{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_5434/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_5434","id":"gutenberg_5434","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5434","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Cooking & Drinking","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Gastronomy"],"text":"Steve Harris, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\nTHE PHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE;\n\nOR,\n\nTRANSCENDENTAL GASTRONOMY.\n\n\nILLUSTRATED BY ANECDOTES OF DISTINGUISHED ARTISTS AND STATESMEN OF\n\n\nBOTH CONTINENTS. BY BRILLAT SAVARIN.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSLATED FROM THE LAST PARIS EDITION BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n\n\nAPHORISMS of the Professor to serve as Prolegomena to his work,\nand Eternal basis of the Science,\n\nDIALOGUE, between the Author and his Friend,\n\nBIOGRAPHY,\n\nPREFACE,\n\n\nMEDITATION I.\nTHE SENSES,\n\n  Number of the Senses,\n\n  Action of the Senses,\n\n  Perfectness of the Senses,\n\n  Powers of the Taste,\n\n  Object of the Action of the Senses,\n\n\nMEDITATION II.\nTASTE,\n\n  Definition of Taste,\n\n  Mechanism of Taste,\n\n  Sensation of Taste,\n\n  Flavors,\n\n  Influence of Smelling on the Taste,\n\n  Analyses of the Sensation of Taste,\n\n  Order of the Impressions of Taste,\n\n  Enjoyments due to the Taste,\n\n  Supremacy of Man,\n\n  Method of the Author,\n\n\nMEDITATION III.\nGASTRONOMY,\n\n  Origin of Sciences,\n\n  Origin of Gastronomy,\n\n  Definition of Gastronomy,\n\n  Different objects of Gastronomy,\n\n  Utility of Gastronomical Knowledge,\n\n  Influence of Gastronomy on Business,\n\n  Gastronomical Academy,\n\n\nMEDITATION IV.\nAPPETITE,\n\n  Definition of Appetite,\n\n  Anecdote,\n\n  Great Appetites,\n\n\nMEDITATION V.\nFOOD IN GERMS--Section First,\n\n  Definitions,\n\n  Analyses,\n\n  Osmazome,\n\n  Principle of Aliments,\n\n  Vegetable Kingdom,\n\n  Difference between Fat and Lean,\n\n  Individual Instance,\n\n\nMEDITATION VI.\nFOOD IN GERMS--Section Second,\n\n  Specialities,\n\n  I. Pot-au-feu, Potage, etc.,\n\n  II. Bouilli,\n\n  III. Fowls,\n\n  IV. The Turkey,\n\n    Dindoniphiles,\n\n    Financial Influence of the Turkey,\n\n    Exploit of the Professor,\n\n  V. Game,\n\n  VI. Fish,\n\n    Anecdote,\n\n    Muria--Garum,\n\n    Philosophical Reflection,\n\n  VII. Truffles,\n\n    Erratic Virtue of Truffles,\n\n    Are Truffles Indigestible,\n\n  VIII. Sugar,\n\n    Indigenous Sugar,\n\n    Uses of Sugur,\n\n  IX. Origin of Coffee,\n\n    Different Modes of preparing Coffee,\n\n    Effects of Coffee,\n\n X. Chocolate--its origin,\n\n    Properties of Chocolate,\n\n    True Method of preparing Chocolate,\n\n\nMEDITATION VII.\nTHEORY OF FRYING,\n\n  Allocution,\n\n  I. Chemistry,\n\n  II. Application,\n\n\nMEDITATION VIII.\nON THIRST,\n\n  Varieties of Thirst,\n\n  Causes of Thirst,\n\n  Example,\n\n\nMEDITATION IX.\nON DRINKS,\n\n  Water,\n\n  Quick effect of Drinks,\n\n  Strong Drinks,\n\n\nMEDITATION X.\nAN EPISODE ON THE END OF THE WORLD,\n\n\nMEDITATION XI.\nON GOURMANDISE,\n\n  Definitions,\n\n  Advantages of Gourmandise,\n\n  Sequel,\n\n  Power of Gourmandise,\n\n  A Lady Gourmand,\n\n  Anecdote,\n\n  Are Women Gourmands?\n\n  The effects of Gourmandise of Sociability,\n\n  Influence of Gourmandise on Conjugal Happiness,\n\n  Note of a Patriot Gastronomer,\n\n\nMEDITATION XII.\nGOURMANDS,\n\n  All who wish to be are not Gourmands,\n\n  Napoleon,\n\n  Gourmands by Destiny,\n\n  Gourmands by Profession,\n\n  Financiers,\n\n  Physicians,\n\n  Objurgation,\n\n  Men of Letters,\n\n  Devotees,\n\n  Chevaliers and Abbes,\n\n  Longevity of Gourmands,\n\n\nMEDITATION XIII.\nGASTRONOMICAL TESTS,\n\n  First Series--Income of 5,000 francs,\n\n  Second Series--Income of 15,000 francs,\n\n  Third Series--Income of 30,000 francs, or more,\n\nMEDITATION XIV. ON THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE,\n\n  Origin of the Pleasures of the Table,\n\n  Difference between the Pleasures of Eating and the Pleasures\n  of the Table,\n\n  Effects,\n\n  Accessories,\n\n  The 18th and 19th Century,\n\n  Summary,\n\n\nMEDITATION XV.\nHALTES DE CHASSE,\n\n  Ladies,\n\n\nMEDITATION XVI.\nON DIGESTION,\n\n  Ingestion,\n\n  Duty of the Stomach,\n\n  Influence of Digestion,\n\n\nMEDITATION XVII.\nREPOSE,\n\n  Time of Rest,\n\n\nMEDITATION XVIII.\nSLEEP,\n\n  Definition,\n\n\nMEDITATION XIX.\nDREAMS,\n\n  Nature of Dreams,\n\n  System of Dr. Gall,\n\n  First Observation,\n\n  Second Observation,\n\n  Result,\n\n  Age,\n\n  Phenomena of Dreams,\n\n  First Observation,\n\n  Second Observation,\n\n  Third Observation,\n\n  Do as you will be done by,\n\n\nMEDITATION XX.\nINFLUENCE OF DIET ON REST, SLEEP AND DREAMS,\n\n  Effects of Diet on Labor,\n\n  Dreams,\n\n  Consequence,\n\n  Result,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXI. OBESITY,\n\n  Causes of Obesity,\n\n  Sequel,\n\n  Sequel,\n\n  Anecdote,\n\n  Inconvenience of Obesity,\n\n  Examples of Obesity,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXII.\nPRESERVATIVE TREATMENT AND CURE OF OBESITY,\n\n  Generalities,\n\n  Sequel of the Regimen,\n\n  Dangers of Acids,\n\n  Antiobesic Belt,\n\n  Quinquina,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXIII.\nTHINNESS,\n\n  Definition,\n\n  Varieties,\n\n  Effects of Thinness,\n\n  Natural Predestination,\n\n  Fattening Regimen,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXIV.\nFASTING,\n\n  Definition,\n\n  Origin,\n\n  How people used to Fast,\n\n  Origin of the removal of Restriction in Fasting,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXV.\nEXHAUSTION,\n\n  Treatment,\n\n  Cure by the Professor,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXVI.\nDEATH,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXVII.\nPHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY OF THE KITCHEN,\n\n  Order of Alimentation,\n\n  Discovery of Fire,\n\n  Baking,\n\n  Oriental Entertainments--Grecian,\n\n  Roman Festivals,\n\n  Resurrection of Lucullus,\n\n  Poetry,\n\n  Irruption of the Barbarians,\n\n\nMEDITATION XXVIII.\nRESTAURATEURS,\n\n  Establishment,\n\nPHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE--Part Second,\n\nTRANSITION,\n\nVARIETIES,\n  I. L'omelette du Cure,\n\n    Omelette au Thon,\n\n    Observations,\n\n  II. A National Victory,\n\n  III. Mystification of the Professor and Defeat of a General,\n\n  IV. The Snare,\n\n  V. The Turbot,\n\n  VI. Pheasants,\n\n  VII. Gastronomical Industry of the Emigres,\n\n  VIII. Recollections of the Emigration,\n\n    The Weaver,\n\n    The Starving,\n\n    Sojourn in America,\n\n    Asparagus,\n\n    Fondue,\n\n    Recipe for Fondue, Copied from the Papers of M. Trollet,\n    Bailli of Mondon in Berne,\n\n    Disappointment,\n\n    Wonderful Effects of a Classical Dinner,\n\n    Effects and Danger of Strong Drinks,\n\n    Chevaliers and Abbes,\n\n    Miscellany--Wine,\n\n    Strawberries,\n\n    Judgment,\n\n    Raisins,\n\n    A Day with the Bernardines,\n\n    Prosperity en route,\n\n    H. ... DeP ...,\n\n    Conclusion,\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.\n\nThe excellent man to whom we are indebted for this book has\ndescribed himself, with so much charm, nature and truth; the\nprincipal events of his life have been recorded in such an\nagreeable and faithful manner that very few words will suffice to\nfinish the story.\n\nBrillat Savarin (Anthelme) Counsel of the Court of Cassation,\nmember of the Legion of Honor, member of the Society for the\nEncouragement of National Industry, of the Antiquarian Society of\nFrance, of the Philoselic Society of Bourg, &c., &c., was born,\n1st of April, 1755, at Belley, a little Alpine city, not far from\nthe banks of the Rhine, which at this place separates France from\nSavoy. Like his forefathers, who had been for several generations\ndevoted to the bar, the profession which pleased him, in\nconsequence of his possession of great eloquence, he practised\nwith great success.\n\nIn, 1789, the unanimous vote of his fellow citizens deputed him\nto the Constituent assembly, composed of all that was most\nbrilliant in the youth of France at that day. Less attached in\npractice to the philosophy of Zeno than that of Epicurus, his name\ndoes not figure very conspicuously, but always appears at epochs,\nwhich show that he acted with the good and moderate.\n\nHis legislative functions being determined by the expiration of\nthe Constituent Assembly, he was first appointed President of the\nSuperior Civil court of the Department of Ain, and subsequently a\nJustice of the Court of Cassation, newly instituted; a man of\ntalent, perfectly incorruptible and unhesitating in the discharge\nof his duty, he would have been precisely calculated for the place\nto which he had been appointed, had the warmth of political\ndiscussion made practicable the advice either of moderation or of\nprudence. In 1793, he was Mayor of Belley, and passed in anxiety\nthere, the season of the reign of Terror; whence he was forced to\nfly to Switzerland for an asylum against the revolutionary\nmovement. Nothing can better man, without a personal enemy, should\nbe forced to pass in a foreign land the days he purposed to devote\nto the improvement of his country.\n\nThis is the point when the character of Brillat Savarin assumes\nits grandest proportions; proscribed, a fugitive, and often\nwithout pecuniary resources, frequently unable to provide for his\npersonal safety, he was always able to console his companions in\nexile and set them an example of honest industry. As time rolled\non, and his situation became more painful, he sought to find in\nthe new world a repose which Europe denied him; he came from\nEurope, and in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Hartford passed\ntwo years teaching the French language, and for a time playing the\nfirst violin in the orchestra of the Park Theatre. Like many other\nemigres, Brillat Savarin ever sought to make the pleasant and the\nuseful coincide. He always preserved very pleasant recollection of\nthis period of his life, in which he enjoyed, with moderate labor,\nall that is necessary for happiness, liberty sweetened by honest\ntoil. He might say all is well, and to be able to enjoy the breath\nof my native land would alone increase my happiness; he fancied\nthat he saw brighter days with the commencement of Vendemiaire\nyear 5, corresponding to September, of 1796. Appointed by the\nDirectory, as Secretary of the General in Chief of the Republican\narmies in Germany, then Commisary of the government in the\ndepartment of the Seine and Oise, (this appointment he held at the\nepoch of the 18th Brumaire, in which France fancied she exchanged\nliberty for repose,) sustained by the Senate and the Court,\nBrillat Savarin passed the remaining twenty-five years of his life\nrespected by his inferiors, loved by his equals, and honored by\nall. A man of mind, a pleasant guest, with a deep fund of humor,\nhe delighted every body. His judicial labors did not at all\ninterfere with the composition of this book, which he esteemed the\ngreat one of his life.\n\nTo the very facility of its composition, the \"Physiology of the\nTaste,\" owes its success; one would form a very erroneous opinion\nof it, were he to estimate it at all as we do Montaigue's writings\non the Gueule. Savarin was naturally a thoughtful man, the\nsimplest meal satisfied him, all he required was that it should be\nprepared artistically; and he maintained that the art of cookery\nconsisted in exciting the taste. He used to say, \"to excite a\nstomach of Papier Mache, and enliven vital powers almost ready to\ndepart, a cook needs more talent than he who has solved the\nINFINTESIMAL CALCULUS.\"\n\nThe world was much surprised by finding in a book by Brillat\nSavarin, a man it had always looked upon as simply a very pleasant\nperson, such a vast collection of general information; after his\nlaborious profession he had always seemed to expend the rest of\nhis time with the muses and graces, and none could divine where he\nobtained so much information, as almost to recall the story of\nsome gray-haired sage of Greece. He had however already composed\nmore than one work unrecognised, if we except the two opuscula\n\"Critical and Historical Essay on Duel, with Relation to our\nLegislation and Morals,\" and a work on judicial practice. They\nwere successful, but he was just then attacked by a violent cold,\ncontracted by being present at the annual ceremony, [Footnote: Not\nonly Brillat Savarin, but Robert De St. Vincent, and Attorney\nGeneral Marchangy, contracted their death in consequence of the\nsame ceremonial.] the 21st of January at the Church of St. Dennis.\nIn spite of every care and attention, on the 2d of February, 1826,\nhe died. For many years gifted with robust health and athletic\nconstitution, made the more remarkable by his tall stature,\nBrillat Savarin had a presentiment of the approach of death; this\nfeeling, however, did not influence the tenor of his life, for his\nhabitual gaity was maintained unimpaired. When the fatal point was\nreached, he died tanquam convivia satur, not without regret,\ncertainly, for he left many kind friends to whom his memory could\nnot but be dear.\n\nAPHORISMS OF THE PROFESSOR.\n\nTO SERVE AS PROLEGOMENA TO HIS WORK AND ETERNAL BASIS TO THE\nSCIENCE.\n\nI. The universe would be nothing were it not for life and all that\nlives must be fed.\n\nII. Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows\nhow to eat.\n\nIII. The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they\nare fed.\n\nIV. Tell me what kind of food you eat, and I will tell you what\nkind of man you are.\n\nV. The Creator, when he obliges man to eat, invites him to do so\nby appetite, and rewards him by pleasure.\n\nVI. Gourmandise is an act of our judgment, in obedience to which,\nwe grant a preference to things which are agreeable, over those\nwhich nave not that quality.\n\nVII. The pleasure of the table belongs to all ages, to all\nconditions, to all countries, and to all aeras; it mingles with\nall other pleasures, and remains at last to console us for their\ndeparture.\n\nVIII. The table is the only place where one does not suffer, from\nennui during the first hour.\n\nIX. The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on\nhumanity, than the discovery of a new star.\n\nX. Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk,\nare utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and\ndrinking.\n\nXI. The order of food is from the most substantial to the\nlightest.\n\nXII. The order of drinking is from the mildest to the most foamy\nand perfumed.\n\nXIII. To say that we should not change our drinks is a heresy; the\ntongue becomes saturated, and after the third glass yields but an\nobtuse sensation.\n\nXIV. A dessert without cheese is like a beautiful woman who has\nlost an eye.\n\nXV. A cook may be taught, but a man who can roast, is born with\nthe faculty.\n\nXVI. The most indispensable quality of a good cook is promptness.\nIt should also be that of the guests.\n\nXVII. To wait too long for a dilatory guest, shows disrespect to\nthose who are punctual.\n\nXVIII. He who receives friends and pays no attention to the repast\nprepared for them, is not fit to have friends.\n\nXIX. The mistress of the house should always be certain that the\ncoffee be excellent; the master that his liquors be of the first\nquality.\n\nXX. To invite a person to your house is to take charge of his\nhappiness as long as he be beneath your roof.\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE between the author and his friend. (after the usual\nsalutations.)\n\nFRIEND. As my wife and myself were at breakfast this morning, we\ncame to the conclusion that you should print, as soon as possible,\nyour Gastronomical Observations.\n\nAUTHOR. What the wife wishes God wills. In six words that is the\ncharta of Paris. I, though, am not subject to that law, for I am\nan unmarried man.\n\nFRIEND. Bachelors, though, are as subject to the law as others\nare, sometimes much to our injury. Single blessedness here,\nhowever, will not save you. My wife says she has a right to order,\nbecause you began your book at her country-house.\n\nAUTHOR. You know, dear Doctor, how I defer to the ladies; more\nthan once you have found my submission to their orders. You also\nwere one of those who said I would make an excellent husband. I\nwill not, however, print my book.\n\nFRIEND. Why not?\n\nAUTHOR. Because being devoted, from the nature of my profession,\nto serious studies, I fear that those who only know the title of\nmy book will think that I devote myself to trifles.\n\nFRIEND. A panic terror! Thirty-six years of constant toil and\nlabor for the public, have made you a reputation. Besides, my wife\nand I think every body would read you.\n\nAUTHOR. Indeed!\n\nFRIEND. The learned will read your book to ascertain what you have\nto tell.\n\nAUTHOR. Perhaps.\n\nFRIEND. Women will read your book because they will see---\n\nAUTHOR. My dear friend, I am old, I am attacked by a fit of\nwisdom. Miserere mei.\n\nFRIEND. Gourmands will read you because you do them justice, and\nassign them their suitable rank in society.\n\nAUTHOR. Well, that is true. It is strange that they have so long\nbeen misunderstood; I look on the dear Gourmands with paternal\naffection. They are so kind and their eyes are so bright.\n\nFRIEND. Besides, did you not tell me such a book was needed in\nevery library.\n\nAUTHOR. I did. It is the truth--and I would die sooner than deny\nit.\n\nFRIEND: Ah! you are convinced! You will come home with me?\n\nAUTHOR. Not so. If there be flowers in the author's path, there\nare also thorns. The latter I leave to my heirs.\n\nFRIEND. But then you disinherit your friends, acquaintances and\ncotemporaries. Dare you do so?\n\nAUTHOR. My heirs! my heirs! I have heard that shades of the\ndeparted are always flattered by the praise of the living; this is\na state of beatitude I wish to reserve myself for the other world.\n\nFRIEND. But are you sure that the praise you love so, will come to\nthe right address? Are you sure of the exactness of your heirs?\n\nAUTHOR. I have no reason to think they will neglect a duty, in\nconsideration of which I have excused them the neglect of so many\nothers.\n\nFRIEND. Will they--can they have for your book the paternal love,\nthe author's attention without which every work always comes\nawkwardly before the public?\n\nAUTHOR. My manuscript will be corrected, written out distinctly,\nand in all respects prepared; they will only have to print it.\n\nFRIEND. And the chapter of events? Alas! such circumstances have\ncaused the loss of many precious books,--among which was that of\nthe famous Lecat, on the state of the body during sleep, the work\nof his whole life.\n\nAUTHOR. This doubtless was a great loss; but I anticipate no such\nregrets for my book.\n\nFRIEND. Believe me, your friends will have enough to do-to arrange\nmatters with the church, with the law, and with the medical\nfaculty, so that if they had the will, they would not have the\ntime to devote them-selves to the various cares which precede,\naccompany, and follow the publication of a book,--however small\nthe volume may be.\n\nAUTHOR. But, my friend, what a title! Think of the ridicule!\n\nFRIEND. The word Gastronomy makes every ear attentive; the subject\nis a la mode, and those who laugh are as great votaries of the\nscience as any others are. This should satisfy you. Do you\nremember too, that the greatest men have sometimes written books\non very trivial subjects,-Montesquieu, for example. [Footnote: M.\nde Monjucla, known as the author of an excellent history of\nmathematics, made a Dictionary of Gourmand Geography; he showed me\nportions of it during my residence at Versailles. It is said that\nM. Berryat-Professor of legal practice, has written a romance in\nseveral volumes on the subject.]\n\nAUTHOR. (Quickly.) On my word, that is true. He wrote the Temple\nof Gnidus, and it would not be difficult to sustain that there is\nmore real utility in meditating on what is at once a necessity, a\npleasure, and an occupation every day of our lives, than in\ntelling what was done and said a thousand years ago by two mad\npeople, one of whom pursued through the woods of Greece the other,\nwho had not the least disposition to escape.\n\nFRIEND. Ah! ha! Now you yield?