of wife and mother. It is acknowledged by the economists +themselves[19] that although in theory they have set aside a section to +be devoted to the discussion of "consumption" as other sections deal +with "production" and "distribution" of wealth, yet in practice the +treatment of consumption has been meagre and ineffective. This, perhaps, +is inevitable--it is certainly regrettable--and women economists would +be performing a most useful work if they were to undertake a careful and +detailed investigation into the consumption of wealth at different +epochs and by different classes of the community, and one, moreover, for +which their connection with housekeeping, which is only the practical +application of the science of the consumption of wealth, would have +already partially prepared them. + +There is still another reason why a scientific treatment of the +consumption of wealth has been delayed. It could not be developed until +medicine and hygiene had provided us with satisfactory standards of the +needs of the human body. When food, for example, was still regarded +purely as a matter of individual likes and dislikes, it was impossible +to discuss at all adequately the sufficiency or insufficiency of the +food consumption of a given class. But now that we know that the varying +tastes simply express in different ways the need for so much proteid, +carbo-hydrates and fats, we have a firm basis on which to work. It is +true that it is not yet quite so firm as we could wish; the scientists +have not yet succeeded even for a single class in fixing a dietary +standard which would be accepted by all in particular, and recently the +investigations of Professor Chittenden have suggested that the amount of +proteid hitherto thought essential may be excessive. Moreover, little +attention has yet been paid to the need of different food for different +work. Yet it seems probable, to say the least, that the sedentary +worker, using his brain and not his muscles, may require lighter and +daintier food than the labourer in the fields or the docks, and may +really suffer as seriously if that better food be denied him as does the +latter if he fails to secure a sufficiency of coarser and cheaper +nutriment. This question would be of great importance in investigating +the expenditure of the clerk class. But although the scientists have +here failed to provide the students of domestic expenditure with all the +data required, yet there is sufficient knowledge of the general +principles of dietetics to enable us to base our study of food +consumption on a fairly sound basis. + +In the same way a standard of housing accommodation establishing the +minimum of space per head necessary for health is generally recognised; +and on these and similar calculations, correlated with the cost of +house-room and commodities, it will be possible to build up a science of +consumption which will be really a science and not a series of guesses +and vague generalities. + +It is true, again, that it is easier to deal with the grades of society +practising the roughest and least-skilled labour than with those +engaged in the higher forms of brain-work, but we can at all events set +ourselves to discover what _is_ the average distribution of the +expenditure of men earning £1000 a year, and can afterwards appeal to +the hygienists to decide for us what kind of food, house-room, and +recreation is essential for a man who makes his living by the higher +activities of the intellect. A very close connection between economics +and hygiene is essential if the division of our subject that deals with +consumption is to be adequately treated. + +So, then, a scientific study of the economics of the household would +fall into two divisions--(1) an endeavour to describe the industrial +development of each country as it affects family life, house-room, food, +and clothes; and (2) a descriptive account of the domestic circumstances +and the expenditure[20] of each class of the community at the present +time. Under each of these headings special sections should treat +domestic service, the work of woman beyond the household, and the +organisation of household work as compared with different branches +of industry and administration. Finally, a supplementary section +should set forth the practical applications of the conclusions arrived +at, and should endeavour to help the housewife or, it may be, the +superintendent of an industrial school, college, or boarding house +in the administration of the income at her disposal. + +But much more careful investigation into the question of how incomes +actually are spent is essential before we can deal satisfactorily with +the even more difficult problem of how they ought to be spent. And there +is, too, another factor which must be taken into consideration. +Economists in defining wealth commonly admit nowadays that it includes +collective and immaterial well-being of various kinds.[21] But having +made this admission, they straightway put it aside and proceed to +discuss wealth as though it consisted exclusively of material +exchangeable commodities. Yet clearly the real income of a family is +increased if the children have easy access to good free schools or to +ample open spaces. It will not be possible to estimate precisely the +money value of opportunities of this description. But we should at least +notice their presence or absence for each class and for each stage of +national development. It is clear that in the present paper no attempt +can be made to deal with the problems of the economics of expenditure +or of the household save in the merest outline, and therefore the +following pages are to be taken simply as a sketch to be filled in by +more extensive and more throughgoing investigation later on. + + +II. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE POSITION OF THE HOUSEHOLD IN ENGLAND + +English industrial history has been divided into three main epochs with +intervening periods of transition. These are (1) the mediæval period, +(2) the period extending from Elizabeth's reign to the reign of George +III., and (3) the modern period. + +In the first, the typical economic institutions are the manor and the +gild; in the second, domestic manufacture and convertible husbandry +are predominant; and in the third the factory system and capitalist +farming take their places.[22] Trade, too, undergoes a similar +evolution. In the first period it is intermunicipal rather than +international. In the second period, within each nation trade is free +and unfettered, and a considerable amount of territorial division of +labour and regional specialisation results. But external trade is +regulated by governments on the principles of the mercantile system. In +the third period, with the increase and improvement of the means of +communication, international trade becomes more and more important, +markets are immensely widened, and the economic organisation of society +reaches the complexity possessed by it to-day, which reacts in many +half comprehended ways on the household and on family life. + +The main characteristics of these divisions of English industrial +history are, on the whole, clear and well-marked. But the transition +periods are more difficult to describe. It has often been pointed out +that the two industrial revolutions, as they have been named by some +writers, bear a certain resemblance to each other. Both involve a +reorganisation of industry which results in increased productivity on +the one hand, but in the demoralisation of certain classes of the +workers on the other hand. Both therefore require a revision of the +system of providing for the destitute. Both, too, produce the most +far-reaching effects on home-life and the economy of the household, and +influence profoundly the position of women. Both, too, are alike in that +it is not easy to fix dates to the periods within which the revolution +in industry takes place.[23] But roughly we may regard the late +fifteenth century and the early part of the sixteenth as a time of +stress and strain, due to the appearance of new methods both in +agriculture and in industry, especially in the wool trade; and in the +same way the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the +nineteenth was a period of sudden and violent economic transition. In +both cases alike the changes in agriculture preceded somewhat the +changes in industry, and the revolution made itself felt in different +ways and at different times in the various districts of the country. +There are still backward areas in the south of England and in the west +of Scotland where life has been very little affected, notwithstanding +trains and steam-engines, by the alterations in industry which have +produced the roaring mills and clattering shipyards of Lancashire and +the Clyde. + +The task before us, then, is to sketch as clearly as possible from the +scanty material available the main features of domestic life at each one +of these epochs, and to show how the changes in industry reflected +themselves in the life of the household. + + +(_a_) THE HOUSEHOLD IN THE MEDIÆVAL PERIOD + +(1) _The Serf--his Position and Domestic Arrangements_ + +In the mediæval period, outside the small and scattered towns, the +prevailing form of economic organisation was the manor. We have to +imagine the surface of England dotted over with stretches of cultivated +land, with areas of waste, moorland or woodland intervening. Each +stretch of arable land was cultivated more or less in common by groups +of serfs, who lived generally in one long village street, with the +church and the lord's hall near at hand. Usually, in addition to the +arable land worked on the complicated "three-field" system soon to be +described, there were also hay-meadows down by the river, sometimes +permanent pasture held in common, while the waste was available for +extra pasturage, and for cutting turf and wood for fuel. Each serf +possessed, besides, a small croft attached to his house, and sometimes +an orchard and rude garden. The arable land was divided into three large +fields, not shut in as are our fields by hedges, but lying open. Each +field, again, was partitioned into numbers of strips more or less +regular in shape, and each serf possessed a certain number of these, +not, however, all lying together, but intermixed "mingle-mangle" with +the holdings of his neighbours. He was not allowed to cultivate these, +or indeed any of the land save his own tiny croft, as he pleased, but +was compelled to follow the traditional method of farming according to +the customs of his manor. Usually the rotation was wheat or rye in the +first year, oats or barley in the second year, fallow in the third year, +while the other two fields followed the same course a year and two years +later; so that in each year one field was fallow, one grew wheat or rye, +and the other oats or barley. The animals belonging to the serfs and +their lord were pastured on the arable fields when the crops were taken +off, and on the fallow field. The lord of the manor also possessed +strips in the common fields, and was regarded as the owner of the common +and waste, subject to the pasturage and fuel rights of the tenants. He +did not receive rent quite as we understand it, but each serf owed him +dues calculated in labour, in kind, and occasionally in money. + +For instance, on the manor of Tidenham, in the time of Edward I., one +serf worked for the lord for five days in every alternate week for +thirty-five weeks in the year, two and a half days every week for six +weeks in the summer, and three days every week for eight weeks during +August and September (the three festival weeks of Easter, Christmas, and +Pentecost were holidays). Then, in addition to this regular weekly work, +he could also be required for extra work, commonly called boon-works or +precariæ. "He made one precaria called churched, and he ploughed and +harrowed a half acre for corn and sowed it with one bushel of corn from +his own seed, and in the time of harvest he had to reap and bind and +stack the produce, receiving one sheaf for himself on account of the +half acre." And he had to plough one acre for oats. In addition, there +were dues in kind--one hen at Christmas, five eggs at Easter, eight +gallons of beer at every brewing, and also small payments in money, +commuted, one would conjecture, for payments in kind, _i.e._ one penny +for every yearling pig, and one halfpenny for those only of the half +year.[24] + +In other cases the tenants paid dues of lambs, of fish, of honey, of +clews of net yarn, of straw, &c. One of the tenants of the great +monastic establishment at Glastonbury had to find thirty salmon, "each +as thick as a man's fist at the tail."[25] A curious form of labour due +is described in the Boldon Book. The tenants of certain manors in Durham +had to build each summer a hunting-lodge for the bishop and his retinue +when they came to take their pleasure in the moors in the west of +Durham. + +At different periods and in different districts the subdivisions of the +tenants vary greatly, and for complete details the reader must be +referred to the special works on the subject. But two classes can +usually be distinguished--(1) the villeins, who possessed oxen and +worked the larger holdings (often about thirty acres--called virgates or +yard lands); and (2) the cotters, who held about five acres, and whose +domestic animals consisted of pigs and poultry. In addition there were +often found socmen, who were personally free; and, at the other end of +the social scale, slaves, who, largely through the influence of the +Church, were manumitted before the end of the Middle Ages. + +The most striking feature about the manors is that each was almost +completely self-supporting. Each manor provided corn, meat, eggs, milk, +cheese, poultry, &c., for its own inhabitants. Fuel, and perhaps game +and rabbits, came from the waste. The furniture was of rude wood, and +the clothes would be sheep-skin and coarse cloth spun and woven from the +wool grown on the sheep that were fed on the manor lands. The ordinary +serf would very rarely either receive or spend coin of the realm. Salt +he would buy and the metal pots and pans used for cooking, and, as +Ashley suggests, tar.[26] But the greater amount of the goods required +for himself and his family would be produced under what the economists +call "natural economy," _i.e._ they were made by the people who intended +to use them, directly, without the intervention of money or any +mechanism of exchange. + +Together with this self-sufficiency would go a considerable amount of +co-operation. Economists are not yet agreed as to the precise extent to +which co-operation was used in the manorial village. But we know that +tenants frequently lent their oxen to one another to make up the +necessary team; that in some of the Durham manors there was a communal +smith, who received payment in the possession of a strip of land; and +that the tenants owned a common oven. It was customary, too, for one +shepherd or swineherd to guard the sheep or the pigs of the whole +community. The village mill, when first established, was also a common +boon to the whole body of serfs, but later on the obligation to grind +their corn at the lord's mill and to pay the dues came to be regarded as +an onerous burden. + +A curious and important person on the mediæval estate was the +bee-keeper. Particulars are given of his duties and rewards in one +Durham manor by the Boldon Book.[27] He does no regular weekly work, the +care of the bees apparently taking the place of this, but he must take +part with the other serfs in the boon-works necessary at harvest and +other times of pressure. As honey was almost the only source of +sweetness in early mediæval cooking, it can be understood why the +bee-keeper ranked only a little below the shepherd. The Boldon Book, +unfortunately, since its aim is to define the relations between the +villeins and their lord, does not tell us whether he superintended the +bees belonging to his fellow tenants. On the analogy of the shepherd and +swineherd, we should assume that he did. + +How, then, are we to describe the domestic life of the various +sections of rural society at this time? Unfortunately, very little +material exists on which to draw for the account of the household +arrangements of the serfs. They have naturally left no account-books; +they enter rarely into the literature of the period; there are no +remains of their houses or clothing, and it is, in fact, far from +easy to decide how they did live. But it seems probable that a rude and +dirty plenty, procured by long hours of toilsome open-air labour, was +the prevailing characteristic of the serf household. The house would +be of clay or wattles or wood, probably without windows--and those +certainly unglazed--and with a hole in the middle of the roof to let out +the smoke, the fire being placed in the centre of the floor. The +furniture must have been rough but solid, its most valuable items being +the brass or iron cooking-pots. On the other hand, I do not believe +that, in the more prosperous villein households at all events, the +level of domestic comfort was so low as has sometimes been represented. +Rough cloth was probably woven or sometimes bought. There is one case +on record where, in return for a small piece of land, one family +undertook to do the weaving for another, and Gasquet mentions[28] that +to the common Christmas feast on one of the Glastonbury manors some of +the tenants brought their own napkins, "if he wanted to eat off a +cloth." I see no reason to doubt that some at least of the villein +households were provided with coarse coverings for bed and table. On +the other hand, it seems doubtful whether any form of artificial +light was commonly used in the poorer households. The food, too, would +show what to us would seem strange contrasts of plenty and of +poverty. It would include neither tea nor coffee, neither sugar nor +spices, nor yet potatoes. On the other hand, there was probably, +save at times of famine, a sufficiency of bread,[29] and eggs and +dairy produce would be used in quantities now quite beyond the reach of +the ordinary working-man. The butter, it is true, was not of a high +standard, for it was usually liquid, but the children must have had +milk to drink and cheese and eggs to eat. Even the poorest serfs +apparently kept a few fowls, since their dues are so often payable in +eggs, and some of the eggs and the chickens would be available for +family consumption. But their meat must have been much poorer than +ours. Fresh mutton and beef were rarely eaten, except in the case of +animals who had died a natural death. The others were much too valuable +for draught purposes, for milk or for wool. Among the maxims of an +old agriculturist of the thirteenth century we find the following +remark: "If a sheep die suddenly, they put the flesh in water for so +many hours as are between midday and three o'clock, and then hang it +up, and when the water is drained off they salt it and then dry it. But +I do not wish you to do this."[31] In the autumn, animals which it +was impossible to keep during the winter, owing to the absence of +root-feeding, were killed and salted down. Occasionally, however, fresh +pork would be used, and no doubt every now and then a wild beast or +bird from the common or waste would find its way into the housewife's +iron pot. The food, then, would be rough and sometimes unwholesome, +but on the other hand it contained many most desirable forms of +nourishment which are absent from the labourer's diet to-day, and which +are, it might be observed, those specially suitable for children.[32] + +The fuel used was wood or peat, or in some cases dried cow-dung. + +On the whole, then, the household arrangements of the mediæval serf were +primitive, and in times of famine he and his family must have endured +great hardships. The winters, too, when the tracks were deep in mud and +artificial light was absent or scarce, must have been recurring times of +considerable suffering. But on the other hand, fresh air and easy access +to the land were benefits hardly valued until in later times they have +been lost to whole sections of the population. + + +(2) _The Lord of the Manor--his House and Household_ + +There is more material available for the description of the household of +the lord than of his serf. Account-books, directions for household +administration, and in the fifteenth century very curious rhymed rules +of behaviour and of precedence are available. Naturally, however, it is +of the king's household and of the households of the nobles and of the +great monasteries that we know most. Very little can now be discovered +of the details of the domestic arrangements of the master in possession +of one manor only, and it is not certain that we should be justified in +supposing that what we find to be true of the great household will +necessarily hold also for the smaller one. For example, in the families +of which we have records the great majority of the servants are men, +cooking in particular being in the Middle Ages a masculine vocation. But +is it safe to assume that the same would be the case in the household of +a simple knight? It must therefore be clearly understood that what +follows has reference mainly to royal and noble families. + +The domestic buildings of all manors were on a more or less uniform +plan. They were grouped round a quadrangle, one side of which consisted +of the great hall where dinner was served, business transacted, and +where servants and the humbler guests slept at night. The door was at +one end, usually protected by screens, behind which was another door +leading to the buttery, and above which the musicians' gallery was often +placed. Opposite the door was a raised daïs, where stood the table +reserved for the master, his family, and important guests. In the body +of the hall dinner was served to the rest of the household. A private +chamber called the solar or bower, reached by a staircase either inside +the hall or placed in the quadrangle outside, was kept for the special +use of the lord and his family. There occasionally they took meals, +though it was regarded as a sign of luxurious self-seeking to avoid the +formality and bustle of the meals in the great hall. In the solar, too, +beds were placed for important guests, and any particularly valuable +articles of furniture would be kept there. On the other sides of the +quadrangle were the chapel, granaries, storehouses, dairies and +bakehouses, and the kitchen. This was often placed at a little distance +to guard against fire. The cooking was usually carried on at an iron +grate placed in the middle of the floor, and pictures show us that +sometimes it was even done in the open air. Refuse was carried off by an +open drain running across the centre of the kitchen. + +As an illustration let me quote an account of a typical manor-house of +the twelfth century. "The manor-house of Ardleigh consisted of a hall +with bower annexed. Also a kitchen, a stable, a bakehouse, two stores +for corn (granges) and a servants' house. In the hall were two moveable +benches, a fixed table, and a buffet." [33] + +In course of time other rooms were added, and the furniture and +equipment became more elaborate. But until Elizabeth's reign the great +hall where master and servants dined together was the central feature in +the wealthy English home. + +The food was derived from the manor, and purchases were only made of +such things as could not be produced in England, notably red wine,[34] +spices, almonds and rice, all much used in mediæval cookery. Sugar, too, +would be bought, when it replaced honey for sweetening purposes. But the +corn, meat, milk, cheese, and eggs would be all home-grown, and as it +was easier in the state of transport at that time to bring the family to +the food than the food to the family, part of the duties of housekeeping +consisted in so arranging the sojourn of the household as to draw +food-supplies from each manor in the most convenient way. The great +Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grossetête, gives elaborate directions on this +head to a widowed friend of his, Margaret, Countess of Lincoln. + +"Every year at Michaelmas when you know the measure of all your corn, +then arrange your sojourn for the whole of that year and for how many +weeks in each place according to the seasons of the year and the +advantages of the country in flesh and in fish, and do not in any wise +burden by debt or long residence the places where you sojourn. + +"I advise that at two seasons of the year you make your principal +purchases, that is to say, your wines, your wax, and your +wardrobe."[35] + +And there follows a list of the fairs recommended by the pious bishop. + +The materials of mediæval food, then, would be similar to the diet of +the serfs already described, but would be used in greater plenty and +would be supplemented by luxuries imported from the East and bought at +the fairs. If we keep in mind these conditions, as well as the leisure +and the large supply of labour available, we shall understand why +mediæval cooking was so elaborate; for, contrary to ordinary opinion, it +was distinguished by a large number of complicated made dishes. Small +birds were commonly roasted, but other forms of meat were stewed or +minced. They would in this way both be more easily dealt with at the +open fire of the mediæval kitchen, and more easily served in the +mediæval dining-room, where knives and spoons were the only implements +in common use. Moreover, there was what seems to us an extraordinary +liking for violent and mixed flavourings and brilliant colouring. +Bucknade, for instance, was made of meat hewn in gobbets, pounded +almonds, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, onions, salt and +fried herbs, thickened with rice-flour and coloured yellow with saffron. +Here, again, is the recipe for mortrews, a dish mentioned in Chaucer's +"Canterbury Tales." + +"Take hennes and pork and seethe them together. Take the flesh of the +hennes and of the pork and hack it small and grind it all to dust. Take +bread y-grated, and add thereto and temper it with the self-broth[36] +and mix it with yolks of eggs, and cast thereon powder fort,[37] and +boil it and do thereto powder of ginger, saffron, and salt, and look +that it is standing,[38] and flour it all with powder of ginger." The +lavish use of eggs, pork, and chickens in this recipe could be +paralleled in many others, and is evidently to be connected with the +custom of receiving manorial dues in kind at stated intervals. Hundreds +of eggs would be sent in by the tenants at Easter, and the problem of +the housekeeper would not be how to lessen the consumption of eggs in +order to keep down the bills, but how to get through those in store +before they were hopelessly spoiled. + +For the earlier period menus are not available, but a curious rhymed +treatise on servants' duties dating from the middle of the fifteenth +century, entitled "John Russell's Boke of Nurture," has been reprinted +by the Early English Lent Society[39] in the volume entitled "Meals and +Manners of the Olden Time," and from it I extract the following:-- + + Furst set forth mustard and brawne of boore, the wild swine, + Suche pottage as the cooke hath made of herbis, spice, and wine, + Beef, mutton, stewed feysaund, swan with the chawdyn[40] + Capoun, pigge, venisoun bake, leche lombard,[41] fritter, viant fine, + And then a soteltie.[42] + Maydon Marie that holy Virgin + And Gabrielle greeting her with an ave. + +This is followed by two other courses rather lighter in character, +though still including venison, peacocks, quails, &c., and then comes +dessert: + + After this delicatis mo, + Blanderelle or pepins with caraway in confite, + Wayfurs to eat, hypocras[43] to drink with delite. + +The service in the wealthy mediæval manor was as elaborate as the +cooking, at all events in the later period. The Bishop of Lincoln finds +it necessary to warn the Countess of Lincoln not to permit slovenliness +among her retainers. She is not to allow "old tabards, and soiled +herigauts, and imitation short-hose." But even this widow lady is served +with considerable pomp. "Command that your panter[44] with the bread and +your butler[45] with the cup, come before you to the table foot by foot +before grace and that three valets be assigned by the marshal each day +to serve the high table and the two tables at the side with drink. And +at each course call the servers to go to the kitchen, and they +themselves to go always before your seneschal as far as you until the +dishes be set before you, and see that all servants with meats go +orderly and without noise to one part and another of the hall to those +who shall be assigned to divide the meats, so that nothing be placed or +served disorderly."[46] + +In the "Boke of Nurture," which refers of course to a much later +period, the service is even more elaborate, and we gather indeed that +the dinner was a social function at which all classes of the community +met together. Even the poorest were not forgotten, as there was a +special officer whose business it was to distribute alms of broken meats +to the beggars waiting at the door. The rules of precedence were most +elaborate, and the serving seems on special occasions to have risen +almost to the rank of a solemn ritual. In addition, dinner was +accompanied by music and sometimes enlivened at intervals by pageants +and shows. + +Domestic service in these great households was very different from what +it is to-day. There was, in the first place, no fixed line drawn as +there is now between the menial and the non-menial classes of the +community. The higher servants were often people of nearly the same +social rank as those whom they served. Sir William de Mortimer was the +head-steward of Bishop Swinfield, Sir Gilbert Brydges the steward of +Gloucester Abbey.[47] Young men who entered the service of a lord might +one day be called on to carve or serve wine, and the next day might sit +at meat in the same room.[48] + +Through the account-books and the household ordinances of the period, we +can trace four grades of household servants--squires or gentlemen, +valets or yeomen, grooms, and pages. The last grade had been recently +introduced into the royal household in Edward IV.'s time, and they did +not eat in hall. "A page etyth in his office or with his next fellow, +not in the halle at noe place, taking dayly one lofe, one messe of great +meate, half a gallon of ale; one reward quarterly in the counting-house, +twenty pence of clothing when the household hathe at every one of the +four feasts, one napron of one elle and part of the King's great rewards +given yearly amongst them in household."[49] + +The last quotation illustrates also the method of remuneration. The +money received was a very minor and unimportant factor. The servants +were paid mostly in kind, and the share of each in food, fuel, and +clothing is very fully and carefully stated. The chief porter of the +Abbey of Gloucester, for instance, had a chamber next to the abbey gate. +His weekly allowance was three white loaves, called myches, and two +called holyers, with seven loaves of squire bread; for ale every quarter +3s. 4d. On every flesh or fish day he had a mess of flesh or fish of the +first course, as much as was set before two monks. He had a gown every +year of the suit of the gentlemen of the Lord Abbot, and in addition +13s. 4d. per annum. These fixed rations of food clothing &c., are called +livery, a term now restricted to clothing alone. + +It is noticeable that these servants are almost all men. Washerwomen +(lotrices) are women, and there are occasionally notices of young girls +in attendance on the lady of the house. But so far as our information +goes, cooking and cleaning and serving are carried on by men, though +mention is made of women pastry-cooks who in monasteries, to avoid +scandal, had to be accommodated in a separate kitchen, called the +pudding-house.[50] But in the Middle Ages domestic service was not, as +it is now, regarded as a menial occupation to be left, save in some of +its higher branches, exclusively to women. + +I can find no trace at this period of any difficulty in obtaining +service. Bishop Grossetête assures the Countess of Lincoln that she can +easily obtain servers if she needs them, and the young men addressed in +the rhyming exhortations preserved in "Meals and Manners" evidently +regard it as promotion almost beyond their hopes to become members of a +lord's household. Whether this would be equally the case if we had +information about the smaller households, it is not easy to say. But +when we remember that the alternatives were laborious and monotonous +work at agriculture or the chance of finding a place in the gilds or +fraternities which monopolised the trade in towns at that period, we can +believe that the plentiful fare, the lively society, and the not too +strenuous[51] work required of a serving-groom or yeoman would be +regarded as a prize worth striving for and worth keeping. + +It would be interesting, had I more space at my disposal, to discuss +mediæval town life and the domestic arrangements of the monasteries, +which are very fully and interestingly described in Abbé Gasquet's book, +"English Monastic Life." But I must content myself solely with one or +two extracts illustrating the household furniture of the mediæval +town-dwellers. + +In 1303, a certain Alan de Bedeford, a baker of London, was sold up for +arrears of taxes, and the following were the goods seized by the +inexorable tax-gatherer: "One brass pot weighing 18 lbs., value 2s. 6d., +and another brass pot weighing 13 lbs., value 21d., and one kettle value +14d., the total whereof amounts to 5s 5d."[52] + +In 1337, an inventory was preserved of the goods of a felon. It was +probably exhaustive, and may therefore be taken as indicating with +tolerable precision the standard of household comfort of a London +burgess at that time. It is too long to quote in full (the list of +garments in particular is rather tedious), but it is interesting to note +that it includes a mattress, three feather-beds, five cushions, six +blankets, seven linen-sheets, four table-cloths, six whole brass pots of +varying value and one broken one, one candlestick and two plates of +metal, two basins and one washing-vessel, a spit, a frying-pan, and a +funnel.[53] + +Further study of wills and inventories would yield a fresh store of +information with regard to mediæval household equipment, and might not +improbably upset some preconceived ideas as to the ordinary standard of +life at that time. + + +(_b_) THE POSITION OF THE HOUSEHOLD FROM THE FIFTEENTH TO THE NINETEENTH +CENTURIES + + +(1) _The First Industrial Revolution and its Effects_ + +The fifteenth century and the beginning of the sixteenth century were +marked by great economic changes. The manorial system, modified before +this period by the gradual commutation of labour dues and especially by +the catastrophe of the Black Death, was replaced on the one hand by +enclosures for sheep-farming and on the other by convertible husbandry, +when the farmer possessed or rented his own separate holding and managed +it as he pleased, using the same land alternately for pasturage and as +arable.[54] At the same time, the gild organisation of industry was +replaced by the system commonly known as domestic manufacture. This +spread largely in the country districts, and profoundly influenced home +life and the position of women. At the same time both home and foreign +trade greatly increased, and "natural economy" was almost entirely +replaced by "money economy," the necessities of life being no longer +produced by the family for their own use; men worked instead for +payment, and then with the money so earned bought in the market the +goods they required.