Lectures on popular and scientific subjects

by 14th earl of James Sinclair Caithness

THE OIL FROM LINSEED.

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| 1842 | 368,000 | 1847 | 439,000 | 1852 | 800,000
| 1843 | 470,000 | 1848 | 799,000 | 1853 | 1,000,000
| 1844 | 616,000 | 1849 | 626,000 | 1854 | 828,000
| 1845 | 666,000 | 1850 | 668,000 | 1855 | 757,000
| 1846 | 506,000 | 1851 | 630,000 | 1856 | 1,100,000
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Now if we take the last year's imports, we shall find that the produce would amount to about 144,000 tons' weight of oil-cake, and above 56,000 tons of oil.

The cake is used for feeding cattle, and the oil for burning, lubricating, painting, &c.; and a very large quantity is exported.

We find that to crush the seed imported in 1856 it required from 150 to 160 double hydraulic presses, nearly 100 of which were in Hull. This shows the extent of our commerce in the seed of flax, to say nothing of its fibre; and is one more instance of the great results which may be wrought out of little things. What a beautiful illustration of the bounty of Providence; and what an encouragement to the ingenuity of man! Who knows what treasures may yet lie hidden in neglected fields, or to what untold wealth the human family may one day fall heir?

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HODGE-PODGE: OR, WHAT'S INTILT.

WRITTEN NOV. 20, 1875, AT STAGENHOE PARK.

The subject and treatment, as well as title, of this Lecture are suggested by the answer of the hostess at a Scottish inn to an English tourist, who was inquisitive to know the composition of a dish which she offered him, and which she called Hodge-Podge. "There's water intilt," she said, "there's mutton intilt, there's pease intilt, there's leeks intilt, there's neeps intilt, and sometimes somethings else intilt." The analysis was an exhaustive one, and the intelligence displayed by the landlady was every way worthy of the shrewdness indigenous to her country; but her answer was not so lucid to her listener as to herself, as appeared by his bewildered looks, and his further half-despairing interrogatory. "But what is intilt?" said he, impatiently striking in before she had well finished. "Haven't I been tellin' ye what's intilt?" she replied. And she began the enumeration again, only with longer pause and greater emphasis at every step, as if she were enlightening a slow apprehension,—"There's water intilt, there's mutton intilt;" quietly and self-complacently adding, as she finished, "Ye surely ken now what's intilt." Whether her guest now understood her meaning, or whether he had to succumb, contented with his ignorance, we are not informed; but few of my readers need to be told that "intilt" is a Scotch provincialism for "into it," and that the landlady meant by using it to signify that the particulars enumerated entered as constituents into her mysterious dish.

My aim is to discourse on the same constituents as they display their virtues and play their parts on a larger scale, in a wider economy; and when I have said my say, I hope I may be able to lay claim to the credit of having spoken intelligibly and profitably, though I must at the outset bespeak indulgence by promise of nothing more than the serving up of a dish of simple hodge-podge. The question I put in a wider reference is the question of the Englishman, as expressed in the Scotchwoman's dialect, What's intilt? and I assume that there enter into it, as radically component parts, at least the ingredients of this motley soup. Into the large hodge-podge of nature and terrestrial economics, as into this small section of Scotch cookery, there enter the element of water, the flesh of animals, and the fruits of the earth, as well as the processes by which these are brought to hand and rendered serviceable to life. The ingredients of hodge-podge exist in rerum natura, and the place they occupy and the function they fulfil in it are no less deserving of our inquisitive regard.