\n\nAUTHOR. Not I. The ass's ear of the author only was shown; and\nthis recalls to my memory a scene of English comedy, which amused\nme very much; it is, I think, in the play called the Natural\nDaughter. You shall see, however, for yourself. [Footnote: The\nreader will observe that my friend permits me to be familiar with\nhim, without taking advantage of it. The reason is, that the\ndifference between our ages is that of a father and a son, and\nthat, though now a man of great note and importance in every\nrespect, he would be completely overcome with grief if I changed\nmy bearing towards him.] The subject relates to the Quakers, that\nsect which uses \"thee\" and \"thou\" to everybody, which dresses\nsimply, never go to war, never swear or act with passion, and who\nnever get angry. The hero of this piece is a young and handsome\nQuaker, who appears on the scene in a brown coat, a broad-brimmed\nhat, and slick hair! All this, though, does not keep him from\nbeing in love.\n\nA fool who is his rival, emboldened by his exterior, ridicules and\noutrages him so that the young man gradually becoming excited, and\nfinally made furious, gives his assailant a severe thrashing.\n\nHaving done this he at once resumes his habitual deportment and\nsays, sadly, \"Alas! the flesh is too mighty for the spirit.\"\n\nThus say I, and after a brief hesitation resume my first opinion.\n\nFRIEND. That is impossible. You have shown your ear; you are a\nprize, and I will take you to my bookseller. I will tell you who\nhas gotten wind of your secret.\n\nAUTHOR. Do not; for I would speak of yourself, and who knows what\nI would say?\n\nFRIEND. What could you say? Do not think you can intimidate me.\n\nAUTHOR. I will not say that our native city [Footnote: Belley,\ncapital of Bugey, where high mountains, hills, vines, limpid\nstreams, cascades, dells, gardens of a hundred square leagues are\nfound, and where, BEFORE the revolution, the people were able to\ncontrol the other two orders.] is proud of having given you birth.\nAt the age of twenty-four you published an elementary book, which\nfrom that day has become a classic. A deserved reputation has\nattracted confidence to you. Your skill revives invalids; your\ndexterity animates them; your sensibility consoles them. All know\nthis; but I will reveal to all Paris, to all France, the sole\nfault of which I know you guilty.\n\nFRIEND. (Seriously.) What do you mean?\n\nAUTHOR. An habitual fault which no persuasion can correct.\n\nFRIEND. Tell me what you mean! Why torment me?\n\nAUTHOR. You eat too quickly.\n\n(Here, the friend takes up his hat and leaves, fancying that he\nhas made a convert.)\n\n\n\nBIOGRAPHY\n\nThe Doctor I have introduced into the dialogue we have just read,\nis not a creature of imagination like the Chloris of other days,\nbut a real living Doctor. Those who know me, will remember\nRICHERAND.\n\nWhen I thought of him I could not but have reference to those who\npreceded him, and I saw with pride that from Belley, from the\ndepartment of Ain, my native soil, for a long time physicians of\nthe greatest distinction had come. I could not resist the\ntemptation to erect a brief monument to them.\n\nDuring the regency Doctors Genin and Civoct were in full\npossession of practice, and expended in their country a wealth\nthey had honorably acquired. The first was altogether\nHIPPOCRATITE; he proceeded secundum artem; the second was almost\nmonopolized by women, and had as his device, as Tacitus would have\nsaid, res novas molientem.\n\nAbout 1780 Chapelle became distinguished in the dangerous career\nof a military surgeon. About 1781 Doctor Dubois had great success\nin sundry maladies, then very much a la mode, and in nervous\ndiseases. The success he obtained was really wonderful.\n\nUnfortunately he inherited a fortune and became idle, and was\nsatisfied to be a good story-teller. He was very amusing, and\ncontrived to survive the dinners of the new and old regime.\n[Footnote: I smiled when I wrote the above, for it recalled to me\nan Academician, the eulogium of whom Fontenelle undertook. The\ndeceased knew only how to play at all games. Fontenelle made a\nvery decent oration, however, about him.] About the end of the\nreign of Louis XV., Dr. Coste, a native of Chatillon came to\nParis; he had a letter from Voltaire to the Duc de Choiseuil, the\ngood wishes of whom he gained as soon as he had seen him.\n\nProtected by this nobleman, and by the Duchess of Grammont, his\nsister, young Coste advanced rapidly, and in a short time became\none of the first physicians of Paris.\n\nThe patronage he had received took him from a profitable career to\nplace him at the head of the medical department of the army which\nFrance sent to the United States, who then were contending for\ntheir independence.\n\nHaving fulfilled his mission, Coste returned to France, and almost\nunseen lived through the evil days of 1793. He was elected maire\nof Versailles, and even now the memory of his administration, at\nonce mild, gentle and paternal, has been preserved.\n\nThe Directors now recalled him to the charge of the medical\ndepartment of the army. Bonaparte appointed him one of the three\nInspectors General of the service; the Doctor was always the\nfriend, protector, and patron of the young men who selected that\nservice. He was at last appointed Physician of the Invalides, and\ndischarged the duties until he died.\n\nSuch service the Bourbons could not neglect, and Louis XVIII.\ngranted to Doctor Coste the cordon of Saint Michel.\n\nDoctor Coste died a few years since, leaving behind kind\nrecollections, and a daughter married to M. Lalot, who\ndistinguished himself in the Chamber of Deputies by his eloquent\nand profound arguments.\n\nOne day when we had dined with M. Favre, the Cure of St. Laurent,\nDoctor Coste told me of a difficulty he had, the day before, with\nthe Count de Le Cessac, then a high officer of the ministry of\nwar, about a certain economy which the latter proposed as a means\nof paying his court Napoleon.\n\nThe economy consisted in retrenching the allowances of hospital,\nso as to restrict men who had wounds from the comforts they were\nentitled to.\n\nDoctor Coste said such measures were abominable, and he became\nangry.\n\nI do not know what the result was, but only that the sick soldiers\nhad their usual allowances, and that no change was made.\n\nHe was appointed Professor of the Faculty of Medicine. His style\nwas simple and his addresses were plain and fruitful. Honors were\ncrowded on him. He was appointed Physician to the Empress Marie\nLouise. He did not, however, fill that place long, the Emperor was\nswept away, and the Doctor himself succumbed to a disease of the\nleg, to which he had long been subject.\n\nBordier was of a calm disposition, kind and reliable.\n\nAbout the 18th century appeared Bichat, all of the writings of\nwhom bear the impress of genius. He expended his life in toil to\nadvance science, and joined the patience of restricted minds to\nenthusiasm. He died at the age of thirty, and public honors were\ndecreed to his memory.\n\nAt a later day came Doctor Montegre, who carried philosophy into\nclinics. He was the editor of the Gazette de Sante, and at the age\nof forty died in the Antilles whither he had gone to complete his\nbook on the Vomite Negro.\n\nAt the present moment Richerand stands on the highest degree of\noperative medicine, and his Elements of Physiology have been\ntranslated into every language. Appointed at an early date a\nProfessor of the Faculty of Paris, he made all rely fully on him.\nHe is the keenest, gentlest, and quickest operator in the world.\n\nRecamier, a professor of the same faculty, sits by his side.\n\nThe present being thus assured, the future expands itself before\nus! Under the wings of these mighty Professors arise young men of\nthe same land, who seek to follow their honorable examples.\n\nJanin and Manjot already crush the pavement of Paris. Manjot\ndevotes himself to the diseases of children; he has happy\ninspirations, and soon will tell the public what he has\ndiscovered.\n\nI trust my readers will pardon this digression of an old man, who,\nduring an absence of thirty years, has neither forgotten his\ncountry nor his countrymen. I could not however omit all those\nphysicians, the memory of whom is yet preserved in their birth-\nplace, and who, though not conspicuous, had not on that account\nthe less merit or worth. [Footnote: The translator thinks several\nhave made world-renowned names.]\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIn offering to the public the work I now produce, I have\nundertaken no great labor. I have only put in order materials I\nhad collected long ago. The occupation was an amusing one, which I\nreserved for my old age.\n\nWhen I thought of the pleasures of the table, under every point of\nview, I saw that something better than a common cookery book could\nbe made out of it, and that much might be said about essential and\ncontinuous things, which have a direct influence on health,\nhappiness, and even on business.\n\nWhen I had once gotten hold of the idea, all the rest came\nnaturally. I looked around, took notes, and amidst the most\nsumptuous festivals looked at the guests. Thus I escaped many of\nthe dangers of conviviality.\n\nTo do what I have undertaken, one need not be a physician,\nchemist, physiologist, or even a savant. All I learned, I learned\nwithout the least idea that I would ever be an author. I was\nimpressed by a laudable curiosity, by the fear of remaining behind\nmy century, and by an anxiety to be able to sit at table on equal\nterms with the savants I used to meet.\n\nI am essentially an amateur medecin, and this to me is almost a\nmania. Among the happiest days of my life, when with the\nProfessors, I went to hear the thesis of Doctor Cloquet; I was\ndelighted when I heard the murmur of the students' voices, each of\nwhom asked who was the foreign professor who honored the College\nwith his presence.\n\nOne other day is, I think, almost as dear to me. I refer to the\nmeeting of the society for the encouragement of national industry,\nwhen I presented the irrorator, an instrument of my own invention,\nwhich is neither more nor less than a forcing pump filled with\nperfumes.\n\nI had an apparatus fully charged in my pocket. I turned the cock,\nand thence pressed out a perfume which filled the whole room.\n\nThen I saw, with inexpressible pleasure, the wisest heads of the\ncapital bend beneath my irrigation, and I was glad to see that\nthose who received most, were the happiest.\n\nThinking sometimes of the grave lucubrations to which I was\nattracted by my subject, I really as afraid that I would be\ntroublesome. I have often read very stupid books.\n\nI did all that I could to escape this reproach. I have merely\nhovered over subjects which presented themselves to me; I have\nfilled my book with anecdotes, some of which to a degree are\npersonal. I have omitted to mention many strange and singular\nthings, which critical judgment induced me to reject, and I\nrecalled popular attention to certain things which savants seemed\nto have reserved to themselves. If, in spite of all these efforts,\nI have not presented to my readers a science rarely understood, I\nshall sleep just as calmly, being certain that the MAJORITY will\nacquit me of all evil intention.\n\nIt may perhaps be said that sometimes I wrote too rapidly, and\nthat sometimes I became garrulous. Is it my fault that I am old?\nIs it my fault that, like Ulysses, I have seen the manners and\ncustoms of many cities? Am I therefore blamable for writing a\nlittle bit of autobiography? Let the reader, however, remember\nthat I do not inflict my political memoirs on him, which he would\nhave to read, as he has many others, since during the last thirty\nyears I have been exactly in the position to see great men and\ngreat things.\n\nLet no one assign me a place among compilers; had I been reduced\nthus low, I would have laid down my pen, and would not have lived\nless happily.\n\nI said, like Juvenal:\n\n\"Semper ego auditor tantum! nunquamne reponam!\"\n\nand those who know me will easily see that used to the tumult of\nsociety and to the silence of the study I had to take advantage of\nboth one and the other of these positions.\n\nI did too many things which pleased me particularly; I was able to\nmention many friends who did not expect me to do so, and recalled\nsome pleasant memories; I seized on others which would have\nescaped, and, as we say familiarly, took my coffee.\n\nIt may be a single reader may in some category exclaim,----\"I\nwished to know if----.\" \"What was he thinking of,\" etc., etc. I am\nsure, though, the others will make him be silent and receive with\nkindness the effusions of a praiseworthy sentiment.\n\nI have something to say about my style, which, as Buffon says, is\nall the man.\n\nLet none think I come to ask for a favor which is never granted to\nthose who need it. I wish merely to make an explanation.\n\nI should write well, for Voltaire, Jean Jacques, Fenelon, Buffon,\nand Cochin and Aguesseau were my favorite authors. I knew them by\nheart.\n\nIt may be though, that the gods ordered otherwise; if so, this is\nthe cause of the will of the gods.\n\nI know five languages which now are spoken, which gives me an\nimmense refectory of words.\n\nWhen I need a word and do not find it in French, I select it from\nother tongues, and the reader has either to understand or\ntranslate me. Such is my fate.\n\nI could have acted otherwise, but was prevented by a kind of\nsystem to which I was invincibly attached.\n\nI am satisfied that the French language which I use is\ncomparatively poor. What could I do? Either borrow or steal.\n\nI did neither, for such borrowings, cannot be restored, though to\nsteal words is not punishable by the penal code.\n\nAny one may form an idea of my audacity when I say I applied the\nSpanish word volante to any one I had sent on an errand, and that\nI had determined to GALLICISE the English word TO SIP, which means\nto drink in small quantities. I however dug out the French word\nsiroter, which expresses nearly the same thing.\n\nI am aware the purists will appeal to Bosseux, to Fenelon, Raceri,\nBoilleau, Pascal, and others of the reign of Louis XIV. I fancy I\nhear their clamor.\n\nTo all this I reply distinctly, that I do not depreciate the merit\nof those authors; but what follows? Nothing, except that if they\nplayed well on an inferior instrument, how much better would they\nhave done on a superior one. Therefore, we may believe that\nTartini would have played on the violin far better than he did, if\nhis bow had been long as that of Baillot.\n\nI do not belong to the neologues or even to the romanticists; the\nlast are discoverers of hidden treasures, the former are like\nsailors who go about to search for provisions they need.\n\nThe people of the North, and especially the English, have in this\nrespect an immense advantage over us. Genius is never restricted\nby the want of expression, which is either made or created. Thus\nit is that of all subjects which demand depth and energy, our\ntranslations make but pale and dull infusions.\n\nOnce I heard at the institute a pleasant discourse on the danger\nof neologism, and on the necessity of maintaining our language as\nit was when the authors of the great century wrote.\n\n\"Like a chemist, I sifted the argument and ascertained that it\nmeant:\n\n\"We have done so well, that we neither need nor can do better.\"\n\nNow; I have lived long enough to know that each generation has\ndone as much, and that each one laughs at his grandfather.\n\nBesides, words must change, when manners and ideas undergo\nperpetual modifications. If we do things as the ancients did, we\ndo not do them in the same manner. There are whole pages in many\nFrench books, which cannot be translated into Latin or Greek.\n\nAll languages had their birth, their apogee and decline. None of\nthose which have been famous from the days of Sesostris to that of\nPhilip Augustus, exist except as monuments. The French will have\nthe same fate, and in the year 2825 if read, will be read with a\ndictionary.\n\nI once had a terrible argument on this matter with the famous M.\nAndrieux, at the Academie Francaise.\n\nI made my assault in good array, I attacked him vigorously, and\nwould have beaten him had he not made a prompt retreat, to which I\nopposed no obstacle, fortunately for him, as he was making one\nletter of the new lexicon.\n\nI end by one important observation, for that reason I have kept it\ntill the last.\n\nWhen I write of ME in the singular, I gossip with my reader, he\nmay examine, discuss, doubt or laugh; but when I say WE I am a\nprofessor, and all must bow to me.\n\n \"I am, Sir Oracle,\n\n And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.\"\n\n          Merchant of Venice.\n\n\n\nPHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE.\n\nMEDITATION FIRST.\n\nTHE SENSES.\n\nThe senses are the organs by which man places himself in connexion\nwith exterior objects.\n\nNUMBER OF THE SENSES.\n\n1. They are at least six--\n\nSight, which embraces space, and tells us by means of light, of\nthe existence and of the colors of the bodies around us.\n\nHearing, which, by the motion of the air, informs us of the motion\nof sounding or vibrating bodies.\n\nScent, by means of which we are made aware of the odors bodies\npossess.\n\nTaste, which enables us to distinguish all that has a flavor from\nthat which is insipid.\n\nTouch informs us of the consistency and resistance of bodies.\n\nThe last is genesiac or physical love, which attracts the sexes to\neach other, and the object of which is the reproduction of the\nspecies.\n\nIt is astonishing that, almost to the days of Buffon, so important\na sense was misunderstood, and was confounded with the touch.\n\nYet the sensation of which it is the seat, has nothing in common\nwith touch; it resides in an apparatus as complete as the mouth or\nthe eyes, and what is singular is that each sex has all that is\nneeded to experience the sensation; it is necessary that the two\nshould be united to reach nature's object. If the TASTE, the\nobject of which is the preservation of the individual, be\nincontestibly a sense, the same title must indubitably be\npreserved on the organs destined to the preservation of the\nspecies.\n\nLet us then assign to the genesiac the sensual place which cannot\nbe refused to it, and let us leave to posterity the assignment of\nits peculiar rank.\n\nACTION OF THE SENSES.\n\nIf we were permitted, even in imagination, to refer to the first\nmoments of the existence of the human race, we would believe that\nthe first sensations were direct; that is to say that all saw\nconfusedly and indirectly, smelled without care, ate without\ntasting, etc.\n\nThe centre of all these sensations, however, being the soul, the\nsensual attribute of humanity and active cause of perfectibility,\nthey are reflected, compared, and judged by it; the other senses\nthen come to the assistance of each other, for the utility and\nwell-being of the sensitive; one or individual.\n\nThus touch rectifies the errors of sight; sound, by means of\narticulate speech, becomes the interpreter of every sentiment;\ntaste is aided by sight and smell; hearing compares sounds,\nappreciates distance; and the genesiac sense takes possession of\nthe organs of all the senses.\n\nThe torrent of centuries rolling over the human race, has\ncontinually brought new perfections, the cause of which, ever\nactive though unseen, is found in the demands made by our senses,\nwhich always in their turns demand to be occupied.\n\nSight thus gave birth to painting, to sculpture, and to spectacles\nof every kind.\n\nSound, to melody, harmony, to the dance, and to music in all its\nbranches, and means of execution.\n\nSmell, to the discovery, manufacture and use of perfumes.\n\nTaste, to the production, choice and preparation of all that is\nused for food.\n\nTouch, to all art, trades and occupations.\n\nThe genesiac sense, to all which prepares or embellishes the\nreunion of senses, and, subsequently to the days of Francois I.,\nto romantic love, to coquetry, which originated in France and\nobtained its name there, and from which the elite of the world,\ncollected in the capital of the universe, take their lessons every\nday.\n\nThis proposition, strange as it seems, is very susceptible of\ndemonstration; we cannot express with clearness in any ancient\nlanguage, ideas about these three great motives of actual society.\n\nI had written a dialogue on this subject, but suppressed it for\nthe purpose of permitting the reader, each in his own way, to\nthink of the matter for himself. There is enough to occupy the\nmind and display intelligence and erudition during a whole\nevening.