[55] These changes, like the corresponding changes +at the end of the eighteenth century, brought greater wealth and pomp to +some classes, increased comfort to the bulk of the people, but called +into existence a new class of landless labourers, whose needs and +importunities finally led to the establishment of the poor-law. + +It would require a volume to describe how these changes reflected +themselves in the daily life of the people, and at present I must +content myself with noting very briefly the main effects of this first +industrial revolution. + +In the country two classes appeared: the labourer, who, although he +might possess a small piece of land of his own[56] or at the least had +grazing rights over a neighbouring common, yet depended for his +livelihood on the wages paid by his master. So far I have not discovered +any reliable source of information with regard to the family expenditure +of this class.[57] + +Next there was the farmer either renting or owning a farm. Very often +farming would be combined with spinning or weaving wool. Agriculture +of this kind, partly for subsistence and partly for the market, +supplemented by the practice of domestic industries, remained the +dominant type in England until the introduction of capitalist farming +in the eighteenth century, and indeed can still be found in backward +districts. The part played in it by women can be illustrated by a +curious account of the duties of the wife of a husbandman given in +Fitzherbert's "Book of Husbandry" (1534). + +"First in a morning when thou art waked and purposiste to rise, lyfte up +thy hands and blesse thee.... And when thou art up and redy, then first +sweep thy house, dress up thy dysshe-board, and sette all things in good +order within thy house. Milk thy kye, suckle thy calves, sye up thy +mylke, take up thy children and array them, and provide for thy +husband's brekefaste, dinner, souper, and thy children and servants, and +take thy part with them. And to ordayne corn and malt to the myll, to +bake and brue withal whanne need is. And meete it to the mill and fro +the mill, and see that thou have thy measure again beside the toll or +else the miller dealeth not truly with the or els thy corn is not drye +as it should be. Thou must make butter or cheese whan thou maist, serve +thy swyne both morning and evening, and give thy poleyn[58] meat in the +morning, and when tyme of the year cometh, thou must take heed how thy +duckes henne and geese do lay and to gather up their eggs and when they +wax brodie to get them.... And in the beginning of March or a little +before is time for a wife to make her garden and to gette as many good +seedes and herbes as she can and specially such as be good for the potte +and to eat. [Then come lengthy and technical directions for sowing and +working up flax and hemp] and thereof may they make shetes, bordclothes, +towels, shirts, smocks and such other necessaries and therefore let thy +distaff be always ready for a pastime that thou be not idle.... It is +convenient for a husband to have shepe of his owne for many causes, and +then maye his wife have part of the woll to make her husband and herself +some clothes. And at the very least way she may have the locks of the +sheep either to make clothes or blankets or coverlets or both. And if +she have no wool of her own, she may take wool to spyn of cloth-makers +and by that means she may have a convenient living.... It is a wife's +occupation to wynowe all manner of corns, to make malt, to wasshe and +wrynge, to make haye, shere corn, and in tiyme of nede to help her +husband to fyll the muck-wain or dung-cart, drive the plough, to load +hay, corn or such other. And to go or ride to the market, to sell +butter, cheese, eggs, chekyns, capons, hennes, pigs, geese, and all +manner of corns, and also to bye all manner of necessary things +belonging to the household and to make a trewe reckoning and account to +her husband what she hath paid. And if the husband go to the market to +bye or sell, as they oft do, he then to show his wife in like manner." + +It is interesting to note in this extract the mixture of natural and +money economy, the appearance of domestic manufactures, and the +energetic co-operation of the wife in the work of the farm. The +sixteenth century would have had little sympathy with the +sentimentalists who hold that womanhood in itself is a burden so heavy +that all active occupations should be forbidden to the married woman. + +According to Harrison[59] the standard of comfort among the agricultural +classes rose markedly at this time. Chimneys became common, pewter +plates and silver or tin spoons are used in place of "tinn platters and +wooden spoons." A farmer thinks his gains very small "if he have not a +fair garnish of pewter on his cupboard, with so much more in odd vessels +going about the house, three or four feather-beds, so manie coverlids or +carpets of tapestry, a silver salt, a bowl for wine if not a whole nest, +and a dozen of spoons to furnish up the suit." + +Food, too, according to Harrison, was plentiful and varied. The increase +in pasture farming and the decrease in arable land had made meat (often, +it is true, salted) cheaper and corn-stuffs dearer, at least in +proportion. This tendency can be traced in the menus and accounts of the +period, and certainly appears in the following extract:[60] "The +artificers and husbandmen make greatest account of such food as they may +soonest come by and have it quickliest ready. Their food also consisteth +principallie in beef and such meat as the butcher selleth; that is to +saie, mutton, veal, lamb, pork, whereof he findeth great store in the +markets adjoining, besides souse,[61] brawn, bacon, fruit, pies of +fruit, fowles of sundrie sort, cheese, butter, eggs." A little lower +down he notes that venison and a cup of wine are luxuries reserved for +special occasions. + +It is not easy to estimate the worth of Harrison's testimony to the +social habits of a class which he did not probably know intimately. It +is certain, too, that he was not speaking here of the poorest class of +labourers,[62] those who later recruited the class eligible for poor-law +relief. But even making these admissions, his words seem to be evidence +of a standard of comfort higher in some respects than could be attained +by the corresponding classes to-day. Chicken, for instance, practically +never forms part of the dietary of even the well-to-do urban artisan of +the present time. + +In the organisation of the wealthy household, the economic changes of +the time produced important alterations. The increase in buying and +selling made the landlords more anxious to dispose of their surplus +produce in the markets, and on the other hand provided new luxuries on +which money could be spent. There resulted a tendency, which can be +traced in all the household books of the period, to limit the numbers of +servants and retainers. At the same time there was a growing desire for +privacy, and a widening gulf between the upper and the lower classes of +society. Hence the hall, the general assembly-place for the entire +household, lost its importance; dining-rooms and withdrawing-rooms for +the exclusive use of the family and guests, took its place, and the +servants were relegated to their own part of the house. Partly as cause +of this, partly as effect, domestic administration ceases to be a career +for men of better social rank, a tendency which would of course be +intensified by the fact that in commerce, in literature, in exploration, +&c., new opportunities were perpetually being opened up. Hence +Elizabeth's reign is a turning-point for the history both of domestic +service and of domestic architecture. It was probably about this time +that women superseded men as cooks and cleaners, and it is certain that +the increase in Elizabeth's reign of industries worked for profit must +have diminished the production for use in the household of many articles +of common domestic utility.[63] + + +(2) _Life in the Stuart Period_ + +For 150 years after the death of Elizabeth no startling changes occur in +the organisation of the household or in its economic relations. The +marked feature of this period is the existence of domestic manufactures, +engaging the head of the household and his family, one or two +apprentices, and sometimes a journeyman or two. It was common, indeed +all but universal, for the small master manufacturers to board and lodge +their employees, as it was common for farmers to board and lodge their +labourers. The larger households carried on at home many of the +operations--baking, brewing, washing, jam-making--which have now passed +to the factory. There was a steady growth of domestic luxury and of +convenience. The development of commerce made available new commodities, +such as tea, coffee, cocoa, and thereby influenced social life. +Furniture became more elegant, and perhaps at the same time more +stuffy. + +It would require much reading and research to elaborate the details of +this progress, and for our present purpose it is hardly necessary, as it +involved alteration in particulars but not in the general organisation +of household economy. The difficulties of finding domestic servants +begin, however, to make themselves felt, and are amusingly discussed by +such writers as Defoe and Swift. It is at some time during this period +that houses are first built in terraces and squares on an identical +plan for letting purposes. But there are no sweeping changes, such as +mark the eighty years before the accession of Victoria. + + +(3) _The Influence of the Second Industrial Revolution on the Home_ + +In the last half of the eighteenth century agriculture and industry +were once more revolutionised, the former by the introduction of +capitalist farming, the rotation of crops, and the further enclosure of +common fields, commons, and wastes, the latter by the introduction of +machinery and mechanical motor power. For a detailed account of the +enormous changes consequent on these new methods of production, I must +refer the reader to the special treatises on the subject,[64] but we +must spend some time in considering the ways in which the home, +family life, and the position of women have been modified by these +industrial developments. + +In the first place, the introduction of machinery meant the growth of +the factory system, and in consequence work left the home, which ceased +to be the institution where productive industry was carried on, and +became instead a centre solely of emotional and domestic life. At the +same time, the alteration in the land system made it impossible any +longer to combine home weaving, spinning, &c. with subsistence farming; +the worker becomes an employee in a business where the capital is owned +by his employer, and he depends absolutely on the skill of his own hands +for his livelihood. + +Nothing could be more curious than to contrast Defoe's celebrated +picture of the wool-weaving districts of Yorkshire[65] with those +districts in their present condition. Then the workers, +semi-independent, farming small enclosures of two to six or seven acres, +laboriously produced cloth by hand processes in their own houses. Now +they work in enormous factories, fitted up with machinery which can spin +and weave wool both easier and better than in earlier days. They return +to their homes for rest and leisure alone. Work for wages and the home +are now separated, and, unless the use of cheap electrical power brings +about a counter-revolution, are likely to remain so. At the same time, +since mobility is in modern economic conditions of prime importance, it +is becoming less and less common for the manual worker, or indeed for +the citizen of any class, to own his house, and therefore the new trade +of the speculative builder comes into existence, its place being taken +in some cases, specially in mining districts, by the "company" houses +provided by masters for their employees. + +These alterations in the framework of society inevitably influenced home +life, which was still further affected at a later period by an analogous +movement. Not merely the work done for wages left the home, but also +many of the commodities formerly produced for its own use by each +household came to be made by outside labour. + +A very interesting and quite untouched field of inquiry here awaits the +economist. Why, for instance, is it customary to bake bread at home in +some districts and to buy it from a shop in others? Probably the +explanation is to be found in the relative cheapness of fuel. Yorkshire +and the North of England are close to abundant coalfields, and in the +days before cheap and quick transit the difference in the price of coal +in the South and North of England must have been even greater. At a +time, too, before the improvement of ovens, owing to the introduction of +the iron range and kitchener, the amount of fuel used for baking bread +would be even larger than at present. Therefore in the south there grew +up a race of housekeepers and servants unskilled in the making of the +delicious, crusty home-baked loaf, while in the north, even though +conditions have changed, the tradition still remains, and the weekly or +bi-weekly baking day is a regular institution. But this theory does not +explain why bread is not baked at home in Scotland, even in Glasgow and +the districts near it, or in Fife, which are all situated right in the +coal-bearing areas. + +And at present there is little material for describing how brewing, jam +and cake-making, biscuit-making, the making and the washing of clothes, +the cleaning of furniture and carpets, &c., passed from the household to +the factory and laundry. It is a process which has evidently been much +quickened by the growth of town life, itself one of the most important +effects of the industrial revolution.[66] + +The aggregation of population in towns in the first place made the +space available for household operations much smaller than was the case +when the kitchen was supplemented by rows of outhouses, a green and a +garden. In modern conditions, washing at home results in the discomfort +of the whole family, whether that family lives in a single room or in a +decent middle-class house of ten or twelve rooms. In the second +place, the massing into a comparatively small area of a homogeneous +population makes it easy to arrange for other methods of cleansing +clothes, either in the working-class districts by the provision of +municipal washing-houses, or in the more well-to-do suburbs through +the appearance of steam laundries. In the same way, when each +household possessed a garden it was natural to pick the fruit and +make it into jam. It is a different thing to buy fruit specially for +the purpose. Many housewives find that when the cost of the fruit, +sugar, and extra fuel is calculated, taking into account also the +dislocation of the regular routine of the household caused by the extra +work, it pays them better to buy the jam ready-made. On the other hand, +the use of machinery, the existence of cheap methods of transit, and +the multiplication of grocers' shops makes it increasingly possible to +produce jam in large quantities actually cheaper than it can be made +at home, and to distribute it quickly to the consumer. + +The same cause, acting within and without the home in different ways, is +resulting in a steady transference of these domestic avocations from the +household. Moralists often lament this tendency, and attribute it +entirely to increased love of ease and leisure among women. But it is no +more possible to draw an indictment against a whole sex than against a +whole people, and an alteration in custom so widespread as this which we +are discussing must have deeper roots than a personal defect of laziness +in particular individuals. + +This removal of production for domestic use from the home operates, +however, in very different ways in different cases. Sometimes the +article is produced much more cheaply outside the home than within, +owing to the lower cost and greater efficiency of large-scale methods of +manufacture. But this is not invariably the case. Laundry-work, for +instance, is probably done more cheaply in the private household. The +few attempts hitherto made to provide hot cooked food from a central +kitchen at a reasonable price have not been successful. On the other +hand, no individual household could hope to rival Messrs. Huntley & +Palmer as producers of biscuits. The factors which prevent the full +economies of the large-scale method of production from being realised in +the making of certain commodities are twofold. (1) Some goods are of +such a kind that they must be consumed where they are produced. Jam or +even plum-puddings can be made in a factory in the North of England and +afterwards transferred to London. But roast beef, omelettes, and +rice-puddings must be eaten within at least a hundred yards of the place +where they are cooked. This obvious fact effectually retains the +supremacy of the home in the provision of hot cooked food, and disposes +once and for all of the cruder arguments for co-operative housekeeping. +(2) Certain commodities must be made for or returned to individual +owners. If, for instance, we did not trouble to receive our own sheets +and towels from the laundry, but simply made a contract that each week +we should be supplied with a certain number, then the washing and +sorting could be done wholesale at a much cheaper rate. If we sent our +own fruit to the factories to be made into jam, jam would be much more +expensive. + +Thus the household will compete successfully with outside agencies, in +the case of all commodities which must be consumed on the spot, and the +outside agencies will have only a small advantage--will do the washing +or dressmaking more conveniently, but not much cheaper--when wholesale +methods are forbidden by the personal interest of each consumer in one +special portion of the commodities dealt with.[67] + +Still, regarding the matter from the general economic standpoint, it +cannot be denied that the result of the industrial revolution has been +to transfer many branches of production both for profit and for use from +the home to the factory. + + +(4) _The Position of Women as Affected by the Industrial Revolution_ + +This in its turn affected the position of women, and is probably, if not +the sole, at least the most important reason for the discontent and +unrest to be traced among women of many different classes in the +nineteenth century. But the women belonging to the manual labouring +class and the women belonging to the upper classes were influenced in +different ways. + +The former had always been accustomed to work for their living, +indirectly if not directly. On the little farms they looked after the +cow, the hens, and the garden. They did the carding and the spinning of +flax and of wool. True, these industries were carried on at home, and +probably the decent "manufacturer," then literally a hand-worker, would +have regarded himself as disgraced had his wife or daughters needed to +go outside his home to find work.[68] But when the factory system came, +with the horrible sufferings caused by the transition from one system of +industry to another, the women and children always accustomed to toil at +home followed their work to the factory, and there, owing to the new +methods of competition and to the absence of any regulation of industry, +they suffered hardships of overwork and underpayment which seem to the +present generation nearly incredible. + +Home life for a time almost disappeared, and the suffering and +degeneration was only checked by the series of Factory Acts, imposing +ever fresh and fresh restrictions on the treatment of women and +children.[69] The policy underlying these acts was much criticised at +the time, and was indeed not fully comprehended until recently. But it +is now all but universally admitted that the Factory Acts have in the +main achieved their object, and have greatly improved the position of +women in the districts most affected by them; and reformers are +constantly urging their extension to fresh trades. + +This movement was not understood, and was in consequence opposed by +the women of the middle-classes, whose position was affected quite +differently by the industrial revolution. They too found their +occupations within the home to a large extent destroyed. And in +other ways their situation was altered. For some reason not yet +explained, there appeared in the middle-classes a surplus of women. +This is no doubt partly due to the colonial expansion of the period, +which sent young men out to Australia, Canada, and South Africa, +while their natural mates remained behind in England. It is not easy to +give precise statistics, as our statistical tables make no distinction +of classes, but common observation and the description of social life +in the novels of the nineteenth century afford evidence of this fact. +Some statistics bearing on the subject can be found in Miss Clara +Collet's[70] article, "Prospects of Marriage for Women," and also in +"Die Frauenfrage," by Lilie Braun, pp. 157 _ff._ Frau Braun, whose +book is marked throughout by characteristic German thoroughness, sums +up:[71] "Es hat sich gezeigt, dass die Zunahme der allein stehenden +Frauen, die Abnahme der Heiratsfrequenz und die wirtschaftliche Not +als Ursache der Frauenbewegung in aller Lände anzusehen sind." + +But it was not merely the decreased chance of marriage which made the +lives of middle-class women difficult in the last century. There was +also a change in the position of the fathers, which decreased their +opportunity for providing for their unmarried daughters. The +middle-class man is now less and less frequently at the head of a +business of his own, and is more and more frequently a salaried clerk, +manager, or engineer. + +Formerly the shop or farm when it passed to the eldest son was burdened +with the charge of the spinster sisters, who often would help in the +dairy or behind the counter. Now, when a middle-class man dies, his hold +on the industrial world, so to speak, passes away with him, unless he +has been at once able and willing to lay by savings out of his salary, a +duty too often neglected. Briefly, therefore, the unmarried woman of the +middle-classes is less likely to marry, has less to occupy her at home, +and cannot so easily be provided for by her father if she remains a +spinster. + +Is it then to be wondered at if women insist, in increasing numbers, +upon a thorough education as well as the right to enter a profession in +which they can be self-supporting?[72] But the first women who decided +that a way must be opened by which they could earn for themselves +honourable maintenance not unnaturally fell into what we cannot but +regard now as regrettable mistakes, however unavoidable these errors may +have been at the time. Their great difficulties were to win admission to +the universities and permission to practise what had hitherto been +regarded as men's professions. Therefore they dreaded all restrictions +liable to be laid upon the entrance of women to occupations, and were +led in consequence to oppose the Factory Acts, designed for the +protection of women of the working-classes. It is only to-day and only +partially that the woman teacher, doctor, or journalist has come to +understand that the position and problems of the factory-hand are very +different from her own, and that confusion is created if she insists on +judging them from her own standpoint. + +In the next place, they were almost forced to become masculine and +aggressive in their manners and outlook upon life. In particular, the +need of conformity to a system of education framed for men and not for +women led to an undervaluation of domestic pursuits. It was not realised +that in managing a household and in bringing up children there was scope +for the most developed character and the finest education. + +But with the twentieth century,[73] college-trained women themselves are +coming to see that their previous neglect of those principles of science +and economics which underlie household administration was unwise and +unwarranted. Of that change of attitude, the new courses in home science +at King's College are the firstfruits, and this book is a small +contribution to a movement which is destined, perhaps, to revolutionise +housekeeping, as a band of devoted women succeeded some few years since +in revolutionising the profession of nursing. + +The main lines on which the influence of the industrial revolution on +women's position has operated can be but briefly indicated in this very +summary sketch. Want of space prevents me from doing more than allude to +other aspects of the question, such as the employment of married women, +the status of women in government offices, women's trade unions, +homework and sweating, the prevention of infant mortality, the work of +women in the administration of charity and in local government, together +with many other developments of the one cause--the alteration between +the relations of the home and of society due to the changes in our +commercial and manufacturing system. + +I must turn now to a study of the economics of the household as it +actually exists to-day. + + +III. THE PRESENT ORGANISATION OF THE HOUSEHOLD + +To begin with, it is perhaps worth while to notice certain broad +distinctions which differentiate the household, considered merely as an +economic institution, from other agencies engaged in the production of +commodities and services. + +One main difference is, as was noticed earlier, that the household +produces use-values, and all other organisations (save some public +bodies) exchange-values. Or to put the same thing in another way, the +industrial world is run to make a profit; the household, on the +contrary, is kept up by the contributions of its members, and exists +to provide for them the necessaries and comforts of life. None the +less is the work of cooking, cleaning, and serving of real economic +value when carried on within the household, as people discover when +they have to pay for the organisation of the same services in hotels +or boarding-houses. + +The second great distinction is that while any other business may expand +to meet the demands of a growing market, and as a result of the +increasing competency of its organiser and work-people, the household is +definitely limited in scope by the numbers of the family included within +it. Biscuit-makers or jam-makers, to put the matter concretely, may +succeed by skilful management in enlarging their businesses until they +supply their goods to hundreds of thousands of people, and earn a large +profit by doing so. But the most efficient housekeeper continues all her +life to organise and cater for the same number of people, and her reward +for her good management does not consist in a raised salary or increased +profits. It is, in fact, not pecuniary at all, but is the increased +well-being of those whom she serves. + +Important consequences follow from these two distinctions, some of them +desirable, others the reverse. The household is preserved, as it were, +as a little oasis in the midst of the surrounding commercialism. There +at least exists no temptation to adulteration or sophistication, or to +shoddy work intended to sell but not to last. No housewife would be such +a fool as to put alum in the bread baked at home, to use decaying fruit +in the tarts, or questionable meat in her pies. She can have no object +save to provide the best she can for her family with the means at her +disposal. This is an enormous advantage, the value of which it is hardly +possible to overrate. + +But the absence of profit-making has certain disadvantages. It means +that while other economic organisations are being constantly spurred to +increasing efficiency by the stimulus of competition, the household +remains backward. A manufacturer knows to-day that he must use the most +up-to-date machinery and employ the most skilled management or be beaten +in the race for commercial supremacy. But housekeepers may continue (and +do continue) to use old-fashioned ranges or antiquated systems of +hot-water heating without any reference to the proceedings of their +neighbours. Without doubt it results that new inventions make their way +much more slowly in housekeeping than in profit-making industry. How +rare, for instance, it is to find properly constructed grates outside +very wealthy households. How badly the kitchen, larder, and scullery are +planned in relation to one another. In how few cases is any attempt made +to utilise electricity for cooking or removing dust, for both of which +purposes admirable machines are already on the market. + +But there are other factors which also contribute to the backwardness of +domestic engineering. The smallness of the household is one. It pays a +large hotel, for instance, to buy special machines for cleaning knives, +or to instal superheated steam, for washing plates and dishes. But +neither the initial expense nor the cost of running could be met out of +the funds at the disposal of the small household. Another reason exists +in the fact that the average housewife does not distinguish between +annual and capital outlay. Unaccustomed to finance, and keeping +accounts--if she keeps them at all--in a very amateurish fashion, she +fails to understand that capital expenditure, let us say, on one of the +little electric vacuum cleaners now on the market might pay for itself +in a short time by saving the wages of a charwoman. + + +(_a_) THE ORGANISATION OF THE HOUSEHOLD AS AFFECTED BY THE HOUSING +QUESTION + +Then, finally, few people own their houses, and are therefore +disinclined to make an outlay which would benefit their successors +rather than themselves. Landlords (who are frequently retired tradesmen +or elderly ladies depending on the rent of a row of houses for their +sole income) are in their turn unprogressive and unenlightened. It is +often hard to induce a landlord of the type indicated to consent to +structural changes even if carried out at the tenant's expense. The +builders of new houses, again, are not, to put it mildly, educated in +the best schools of household architecture and domestic engineering. It +is true that in some suburbs, largely under the influence of the more +competent architects employed by the garden city organisations, a marked +improvement in domestic building is noticeable. But only too often the +hot-water system is inefficient, the ventilation poor, the grates +wasteful, and so on. I have never yet heard of a speculative builder who +deliberately planned the laying out of the streets in the area which he +was developing in such a way that the living-rooms might have a maximum +and the larder and pantries a minimum of sunlight. The new roads are +usually all set at right angles to the main street, and the houses +rigidly planted square to the roads, regardless of the points of the +compass. + +All these factors, acting together, prevent that general improvement in +the construction of houses which is noticeable in other branches of +industry. Progress does, of course, take place. The pressure exercised +by the local health authorities leads to improved drainage and plumbing; +lighting, owing to the recent competition between gas and electricity, +has become both cheaper and better. But an intelligent application of +science and investment of capital when a house is under construction +could easily effect still further improvements. + +Since, however, the household is not influenced by the ordinary +processes of competition, advance will probably depend on some form of +co-operation among tenants. The principle of tenant co-partnership has +hitherto been applied only to the construction of working-class houses, +but there seems to be no reason why it should be not equally useful +among the middle classes. The advantages of the organisation are that it +secures to the tenant a well-built house, sometimes specially +constructed to meet his wishes, while his complete mobility is not +interfered with as it is by ownership of his dwelling. These apparently +opposed results are obtained by the formation of a company which is the +legal owner of the land and the houses; but no one is allowed to rent a +house until he invests a certain amount of money in the company. Thus +there are two classes of shareholders--tenant shareholders and ordinary +shareholders. If a man wishes to move from the neighbourhood, then he +ceases to be a tenant and becomes only an ordinary shareholder, and if +he needs the money he can always sell out. Rent is paid in the ordinary +way, and so too are dividends on the shares. Thus groups of people are +enabled to control the conditions under which they are housed, without +being hampered by the possession of a dwelling-house, which in an +emergency they may be forced to sell at a serious loss. Minor advantages +are greater cheapness of construction owing to wholesale buying of +materials, and the provision of a more liberal repair fund than is +contemplated by the ordinary landlord. It is possible, too, to provide +common tennis courts, children's playgrounds, pleasure gardens, &c., +which are kept up out of the general funds of the company.[74] The +"co-partnership tenants'" villages at Bournville, Hampstead, Ealing, +&c., are all doing well,[75] and we may venture to hope that if the +same principle were applied to the housing of the middle classes, the +worst horrors of the dreary and yet pretentious suburbs constructed by +the speculative builder would soon be checked. + + +(_b_) THE PROBLEMS OF DOMESTIC SERVICE + +The position of the domestic servant is the next subject which demands +consideration. It is a question which has aroused much acrimonious +controversy, mistresses accusing maids of ignorance and inefficiency, +maids objecting in their turn to the menial position and lack of freedom +involved in domestic service. Yet it is curious to notice that the +conditions of this branch of work have been little studied by the +economist. The number of domestic servants as enumerated in the census +of 1901 was 1,330,783, the largest single occupation in the country.[76] +But while dozens of books and blue-books could be named discussing the +position of the textile worker or the agricultural labourer, not more +than three or four investigators have concerned themselves with the +domestic servant, on whose efficiency our health and comfort absolutely +depend. + +Another curious anomaly is that domestic servants are becoming fewer in +proportion to the population, although the level of their wages is very +high in comparison with the usual payments for women's work. Between +1881 and 1901 female indoor servants increased from 1,230,406 to +1,330,783, an increase of 8.2 per cent., while the population increased +25.2 per cent. Actually, then, there was a smaller proportion of the +population engaged in domestic service in 1901 then in 1881.[77] What is +still more remarkable is that at the younger ages the number has +actually decreased. Between the ages 15-20, there is a decrease of 7.3 +per cent., while in the number of females living at those ages there is +an increase of 28.1 per cent. This suggests that the difficulty of +finding servants will intensify as time goes on, as is indeed borne out +by observation. Other women's industries are growing very rapidly. The +number of female clerks more than trebled between 1891 and 1901. In the +same period, female elementary school teachers increased by over 50 per +cent., and the women engaged in hospital and institution service and in +workhouses and workhouse infirmaries by 41 per cent. These facts +indicate that domestic service is becoming less and less popular and is +losing ground, while other women's industries are gaining. + +It is our duty then to consider the causes of this state of things, +which cannot be regarded with equanimity. Our steadily increasing wealth +ought to make it more and more possible and desirable for more women to +specialise in those basic industries of cooking and cleaning, which are +of the utmost importance for the right ordering of life. + +The question must be treated in reference to the general industrial +and social changes of our time. Many ladies, knowing nothing of +economics, discuss the matter as one of personal relations only, and +when they find themselves annoyed with one incompetent servant after +another, content themselves with blaming the servants as individuals +without inquiring whether the difficulty has any deeper root. Or they +take up a reactionary attitude, and declare that the lower classes are +over-educated and too well off, and are in consequence refusing to +perform their natural duties. But neither personal blame nor the +semi-feudal belief that the one and only rightful destiny of daughters +of bricklayers, coal miners, or small clerks is to become cooks or +housemaids in the service of their betters will avail to throw any +light on the difficulty of obtaining competent domestic workers. We +must study carefully and without bias the conditions of that industry as +compared with other industries, in order to solve the problem. + +In the first place, we may note the advantages of domestic service. It +is, as has been already observed, well paid. Some investigations carried +out by a group of my students last year led to the conclusion that the +ordinary cook, housemaid, or general servant in middle-class households +costs her employer in wages, food, house-room, heating, lighting, and +insurance about £50 a year.