“ These primitive arrangements eventually gave place to a combined spit and mechanical roasting-jack, which was fixed to a small crane projecting from the mantelpiece. The jack, which was largely of brass, rotated when wound up, and the meat was hung below it immediately in front of the fire, and the gravy and dripping were caught in a large shallow metal pan with a high screen to prevent the diffusion of heat. The almost universal employment in England of closed kitcheners has thrown all forms of spits and jacks into disuse, but in old-fashioned kitchens they are still sometimes seen. ”