\n\nWe said above, that the genesiac sense took possession of the\norgans of all the others; the influence it has exerted over all\nsciences is not less. When we look closer, we will find that all\nthat is most delicate and ingenious is due to the desire, to hope,\nor to gratitude, in connexion with the union of the sexes.\n\nSuch is, indeed, the genealogy of the senses, even the most\nabstract ones, all being the immediate result of continuous\nefforts made to gratify our senses.\n\nPERFECTNESS OF THE SENSES.\n\nThese senses, our favorites, are far from being perfect, and I\nwill not pause to prove it. I will only observe, that that\nethereal sense--sight, and touch, which is at the other extremity\nof the scale, have from time acquired a very remarkable additional\npower.\n\nBy means of spectacles the eye, so to say, escapes from the decay\nof age, which troubles almost all the other organs.\n\nThe telescope has discovered stars hitherto unknown and\ninaccessible to all our means of mensuration; it has penetrated\ndistances so great, that luminous and necessarily immense bodies\npresent themselves to us only like nebulous and almost\nimperceptible spots.\n\nThe microscope has made us acquainted with the interior\nconfiguration of bodies; or has shown the existence of a\nvegetation and of plants, the existence of which we were ignorant\nof.\n\nAnimals a hundred thousand times smaller than any visible with the\nnaked eye have been discovered; these animalculae, however, move,\nfeed and multiply, establishing the existence of organs of\ninconceivable tenuity.\n\nMechanics have multiplied our power; man has executed all that he\ncould conceive of, and has moved weights nature made inaccessible\nto his weakness.\n\nBy means of arms and of the lever, man has conquered all nature;\nhe has subjected it to his pleasure, wants and caprices. He has\noverturned its surfaces, and a feeble biped has become king of\ncreation.\n\nSight and touch, being thus increased in capacity, might belong to\nsome species far superior to man; or rather the human species\nwould be far different had all the senses been thus improved.\n\nWe must in the meantime remark, that if touch has acquired a great\ndevelopment as a muscular power, civilization has done almost\nnothing for it as an organ of sensation. We must, however, despair\nof nothing, but remember that the human race is yet young, and\nthat only after a long series of years can the senses aggrandise\ntheir domain.\n\nFor instance. Harmony was only discovered about four centuries\nago, and that celestial science is to sound what painting is to\ncolors.\n\nCertainly, the ancients used to sing and accompany themselves in\nunison. Their knowledge, however, ended there. They knew neither\nhow to decompose sounds, nor to appreciate their relations.\n[Footnote: We are aware that the contrary has been maintained; the\nidea though cannot be supported. Had the ancients been acquainted\nwith harmony, their writings would have preserved some precise\nnotion on the matter, instead of a few obscure phrases, which may\nbe tortured to mean anything. Besides, we cannot follow the birth\nand progress of harmony in the monuments left to us; this\nobligation we owe to the Arabs, who made us a present of the\norgan, which produces at one time many continuous sounds, and thus\ncreated harmony.]\n\nTone was only reduced to system, and accords measured in the\nfifteenth century. Only then it was used to sustain the voice and\nto reinforce the expression of sentiments.\n\nThis discovery, made at so late a day, yet so natural, doubled the\nhearing, and has shown the existence of two somewhat independent\nfaculties, one of which receives sound and the other appreciates\nresonance.\n\nThe German Doctors say that persons sensible of harmony have one\nsense more than others.\n\nOf those persons to whom music is but a confused mass of sounds,\nwe may remark that almost all sing false. We are forced to think\nthat they have the auditory apparatus so made, as to receive but\nbrief and short undulation, or that the two ears not being on the\nsame diapason, the difference in length and sensibility of these\nconstituent parts, causes them to transmit to the brain only an\nobscure and undetermined sensation, like two instruments played in\nneither the same key nor the same measure, and which can produce\nno continuous melody.\n\nThe centuries last passed have also given the taste important\nextension; the discovery of sugar, and its different preparations,\nof alcoholic liquors, of wine, ices, vanilla, tea and coffee, have\ngiven us flavors hitherto unknown.\n\nWho knows if touch will not have its day, and if some fortuitous\ncircumstance will not open to us thence some new enjoyments? This\nis especially probable as tactile sensitiveness exists every where\nin the body, and consequently can every where be excited.\n\nWe have seen that physical love has taken possession of all the\nsciences. In this respect it acts with its habitual tyranny.\n\nThe taste is a more prudent measure but not less active faculty.\nTaste, we say, has accomplished the same thing, with a slowness\nwhich ensures its success.\n\nElsewhere we will consider the march. We may, however, observe,\nthat he who has enjoyed a sumptuous banquet in a hall decked with\nflowers, mirrors, paintings, and statues, embalmed in perfume,\nenriched with pretty women, filled with delicious harmony, will\nnot require any great effort of thought to satisfy himself that\nall sciences have been put in requisition to exalt and to enhance\nthe pleasures of taste.\n\nOBJECT OF THE ACTION OF THE SENSES.\n\nLet us now glance at the system of our senses, considered\ntogether, and we will see that the Author of creation had two\nobjects, one of which is the consequence of the other,--the\npreservation of the individual and the duration of the species.\n\nSuch is the destiny of man, considered as a sensitive being; all\nhis actions have reference to this double purpose.\n\nThe eye perceives external objects, reveals the wonders by which a\nman is surrounded, and tells him he is a portion of the great\nwhole.\n\nHearing perceives sounds, not only as an agreeable sensation, but\nas warnings of the movement of bodies likely to endanger us.\n\nThe sense of touch watches to warn us by pain of any immediate\nlesion.\n\nThat faithful servant the hand has prepared his defence, assured\nhis steps, but has from instinct seized objects it thought needed\nto repair losses caused by the use of life.\n\nThe sense of smell explores; deleterious substances almost always\nhave an unpleasant smell.\n\nThe taste decides; the teeth are put in action, the tongue unites\nwith the palate in tasting, and the stomach soon commences the\nprocess of assimilation.\n\nIn this state a strange languor is perceived, objects seem\ndiscolored, the body bends, the eyes close, all disappears, and\nthe senses are in absolute repose.\n\nWhen he awakes man sees that nothing around him has changed, a\nsecret fire ferments in his bosom, a new organ is developed. He\nfeels that he wishes to divide his existence.\n\nThis active unquiet and imperious sentiment is common to both\nsexes. It attracts them together and unites them, and when the\ngerm of a new being is fecundated, the individuals can sleep in\npeace.\n\nThey have fulfilled the holiest of their duties by assuring the\nduration of the species. [Footnote: Buffon describes, with all the\ncharms of the most brilliant eloquence, the first moments of Eve's\nexistence. Called on to describe almost the same subject, we have\ndrawn but one feature. The reader will complete the picture.]\n\nSuch are the general and philosophical principles I wished to\nplace before my readers, to lead them naturally to the examination\nof the organ of taste.\n\nMEDITATION II.\n\nTASTE.\n\nDEFINITION OF TASTE.\n\nTaste is the sense which communicates to us a knowledge of vapid\nbodies by means of the sensations which they excite.\n\nTaste, which has as its excitement appetite, hunger and thirst, is\nthe basis of many operations the result of which is that the\nindividual believes, developes, preserves and repairs the losses\noccasioned by vital evaporation.\n\nOrganized bodies are not sustained in the same manner. The Author\nof creation, equally varied in causes and effects, has assigned\nthem different modes of preservation.\n\nVegetables, which are the lowest in the scale of living things,\nare fed by roots, which, implanted in the native soil, select by\nthe action of a peculiar mechanism, different subjects, which\nserve to increase and to nourish them.\n\nAs we ascend the scale we find bodies gifted with animal life and\ndeprived of locomotion. They are produced in a medium which favors\ntheir existence, and have special and peculiar organs which\nextract all that is necessary to sustain the portion and duration\nof life allotted them. They do not seek food, which, on the\ncontrary, comes to seek them.\n\nAnother mode has been appointed for animals endowed with\nlocomotion, of which man is doubtless the most perfect. A peculiar\ninstinct warns him of the necessity of food; he seeks and seizes\nthe things which he knows are necessary to satisfy his wants; he\neats, renovates himself, and thus during his life passes through\nthe whole career assigned to him.\n\nTaste may be considered in three relations.\n\nIn physical man it is the apparatus by means of which he\nappreciates flavors.\n\nIn moral man it is the sensation which the organ impressed by any\nsavorous centre impresses on the common centre. Considered as a\nmaterial cause, taste is the property which a body has to impress\nthe organ and to create a sensation.\n\nTaste seems to have two chief uses:\n\n1. It invites us by pleasure to repair the losses which result\nfrom the use of life.\n\n2. It assists us to select from among the substances offered by\nnature, those which are alimentary.\n\nIn this choice taste is powerfully aided by the sense of smell, as\nwe will see hereafter; as a general principle, it may be laid down\nthat nutritious substances are repulsive neither to the taste nor\nto the smell.\n\nIt is difficult to say in exactly what the faculty of taste\nconsists. It is more complicated than it appears.\n\nThe tongue certainly plays a prominent part in the mechanism of\ndegustation--for, being endued with great muscular power, it\nenfolds, turns, presses and swallows food.\n\nAlso, by means of the more or less numerous pores which cover it,\nit becomes impregnated with the sapid and soluble portions of the\nbodies which it is placed in contact with. Yet all this does not\nsuffice, for many adjacent parts unite in completing the sensation\n--viz: jaws, palate, and especially the nasal tube, to which\nphysiologists have perhaps not paid attention enough.\n\nThe jaws furnish saliva, as necessary to mastication as to the\nformation of the digestible mass. They, like the palate, are\ngifted with a portion of the appreciative faculties; I do not know\nthat, in certain cases, the nose does not participate, and if but\nfor the odor which is felt in the back of the mouth, the sensation\nof taste would not be obtuse and imperfect.\n\nPersons who have no tongue or who have lost it, yet preserve the\nsensation of taste. All the books mention the first case; the\nsecond was explained to me by an unfortunate man, whose tongue had\nbeen cut out by the Algerines for having, with several of his\ncompanions, formed a plot to escape from captivity.\n\nI met this man at Amsterdam, where he was a kind of broker. He was\na person of education, and by writing was perfectly able to make\nhimself understood.\n\nObserving that his whole tongue, to the very attachment, had been\ncut away, I asked him if he yet preserved any sense of taste when\nhe ate, and if the sense of taste had survived the cruel operation\nhe had undergone.\n\nHe told me his greatest annoyance was in swallowing, (which indeed\nwas difficult;) that he had a full appreciation of tastes and\nflavors, but that acid and bitter substances produced intense\npain.\n\nHe told me the abscission of the tongue was very common in the\nAfrican kingdoms, and was made use of most frequently to punish\nthose thought to be the leaders of any plot, and that they had\npeculiar instruments to affect it with. I wished him to describe\nthem, but he showed such painful reluctance in this matter, that I\ndid not insist.\n\nI reflected on what he said, and ascending to the centuries of\nignorance, when the tongues of blasphemers were cut and pierced, I\ncame to the conclusion that these punishments were of Moorish\norigin, and were imported by the crusaders.\n\nWe have seen above, that the sensation of taste resided chiefly in\nthe pores and feelers of the tongue. Anatomy tells us that all\ntongues are not exactly alike, there being three times as many\nfeelers in some tongues as in others. This circumstance will\nexplain why one of two guests, sitting at the same table, is\ndelighted, while the other seems to eat from constraint; the\nlatter has a tongue but slightly provided. These are recognized in\nthe empire of the taste--both deaf and dumb.\n\nSENSATION OF TASTE.\n\nFive or six opinions have been advanced as to the modus operandi\nof the sensation of taste. I have mine, viz:\n\nThe sensation of taste is a chemical operation, produced by\nhumidity. That is to say, the savorous particles must be dissolved\nin some fluid, so as to be subsequently absorbed by the nervous\ntubes, feelers, or tendrils, which cover the interior of the\ngastatory apparatus.\n\nThis system, whether true or not, is sustained by physical and\nalmost palpable proofs.\n\nPure water creates no sensation, because it contains no sapid\nparticle. Dissolve, however, a grain of salt, or infuse a few\ndrops of vinegar, and there will be sensation.\n\nOther drinks, on the contrary, create sensation because they are\nneither more nor less than liquids filled with appreciable\nparticles.\n\nIt would be in vain for the mouth to fill itself with the divided\nparticles of an insoluble body. The tongue would feel by touch the\nsensation of their presence, but not that of taste.\n\nIn relation to solid and savorous bodies, it is necessary in the\nfirst place for the teeth to divide them, that the saliva and\nother tasting fluids to imbibe them, and that the tongue press\nthem against the palate, so as to express a juice, which, when\nsufficiently saturated by the degastory tendrils, deliver to the\nsubstance the passport it requires for admission into the stomach.\n\nThis system, which will yet receive other developments, replies\nwithout effort to the principal questions which may present\nthemselves.\n\nIf we demand what is understood by sapid bodies, we reply that it\nis every thing that has flavor, which is soluble, and fit to be\nabsorbed by the organ of taste.\n\nIf asked how a sapid body acts, we reply that it acts when it is\nreduced to such a state of dissolution that it enters the cavities\nmade to receive it.\n\nIn a word, nothing is sapid but what is already or nearly\ndissolved.\n\nFLAVORS.\n\nThe number of flavors is infinite, for every soluble body has a\npeculiar flavor, like none other.\n\nFlavors are also modified by their simple, double, or multiple\naggregation. It is impossible to make any description, either of\nthe most pleasant or of the most unpleasant, of the raspberry or\nof colocynth. All who have tried to do so have failed.\n\nThis result should not amaze us, for being gifted with an infinite\nvariety of simple flavors, which mixture modifies to such a number\nand to such a quantity, a new language would he needed to express\ntheir effects, and mountains of folios to describe them. Numerical\ncharacter alone could label them.\n\nNow, as yet, no flavor has ever been appreciated with rigorous\nexactness, we have been forced to be satisfied with a limited\nnumber of expressions such as SWEET, SUGARY, ACID, BITTER, and\nsimilar ones, which, when ultimately analyzed, are expressed by\nthe two following AGREEABLE and DISAGREEABLE, which suffice to\nmake us understood, and indicate the flavor of the sapid\nsubstances referred to.\n\nThose who come after us will know more, for doubtless chemistry\nwill reveal the causes or primitive elements of flavors.\n\nINFLUENCE OF SMELLING ON THE TASTE.\n\nThe order I marked out for myself has insensibly led me to the\nmoment to render to smell the rights which belong to it, and to\nrecognise the important services it renders to taste and the\napplication of flavors. Among the authors I have met with, I\nrecognise none as having done full justice to it.\n\nFor my own part, I am not only persuaded that without the\ninterposition of the organs of smell, there would be no complete\ndegustation, and that the taste and the sense of smell form but\none sense, of which the mouth is the laboratory and the nose the\nchimney; or to speak more exactly, that one tastes tactile\nsubstances, and the other exhalations.\n\nThis may be vigorously defended; yet as I do not wish to establish\na school, I venture on it only to give my readers a subject of\nthought, and to show that I have carefully looked over the subject\nof which I write. Now I continue my demonstration of the\nimportance of the sense of smell, if not as a constituent portion\nof taste, at least as a necessary adjunct.\n\nAll sapid bodies are necessarily odorous, and therefore belong as\nwell to the empire of the one as of the other sense.\n\nWe eat nothing without seeing this, more or less plainly. The nose\nplays the part of sentinel, and always cries \"WHO GOES THERE?\"\n\nClose the nose, and the taste is paralyzed; a thing proved by\nthree experiments any one can make:\n\n1. When the nasal membrane is irritated by a violent coryza (cold\nin the head) the taste is entirely obliterated. There is no taste\nin anything we swallow, yet the tongue is in its normal state.\n\n2. If we close the nose when we eat, we are amazed to see how\nobscure and imperfect the sense of touch is. The most disgusting\nmedicines thus are swallowed almost without taste.\n\n3. The same effect is observed if, as soon as we have swallowed,\ninstead of restoring the tongue to its usual place, it be kept\ndetached from the palate. Thus the circulation of the air is\nintercepted, the organs of smell are not touched, and there is no\ntaste.\n\nThese effects have the same cause, from the fact that the sense of\nsmell does not co-operate with the taste. The sapid body is\nappreciated only on account of the juice, and not for the odorous\ngas which emanates from it.\n\nANALYSIS OF THE SENSATION OF TASTE.\n\nPrinciples being thus determined, I look on it as certain that\ntaste has given place to sensations of three different orders,\nviz: DIRECT, COMPLETE and REFLECTED.\n\nDirect sensation is the first perception emanating from the\nintermediate organs of the mouth, during the time that the sapid\nbody rests on the tongue.\n\nComplete sensation is that composed of the first impression which\nis created when the food abandons this first position, passes into\nthe back of the mouth, and impresses all the organ with both taste\nand perfume.\n\nReflected sensation is the judgment which conveys to the soul the\nimpressions transmitted to it by the organ.\n\nLet us put this system in action by observing what takes place\nwhen a man either eats or drinks. Let a man, for instance, eat a\npeach, and he will first be agreeably impressed by the odor which\nemanates from it. He places it in his mouth, and acid and fresh\nflavors induce him to continue. Not, though, until he has\nswallowed it, does the perfume reveal itself, nor does he till\nthen discover the peculiar flavor of every variety. Some time is\nnecessary for any gourmet [Footnote: Any gentleman or lady, who\nmay please, is at perfect liberty to translate the word gourmet\ninto any other tongue. I cannot. As much may be said of gourmand.-\n-TRANSLATOR.] to say, \"It is good, passable, or bad. It is\nChambertin, or something else.\"\n\nIt may then be seen that in obedience to principles and practice\nwell understood, true amateurs sip their wine. Every mouthful thus\ngives them the sum total of pleasure which they would not have\nenjoyed had they swallowed it at once.\n\nThe same thing takes place, with however much more energy, when\nthe taste is disagreeably affected.\n\nJust look at the patient of some doctor who prescribes immense\ndoses of black medicine, such as were given during the reign of\nLouis XIV.