[78] I have been informed by a lady +accustomed to deal with servants in a wealthy household, that board +wages are usually 14s. 6d. for men servants, and 12s. 6d. and 10s. 6d. +for women servants. When we remember that in the ranks from which +servants are drawn,[79] a workman is comparatively well off if he is +earning 35s. a week for the support of himself and his family, and that +a woman who makes £1 a week is a rarity,[80] we should expect to find +domestic service one of the industries in which the supply outruns the +demand. Again, there is no period of apprenticeship or training +necessary. The servant earns from the first day she enters service, and +is often carefully trained by a mistress in cooking or waiting at table, +only to leave that mistress for a better situation the moment she +thoroughly understands her duties. Again, in many households the maids +share in the family holidays. They spend a month at the seaside or in +the country, having all their travelling expenses paid as a matter of +course. Their allowance of personal holidays may not be large, but at +all events their wages run on without interruption. These advantages +are the more remarkable, when it is considered that they have been +attained without the aid of any trade organisations at all. Trade unions +for domestic workers have been formed from time to time, but their life +has been ephemeral and their membership of the smallest. High wages, +practically continuous employment, food and lodging usually of a +standard much above that in the servant's own home--all these are to be +found in domestic work. Why, then, does it remain unpopular? + +In the first place, the hours are long and irregular. A domestic +servant, especially in a place where only one or two are kept, is "on +duty" for at least fifteen hours a day--from 7 A.M. to 10 P.M. Even +meal-hours are not free from interruption. The thoughtful mistress, it +is true, will not summon her maids at dinner-time or supper-time if she +can help it, but all mistresses are not thoughtful, and in any case +there is the doorbell to be answered. Much of the work is not hard; in a +well-managed household there should always be an hour or two of +comparative leisure in the afternoon and again in the evening. But the +average maid is never sufficiently free through the whole day to go out +without asking leave, or to lie down for an hour should her morning work +have been unusually heavy. Of some households a much blacker picture +could be painted. Not merely do the maids have no leisure, but they are +actually hard at work washing, cooking, ironing, serving meals, washing +up, carrying coals and hot water, &c., for even a larger period than +the fifteen hours which, as noted before, is the minimum of time "on +duty." These hours compare very unfavourably with the six or seven +hours' day of the elementary school-teacher, the eight hours' day of the +Civil servant, and the nine or ten hours worked in factories and in +offices. + +Next, there is the lack of personal freedom. This may seem a mere +sentimental objection not to be weighed in the balance for a moment by +sensible persons as against the solid advantages of domestic work. But +sentimental objections count more decisively with women than with men. +Miss B. L. Hutchins points out in a recent article that respectable +girls of the working class often accept quite low wages, provided only +their employment is light, clean, comfortable, and affords abundant +hours of leisure. And women enter on domestic service exactly at the age +at which freedom and some amount of leisure seem more valuable than high +wages. Doubtless in later years many sweated drudges have wished that +they had become servants instead of entering the jam-factory or the +steam-laundry. But at sixteen and seventeen, when the choice was made, +the situation appeared very different. I have very little doubt that one +of the greatest objections to domestic service is that it removes the +young woman from her own class just at the marriageable age, and +therefore decreases her chances of marriage, while in some ill-governed +households and in hotel and restaurant service she may be subjected to +severe temptation. The widening of the gulf between rich and poor and +their segregation into distinct districts increases this disadvantage. + +Again, there is the fact that domestic service is strangely enough +regarded as a peculiarly menial occupation, in itself a mark of a lower +social grade. This is indicated by the use of the Christian name, the +insistence on a uniform, and the commonness of contemptuous terms such +as "slavey." Refined people are careful to avoid the use even of the +word "servant," replacing it by "maid," so strong is this connotation of +inferiority. Here again we are on sentimental grounds. But it certainly +seems undesirable, in view of the spread of doctrines of social +equality, that this suggestion of a low social status should cling +around the person who undertakes such important duties as cooking and +washing. + +Another disadvantage is the loneliness of domestic servants. In other +occupations women have colleagues and companions. The general servant, +coming as she does from a lively even if poor working-class home, with +neighbours at hand for gossip in moments of relaxation, may find it very +hard to bear up against the restraint and unnatural quietude of her +first place,[81] and often ends by returning in haste to the factory +industry she had been persuaded to abandon, when she will find the +gaiety and lively society of girls and young men of her own age. Even +when two maids are kept, they may not be congenial to one another, and +one cannot deny that to share work, meals, and often bed with a woman +whom one has reason to dislike, is a fate we would all wish to avoid. + +Girls of higher status and more intelligence are often turned from +domestic service by the fact that it affords little or no opportunity +for self-improvement or recreation, or for promotion inside its own +ranks. Servants cannot go to lectures or evening classes. The servant's +piano or bicycle is a common theme for jesting in the comic papers. In a +large household or in a hotel promotion may be obtained, but the maid +who becomes a general servant or a single-handed cook reaches the limit +of her increase in income at an early age. + +Many of the disadvantages noted do not apply to large households. There +companionship is to be found, and promotion may be looked for. The hours +are more regular, meals less interrupted, and free time easier to +obtain. Hence I was not surprised when I questioned proprietors of +clubs, residential hotels, and the mistresses of wealthy households to +learn that most of them considered the servant difficulty to be greatly +exaggerated. The housekeeper of one suite of residential flats told me +she had no trouble at all in getting servants, and that she sent them +off at a week's notice if they proved unsatisfactory. "Even if I cannot +get a maid to live in at once," she added, "I can always supplement the +work of the others by an extra charwoman. There are any number of +outworkers to be had." In another residential hotel all the women +servants had two evenings a week free from 5 to 10.30. Here, too, there +was never much difficulty in obtaining workers. + +Another disadvantage of the small as opposed to the large household is +that the management is often inefficient, and the equipment poor. In +these residential flats, for instance, each suite had its own bathroom +and lavatory, and consequently the work of carrying water was reduced to +a minimum. I think, too, that the regularity of the discipline is often +liked by girls, who find it hard to keep to good ways when they work +alone. + +On the whole, then, I see no reason to believe that domestic service is +unpopular because cooking and cleaning are regarded as disagreeable +occupations in themselves. It is the conditions under which it is +carried on that are disliked, and if mistresses desire to have better +servants, those conditions must be altered. Some of them, it must be +admitted, are inherent in the present organisation of the household.[82] +Some form of co-operation might obviate certain of these defects; in +groups of associated homes, the domestic equipment could certainly be +improved, skilled supervision and proper discipline could be more easily +carried out, and the maids would have the advantages of shorter and more +regular hours and of companionship with their equals. Here again it may +be possible to apply the co-partnership tenants' organisation. Many +people, however, not unnaturally dread the lack of privacy and +independence which such a mode of life would, they think, entail, and +would prefer to endure the disadvantages of the present system rather +than lose control over their own kitchen and their own servants. It is +too soon yet to express an opinion. Fortunately, at Letchworth, at Brent +Lodge, Finchley, and elsewhere, experiments in the provision of +associated homes with a common kitchen and a common staff of servants +are shortly to be tried. If successful, they will no doubt prove a boon +to many people. + +In the meantime one can only suggest that mistresses must endeavour +individually to mitigate some of the disadvantages of domestic service. +It is not higher wages that are needed, but more leisure and more +society, and an absence of the foolish snobbery which regards it as an +amusing joke that a servant should wish to possess a bicycle or go to a +meeting or concert. + +The suggestion has sometimes been made that distressed gentlewomen might +find a refuge in domestic service. But "lady servants" or "mothers' +helps" only rarely prove a success. Their presence is inevitably a +hindrance to the full enjoyment of family privacy, and often enough +their gentility is an excuse for incompetence. But in special cases +lady servants turn out well, especially as children's nurses. The +most interesting attempt to introduce them into general domestic service +is that started by the Guild of the Dames of the Household at +Cheltenham. A short period of training is insisted upon, while on +the other hand certain privileges not usually conceded to maids must be +granted, in particular, a period of two hours each day free from +duty. In small and quiet households, specially in those composed of +ladies only, a "Dame" would be welcomed in place of the incompetent +general servant, or two Dames might take the place of the regulation +cook and house-parlour maid. But it would not be easy to have one Dame +demanding special privileges and imbued with different traditions in +a larger household.[83] + +Nor do I see any reason to expect that increased provision for domestic +training alone is likely to improve the lot of mistresses who want +maids. The training in the elementary schools is often given to children +too young to profit by it, and is besides designed rather to enable them +to be of use in their own homes than to qualify them to become cooks or +housemaids in middle or upper-class households. Again, the girls who +attend at the special domestic economy schools are not usually available +for ordinary domestic service; the greater number of the students are +being prepared either for teaching or for positions as housekeepers and +matrons. While untrained girls can find a place and wages without any +difficulty, working-class parents are not likely to spend money on +training for domestic service; and the numbers for whom scholarships +are provided must naturally be limited. + +Improvement is much more likely to result from alterations in the +condition of domestic service. If, as regards leisure and social status, +that occupation could be put more nearly on a level with other women's +trades, the outlook would be much brighter, and then training in +domestic economy in continuation schools or trade schools for girls from +fourteen to sixteen would be valuable. + +Failing these reforms, mistresses will probably continue to find +themselves obliged to put up with cooks who cannot cook, and housemaids +and laundresses who are both ignorant and incompetent. The irk and +irritation of living all day long at close quarters with an impertinent +and inefficient person, which often severely tries the nerves of the +women of the professional classes, will continue. These things are +inevitable so long as domestic servants do not choose their occupation +because they wish to follow it, but because they have been failures in +other directions. Therefore no improvement would be attained by shutting +other avenues of employment to women and forcing them back into this. +Such a line of action is, of course, quite impracticable, whatever be +the difficulties of mothers of families and mistresses of households; +factories, offices, shops, elementary schools and post-offices will +continue to offer employment to women. But even if it were practicable +it would fail of its aim. Work is only well done when it is chosen for +its own sake, not when it is unwillingly accepted because the worker is +fit for nothing else. And a genuine improvement in domestic service can +only come about by an alteration in its conditions. + +A systematic investigation into English domestic service similar to that +carried out in America by Professor Lucy Salmon of Vassar College would +be most useful at the present juncture, and may possibly be undertaken +by the household economics class at King's College. Professor Salmon +issued 5000 schedules to employers and 5000 to employees, and received +in all 1744 answers. On the answers received she based the conclusions +arrived at in her book, "Domestic Service," which are not dissimilar to +those set forth in the preceding paragraphs. Conditions in America are, +however, so unlike those in England that a separate investigation for +this country would be most valuable. + + +(_c_) A DISCUSSION OF DOMESTIC BUDGETS + + +(1) _Working-Class Budgets_ + +I have left myself very little space for dealing with another important +section of household economics, namely, domestic budgets. Unfortunately +the material for a satisfactory study of the actual and the advisable +division of household expenditure is only abundant in certain classes. +There are a considerable number of investigations into the cost of +living among the working-classes.[84] From these it is clear that we +must make a very marked line of distinction between the domestic +circumstances of labourers and of artisans. The former spend at least +from 75 to 80 per cent. of their income on food and lodging alone; yet +if the family is of ordinary size and none of the children are earning +anything, they are commonly under-nourished and badly lodged. The +remainder of the income is devoted to fuel, clothes, savings, insurance, +and recreation. + +Members of this class commonly wear second-hand clothes, and live in +tenement houses, originally built for a wealthier section of the +community. It is they who send their children to work at any employment +that turns up at the earliest moment allowed by the law. The burden laid +on the women of this class is peculiarly heavy. They must work for wages +if possible, for every extra shilling adds immensely to the family +comfort. Hence they go out charing; they undertake ill-paid home work; +and at the same time all the toil of keeping the house and children +clean and of doing the cooking and washing falls on the mother. Add to +this the fact that if the food supply runs short, then the children and +the husband have their share first and the mother takes what may be +left. It has been calculated[85] that this class amounts to about +one-third of the population, and is the source whence comes the greater +part of the pauperism with which the country is afflicted. + +The artisan class was found by Mr. Rowntree to comprise about one-half +of the working-class population. Its domestic circumstances differ in +several respects from those of the class already described. Food and +housing were adequate; and, save in the textile districts, the wife +commonly remains at home and the children stay longer at school. It is +this class that is the backbone of trade unionism and the co-operative +movement; it is in fact the true "middle-class" of Britain. + +Lady Bell in her book "At the Works" gives a very sympathetic sketch of +the home life of the ironworkers of Middlesborough, pointing out that +the monotony and narrowness of the lives led by the women and the +ugliness of the surroundings of the workers' houses are the main defects +from which they suffer. Roughly half their income goes on food, which is +plain but adequate. The proportion of rent varies very much from +district to district. In York it was 12.8, but in such crowded towns as +London and Glasgow it would be higher. There is, however, a surplus +sufficient for clothing, saving, holidays, and reasonable recreation. + +It is conjectured that the excessive expenditure on drink in the United +Kingdom[86] must be largely due to this class. But the evidence is +insufficient to show whether the labourer or the artisan is the more +guilty. + + +(2) _Lower Middle-Class Budgets_ + +The next class which should be examined is that made up by the clerks +and routine brain-workers. As already noted, there is little or no +material available for the study of the budgets of this class. The +Economic Club published a few years ago a collection of family budgets, +four of which might be taken as illustrating the home life of this +important section of the community. From these and from the rather +unreliable divisions of income given in some of the smaller women's +papers, I have come to the conclusion that food absorbs 30 to 40 per +cent. of the income, and rent 15 to 20 per cent. The expenditure on +clothing is much more liberal, and I am inclined to believe that the +poorer clerks are sometimes insufficiently fed. + +It should be noted that in this class the cost of education tends to be +borne by the parent and not by the State; no doubt there is here a +genuine grievance, one, however, which the provision of municipal +secondary schools is gradually removing. But a thorough and accurate +study of the circumstances of the lower middle-class would be of the +utmost value at the present time. It is certain that its needs and +demands are to some extent at all events overlooked through the +increasing power of organised labour on the one hand and the increasing +wealth of the upper classes on the other. + + +(3) _The Budget of the Well-to-do_ + +Probably it is in the budgets of these wealthier classes that the reader +of these pages will be most interested from a personal standpoint. Under +this head there is very little scientifically collected material; but on +the other hand the ladies' papers and the housekeeping handbooks afford +considerable information of somewhat varying value. + +It is in this class that service becomes an important item; it is in +this class that the artistic side of life, the enjoyment of physical and +intellectual luxury, first becomes possible. In a sense the study of +expenditure here is both more useful and more interesting. A fraction of +the income would suffice for the satisfaction of the mere physiological +needs, and there is a real choice possible in the disposition of the +surplus. + +Therefore, in the case of these larger incomes, I propose to discuss +rather the general principles of expenditure than the statistical facts. +The latter are not thoroughly reliable, and at the same time the +circumstances of the class in question are better known to my readers. + +The fundamental principle, as Marshall[87] states, is that the marginal +utility of each separate division of expenditure should be equal. He +means by this that our income should be so distributed that the last +sixpence we spend on clothes should yield us the same amount of pleasure +as the last sixpence expended on food or on books. And he rightly +remarks that to the housekeeper the value of keeping accounts lies +precisely in the fact that it makes the application of this principle +easy. + +If we know exactly how money has been spent, then it is possible to see +that expenditure has been wrongly balanced, that impulsive extravagance +on hats or on out-of-season delicacies has unduly curtailed the amount +spent on holidays, books, or concerts. It is for this reason that +itemised tables are more useful to the housekeeper than is the ordinary +creditor and debtor method of account-keeping. She should of course be +able to present an accurate statement of the money spent and received, +but she should not be content with this. She should further show for +each quarter the amount spent on rent, food, fuel, &c. + +QUARTERLY SUMMARY OF HOUSEHOLD EXPENDITURE + + Columns: + A Food and Cleaning Materials. + B Household Washing. + C Service. + D Coals. + E Gas. + F Electricity. + G Rent. + H Rates. + I Garden. + J Miscellaneous. + K Total. + L Guests.[88] + M Remarks. + + +---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ + |Weeks | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | + |Ending. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ + |Jan. 9 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 16 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 23 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 30 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + |Feb. 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 13 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 20 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 27 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + |March 6 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 13 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 20 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + | " 27 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + |April 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ + |TOTAL. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ + |Weekly | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + |Average. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + +---------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ + +The table appended has been in actual use for some time, and has served +on more than one occasion to check expenditure which was unduly +increasing. It could easily be modified in various ways. Food could be +further subdivided, and headings for dress and other personal expenses +could be added. Probably, however, it will be found better to keep one +card for the quarterly household expenditure, and others for the +personal expenditure of the separate members of the household. The +amount of trouble involved is comparatively small, provided that the +different items are summed up and entered regularly each week when the +household books are examined. If the quarterly cards are then filed in +order, they afford a most valuable record of household management in a +small and easily handled form. + +When deciding on the amount of money to be allotted to the separate +items, the first thing to be kept in mind is the necessity of +preserving efficiency; and brain-workers ought to remember that +thorough mental alertness and competency can only be secured by +well-chosen, well-cooked, and daintily served food, by sufficiency of +sleep, by frequent intervals of rest and recreation, and by thoroughly +invigorating holidays. Extravagance should of course be avoided, but +the journalist or scientist who is niggardly of expenditure on these +items will probably later on be obliged to spend his savings on +doctor's bills or a rest cure. A high standard of comfort and efficient +work is the cheapest way of living in the long run. Whether, however, +all the conventional necessaries now included by custom in the upper +middle-class expenditure are really essential to the brain-worker's +standard of life is perhaps another question. + +The "simple life" which consists in doing without all the conveniences +of civilisation has been proved a failure by many experiments, but a +"simple life" which accepted the comforts of electric light, gas stoves, +and laid-on hot water, but abolished heavy curtains and carpets and that +multiplicity of ornaments and of dishes, which increases the complexity +of life without adding to its beauty, might turn out to be a success. In +many cases, however, conventional expenditure is essential for +professional advancement. The doctor, for instance, must live in a house +of a certain size and importance; the high school teacher or woman +journalist must be well dressed. Expenditure of this character is really +of the nature of advertisement, and it is foolish to endeavour to +curtail it. + +After the claims of efficiency have been met, saving and insurance come +next. Life insurance is of course almost universal among the salaried +classes, and is a duty imperatively laid on every man whose death would +leave his family without means. But it is curious that other forms of +insurance are not more practised. A small yearly payment for each child, +commencing at its birth, would provide a convenient sum for its +education, its start in life, or, in the case of a girl, for her +trousseau and dowry. Insurance against illness also is much rarer among +the upper middle class than among the working-classes. Possibly this is +due to the fact that, save in the case of prolonged disease, salaries +are paid during illness, while wages cease as soon as the worker is +compelled to stay at home; also partly no doubt to the fact that +provision for contingencies is made in other ways. + +Saving and insurance will be less necessary in the case of those whose +income is derived from land or from invested capital, but should be +considered absolutely essential by all those in receipt of a salary. In +addition a small sum saved and invested in some easily realisable +security will be most valuable to meet special emergencies. + +If after all these needs have been met, _i.e._ (1) full "efficiency" +and "conventional" expenditure (including, of course, such an education +for the children as will prepare them in their turn to earn an income +in the same rank of life as their father), and (2) saving and +insurance to provide against all contingencies that may reasonably +be anticipated--if, then, a surplus still remains, its disposition +must be a matter of individual choice, and it is impossible to lay +down general rules. + +In some cases it will be saved, in others it will be used to provide +more material and conventional luxuries, in others it will supply the +needs of what American writers rather unpleasingly call the "higher +life." Certainly the claims of generosity, charity, and culture should +first be met, and it is the right and wise disposition of this surplus +income which might well tax the highest powers of any human being. It is +commonly supposed to be a difficult thing to earn money, but a simple +matter to spend it. On the contrary, to spend with wisdom and discretion +is always hard, and is hardest when the income is so elastic that a +slight deviation from the best method is not immediately visited on the +head of the person who has offended. + +The artisan's wife has no easy task, it must be confessed, but the +results of any mistakes she may make fall at once upon herself or her +children. But if the mistress of a large household is careless or +incompetent, then she may cause untold waste, inefficiency and +degeneration among her servants and tradespeople, and may never even be +aware of it. + +A recent book by Mr. A. Ponsonby[89] gives some extraordinary instances +of unnecessary expenditure on food. Mr. Ponsonby is not, of course, to +be taken as an unprejudiced investigator; he is writing rather from the +standpoint of the preacher than from that of the unbiassed sociologist. +But his figures are not likely to be absolutely false, and it is safe to +say that if in a household containing four in family and fourteen +servants the food bills amounted in a week when there was little +entertaining to £60, 12s. 7d. (£3, 7s. 4d. per head),[90] either the +servants were being fed in a way that was quite absurdly lavish, or much +of the food was absolutely wasted, or there was dishonest collusion +between the housekeeper and chef and the tradespeople. In any case, the +ignorance and negligence of the mistress of the house were corrupting to +her staff. + + +(_d_) CONCLUSION + +In short, in place of regarding the household as standing in no special +relation to the rest of the community, it ought to be understood that +the function of the housewife is of the utmost importance, not only to +her own family, but to the whole nation. It is she who is finally +responsible for the education of the children; it is she who, in the +quiet and restful charm of the home, provides (or should provide) for +her husband and grown-up children the recreation and refreshment which +they need. If she employs many servants, then the example of her +household will influence for good or for evil the homes of many +working-class couples. It is the demand of the household that determines +whether the labour of this country shall be employed on debased articles +of sham luxury or on well made and artistic goods. + +The conscientious housewife could also to some extent discourage +sweating, if she refused to buy products which to her knowledge were +made under bad conditions. The responsibilities of the housewife place +her at every turn in economic relations to the rest of the community, +and therefore it is only right that coming housewives should be trained +not alone in the manual crafts of cooking and laundry-work, but also in +the general principles of economic science which underlie the +development and present organisation of the household. We may perhaps +hope too that the principles of household management may in turn react +on economic science, and may show to its professors that value in use, +though more difficult to detect and estimate than value in exchange, has +been unduly neglected both in theory and practice. + +If to the management of our towns--which are, after all, only our homes +on a larger scale--were applied the principles used by a good +housekeeper in ordering her home, then cleanliness, beauty, and +convenience would increase around us. A science of economics so modified +would recall to a scholar the original meaning of the word; for what, +after all, did the craft of oikonomikê, as first developed by Xenophon +and Aristotle, mean but just "the management of the home"? + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [13] Smith, "Wealth of Nations," edited by J. S. Nicholson, pp. 135 and + 280. It is of course true that Adam Smith meant by this merely + what is in a way true, that domestic servants earn no profit for + their employers. He does not deny (p. 136) that their labour + "has a certain value." But, like all the economists who followed + him, he is content to dismiss domestic workers with this cursory + treatment and to identify labourers with the workers hired for + profit-making purposes. + + [14] See "Principles of Economics" (4th ed.), pp. 192, 772. + + [15] Marshall, "Principles" (4th ed.), p. 764: "The working classes had + then no other beds than loose straw, reeking with vermin and + resting on damp floors." + + [16] Thorold Rogers is a partial exception. + + [17] _e.g._ Rowntree, "Poverty: a Study of Town Life;" portions of + Booth's "Life and Labour of the People;" reports to the Board of + Trade on the cost of living. + + [18] Webb, S. and B., "Industrial Democracy" (cheap edition), p. 674. + + [19] Marshall, "Principles of Economics," vol. i. p. 159. + + [20] There is an assumption here which needs perhaps some discussion, + _i.e._ that expenditure or consumption of goods can be most + conveniently studied on the basis of family life. This is + obviously the case with house-room, food, fuel, cleanliness, + &c., less so with regard to clothes or recreation; it was truer + of the past than of the present, and is truer of the poor than + of the rich. In some classes, _e.g._ the professional class, + where marriage is commonly delayed and a considerable period may + intervene between the end of education and the establishment of + a fresh household, it may be necessary to supplement the study + of family expenditure by a consideration of the standard of + living of unmarried men and women. Attempts, too, must be made + to deal with the various forms of institutional life, varying + from prisons and workhouses on the one hand to expensive + boarding-schools and hotels on the other. But when all these + necessary deductions have been made, it remains true that in + order to study expenditure we must in the great majority of + cases take the family as our basis of investigation. Consumption + is organised on a family basis. + + [21] See Marshall, "Principles," book ii. chap. ii. + + [22] Ashley, "Economic History," vol. i. part ii. p. 262. + + [23] The economic historian must always be prepared to acquiesce in a + certain vagueness in the matter of dates. He is not dealing with + definite events, such as battles and the enactment of special + laws, but rather with social tendencies, each constituted by a + large number of small events; such as, for instance, the + replacement of hand labour by machinery, the appearance of + limited liability companies in the place of the single employer, + or the determination of middle-class girls to earn their own + living instead of remaining dependent on father or brothers. + Tendencies such as these appear at different times in different + industries and in different parts of the country, and only a + misleading precision can be gained by any mention of definite + dates. + + [24] Summarised from Seebohm, "Village Community," pp. 156-157. + + [25] Gasquet, "English Monastic Life," p. 197. + + [26] "Economic History," vol. i. + + [27] Surtees Society, Boldon Book, p. 28. + + [28] "English Monastic Life," p. 198. + + [29] The English were famed in the Middle Ages for their preference for + good bread. They would eat no bread + + "That beans in come, + But of cocket[30] or clerematyn[30] or else of clean wheat." + + --_Piers Plowman_, A. vii. 292. + + [30] Better kinds of bread, but not the best (wastel). + + [31] Walter of Henley, p. 29. + + [32] Apparently, it is only within the last hundred years that the cow + has ceased to be a normal possession of the agricultural + labourer. See Slater, "English Peasantry and Common Fields," pp. + 122-128. + + [33] Eddy, "English House," p. 133. + + [34] England at that time possessed her own vineyards, _e.g._ near + Gloucester, and produced white wine. + + [35] Rules of S. Robert as given in "Walter of Henley," p. 145. + + [36] Broth in which the meat had been boiled. + + [37] Pepper. + + [38] Stiff. + + [39] "Meals and Manners of the Olden Time," p. 164. + + [40] Kind of sauce. + + [41] Pork, eggs, cloves, currants, dates, sugar boiled in a bladder, + cut into strips and served with hot rich sauce. + + [42] A soteltie was an elaborate confection of pastry painted or + adorned with paper to represent a saint or a figure of spring, + summer, &c. + + [43] Spiced wine. + + [44] Panter and pantry, from pain. + + [45] Butler = bottler. + + [46] Rules of S. Robert in "Walter of Henley," pp. 138-140, _passim._ + + [47] Webb, "Essay on Gloucester Abbey," p. 13. + + [48] "Meals and Manners," p. 74. + + [49] _Libes Niges Domus_, p. 65. + + [50] Gasquet, "English Monastic Life," p. 211. + + [51] The maintenance of a large retinue was one of the easiest ways + available for indicating the possession of surplus wealth. This + fact, coupled with the almost absurd over-elaboration of the + details of serving, incline me to believe that in the mediæval + castle servants were numerous and not overworked. + + [52] Riley, "Memorials of London," p. 48. + + [53] Riley, "Memorials of London," p. 199. There is, unfortunately, no + indication of the social standing of this felon, Hugh le Bevere + by name. The list of clothes suggests that he was fairly + well-to-do, in which case his equipment of cooking and table + utensils is certainly meagre. It is curious that pottery is not + mentioned; it can hardly be urged that although in use it was + too unimportant for a place in the inventory, since room is + found for one small canvas bag, value 1d. + + [54] Hence the name convertible husbandry. + + [55] This is, of course, a very summary statement of changes which it + took centuries to bring about. On the one hand, money economy + existed in the mediæval town; on the other, subsistence farming + continued in England to some extent until within a hundred years + ago. Yet it is roughly true that in the fifteenth and sixteenth + centuries production for the market and not for use markedly and + suddenly increased. + + [56] By an Act of 1589, it was ordained that four acres of land should + be attached to every cottage. _Cf._ Hasbach. "English + Agricultural Labourer," p. 40. + + [57] See Cunningham, "English Industry and Commerce," vol. ii. p. 40 + (4th ed.). + + [58] Poultry. + + [59] "Description of England," p. 238 _ff._ + + [60] _Op. cit._, vol. i. p. 150. + + [61] Pickled pork. + + [62] This class is never described by him. + + [63] See Cunningham, ii. p. 78, "Issue of Patents for making Soap and + Vinegar." + + [64] _e.g._ Slater, "English Peasantry and the Enclosure of the Common + Fields." Hasbach, "History of the English Agricultural + Labourer." Toynbee, "The Industrial Revolution." Hobson, + "Evolution of Capitalism." + + [65] [Near Halifax]. "After we had mounted the third hill, we found the + country one continuous village ... hardly a House standing out + of speaking distance from another, and as the day wore on we + could see at every House a tenter, and on almost every tenter a + Piece of Cloth, Kersey or Shalloon, which are the three articles + of this country's labour.... Then as every clothier must + necessarily keep one horse at least to fetch home his wool and + his provisions from the market, to carry his yarn to the + spinners, his Manufacture to the fulling mill, and when finished + to the market to be sold and the like; so every one generally + keeps a cow or two for his Family.... Nor is the industry of the + people wanting.... Though we met few People without Doors, yet + within we saw the Houses full of lusty fellows, some at the + dye-vat, some at the loom, others dressing the cloths, the women + and children carding or spinning. All employed from the youngest + to the oldest. Scarce a thing above four years old, but its + hands were sufficient for its own support." Defoe, "Tour through + Great Britain" (1769), vol. iii. p. 146. + + [66] "The increase of urban areas can be gathered from the Census + Reports. In 1851 ... the population of such areas amounted + approximately to 9,000,000, or 50 per cent. of the total + population of England and Wales; by 1881 the population of urban + sanitary areas, as defined by the Public Health Acts, 1872 and + 1875, was 17,600,000, or 68 per cent. of the aggregate + population; by 1901 ... the population of boroughs and urban + districts amounted to 25,000,000, or 77 per cent. of the + aggregate population."