Thus, there is water in it, without which there were no seas and no sailing of ships, no rivers and no plying of mills, no vapour and no power of steam, no manufacture and no trade, and not only no motion, but no growth and no life. There is mutton, or beef, in it, and connected therewith the breeding and rearing of cattle, the production of wool, tallow, and leather, and the related manufactures and crafts. There are turnips and carrots in it, the latter of such value to the farmer that on one occasion a single crop of them sufficed to clear off a rent; and the former of such consequence in the fattening of stock and the provision of animal food, that a living economist divides society exhaustively into turnip-producing classes and turnip-consuming. There are leeks and onions in it, and these, with the former, suggest the art of the gardener, and the wonderful processes by which harsh and fibrous products can be turned into pulpy and edible fruits. And there are pease and barley in it, and associated therewith the whole art of the husbandman in the tillage of the soil and the raising of cereals, with the related processes of grinding the meal, baking the bread, preparing the malt, brewing the beer, and distilling the fiery life-blood at the heart.

Now, to discourse on all these, as they deserve, would be a task of no ordinary magnitude, but the subject is an interesting one, and to treat of it ever so cursorily might not unprofitably occupy a reflective moment or two. Water is the first topic it is laid upon me to talk about, and I begin with it all the more readily because it suggests a sense of freshness, and thoughts which may float our enterprise prosperously into port.

I. Water, as already hinted, is an element of vast account in the economy of nature, and is a recreation to the heart and a delight to the eye of both man and beast. To have a plentiful supply of it is one of the greatest blessings of God to the creature, and to be able to bestow it wisely and employ it usefully is one of the most serviceable of human arts. It is too valuable a servant to suffer to go idle, and many are the offices it might do us, if, as it travels from the mountains to the sea-board, we caught it in its course, harnessed it to our chariot, and guided it to our aim. We should turn it to account every inch of its progress, and compel it, as it can, to minister to our requirements by its irresistible energy. Its merely mechanical power is immense, and this is due in great part to its incompressibility; for it is in virtue of this quality alone we can, by means of it, achieve feats not otherwise feasible. How else could we have raised to its sublime height that stupendous bridge which spans the Menai Straits, and which is the wonder of the beholder, as it is the boast of the designer? It stands where it does by the help of some mechanism indeed, but the true giant that lifted it on his shoulders and bore it to its airy elevation was the incompressible force of water, a fluid which is, strangely, the simple product of the combination of two elastic transparent gases, oxygen and hydrogen, neither of which apart has the thew and sinew of its offspring. Nay, it is this single element, which, acted on by heat or acting through machinery, fetches and carries for us over the wide globe, and is fast weaving into one living web the far-scattered interests of the world.

Water was in primitive times utilised into a motive power by the help of a mechanism of rude design, which yet is hardly out of date, and might recently be seen in its original, still more in modified form, in certain back-quarters of civilisation. A stream, guided by a sluice, was made to play upon four vertical paddle-blades, attached to a shaft which they caused to revolve, and which moved a millstone, resting upon another through which it passed. It was a primitive mill, which superseded the still more primitive hand-mill, or quern; and I myself have seen it at work in the Shetland Islands, and even the north of Scotland, though it is now done away with even there, still more farther south, and its place supplied and its work done by overshot and under-shot wheel-gear, and improved machinery attached, of less or more complexity. One of the most recent improvements is the Turbine, a sort of Barker's mill; it is of great power, small compass, and acts under a good fall with a minimum expenditure of water-power.

Passing from the consideration of water as a motive power in its natural state, I ask you to notice briefly the gigantic force it can be made to develop under the action of heat. In its normal form the power of water is due, as I have said, to its incompressibility; in the state of vapour, to which it is reduced by heat, its power is due to the counter force of expansion. It was when confined as a state prisoner in the Tower of London that the Marquis of Worcester began to speculate on the possibilities of steam, though he little dreamed of its more important applications, and the incalculable services it might be made to render to the cause of humanity. Suddenly, one day, his musings in his solitude were interrupted by the rattling of the lid of a kettle, which was boiling away on the fire beside him, when, being of a philosophic vein, he commenced to inquire after the cause; and he soon reasoned himself into the conclusion that the motive power lay in the tension of the vapour, and that the maintenance of this must be due to successive additions of heat. The thought was a seed sown in a fit soil, for it led to experiments which confirmed the supposition, and inaugurated others that have borne fruit, as we see. It was a great moment in the annals of discovery, and from that time to this the genius of improvement has moved onward with unprecedented strides; and this in the application of steam-power as well as the results, stupendous as these last have been. For as there is no department of industry that has not made immense advances since, none on which steam has not directly or indirectly been brought to bear with effect; so there has been no end to the ingenuity and ingenious devices by which steam has been coaxed into subjection to human use and made the pliant minister of the master, man. All these results follow as a natural consequence from the first discovery of its motive power by the Marquis of Worcester, and the subsequent invention of James Watt, by which the force detected was rendered uniform, instead of fitful and spasmodic, as it had been before. And yet, important as was the discovery of the one, and ingenious as is the invention of the other, both are of slight account in the presence of the great fact of nature observed by the English nobleman and humoured by the Scottish artisan. The genie whom the one captured and the other tamed, is the great magic worker, apart from whose subtle strength their ingenuity had been wasted, and had come to naught.