\n\nThe sense of smell, like a faithful counsellor, foretells its\ncharacter. The eyes expand as they do at the approach of danger;\ndisgust is on the lips and the stomach at once rebells. He is\nhowever besought to take courage, gurgles his throat with brandy,\ncloses his nose and swallows.\n\nAs long as the odious compound fills the mouth and stuns the organ\nit is tolerable, but when it has been swallowed the after drops\ndevelop themselves, nauseous odors arise, and every feature of the\npatient expresses horror and disgust, which the fear of death\nalone could induce him to bear.\n\nIf the draught be on the contrary merely insipid, as for instance\na glass of water, there is neither taste nor after taste. Nothing\nis felt, nothing is experienced, it is swallowed, and all is over.\n\nORDER OF THE IMPRESSIONS OF TASTE.\n\nTaste is not so richly endowed as the hearing; the latter can\nappreciate and compare many sounds at once; the taste on the\ncontrary is simple in its action; that is to say it cannot be\nsensible to two flavors at once.\n\nIt may though be doubled and multipled by succession, that is to\nsay that in the act of swallowing there may be a second and even a\nthird sensation, each of which gradually grows weaker and weaker\nand which are designated by the words AFTER-TASTE, perfume or\nfragrance. Thus when a chord is struck, one ear exercises and\ndischarges many series of consonances, the number of which is not\nas yet perfectly known.\n\nThose who eat quickly and without attention, do not discern\nimpressions of the second degree. They belong only to a certain\nnumber of the elect, and by the means of these second sensations\nonly can be classed the different substances submitted to their\nexamination.\n\nThese fugitive shadows for a long time vibrate in the organ of\ntaste. The professors, beyond doubt, always assume an appropriate\nposition, and when they give their opinions they always do so with\nexpanded nostrils, and with their necks protruded far as they can\ngo.\n\nENJOYMENTS DUE TO THE TASTE.\n\nLet us now look philosophically at the pleasure and pain\noccasioned by taste.\n\nThe first thing we become convinced of is that man is organized so\nas to be far more sensible of pain than of pleasure.\n\nIn fact the imbibing of acid or bitter substances subjects us to\nsensations more or less painful, according to their degree. It is\nsaid that the cause of the rapid effects of hydrocyanic acid is\nthat the pain is so great as to be unbearable by the powers of\nvitality.\n\nThe scale of agreeable sensations on the other hand is very\nlimited, and if there, be a sensible difference between the\ninsipid and that which flatters the taste, the interval is not so\ngreat between the good and the excellent. The following example\nproves this:--FIRST TERM a Bouilli dry and hard. SECOND TERM a\npiece of veal. THIRD TERM a pheasant done to a turn.\n\nOf all the senses though with which we have been endowed by\nnature, the taste is the one, which all things considered,\nprocures us the most enjoyments.\n\n1. Because the pleasure of eating is the only one, when moderately\nenjoyed, not followed, by fatigue.\n\n2. It belongs to all aeras, ages and ranks.\n\n3. Because it necessarily returns once a day, and may without\ninconvenience be twice or thrice repeated in the same day.\n\n4. It mingles with all other pleasures, and even consoles us for\ntheir absence.\n\n5. Because the impressions it receives are durable and dependant\non, our will.\n\n6. Because when we eat we receive a certain indefinable and\npeculiar impression of happiness originating in instinctive\nconscience. When we eat too, we repair our losses and prolong our\nlives.\n\nThis will be more carefully explained in the chapter we devote to\nthe pleasures of the table, considered as it has been advanced by\ncivilization.\n\nSUPREMACY OF MAN.\n\nWe were educated in the pleasant faith that of all things that\nwalk, swim, crawl, or fly, man has the most perfect taste.\n\nThis faith is liable to be shaken.\n\nDr. Gall, relying on I know not what examinations, says there are\nmany animals with the gustatory apparatus more developed and\nextended than man's.\n\nThis does not sound well and looks like heresy. Man, jure divino,\nking of all nature, for the benefit of whom the world was peopled,\nmust necessarily be supplied with an organ which places him in\nrelation to all that is sapid in his subjects.\n\nThe tongue of animals does not exceed their intelligence; in\nfishes the tongue is but a movable bone, in birds it is usually a\nmembranous cartilage, and in quadrupeds it is often covered with\nscales and asperities, and has no circumflex motion.\n\nThe tongue of man on the contrary, from the delicacy of its\ntexture and the different membranes by which it is surrounded and\nwhich are near to it announces the sublimity of the operations to\nwhich it is destined.\n\nI have, at least, discovered three movements unknown to animals,\nwhich I call SPICATION, ROTATION and VERRATION (from the Latin\nverb verro, I sweep). The first is when the tongue, like a PIKE,\ncomes beyond the lips which repress it. The second is when the\ntongue rotates around all the space between the interior of the\njaws and the palate. The third is when the tongue moves up and\ndown and gathers the particles which remain in the half circular\ncanal formed by the lips and gums.\n\nAnimals are limited in their taste; some live only on vegetables,\nothers on flesh; others feed altogether on grain; none know\nanything of composite flavors.\n\nMan is omnivorous. All that is edible is subjected to his vast\nappetite, a thing which causes gustatory powers proportionate to\nthe use he has to make of them. The apparatus of taste is a rare\nperfection of man and we have only to see him use it to be\nsatisfied of it.\n\nAs soon as any esculent body is introduced into the mouth it is\nconfiscated hopelessly, gas, juice and all.\n\nThe lips prevent its retrogression. The teeth take possession of\nit and crush it. The salva imbibes it; the tongue turns it over\nand over, an aspiration forces it to the thorax; the tongue lifts\nit up to suffer it to pass. The sense of smell perceives it en\nroute, and it is precipitated into the stomach to undergo ulterior\ntransformations, without the most minute fragment during the whole\nof this escaping. Every drop every atom has been appreciated.\n\nIn consequence of this perfection, gourmandise is the exclusive\napanage of man.\n\nThis gourmandise is even contagious, and we impart it without\ndifficulty to the animals we have appropriated to our use, and\nwhich in a manner associate with us, such as elephants, dogs,\ncats, and parrots even.\n\nBesides taste requiring to be estimated only by the value of the\nsensation it communicates to the common centre, the impression\nreceived by the animal cannot be compared to that imparted to man.\nThe latter is more precise and clear, and necessarily supposes a\nsuperior quality in the organ which transmits it.\n\nIn fine, what can we desire in a faculty susceptible of such\nperfection that the gourmands of Rome were able to distinguish the\nflavors of fish taken above and below the bridge? Have we not seen\nin our own time, that gourmands can distinguish the flavor of the\nthigh on which the partridge lies down from the other? Are we not\nsurrounded by gourmets who can tell the latitude in which any wine\nripened as surely as one of Biot's or Arago's disciples can\nforetell an eclipse?\n\nThe consequence then is that we must render to Caesar the things\nwhich are Caesar's and proclaim man the great GOURMAND OF NATURE,\nand not be surprised if the good Doctor does sometimes as Homer\ndid:--\"Much zumeilen ichlafert der gute.\"\n\nMETHOD OF THE AUTHOR.\n\nAs yet we have treated the taste only from the physical point of\nview, and in some anatomical details which none will regret, we\nhave remained pari passu with science. This does not however\nconclude the task we have imposed on ourselves, for from its usual\nattributes especially does this reparatory sense derive its\nimportance.\n\nWe have then arranged in analytical order the theories and facts\nwhich compose the ensemble of this history, so that instruction\nwithout fatigue will result from it.\n\nThus in the following chapters, we will often show how sensations\nby repetition and reflection have perfected the organs and\nextended the sphere of our powers. How the want of food, once a\nmere instinct, has become a passion which has assumed a marked\nascendency of all that belongs to society\n\nWe will also say, how all sciences which have to do with the\ncomposition of substances, have agreed to place in a separate\ncategory all those appreciable to the taste; and how travellers\nhave followed in the same pathway when they placed before us\nsubstances nature apparently never meant us to see.\n\nWe will follow chemistry to the very moment when it penetrated our\nsubterraneous laboratories to enlighten our PREPARERS, to\nestablish principles, to create methods and to unveil causes which\nhad remained occult.\n\nIn fine we will see by the combined power of time and experience\nthat a new science has all at once appeared, which feeds,\nnourishes, restores, preserves, persuades, consoles, and not\ncontent with strewing handsfull of flowers over the individual,\ncontributes much to the power and prosperity of empires.\n\nIf, amid the grave lucubrations, a piquante anecdote, or an\nagreeable reminiscence of a stormy life drips from my pen, we will\nlet it remain to enable the attention to rest for a moment, so\nthat our readers, the number of whom does not alarm us, may have\ntime to breathe. We would like to chat with them. If they be men\nwe know they are indulgent as they are well informed. If women\nthey must be charming. [Footnote: Here the Professor, full of his\nsubject, suffers his hand to fall and rises to the seventh heaven.\nHe ascends the torrent of ages, and takes from their cradle all\nsciences, the object of which is the gratification of taste. He\nfollows their progress through the night of time and seeing that\nin the pleasures they procure us, early centures were not so great\nas those which followed them: he takes his lyre and sings in the\nDorian style the elegy which will be found among the varieties at\nthe end of the volume.]\n\nMEDITATION III.\n\nGASTRONOMY.\n\nORIGIN OF SCIENCES.\n\nTHE sciences are not like Minerva who started ready armed from the\nbrain of Jupiter. They are children of time and are formed\ninsensibly by the collection of the methods pointed out by\nexperience, and at a later day by the principles deduced from the\ncombination of these methods.\n\nThus old men, the prudence of whom caused them to be called to the\nbed-side of invalids, whose compassion taught to cure wounds, were\nthe first physicians.\n\nThe shepherds of Egypt, who observed that certain stars after the\nlapse of a certain period of time met in the heavens, were the\nfirst astronomers.\n\nThe person who first uttered in simple language the truth, 2 + 2 =\n4 created mathematics, that mighty science which really placed man\non the throne of the universe.\n\nIn the course of the last sixty years, many new sciences have\ntaken their place in the category of our knowledge, among which is\nstereotomy, descriptive geometry, and the chemistry of gas.\n\nAll sciences cultivated for a long time must advance, especially\nas the art of printing makes retrogression impossible. Who knows,\nfor instance, if the chemistry of gases will not ultimately\novercome those, as yet, rebellious substances, mingle and combine\nthem in proportions not as yet tempted, and thence obtain\nsubstances and effects which would remove many restrictions in our\npowers.\n\nORIGIN OF GASTRONOMY.\n\nGastronomy has at last appeared, and all the sister sciences have\nmade a way for it.\n\nWell; what could be refused to that which sustains us, from the\ncradle to the grave, which increases the gratifications of love\nand the confidence of friendship which disarms hatred and offers\nus, in the short passage of our lives, the only pleasure which not\nbeing followed by fatigue makes us weary of all others.\n\nCertainly, as long as it was confided to merely hired attendants,\nas long as the secret was kept in cellars, and where dispensaries\nwere written, the results were but the products of an art.\n\nAt last, too late, perhaps, savants drew near.\n\nThey examined, analyzed, and classified alimentary substances, and\nreduced them to simple elements.\n\nThey measured the mysteries of assimilation, and following most\nmatter in all its metamorphoses saw how it became vivified.\n\nThey watched diet in its temporary and permanent effects, for\ndays, months and lives.\n\nThey even estimated its influence and thought to ascertain if the\nsavor he impressed by the organs or if it acts without them. From\nall this they deduced a lofty theory which embraces all mankind,\nand all that portion of creation which may be animalized.\n\nWhile all this was going on in the studies of savants, it was said\nin drawing-rooms that the science which fed man was at least as\nvaluable as that which killed him. Poets sang the pleasures of the\ntable and books, the object of which was good cheer, awakened the\ngreatest and keenest interest in the profound views and maxims\nthey presented.\n\nSuch were the circumstances which preceded the invention of\ngastronomy.\n\nDEFINITION OF GASTRONOMY.\n\nGastronomy is a scientific definition of all that relates to man\nas a feeding animal.\n\nIts object is to watch over the preservation of man by means of\nthe best possible food.\n\nIt does so by directing, according to certain principles, all\nthose who procure, search for, or prepare things which may be\nconverted into food.\n\nTo tell the truth this is what moves cultivators, vine-dressers,\nfishermen, huntsmen, and the immense family of cooks, whatever\ntitle or qualification they bear, to the preparation of food.\n\nGastronomy is a chapter of natural history, for the fact that it\nmakes a classification of alimentary substances.\n\nOf physics, for it examines their properties and qualities.\n\nOf chemistry, from the various analysis and decomposition to which\nit subjects them.\n\nOf cookery, from the fact that it prepares food and makes it\nagreeable.\n\nOf commerce, from the fact that it purchases at as low a rate as\npossible what it consumes, and displays to the greatest advantage\nwhat it offers for sale.\n\nLastly it is a chapter of political economy, from the resources it\nfurnishes the taxing power, and the means of exchange it\nsubstitutes between nations.\n\nGastronomy rules all life, for the tears of the infant cry for the\nbosom of the nurse; the dying man receives with some degree of\npleasure the last cooling drink, which, alas! he is unable to\ndigest.\n\nIt has to do with all classes of society, for if it presides over\nthe banquets of assembled kings, it calculates the number of\nminutes of ebullition which an egg requires.\n\nThe material of gastronomy is all that may be eaten; its object is\ndirect, the preservation of individuals. Its means of execution\nare cultivation, which produces; commerce, which exchanges;\nindustry, which prepares; and experience, which teaches us to put\nthem to the best use.\n\nDIFFERENT OBJECTS OF GASTRONOMY.\n\nGastronomy considers taste in its pleasures and in its pains. It\nhas discovered the gradual excitements of which it is susceptible;\nit regularizes its action, and has fixed limits, which a man who\nrespects himself will never pass.\n\nIt also considers the action of food or aliments on the moral of\nman, on his imagination, his mind, his judgment, his courage, and\nhis perceptions, whether he is awake, sleeps, acts, or reposes.\n\nGastronomy determines the degree of esculence of every alimentary\nsubject; all are not presentable under the same circumstances.\n\nSome can be eaten until they are entirely developed. Such like as\ncapres, asparagus, sucking pigs, squabs, and other animals eaten\nonly when they are young.\n\nOthers, as soon as they have reached all the perfection to which\nthey are destined, like melons, fruit, mutton, beef, and grown\nanimals. Others when they begin to decompose, such as snipe, wood-\ncock and pheasant. Others not until cooking has destroyed all\ntheir injurious properties, such as the potato, manioc, and other\nsubstances.\n\nGastronomy classifies all of these substances according to their\nqualities, and indicates those which will mingle, and measuring\nthe quantity of nourishment they contain, distinguishes those\nwhich should make the basis of our repast, from those which are\nonly accessories, and others which, though not necessary, are an\nagreeable relief, and become the obligato accompaniment of\nconvivial gossip.\n\nIt takes no less interest in the beverages intended for us,\naccording to time, place and climate. It teaches their preparation\nand preservation, and especially presents them in an order so\nexactly calculated, that the pleasure perpetually increases, until\ngratification ends and abuse begins.\n\nGastronomy examines men and things for the purpose of\ntransporting, from one country to another, all that deserves to be\nknown, and which causes a well arranged entertainment, to be an\nabridgement of the world in which each portion is represented.\n\nUTILITY OF GASTRONOMICAL KNOWLEDGE.\n\nGastronomical knowledge is necessary to all men, for it tends to\naugment the sum of happiness. This utility becomes the greater in\nproportion as it is used by the more comfortable classes of\nsociety; it is indispensable to those who have large incomes, and\nentertain a great deal, either because in this respect they\ndischarge an obligation, follow their own inclination, or yield to\nfashion.\n\nThey have this special advantage, that they take personal pleasure\nin the manner their table is kept; they can, to a certain point,\nsuperintend the depositories of their confidence, and even on many\noccasions direct them.\n\nThe Prince de Soubise once intended to give an entertainment, and\nasked for the bill of fare.\n\nThe maitre d'hotel came with a list surrounded by vignettes, and\nthe first article that met the Prince's eye was FIFTY HAMS.\n\"Bertrand,\" said the Prince, \"I think you must be extravagant;\nfifty hams! Do you intend to feast my whole regiment?\"\n\n\"No, Prince, there will be but one on the table, and the surplus I\nneed for my epagnole, my blonds, garnitures, etc.\"\n\n\"Bertrand, you are robbing me. This article will not do.\"\n\n\"Monsigneur,\" said the artist, \"you do not appreciate me! Give the\norder, and I will put those fifty hams in a chrystal flask no\nlonger than my thumb.\"\n\nWhat could be said to such a positive operation? The Prince\nsmiled, and the hams were passed.\n\nINFLUENCE OF GASTRONOMY IN BUSINESS.\n\nIn men not far removed from a state of nature, it is well known\nthat all important affairs are discussed at their feasts. Amid\ntheir festivals savages decide on war and peace; we need not go\nfar to know that villages decide on all public affairs at the\ncabinet.\n\nThis observation has not escaped those to whom the weightiest\naffairs are often confided. They saw that a full stomached\nindividual was very different from a fasting one; that the table\nestablished a kind of alliance between the parties, and made\nguests more apt to receive certain impressions and submit to\ncertain influences. This was the origin of political gastronomy.\nEntertainments have become governmental measures, and the fate of\nnations is decided on in a banquet. This is neither a paradox nor\na novelty but a simple observation of fact. Open every historian,\nfrom the time of Herodotus to our own days, and it will be seen\nthat, not even excepting conspiracies, no great event ever took\nplace, not conceived, prepared and arranged at a festival.\n\nGASTRONOMICAL ACADEMY.\n\nSuch, at the first glance, appears to be the domain of gastronomy,\na realm fertile in results of every kind and which is aggrandized\nby the discoveries and inventions of those who cultivate it. It is\ncertain that before the lapse of many years, gastronomy will have\nits academicians, courses, professors, and premiums.\n\nAt first some rich and zealous gastronomer will establish\nperiodical assemblies, in which the most learned theorists will\nunite with artists, to discuss and measure the various branches of\nalimentation.\n\nSoon (such is the history of all academies) the government will\nintervene, will regularise, protect, and institute; it will seize\nthe opportunity to reward the people for all orphans made by war,\nfor all the Arianas whose tears have been evoked by the drum.