Whether we recognize this isolation as a cause or not, we are all ready to acknowledge that household labor has been in some way belated; that the improvements there have not kept up with the improvement in other occupations.

It is said that the last revolution in the processes of cooking was brought about by Count Rumford, who died a hundred years ago.

This is largely due to the lack of _esprit de corps_ among the employees, which keeps them collectively from fresh achievements, as the absence of education in the individual keeps her from improving her implements.
Under this isolation, not only must one set of utensils serve divers purposes, and, as a consequence, tend to a lessened volume and lower quality of work, but, inasmuch as the appliances are not made to perform the fullest work, there is an amount of capital invested disproportionate to the product when measured by the achievement in other branches of industry.

More important than this is the result of the isolation upon the worker herself.

There is nothing more devastating to the inventive faculty, nor fatal to a flow of mind and spirit, than the constant feeling of loneliness and the absence of that fellowship which makes our public opinion.