But here I must restrain my rovings, and recall my purpose to descant on other points. And indeed the uses of water are so numerous and varied that the subject might well engross a lecture by itself; and I must needs therefore cut the matter short. It is only Hodge-Podge, moreover, I have undertaken to dish up before you, and I must keep my word. For, fain as I am to dilate on the many economic virtues of water, I must not forget that the pot contains other ingredients, and that the dish I am serving out of it would yield but poor fare, if it did not.

2. I come therefore to the next ingredient in the soup I am providing; for, as the housewife said, "there's mutton intilt," and it is the most important ingredient in the mess. But the animal which produces it, like the kindred animals that produce the like, serves other purposes as well, and these no less essential to the exigency of the race; and it is of them I propose to speak. It is beside my design to enter on the domain of the sheep-breeder, and attempt an account of the different kinds reared by the farmer; enough to say that, numerous as these are, they are all fed and tended for the benefit of the human family, and that they minister to the supply of the same human wants.

The child, as it frolics on the lawn, stops his gambols and steps gently aside to coax, to caress his woolly-fleeced companion; and the mother talks softly to her child of the innocent darlings, and asks if they are not lovely creatures, and beautiful to look at, as they timidly wander from spot to spot, and nibble the delicate pasture. So it is to the lively fancy of childhood, and so it is to the mother whose affections are naturally melted into softness in the presence of simplicity; but when economic considerations arise, and the question is one of service and value, all such sentimental and aesthetic emotions pass out of court, and only calculations of base utilitarianism fill the eye from horizon to horizon. No doubt the creatures are lovely and beautiful to behold on the meadows and hill-sides of the landscape, which they enliven and adorn; but man must live as well as admire, and unless by sacrifice of the sheep he must not only go without hodge-podge to his dinner, but dispense with much else equally necessary to his life and welfare. The cook requires the sacrifice, that he may purvey for the tables of both gentle and semple; the tallow-dealer requires the sacrifice, that he may provide light for our homesteads, and oil for our engines, both stationary and locomotive; and the wool-merchant and the currier insist on stripping the victim of his fleece, and even flaying his skin, before they can assure us of fit clothing and covering against cold and rain for our bodies and our belongings. And what a wretched plight we should be in, if the sheep, or their like, did not come to the rescue, or the help they are fitted to render were not laid under contribution! For not only might we be fated to go often dinnerless to bed, and to live all our days in a body imperfectly nourished, but our evenings would in many cases be spent without light, and our journeys undertaken without comfort, and our outer man left to battle at odds, unshod and unprotected, with the discomforts of the highway and the inclemency of the seasons. Of all the services rendered by the sheep to the race of man, perhaps the most invaluable is that which is accorded in the gift of wool; and it is for the sake of this alone that, in many quarters, whole flocks, and even breeds, are reared and tended,—so great is the demand for it, and such the esteem in which it is held for the purpose of clothing the body and keeping it in warmth.