--Blue Book on Public Health and Social + Conditions, p. 6 [Cd. 4671 of 1909]. + + [67] It should be noted, too, that the advantages of the large-scale + method of production are greatly diminished by the dangers of + adulteration. _Cf._ p. 177. + + [68] In the absence of an efficient system of police, it probably was + not safe for women to walk or travel alone. In the security + provided for us by paved and lighted streets, guarded by trained + constables, and in the complete safety of modern methods of + travelling, some of us are apt now to forget these elementary + considerations, once of supreme importance. + + [69] For the whole subject, see Hutchins and Harrison, "History of + Factory Legislation." + + [70] In "Educated Working Women," by Clara E. Collet, 1902. Miss Collet + says: "Were statistics available it might perhaps be shown that + the unmarried women are to a large extent the daughters of + clerks and professional men.... Emigration is probably more + frequent in the salaried class; and where the sons are obliged + to emigrate, it frequently happens that the daughters have to + work for their living. In this class I believe the inequality of + the sexes is greatest and the chances of marriage least" (pp. + 37-38). + + [71] P. 171. + + [72] I cannot refrain at this point from inserting the following + quotations from "Shirley" (chapter xxii.). Charlotte Brontë's + genius illumined the situation of many girls even in her time, + and of a larger number since. Caroline is speaking. "Old maids, + like the houseless and unemployed poor, should not ask for a + place and an occupation in the world; the demand disturbs the + happy and rich; it disturbs parents. Look at the numerous + families of girls in this neighbourhood. The brothers of these + girls are every one in business or in professions ... their + sisters have no earthly employment but household work and + sewing.... Men of England! look at your poor girls, many of them + fading around you, dropping off in consumption or decline; or, + what is worse, degenerating to sour old maids, envious, + backbiting, wretched, because life is a desert to them; or, what + is worst of all, reduced to strive, by scarce modest coquetry + and debasing artifice, to gain that position and consideration + by marriage which to celibacy is denied." + + [73] I am not suggesting here that the pioneers of women's higher + education were wrong in the attitude they adopted. To win for + women intellectual freedom was the most important duty for them, + and that could only be achieved by women submitting to the same + intellectual tests as men. But the problems which call for + solution by their successors of a later generation have assumed + a new form. + + [74] See Raymond Unwin, "Housing and Town-Planning." + + [75] In June 1908, the value of the property of the various tenants' + companies was only a little short of a quarter of a million + pounds, and their operations have since then been extended in + various directions. + + [76] For comparison:-- + + Number of + Occupation. Persons Employed. + + Agriculture 1,197,922 + Textile fabrics 1,155,397 + Professional occupations 606,260 + + [77] Owing to a change in the system of enumeration which alters the + basis of comparison, the year 1891 cannot be used in our + calculations. + + [78] The competent single-handed maid is meant here, not the little + "slavey" who assists her mistress in the rougher part only of + the work. + + [79] A further inquiry is needed into this matter. I am not at all + clear whether servants are derived from the class of the fairly + prosperous artisan or from the unskilled labouring class. + + [80] "There are unfortunately no reliable statistics as to the average + wages earned by women workers, but, speaking from a large + experience, I estimate that the average wage of the manual woman + worker, taking into account slackness, sickness, &c., is + certainly not more than 7s. 6d. all the year round."--"Trade + Unions," by Mary Macarthur, in "Women in Industry from Seven + Points of View," p. 66. + + [81] Stephen Reynolds in "A Poor Man's House" paints this situation + with great psychological insight. + + [82] Compare Salmon, "Domestic Service," pp. 145-6. + + [83] Compare "Englishwomen's Year-book for 1910," p. 69. + + [84] _e.g._ Rowntree, "Poverty: a Study of Town Life"; Liverpool + Economic and Statistical Society, "How the Casual Labourer + Lives"; "Study of the Diet of the Labouring Classes in + Edinburgh" (published by Otto Schulze & Co., now out of print); + Recent Blue-books on the Cost of Living, &c. + + [85] Rowntree, "Poverty: a Study of Town Life," pp. 117, 298 _ff._, as + to inadequacy of diet of labourer, pp. 235 and 303. Mr. + Rowntree's conclusions have been impugned by several critics, + and it may be that his dietary standard is too high. But even if + it turns out that only a quarter and not a third of the + population are in receipt of incomes insufficient for the + expenditure necessary to secure bodily efficiency, the fact is + serious enough. + + [86] Calculated by Messrs. Rowntree and Sherwell to amount to 6s. 10d. + per family of the working-class population. "Temperance Problem + and Social Reform" (7th ed.), p. 20. + + [87] "Principles" (4th ed.), p. 194. + + [88] A special charge was made for guests in this household, and the + amount received was deducted from the weekly food bill. + + [89] "The Camel and the Needle's Eye." + + [90] "The Camel and the Needle's Eye," p. 153. + + + + +SOME RELATIONS OF SANITARY SCIENCE TO FAMILY LIFE AND INDIVIDUAL +EFFICIENCY + +BY ALICE RAVENHILL + + +Among the many notable characteristics by which the last half century +has been distinguished, there are two which bid fair permanently to +colour its records and materially to influence the future of our +country. I refer in the first place to the scientific study of man, his +nature, his needs, and his potentialities; and in the second to the +growing appreciation of the fact that the centre of ethical gravity must +be shifted from absorption in the sole concerns of self to an +intelligent interest in the affairs of others--that is to say, that +selfishness must yield to well organised and discriminating social +service. + + +I. MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE + +It is of course no new thing for questions upon the real nature of that +complex creature, man, to force themselves upon the attention of the +observant, and from time immemorial the philosophical have spent +themselves in efforts to solve this problem by theories designed to +detect, even if not to account for, the agencies active in the +formation of the human mind and body. The records of older civilisations +bear testimony to their labours, and are familiar to most students of +ancient literatures. But it was not till the resources of modern science +forged new tools for the inquirer that it became possible to chisel out +from the bedrock of fact the main features of man's physical and social +history. + +With admirable patience and infinite skill, the scientific craftsmen of +recent times have laboriously pieced together the scattered chips of +biological research, of human tradition, of tribal customs and of +world-wide folklore, until the dignity and power, the beauty and the +possibilities of human nature have emerged from the dust of ignorance +and the veil of superstition. The result is that it is no longer +permissible to deplore in pessimistic tones the inevitable degradation +of the race, nor to accept with supineness the threatened deterioration +of a population. The forces by which humanity is moulded are no longer +unknown; the principles which underlie social stability have been +identified; the means by which the arts may be developed, which make +life not only tolerable but healthful, are ready to our hands. + +The far-reaching significance of these facts in connection with human +health and progress become apparent when considered in more detail. +Observers throughout the ages have gradually noted, and subsequently +turned to practical account in garden, meadow, and farmyard, certain +characteristics common to all known forms of vegetable and animal life. +By due consideration of these it was found possible to improve breeds, +to strengthen and lengthen life, to avert disease, and generally to +enhance economic value. It may now appear simple enough, to extend and +apply these observations to the betterment of human life; but many +generations of human beings slipped away before the facts, dimly +discerned by Aristotle and Lucretius, by Buffon and Lamarck, were +clearly focussed by Darwin,[91] Wallace, Spencer, and Huxley, through +whose skill and labours the continuity of the web of life was first +displayed to the world at large. The design may here be almost +elementary in its delicate simplicity; there its subtle intricacies +well-nigh baffle description. The variety of pattern is marvellous +indeed, as Nature weaves with ceaseless industry the woof of progressive +development. But the warp of this wondrous web is nevertheless +continuous throughout its length, uniting the whole into one vast +fabric. + +This basic unity of all manifestations of life has been further +substantiated by another group of scientists--Schleiden, Schwann, +Kölliker, and Virchow, for instance--who gradually and conclusively +proved the identity, in their simplest form, of those living bricks +(_i.e._ microscopic particles of protoplasm) from which the whole vast +edifice of life is constructed. The capacity they possess for +differentiation in their functions and in modes of combination long +masked recognition of the fact that each commonwealth of cells, whether +plant or animal, is developed in the first instance in orderly +progression from a similar minute speck of protoplasm, acceptation of +which has sufficed to bring about a complete revolution in the +scientific world. To these discoveries were shortly added Pasteur's +conception of the nature and causation of infective diseases; a +knowledge which brought with it a great accession of power over hitherto +mysterious and uncontrollable conditions. And finally, man's eyes have +been opened to the comprehension of Nature's means of self-defence +against the micro-organisms of disease. Thus, while humanity is by these +means armed with most potent weapons against the inroads of infection, +decay, and death, the light thrown upon the mystery of the origin of +each individual life has shown man his true place in the kingdom of +nature. The application of these great discoveries, together with +increased opportunity for and accuracy in their utilisation, constitute +the basis of the modern methods of hygiene. + +It must be borne in mind that until less than a century ago it was man's +custom to dissociate himself wholly from the less highly developed +animals and plants which he employed so freely for his support and +convenience. He set himself on the highest pinnacle, as it were, of the +edifice of life, believing himself to be independent of the influences +by which the rest of the building was dominated. And thus through +countless ages he suffered, languished, and died, unconscious that the +forces he had learned more or less to control in husbandry and farmyard +were in their turn controlling him in the conduct of his life. Ignorant +alike of the influences of his own inherited nature or of those of his +environment, he paid no heed to the responsibilities of transmitting the +torch of life undimmed to succeeding generations, and gave no thought to +utilising to his own personal perfecting the resources of Nature, which +he habitually employed to increase his wealth or to improve his crops +and stock. + +It was indeed to the control of his _surroundings_ that man first gave +more or less careless heed. The fact that environment can either +stimulate or stunt both physical and mental powers, thrust itself too +persistently on his attention to be ignored; but the influence of a good +parentage or of sound ancestry was less obvious, and for generations +received little or no attention. Vague talk on "family temper," "family +habits," "family voices" was common enough, but no more than a passing +curiosity was aroused as to their hidden import, nor was their profound +significance suspected. + +Thus, though half a century has passed since Darwin placed man[92] "in +his proper position in the sequence of biological forms," during which +interim enormous strides have been made in applying to the betterment +of human existence the principles found to hold good in the case of +lowlier type of life, public sentiment has so far only supported +sanitary reforms directed to the promotion of improved environment. And +this in spite of Sir Francis Galton's[93] first appeal in the cause of +eugenics more than forty years ago. The distinguishing characteristics +of progressive races and the right of every unborn child to be the +offspring of healthy, self-respecting, virtuous parents have been +repeatedly pointed out; while attention is drawn to the accumulating +evidence in favour of the fact that of all influences upon the +individual his inherited nature is the most powerful. Yet the public ear +remains deaf to the cry that the present generation is largely +responsible for the weal or woe of their children's children. + +This is not the place in which to discuss Darwin's theory of heredity +nor its subsequent elaboration and amplification by his contemporaries +or successors.[94] But the time is come when emphasis _must_ be laid +upon the duty of gaining some general acquaintance with the subject and +its applications in the case of an Imperial people. + +It may be also well to point out that pessimism is not necessarily +associated with the fruits of the studies carried on by our students of +inherited qualities, such as Sir Francis Galton or Professors Thomson, +Bateson, Karl Pearson, and others; only their results give us reason to +pause, for they cannot lightly be disregarded. They tell us that we hold +in our hands to-day the mental vigour and bodily powers of an untold +number of descendants, therefore it behoves us to consider our ways and +be wise while there is yet time. For our encouragement also be it known, +that while the lamp of modern hygiene illuminates the errors of the +past, it sheds its bright rays over the paths of the present, and +penetrates to some extent the dim twilight of the future. + + +II. FACTORS ADVERSE TO HUMAN PROGRESS + +It is a matter for regret that the sympathetic consideration for the +sufferings of others, which found such grand exponents in John Howard, +in Elizabeth Fry, and in thousands more since modern methods of +philanthropy were initiated in the eighteenth century,[95] has tended +latterly to lose its virility. It is giving place to a maudlin +sentimentality, which seeks not only to preserve life at all costs, but +to permit, nay to encourage, the production of a quality of human life, +so defective, so devitalised, that it threatens to minimise the +multiplication of the fit, by taxing them to their detriment with the +care and support of the unfit. So to smooth the path of the weakly and +unsound as to put a premium on their fertility is false philanthropy and +faulty hygiene; for it is well to remember that reasonable exertion is +beneficial to health; that to overcome obstacles is stimulating to the +energetic; that some struggle for the means of livelihood calls forth +resourcefulness and adaptability in the intelligent. Success in the +battle of life comes to those made of stuff equal to the wear and tear +of daily existence, and possessed of the qualities which conduce to +progress. These are they who are competent to perpetuate the best +qualities of a good stock; these should be the chosen bulwarks of a +nation's progress; nor must their numbers be swamped by the ailing, the +crippled, the defective, and the insane. + +A proportion probably of some of the deeply seated, complicated, social +problems which have presented themselves, unperceived and almost +unconsciously, are the outcome of a one-sided study of hygiene: these, +combined with the slow growth of social science, and a sickly, +easy-going susceptibility, have been allowed to obscure the real issues +of many well-intentioned but unwise and ill-considered philanthropic +measures. The necessity, the _urgent_ necessity, has now, however, +arisen for the bold and scientific solution of these social problems. +The work of biologists, sociologists, and students of history during the +last ten years has illuminated the whole question of race progress and +public health with a light so powerful and clear that even he who runs +can read the signs of the times by its clear rays; while to the millions +of parents and guardians whose lives are spent in the care of children +and home, its brilliance throws into high relief the dignified +responsibility of their work, its far-reaching worth and enduring +influence, as well as the fact that for its adequate performance +something more is necessary than a bowing acquaintance with modern +sanitary science. + +For what is the message of scientific hygiene to the parent and +householder of the twentieth century? Dr. W. H. Burnham, of Clarke +University, U.S.A., a world-wide authority on the subject, has +formulated this message for us into three terse, but telling and +suggestive, commands. + +The first gives solemn warning to beware of fads and of the many popular +doctrines which are mediæval in their crudities and damaging by their +unconsidered acceptance. + +The second preaches the gospel of _work_ and self-control, which must be +practised in this as in every other connection where progress and good +results are desired. + +The third enforces the doctrine of cleanliness to a degree as +comprehensive as it is unusual--cleanliness in person, dwelling, and +food; in air, water, and decoration; in occupation, environment and +morals; the work of home hygiene being to secure for each family +conditions which will permit normal and unhampered functioning for all +the organs of each one of its members; elasticity and pliancy in the +functions being a primary characteristic of health. + +If once it be accepted that health, capacity, endurance, and energy are +more powerful weapons for a progressive people than are sword or gun, +obedience to these commands will be general and their results enduring. +The pages of history teach us that each nation in turn has exhibited +these qualities at its zenith of success, whether it were the relatively +highly civilised inhabitants of Greece and Rome, or the barbarian hordes +under Attila. They characterise equally each group of successful +pioneers, whether they be the Pilgrim Fathers of the sixteenth, the +Huguenots of the seventeenth, or the successful colonist of the +nineteenth century. When however their cultivation is neglected the +force of the life current of a people or community is lost; the mighty +river of a nation's prosperity dwindles to an insignificant streamlet of +mere existence, soon to be lost to view in the morass of oblivion. + +To what general causes may such deterioration be attributed? Among +the more prominent must be mentioned ignorance of man's physical +nature and of the nurture essential to his welfare; subtle forms of +self-indulgence; lowered standards of morality; enervating luxury, or, +in some cases, so severe a struggle for existence among the salt of +the population (the upper, middle, and professional classes, superior +mechanics and artisans), that even patriotism does not justify a +quiverful of children. But the persistence of these causes is a +national calamity. It is the science and art of hygiene which is +emphasising their disastrous consequences. No longer in its infancy, no +longer a mere collection of fads, questionable statistics, and +empirical doctrines, hygiene is prepared to inform us how to +promote human efficiency in every relation of life--domestic, +occupational, social, and imperial. Its tenets are firmly based upon a +goodly group of sciences, and their utilisation call into play a +whole range of arts. Its theories find confirmation in the social +problems of the day, and the experience gained from their tentative +and partial application affords sound evidence of their worth to the +world. The "expectation" of life, for instance, has been extended ten +years in half a century; in twenty years the death-rate has decreased +thirty per cent. Disease has been found in most instances to be +controllable, and has been controlled; unhealthy occupations have had +their dangers curbed if not entirely banished, and the lot of many has +been immeasurably brightened. _Yet_ the weak joints in the nation's +harness are gaping, and the vigour and virility of the masses appear +to be diminishing. Again we ask, Why? + + +III. STAGES IN THE GROWTH OF SANITARY SCIENCE + +The answer may be found by reference to the late Professor de Chaumont's +now classical outline of the stages to be identified in the hygienic +education of a race. He divided these into three periods, of which he +described the first as merely "Instinctive," for efforts after sanitary +practice were dictated solely by the personal discomfort associated with +their neglect. In those far-off prehistoric days, Professor Boyd +Dawkins tells us that primitive man, then in his nomadic stage, would +dig runnels to carry off the rain water from the near neighbourhood of +his shelters, or would move on to fresh pastures when his family and +herds had fouled the nearest stream, or change his camping ground when +the accumulated refuse of his food and his prowess as a hunter +interfered with convenient access to his dwelling; but he took no +precautions to prevent the recurrence of these discomforts, and his +efforts to remove their consequences were purely temporary. + +To this there succeeded what Professor de Chaumont designated the +"Supernatural" period,[96] which extended over many thousands of years, +during the dawn of which Eastern rulers often combined in their own +person the triple callings of priest, prophet, and physician. Whether it +be in China or in Persia, in Egypt or in India, among the Greeks, the +Arabs, or the Hebrews, the practice of physical morality and of personal +cleanliness, of restrictions of diet or protection from infection, were +closely woven into the religion of the people. Reasons of health and +sanitary advantages permeate the rules of more faiths than that of the +Jews--whose Lawgiver embodied in the Pentateuch health maxims now known +to have been derived from earlier civilisations. + +But, remarkable and interesting as are the ancient sanitary codes to a +generation which professes to believe in the necessity for hygienic +practice, their usage was tinctured from the first by a mass of +superstition. Tradition and fatalism hampered true consistency between +faith and works; the often sound regulations suffered from their +empirical foundations. Constant warfare, varied by alternations of +luxury with asceticism, combined to absorb men's minds and to pervert +their common sense, so that plague and famine, disease and penury, were +superstitiously regarded as discipline from the Deity, not to be averted +or avoided, but rather to be accepted as a chastisement prompted by +love. The creed that to save suffering to the vile body might risk the +salvation of the soul, cost Europe far dearer than is at all generally +recognised; for the noble, the pure, the high-minded, the intellectual, +segregated themselves for centuries in monastery and convent, in the +firm faith that by denying to themselves the joy of parenthood they +promoted the spiritual welfare of their country. Ignorant of their +racial responsibilities, they left as progenitors of the next generation +the less refined and ruder elements in the population. It is no cause +for surprise, therefore, that progress in sanitation moved slowly. +Domestic and urban conditions were permitted of a character well defined +by the facts that, in mediæval times, a man of forty-five or fifty was +considered long lived, and that first attempts to control disease were +based upon commercial convenience rather than upon the saving of life. + +To this long night of superstition succeeded the third and last period, +known as the "Rational," of which the first dawnings can be detected +even in Plantagenet days. In this period it is desirable further to +differentiate three stages of progress--(_a_) that of Development, when +uneasiness made itself felt, but from absence of knowledge efforts at +reform and control were crude, though often intelligent; (_b_) the stage +of Legislation, and (_c_) the stage of Freedom.[97] + +In the first of these, for instance, Henry III. effected an improvement +on any former practice by bringing water to the city of London in pipes, +made by boring or burning a channel through the trunks of large trees. +Half a century later, in 1297-8, laws were promulgated upon the subjects +of offensive trades, food adulteration, and wandering pigs; while +Richard II. imposed penalties upon those guilty of fouling rivers and +ditches. Out of sight out of mind, however, was the sanitary creed of +this and many succeeding generations, so that too often the apparent +gain of the moment sowed the noxious seed of intensified subsequent +ills. + +Sir John Simon has pointed out that it was not until the early part of +the eighteenth century that hygiene in its modern significance loomed on +the social horizon with clearer outline and more definite aims. A +gradual transformation took place in the next hundred and fifty years, +when the national records, as well as the reports of philanthropic +organisations, indicate the gradual growth of a public opinion which +presently sought its sanitary salvation in legislation. The nineteenth +century saw, as a consequence, the accumulation of a huge mass of public +health laws, designed to accomplish reforms where philanthropy or +self-interest had failed to influence habits. + +The suggested designation, namely, the Legislative, is therefore +peculiarly appropriate for this, the second stage of progress in the +third period of our country's hygienic education. To legislation men +pinned their faith as the most potent weapon of reform. From the first +most inadequate and ineffective Factory Act of 1802 until the enactments +of the last parliamentary session, each year has seen substantial +additions made to the growing mass of sanitary legislation, which has +become unwieldy in bulk and intensely complicated in machinery. + +Any attempt to enumerate even a few of the public health laws which +crowd our statute books would here be tedious and out of place, though +the community in general ought to be better acquainted than it is with +its powers and obligations. For, truth to tell, fifty years of public +health administration has proved that human beings are not yet consumed +with a sufficiently strong desire for health and efficiency to be +willing to change objectionable or unwholesome habits or to sacrifice +their conception of comfort at the _suggestion_ of officials. Indeed +the sterner measures of compulsory conformity were so necessary to the +education of the public in the elements of healthy living, that the year +1866 saw the commencement of a new era in Public Health Department of +the Government. "The grammar of common sanitary legislation,"[98] writes +the historian of our "English Sanitary Institutions," "then first +acquired the novel virtue of an imperative mood." "Must" was substituted +in some laws for "may," and though the permissive has not, even in fifty +years, entirely given place to the peremptory, the efforts to effect +individual reform by Act of Parliament have, since the formation of the +Local Government Board in 1872, assumed more importance and vigour. + +Since that date the reports of health committees all over the country +record the substantial results of persevering work in the interests of +hygiene, qualified by the fact that the experience of other nations has +been abundantly confirmed by our own, namely, that it is futile to +legislate in advance of public opinion. Until the populace has been +impregnated with a knowledge of what is right, right action, though +demanded by its legislators, will be perverted by ignorant intention or +by resentful indolence. Even those who have served the cause of +sanitation most loyally recognise that coercion is but a poor yeast with +which to leaven measures for the public weal; the product is liable to +become sour and worthless rather than wholesome and effective. One +higher grade must be passed by the nation under the tutelage of a +sanitary reform before its education can be called complete. + +The final stage in this last long period is described by Professor de +Chaumont as that of "Freedom," of which the attainment is not possible +until action is based on intelligent individual conviction. Then and +then alone there will be a general recognition that "rights" are +inevitably associated with responsibilities, and that true liberty is +followed not by license, but by self-control and respect for the rights +of others. + + +IV. WHY THE IDEALS OF MODERN HYGIENE ARE NOT ATTAINED + +And so it has come about that, with this ideal in view, the methods of +modern hygiene are directed to awaken the nation's sanitary conscience +and to stimulate the growth of true civic freedom. These methods may be +fairly defined as the working of common sense aided by the results of +scientific research, in their turn supported by very carefully tested +applications. Necessarily it is assumed that each individual will accord +to them intelligent, personal support and, where necessary, will be +willing to sink unreasonable likes and dislikes in the sea of social +service. + +Examples of the enormous benefit inseparable from well-considered +sanitary legislation could be multiplied; though, on the other hand, it +is also necessary to check optimism by many illustrations of the +grievous harm still being wrought by want of thought. Hindrance to +possible progress is also associated with the ignorance of those whose +development has not yet attained the level when freedom of action can be +permitted. It is some of the results of this ignorant indolence which +cause the minds of the thoughtful and far-sighted to be tense with +anxiety for the welfare of their country, and arouse a wish for further +and more stringent public health enactments. Nevertheless, again it must +be said that to legislate in advance of public opinion is futile. Only +after stupendous exertion, for instance, has the serious and continued +mortality among infants excited general attention; and the curious, +widespread indifference to the recommendations of recent Royal +Commissions on the Poor Law and the Care of the Feeble-minded indicates +that, were infant mortality controllable by legislation, such +legislation would still fail of its object unless it were also realised +that a child's hold on life is practically dependent upon parental care, +and is intimately associated with maternal nutrition before its birth. + +Or again; the law relating to the protection of the public food supply +is approaching a high pitch of excellence; the penalties on adulteration +or on the sale of diseased or otherwise unwholesome foodstuffs are +severe and quite frequently inflicted; _but_ these regulations are +powerless to influence the errors of nutrition constantly reflected in +the features of our population at each age period, neither can they stem +the tide of self-indulgence, emotionalism and luxury which enervate and +deteriorate thousands of our people. Vain indeed are their endeavours to +disguise by alcoholism and drugs the traces of their misfortunes. Stern +Nature is relentless; her laws are as those of the Medes and Persians; +the children's teeth _shall_ be