ds, employed
in civil and military affairs, filled the office of cooks, and
managed marriage feasts; but this, no doubt, was after mankind
had advanced in the art of living, a step further than
_roasting_, which, in all places, was the ancient manner of
dressing meat.

65. THE AGE OF ROASTING we may consider as that in which the use of the
metals would be introduced as adjuncts to the culinary art; and amongst
these, iron, the most useful of them all, would necessarily take a
prominent place. This metal is easily oxidized, but to bring it to a
state of fusibility, it requires a most intense heat. Of all the metals,
it is the widest diffused and most abundant; and few stones or mineral
bodies are without an admixture of it. It possesses the valuable
property of being welded by hammering; and hence its adaptation to the
numerous purposes of civilized life.

Metallic grains of iron have been found in strawberries, and a
twelfth of the weight of the wood of dried oak is said to
consist of this metal. Blood owes its colour of redness to the
quantity of iron it contains, and rain and snow are seldom
perfectly free from it. In the arts it is employed in three
states,--as _cast_ iron, _wrought_ iron, and _steel_. In each of
these it largely enters into the domestic economy, and stoves,
grates, and the general implements of cookery, are usually
composed of it. In antiquity, its employment was, comparatively
speaking, equally universal. The excavations made at Pompeii
have proved this. The accompanying cuts present us with
specimens of stoves, both ancient and modern. Fig. 2 is the
remains of a kitchen stove found in the house of Pansa, at
Pompeii, and would seem, in its perfect state, not to have been
materially different from such as are in use at the present day.
Fig. 3 is a self-acting, simple open range in modern use, and
may be had of two qualities, ranging, according to their
dimensions, from L3. 10s. and L3. 18s. respectively, up to L4.
10s. and L7. 5s. They are completely fitted up with oven,
boiler, sliding cheek, wrought-iron bars, revolving shelves, and
brass tap. Fig. 4, is called the Improved Leamington Kitchener,
and is said to surpass any other range in use, for easy cooking
by one fire. It has a hot plate, which is well calculated for an
ironing-stove, and on which as many vessels as will stand u