\n\nHappy will be the depository of power who will attach his name to\nthis necessary institution! His name will be repeated from age to\nage with that of Noah, Bacchus, Triptolemus, and other benefactors\nof humanity; he will be among ministers what Henri IV. was among\nkings; his eulogy will be in every mouth, though no regulation\nmake it a necessity.\n\nMEDITATION IV.\n\nAPPETITE.\n\nDEFINITION OF APPETITE.\n\nMOTION and life occasion in the animal portion of all that lives a\nconstant loss of substance, and the human body, that most\ncomplicated machine, would soon be unfit for use, did not\nProvidence provide it with a mark to inform it of the very moment\nwhen its power is no longer in equilibrium with its wants.\n\nThis monitor is appetite. By this word we understand the first\nimpression of the want of food.\n\nAppetite declares itself by languor in the stomach, and a slight\nsensation of fatigue.\n\nThe soul at the same time busies itself with things analogous to\nits wants; memory recalls food that has flattered its taste;\nimagination fancies that it sees them, and something like a dream\ntakes place. This state is not without pleasure, and we have heard\nmany adepts say, with joy in their heart, \"What a pleasure it is\nto have a good appetite, when we are certain of a good meal.\"\n\nThe whole nutritive apparatus is moved. The stomach becomes\nsensible, the gastric juices are moved and displace themselves\nwith noise, the mouth becomes moist, and all the digestive powers\nare under arms, like soldiers awaiting the word of command. After\na few moments there will be spasmodic motion, pain and hunger.\n\nEvery shade of these gradations may be observed in every drawing-\nroom, when dinner is delayed.\n\nThey are such in nature, that the most exquisite politeness cannot\ndisguise the symptoms. From this fact I deduced the apothegm, \"THE\nMOST INDISPENSABLE QUALITY OF A GOOD COOK IS PROMPTNESS.\"\n\nANECDOTE.\n\nI will sustain this grave maxim by the details of an observate,\nmade at an entertainment where I was,\n\n\"Quorum magna pars fui,\"\n\nand where the pleasures of observation preserved me from the\nanguish of misery.\n\nI was invited to dine with a high public functionary. The hour was\nhalf past five, and at the appointed time all were present. We\nknew he liked exactness, and always scolded the dilatory.\n\nI was amazed, when I came, at the consternation which pervaded the\nparty. People whispered together, and looked into the court-yard\nthrough the window--all betokened something extraordinary.\n\nI approached the one of the guests I thought best able to satisfy\nmy curiosity, and asked him what the news was.\n\n\"Alas!\" said they, \"Monsieur has been sent for to the Council of\nState; he has just gone, and none know when he will return.\"\n\n\"Is that all!\" said I. \"Be of good cheer, we will be detained only\na quarter of an hour; something particular has happened. All know\nto-day is his regular dinner, and we will not have to fast.\" I was\nnot, however, easy, and wished I was away.\n\nThe first hour passed well enough, and those who were intimate sat\ntogether. Common places were exhausted, and conjectures were\nformed as to what could have called the Prince to the Tuilleries\n\nAt the commencement of the second hour there were many signs of\nimpatience; people looked anxiously at each other and the first\nwho murmured were three or four guests who, finding no place to\nsit in, were not in a convenient position to wait.\n\nAt the third hour, the discontent became general, and every\nsymptom became exaggerated. \"When will he return?\" said one. \"What\ncan he be thinking of?\" said another. \"This is death,\" said a\nthird. This question was then put, but not determined, \"Shall we\ngo or not?\"\n\nAt the fourth hour every symptom became aggravated. People\nstretched out their arms without the slightest regard whether they\ninterrupted their neighbors or not. Unpleasant sounds were heard\nfrom all parts of the room, and everywhere the faces of the guests\nbore the marks of concentration. No one listened to me when I\nremarked that beyond doubt our absent amphytrion was more unhappy\nthan any one of us.\n\nOur attention was for a moment arrested by an apparition. One of\nthe guests, better acquainted with the house than the others, had\ngone into the kitchen, and returned panting. His face looked as if\nthe day of judgment had come, and in an almost inarticulate voice,\nwhich announced at once both the fear of making a noise and of not\nbeing heard, \"Monsigneur went away without giving any orders, and\nhappen what may, dinner will not be served until his return.\"\n\nThe terror caused by what he said could not be exceeded by that to\nbe expected at the last trump.\n\nAmong the martyrs, the most unfortunate was D'Aigrefeuille, whom\nall Paris knew. His whole body seemed to suffer, and the agony of\nLaocoon was marked on his face. Pale, terrified, he saw nothing\nbut sank in a chair, grasped his hands on his round stomach, and\nclosed his eyes, not to sleep but to die.\n\nHe did not though. About ten o'clock a carriage drove into the\nyard. All were on the qui-vive and a arose spontaneously. Hilarity\nsucceeded suffering, and in five minutes we were at the table.\n\nAppetite however was gone, all seemed amazed to sit down to dinner\nat such an unusual hour; the jaws had not that isochronous measure\nwhich announces a regular business. I know many were sufferers\nthus.\n\nThe course to be taken is not to eat immediately after the\nobstacle has ceased, but to drink a glass of eau-sucree, or take a\nplate of soup to sustain the stomach, and then in ten or fifteen\nminutes to begin dinner, to prevent the stomach being oppressed by\nthe weight of the aliments with which it is surcharged.\n\nGREAT APPETITES.\n\nWhen we see in early books a description of the preparations made\nto receive two or three persons, and the enormous masses served up\nto a single guest, we cannot refuse to think that those who lived\nin early ages were gifted with great appetites.\n\nThe appetite was thought to increase in direct ratio to the\ndignity of the personage. He to whom the saddle of a five year old\nox would be served was expected to drink from a cup he could\nscarcely lift.\n\nSome individuals have existed who testified to what once passed,\nand have collected details of almost incredible variety, which\nincluded even the foulest objects.\n\nI will not inflict these disgusting details on my readers, and\nprefer to tell them two particular circumstances which I\nwitnessed, and which do not require any great exertion of faith.\n\nAbout forty years ago, I made a short visit to the cure at\nBregnier, a man of immense stature and who had a fearful appetite.\n\nThough it was scarcely noon I found him at the table. Soup and\nbouilli had been brought on, to these two indispensables had\nsucceeded a leg of mutton a la Royale, a capon and a salad.\n\nAs soon as he saw me he ordered a plate which I refused, and\nrightly too. Without any assistance he got rid of every thing,\nviz: he picked the bone of mutton and ate up all the salad.\n\nThey brought him a large white cheese into which he made an\nangular breach measured by an arc of ninety degrees. He washed\ndown all with a bottle of wine and glass of water, after which he\nlaid down.\n\nWhat pleased me was to see that during the whole of this business,\nthe venerable pastor did not seem busy. The large mouthfulls he\nswallowed did not prevent him either from laughing or talking. He\ndispatched all that was put before him easily as he would have a\npair of birds.\n\nSo it was with General Bisson who drank eight bottles of wine at\ndinner every day, and who never appeared the worse for it. He had\na glass larger than usual and emptied it oftener. He did not care\nfor that though, for after having swallowed six ounces of fluids\nhe could jest and give his orders as if he had only swallowed a\nthimble full.\n\nThis anecdote recalls to me my townsman, General P. Sibuet, long\nthe chief aide of Napoleon, and who was killed in 1813 at the\npassage of the Bober.\n\nHe was eighteen years old, and had at that time the appetite by\nwhich nature announces that its possessor is a perfect man, and\nwent one night into the kitchen of Genin, an inn keeper of Belley,\nwhere the old men of the town used to meet to eat chestnuts and\ndrink the new white wine called in the country vin bourru.\n\nThe old men were not hungry and paid no attention to him. His\ndigestive powers were not shaken though, and he said \"I have just\nleft the table, but I will bet that I eat a whole turkey.\"\n\n\"If you eat it I will pay for it,\" said Bouvier du Bouchet, a rich\nfarmer who was present, \"and if you do not I will eat what is left\nand you shall pay for it.\" [Footnote: This sentence is patois, and\nthe translator inserts the original. \"Sez vosu meze, z'u payo,\nrepondit Bouvier du Bouchet, gros fermier qui se trouvait present;\ne sez vos caca en rotaz, i-zet vo ket paire et may ket mezerai la\nrestaz.\"]\n\nThey set to work at once, and the young athlete at once cut off a\nwing, he ate it at two mouthfulls and cleaned his teeth by gnawing\nthe bone and drank a glass of wine as an interlude.\n\nHe then went into the thigh which he ate and drank another glass\nof wine to prepare a passage for the rest. The second went the\nsame way, and he had come to the last limb when the unfortunate\nfarmer said, \"alas! I see it is all over, but Mr. Sibouet as I\nhave to pay, let me eat a bit.\" [Footnote: This also is patois.\n\"Hai! ze vaie praou qu'izet fotu; m'ez, monche Chibouet, poez kaet\nzu daive paiet, lesse m'en a m'en mesiet on mocho.\"]\n\nProsper was as good a fellow as he was a soldier, and consented.\nThe farmer had the carcass at spolia opima, and paid for the fowl\nwith a good grace.\n\nGeneral Sibuet used always to love to tell of this feat of his\nyouth. He said that his admitting the farmer to eat was a pure\ncourtesy, and that he could easily have won the bet. His appetite\nat forty permitted none to doubt the assertion.\n\nBrillat-Savarin, says in a note, \"I quote this fragment of the\npatois of Bugey with pleasure. In it is found the English 'th and\nthe Greek 0, and in the word praou and others, a dipthong existing\nin no language, the sound of which no character can describe.\"\n(See 3d Volume of the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Antiquarians\nof France.)\n\nMEDITATION V.\n\nFOOD IN GERMS.\n\nSECTION FIRST.\n\nDEFINITIONS.\n\nWHAT is understood by aliments?\n\nPOPULAR ANSWER. All that nourishes us.\n\nSCIENTIFIC ANSWER. By aliments are understood the substances\nwhich, when submitted to the stomach, may be assimulated by\ndigestion, and repair the losses which the human body is subjected\nto in life.\n\nThe distinctive quality of an aliment, therefore, is its liability\nto animal assimulation.\n\nANALYSIS.\n\nThe animal and vegetable kingdoms are those which until now have\nfurnished food to the human race.\n\nSince analytical chemistry has become a certain science, much\nprogress has been made into the double nature of the elements of\nwhich our body is composed, and of the substances which nature\nappears to have intended to repair their losses.\n\nThese studies had a great analogy, for man is to a great degree\ncomposed both of the substances on which animals feed, and was\nalso forced to look in the vegetable kingdom for affinities\nsusceptible of animalization.\n\nIn these two walks the most praiseworthy efforts have been made\nalways as minute as possible, and the curious have followed either\nthe human body or the food which invigorates it, first to their\nsecondary principles, and then to their elements, beyond which we\nhave not been permitted to penetrate.\n\nHere I intended to have given a little treatise on alimentary\nchemistry, and to tell my readers, to how many thousands of\nhydrogen, carbon, etc., may be reduced the dishes that sustain us.\nI did not do so, however, because I remembered I would only have\nto copy many excellent treatises on chemistry in the hands of\nevery body. I feared, too, that I would relapse into very barren\ndetails, and limited myself to a very reasonable nomenclature,\nwhich will only require the explanation of a small number of very\nusual terms.\n\nOSMAZOME.\n\nThe greatest service chemistry has rendered to alimentary science,\nis the discovery of osmazome, or rather the determination of what\nit was.\n\nOsmazome is the purely sapid portion of flesh soluble in cold\nwater, and separated from the extractive portion which is only\nsoluble in boiling water.\n\nOsmazome is the most meritorious ingredient of all good soups.\nThis portion of the animal forms the red portion of flesh, and the\nsolid parts of roasts. It gives game and venison its peculiar\nflavor.\n\nOsmazome is most abundant in grown animals which have red or black\nhair; it is scarcely found at all in the lamb, sucking pig,\nchicken, and the white meat of the largest fowls. For this reason\ntrue connoisseurs always prefer the second joint; instinct with\nthem was the precursor of science.\n\nThus a knowledge of the existence of osmazome, caused so many\ncooks to be dismissed, who insisted on always throwing away the\nfirst bouillon made from meat. This made the reputation of the\nsoupe des primes, and induced the canon Chevrier to invent his\nlocked kettles. The Abbe Chevrier was the person who never would\neat until Friday, lobsters that had not been cooked on the\nprevious Sunday, and every intervening day placed on the fire with\nthe addition of fresh butter.\n\nTo make use of this subject, though yet unknown, was introduced\nthe maxim, that to make good bouillon the kettle should only\nsmile.\n\nOsmazome, discovered after having been so long the delight of our\nfathers, may be compared to alcohol, which made whole generations\ndrunk before it was simply exhibited by distillation.\n\nPRINCIPLE OF ALIMENTS.\n\nThe fibre is what composes the tissue of the meat, and what is\napparent after the juices have been extracted. The fibres resist\nboiling water, and preserve their form, though stripped of a\nportion of their wrappings. To carve meat properly the fibres\nshould be cut at right angles, or nearly so, with the blade of the\nknife. Meat thus carved looks better, tastes better, and is more\neasily chewed.\n\nThe bones are composed principally of gelatine and the phosphate\nof lime.\n\nThe quantity of gelatine diminishes as we grow older. At seventy\nthe bones are but an imperfect marble, the reason why they are so\neasily broken, and why old men should carefully avoid any fall.\n\nAlbumen is found both in the flesh and the blood. It coagulates at\na heat above 40 Reaumur, and causes the scum on the pot-au-feu.\n\nGelatine is also found in the bones, the soft and the\ncartilaginous parts. Its distinctive quality is to coagulate at\nthe ordinary temperature of the atmosphere; to effect this only\ntwo and a half per cent. are needed.\n\nGelatine is the basis of all jelleys, of blanc manges, and other\nsimilar preparations.\n\nGrease is a concrete oil formed in the interstices of the cellary\ntissue. It sometimes agglomerates in animals whom art or nature\nhas so predisposed, such as pigs, fowls, ortolans and snipe. In\nsome of these animals it loses its insipidity and acquires a\nslight and agreeable aroma.\n\nBlood is composed of an albuminous serum and of fibrine, some\ngelatine and a little osmazome. It coagulates in warm water and is\nmost nourishing, (e. g.) the blood pudding.\n\nAll the principles, we have passed in review, are common to man\nand to animals which feed.\n\nAll the principles we pass in review are common both to man and\nanimals which he eats. It is not then surprising that animal food\nis eminently restorative and invigorating. The particles of which\nit is composed having a great similitude with those of which we\nare formed may easily be animalized when they are subjected to the\nvital action of our digestive organs.\n\nVEGETABLE KINGDOM.\n\nThe vegetable kingdom however presents not less varied sources of\nnutrition.\n\nThe fecula is especially nutritious, especially as it contains\nfewer foreign principles.\n\nBy fecula we mean farina or flower obtained from cereals, from\nlegumes and various kinds of roots, among which the potato holds a\nprominent place.\n\nThe fecula is the substance of bread, pastry and purees of all\nkinds. It thus enters to a great degree into the nourishment of\nalmost all people.\n\nSuch food diminishes the fibres and even the courage. [Footnote:\nThe H. E. I. Co. Sepoys, however, fight well. It may be doubted\nthough if either Ireland or Italy will be free, until the one\ngives up the potato and the other macaroni. The reason why\nIrishmen fight better in other countries than their own, is\npossibly that abroad they are better fed than at home.] We must,\nto sustain this, refer to the Indians (East) who live on rice and\nserve every one who chosea to command them.\n\nAlmost all domestic animals eat the fecula, and are made by it\nextremely strong; for it is a more substantial nourishment than\nthe dry and green vegetables which are their habitual food.\n\nSugar is not less important, either as a remedy or as an aliment.\n\nThis substance once obtained, either from the Indies or from the\ncolonies became indigenous at the commencement of this century. It\nhas been discovered in the grape, the turnip, the chestnut, and\nespecially in the beet. So that speaking strictly Europe need\nappeal neither to India or America for it. Its discovery was a\ngreat service rendered by science to humanity, and furnishes an\nexample which cannot but have the happiest results. (Vide enfro\nSugar.)\n\nSugar, either in a solid state or in the different plants in which\nnature has placed it, is extremely nourishing. Animals are fond of\nit, and the English give large quantities to their blood-horses,\nand have observed that it sustained them in the many trials to\nwhich they were subjected.\n\nSugar in the days of Louis XIV. was only found in apothecary\nshops, and gave birth to many lucrative professions, such as\npastry-cooks, confectioners, liquourists, &c. Mild oils also come\nfrom the vegetable kingdom. They are all esculent, but when\nmingled with other substances they should be looked on only as a\nseasoning. Gluten found in the greatest abundance in cheese,\ncontributes greatly to the fermentation of the bread with which it\nis united. Chemists assign it an animal nature.\n\nThey make at Paris for children and for birds, and in some of the\ndepartments for men also, patisseries in which gluten\npredominates, the fecula having been removed by water.\n\nMucilage owes its nourishments to the many substances of which it\nis the vehicle.\n\nGum may be considered an aliment, not a strong thing, as it\ncontains nearly the same elements as sugar.\n\nVegetable gelatine, extracted from many kinds of fruits,\nespecially from apples, goose-berries, quinces, and some others,\nmay also be considered a food. It is more nutritious when united\nwith sugar, but it is far inferior in that respect to what is\nextracted from bones, horns, calves' feet and fish. This food is\nin general light, mild and healthy. The kitchen and the\npharmaceutist's laboratory therefore dispute about it.\n\nDIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAT AND LEAN.\n\nNext to the JUICE, which, as we have said, is composed of asmazome\nand the extractus, there are found in fish many substances which\nalso exist in land animals, such as fibrine, gelatine, albumen. So\nthat we may really say JUICE distinguishes the flesh diet from\nwhat the church calls maigre.\n\nThe latter too has another peculiarity. Fish contains a large\nquantity of phosphorus and hydrogen, that is to say of the two\nmost combustible things in nature. Fish therefore is a most\nheating diet. This might legitimate the praise once bestowed on\ncertain religious orders, the regime of whom was directly opposed\nto the commonly esteemed most fragile.\n\nINDIVIDUAL INSTANCE.\n\nI will say no more on this physiological fact, but will not omit\nan instance which may be easily verified.\n\nSome years ago I went to a country house, in the vicinity of\nParis, and on the Seine, near St. Denis, near a hamlet composed\nchiefly of fishing huts. I was amazed at the crowd of huts I saw\nswarming in the road.\n\nI remarked it with amazement to the boatman who took me across the\nriver.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said he, \"we have eight families here, have fifty-\nthree children, among whom are forty-nine girls and four boys.