3. But, again, to advance a step further, there are, as the landlady of the inn remarked, "neeps intilt." On this part of the subject, that I may pass to the next topic on which I mean to speak, and which is of wider range, I intend to say little. I have already referred to the important place assigned to this vegetable by a living economist as affording a basis for grouping society into two great classes. To the farmer it is of equal, and far more practical, importance; for it is, by the manner of its cultivation, a great means of clearing the land of weeds; it is the chief support of sheep and cattle through the months of winter; and it is one of the most valuable crops raised on British soil, and of equal account in the agriculture of both England and Scotland. The culture of turnips on farms involves considerable expense indeed, and is sometimes attended with loss, and even failure; but they are of inestimable value in cattle husbandry, as without them our sheepfarms would soon be depopulated, and the animals hardly outlive a winter. One function they, and the like, fulfil in nature, is turning inorganic matter into vegetable, that the component elements may in this form be more readily assimilated into animal flesh and blood; while their introduction as an article of farming is of great importance as rendering possible and feasible a regular rotation of crops.

4. But I must, as I said, hasten on to another ingredient of the dish we are compounding; I refer to barley, for that too, as our gracious hostess would say, is "intilt." From this single grain what virtues have been developed! what mildness, what soothing, what nourishment, and what strength! What a source it is to us of comfort, of enjoyment, and of wealth! There is barley-water, for instance, a beverage most harmless, yet most soothing; meet drink for the sick-room, and specially promotive of the secretions in patients whose disease is inflammatory, and who suffer from thirst. Then there is barley-bread, extensively used in both England and Scotland, than which there is none more wholesome to the blood and more nourishing to the system; the meal of which is of service too in the shape of a medical appliance, and, when so used, acts with most beneficial effect. But its strength is not so pronounced or decisive either in the form of an infusion or in that of bread, much as in these forms it contributes to health and vigour: it is not when it is put into the pot, or when bruised by the miller, that it comes out in the fulness of its might; it is when it is immersed in water, and subjected to heat, and metamorphosed into malt. In this form it can be converted into a beverage that is simple and healthful, and, when used aright, conducive to strength of muscle and general vigour of life; but when it has undergone a further process, which I am about to describe, it evolves a spirit so masterful that the weak would do well to withstand its seductiveness, for only a strong head and a stout will dare with impunity to enter the lists with it, and can hope to retire from the contest with the strength unshorn and a firm footstep.[C]

Whisky, which is what I now refer to as the highest outcome of the strength of barley, is, like hodge-podge, of Scotch incubation, and deserves, for country's sake and the fame it has, some brief regard. The process by which the grain is prepared may be described as follows. The grain is first damped, then spread out on a floor, and finally a certain quantity of water and heat applied, when it begins to germinate, which it continues to do to a certain stage, beyond which it is not allowed to pass. At this moment a Government official presents himself, and exacts a duty of the manufacturer for the production of the malt, the authorities shrewdly judging that they are entitled to levy off so valuable an article a modicum of tax. The grain thus prepared is now in a state for further manufacture, and it passes into the hands of the brewer or distiller, to be converted into a more or less alcoholic drink.

First the brewer produces therefrom those excellent beverages called beer and porter, and so contributes to our refreshment, enjoyment, and strength. These beverages are, in one shape or other, nearly in universal demand, and the money spent upon the consumption of Bass and XX almost passes belief. They are exported into every zone of the world, and consumed by every class. And then the distiller takes the grain in the same form, and, by slow evaporation and subsequent condensation, extracts the pure, subtle, and potent spirit we have referred to, and which, in more or less diluted form, we call whisky, or Scotch drink. And this article also, in spite of cautions, is in large demand and extensively exported, though perhaps not so much is consumed among us as was fifty years ago. It is not by any means so bad an article as it has a bad name; for when of good quality, and moderately indulged in, it is perfectly wholesome; only when the quality is bad, or the indulgence excessive, do evil results follow. And indeed such are its merits when good, that it is said dealers sometimes export it to France and other parts, from which it is imported again to this country, transfused into splendidly labelled brandy bottles, and sold untransformed as best brandy!