set on edge by the fruits of the +reckless folly and intemperance of their ancestors. + +Is sanitary legislation therefore a failure, or by what means can light +from the sun of knowledge penetrate this dense mass of ignorance and +apathy? For what reason has it opposed such a resistant surface to the +manipulations of the reformer or to the coercions of the official? These +questions do not, unfortunately, admit of concise or conclusive +replies. + +Each political party in turn points the finger of reproach and derision +at its opponents for the modest success by which their legislative +efforts at social reforms are attended. Disease, malnutrition, +alcoholism and overwork continue to hamper their efforts, and will +continue so to do, until a sanitary conscience is awakened in each +breast, at an age when habits and ideals are still unformed. + +There is no royal road to the solution of these serious problems. They +call for infinite, patient and untiring tact, while they also demand the +employment of many and varied well-considered methods, based on a sound +foundation of sanitary and social science. The day for reform by theory +is over; the moment for practice by individual example and co-operative +effort has arrived. + + +V. SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF MAN'S PHYSICAL NATURE + +Before proceeding to suggest some means by which to increase the +stability of the national health through the agency of family life, it +will be advantageous to recall the advice given to students of any form +of life by Professor Arthur Thomson:--that they should, before +attempting to form conclusions as to its nature, submit its constitution +to analysis, with the assistance of what he described as the biological +prism. This, he says, will throw light on the inherited nature of the +creature--the capital, so to say, with which it is endowed at birth. It +will illuminate the functional nature of its parts, and will reveal what +it does in the course of its ceaseless activities--nervous, muscular and +organic. Further, the prismatic rays will render visible the results of +some of the influences dependent upon the environment with which it is +surrounded, which play upon it before and after birth. Unfortunately +these rays, when directed to human nature, cannot penetrate so deeply +nor divulge so clearly the secrets of this the highest and most complex +form of life, as they do when directed to its simpler manifestations. +All ordinary difficulties are enhanced by our human capacity for racial +admixture and the creation of an artificial environment. + +This much, however, is clearly revealed by a partial analysis. Human +beings, in common with all life, are distinguished by the power of +movement, and are sensitive to many forms of external stimulus:--heat, +cold, electricity, or pressure. They pass their lives in rhythmic +alternations of activity and repose; they breathe; they absorb food to +supply energy and to maintain unimpaired the substance of their bodies; +they excrete waste products. They share with plants and animals an +intrinsic tendency to continue their growth for a certain period and up +to a definite amount, while, at the close of the most pronounced period +of growth, ability to transmit life absorbs the energy hitherto utilised +for personal development, by which means the perpetuation of a species +is secured. Research shows, also without possibility of question, that +certain similar characteristics distinguish the mechanism of every type +of animal life; though the machinery be in some cases of the simplest, +in others highly complex. Thus have been revealed many secrets of man's +physical nature; as, for instance, the knowledge that, in the earliest +stages of their existence, higher forms of life recapitulate more or +less imperfectly certain far-off ancestral phases of development, of +which living specimens are still to be found on the lower branches of +humanity's huge genealogical tree. By means also of the close and +detailed observation of these lowlier organisms a clearer conception +has been formed of the intricacies of growth and the prolonged process +of development in mankind. Just how human beings have come to be what +they are, mentally and morally as well as physically, is a still +unsolved problem. There are, of course, many missing chapters in the +long story of life, though so far no contradictions have been detected +in its arguments. The sad side of this biological lore exists in the now +ascertained fact that the highest intellectual and moral powers, those +last to develop, are the first to suffer arrest or to die away when the +organism is subjected to premature exhaustion or to precocious +responsibility. Predisposing causes are found in disease, dissipation, +or defective nurture. + +Another of the more important lessons to be learnt from the pages of +this book of life's history is the conservative influence of the law of +inherited nature; a law which makes for the preservation of racial types +by suppressing wide deviations from the normal. A familiar illustration +of this may be found in the fact that the children of parents of great +height or of very short stature usually revert to the average of the +race. The significance of this genetic relation in maintaining an +efficient people was unrecognised until quite recent times, and though +valuable evidence is accumulating on the descent of hereditary character +in mankind, no definite conclusions have yet been reached on the +_intensity_ of the transmission of qualities. It is, of course, a +subject of intense complexity, the full discussion of which is here +impossible. In the interests of future generations it is, however, to +be wished that more thought were given to the conclusions it is +allowable to draw. "If," for instance, says a recent writer, "instead of +allowing the race to mate at random we selected both parents for some +one quality, we could raise the intensity of inheritance and establish +gradually, by continued selection, a strain in which the quality reached +a value much higher than the average in the original mixed race...."[99] +Thus could a race be strengthened for life's calls, or, on the contrary, +until and unless the people are awakened to the existence and bearing on +their national security of such fundamental hygienic influences, it can +be emasculated. No such selection is likely ever to dominate human +marriages, but an appreciation of these and similar facts is fundamental +to national progress; and in time the dissemination of such knowledge +will be considered a parental duty, the more urgent since the resources +of civilisation and ill-regulated sympathy have combined to brush aside +the sterner laws of nature, so that the deteriorated threaten to become +the chief progenitors of the next generation. + +During the process of studying the abundant evidence of life's progress +from the simple to the complex, it becomes also apparent that it is +affected by forces other than heredity. Recognition of the ever-present +influence of these potent but often disregarded forces makes for +harmonious living, whereas their neglect is associated with heavy +penalties. I refer to the capacity for individual variation from the +racial type; to the modification of each individual by his or her +surroundings; and to the personal predisposition, technically described +as diathesis, which influences the reaction made to every form of +stimulus. Of these three forces, the first is the result of an inborn +tendency to deviate from the ancestral type; an orderly process with a +definite intention, by no means a mere chance fluctuation. This +certainly makes for progress as well as for interest in life, though it +enhances the difficulties of education, because it demands the +adaptation of conditions to each individual's requirements. The second, +the law of modification, takes into account the influence of environment +upon inherited nature; the effects of climate, and food, for example, or +of forms of occupation. Predisposition is, of course, a personal +quality--a factor of primary importance in our susceptibility to or +power to resist disease or in our capacity to withstand adverse +conditions. This property is responsible for the greater or less degree +of adaptability to new conditions possessed by each of us, and is +concerned with our power to live in tune or at discord with our +surroundings. + +Another biological law, that of periodicity,[100] or of rhythmic +alternations of activity and rest, has hitherto often suffered among +human beings more in the breach than in the observance of its tenets; +though unquestionably conformity to its requirements makes for health +and stability. Throughout nature habits of rhythmic, organic activity +are too familiar to attract attention. Of these, the periodic return of +the seasons, for instance, or the daily tides, the flowering of plants +and the ripening of fruit, the migrations of birds and the hibernation +of certain insects and animals, are obvious examples. These rhythms have +been proved by experience to be advantageous in the world. They make for +efficiency and economise energy, and, from their high degree of +development in man's nature, it may be fairly assumed that to him their +observance is of great consequence. Many of them are beyond his control; +such, for example, as the diurnal variations of his body temperature, +the beating of the heart, the call of hunger, or the rhythm of growth. +Others he can observe or abuse according to his pleasure; sleep, for +instance, or the rhythm of work, or the daily discharge from his body of +its waste products.[101] It is the work of hygiene to demonstrate how to +combine obedience to all these laws with the demands of modern +existence, and it is the duty of man to conform reasonably to modes of +life based on these demonstrations. More especially does responsibility +for the establishment of certain rhythms, such as sleep, devolve upon +the organiser of a child's early life. + + +VI. THE ORIGIN OF FAMILY LIFE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO SANITARY SCIENCE + +Further researches into the records of the past, and a closer study of +the underlying principles upon which humanity has formulated many +generally adopted customs, indicate how unexpectedly intimate is the +relation between the growth of a social organisation and the origin of +primitive efforts after the preservation of life and health. The world +at large is so accustomed to the widespread existence of family life +that curiosity is rarely aroused as to its origin, intention and worth; +consequently to ignorance of its significance must be attributed the +assertion that the custom is well-nigh obsolete and the proposal of some +would-be reformers to abolish the institution and to instal the State +_in loco parentis_. + +Professor McDougall[102] assures us that such is the social importance +of the family that all who have given serious attention to the question +are agreed that the stability of the family is the prime condition of a +healthy state. This opinion is supported by other writers,[103] who have +emphasised their conviction that the healthful development of the +individual--even the possibilities of racial progress--depend to a large +degree upon maintaining intact the integrity of family life. Their +conclusions are based upon recent researches into the sciences of +biology, sociology, and economics. + +The origin of this relation is apparently traceable to one of the many +forms of human association which have proved advantageous in the +struggle for existence, when the value to a man and his wife of so +protecting their offspring during childhood that there should be later +on an array of lusty sons and industrious daughters thrust itself on +their notice. The division of strenuous work, for instance, the pursuit +and preparation of food, the effective defence of their rude shelters +against the depredations of their foes, were substantial advantages to +be derived in primitive times from the possession of a large group of +children. Upon the youthful vigour and strength of their family the +parents could rely also when overtaken by the weakness of old age or by +accident or disease. + +These economic and sociological advantages were so early appreciated +and are so widely adopted that traces of family life are to be +detected in the history and customs of every tribe or community +hitherto investigated. The bond thus formed, even amongst the lowest +savages, first developed, then strengthened the ties of natural +affection between a mother and her children and prolonged its +emotional existence. In the case of the paternal parent, it is +probable that the motives which incited him to make the efforts +necessary for the protection of his helpless infants might more +probably be found in the desire to leave an avenger on individual +enemies and a feeling that funeral rites would be duly performed +after his death, as well as his tribe strengthened in war. + +The gradual development of the human home has been admirably described +by more than one writer, who has associated its evolution with the +gregarious instinct, recognised in many of the higher forms of animal +life.[104] Within reason, associated numbers represent power--power +to preserve the progeny, therefore to maintain the numbers, which +again in reason make for social support and independence. Power for +defence, power to secure an adequate supply of food and ability to +differentiate occupations, thus dividing labour, so that while the men +of a family group were engaged in war or the chase, their womenkind +devoted their attention to the creature comforts which promote +health and efficiency--these are all factors which make for progress. + + +VII. WOMAN'S VOCATION IN HOME AND FAMILY LIFE + +And so it came about that to some extent woman's special and privileged +vocation as a home-maker began even in prehistoric times. Upon her it +devolved to rear the children she bore; to cook, to mend, to make, to +spin and dye and weave; to prepare a welcome for the victor and to +minister to the sick or wounded. No sense of menial limitation in +their duties was apparent among the notable women of the past. They +were skilled workers, capable and respected managers, under whose +direction men as well as women carried out the details of daily work, +to whose care in later centuries castle and garrison were entrusted in +the absence of their lords, and who most evidently assumed this +responsibility with confidence and success. + +The changing conditions of the last three centuries, however, reacted in +many ways to the detriment of women's domestic energies and sapped their +pride in the vocation of housewife. Industrial developments took much +occupation out of their hands, and they were not apparently concerned to +undertake others more in consonance with modern life. As concentration +of the population in large centres undermined the last survival of +feudal conditions, the strong conservative instinct of women made it +hard for them to adapt themselves and their households to revised +methods:--to substitute "new lamps for old," so that gradually it seems +women became split up into two parties, somewhat out of sympathy one +with the other. Adherence to the traditions of the past and the +attractions of social life distinguished the one party; a restless +desire to give scope to their whole nature and to work out their own +salvation on unconventional lines possessed the other. In the one case +there was no desire for domestic reformation. What methods could be +better than their great-grandmother's! In the other, glimpses of what +seemed a far wider and more intellectual life than that of the ordinary +housewife diminished interest in the physical needs of human nature, +which it was thought made no claims on mental faculties, and of which +the daily care was constantly associated with irksome restrictions and a +position of financial dependence. + +It is not possible here even to outline the numerous social and +commercial innovations which have modified every side of daily life +for the last two hundred years; but, when inclined harshly to rebuke +women for some of their now almost inexplicable blindness to these +changes, it is well to remember that the flood of new discoveries, new +inventions, new modes of transit, new forms of occupation and +amusement, new means of money-making and fresh excitements imposed an +enormous strain upon nervous systems, still but slowly adapting +themselves to the stir and stress of the modern world. That eyes +should be temporarily dazzled by the brilliance of the "wonderful +century"; that the first results of freedom from a period of unnatural +restraint should be intoxication with liberty, is not surprising. Full +of encouragement is, however, the fact that an increasing number of +women of all ranks are engaged to-day in efforts to direct the light +of modern knowledge to the betterment of human life; the movement +speaks for the innate soundness of their womanhood and for their +realisation of their imperial responsibilities. Many of these efforts +are still unsystematised, many good intentions are held to be of +equal worth with organised practical knowledge; many women are alive +only to the needs of the least favoured of the community and are dead +to the urgent calls for intelligent reforms in their own domiciles. But +if the willing mind be there, the direction of the work into desirable +channels will slowly though surely follow. It is most certainly +unnecessary to pour every girl into the mould of a conventional +German hausfrau in order that she may perceive the inner meaning of +family life. God fulfils Himself in many ways, and diversity of training +and of interests is as beneficial as it is desirable. Neither can the +women of a country single-handed conserve this great institution of +family life. The loyalty of boys and the co-operation of men are +imperative to its preservation. They as well as their mothers, wives, +and sisters must realise its responsibilities and opportunities, and +must maintain the dignified position of those who preside over this +unit of community life; they also must respond to the crying need for +its adaptation to the requirements of modern civilisation. + + +VIII. THE FUNCTION OF THE FAMILY IN NATIONAL LIFE + +Mrs. Bosanquet[105] has told us that the most important economic +function of the family to-day is its direct control of the prosperity or +ruin of nations; for here alone are found in combination the forces +which determine the quantity of the population with the forces which +determine its quality. To control these forces offers, to say the least, +a life-work for countless men and women. Both parents must safeguard the +character of their children's inherited nature; both sexes are more or +less directly or remotely concerned in the provision of a suitable +environment for human lives, infant or adult. Under the circumstances it +may well be a matter for surprise that we have been so slow to perceive +that the right performance of these duties demands a preliminary study +of the art of preserving health and promoting progress, and we marvel at +the placid spirit of content which has sanctioned the conversion into a +stronghold of empiricism, the very place where a sound knowledge of +progressive sanitary science is of primary importance. + +In the book to which reference has been already made, Mrs. Bosanquet +also enumerates the causes which in her opinion militate most actively +against the continuance of family life at the present day. Among others +she mentions evasion of responsibility, self-indulgence (with which we +are very familiar), reliance upon external sources of maintenance, and +the unequal distribution among the members of a family of the burden of +support. Further, she refers to the unfortunate failure among parents to +realise that the old Roman customs of parental possession and filial +submission are out of date to-day, and calls upon the wise guardian to +substitute others which lead to loyalty and love. + +The new movement for a study of the characteristics of childhood and +adolescence should materially contribute to the realisation that this +parental attitude of dominant authority must be now associated with and +modified by a more balanced understanding of the phases of youthful +development and of the intricacies of individual temperament. +Convenience has hitherto encouraged the customary regulation of a group +of young lives as if they were one and the same individual, no allowance +being made for variation in character or in age, in propensities or in +health. Each nursery party or infant school serves to illustrate the +point. Individual tendencies to cold or to fatigue, to nerve storms or +to indolence; individual capacities in diet, occupation or exercise, +must be intelligently respected if potentialities are to become +actualities. + +In the well-conducted home, for example, a study of individual character +must in the future replace cast-iron discipline or easy-going, +child-spoiling indulgence. The fact that the early cultivation of good +habits makes for healthful happiness must be generally appreciated; and +the duty of the home to provide opportunity for the exercise of personal +tastes, the importance of training as a relief to nervous strain and as +the best means to develop resource and skill, must be perceived. It will +be by this constant understanding supervision in early years, and later +by the cultivation of an intimate sympathetic comradeship with his +children, that the modern parent will retain for his country the +cementing force of family life. + + +IX. THE MEANING OF INFANCY + +The great discovery of John Fiske as to the reasons for the long +continuance of childhood in man must not be overlooked in this +connection; it bears so directly on health and efficiency, and is +closely associated with the importance of the family to the individual +as well as to the nation. Why, it may be asked, is man's period of +helplessness so prolonged; why, when his brain development reaches so +high a standard, is he for years in a position of entire dependence, +whereas snakelet and chick are practically self-supporting from the hour +of hatching? When the lower forms of animal life are compared with +mankind, the non-existence in their case of any such stage as infancy is +at once apparent. They are brought into the world able to take care of +themselves and to live an independent individual existence. Young pigs +run almost as soon as they are born, young swallows fly directly they +are fledged. + +Now, if the structure of lower animals be examined, it will be found +that they have no central warehouse corresponding to the human brain for +the storage of new sensations or for an elaborate and original response +to them. Each such animal repeats the life of its parents; each responds +in exactly the same way to the contact of air, of earth, of food, or of +water. Their activities, it is true, are distinguished by accuracy and +despatch, but the offspring of a hen of the twentieth century has no +larger capacity for the variation of these activities than has the +chick which was hatched out six thousand years ago. The guinea-pig of +to-day, for example, remains mentally at the level of his thousandth +ancestor. Wherein then lies the difference between the pig and the +baby? + +As animals rise in the scale, as their brains become more subtle, more +elaborate in structure, their actions become correspondingly more +numerous and complicated, more varied, more individual. The nervous +systems of such animals are characterised by an increasing complexity of +development, and this provides the machinery necessary to the +performance of an increasing number of muscular and mental +co-ordinations; they can adapt themselves to unfamiliar surroundings and +possess much enhanced advantages in the struggle for existence. _But_, +associated with these advantages, is a much longer period of immaturity, +because, where the capacity for flexibility and progress is great, the +antenatal period is insufficient for the establishment of the necessary +nervous connections or even for the development of the brain cells +between which these connections will be formed. The chick will have its +full plumage in ten weeks, but mentally it is far below a dog or a +monkey, whose period of immaturity is much longer. Similarly, the dog +attains his maturity long before the monkey, who is infinitely his +superior in fertility of resource, power to learn through imitation, and +capacity for attention. The infant in its turn is far longer in a +dependent condition than the highest ape. + +Relatively large in bulk at birth, and reaching usually its full mass in +the first fourteen years of life, the human brain possesses throughout +childhood vast silent areas, big with future potentialities, areas in +which the cells are slowly ripening to function. Even after full growth +in size is reached, many more years must pass before capacity for the +higher mental functions or for the complete control of such functions +has developed. It must be borne in mind that, throughout this period of +immaturity, errors of nutrition or defective stimulation may interfere +with function. One of the most important duties of the home is to +provide the suited environment for its child occupants during these long +and anxious years. How long they are has been emphasised by Dr. +Clouston,[106] who has said that, of all the periods of brain growth, +the most important, as regards the development of our highest moral and +mental potentialities, is that between eighteen and twenty-five years of +age, when the capacity for self-control should be coming into function +in its highest relations, and when failure to ripen in due course is +fraught with most serious consequences for the future. + +There is no such thing, therefore, as infancy or parental care in the +lowest orders of animal life; of which, one result is a gigantic +mortality among their offspring. Enormous numbers of eggs are laid to +ensure the preservation of the species when left to fend for +themselves. The turbot, for instance, must deposit millions of minute +glassy ova or the species would become extinct. Even among frogs the +destruction of tadpoles is so great that provision must be made to allow +for this loss. The fostering care of birds for their young at once +permits a great reduction in the number of the offspring; but, though +birds give evidence of some capacity for parental care, infancy, as +such, is really confined to mammalian young. Even here it is curtailed +in a vast number of species; but wherever it exists it stands for power +to progress, and represents capacity for benefiting by, indeed depending +upon, education, if only in the simple form of learning by imitation--a +form familiar to readers of such books as Long's "Schools of the +Woods." + +Plasticity is the hall-mark of progress; educability indicates a brain +more or less competent to assimilate, to remember, to compare, to +discriminate. This door of progress has been merely set ajar for even +the higher apes; it is open to man only. The period of plasticity is +evidently prolonged in proportion to the degree in which conscious +intelligence has superseded mere brute force in promoting successful +survival--that is to say, the transmission of _mental ability_ rather +than of _physical strength_ postpones maturity. Man alone possesses in +full the powers of selection and adaptation, of reason and of emotion, +of memory and of mental originality, which are included in his rich +heritage of life. If he is to realise his full potentialities, he must +have protection for years after birth and an extended time for +development. The immature infant must be fed, sheltered, and stimulated, +if the inherent powers of adjustment to surroundings are to develop +normally. But so great is the instability associated with human +immaturity and future potentiality, that arrested development is too +often the heavy penalty paid by the child for the ignorance and +carelessness of his parents.[107] Faults of food and clothing, +insufficient warmth, cleanliness, or exercise, premature work or +precocious responsibility and independence, prolonged overstrain or +insufficient stimulation of mind and body, are the prevalent causes by +which a child's normal growth is warped and prejudiced. Where this +occurs he never enters into his birthright of power; it has too often +been thoughtlessly bartered by his natural guardians, literally for a +mere mess of pottage. + + +X. CAUSES WHICH MENACE HEALTHFUL INFANCY AND CHILDHOOD + +Perhaps one of the greatest inconsistencies of an inconsistent nation +lies in the fact that the extraordinary ignorance of the elementary +needs of a tender infant is not confined to one section of society; it +is found in Belgravia as well as in Bermondsey. Thus, though the chief +sources of the tuberculosis which is responsible for the presence of 45 +per cent. of the children in the London Invalid Schools are confined to +the homes of the poorer classes,[109] inquiries into the incidence of +rickets among children in Glasgow show a higher percentage of cases in +the families of mechanics than of labourers[110]--a clear illustration +that ignorance and not poverty is here the predisposing cause. Impure +air and stuffy, ill-ventilated rooms are concerned in the susceptibility +to both diseases, as is also malnutrition with its associated diminution +of the innate powers of self-protection. But, in the one case, inability +to provide suitable food is the general cause; while in the other, +inexcusable ignorance of the right forms in which food should be +supplied to young children is a certain source of the evil. + +The thought is pathetic, for the causes are wholly preventable. Pitiful +also, because less excusable, is the grievous injury to health +associated with a mouth full of rotten teeth, permitted as it is among +families possessed of sufficient means to meet the cost of cure, who +prefer to spend their money upon dress and amusement, or among the +members of which necessary endurance of a trifling shock has not been +cultivated. Were the foulness of the discharge from a carious tooth to +be externally visible, the æsthetic instinct among the refined would +clamour for prompt treatment; but, unfortunately for health, the results +of the disease are concealed, and consequently condoned. + +Again: light, sunshine and quiet are now known to be essential to +physical development and to the possession of a sound nervous system; +the statement amounts to a platitude, for is not every wealthy invalid +despatched to complete convalescence by the sea or in the country, and +is not the custom of a general annual holiday due largely to the +conscious benefits derived from an open-air life far from the bustle of +towns? Yet physical morality is so poorly developed that the atmosphere +of suburban as well as urban districts is permanently obscured by the +preventable and wasteful results of imperfect combustion, though the +detriment is incalculable to those whose lives see no change of air. +The ceaseless rumble of noisy traffic, allowed to disturb the rest of +thousands, or more probably of millions, of our population, is another +factor responsible for the prevalence of unstable nerves and of +ill-balanced brains. It assumes great gravity when it is realised that +among these sleepers are numbered the children whose hours of rest are +already most seriously curtailed. + +Another sin against childhood bears long enduring fruits. I refer to the +terrible results upon the lives of those infants who survive efforts to +prevent their birth. The fact ought to be, if it is not, common +knowledge; yet the sale of the infamous drugs, necessary to the crime, +by pennyworths, in every drug-store, is tacitly sanctioned by the +community. + +Professor Sadler's[111] determination to direct attention to the +requirements of our adolescents has aroused such response, that excuse +is now impossible for ignoring the detrimental effects upon young people +of unskilled, exhausting "blind alley" work, or of removing prematurely +the restraint of moral discipline and systematised training.[112] +Statistics show not only the economic disasters which result from the +unsatisfactory methods of past years; they bring home also the steady +increase in the percentage of the proportion of nervous instability as +well as of anæmia, which interfere with the form of brain growth so +rapid in adolescence (namely, increase in complexity of association, and +in power to inhibit, to reason, and to concentrate). Another result of +these investigations is to draw attention to the increase in organic +heart disease, which has been shown to occur in more than thirty per +cent. of the London errand boys who are engaged in prolonged work on +Saturdays, as well as in out-of-school hours during the week.