\nThat one is mine.\" As he spoke he pointed triumphantly to a little\nwhelp, of about five years of age, who was at the bow of the boat\neating raw craw-fish.\n\nFrom this observation I made ten years ago, and others I could\neasily recall, I have been led to think that the genesiac sense is\nmoved by fish-eating, and that it is rather irritating than\nplethoric and substantial. I am inclined to maintain this opinion\nthe more, because Doctor Bailly has recently proved, by many\ninstances, that when ever the number of female children exceeds\nthe male, the circumstance is due to some debilitating\ncircumstances. This will account to us for the jests made from the\nbeginning of time, whenever a man's wife bears him a daughter\ninstead of a son.\n\nI might say much about aliments considered as a tout ensemble, and\nabout the various modifications they undergo by mixing, etc.; I\nhope, though, that the preceding will suffice to the majority of\nreaders. I recommend all others to read some book ex professo, and\nwill end with the things which are not without interest.\n\nThe first is that animalization is affected almost as vegetation\nis, that is that the reparative current formed by digestion, is\ninhaled in various manners by the tubes with which the organs are\nprovided, and becomes flesh, nails, hair, precisely as earth,\nwatered by the same fluid, becomes radish, lettuce, potato,--as\nthe gardener pleases.\n\nThe second is that in the organization of life, the same elements\nwhich chemistry produces are not obtained. The organs destined to\nproduce life and motion only act on what is subjected to them.\n\nNature, however, loves to wrap herself in veils, and to stop us at\nevery advance, and has concealed the laboratory where new\ntransformations are affected. It is difficult to explain how,\nhaving determined that the human body contained lime, sulphur, and\nphosphorous iron, and the other substances, all this CAN be\nrenewed every ten years by bread and water.\n\nMEDITATION VI.\n\nFOOD IN GERMS.\n\nSECTION SECOND.\n\nSPECIALITIES.\n\nWHEN I began to write, my table of contents was already prepared;\nI have advanced slowly, however, because a portion of my time is\nconsecrated to serious labors.\n\nDuring this interval of time much of my matter has escaped my\nmemory, or been wrested from me. Elementary books on chemistry or\nmateria medica have been put into the hands of every body, and\nthings I expected to teach for the first time, have become\npopular. For instance, I had devoted many pages to the chemistry\nof the pot-au-feu, the substance of which is found in many books\nrecently published.\n\nConsequently, I had to revise this part of my book, and have so\ncondensed it that it is reduced to a few elementary principles, to\ntheories which cannot be too widely propagated, and to sundry\nobservations, the fruits of a long experience, which I trust will\nbe new to the majority of my readers.\n\nSection I. POT-AU-FEU, POTAGE, ETC.\n\nPot-au-feu is a piece of beef, intended to be cooked in boiling\nwater, slightly salted so as to extract all the soluble parts.\n\nBouillon is the fluid which remains after the operation.\n\nBouilli is the flesh after it has undergone the operation.\n\nWater dissolves at first a portion of the osmazome; then the\nalbumen coagulates at 50 degrees Reaumur, and forms the foam we\nsee. The rest of the osmazome, with the extractive part of juice,\nand finally a portion of the wrapping of the fibres detached by\nthe continuity of ebullition.\n\nTo have good bouillon, the water must be heated slowly, and the\nebullition must be scarcely perceptible, so that the various\nparticles necessarily dissolved, may unite ultimately and without\ntrouble.\n\nIt is the custom to add to bouillon, vegetable or roots, to\nenhance the taste, and bread or pates to make it more nourishing.\nThen it is what is called potage.\n\nPotage is a healthy food, very nourishing, and suits every body;\nit pleases the stomach and prepares it for reception and\ndigestion. Persons threatened with obesity should take bouillon\nalone.\n\nAll agree that no where is potage made so well as in France, and\nin my travels I have been able to confirm this assertion. Potage\nis the basis of French national diet, and the experience of\ncenturies has perfected it.\n\nSection II. BOUILLI.\n\nBouilli is a healthful food, which satisfies hunger readily, is\neasily digested, but which when eaten alone restores strength to a\nvery small degree, because in ebullition the meat has lost much of\nits animalizable juices.\n\nWe include in four categories the persons who eat bouilli.\n\n1. Men of routine, who eat it because their fathers did, and who,\nfollowing this practice implicitly, expect to be imitated by their\nchildren.\n\n2. Impatient men, who, abhorring inactivity at the table, have\ncontracted the habit of attacking at once whatever is placed\nbefore them.\n\n3. The inattentive, who eat whatever is put before them, and look\nupon their meals as a labor they have to undergo. All that will\nsustain them they put on the same level, and sit at the table as\nthe oyster does in his bed.\n\n4. The voracious, who, gifted with an appetite which they seek to\ndiminish, seek the first victim they can find to appease the\ngastric juice, which devours them, and wish to make it serve as a\nbasis to the different envois they wish to send to the same\ndestination.\n\nProfessors of gastronomy never eat bouilli, from respect to the\nprinciples previously announced, that bouilli is flesh without the\njuices. [Footnote: This idea which began to make its impression on\nbouilli has disappeared. It is replaced by a roasted filet, a\nturbot, or a matelote.]\n\nSection III. FOWLS.\n\nI am very fond of second courses, and devoutly believe that the\nwhole gallinaceous family was made to enrich our larders and to\ndeck our tables.\n\nFrom the quail to the turkey, whenever we find a fowl of this\nclass, we are sure to find too, light aliment, full of flavor, and\njust as fit for the convalescent as for the man of the most robust\nhealth.\n\nWhich one of us, condemned to the fare of the fathers of the\ndesert, would not have smiled at the idea of a well-carved\nchicken's wing, announcing his rapid rendition to civilized life?\n\nWe are not satisfied with the flavor nature has given to\ngallinaceous fowls, art has taken possession of them, and under\nthe pretext of ameliorating, has made martyrs of them. They have\nnot only been deprived of the means of reproduction, but they have\nbeen kept in solitude and darkness, and forced to eat until they\nwere led to an unnatural state of fatness.\n\nIt is very true that this unnatural grease is very delicious, and\nthat this damnable skill gives them the fineness and succulence\nwhich are the delight of our best tables.\n\nThus ameliorated, the fowl is to the kitchen what the canvass is\nto painters. To charlatans it is the cap of Fortunatus, and is\nserved up boiled, roasted, fried, hot, cold, whole or dismembered,\nwith or without sauce, broiled, stuffed, and always with equal\nsuccess.\n\nThree portions of old France disputed for the honor of furnishing\nthe best fowls, viz: Caux, Mans, and Bresse.\n\nIn relation to capons, and about this there is some doubt, the one\non the table always seeming the best. Bresse seems, however, to\nhave pre-eminence in pullets, for they are round as an apple. It\nis a pity they are so rare in Paris!\n\nSection IV. THE TURKEY.\n\nThe turkey is certainly one of the most glorious presents made by\nthe new world to the old.\n\nThose persons who always wish to know more than others, say that\nthe turkey was known to the ancients, and was served up at the\nwedding feast of Charlemagne. They say it is an error to attribute\nthe importation to the Jesuits. To these paradoxes but two things\ncan be opposed:\n\n1st. The name of the bird proves its origin, for at one time\nAmerica was called the West Indies.\n\n2d. The form of the bird is altogether foreign.\n\nA well informed man cannot be mistaken about it.\n\nThough already perfectly satisfied, I made much deep research in\nthe matter. I will not inflict my studies on my readers, but will\nonly give them the results:\n\n1. The turkey appeared in Europe about the end of the seventeenth\ncentury.\n\n2. That it was imported by the Jesuits who sent a large number\nespecially to a farm they had near Bouges.\n\n3. That thence they spread gradually over France, and in many\nlocalities a turkey to this day is called a Jesuit.\n\n4. Only in America has the turkey been found in a wild state, (it\nis unknown in Africa.)\n\n5. That in the farms of North America, where it is very common, it\nhas two origins, either from eggs which have been found and\nhatched or from young turkeys caught in the woods. The consequence\nis they are in a state of nature and preserve almost all their\noriginal plumage.\n\nOvercome by this evidence I bestow on the good fathers a double\nportion of gratitude, for they imported the Quinquina yet known as\n\"Jesuit's bark.\"\n\nThe same researches informed us that the turkey gradually became\nacclimated in France. Well informed observers have told me that\nabout the middle of the last century of twenty young turkeys\nscarcely ten lived, while now fourteen out of every twenty mature.\nThe spring rains are most unfortunate to them; the large drops of\nrain striking on their tender heads destroy them.\n\nDINDONOPHILES.\n\nThe turkey is the largest, and if not the finest, at least the\nmost highly flavored of the gallinaceous family.\n\nIt has also the advantage of collecting around it every class of\nsociety.\n\nWhen the virgin dresses, and farmers of our countries wish to\nregale themselves in the long winter evenings, what do they roast\nbefore the fire of the room in which the table is spread? a\nturkey.\n\nWhen the mechanic, when the artist, collects a few friends to\nenjoy a relief which is the more grateful because it is the rarer;\nwhat is one of the dishes always put on the table? a turkey\nstuffed with Lyons sausage and with chestnuts of Lyons.\n\nIn the highest gastronomical circles, in the most select reunions,\nwhere politics yield to dissertations on the taste, for what do\npeople wait? What do they wish for? a dinde truffe at the second\ncourse. My secret memoirs tell me that its flavor has more than\nonce lighted up most diplomatic faces.\n\nFINANCIAL INFLUENCE OF THE TURKEY.\n\nThe importation of turkeys became the cause of a great addition to\nthe public fortune, and occasioned a very considerable commerce.\n\nBy raising turkeys the farmers were able the more surely to pay\ntheir rents. Young girls often acquired a very sufficient dowry,\nand towns-folk who wished to eat them had to pay round prices for\nthem.\n\nIn a purely financial point of view turkeys demand much attention.\n\nI have reason to believe, that between the first of November and\nthe end of February, three hundred dindon truffees are consumed\nper diem. The sum total is 30,000 turkeys.\n\nThe price of every turkey in that condition is at least twenty\nfrancs, and the sum of the whole is not less than 720,000 francs--\na very pretty sum of money. One must add a similar sum for the\nfowls, pheasants, pullets and partridges, suffered in the same\nway, and which are every day exhibited in the provision shops, as\na punishment for beholders who are too poor to buy them.\n\nEXPLOIT OF THE PROFESSOR.\n\nWhile I was living at Hartford, in Connecticut, I was lucky enough\nto kill a wild turkey. This exploit deserves to be transmitted to\nposterity, and I tell it with especial complaisance as I am myself\nthe hero.\n\nAn American farmer had invited me to hunt on his grounds; he lived\nin the remotest part of the State, [Footnote: Brillat-Savarin uses\nthe French words \"derrieres de l'etat\" and translates them in\nEnglish, in parenthesis \"Backwoods.\"] and promised me partridges,\ngrey squirrels and wild turkeys. [Footnote: He also translates in\nthe same manner \"dindes sauvages\" welp cocks.] He also permitted\nme to bring a friend or two if I pleased.\n\nOne fine day in October, 1794, therefore, with a friend, I set out\nwith the hope of reaching the farm of Mr. Bulow, five mortal\nleagues from Hartford, before night.\n\nThough the road was hardly traced, we arrived there without\naccident, and were received with that cordial hospitality\nexpressed by acts, for before we had been five minutes on the\nfarm, dogs, horses and men were all suitably taken care of.\n\nAbout two hours were consumed in the examination of the farm and\nits dependencies. I would describe all this if I did not prefer to\ndisplay to the reader the four buxom daughters of Mr. Bulow, to\nwhom our arrival was a great event.\n\nTheir ages were from sixteen to twenty-four, and there was so much\nsimplicity in their persons, so much activity and abandon, that\nevery motion seemed full of grace.\n\nAfter our return from walking we sat around a well furnished\ntable. A superb piece of corned beef, a stewed goose, and a\nmagnificent leg of mutton, besides an abundance of vegetables and\ntwo large jugs of cider, one at each end of the table, made up our\nbill of fare.\n\nWhen we had proven to our host, that in appetite at least, we were\ntrue huntsmen, we began to make arrangements for our sport. He\ntold us where we would find game, and gave us land-marks to guide\nus on our return, not forgetting farm-houses where we could obtain\nrefreshments.\n\nDuring this conversation the ladies had prepared excellent tea, of\nwhich we drank several cups, and were then shown into a room with\ntwo beds, where exercise and fatigue procured us a sound sleep.\n\nOn the next day we set out rather late, and having come to the end\nof the clearings made by Mr. Bulow, I found myself in a virgin\nforest for the first time. The sound of the axe had never been\nheard there.\n\nI walked about with delight, observing the blessings and ravages\nof time which creates and destroys, and I amused myself by tracing\nall the periods on the life of an oak since the moment when its\ntwo leaves start from the ground, until it leaves but a long black\nmark which is the dust of its heart.\n\nMy companion, Mr. King, reproached me for my moodiness, and we\nbegan the hunt. We killed first some of those pretty grey\npartridges which are so round and so tender. We then knocked down\nsix or seven grey squirrels, highly esteemed in America, and at\nlast were fortunate enough to find a flock of turkeys.\n\nThey rose one after the other, flying rapidly and crying loudly.\nMr. King fired on the first and ran after it. The others were soon\nout of shot. The most sluggish, of all arose at last, not ten\npaces from me. It flew through an opening, I fired and it fell\ndead.\n\nOne must be a sportsman to conceive the extreme pleasure this shot\ncaused me. I siezed on the superb bird and turned it over and over\nfor a quarter of an hour, until I heard my companion's voice\ncalling for assistance. I hurried to him and found that he called\nme to aid him in looking for a turkey he claimed to have killed,\nbut which had disappeared.\n\nI put my dog on the scent but he led us into an under growth, so\nthick and thorny that a snake could scarcely penetrate it; I had\nthen to give up the search, and my companion was in a bad humor\nall day long.\n\nThe rest of the day scarcely deserves the honors of printing. On\nour return we lost ourselves in boundless woods, and we were in\nnot a little danger of having to stay out all night, when the\nsilvery tones of Mr. Bulow's daughters, and the deep bass of their\nfather, who had come to look for us, guided us home.\n\nThe four sisters were fully armed with clean dresses, new ribbons,\npretty hats, and so carefully shod that it was evident that they\nhad formed a high opinion of us. I tried to make myself agreeable\nto the one of the ladies who took my arm, a thing she did as\nnaturally as if it had belonged to her jure conjugali.\n\nWhen we reached the farm supper was ready, but before we sat down\nto the table we drew near to a bright and brilliant fire which had\nbeen lighted for us, though the season did not indicate that such\na a precaution was necessary. We found it very comfortable,\nfatigued as we were, and were rested as if by enchantment.\n\nThis custom doubtless comes from the Indians who always have a\nfire in their huts. It may be, this is a tradition of St. Francis\nde Sales, who said that fire was good eleven months of the year\n(non liquet).\n\nWe ate as if we were famished; a large bowl of punch enabled us to\nfinish the evening, and a conversation, which our host made\nperfectly free, led us far into the night.\n\nWe spoke of the war of Independence, in which Mr. Bulow [Footnote:\nThe M. Bulow of whom Savarin speaks, is none other than Lieut.\nCol. Bellows of the Connecticut Line, many of whose relations yet\nremain in the Valley of the Connecticut.] had served as a field\nofficer of M. de La Fayette, who every day becomes greater in the\neyes of the Americans, who always designate him as \"the Marquis\"\nof agriculture, which at that time enriched the United States, and\nfinally of my native land, which I loved the more because I was\nforced to leave it.\n\nWhen wearied of conversation the father would say to his eldest\ndaughter, \"Maria, give us a song.\" She without any embarrassment\nsung the American national airs. The complaints of Mary Stuart and\nof Andre, all popular in America. Maria had taken a few lessons,\nand in that remote country passed for a virtuosa; her singing\nthough, derived its charm from the quality of her voice, which was\nat once clear, fresh and accentuated.\n\nOn the next day, in spite of Mr. Bulow's persuasions, we set out.\nI had duties to discharge; and while the horses were being\nprepared, Mr. Bulow took me aside and used these remarkable words.\n\n\"You see in me, sir, a happy man, if there be one under heaven;\nall that you see here is derived from my own property. My\nstockings were knit by my daughters, and my cloths were furnished\nby my flocks. They also, with my garden, furnish me with an\nabundance of healthy food. The greatest eulogium of our government\nis, that in the State of Connecticut there are a thousand farmers\nas well satisfied as I am, the doors of whom have no locks.\n\n\"Taxes are almost nothing, and as long as they be paid any one can\nsleep calmly. Congress favors national industry as much as it can,\nand merchants are always ready to take from us whatever we wish to\nsell. I have ready money for a long time, for I have just sold at\ntwenty-four dollars a barrel, flour I usually receive eight for.\n\n\"All this is derived from the liberty we have acquired, and\nestablished on good laws. I am master of my own house; and you\nwill not be astonished when you know that we never fear the sound\nof the drum, and, except on the 4th of July, the glorious\nanniversary of our Independence, neither soldiers, uniforms, nor\nbayonets are seen.\"\n\nOn my way back I seemed absorbed by profound reflection. Perhaps\nthe reader may think I mused on my host's parting words; I had\nvery different thoughts, however, for I was studying how I should\ncook my turkey. I was in some trouble, for I feared I would not\nfind all I needed at Hartford, and wished to make a trophy of my\nspolia opima.\n\nI make a painful sacrifice in suppressing the details of the\nprofound science I exhibited in the preparation of an\nentertainment, to which I invited several friends. Suffice it to\nsay that the partridge wings were served en papillote, and the\ngrey squirrels stewed in madeira.\n\nThe turkey, which was our only roast dish, was charming to the\nsight, flattering to the sense of smell, and delicious to taste.\nTherefore, until the last fragment was eaten, there were heard\naround the table, \"Very good;\" \"Exceedingly good;\" \"Dear sir; what\na nice piece.\" [Footnote: The flesh of the wild turkey is more\nhighly colored and more perfumed than the domestic fowl. I am glad\nto learn that my amiable colleague, M. Bosc, had killed many in\nCarolina, which he found excellent, and far better than those in\nEurope. He therefore recommends that they be allowed the largest\nliberty, that they be driven into the woods and fields, to enhance\nthe flavor and bring it as nearly as possible back to the original\nspecies.--Annales d'Agriculture cah. du 28 Fevr. 1821.] By game we\nmean all wild animals which are fit to eat, and live in a state of\nnatural liberty.\n\nWe say fit to eat, because many animals which are in a state of\nnature are not fit to eat. Such as foxes, crows, pies, wild-cats,\netc. They are called in French Betes puantes vermin.