Little do we think, when eating our quiet dinner at a Scottish country inn, what power and wealth are represented in the hodge-podge which belike forms one of the dishes, and which, by suggestion and in the style of the housewife, we are now analysing. As we disintegrate the mess, and resolve it into its elements, we may well bethink ourselves of the cost of our board on the planet, and of the value of the articles we are daily consuming. To help you to a clearer idea of this, in regard to the article barley alone in the form of malt, let me commend to your attention the following statistical statement:—

A Parliamentary return of 1876 shows that the quantity of malt charged with duty during the year was—

BUSHELS. DUTY.
England, 54,655,274 £7,412,621
Scotland, 2,927,763 396,241
Ireland, 3,346,606 453,883
————— —————
Total of United Kingdom,60,929,633 £8,262,746

The quantity of barley imported into the United Kingdom during the year was equivalent to 2,736,425 quarters. See how great a fire a little spark, hodge-podge, kindleth!

So much for the quantity of malt produced, and the revenue derived from it, in a year in the United Kingdom. I have spoken of this malt as being convertible into a form which possesses, among other virtues, the power of quenching our thirst. I wish it did not also quench our thirst for the knowledge we all ought to have of its production and really serviceable qualities; that it would stimulate inquiry after such things, and not smother it, as it is too apt to do; and, in general, prompt us to a wiser study of our social wants, and the means at our command for further social improvement; which we might prosecute with less and less recourse to the stimulant virtues of malt in such forms as whisky. And this we may do, if we limit our indulgence in it to the less potent form of it in beer, which, while it is calculated to quench man's bodily thirst, is equally calculated to quicken his mental. How much it contributes to allay the former, and how many thirsty souls are refreshed by it, we may estimate from the statistics of the sale of it furnished by a single firm in London. I refer to the firm of the Messrs. Foster, Brook Street, who are friends of my own, and to whom I should be glad to refer all who may be in want of a wholesome beer, for theirs is so good and genuine. The Messrs. Foster are among the most extensive bottlers and exporters in the country; and I find from the information they have kindly supplied me, that the beer bottled by them for export purposes during the year 1874 was 6000 butts, of 108 gallons each; that their contracts for the supply of bottles during that period represented 25,000 gross, or 5,040,000 bottles, which, if laid end to end, would extend to about 1000 miles; and that their accounts with Bass & Co. alone for that term amounted to £150,000. All, from the highest to the lowest, drink beer in England; and when unadulterated and taken in moderation, it is one of the most healthful beverages of which the human being, man or woman, can partake.

Though I have only partially gone over the ground contemplated at first, I feel I must now draw to a conclusion, which I am the less indisposed to do, as I think in what I have said I have pretty fairly set before you the wonderful properties latent in a basin of hodge-podge. For it is a habit of mine, which I have sought to indulge on the present occasion, to analyse every subject to which my attention is directed, and in which I feel interest, before I can make up my mind as to the proper significance and importance of the whole compound. Thus, for instance, set a dish of hodge-podge before me; it does not satisfy me to be told that it is only a basin of broth, and that it is wholesome fare; I must, as I have now been doing in a way, resolve the compound into its elements, see these in other and wider relations, and refer them mentally to their rank and standing in the larger world of the economy of nature and of social existence. I am always asking "What's intilt?" and am never satisfied, any more than the English tourist, with a bare enumeration: I must subject the factors included to rational inspection, and watch their play and weigh their worth in connection with interests more general.

And if, in the delivery of this lecture, I have persuaded any one to regard common things in a similar light and from a similar interest, I shall deem the time spent on it not altogether thrown away. Mind, not water, is the ultimate solvent in nature, and everything, when thrown into it, will be found in the end to resolve itself into it, or what in nature is of kin to it. And if a Latin poet could justify his interest in man by a reference to his own humanity, so may we rest content with nature when we find that we and it are parts of each other. It is well to learn to look on nothing as private, but on everything as a part of a great whole, of which we ourselves are units; so shall we feel everywhere at home, and a sense of kinship with the remote as well as near within the round of existence.