[113] + +Should not parents inform themselves diligently on these matters? for +there are warnings and to spare from physician and educationalist upon +this reckless wreckage of the nation's most valuable asset. It was +pointed out ten years ago that the imposition of adult duties upon the +child, or even upon the young adolescent, is the most effective +machinery for the manufacture of the unemployed and the unemployable. +Only now, however, are bye-laws being sanctioned which impose at all +adequate restrictions upon child labour. For a longer period the steady +migration of the rural population from country to towns has been +bemoaned, as coupled with the risk lest the deterioration of the +individual decline into the degeneration of the race. Nevertheless, in +spite of the sustained efforts of the Rural Housing Association and of +private individuals, the housing problem still lies at the root of some +at least of this exodus. Miserable and inconvenient as are hundreds of +our cottages, their number is still insufficient in many places to meet +the demand; so perforce the young people of marriageable age must go, or +the elementary code of decency must be violated. + +The curse of alcohol,[114] too, lies heavy on our land; it shortens +life, incapacitates for work, impoverishes and degrades; visits in +innumerable forms the sins of the parents upon their innocent yet +grievously afflicted children; promotes crime and perverts judgment. +Each year brings more statistical and biological evidence of its +enduring and deteriorating effects upon humanity. It seems strange, +therefore, that the law to insist upon the provision of an adequate +water supply for every dwelling remains entirely insufficient to meet +the most urgent needs of many town streets as well as country villages. +Cleanliness is consequently impossible, and the public-house must be +perforce frequented, for it provides a beverage more palatable and +perhaps as wholesome as the cottager's nearest supply. + + +XI. THE SOURCE OF THESE CAUSES TO BE FOUND IN FAULTY ADMINISTRATION OF +THE HOME + +May not the causes of some considerable proportion of this apathy be +traced to a want of popular faith in the teachings of hygiene? Is not +one source of the prevalent unbelief in its tenets to be found in the +widespread ignorance of the right administration of human life in the +home, which turns out therefore a product of unhealthy, inharmonious +citizens, who are a source of weakness to their country and a menace to +civilisation? How could it be otherwise? If the cradle of life be +defective, and its occupants be debilitated, it is not the nurslings +alone upon whom the penalties will fall; whereas if home administration +be guided by intelligence, and the quality of the inmates be high, +individual and national prosperity are assured. The burden of +responsibility or the privilege of promoting progress (according to the +spirit in which obligations are assumed) rests with those who propose to +be or already are parents; they being influenced in their turn by the +educational and social conditions of their surroundings. Parental care +and intelligent home management are thus intimately concerned with the +physical evolution of the race, as well as with its moral development. +They must, therefore, assume an increasing rather than a diminishing +importance, if the full development of potentialities is to be insured +in the rising generation, and racial progress promoted. Any proclivity +to depreciate the dignity or to undermine the influence of these +institutions must be carefully examined and, if necessary, sternly +repressed. + +The fact that such tendencies show signs of sprouting is, it seems to +me, a serious reflection upon the parental and domestic methods of the +day. There is no smoke without fuel; faults are rarely all on one side; +the young are not necessarily always in the wrong; therefore, a course +of self-examination into their methods and motives may be a wholesome +and fruitful discipline for those who are responsible for the nature and +nurture of our children, and for the stability and efficiency of +adolescent and adult. The absence of elasticity and adaptation to modern +requirements among the elders of a family is often responsible for +miserable homes, and for much arrested development in their inmates. + + +XII. HARMONIES AND DISHARMONIES IN HUMAN LIFE + +Such a condition of affairs is, however, no longer to be tolerated; +for the result of research carried out during the past and present +centuries has opened up a hitherto unsuspected vista of progress to +mankind, if and when he is intelligent enough to establish an +harmonious unison between himself and his environment. Once the +jarring discords of debility, disease, and deterioration have been +modulated into the major chords of health--moral and physical--the +latent potentialities of his higher life will be quickened into +productive activity. The misconception of humanity which has denied +to it the power to rise above the level of present attainments, which +has dwelt insistently upon the hopeless degradation of the body, has +brought about a condition of enervating and passive fatalism, based +upon the conviction that all reforming efforts must be directed +solely to the preparation of one part only of man's triune nature for +another and future sphere of existence. The duty and possibility of +building a fit temple for man's spiritual nature here and now is the +ideal of a minority to-day--in the future it will be that of an +overwhelming majority; for the proofs of human capacity for progress, of +man's power to control the forces of nature, are ever becoming more +firmly authenticated, and all that they imply will soon become far +better understood. + +Though our knowledge of the subject is still incomplete and often +tentative, much progress has been made, for instance, in a correct +conception of the means by which the physiological balance of human life +is adjusted, since Metchnikoff[115] drew attention to the interference +brought about in man's normal development by certain fundamental +disharmonies in his constitution, of which the end is premature death, +if not a pathological old age. It is quite evident that unjustifiable +encroachments upon the reserve powers of the human body have been +commonly permitted hitherto, and though each year brings fresh proof of +the extraordinary endowment which it possesses to respond to the +demands made upon it, yet each year also confirms the conviction that +this reserve fund must in future be husbanded and used with economy. +When these powers are constantly drawn upon the body is necessarily +reduced to a lower level of health. If the metaphor be employed of the +body as a building in course of erection, it becomes obvious that if one +of a group of converging thrusts be much weakened or withdrawn, a +skilful rearrangement of forces may meet the strain, but the total +strength of the structure is reduced. In how many cases has the temple +of a child's body been permanently damaged by such withdrawals, or how +many adolescents are launched into life with their capital of health +seriously diminished by premature calls upon its resources. + +The duty to maintain so far as possible a condition of physiological +equilibrium in ourselves and in our children amounts to an obligation; +for which reason health promotion during the plastic period of early +life assumes a new importance. Of course, a certain capacity for +vicarious activity is associated with the various organs of the body in +order to maintain their functions against temporary failure. Healthy +tissues are furnished with power to respond to increased call for +exertion. How often are they most sorely abused and unwisely taxed? Even +now, when made aware of these facts, we are slow to apply to the conduct +of life the lessons thus taught us, and continue to be filled with +self-commiseration for the results to our bodies of overtaxing their +capacity for accurate readjustment. + +It is not possible, much less desirable, that the whole population +should plunge into amateur studies of recent physiological advance, nor +even that it should dabble, as its units are too much disposed to do, in +pseudo-scientific pathological publications. But it is both possible and +desirable for all who assume the direction of their own lives or those +of children to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" some fruits of +the labours of others in the garden of health. + +Were there one fixed standard of health to which all could attain, the +practice of hygiene would be attended by a charming simplicity. +Unfortunately, modern science forces us to conclude that each individual +can only reach his own particular standard of well-being. The grades of +health are consequently infinite in number, and the task which devolves +on parents and guardians to secure that the standard possible to each +child under their care be attained is no light one. So general is the +blindness to these truths, that the degree of health enjoyed is in most +cases far below the possible standard; the results of ancestral vice, of +parental ignorance, or of defective environment having sapped +prematurely the springs of progressive potentiality.[116] The mental and +physical balance is thus rendered relatively less stable and the powers +of resistance to adverse conditions are diminished. + +Happily, by virtue of its inherent power, but strictly in proportion to +the vigour of this power, an organism is usually able to strike a new +balance; for the capacity to regain its equilibrium is exquisitely +delicate in human nature, _if_ the change be neither too sudden nor too +severe. Throughout life this process of self-adaptation to the presence +of morbid influences is constantly exercising its protective power. If, +however, the effort to overcome disadvantageous conditions be very great +or much prolonged, the life of the individual is never quite so vigorous +and symmetrical as it might and should have been. In a luminous address, +delivered at the University of Leeds some few months ago,[117] Lord +Justice Fletcher Moulton instituted a comparison between the human +organism, which invariably tends to swing back to the normal whenever +the balance of health is disturbed, and a ship which has safely +weathered a stormy voyage. The ship, he writes, "is not stable, if +stability means that she can defy the forces that bear on her to move +her from her normal upright position, for ... the slightest roll of the +sea ... will make her heel over. But she is stable, because when made to +lean over, there is thereby generated a system of forces tending to +return her to her place, which grows greater the greater is the +displacement, and thus ultimately becomes sufficient to overpower the +disturbing forces.... As the ship arrives safely, her construction must +be such that disturbances tend to right themselves when stability is +seriously endangered. Some corresponding righting force also tends to +bring back an organism to its normal state." + +The caution may not be amiss that the amplitude of the swing of a human +pendulum, as well as the accuracy of its final balance, depends not only +upon inherited nature and the amount of reserve force possessed, but +will be stable or feeble, durable or transient, according to the +influence of environment. + +In what way, it will be asked, can individual capacity for health be +gauged? to what degree can the power to progress or to resist +encroachments be strengthened? at what age is intelligent supervision +most important? + +No concise and conclusive answers can be given to these most natural +inquiries, but much light has been recently thrown upon the long +duration of immaturity and associated instability in mankind; upon the +power of self-protection inherent in the body;[118] upon the influence +thereon of its environment; upon the penetrating power of heredity; and +upon the urgent importance of the adolescent period. + +Further, it appears that the healthful body is equipped to withstand the +attack of the bacteria of most diseases, though the mechanism of +self-defence is of more kinds than one. Of the different pathological +bacteria identified up to the present, for instance, some appear to be +eminently sensible to one kind of action of normal blood fluids, while +they are in a much less measure sensible, or are, perhaps, entirely +insensible to others; a complication which enhances our respectful +admiration for the marvellous and intricate system which provides for +our bodily welfare. Obviously, human nature would be practically immune +from disease if this protective machinery were always in good working +order: unfortunately this is not invariably the case--hence disease. It +is the duty of hygiene to insure constant physical equilibrium, but the +intricate tactics of Nature are as yet so imperfectly understood that +man is not yet an ally of great worth in her operations. + +Nevertheless, the perception that the secret of individual health lies +in fostering the resistant or protective elements, which should be +present in normal blood, marks a great step in advance; for from it have +originated measures to curtail the course of an illness and to reduce +the risk of its recurrence. It is hardly Utopian to forecast, as Sir +Almroth Wright has done, that the physician of the future will take upon +himself a still higher rôle than he has hitherto assumed in this work of +the prevention of ill-health, for he will attempt, by means of +systematically strengthening individual capacity for resistance to +disease, to remove the necessity for curing those who have fallen +victims to its attacks. The gain in health, in happiness, in time and in +money would be incalculable. For instance, had the death-rate _all_ over +England during 1908 stood at 13.8 per thousand, instead of at favoured +places only, no less than 33,831 lives would have been saved. Of these +deaths, one-fifth were those of infants under twelve months old, the +majority of them wholly preventable. What a reckless waste of racial and +national capital; what an unnecessary cause of bitter sorrow and +disappointment; what a source of unprofitable expenditure! The +calculation has been made that for each death there are at least six +cases of more or less serious illness, involving confinement to bed for +a few days or a few weeks as the case may be. A simple multiplication +sum will enable the reader to estimate the amount of serious illness +represented by the total arrived at: the loss in time, health, happiness +and efficiency is incalculable. + +The bright prospects for human health in the future, therefore, rely +largely upon the use which will be made of this protective machinery, +and the prospective gain to humanity lies in the hope that when family +histories are kept systematically and the inherited tendencies of a +child are far more accurately known, the invading forces of disease will +never get a footing, because precautions to strengthen the body's own +defensive powers will be taken as a matter of routine practice. The +physiological balance being thus preserved from disturbance, the great +fund of energy now utilised to resist encroachments will be available +for productive purposes. + +So great a reformation cannot of course be brought about till shame is +felt for the scandalously low standard of health now common among all +classes, nor until a general determination is developed to remove the +minor miseries from which we all suffer more or less impatiently. + + +XIII. THE IMPORTANCE OF MENTAL HYGIENE IN FAMILY LIFE + +The result of a curious obtuseness to the economics of personal and +domestic hygiene is also responsible for another serious dereliction of +parental duty, by which health and progress have been grievously, though +quite unnecessarily and constantly, hampered. I refer to the general +failure to economise nervous energy or to take any interest in what is +rightly called mental hygiene. Yet Press and people alike deplore the +evident increase of mental abnormalities, and anticipate the future with +undisguised anxiety. It has been well said that though men carry more of +the wood, women carry not less of the worries of life. They _may_ in +some cases escape the physical toil which strengthens; they do _not_ +escape the mental toil which demoralises and kills spirit and energy if +not body and health. Now, though the brain tissues do not create mental +activities, nevertheless we all know that they are conditioned in some +inexplicable way by that organ. Derangement in any part of the brain +deranges or diminishes its functions; non-development in any part of the +brain can and does arrest mind growth. Chronic over-fatigue and +exhaustion, anæmia however produced, the circulation through the nervous +tissues of impure blood, alter the character of the mental processes. +The results of starvation may so distort them, that the horrors of the +French Revolution are attributed by some authorities to this particular +cause. That the imperfect lymph circulation associated with adenoid +vegetations accounts for much so-called stupidity is one of the first +fruits of the medical inspection of school children; that a severe shock +may destroy intelligence is a fact familiar to every expert in mental +hygiene. If it were generally known to parents that every impression +received by this, the most sensitive of all organs, is stored up from +early infancy, albeit subconsciously, and can at some future time rise +up into the field of consciousness, influencing both thought and action +for good or ill, a very different line of conduct would be taken towards +the persons or the places which make up a young child's surroundings and +most indelibly impress his brain cells. + +It is surely time, therefore, that some broad outline of the process of +normal development of the whole nervous system should be possessed by +all in charge of children. Every mother, for example, should know that +the movements of a new-born baby, such as the facial contortions +observed during sleep, or the stretching and bending of the limbs in +very young infants, involuntary and automatic in character, constitute +the simplest form of nervous activity. They are the necessary precursors +of that intellectual ability, to the development of which parental +ambitions aspire, and should merge into more advanced forms of nerve and +muscle co-ordination, which, rightly utilised, are invaluable agents in +infant education.[119] An intelligent nurse possessed of even this +outline could begin quite early that training in physiological +righteousness and in the strict voluntary control of the whole group of +emotional expressions, of which, as a little reflection will quickly +show, good manners largely consist. Presently, as the brain cells are +stimulated into function by nutrition and a quicker and more extensive +recognition of external sensations is acquired, a child will perform +instinctive movements, such as sitting, crawling, standing, walking, +jumping and throwing. Though considerable latitude must be allowed for +their wide individual variation, failure to display these evidences of +mental progress should call for careful investigation. Later on, skill +in a hundred different forms of muscular activity should be displayed; +but many years will elapse before full control of the body in all its +parts will be acquired, and more years still must roll by before +reasoned control of the mental and moral actions is developed. The last +years of this long period of development are, perhaps, the most critical +of the whole; though all depend for their favourable fruition upon an +infinity of loving care and suitable provision for their appropriate +activities. + +There would be a marked reduction in exhausting disciplinary +difficulties were every parent aware that, to the almost vegetative +character of the first few post-natal months (when sleep will or should +absorb at least twenty hours out of the twenty-four), will succeed a +period of extraordinary activity, which lasts till about eight or nine +years of age, when the mind is essentially an exploring organ; +imitative, impressionable, retentive. Every legitimate opportunity for +the liberal gratification of these characteristics should be provided, +as well as suitable surroundings for the eager, inquiring brain. +Elaborate toys are not necessary, nor is premature book-learning +permissible; but freedom to investigate, to experiment, to test, to +explore, is the child's urgent need, as well as suitable arrangements +for the intervening periods of profound sleep. Repressed activity is +often responsible for breaches of discipline; so is insufficient sleep, +following on over-excitement, accountable for "temper" and passions. + +The next phase of growth is still distinguished by this continued +capacity for and dependence upon muscular activity, but the mind +becomes more reflective, more productive. The power to initiate should +develop during this stage of development, as well as increased power to +control mental and bodily functions; and, throughout each of these +periods, there should be a steady, unintermittent formation of good +habits. At first, the nature of these will be chiefly physical; the +habitual performance of the bodily functions should be safeguarded, +until their neglect is attended by discomfort and their violation +becomes almost painful. Then, by degrees, the moral and mental nature +develops. + +Thus is the child prepared for the stress and turmoil of the long and +anxious years of adolescence; when, under the influence of new emotions, +of fresh temptations, of unfamiliar powers, the character built on the +sands of parental indulgence is undermined, if not swept clean away; +whereas when built on the firm rock of good habits it emerges unshaken +from the storm. + +That childhood is an honourable estate must be now evident; pregnant as +it is with possibilities, pathetic in the risks associated with its +plasticity and dependence. Should it therefore be necessary in the +twentieth century to point out that, when the fund of nervous energy is +constantly exhausted by deficient sleep and poor food; when a demand on +function in advance of what nature is prepared to comply with is +persistently made, as it has habitually been in our schools; when +exaggerated and pernicious stimuli are allowed to fatigue and to +paralyse our child population; when inadequate training in the right +conduct of life is provided, and no information given on the dawning +functions of potential parenthood; when premature responsibility is +imposed or precocious and unwholesome independence is permitted; worst +of all, when, through parental disease or alcoholism, the brain tissue +is of too poor a quality to resist the strain of modern life--it is no +matter for surprise that mental instability and insanity are on the +increase, nor that degenerates hamper by their helplessness and crime +the productive capacity of the normal. + +The importance of mental hygiene calls for no more emphasis on my part; +though, did space permit, further illustrations might be given of its +scope. It includes the methods in our nurseries, the curriculum of our +schools, the care of our adolescents, the increasing differentiation of +our industrial processes, the character of our often miscalled +recreations. It is concerned with the warding off of nervous breakdowns, +and, with Goethe, it would call the attention of all women to the fact +that the secret of rest is found not "in quitting a busy career, but +rather the fitting of self to one's sphere." It views with anxiety the +growing disregard of religious obligations and restraints, and +emphasises the grave antenatal responsibilities of parents for their +offspring; they who should be the most ardent advocates of a sound +heredity, as well as the promoters of a good home environment for their +children. + + +XIV. WOMAN'S RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HOME ADMINISTRATION + +Thus, though the human constitution is still imperfectly understood, +though its intricacies and the details of environmental influences are +still mainly undefined, the women of every nation must nevertheless see +to it that progress in the administration of the home keeps pace with +modern demands for revised methods and less conservative practice, in +order to give every chance of normal health to their occupants. + +It is a serious reflection upon many housekeepers that the hall-mark of +progressive civilisation, namely growth in power to organise, is +generally absent from their domestic methods. The time will come when it +will be to them a matter for the deepest searchings of heart that they +are directly and inexcusably responsible for a mass of the disharmonies +which disfigure the fugue of family life. The fact is too certain to be +denied. Homes have not developed in proportion to the opportunities +offered, and the chief opponents to progress have been their organisers. +The economic link they form between the physical economics of the +individual and the social economics of the nation has been unnoticed. +Reference to the hygienic significance of due economy of time, of +strength and of health, as well as of money, has hitherto been generally +met with incredulous smiles; and though home has been extolled as the +place for children, how scant has been the attention devoted to their +legitimate requirements, and how few demands for special training have +emanated from, or been attempted by, those who have undertaken the sole +charge of young lives during their most important and impressionable +years. + +The new movement, designed to foster the science and art of right +living, cannot gain strength and influence unless it receives the +whole-hearted support of the millions of women whose lives and energies +are absorbed in the care of man's physical needs. It behoves _them_ to +recognise that intuition and tireless industry are insufficient +qualifications for their imperial service, and they must themselves +promote the substitution of systematic training for rule-of-thumb +anomalies. + +This training must be varied and comprehensive. No other profession is +concerned with so many interests nor associated with more fateful +responsibilities. For those who can afford the time, it should include a +general acquaintance with the biological basis of life, and should +further direct attention to the vast mental and moral endowments which +give pre-eminence to our race. The products of literature and art and +the records of natural and moral science afford ever present evidence of +the extent of these endowments, and of the executive capacity associated +with their utilisation. + +Chemistry must play a prominent part in the training, were it only for +the insight it gives into the inviolable law of cause and effect! +besides which physiologists tell us that the chief commerce of our +bodies with their environment is chemical; therefore, this subject +becomes an indispensable element in any comprehensive course of domestic +training. Without a working acquaintance with the physics of water, of +heat, or of air, a housewife is at the mercy of her architect, if not of +her plumber and her servants. In the absence of an introduction to +bacteriology she lives in constant perplexity over the vagaries of her +larder; and is at a loss to understand the sources of fermentation or +the methods of infection by the majority of known diseases. Without an +insight into economics she is helpless in the hands of the advertiser or +the vendor of patent preparations, all of whose wares are warranted to +perform impossible feats with an infinitesimal expenditure of trouble. +At their best these preparations are expensive, and at their worst they +are injurious to health. + +Some personal practice of the domestic arts is also advisable even for +the wealthy; it is indeed essential to a right adjustment of the daily +duties in a home, though naturally the degree of skill acquired will +depend on the style of living. A study of hygiene in sufficient detail +is of course imperative, and while it will remove difficulties by +explaining common errors in diet, habits, and dress, it will be found +materially to lighten labour. Finally, hygiene will render extraordinary +assistance in the right rearing of children and in the general +arrangements of family life. + +The objections may here be advanced that the study of these scientific +subjects is uncongenial to those whose temperaments are artistic or +literary; upon these people sanitary science has surely meagre claims, +while life is not long enough for all to pursue such exhaustive studies. +The reply to the first objection must be in the negative. There can be +no health under modern conditions of existence unless those who assume +responsibility in the affairs of men possess a scientific acquaintance +with its right regulation. The subjects just enumerated are the very +pillars which support the temple of Hygeia. But, for the encouragement +of these complainants, be it added that the temple walls demand +decoration; the shelves must be filled with wholesome mental provender; +the gifts of both artist and author are therefore contributory to +harmonious living, and an unlimited scope is offered to their +utilisation. The building which shelters a healthy family, for instance, +should be characterised not only by advances on existing provisions for +convenience but by symmetry in its parts. The test of beauty (use, ease, +and economy) can certainly not be passed by a large proportion of modern +houses, neither do they provide the space which gives to each occupant +"a chance to utilise his own gifts or to pursue his own hobby." Space +needs in its turn regulation, for the saving of steps must be considered +and compactness is essential. Decorations and furniture should also be +suitable in form and colour to their purpose, not a mere heterogeneous +confusion of inappropriate colours and articles, out of tune one with +the other. + +The natural needs of normal children, too, must be more taken into +account in the future than in the past, and the conveniences offered by +scientific progress must be far more generally introduced into the most +modest homes. Here is a huge field for intelligent, artistic work; for +true beauty and real utility are near of kin. + +It has been said that as in the world of life the localisation of +function made the organ subsequently to become responsible for that +function, so may the differentiation of labour develop individual +talents, just as the exercise of our vital activities has led to the +differentiation of parts in a house. Thus, as satisfaction of hunger is +a first necessity, eating made the kitchen, where means for the +gratification of this instinct were localised. By degrees the growth of +men's social and intellectual demands led to the setting apart of a +chamber for conversation; that is, the parlour. Storage of bread called +the pantry into existence; increased refinement necessitated a scullery +for the washing of cups and platters. Centuries, however, elapsed before +the enlarging personality of the individual demanded privacy for the +toilet and the right to isolate himself periodically from the bustle and +publicity of group life. The general provision of separate bedchambers +for each unit of a household is not even yet habitual, though most +desirable in the interests of health. Reparation of the omission will +mark a further phase of social evolution, and will remove one +disintegrating force now continually at work in home life. Here again +the artist will most advantageously collaborate with landlord and with +health authorities to devise means for the suitable satisfaction of this +laudable demand. + +Further objections to the adoption of any comprehensive schemes for +training housewives of all ranks are found in the apparent want of time +available for the purpose and the prohibitive cost incurred if the +period of education be prolonged. The best answers to both objections +are found in the movement now active all over Europe and North America +to furnish more and fuller opportunities for this training, and to +extend, not curtail, its duration. More than this: this movement, which +generally originated in the desire to improve home life among the +poorest, has recently extended itself just as generally to institutions +for higher education, upon whose pupils and students its claims are now +recognised. There is no suggestion, for instance, in Germany or England, +Norway or the United States, of restricting the education of girls by +this movement or of prematurely enforcing upon them technical +instruction. The growth of public opinion is due rather to a belated +realisation that the end of all education is the betterment of life, and +that suggested applications to the practical concerns of daily life in +the course of a girl's general education make for the sounder +assimilation of theory by the pupil, and are thus contrived a "double +debt to pay." + +The progress of preventive medicine has also introduced another +incentive to the diffusion of this training; for it affords convincing +proofs that the foundation of the national health is laid in the home. +If, however, the foundation is permitted to be imperfect the edifice +must necessarily be unstable. + +Among other influences prejudicial to family life, the force of +which was for a long time unsuspected, mention must be made of modern +industrialism, the reopening of professional life to women, with its +associated financial independence and the increasing seductions of +society. For a century past the tendency has been to discredit +housekeeping as an unsystematised occupation, which has emphasised +the common and sometimes humiliating financial dependence of its +representatives. The first nation to perceive the importance of +stemming this dangerous tide was the United States, where conclusive +demonstrations are now offered of the fact that intelligent housekeeping +calls for a high degree of capacity, and that its problems demand the +resources of a university for their solution. By the recognition of +housecraft as a profession, American colleges accomplished even more +than at first they anticipated. A satisfactory proportion of their +students return to home life convinced of its scope and importance, and +satisfied to perform the duties which there present themselves, instead +of seeking outside occupations and divorcing themselves from family +interests. The King's College Course for graduate students in Home +Science and Household Economics bids fair to exercise an influence of +as satisfactory, though naturally of a slightly variant, character. + + +XV. THE FUNCTIONS OF THE HOME + +If the functions of the home are briefly enumerated under three heads, +no hint of exaggeration will attach to the assertion that by _its_ +atmosphere children are modified in soul and body, and that upon _its_ +outlook depends the ideals and health of all its occupants. + +The first function of the home may be fitly defined as _Protective_. +If its evolution be traced it will be found that home life originated +in a craving for warmth, safety, and shelter; in the desire for a place +where the weary could rest and where security from ill was assured. +Physical comfort, sympathy and sanctuary are, or should be, primary +characteristics of every home. + +The second function of the home is _Educational_. It is largely +responsible for the systematic formation of good habits, which should +here be stimulated by example and precept, and every advantage taken of +the imitative instincts so powerful in early life. Within its precincts +care can be exercised to afford opportunity for the development of +individuality; it is also, _par excellence_, the place for early +training in the judicious expenditure of energy and in the acquirement +of self-control. Such training improves brain power, relieves nervous +tension, and obviates the tendency to mental and moral confusion and +disorderliness which is associated with its absence. In a good home the +child's sanitary education should be fairly complete, at least in its +main principles, before the infection of bad habits from without can +interfere with automatic practice or weaken faith in home standards and +conduct. Regular washing of the teeth, for instance, should be early +inculcated, and rigid conscientiousness in matters of personal +cleanliness:--external, by bathing, rubbing, and brushing; internal, by +strict daily attention to the bodily functions. Slow and thorough +mastication of food should be cultivated, as well as good habits of +posture, of enunciation, and of regular exercise. Last, but not least, +habits of prompt and cheerful obedience, of truthfulness, and in due +course of moral purity, must be wrought into the very fibre of a child's +being. The discipline of home ought to be above all things consistent; +gentle, though firm and well considered. The virtues of obedience, of +self-restraint, and of respect for others should become instinctive +almost from infancy; for they sow the seeds of physical morality in +later life. + +The third function of the home is _Social_. Before the present era of +"only" children, the exaggerated individualism was uncommon, of which +many of them are now unfortunately the victims. When large families +were the fashion, the give-and-take in nursery and schoolroom gave +early training in the duty of participation in the interests, the +pleasures, or the sorrows of others; it rubbed off the rough angles +of selfishness and gave invaluable lessons in consideration for those +whose circumstances varied from immediate individual experience. The +wider social sphere, for which much of the rough and tumble of +family life was an excellent preparation, was not familiar then to +young children as it is now, when the modern child's premature +introduction to its attractions is not only a constant source of +physical detriment and of mental exhaustion, but tends to disguise +its real character and to stimulate precociously the capacity to +respond to its demands. Occasional glimpses of this larger life are +a desirable part of home education; but constant familiarity with +its excitements is to be sternly deprecated in the causes of health +and of mental stability. + +Where and when, then, are "only" children to receive this necessary +social training, occupants as they are of solitary nurseries; or where +are these qualities to be developed in the millions of children reared +under circumstances of such acute overcrowding and poverty that the +amenities of life are obscured by its fierce and exhausting conditions? +Observation shows that the function of accomplishing this training is +steadily devolving upon the school. Unfortunately, though the school +_does_ offer necessary opportunities for social intercourse, this +intercourse is relatively of an advanced type, which presupposes some +previous training in the more elementary principles of community life, +most fitly acquired at home. This tendency to force the school to +_supplant_ instead of to _supplement_ home training must be resisted, as +it involves loss to parents as well as to the children themselves. + +The stress here laid upon the social function of the home may seem to +some exaggerated, and its association with the subject of this paper +may appear far-fetched; but to the writer its pressing importance calls +for this emphasis, for its connection with habits of sanitary practice +within and without the home is of the closest. The social spirit is the +very essence of sympathy; it exercises the imagination, it widens the +horizon, it quickens the sense of duty and of self-respect. If +graduation through the school of domestic, social training be omitted +in childhood, the realisation of personal responsibility is too often +indefinitely postponed. Consideration for others, care for their +welfare and personal sacrifice for their protection, must ever bulk +largely in importance throughout life, and must always be associated +with self-respect and self-control. When this sense of personal +responsibility is habitual, conduct which makes for limitations of +health in self, family, or neighbours will appear unjustifiable; and +neglect of either domestic or civic duties will become as unpardonable +as it is unpatriotic. + +But antecedent to the attainment of this ideal, fundamental even to its +entertainment, is the adjustment or readjustment of home influences +or methods, as the case may be, to a higher standard. A better +understanding of the constitution of those for whose welfare the home +is established must also be insisted upon as an integral part of +general education. + +It may be wise to point out that no proposal to sweep away in wholesale +fashion all the domestic traditions and family methods of this or any +other phase of civilisation is even suggested. Apart from the +impossibility of such a holocaust, treasures of great worth have been +handed on to us by our forebears, of which the majority only need some +slight readjustment to enrich many generations yet to come. + +To take a somewhat extreme example. The mention of such homely, +old-fashioned, domestic remedies as black-currant tea for a bad cough, +or soap and sugar plasters for a boil--genuine relics from our +grandmothers--now usually excite a smile of derision; nevertheless they +have been instanced by one of our most able living pathologists[120] for +their admirable adaptation to their purpose, and have been shown to rest +upon a hitherto unsuspected basis of physiological therapeutics. + +Another illustration may be drawn from the nursery tradition that bad +temper is often effectually cured by a dose of rhubarb.