\n\nGame is divided into three series.\n\nThe first contains all birds, from the grive to the smallest of\nthe feathered tribe.\n\nThe second ascends from the rail to the snipe, partridge, and\npheasant, including the rabbit and the hare; it is divided into\nthree categories, of the marsh, hairy, and feathered.\n\nThe third, which bears the name of venison, is composed of the\nwild-boar, kid, and all other horny-footed cattle.\n\nGame is one of the great luxuries of our tables; it is a healthy,\nwarm, highly-flavored and high tasted flesh, easily digested,\nwhenever one is hungry.\n\nThese qualities, however, are not so inherent as not to a certain\ndegree to depend on the skill of the cook. Put some water, salt\nand beef into a pot, and you can obtain from them a very good\nsoup. Substitute venison for the beef, and the result will not be\nfit to eat. Butcher's meat, in this respect, has the advantage.\nUnder the manipulation, however, of a skilful cook, game undergoes\nvarious modifications and transformations, and furnishes the\ngreater portions of the dishes of the transcendental kitchen.\n\nGame derives, also, a great portion of its value from the soil on\nwhich it is fed. The taste of a Perigord partridge is very\ndifferent from that of one from Sologne, and the hare killed in\nthe vicinity of Paris is a very different dish from one shot on\nthe hills of Valromey or upper Dauphiny. The latter is probably\nthe most perfumed of all beasts.\n\nAmong small birds, beyond all doubt, the best is the \"beccafico.\"\n\nIt becomes at least as fat as the red-throat or the ortolan, and\nnature has besides given it a slight bitterness, and a peculiar\nand exquisite perfume, which enables it to fill and delight all\nthe gustatory organs. Were the beccafico as large as a pheasant,\nan acre of land would be paid for it.\n\nIt is a pity this bird is so rare, that few others than those who\nlive in the southern departments of France, know what it is.\n[Footnote: I am inclined to think the bird is utterly unknown in\nAmerica.--TRANSLATOR.] Few people know how to eat small birds. The\nfollowing method was imparted confidentially to me by the Canon\nCharcot, a gourmand by profession, and a perfect gastronome,\nthirty years before the word gastronomy was invented:\n\nTake a very fat bird by the bill and sprinkle it with salt, take\nout the entrailles, I mean gizzard, liver, etc., and put it whole\nin your mouth. Chew it quickly, and the result will be a juice\nabundant enough to permeate the whole organ. You will then enjoy a\npleasure unknown to the vulgar.\n\n\"Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.\" HORACE.\n\nThe quail, of all game properly so-called, is the nicest and the\nmost pleasant. A very fat quail is pleasant both to eat, see, and\nsmell. Whenever it is either roasted, or served en papillote, a\ngreat folly is committed, because its perfume is very volatile,\nand when ever in contact with a liquid, its flavor is dissolved\nand lost.\n\nThe snipe is a charming bird, but few people know all its charms.\nIt is in its glory only when it has been cooked under the\nhuntsman's eyes; and the huntsman must have killed it. Then the\nroast is perfected according to rule, and the mouth is inundated\nwith pleasure.\n\nAbove the preceding, and above all others, the pheasant should be\nplaced. Few mortals, however, know exactly how to cook it.\n\nA pheasant eaten only a week after its death is not good as a\npartridge or a pullet, for its merit consists in its aroma.\n\nScience has considered the expansion of this aroma, experience has\nutilised science, so that a pheasant ready for the spit is a dish\nfit for the most exalted gourmands.\n\nIn the varieties will be found a recipe for roasting a pheasant, a\nla Sainte Alliance. The time has come when this method, hitherto\nconcentrated in a small circle of friends, should be made known\nfor the benefit of humanity. A pheasant with truffles is not good\nas one would be apt to think it. The bird is too dry to actuate\nthe tubercle, and the scent of the one and the perfume of the\nother when united neutralize each other--or rather do not suit.\n\nSection VI. FISH.\n\nSavants, in other respects orthodox, have maintained that ocean\nwas the common cradle of all that exists, and that man himself\nsprang from the sea and owes his actual habits to the influence of\nthe air, and the mode of life he has been obliged to adopt.\n\nBe this as it may, it is at least certain, that the waters contain\nan immense quantity of beings of all forms and sizes, which\npossess vitality in very different proportions, and according to\nmode very different from that of warm blooded animals.\n\nIt is not less true that water has ever presented an immense\nvariety of aliments, and that in the present state of science it\nintroduces to our table the most agreeable variety.\n\nFish, less nutritious than flesh and more succulent than\nvegetables, is a mezzo termine, which suits all temperments and\nwhich persons recovering from illness may safely eat.\n\nThe Greeks and Romans, though they had not made as much progress\nas we have in the art of seasoning fish, esteemed it very highly,\nand were so delicate that they could even tell where it had been\ntaken.\n\nLarge fish ponds were maintained, and the cruelty of Vellius\nPollis who fed his lampreys on the bodies of slaves he caused to\nbe slain is well known. This cruelty Domitian disapproved of but\nshould have punished.\n\nThere has been much discussion as to which is the best fish.\n\nThe question will never be decided, for as the Spanish proverb\nsays, sobre los gustos no hai disputa. Every one is effected in\nhis own way. These fugitive sensations can be expressed by no\nknown character, and there is no scale to measure if a CAT-FISH\n(!), a sole, or a turbot are better than a salmon, trout, pike, or\neven tench of six or seven pounds.\n\nIt is well understood that fish is less nourishing than meat,\nbecause it contains no osmazome, because it is lighter in weight,\nand contains less weight in the same volume. Shell-fish, and\nespecially oysters, furnish little nutrition, so that one can eat\na great many without injury.\n\nIt will be remembered that not long ago any well arranged\nentertainment began with oysters, and that many guests never\npaused without swallowing a gross (144). I was anxious to know the\nweight of this advance guard, and I ascertained that a dozen\noysters, fluid included, weighed four ounces averdupois. Now look\non it as certain that the same persons who did not make a whit the\nworse dinner, on account of the oysters would have been completely\nsatisfied if they had eaten the same weight of flesh or of\nchicken.\n\nANECDOTE.\n\nIn 1798 I was at Versailles as a commissary of the Directory, and\nfrequently met M. Laperte, greffier of the count of the\ndepartment. He was very fond of oysters, and used to complain that\nhe had never had enough.\n\nI resolved to procure him this satisfaction, and invited him to\ndine with me on the next day.\n\nHe came. I kept company with him to the tenth dozen, after which I\nlet him go on alone. He managed to eat thirty-two dozen within an\nhour for the person who opened them was not very skilful.\n\nIn the interim, I was idle, and as that is always a painful state\nat the table, I stopped him at the moment when he was in full\nswing. \"Mon cher,\" said I, \"you will not to-day eat as many\noysters as you meant--let us dine.\" We did so, and he acted as if\nhe had fasted for a week.\n\nMuria-Garum\n\nThe ancients extracted from fish two highly flavored seasonings,\nmuria and garum.\n\nThe first was the juice of the thuny, or to speak more precisely,\nthe liquid substance which salt causes to flow from the fish.\n\nGarum was dearer, and we know much less of it. It is thought that\nit was extracted by pressure from the entrailles of the scombra or\nmackerel; but this supposition does not account for its high\nprice. There is reason to believe it was a foreign sauce, and was\nnothing else but the Indian soy, which we know to be only fish\nfermented with mushrooms.\n\nCertainly, people from their locality are forced to live almost\nentirely upon fish. They also feed their working animals with it,\nand the latter from custom gradually grow to like this strange\nfood. They also manure the soil with it, yet always receive the\nsame quantity from the sea which surrounds them.\n\nIt has been observed that such nations are not so courageous as\nthose that eat flesh. They are pale, a thing not surprising, for\nthe elements of fish must rather repair the lymph than the blood.\n\nAmong ichthyophages, remarkable instances of longevity are\nobserved, either because light food preserves them from plethora,\nor that the juices it contains being formed by nature only to\nconstitute cartilages which never bears long duration, their use\nretards the solidification of the parts of the body which, after\nall, is the cause of death.\n\nBe this as it may, fish in the hands of a skilful cook is an\ninexhaustible source of enjoyment. It is served up whole, in\npieces, truncated with water, oil, vinegar, warm, cold; and is\nalways well received. It is, however never better than when\ndressed en matilotte.\n\nThis ragout, though made a necessary dish to the boatmen on our\nrivers, and made in perfection only by the keepers of cobarets on\ntheir banks, is incomparably good. Lovers of fish never see it\nwithout expressing their gratification, either on account of its\nfreshness of taste, or because they can without difficulty eat an\nindefinite quantity, without any fear of satiety or indigestion.\nAnalytical gastronomy has sought to ascertain what are the effects\nof a fish diet on the animal system. Unanimous observation leads\nus to think that it has great influence on the genesiac sense, and\nawakens the instinct of reproduction in the two sexes. This effect\nbeing once known, two causes were at once assigned for it:\n\n1st. The different manner of preparing fish, all the seasoning for\nit being irritating, such as carar, hering, thon marine, etc.\n\n2d. The various juices the fish imbibes, which are highly\ninflammable and oxigenise in digestion.\n\nProfound analysis has discovered a yet more powerful cause: the\npresence of phosphorous in all the portions, and which\ndecomposition soon developes.\n\nThese physical truths were doubtless unknown to the ecclesiastical\nlegislators, who imposed the lenten diet on different communities\nof monks, such as Chartreux, Recollets, Trappists, and the\nCarmelites reformed by Saint Theresa; no one thinks that they\nwished to throw a new difficulty into the way of the observance of\nthe already most anti-social vow of chastity.\n\nIn this state of affairs, beyond doubt, glorious victories were\nwon, and rebellious senses were subjected; there were, however,\nmany lapses and defeats. They must have been well averred, for the\nresult was the religious orders had ultimately a reputation like\nthat of Hercules and the daughters of Danaus, or Marshal Saxe with\nM'lle Lecouvreur.\n\nThey might also have been delighted by an anecdote, so old as to\ndate from the crusades.\n\nSultan Saladin being anxious to measure the continence of devises,\ntook two into his palace, and for a long time fed them on the most\nsucculent food.\n\nSoon all traces of fasting began to disappear, and they reached a\nvery comfortable embonpoint. At that time they were given as\ncompanions two odalisques of great beauty, all of whose well-\ndirected attacks failed, and they came from the ordeal pure as the\ndiamond of Visapor.\n\nThe Sultan kept them in his palace, and to celebrate their triumph\nfed them for several weeks on fish alone.\n\nAfter a few days they were again submitted to the ordeal of the\nodalisques, and.........\n\nIn the present state of our knowledge, it is probable that if the\ncourse of events were to establish any monastic order, the\nsuperiors would adopt some regimen better calculated to maintain\nits objects.\n\nPHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION.\n\nFish, considered in general, is an inexhaustible source of\nreflection to the philosopher.\n\nThe varied forms of these strange animals, the senses they are\ndeprived of, and the limited nature of those they have, their\nvarious modes of existence, the influence exerted over them by the\nmedium in which they live, move, and breathe, extend the range of\nour ideas and the indefinite modifications which result from their\nnature, motions and lives.\n\nFor my part, I entertain to them a sentiment very like respect,\nresulting from my belief that they belong to antediluvian races.\nThe great convulsion which doomed our ancestors, in the eighteenth\ncentury of the world, to fish was a season of joy, triumph and\nfestivity.\n\nSection VII. TRUFFLES.\n\nWho ever says truffle, pronounces a great word, which awakens\neratic and gourmand ideas both in the sex dressed in petticoats\nand in the bearded portion of humanity.\n\nThis honorable duplication results from the fact that the tubercle\nis not only delicious to the taste, but that it excites a power\nthe exercise of which is accompanied by the most delicious\npleasures.\n\nThe origin of the truffle is unknown; they are found, but none\nknow how they vegetate. The most learned men have sought to\nascertain the secret, and fancied they discovered the seed. Their\npromises, however, were vain, and no planting was ever followed by\na harvest. This perhaps is all right, for as one of the great\nvalues of truffles is their dearness, perhaps they would be less\nhighly esteemed if they were cheaper.\n\n\"Rejoice, my friend,\" said I, \"a superb lace is about to be\nmanufactured at a very low price.\"\n\n\"Ah!\" replied she, \"think you, if it be cheap, that any one would\nwear it?\"\n\nERATIC VIRTUE OF TRUFFLES.\n\nThe Romans were well acquainted with the truffle, but I do not\nthink they were acquainted with the French variety. Those which\nwere their delight were obtained from Greece and Africa, and\nespecially from Libia. The substance was pale, tinged with rose,\nand the Libian truffles were sought for as being far the most\ndelicate and highly perfumed.\n\n...... \"Gustus elementa per omnia quaerunt.\" JUVENAL.\n\nFrom the Romans to our own time, there was a long interregnum, and\nthe resurrection of truffles is an event of recent occurrence. I\nhave read many old books, in which there is no allusion to them.\nThe generation for which I write may almost be said to witness its\nresurrection.\n\nAbout 1780 truffles were very rare in Paris, and they were to be\nhad only in small quantities at the Hotel des Americans, and at\nthe Hotel de Province. A dindon truffee was a luxury only seen at\nthe tables of great nobles and of kept women.\n\nWe owe their abundance to dealers in comestibles, the number of\nwhom has greatly increased, and who, seeing that their merchandise\nwas popular, had it sought for throughout the kingdom. Sending for\nit by either the mail or by couriers, they made its search\ngeneral. As truffles cannot be planted, careful search alone can\nobtain it.\n\nAt the time I write (1825) the glory of the truffle is at its\napogee. Let no one ever confess that he dined where truffles were\nnot. However good any entree may be, it seems bad unless enriched\nby truffles. Who has not felt his mouth water when any allusion\nwas made to truffles a la provincale.\n\nA saute of truffles is a dish the honors of which the mistress of\nthe house reserves to herself; in fine, the truffle is the diamond\nof the kitchen.\n\nI sought the reason of this preference; it seemed to me that many\nother substances had an equal right to the honor, and I became\nsatisfied that the cause was that the truffle was supposed to\nexcite the genesiac sense. This I am sure is the chief quality of\nits perfection, and the predilection and preference evinced for\nit, so powerful is our servitude to this tyrannical and capricious\nsense.\n\nThis discovery led me to seek to ascertain if the effect were real\nor imaginary.\n\n[The Translator here has thought it best to omit a very BROAD\ndialogue, which Brillat-Savarin introduced into his book.]\n\n.......... I made ulterior researches, collected my ideas, and\nconsulted the men who were most likely to know, with all of whom I\nwas intimate. I united them into a tribunal, a senate, a\nsanhedrim, an areopagus, and we gave the following decision to be\ncommented upon by the litterateures of the twenty-eighth century.\n\n\"The truffle is a positive aphrodisiac, and under certain\ncircumstances makes women kinder, and men more amiable.\"\n\nIn Piedmont white truffles are met with, which are very highly\nesteemed. They have a slight flavor, not injurious to their\nperfection, because it gives no disagreable return.\n\nThe best truffles of France come from Perigord, and upper\nProvence. About the month of January they have their highest\nperfume.\n\nThose from Bugey also have a high flavor, but can not be\npreserved.\n\nThose of Burgundy and Dauphiny are of inferior quality. They are\nhard, and are deficient in farinacious matter. Thus, there are\nmany kinds of truffles.\n\nTo find truffles, dogs and hogs are used, that have been trained\nto the purpose. There are men, however, with such practised eyes\nthat by the inspection of the soil they can say whether it\ncontains truffles or not, and what is their quality.\n\nARE TRUFFLES INDIGESTIBLES?\n\nWe have only to ascertain if the truffle be indigestible or not.\n\nWe say no.\n\nThis decision is ex cathedra, and well sustained.\n\n1. By the nature of the substance. The truffle is easily\nmasticated, is light, and has nothing hard nor cartilaginous in\nits composition.\n\n2. During our observations for fifty years, we have never known\nany indigestion to result from truffles. [Footnote: The translator\nhas known several such indigestions. He once nearly became a\nmartyr to a galatine de Perdrix truffee, at the restaurant of the\nlate M. Dandurand.]\n\n3. The attestation of the most eminent of the faculty of Paris, a\ncity eminently gourmande and trufflivorous, sustains this idea.\n\n4. From the daily conduct of the doctors of the law, who, caeteris\nparibus, consume more truffles than any other class of citizens.\nDoctor Malonet used to eat enough to give an elephant the\nindigestion. He however lived to be eighty-six.\n\nWe may therefore look on it as certain, that the truffle is a food\nhealthy as it is agreeable, and that when taken in moderation it\npasses through the system as a letter does through the post\noffice.\n\nOne may easily be indisposed after a great dinner, where other\nthings than truffles have been eaten; such accidents, however,\nonly happen to those who, after the first service, were already\nstuffed like canons, and who failed in the second, leaving the\nluxuries offered them untouched.\n\nThis is not then the fault of truffles, and we may be sure they\nhad swallowed so many glasses of pure water or eaten the same\nnumber of potatoes.\n\nLet us conclude by a circumstance which shows how easily we may be\nmistaken without careful observation.\n\nOne day I invited Mr. S--, a very pleasant old man, to dine with\nme. He was also a gourmand of the highest grade. Either because I\nknew his tastes, or to satisfy all my guests that I wished to make\nthem happy, I was not sparing in truffles, and they appeared under\nthe egis of young turkeys most carefully stuffed.\n\nMr. S--ate with energy, and as I knew he could not injure himself\nI left him alone, persuading him not to hurry himself because no\none would attack the property he had acquired.\n\nAll passed off very well, and we separated at a very late hour.\nWhen we reached home, however, Mr. S-- was attacked by a violent\ncholic, a disposition to vomit, convulsive cramp, and general\nindisposition.\n\nThis state of things lasted some time, and all said he suffered\nfrom the indigestion caused by truffles; at last nature came to\nthe patient's aid, and Mr. S-- opened his mouth and threw up a\nsingle truffle, which struck the wall and rebounded, luckily\nwithout injury to the by-standers.\n\nAll unpleasant symptoms at once disappeared, tranquility was\nrestored, digestion recommenced its course, the patient went to\nsleep and awoke in the morning perfectly well.\n\nThe cause was easily understood, Mr. S--had been eating a long\ntime, and his teeth were unable to sustain the labor imposed on\nthem. He had lost many of those precious members, and those he had\nleft did not always meet together.