Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/157

DI G i . and tli-v will afford nutri- ment sufficient u> dine and up three person . without requiring eith< . bread ■ b or pottages like tl ate doubt! ibie to the common dish< g of fat bacon aad cabbage, with which ;i riderable quantity of bread and bees are always consumed. We, th> a fore, seriou >lj reoommen adoption of .such or similar mea- sures of prudent frugality^ to all classes of society, especially at the present period, when all the neces- saries of" lite have, partly from real, and partly from artificial scarcity, been raised to an exorbitant price. Those benevolent minds who feel qn interest in this useful inquiry, we are obliged to icier to the " Reports of the Society jar increas- ing die comforts and Lettering the condition of. the Poor," where they will find the subject minutely dis- cussed, a id many gross, though common, errors in domestic eco- nomy ably exposed. DIGESTER, an instrument serv- ing to dissolve solid animal sub- stances, in a manner similar to that performed by the stomach. This vessel was invented by Papin : after putting meat into it, together with a sufficient quantity of water, a lid is closely screwed on, so as to admit no external air. By a mo- derate fire, the meat will, in the course of six or eight minutes, be reduced to a perfect pulp : by aug- menting the heat of the fire, or extending the time of digestion, the hardest bones may be converted into a pulp or jelly. This effect is produced by the most perfect clo- sure of the vessel, which prevents the access or escape of air, so that the reverberations occasioned by t]ie expansion of the aerial fluid, djs- D I G ['37 solve the whole into an uniform bodj . and mix the aqueous, aline, ■ ' er, that tl Dot be easil it d ; but, ■■ hot, appear one liquor, and, when cold, form h pro- inate 10 the qi liesh or bones dissolved in the water. I bis useful instrument has not been hitherto applied to culinary purposes ; though within the last two years an imperfect imitation of it ! as bwien vended in the shops ; and We state with satisfaction, that even the latter is incomparably more economical than the various kinds of stew-pans formerly em- ployed. Cast-iron digesters arc now manufactured, of various sizes and prices. We understand that the most complete articles of this description may be had of Messrs. Jac KsoxandMosKR, Dean-street, Soho ; or of Mr. Downer, Fleet- strcit, London ; both of whom have, we believe?, obtained patents for their improvements in this va- luable culinary utensil. DIGESTION, in animal eco- nomy, signifies the dissolution of loud taken into the stomach, in order to supply the Continual loss sustained by perspiration, die dif- ferent functions, or by exercise. As soon as 'the food is taken into the mouth, it is first broken and divided by the teeth, being at the same time moistened with a liquor supplied by the salival glands, and consequently formed into a kind of paste. Thus prepared, it passes into the stomach to ferment ; a process winch is effected, . By tire salival and gastric juices, which have an effect on aliment similar to that of leaven, or yeast, on dough ; 2. By the vital heat of the stomach and viscera of the abdo- men :