[121] Carefully +conducted observations upon children confirm the conventional +connection of peevishness with disordered digestion. It has been found +that gastric indigestion produces oversensitiveness, fretfulness, and +irritability, while chronic constipation results in erratic conduct, +stupidity, languor, headache, and moodiness. These effects may be so +far-reaching that, for no other reason than chronic constipation, +children may lose a large proportion of the advantages provided in +school life; they may even run the risk of being classed as "backward," +from the interference with mental progress of the food poisons +reabsorbed into their circulation. + +Modern methods of child training lay great emphasis upon the prevention +of these or kindred conditions by early formation of good habits; or, +when carelessness necessitates curative treatment, our old nurse's +panacea of drugs is the last resort; the first consists in attempts to +re-establish normal functions by the more natural means of suited food +and special exercise. + +It is time, too, that the so-called "hardening fallacies," responsible +for the maiming of countless lives, were finally exposed and exploded. +The idea, for example, dies hard that beneficial endurance is cultivated +by exposure to cold; therefore, bare necks, arms and legs are lauded as +means of developing a Spartan spirit in young children. Now no profound +study of hygiene is required to demonstrate the close interdependence of +warmth with growth and nutrition, or to show that the chilly and +underclothed, sedentary child is both stunted and starved; whereas the +suitably clothed and freely active child is able to carry on unhampered +the necessary processes of growth and development.[122] So important is +warmth to the infant, that _eighty per cent._ of the total energy +derived from its food is utilised for the maintenance of the body +temperature essential to growth and for the activities of the organic +and muscular systems. + +Children, in accordance with the law of the relation between mass and +surface in a cube, have, relatively to their mass, about thrice the body +surface possessed by an adult. The greatest loss of heat occurs by +radiation from the skin and by the evaporation of sweat, therefore undue +loss from this extensive area should be prevented by its suitable +covering; otherwise the child is placed at a far more serious +disadvantage than would be suffered by an adult similarly situated; for +in his case growth as well as equilibrium must be maintained. Few +parents realise the further fact that the power of heat regulation is +very imperfect at birth; indeed its slow development accounts for the +instability of a child's temperature for many years after. The fallacy +therefore of seeking to strengthen a young life by inadequate clothing, +by enforced and prolonged inactivity, or by abstinence from the source +of all energy--food--must be persistently exposed. Quite recently, also, +Dr. Eurich has advanced evidence to show that the quality of sleep is +adversely affected where the sleeper is insufficiently protected from +cold, thus emphasising the injury to health associated with going to bed +with cold feet. + +All parents are ambitious that their offspring shall be distinguished by +the energy, the stability, the endurance and the power which +characterise the cream of humanity. The lives of young people are +carefully planned with this object in view. The waking hours of most +girls and boys are distributed in ordered sequence between what is +intended to be concentrated work and vigorous more or less exciting +play. But the fact has been very commonly ignored that these young +people are built up of young cells, which cells are passing through +almost every conceivable phase of instability in the course of +development; consequently recurring periods of leisure and rest are as +important to nutrition and nervous stability, more especially in the +case of girls, as are the most elaborate arrangements for exercise. Thus +it comes about that many youths and maidens suffer from chronic though +unrecognised fatigue, while others are unable to employ pleasurably even +a short space of "time to themselves," finding no interest in +occupations from which excitement is absent. The habitual limitation of +the hours of sleep among the rising generation is equally serious. The +loss which would be unbearable,[123] says Dr. Acland, even among our +most favoured children, were it not for the indulgence permitted them +during their long holidays. Is it not a parental duty to insist upon the +necessary provision for rest being made in every school, and ought not +inviolable rules upon the subject be laid down in their home circles? +Sleep, be it remembered, is the property of animals possessed of brains +and endowed with consciousness; it affords mechanical rest, and is +accompanied by a respite from the chemical changes which are +particularly rapid during childhood and adolescence. The intense +activity of the child's waking hours must be counterbalanced by ample +periods of entire rest. Habits of prolonged profound sleep are said to +be the best investment against mental instability and insanity; yet +parents permit a constant loss of from two to four hours' sleep each +night throughout the long period of immaturity.[124] Our newspapers and +lunatic asylums bear evidence to the price paid for this now inexcusable +carelessness. + +Many more examples might be given of similar fallacies which apply to +later periods of life. How soon will a loving daughter allow herself to +learn that the consumption of large quantities of highly nutritious food +will not make for the prolongation of an aged parent's life? The fact +that abstemiousness and rigid conformity to the "simple life" are not +coincidents of longevity, but contributory to it, should be now common +knowledge. When will the day come that the fact will be accepted that +alcohol does not warm and protect the consumer, but actually lowers the +temperature, and by this means, in cold weather, renders him a more +ready prey to the effects of exposure. When will the value of good work +cease to be measured by the exhaustion it brings about or the breakdown +to which it conduces? Is it not, time that the housewife should be +abashed rather than self-commiserating when a bad cold runs through her +household, for observation of certain elementary principles of +disinfection would go far to avert such a catastrophe? When will the +fallacy be destroyed which gauges the strength of a disinfectant by the +pungency of its odour? The knowledge now available on these and many +other points only awaits assimilation by the housekeepers of the empire, +to serve as a powerful lever by which to raise the standard of health in +its every part. + + +XVI. HOME LIFE AN IMPORTANT SPHERE FOR SANITARY SCIENCE + +The urgent call for a more intimate acquaintance with these tenets of +domestic sanitary science calls for no further examples, though at the +risk of wearying the reader one or two more may be selected to +illustrate their claims upon every member of a household. + +It behoves the householder, in the first place, to choose his dwelling +with care; and, in the second, to maintain the health of its inmates by +his own conduct and by compliance with the requirements of public health +enactments. He must be generally acquainted, therefore, with the +essentials of a healthy home and with the obligations he must fulfil or +the demands he may legitimately make upon local authorities and +neighbours; otherwise he cannot insure that his own care is not +frustrated by derelictions of duty on the part of others. The selection +and purchase of the family's food will probably devolve upon his wife, +but it rests with him to insist that this food is produced, transported +or distributed, with due observance of cleanliness, and that reliable +protection from sophistication or adulteration is maintained. If +conformity to necessary standards as well as the good quality of their +products is to be safeguarded, the premises of dairy, bakehouse, +slaughter-house, laundry, market, and local purveyor of goods should +come under his intelligent inspection. The surroundings as well as the +conveniences of a house also call for careful consideration, especially +when some of its inmates are of tender years; and the reminder that to +the provision for light and air in its rooms must be assigned a greater +prominence than the mere prettiness of external elevation is still +necessary. It is the householder who for some time to come must from his +wider knowledge of economics personally safeguard his women-folk from +unnecessary exertion and chronic fatigue, by the provision of efficient +fittings and equipment, by a judicious expenditure upon labour-saving +devices, and by insistence upon adequate rest, recreation, and +remuneration. To the graduate in the school of personal experience the +duty of public service will next arise, in order that the advantages +enjoyed in his own home may be extended to those for whom cheap housing +must be provided. Civic claims must in the near future appear much more +prominently than hitherto in the balance-sheet of duty. + +The necessity for a study of child life and its requirements ought to be +realised by both parents before the bitter results of inexperience have +permanently shadowed their home. This should be pursued by the man as +well as the woman before marriage is consummated, if their offspring is +to be "well born" and well nurtured. + +Maternal care is of course the more conspicuous during the first ten +years of a child's life; but during the next fifteen, more especially in +the case of his sons, it is the father's example, sympathy, and +companionship which will steer them healthily through the stormy seas of +adolescence, which will safeguard them from pernicious habits and will +extend a helping hand in moments of temptation. + +To enumerate the opportunities for hygienic practice by the prime +organiser of domestic methods--the mother--is almost superfluous at this +point. It is the foundation upon which depends the welfare of each +member of a household; for it is the housekeeper who plans the food and +is responsible for its character and suitability to age, season, health, +and occupation. It is she who superintends, if she does not carry out, +the details of cleanliness, so arduous and discouraging in our great +cities. It is she who selects the clothing of her family; who directs +the order of their lives:--their work and play, their rest and exercise, +their sleep and their habits. It is her place to shake faith in popular +patent preparations, by good reasons and demonstrations of their +exaggerated claims on purse and person.[125] It is her example which +sets the tone in recreation, pursuit of hobby, or choice of literature. +It is her infinite, understanding patience which cements breaches in +family love; it is her skilful treatment which heals wounds, spiritual +as well as physical. It is her privilege to devise better methods for +daily doings and to appreciate the principles of sound economics. It +falls on her to discourage futile expenditure of health, time, or +temper; to be alive to possibilities of progress; to show by her deeds +how profound is her faith in the dignity of a home-maker and her +recognition of the extraordinary demands made by her profession on +intelligence, moral capacity, and mental attainments. + +It has been slowly dawning upon some minds for half a century at least +that kitchen methods in many of their details fail to meet the +requirements of sanitary science. The ordinary cook does not even +suspect what cleanliness means from the laboratory point of view; +neither, alas! does her mistress, in the case of 90 per cent. of +middle-class housekeepers. Both alike cheerfully ignore the relative +value as cleansing agents of boiling as compared with "scalding" water; +and refer to the broad shoulders of the weather or, quite frankly, to +bad luck, the waste of food directly attributable to ignorant and +uncleanly methods in market, purveyor's cart, or scullery. Yet no valid +excuse can now be offered for ignorance of the real causes of the +souring of milk, the tainting of meat, or the decay of vegetables; +neither is it permissible to entrust to the untrained the care of larder +and refrigerator, except under intelligent supervision. It is of course +a sign of progress that the modern housewife prides herself upon the +delivery of the daily milk supply in bottles. But a quite superficial +acquaintance with bacteriology would show the imperfect character of +such a protection. The milk may still be poured by the cook from the +unwashed mouth of a bottle, grasped, even if but momentarily, by the +hand of a milkman, which shortly before was caressing his horse or +serving him as a substitute for a pocket-handkerchief! When the numerous +uses of paper in the kitchen are considered, the advantage of a +scientific acquaintance with its constituents and absorbent properties +should hardly need emphasis. But the _laissez-faire_ attitude, common in +many households, permits newspaper or brown-paper bags of questionable +antecedents to be used indiscriminately for the lining of cake tins or +the draining of fried foods. Should this be tolerated any longer? + +A sounder knowledge of the risks to health associated with unwholesome +food would surely check the growing disposition to purchase provisions +over the telephone, instead of by personal inspection and careful +selection; for the risks associated with stale vegetables or with +"woolly" fish would be recognised, in the light of this fuller +knowledge, as too serious to be encountered by any one responsible for +the health of a household. Again, cold storage is so justly credited +with the numerous and unquestionable benefits which it confers upon the +housewife, that she is apt to forget the coincident dangers; only +through tardily acquired experience does she become aware that foods +which are thawed after freezing possess a singular faculty for rapid +deterioration, and undergo subtle and detrimental changes when so +preserved over a long period. No excuse for continued ignorance as to +the changes responsible for such deterioration is now permissible; +neither can it be condoned in connection with the "flora" of the +refrigerator, now known to be accountable for the unpleasant and +all-pervading flavours of the food stored in such a receptacle, and +itself the product of defective cleanliness. The idiosyncrasies of +different groceries, as regards temperature and receptacles, have +hitherto received no attention, though the art of preserving fruits, +fresh as well as dried, is better appreciated than was formerly the +case. + +It would be easy to show, too, did space permit, what ample scope there +is for the application of sanitary science in the storeroom, as well as +the true hygienic inwardness of frequent coats of limewash in larder and +scullery, not to mention the worth of impervious coverings to their wall +surfaces and shelves. This suggests the inquiry: How many women to-day +are versed in the external tests, simple as some of them are, which can +be applied to tins containing foodstuffs, with the object of gauging the +quality of their contents; or who among our ordinary housewives +understands the reasons for the employment of reliable, _domestic_ +methods of preserving the contents of the larder, such as sterilisation +by the use of heat, or why fat, sugar, salt, or vinegar are preferable +to the seductive yet questionable chemicals, so attractive to the +producer and purveyor of provisions? + +A better understanding of the relation of sanitary science to daily +life would also facilitate some of the painful steps which must +inevitably be taken, in order to bridge the gulf set between the feudal +methods of the past and the modern problems of domestic service. That +the isolation from her kind of a "general" servant predisposes to +anæmia is stated as a fact on good authority, but it is certainly +not generally known. That absence of opportunity for recreation or +social intercourse has led and may lead again to deception, if not to +worse, is recognised unwillingly, if at all. That human nature is +physiologically similar, however diverse its external appearance and +standards, is very hard to realise or to act upon; so the fact that +suitable provision for bathing and wholesome sleep by dependents is not +always made, is apt to be ignored on economic grounds; and the resultant +complications are assigned to any but their real cause. + +The solution of another of the acute problems of the day depends upon +the women also of this country. I refer to the character of the +influence, an influence of the most intimate, to which young children +are subjected during infancy. In addition to vulgarities of conduct or +enunciation, actual moral harm may be suffered from want of care in the +choice of a child's attendant. Bad habits, impossible to eradicate, are +to be traced to this source only. Their hygienic import calls for no +further stress. Their prevention rests entirely with the child's +parents. + +Another illustration of the need for a better acquaintance with +hygiene is found in the general custom of entrusting the preparation +and care of the daily diet to empirically prepared, ill-informed, +young women. Ascertained facts in connection with, for instance, +"typhoid carriers"[126] should have surely created almost a panic in +the households of England; but it is rare to learn that even one +mistress has inquired into the personal habits of her cook, or that she +has concerned herself personally in the cultivation of most careful +attention to necessary hand-washing by her household. A mere tyro in +sanitary science would take warning and be on her guard against this +and other disgusting and preventable sources of domestic infection. + +Finally, the protective function of the home must not be allowed to +obscure the educational and social. It is the right of all children to +be trained in habits of social, as well as of family, sanitary service. +Very early the love of ceaseless doing, by which these little people are +distinguished, can be taken hold of as an agent in this department of +education. Habits of neatness and order, of kindness and ready help, of +self-sacrifice and self-control, become lifelong in their persistence +and develop a physical as well as moral conscience which makes for +public health. But, without appropriate stimulus this interest in +others, this sense of civic obligation, remains in abeyance. Therefore +girls should be encouraged in the educational practice of the domestic +arts about the age of thirteen or fourteen; though instruction in the +care of children may be postponed for a year or two. Always it should +precede marriage and be adapted to the prospective social sphere of the +pupils. It would be advantageous to foster the interest of boys in +social sanitation by the introduction of some equivalent training into +their curriculum. + +Enough has been said to show that knowledge of household administration +must soon become an indispensable qualification for any woman who +undertakes the charge of human lives, whether it be as wife or guardian, +as official or philanthropist, as physician or educator, as head of an +institution (such as orphanage, asylum, hospital or prison), or as +almoner of public funds. To be practical and influential this +comprehensive subject must be systematically acquired and securely +based; it must be accorded the support of men, and it must receive the +recognition due to its imperial importance. Thus sustained and +fortified, acquaintance with all that is comprehended in the domestic +administration for good of human lives will lead our women to redeem +their many shortcomings in the past, and will stimulate them to assume +with courageous confidence their weighty responsibilities in the present +and future. + +Whether prepared or not for their discharge, these responsibilities +cannot be evaded. Upon their capable fulfilment depend human health and +happiness. "Health and good estate of body are above all gold," said +Ecclesiasticus, "and a strong body above infinite wealth." Seen in its +true light this great, beautiful, responsible work becomes the highest +form of consecrated service to the Source of all Life and to the Giver +of all those good things which humanity is intended richly to enjoy. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [91] "Darwinism and Human Life," by J. Arthur Thomson, M.A., &c. + (Andrew Melrose.) + + [92] "The Descent of Man," by Charles Darwin. (J. Murray.) + + [93] "Hereditary Genius," by Sir Francis Galton. + + [94] "Heredity," by Prof. A. Thomson. (J. Murray.) + + [95] "English Sanitary Institutions," chap. viii., "The Growth of + Humanity in British Politics." Sir J. Simon. (Cassell & Co.) + + [96] _Les Pouvoirs en Matière d'Hygiène_--Part i. _L'Hygiène dans les + Législations de l'Antiquité._ Alfred Filassier. (Paris: Jules + Rousset.) + + [97] "English Sanitary Institutions," part i. chap. i. Sir John Simon. + (Cassell & Co.) + + [98] "English Sanitary Institutions," part i. chaps. iii., iv., v., vi. + Sir John Simon. (Cassell & Co.) + + [99] "The Family and the Nation," chap. i. Whetham. (Longmans.) + + [100] "Selected Essays and Addresses by Sir James Paget, F.R.S."--"The + Chronometry of Life," Royal Society Croonian Lecture, May 1859. + Edited by Stephen Paget, F.R.C.S. (Longmans & Co.) + + [101] "The Diurnal Course of Efficiency." Howard D. Marsh. (The Science + Press, N.Y.) + + [102] "Social Psychology," section ii. chap. x. William McDougall. + (Methuen.) + + [103] "The Family," Lecture i. E. C. Parsons. (Putnam.) + + [104] "The Family," Lecture ii. E. C. Parsons. (Putnam.) + + [105] "The Family," part i. chap. ix. Helen Bosanquet. (Macmillan and + Co.) + + [106] "The Hygiene of Mind," chap. iv. T. S. Clouston. (Methuen.) + + [107] "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Employment of + School Children, appointed by H. M. Principal Secretary of State + for the Home Department," 1901. + + "Report of the Royal Commission on Physical Training + (Scotland)," 1903, Neill & Co., Ltd., Bellevue, Edinburgh. + + "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical + Deterioration," 1904. + + "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Model Course + of Physical Exercises," 1904. + + "Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Medical + Inspection and Feeding of Children attending Public Elementary + Schools," 1905. + + "Report of Dr. W. Leslie Mackenzie and Captain A. Foster on a + Collection of Statistics as to the Physical Condition of + Children attending the Public Schools of the School Board for + Glasgow," 1907. + + "Report of the Royal Commission on the Care and Control of the + Feeble-minded," 1908. + + "Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and the + Unemployed--Majority and Minority," 1909.[108] + + [108] In each case, unless otherwise mentioned, these Reports are + published by Wyman & Sons. + + [109] "The Hygiene School of Life," chap. viii. p. 129. Ralph H. + Crowley. (Methuen.) + + [110] _Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute_, April 1905--"Physical + Inspection of School Children in Relation to Public Health + Administration." A. K. Chalmers, M.D., M.O.H., Glasgow. + + [111] "Continuation Schools in England and Elsewhere." M. E. Sadler. + (Manchester University Press, 1907.) + + [112] Report of Departmental Committee on "Employment of Children Act, + 1903." (Wyman & Son, July 1910.) + + [113] "Report to the L.C.C. Education Committee of the Medical Officer + (Schools)," March 31, 1906. (P. J. King & Son.) + + [114] "The Drink Problem," edited by T. N. Kelynack, M.D. (Methuen.) + + [115] "The Nature of Man," parts i. ii. chap. vii.; part iii. chap. xii. + Metchnikoff. (Heinemann.) + + [116] "Principia Therapeutica," chaps. ii. iii. Harrington Sainsbury. + (Methuen.) + + [117] "Some Thoughts on Causation in Health and Disease." An address + delivered to the Faculty of Medicine, October 1909, by Lord + Fletcher Moulton. + + [118] "Studies on Immunisation." Sir Almroth Wright, F.R.S. (Constable.) + "Immunity in Infective Diseases." Metchnikoff. (Cambridge + University Press.) "Immunity and Specific Therapy." W. d'Este + Emery. (Lewis & Sons.) + + [119] "Infant Education." Eric Pritchard, M.D. (Kimpton). + + [120] "Studies on Immunisation," pp. 279, 462. Sir Almroth Wright, + F.R.S., M.D. (Constable.) + + [121] "Addresses and Proceedings of the National Education Association, + St. Louis, Mo.," 1904, pp. 952-962--"The Chicago Hospital School + for Nervous and Delicate Children," by Mary R. Campbell. + + [122] "Children in Health and Disease," p. 41. David Forsyth, M.D. + (Murray.) + + [123] "On the Hours of Sleep at Public Schools." A paper read before the + Medical Officer of Schools Association, May 11, 1905, by T. D. + Acland, M.A. + + [124] "Some Results of an Investigation into Hours of Sleep of School + Children."--_International Magazine of School Hygiene_, vol. v. + part i. Alice Ravenhill. + + [125] "Secret Remedies: What they Cost and What they Contain." British + Medical Association. "Popular Drugs: Their Use and Abuse." + Sidney Hellier, M.D. (Werner Laurie.) + + [126] "Human Carriers of Typhoid and other Zymotic Diseases."--_The + Sanitary Record_, Sept. 8, 1910, pp. 215-216. + + + + +MODERN WOMAN AND THE DOMESTIC ARTS + +BY MRS. R. W. EDDISON + +MEMBER, EDUCATION COMMITTEE, WEST RIDING COUNTY COUNCIL, ETC. + +I. NEEDLEWORK AND DRESSMAKING + +INTRODUCTION + +Modern woman finds herself in the twentieth century heiress to an +accumulation of domestic experience handed down from her primitive +sisters, much of which originated in necessity, and survives from +custom. + +It is said that "of the billion and a half human beings on the earth, +about 700,000,000 are females, and what share their mothers and +grandmothers, back to the remotest generation, have had in originating +and developing culture is a question which concerns the whole race," +though allusion only can be made to it in this paper. + +If, from the study of anthropology, we find that man was the hunter, the +killer of food, it was woman who cared for it, prepared it for use, +tilled the ground, cleaned, dried, cut, and sewed skins for clothing and +shelter. It is believed by many authorities that it was woman who +invented and made many of the implements with which she worked, and who +spun, wove, and dyed fibres of all kinds into strong, useful, and +sometimes beautiful fabrics of varied and pleasing tints and colours, +from dyes of her own making, which she obtained from animal and +vegetable sources. The introduction of much plain and ornamental +stitchery, the forerunner of the needlework of the present day, followed +quickly upon the coming of textiles. + +Until the invention of machinery and the institution of the factory +system, the practice of a large number of arts was in the hands of women +as part of their lives and homes. Now, however, women are no longer +leather-dressers, potters, or weavers in the home--these arts have +become trades for men, carried on in factories; and even the more +intimate arts of cooking, cleaning, and needlework are threatened from +the outside. + +The cheapness and readiness with which the products of the factory can +be obtained, whether for the purposes of food or of clothing, has to a +large extent removed the desire to exercise these arts herself, +especially from the woman whose time can be otherwise employed to her +financial advantage in industrial pursuits. It would almost appear that +she has failed to perceive the intellectual and æsthetic enjoyment to be +derived from them, and has been content to permit the skill and +knowledge she originally acquired and exercised to rust from want of +practice as each generation succeeds its predecessor. On the other hand, +as the accumulated profits from the factory have made it possible for +well-off women to depute their own share of cooking, cleaning, sewing, +and the care of children by payments to their less financially +fortunate sisters, usually untrained women of narrow education, public +opinion has shown a tendency to regard these arts as menial, and to some +extent derogatory in practice to the educated and refined. Amongst this +class of women, consequently, knowledge of these arts has steadily +dwindled, until the home-made jams, jellies, cordials and pickles of our +grandmothers, the linen they spun, wove, and fashioned, are no longer +the glory of our storerooms and linen-presses; while the home has come +to be less and less regarded as the right and proper place for +instruction in the domestic arts. + +Deep down, however, in the modern woman's nature lies the old instinct +for order, for caring for things animate and inanimate. This instinct +has found expression since the early seventies among more fortunately +situated women in an endeavour to arrest the decay of what I have +called the more intimate household arts, to promote their revival +and to raise their status in education--an endeavour due, shall we +say, to "something in the air," a kind of "Zeit Geist"--beginning more +or less contemporaneously on the Continent of Europe, in Great Britain, +and in the United States and Canada; an endeavour not to benefit +themselves alone, but to help their poorer sisters. + +It was soon agreed that the cultivation of the household arts belonged +to education, and that they might and should be taught in schools; but +the questions--What was their link with general education, by what +methods they could be most appropriately taught, and in the curriculum +of what schools they should find a place--have been the basis of +prolonged experimental effort. It is now the opinion of a large section +of persons of authority in education, that these arts are neither +"sacred mysteries which can only be understood by patient life study," +nor, on the other hand, can any woman, whatever her intellectual +ability, master them without training. It has been well said, in effect, +that the former attitude leads to a contempt for the plain everyday +things of life, while the latter is responsible for the cultivation of a +girl's head at the expense of her hands. + +The arts of cooking and cleaning took the lead in order of experiment. +The results, as recorded, have proved their position to belong directly +to the region of applied science, and to be worthy of a place in a +specially arranged course of household science and economics for women, +of university standard. We may confidently expect that this result only +anticipates a corresponding triumph, awaiting in its turn similar +experimental work, which has been carried on for some years in respect +of the teaching also of the art of needlework. These experimental +efforts include the intelligent employment of the pencil, the scissors, +and the needle in the production of garments, draperies, napery, and so +forth. The lines along which at the present moment this development is +proceeding have regard indeed not only to the practical worth of +needlecraft, but to its intimate association with general education as +well as to decorative and applied art. + +When we inquire what have been the results of past methods of teaching +needlework in our elementary schools, and find that they are in no way +commensurate with the time, labour, and money spent upon them, it surely +is wise to call a halt and examine into our aims and methods. The +circular of "Suggestions for the Teaching of Needlework" issued by the +Board of Education in August 1909 is not the first authoritative +pronouncement of the Board on this matter, but is the outcome of "the +well-considered criticism" invited upon their "Suggestions" on the same +subject issued in 1905, which teachers and others were asked to consider +as a challenge to independent thought on the subjects of which it +treated. + + +THE "PRINCIPLES" OF NEEDLEWORK + +This challenge has resulted in the statement of certain important +"principles" in the new circular and of the proper attitude of the +teacher towards them, viz.:-- + + I. _The duplex aspect of needlework._ + + 1. As a separate branch of instruction, the aim of which is + proficiency. + + 2. As a means to an end, other than (but not excluding) a + certain proficiency, _i.e._ to develop the intelligence and even + to form the character of the child. + + II. _The subject must be made interesting_ if it is to be + educational. The making of specimens is not interesting, and should + be discouraged, excepting for the practice of new stitches before + they can be used on a complete garment or article, however small, + for the child herself or for others. + + III. _Correlation of needlework_ with drawing and arithmetic in the + higher classes. + + 1. To train the eye in form and proportion. + + 2. To illustrate principles of arithmetic, by measuring and + deciding upon quantities and by calculating cost, introducing + incidentally ideas of economy and thrift. + + IV. _Needlework lessons are ordinarily uninteresting_ and wearisome + to body and mind. This need not and should not be; if the subject is + taught with the why and wherefore of things, it should rather + stimulate intelligence and capacity. + + V. _Opportunity is afforded_ by the lesson for practically and + tactfully inculcating the charm of neatness, cleanliness, and + tidiness in person and in clothing, encouraging the child in + self-respect and to regard as a matter of shame that any girl should + reach woman's estate without a practical knowledge of the use she + can make of the needle. + +Certain