Applied Science for Housecraft

I hope that once this textbook has been studied, scholars will perceive to what extent the cooking and washing processes are based upon physical and chemical principles and laws, and will realise that knowledge of these is essential for every student.

This textbook is meant for schools and colleges since schools have been paying more attention to skill than to science. Attention must be drawn to the fact that certain complicated chemical symbols and equations in cookery and laundry have been omitted. These cannot be fully understood without knowledge of organic chemistry, which is not taught at school. When a cookery lesson is presented on measuring and weighing of ingredients, the chapter on balances, weighing masses and measures should first be treated. Similarly, the scholar should first become acquainted with air pressure and the influence of pressure on the boiling point of a fluid, before the steam pressure cooker is discussed. Justice will be done to science only by presenting the subject in this manner.
I hope that once this textbook has been studied, scholars will perceive to what extent the cooking and washing processes are based upon physical and chemical principles and laws, and will realise that knowledge of these is essential for every student. By combining science with dexterity, drudgery can be eliminated from housekeeping, equipment and furniture properly cared for and housekeeping run on a more economical basis.