suggestions follow as a basis for a more detailed scheme, +viz.:-- + + 1. Classification of scholars as to age and capacity. + + 2. Size of illustrations and use of blackboard. + + 3. Instruction of weakly children, and care of eyesight. + + 4. Exercises in knitting and various forms of constructive handwork + for very young children, in preparation for definite instruction in + needlework at a later age. + + 5. Condemnation of habit of counting threads. + + 6. Order of teaching "processes" in needlework, from simple to + complex. + + 7. Suitability of materials, needles, and threads to each other, and + of the style of sewing to the garments which the children should + wear. + + 8. Direction of attention to the fact that hands and eyes which have + been sensibly trained to execute "plain work" will acquire "fancy + work" quite readily later on if leisure can be found. + + 9. New methods and stitches to be learned on waste material. + + 10. Importance of practice in mending at school and at home. + + 11. Importance of cutting-out and pattern-making. + + 12. Garments made to be worn, not kept at school. + + 13. Elaborate making-up of paper garments to be discouraged. + + 14. Rough sketches to train the eye to recognise the value to each + other of different parts of a pattern. + + 15. Importance of recognition of difference between a well-cut and + an ill-cut garment. + + 16. Calculation of kind, quantity, and cost of material to be worked + out in an arithmetic lesson. + + 17. Note-books and records to be kept. + + 18. Fixing to be done by actual maker of garment--not a joint + production. + + 19. Use of sewing machine permitted for long seams and hems. + + 20. No time to be wasted while waiting for teacher's help. + Independent work to be encouraged. Knitting and other suitable work + to be at hand. + +This excellent and sensible paper of suggestions means an offer of +freedom on the part of the Board; it remains, therefore, but to accept +and adopt its conditions. A practical difficulty, however, at once +arises from the fact that, after a long period of bondage to many +"Regulations," it is difficult for the teaching profession in general to +realise that independent judgment is now expected of them, indeed is +required, though this is a phase temporary and evanescent, which will +quickly adjust itself. + +For lack of time and space we must here pass over the important question +of the relation of the domestic arts to the general school curriculum, +as well as the proportion of time to be allotted as between needlework +and the other domestic arts, and dwell for a moment on the relative +qualifications of our teachers in different sections of the whole +subject taken at its widest, for these qualifications reflect the +existing demands of the public. Taking England, for example--how do we +stand with other countries in this respect? Speaking generally, and as +one who, though not professionally a teacher, has for many years had a +hand in the training of teachers, and who has given much time and +thought to the comparative study, both theoretical and practical, of +needlework and dressmaking, it seems to me that, as to sewing, we are as +good, if not in some ways better than our neighbours, though we have +been apt to regard the perfection of our stitches as an end in itself, +which decidedly vitiates our conclusion. We also appear to have much to +learn, or at least to practise, in respect of suitability of materials, +needles, and threads to each other, and of the style of work to the +purpose required. As to "cut" and "the hang of the thing," and the root +difference between an "ill-cut" and a "well-cut" garment, I fear we make +a bad third with France and Austria; but with our newly acquired freedom +we can and we must change all that: the public begin to demand it. + +In the first place, we must clear our minds of the indefinite cloud of +detail in which they have been so long submerged; or, to change the +metaphor, whereas hitherto we have too often not been able to see the +wood for the trees, we must now learn clearly to distinguish between +"principles" and "methods," which in practice are over frequently +confused: then, quite easily and naturally, the teacher will derive +resulting details from the few definite principles which are the "basis +alike of the simplest garment and the most artistic handicraft," and +"the principles once understood, in one instance, the pupils will be +able to make wider applications for themselves." + +It is important here to emphasise that some elementary knowledge of +hygiene, physiology, and anatomy is necessary for the intelligent +appreciation of the requirements of the body as to clothing, and of its +alterations in shape when muscles are tense or relaxed. By a reliable +system of drafting from direct measurement, such as one of those in use +in the Ecoles Professionelles of Paris, a shaped bodice can be produced +fitting the arms and figure easily and gracefully, and from this pattern +can be deduced further patterns of other garments, whether tight, loose, +or semi-fitting, which hang from the shoulder or the waist. + +When the theory of drafting has been learned, and the shapes and +proportions of a pattern and its derivatives are understood, "moulage" +or modelling on the figure in muslin, should be attempted; though, be +it remembered, "moulage" should not be regarded as a substitute for +drafting, but as its necessary accompaniment, for it affords opportunity +for eye training, and for learning how and where at certain points the +material should be stretched or held easily on the figure. The pupil is +thus prepared to handle the pattern intelligently when cut out in +material. + +I have seen it objected that only awkward and wooden lines can be +obtained from drafting on paper because of its rigidity, and because the +pattern is built up upon a framework of straight lines at right angles +to each other. The objector cannot have understood that the rectangular +construction lines have no connection with the outlines of the pattern, +except as affording _points d'appui_, which are found by direct +measurement. These construction lines stand for the warp and woof, or +"thread" of the material to be used for the garment. Stress must be also +laid on the fact that the grace or angularity of the pattern outline +actually depend upon the eye training and perception of curves derived +from drawing lessons, which must, for this as well as other reasons, +form a part of the scheme of instruction. + + +CONCLUSION + +Limits of time and space have only allowed me to touch the fringe of a +fascinating and useful subject; but the frequent conferences of teachers +now being held in different centres, and the new suggestions of the +Board of Education are stimulating so much interest and discussion that +I feel that the educational teaching of needlework in its broad sense in +England has a cheerful future. There is already much excellent teaching +and work done in some of the trade schools in London as well as in a few +of its elementary schools, and others elsewhere, which leaves little to +be desired from many points of view. + +Apart from the modern educational treatment of needlecraft and +dressmaking, though arising directly from it, are the unquestioned +advantages which may result to any woman of whatever rank or social +position who is willing to devote, in the first instance, a little time +and intelligence to mastering a few elementary principles introductory +to their practical application, either by herself or by any one in her +employment, to the cutting and making of her own garments from direct +measurement, modified by measurements of individual carriage or +conformation. + +When these modifications are clearly understood, the proving of the flat +pattern on the table after drafting should produce a well-shaped and +correct lining, without the misery of standing for hours in the ordinary +way to be "fitted on." If finer touches are needed, they are of the +nature of "moulage," or modelling; the different parts of the pattern +retain their balance and relative proportions, and the length of the +operation is much shortened. + +The majority of women, especially when past youth, are not so happy as +to possess the theoretically perfectly balanced and well-proportioned +figure which has been so successfully adopted by the best business +houses as the basis for cutting high-class ready-made garments. Happy +indeed is the woman who can "walk straight into them" without the +offered "slight alteration" which so often spoils the cut and brings +bitter disappointment to the wearer. There are few women who have not +groaned under the waste of time and fatigue entailed by being "fitted +on" under the hands of the "little dressmaker," or for that matter under +hands of much greater pretension, with no idea of principles in cutting, +who pinch and drag and smooth down by rule-of-thumb, producing garments +without balance or ease, whose faults may be disguised by trimming or +drapery, but whose discomfort is always present to the wearer. + +Women have in fact so long submitted to this tyranny of rule-of-thumb in +dress-cutting, as inseparate from it, that, as is their nature, they +continue to endure what they think cannot be cured. Nevertheless, the +discomforts and uncertainties of this rule-of-thumb misery may be +entirely eliminated, and it is for the modern woman to demand and insist +upon its elimination. + +Let me especially recommend to ladies possessing the invaluable +qualities in this connection of taste and style in dress, who may be +thinking of taking up dressmaking as a profession, that as an important +preliminary step they should master the principles of a good method of +cutting. Let them make sure that the method can lay claim to this +description; that it is reliable and not altogether empirical. Thus they +will render themselves to some extent independent of the possible +vagaries and misfits of their cutters and workers. The excellent courses +of instruction now carried on in the trade schools already referred to +should ere long create a supply of well-trained young women who will do +their best work under an instructed head, and will be able to carry out +intelligently her ideas and directions. Under such conditions there +should be no room for failure in a business of this kind. As a result, +the arts of needlecraft and of dressmaking will be raised to the plane +of scientific certainty and success which is their due, instead of +remaining at the often low level of the unorganised, empirical and +inartistic occupations--a frequent source of financial disaster to their +exponents and of perennial vexation to the helpless victims of their +products. + + +II. HOUSECRAFT + +The position of modern woman towards matters domestic is somewhat +undefined, and at best can hardly be considered satisfactory. Her +attitude towards housekeeping is not one of enthusiasm. The Lancashire +mill-girl is proud to have a house of her own, but prefers her life at +the mill to one spent in ordering that house; the elementary school +teacher considers housekeeping of so little economic interest that she +is injured if she may not devote her married life to a profession +demanding the best of her energy; the university graduate pretends to a +mind superior to physical comfort and welfare unless it can be produced +by a creature less specialised than herself. + +In the field of paid occupations for women, educated and uneducated, +domestic work stands low; not necessarily low in scale of payment, but +uninviting as a sphere of work and lacking the dignity of skilled +employment. That good housewives may be found in every grade of society +is evident, but the general trend of our social evolution demands that +some organised effort shall be made to simplify actual work and to raise +the appreciation of that work. + +In history and philosophy, the moral advantages of a good home have been +acknowledged and extolled. The physical advantages are only now being +fully emphasised, and there is an ever-increasing demand that women +shall diligently apply their best efforts, first to the problems of the +individual household, and then beyond it to those forms of housekeeping +that fall to municipal and national control. We need a different +estimate, a better realisation, of the enormous responsibility that lies +in feeding, housing, and general hygienic conditions, and such a +realisation must work from the top downwards in our social and +intellectual strata. + +In the care of the sick we have seen a complete revolution. Even so +recently as the days of our grandparents "Sarah Gamp" was the +general refuge--now her name is a byword. The work of nursing and the +care of an invalid's room, be it home or hospital, has been raised +from mere manual labour. Intellect has established formulæ and dogma +on which workers can be trained, and the work itself has been proved +not alone a suitable means by which a woman can earn her living, but +also a profession demanding a dignified respect and admiration. The +researches of medical laboratories--the accumulated experience of the +great physicians and surgeons of the world--are constantly placing +valuable knowledge in the hands of nurses and those who train them. +Elaboration and fuss have gone in favour of a simplicity of service +based on scientific facts; the influence of the trained worker has to +some extent permeated the untrained service of home nursing. Great +may still be our ignorance and great the need for a more adequate +service, especially in the homes of the poor, but taken as a whole the +care of the sick has been raised to what we may, without ambiguity, +call a scientific art. Nursing may be popular from a love of such work +and from its financial return, but the real strength of the nursing +world lies in its organised provision of skilled women sent out to +their work with a knowledge of its detail and a training in routine, +paid for by service during years of apprenticeship. + +The changes that have been effected in regard to the care of the sick +may not form a perfect analogy of what can be done in other forms of +domestic work, but they at least constitute a lesson in cause and +effect, with many suggestions for the would-be reformer. Improvement +in nursing owes its first impetus to a realisation of the part a nurse +must of necessity play in curing or alleviating suffering, and any +real improvements in our general domestic work and conditions will +only be seriously considered when they are properly appreciated in +their relation to the health and efficiency of the nation. To bring +this home to individuals and classes must be the work of education. Let +us magnify the office of the housewife unduly rather than leave it +unrecognised. We must demand something more than mere manipulative +skill from the manual worker--a knowledge and interest from those who +direct her work; a place in laboratories and schools for the many +problems worthy of elucidation. To make lessons in housecraft a part +of the curriculum of elementary and secondary schools has its own good; +to make lessons in sick-nursing also a part might be good; but to leave +both there would be only to patch, not mend, a rent in our social +conditions. The matter must find its way into universities and +research schools for its physical and economic investigation--as in +other kinds of work we need an aristocracy of brains to guide the +democracy of hands to found an apprenticeship system that shall +provide efficient workers to bring the mighty forces of chemical, +physical, and biological science to bear directly on such matters as +selection of foods, methods of cooking, better apparatus for cleaning +purposes, and an evolution of house-planning and furnishing that shall +reduce the present elaboration of service and cleaning. It is not +possible that every woman who cooks a potato shall be intimately +acquainted with the structure of starch-cells or the effect of heat on +those cells, nor is it likely that we shall aim at a system that makes +the cooking of our food as exact as a laboratory experiment, but that +thermometer, microscope, and test-tube have their own part to play +is evident. The use of a disinfectant by a nurse is a scientific +operation, the scope of which has only been made possible by many +and careful investigations in which the specialised effort of the few +has resulted in a definite formula and a handy preparation only to be +used with intelligent appreciation of its purpose. She understands its +use and abuse, how to adapt it to circumstances, and probably how to +find a substitute for it if occasion requires. + +It is much on these lines that many of the problems of kitchen and +household interest must be attacked. + +We need a simple and reliable classification of foods that shall be +useful to the practical cook. A quantitative analysis of proteid or +carbo-hydrate qualities of wheat, lentils, or milk may form excellent +exercise for laboratory classes, but even there it is too often taught +without any relation to the assimilative properties of the average +digestion and their consequent effect on food values. For ordinary use +we want all this brought to a general outlook of the value, and +comparative value, of such ordinary food as bread, oatmeal, eggs, and +beef; not only as to suitable proportions in our diet and to methods of +cooking, but also as a help in providing suitable substitutes for a +particular commodity in time of scarcity. Beyond the inevitable victims +of the Irish potato famine, many suffered quite unnecessarily for want +of ability to replace the familiar potato by a possible substitute; and +to-day we are little more intelligent in our catering. Quantity and +quality of the potato crop must each year to some extent make itself +felt on small purses, and while not dependent on this one article of +diet we might often help a meagre table by a good substitute such as +rice, hominy, dumplings, and an increased supply of fresh vegetables. +Substitutes for butcher's meat too often suggest the purely vegetarian +dish that to most people is but a _pis aller_. To replace part or even +most of the meat in a dish with a food of approximate dietetic value +would generally be more acceptable. A dish of haricot beans cooked with +a little minced beef is, for example, a very different dish from the +vegetarian treatment of the same article. Pea-soup made with the +addition of a ham or beef bone will generally win approval over its less +"tasty" rival. The value of eggs and the many ways of using cheese--the +possibilities of oatmeal beyond mere porridge--are all matters worth +understanding; so also is the problem of our milk supply. + +The fact that legislation is active in securing the hygienic conditions +of the wholesale milk supply cannot excuse individual indifference to +either its actual value or suitable treatment. The inferiority of skim +or separated milk to "whole milk" has been so emphasised that in many +places a useful article is lying as a drug in the market. That skim milk +is as useful as many "stocks" and much better than water for making +porridge, maigre soups, sauces, for mixing bread and scones, has yet to +be appreciated, and will only be so when the true economic use of food +is removed from its present haphazard position among the instinctive +arts! + +The constructive consistency of meat, fish, and vegetables must be +clearly set out if we are to understand the effect upon them of heat. +The primary methods of cooking and the standard proportions of +ingredients may already be used with an intelligence that at least puts +aside the recipe book; but the research that can produce a satisfactory +system of catering and cooking has yet to invade the higher education of +men and women. A suggestion of the scientific treatment of domestic +matters too often presumes an elaboration of work rather than a +reduction of it, and yet we all realise the labour-saving and economic +return that has been the result of science applied to commercial +industries. There must be a definite aim to simplify housekeeping and +domestic work; the conditions of life have gone that made a women find +scope for _all_ her energy in administering the affairs of her house or +in employing others to that end. + +To the uninitiated the various culinary processes seem endless, and to +arrive at a proper accomplishment of these is generally considered a +matter of continuous practice. A better understanding of the matter +readily shows that while many processes can only be perfected by +repetition, there are even more that fall under science rather than art. +Take, for example, the principles underlying the cooking of meat by +stewing. This is surely a process where manipulation is _nil_. To make +pastry or bread we must have a certain practice in the manipulation to +give the deftness (on which final success depends) in addition to any +understanding of the principles involved; but with regard to stewing and +many similar processes it should be possible to have one lesson made so +explicit that the actual process was known for all time--the Irish stew +of an artisan's home or the dainty entrée of the "Ritz" being only an +adaptation of given principles to different foods. + +In order to reduce primary methods to such business-like proportions, it +is necessary to consider them in their effect on different foods, having +due regard to texture and to the effect of a moist or a dry heat. It +would be a matter of interest to know how the established methods of +cooking meat and fish all really conduce to one end, viz. to soften the +fibres by steam formed from their own juices. The rules for most methods +of cooking these foods lead to this assumption, though nominally based +only on a means of retaining these juices in order to save a valuable +part of the food. The actual part played by the liquid in which foods +are cooked is possibly very small, but not to be ignored; the presence +of salt in the water in which beef or potatoes is cooked makes an +appreciable difference in the flavour and probably in the food value. +The relation of the fat used in frying to the food fried in it is too +often quite misunderstood, and a dyspeptic patient consequently is +ordered "no fried food." + +To "fry in butter" sounds well, but it is practically impossible; to +_sauté_ in butter at a temperature allowing some of the butter to enter +the food, is quite a valuable method of cooking; but to raise the +temperature to a point at which frying can be done is to char the +butter. To fry properly, the food should be immersed in fat so hot that +the outside of meat is immediately "set." Then allow the heating of the +juices inside the meat to perform the necessary cooking. The immersion +of the cold food soon lowers the temperature of the fat and makes +continued immersion possible. The best kind of fat for this purpose and +the relative temperature at which different fats may be used needs more +investigation. At present for ordinary kitchen use we have no more +reliable test of temperature than to venture a bit of bread and judge by +result. One thing we may accept--frying is not a greasy or rich method +of cooking. The fat used is merely a means of excluding atmosphere and +cooking food at a high temperature; it bears no more relation to the +food itself than does the atmosphere of the oven in baking. + +This question of temperatures and their relation to the kind of food, as +also to the various cookery processes, needs careful handling; we want +not alone a definite dogma established on a scientific basis, but we +want the means to apply it brought within easy reach--reach of a limited +purse and a limited intellectual capacity, for we are not all scholars. +There is no reason why a thermometer should not become part of our +kitchen equipment just as readily as that old sand-glass which +regulated the boiling of an egg, but, before it is the case, many other +matters must fall into line. It is probable that a careful investigation +of the best means of frying, boiling, stewing, &c. would effect a +considerable revolution in our household pots and pans. Is it impossible +to produce a pan in which a given quantity of fat or oil should be +easily brought to, say, 400° Fahr., and yet be unable to exceed that +temperature? It would so safeguard expense from burning that the most +delightful frying medium, olive oil, would be readily used by many +people. + +The matter of watching, and waiting, and judging the exact minute for +certain operations takes far more time than is generally supposed, and +the gloom surrounding the average kitchen range increases the +difficulty. The cook who understands the use of double pans for oven and +range has done something to save both time and anxiety, but it is +evident that much more might be done to render many cookery processes +almost automatic. The science that controls the production of such +commercial products as biscuits, tinned foods, pickles, and jam, and +turns them out to a uniform standard, is at present remote from the +household kitchen. Such scientific knowledge has been produced at a +commercial value for commercial enterprise. We need _our_ problems +brought into universities and colleges; into the channels where research +is made public; into the laboratories of schools, where, if no wonderful +result may be proclaimed, we have at least established a scientific +method of approaching the work of kitchen, laundry, and storeroom. The +ordinary teaching of the domestic subjects too often tends to magnify +the difficulties in order to show how they may be overcome. The +simplification of methods by classification would do much, and the +evolution of possible devices for saving labour would do still more, to +establish a favourable view of housekeeping. What is worth doing is +worth doing well; but it is "doing" unnecessarily that spells drudgery. + +Our attitude in considering household problems turns almost +involuntarily to cooking, but the need for an intellectual grasp of +matters domestic is equally potent in methods of cleaning. If the word +"hygiene," which we use so glibly, were really understood and +appreciated, the modern house-builder and furnisher would quickly be +sent to swell the ranks of the unemployed, and we should demand +construction and fittings which would minimise the problems of dust and +tarnish, provide suitable storage for food, and allow cleaning to be +simple, straightforward, and efficient. The advent of the vacuum cleaner +is less valuable in itself than in the establishment of a new principle +for dealing with dust, and one that may eventually revolutionise our +house-cleaning. We need a simple appliance of equal scientific value to +reduce some at least of the labour entailed in "washing-up." Pots and +pans, plates and dishes may be economised in number by a careful +worker, but cleaned they must be, and the average "sink" of scullery or +pantry is little removed from the pristine incompleteness of its first +appearance. There is, in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, a sink, +evidently used by the monks of the sixteenth century, which is identical +with those found in sculleries of to-day, and yet chemistry and physics +have revolutionised our industries and produced all sorts of scientific +methods for cleaning, lighting, and heating on a large scale. Perhaps +when the same woman who takes a D.Sc. bestows some of her energy on the +washing of dishes we shall get to something less primitive than washing +each individual greasy plate with a mop or cloth. The only scientific +treatment of "washing-up" used at present seems open to criticism, and +is only suited to large establishments, but it should be possible to +construct every sink with some sort of douche and general fittings +suited to this work. + +The question of the position of modern woman towards laundry-work +seems to have resolved itself into one of income. If she can pay for +the services of a steam laundry she does so. In the United Kingdom it +is estimated that there are 30,000 public laundries, but we have yet +to find one that can produce a list of charges within reasonable +limits of a small income. In the homes that are run on incomes of +£100 to £400 a-year, and where the laundry-work is done at the +public laundry, the amount of "washing" must be small, or some other +side of the expenditure must be seriously curtailed. Laundrying +performed intelligently and under suitable conditions is neither +difficult nor unpleasant. To stand over a wash-tub rubbing each +article by hand; to strain every muscle emptying that tub; to dry +garments on a rail across a kitchen and iron them near a blazing fire is +_not_ intelligent, and can only be followed by women driven by +custom to wash clothes at all. Perhaps in no section of household work +are scientific methods within reach as in the laundry; the existence of +the public laundry and the rivalry of different firms has produced an +open market for appliances of all kinds, and the exhibition of +laundry utensils, machines, &c., has become an annual event. Though many +of the inventions are destined for the "power" and general scope of +the public laundry, there are always a number of home appliances to +be seen; many more would be adapted if there were more demand. Any +real scope for these must rest in the first place with architect and +house-builder. In the North of England it is usual to build a small +"wash-house" to nearly every house, but the general construction of +these wash-houses is such as to discourage any desire to use them. +Only cold water is provided; the boiler is arranged as a detached +unit; the possibility of a drying cupboard in connection with kitchen +stove or hot-water cylinder is never considered, and the economical +heating of irons is generally overlooked. The use of irons heated by +gas, charcoal, and methylated spirit would be more general if these +were more efficiently constructed and less expensive. The provision of +electricity at a cost within the reach of ordinary folk will simplify +many things in laundry-work as in cooking and cleaning. Instruction is, +to some extent, already available as to soaps, detergent solutions and +bleaching agents. We need more appreciation of the part that may be +played by the process of "steeping" and the minimum of handling with +which clothes may be efficiently washed and finished. The profit and +loss in the matter cannot be estimated only in labour, time, soap, and +firing; the wear and tear of fabric in public laundries compared with +home handling and the risk of infection involved must both be taken +into account. If we make laundrying easy we do much to make a frequent +change of garment possible to a section of the community inclined to +economise in this direction, and we should probably make fashionable +those household materials that may be consigned to a wash-tub, instead +of paying a reluctant visit to the dry-cleaner--chintz, cretonne, and +Bolton sheeting instead of serge, tapestry, and plush. We owe one debt +of gratitude to the public laundry--it has raised a section of household +work to the level of a skilled industry, though as yet there seems +no system of apprenticeship that turns out the "complete" laundress. + +For the limits of a short paper these matters have perhaps been treated +somewhat discursively, but the object has been attained if, by the few +illustrations selected, some attention has been drawn to the field of +inquiry which lies open, and the urgent need for a definite application +of scientific minds to problems which, amid all the advances of this +progressive age, seem to lag behind. The inclusion of housecraft as part +of the curriculum of elementary and secondary schools may do much to +rouse interest and overcome some difficulties of cooking, &c., but to +any one familiar with these classes it is evident that their scope is +very limited, if only for the reason that the teaching so often treats +the work of housekeeping as an imitative art, based, for want of +reliable scientific data, on rules and recipes that are practically +organised tradition no more. In secondary schools, the introduction of +laboratory work has opened up fresh possibilities of a more reasonable +treatment of housecraft, for it is certain that, when teachers are +properly equipped for their work, biology, physics, and chemistry +(organic and inorganic) can be successfully taught along lines that +bring within the scope of school science such matters as food and +feeding, cooking and washing, fuels, heating, ventilation, and hygiene. + +To teach chemistry and physics in the usual academic manner and then +tack on a course of cookery and laundry-work at the end of school life +cannot possibly be of the same value as the co-ordinated courses; we +want scientific method even more than "science" for these schools girls, +who shall so soon be the housekeepers and home-makers. We may say with +Stevenson, "A dogma learned is only a new error--the old was perhaps as +good; but a spirit communicated is a perpetual possession." For those +girls who pass on to a university or technical school we want an +intelligence alert to all that may lie in further investigation of those +problems suggested at school. + +A certain jealousy may be pardoned that the possible evolution of +housekeeping may be the work of women; the leaders of the "woman's +movement" have so often spoiled their work by following the lines of +men's activities and aiming at a goal essentially masculine. The things +that go to housekeeping seem so intimately connected with motherhood +and mothering that it must be hoped our most able women will bring +their intelligence, their education, and their sense of national +responsibility to the task of housekeeping--to the simplification of its +problems, the reduction of the labour involved, and the organisation +of the paid service. There is certainly scope for master-minds. + +We touched on the organisation of the nursing service. If it is +possible to duly care for the sick and at the same time train an +efficient nurse, it is surely possible to provide proper service in the +huge caravanseries of our modern life, and at the same time provide a +suitable apprenticeship for the domestic worker. Good instruction at +school, followed by one or two years of definite training in a hostel +or boarding-house, should produce a class of skilled women workers who +can be organised and employed on the same lines as those of the +nursing service. + +In many branches of labour the women are ousting the men; unless we can +make good the present breach in our home bulwark and train our army of +defence, we may find men ousting women in their own particular sphere. + +America and Canada, realising that their coveted nationality must be +founded on homes, have brought into their universities the "science of +home affairs." England, in spite of the warning note sounded by +inquiries into physical deterioration, infant mortality, and kindred +evils, has been content with a _tradition_ of good homes, and has so far +done little more than provide a smattering of cookery lessons for +elementary school girls. + +There is, however, a promise of better things. One university college +has made a venture into home science, and other universities would soon +be at work if the necessary money could be secured. Oh, for some +silver-tongued evangelist to cry in the ears of our philanthropic +millionaires all that might be done for this country by bringing its +_best_ brains to consider the material things that go to the making of a +good home! + + + THE END + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. + Edinburgh & London + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Household Administration, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOUSEHOLD ADMINISTRATION *** + +***** This file should be named 36781-8.txt or 36781-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/8/36781/ + +Produced by Katherine Ward, Jonathan Ingram, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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