\n\nA truffle had thus escaped mastication, and almost whole had been\nswallowed. Digestion had carried it to the pylorus where it was\nmomentarily detained, and this mechanical detention had caused all\nhis trouble, as expulsion had cured it.\n\nThus there was no indigestion, but merely the interposition of a\nforeign body.\n\nThis was decided on by the consulting body, which saw the corpus\ndelicti, and which selected me as its reporter.\n\nMr. S-- did not on this account remain a whit less fond of\ntruffles. He always attacked them with the same audacity, but was\nvery careful to swallow them with more prudence. He used to thank\nGod that this sanitary precaution had prolonged his life and his\nenjoyments.\n\nSection VIII. SUGAR.\n\nIn the present state of science we understand by sugar a substance\nmild to the taste, crystalizable, and which by fermentation\nresolves itself into carbonic acid and alcohol.\n\nBy sugar once was understood only the crystalized juice of the\ncane, (arundo saccharifera.)\n\nA few pages of old authors would induce us to think the ancients\nhad observed in certain arundines a sweet and extractible portion.\nLucanus says:\n\n\"Qui bibunt tenera dulces ab arundine succos.\"\n\nBetween water sweetened by the juice of the cane, and the sugar we\nhave, there is a great difference. Art in Rome was not far enough\nadvanced to accomplish it.\n\nSugar really originated in the colonies of the New World. The cane\nwas imported thither two centuries ago and prospered, and effort\nwas made to utilize the juice which flowed from it, and by gradual\nexperiments they accomplished the manufacture of all the variety\nof its productions we know of.\n\nThe culture of the sugar cane has become an object of the greatest\nimportance; it is a great source of wealth both to the cultivators\nand the vendors, and also to the taxes of governments who levy an\nimport on it.\n\nINDIGENOUS SUGAR.\n\nIt has long been thought that tropical heat was not needed to form\nsugar. About 1740 Morgroff discovered that many plants of the\ntemperate zones, and among others the beet contained it.\n\nTowards the beginning of the nineteenth century, circumstances\nhaving made sugar scarce, and consequently dear, the government\nmade it an object for savants to look for it.\n\nThe idea was successful, and it was ascertained that sugar was\nfound in the whole vegetable kingdom; that it existed in the\ngrape, chestnut, potato, and in the beet especially.\n\nThis last plant became an object of the greatest culture, and many\nexperiments proved that in this respect, the old world could do\nwithout the new. France was covered with manufactories, which\nworked with different success, and the manufacture of sugar became\nnaturalized; the art was a new one which may any day be recalled.\n\nAmong the various manufactories, the most prominent was that\nestablished at Passy, near Paris, by Mr. Benjamin Delassert, a\ncitizen, the name of whom is always connected with the good and\nuseful.\n\nBy means of a series of extensive operations, he got rid of all\nthat was doubtful in the practice, and made no mystery of his plan\nof procedure, even to those who were his rivals. He was visited by\nthe head of the government, and was ordered to furnish all that\nwas needed at the Tuilleries.\n\nNew circumstances, the restoration of peace, having again reduced\ncolonial sugar to a lower price, the French manufacturers lost the\nadvantages they had gained. Many, however, yet prosper, and\nDelassert makes some thousands every year. This also enables him\nto preserve his processes until the time comes when they may again\nhe useful. [Footnote: We may add, that at the session for the\ngeneral encouragement of national industry, a medal was ordered to\nbe presented to M. Crespel, a manufacturer of arrus, who\nmanufactures every year one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of\nbeet sugar, which he sells at a profit, even--when Colonial sugar\nis 2 francs 50 centimes the kilogramme. The reason is, that the\nrefuse is used for distillation, and subsequently fed out to\ncattle.]\n\nWhen beet sugar was in the market, party men, up-starts and fools,\ntook it into their heads that its flavor was unpleasant, and some\neven said it was unhealthy.\n\nMany experiments have proved the contrary, and the Count de\nChaptal, in his excellent book, Chemistry Applied to Agriculture,\"\n(vol. ii. page 13,) says:\n\n\"Sugars obtained from various plants, says a celebrated chemist,\nare in fact of the same nature, and have no intrinsic difference\nwhen they are equally pure. Taste, crystalization, color, weight,\nare absolutely identical, and the most acute observer cannot\ndistinguish the one from the other.\"\n\nAn idea of the force of prejudice is afforded by the fact, that\nout of one hundred British subjects, taken at random, not ten\nbelieve in the possibility of obtaining sugar from the beet.\n\nUSES OF SUGAR.\n\nSugar was introduced by the apothecaries. With them it was a most\nimportant article, for when a person was greatly in want of any\narticle, there was a proverb, \"Like an apothecary without sugar.\"\n\nTo say that it came thence, is to say that it was received with\ndisfavor; some said that it was heating, others that it injured\nthe chest; some that it disposed persons to apoplexy. Calumny,\nhowever, had to give way to truth, and for eighty years this\napothegm has been current, \"Sugar hurts nothing but the purse.\"\n\nUnder this impenetrable aegis the use of sugar has increased every\nday, and no alimentary substance has undergone so many\ntransformations. Many persons like sugar in a pure state, and in\nhopeless cases the faculty recommend it as a substance which can\ndo no possible harm, and which is not unpleasant.\n\nMixed with water, it gives us eau sucree, a refreshing drink,\nwhich is healthful, agreeable, and sometimes salutary.\n\nMingled in large quantities with water it constitutes sirops,\nwhich are perfumed, and from their variety are most refreshing.\n\nMingled with water, the caloric of which is artificially\nextracted, it furnishes two kinds, which are of Italian origin,\nand were introduced into France by Catharine de Medici.\n\nWith wine it furnishes such a restorative power that in some\ncountries roasted meats taken to the bride and groom are covered\nwith it, just as in Persia soused sheeps' feet are given them.\n\nMingled with flour and eggs, it furnishes biscuits, maccaronies,\netc., etc., ad infinitum.\n\nWith milk it unites in the composition of creams, blanc-mangers\nand other dishes of the second course, substituting for the\nsubstantial taste of meat, ethereal perfumes.\n\nIt causes the aroma of coffee to be exhaled.\n\nMingled with cafe au lait, a light, pleasant aliment is produced,\nprecisely suited to those who have to go to their offices\nimmediately after breakfast.\n\nWith fruits and flowers it contributes to furnish confitures,\nmarmalades, preserves, pates and candies, and enables us to enjoy\nthe perfume of those flowers long after they have withered.\n\nIt may be that sugar might be advantageously employed in\nembalming, an art of which we know little.\n\nSugar mingled with alcohol furnishes spirituous liquors, such as\nwere used, it is said, to warm the old blood of Louis XIV., which,\nby their energy, seized the palate and the taste by the perfumed\ngas united to them, the two qualities forming the ne plus ultra of\nthe pleasures of the taste.\n\nSuch is the substance which the French of the time of Louis XIII.\nscarcely knew the name of, and which to the people of the\nnineteenth century is become so important; no woman, in easy\ncircumstances, spends as much money for bread as she does for\nsugar.\n\nM. Delacroix, a man of letters, who is as industrious as he is\nprofound, was one day complaining of the price of sugar, which\nthen cost five francs a pound, \"Ah!\" said he, \"if sugar should\never again be thirty sous a pound, I will drink nothing but eau\nsucree.\" His wishes were granted; he yet lives, and I trust he\nkeeps his word.\n\nSection IX. ORIGIN OF COFFEE.\n\nThe first coffee tree was found in Arabia, and in spite of the\nvarious transplantations it has undergone, the best coffee is yet\nobtained there. An old tradition states that coffee was discovered\nby a shepherd of old, who saw that his flock was always in the\ngreatest state of excitement and hilarity when they browsed on the\nleaves of the coffee tree.\n\nThough this may be but an old story, the honor of the discovery\nbelongs only in part to the goat-herd. The rest belongs to him who\nfirst made use of the bean, and boiled it.\n\nA mere decoction of green coffee is a most insipid drink, but\ncarbonization develops the aroma and forms an oil which is the\npeculiarity of the coffee we drink, and which would have been\neternally unknown but for the intervention of heat.\n\nThe Turks excel us in this. They employ no mill to torturate the\ncoffee, but beat it with wooden pestles in mortars. When the\npestles have been long used, they become precious and are sold at\ngreat prices.\n\nI had to examine and determine whether in the result one or the\nother of the two methods be preferable.\n\nConsequently, I burned carefully a pound of good mocha, and\nseparated it into two equal portions, the one of which was passed\nthrough the mill, and the other beaten Turkish fashion in a\nmortar.\n\nI made coffee of each, taking equal weights of each, poured on an\nequal weight of boiling water and treated them both precisely\nalike.\n\nI tasted this coffee myself, and caused others who were competent\njudges to do so. The unanimous opinion was that coffee which had\nbeen beaten in a mortar was far better than that which had been\nground.\n\nAny one may repeat the experiment. In the interim I will tell you\na strange anecdote of the influence of one or the other kind of\nmanipulation.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said Napoleon, one day to Laplace, \"how comes it that\na glass of water into which I put a lump of loaf sugar tastes more\npleasantly than if I had put in the same quantity of crushed\nsugar.\" \"Sire,\" said the philosophic Senator, \"there are three\nsubstances the constituents of which are identical--Sugar, gum\nand amidon; they differ only in certain conditions, the secret of\nwhich nature has preserved. I think it possible that in the effect\nproduced by the pestle some saccharine particles become either gum\nor amidon, and cause the difference.\"\n\nThis remark became public, and ulterior observations has confirmed\nit.\n\nDIFFERENT MODES OF PREPARING COFFEE.\n\nSome years ago all directed their attention to the mode of\npreparing coffee; the reason doubtless was that the head of the\ngovernment was fond of it.\n\nSome proposed not to burn nor to powder it, to boil it three\nquarters of an hour, to strain it, &c.\n\nI have tried this and all the methods which have been suggested\nfrom day to day, and prefer that known as a la Dubelloy, which\nconsists in pouring boiling water on coffee placed in a porcelain\nor silver vessel pierced with a number of very minute holes. This\nfirst decoction should be taken and brought to the boiling point,\nthen passed through the strainer again, and a coffee will be\nobtained clear and strong as possible.\n\nI have also tried to make coffee in a high pressure boiling\napparatus; all I obtained however was a fluid intensely bitter,\nand strong enough to take the skin from the throat of a Cossack.\n\nEFFECTS OF COFFEE.\n\nDoctors have differed in relation to the sanitary properties of\ncoffee. We will omit all this, and devote ourselves to the more\nimportant point, its influence on the organs of thought.\n\nThere is no doubt but that coffee greatly excites the cerebral\nfaculties. Any man who drinks it for the first time is almost sure\nto pass a sleepless night.\n\nSometimes the effect is softened or modified by custom, but there\nare many persons on whom it always produces this effect, and who\nconsequently cannot use coffee.\n\nI have said that the effect was modified by use, a circumstance\nwhich does not prevent its having effect in another manner. I have\nobserved persons whom coffee did not prevent from sleeping at\nnight, need it to keep them awake during the day, and never failed\nto slumber when they had taken it for dinner. There are others who\nare torpid all day when they have not taken their cup in the\nmorning.\n\nVoltaire and Buffon used a great deal of coffee. Perchance the\nlatter was indebted to it for the admirable clearness we observe\nin his works, and the second for the harmonious enthusiasm of his\nstyle. It is evident that many pages of the treatise on man, the\ndog, the tiger, lion and horse, were written under a strange\ncerebral excitement.\n\nThe loss of sleep caused by coffee is not painful, for the\nperceptions are very clear, and one has no disposition to sleep.\nOne is always excited and unhappy when wakefulness comes from any\nother cause. This, however, does prevent such an excitement, when\ncarried too far, from being very injurious.\n\nFormerly only persons of mature age took coffee. Now every one\ntakes it, and perhaps it is the taste which forces onward the\nimmense crowd that besiege all the avenues of the Olympus, and of\nthe temple of memory.\n\nThe Cordwainer, author of the tragedy of Zenobia, which all Paris\nheard read a few years ago, drank much coffee; for that reason he\nexcelled the cabinetmaker of Nevers, who was but a drunkard.\n\nCoffee is a more powerful fluid than people generally think. A man\nin good health may drink two bottles of wine a day for a long\ntime, and sustain his strength. If he drank that quantity of\ncoffee he would become imbecile and die of consumption. I saw at\nLeicester square, in London, a man whom coffee had made a cripple.\nHe had ceased to suffer, and then drank but six cups a day.\n\nAll fathers and mothers should make their children abstain from\ncoffee, if they do not wish them at twenty to be puny dried up\nmachines. People in large cities should pay especial attention to\nthis, as their children have no exaggeration of strength and\nhealth, and are not so hearty as those born in the country.\n\nI am one of those who have been obliged to give up coffee, and I\nwill conclude this article by telling how rigorously I was\nsubjected to its power.\n\nThe Duke of Mossa, then minister of justice, called on me for an\nopinion about which I wished to be careful, and for which he had\nallowed me but a very short time.\n\nI determined then to sit up all night, and to enable me to do so\ntook two large cups of strong and highly flavored coffee.\n\nI went home at seven o'clock to get the papers which had been\npromised me, but found a note telling me I would not get them\nuntil the next day.\n\nThus in every respect disappointed, I returned to the house where\nI had dined, and played a game of piquet, without any of the moody\nfits to which I was ordinarily subject.\n\nI did justice to the coffee, but I was not at ease as to how I\nwould pass the night.\n\nI went to bed at my usual hour, thinking that if I did not get my\nusual allowance, I would at least get four or five hours,\nsufficient to carry me through the day.\n\nI was mistaken. I had been two hours in bed and was wider awake\nthan ever; I was in intense mental agitation, and fancied my brain\na mill, the wheels of which revolved, grinding nothing.\n\nThe idea came to me to turn this fancy to account, and I did so,\namusing myself by putting into verse a story I had previously read\nin an English paper.\n\nI did so without difficulty, and as I did not sleep I undertook\nanother, but in vain. A dozen verses had exhausted my poetic\nfaculty, and I gave it up.\n\nI passed the night without sleep, and without even being stupified\nfor a moment, I arose and passed the day in the same manner. When\non the next night I went to bed at my usual hour I made a\ncalculation, and found out that I had not slept for forty hours.\n\nSection X. CHOCOLATE--ITS ORIGIN.\n\nThe first visiters of America were impelled by a thirst of gold.\nAt that time nothing was appreciated but the products of the\nmines. Agriculture and commerce were in their infancy, and\npolitical economy was as yet unborn. The Spaniards found then the\nprecious metals, an almost sterile discovery, for they decreased\nin value as they became more abundant. We have other and better\nways to increase wealth.\n\nIn those regions, however, where a genial sun confers immense\nfruitfulness on the soil, the cultivation of sugar and coffee was\nfound advantageous. The potato, indigo, vanilla, guano, cocoa,\nwere also discovered; these are its real treasures.\n\nIf these discoveries took place in spite of the barriers opposed\nto curiosity by a jealous nation, we may reasonably hope that they\nwill be multiplied ten-fold in the course of the years to come;\nand that the explorations of the savants of old Europe will enrich\nthe three kingdoms with a multitude of substances which will give\nus new sensations, as vanilla has, or augment our alimentary\nresources, as cocoa.\n\nIt has been determined to call chocolate the result of the paste\nof cocoa burnt with sugar and the bark of the cinnamon. This is\nthe technical definition of chocolate. Sugar is the integral part,\nfor without sugar the compound is cocoa and, chocolate. To sugar,\ncinnamon and cocoa is joined the delicious aroma of vanilla, and\nthus is obtained the ne plus ultra to which this preparation can\nbe carried.\n\nTo this small number of ingredients has been reduced the number of\nthings sought to mingle with cocoa in the manufacture of\nchocolate. Pepper, pimento, anise seed, ginger and others, have\nnecessarily been tried.\n\nThe cocoa tree is a native of South America, and is found both in\nthe islands and on the continent. It has been confessed, however,\nthat the best fruit is produced by the trees which grow on the\nbanks of Moracaibo, in the valleys of Caracas, and in the province\nof Sokomusko. The fruit is larger, the sugar less bitter, and the\ntaste higher. Since these regions have become accessible, a\ncomparison may be made every day and the palate will never be\ndeceived.\n\nThe Spanish women of the new world are passionately fond of\nchocolate; and not satisfied with taking it two or three times a\nday, have it even sent after them to church. This sensuality has\noften drawn down the censure of their bishops, who, however,\ngradually closed their eyes to it. The reverend father Escobar,\nthe metaphysics of whom was subtle as his morals were\naccommodating, used to declare that chocolate made with water did\nnot break a fast; thus for the use of his penitents reproducing\nthe old adage, \"Liquidum non frangit jejunium.\"\n\nChocolate was brought to Spain about the end of the seventeenth\ncentury, and the use became at once common. Women especially\nshowed great fondness for it. Manners have not changed in this\nparticular as yet, and now throughout all the peninsula chocolate\nis presented on all occasions when it is usual to offer any\nrefreshment.\n\nChocolate crossed the mountains with Anne of Austria, the daughter\nof Philip II., and wife of Louis XIII. The Spanish monks also made\nit known, by presents to their brethren in France. The Spanish\nambassadors also made it popular, and during the regency it was\nmore universally used than coffee, because it was taken as an\nagreeable food, while coffee was esteemed a luxury.\n\nLinnaeus calls the cocoa cacao theobroma, (cocoa, the drink of the\ngods). A cause for this name has been sought. Some assign his\npassionate fondness for it, and the other his desire to please his\nconfessor; there are those who attribute it to gallantry, a Queen\nhaving first introduced it. (Incertum.)\n\nPROPERTIES OF CHOCOLATE.\n\nChocolate has given occasion to profound dissertations, with the\nobject of determining its nature and properties, and to place it\nin the category of warm, cold, or temperate drinks. We must own\nall their lucubrations have contributed but slightly to the\nelucidation of truth.\n\nIt was left for time and experience, those two great masters, to\nshow that chocolate prepared with care is as healthful as it is\nagreeable. That it is nourishing, easily digested, and is not so\ninjurious to beauty as coffee said to be. It is very suitable to\npersons who have much mental toil, to professors and lawyers,\nespecially to lawyers. It also suits certain feeble stomachs, and\nhas been thought most advantageous in chronic diseases. It is the\nlast resource in affections of the pylorus.\n\nThese various properties chocolate owes to nothing but an\neloesaccharum. Few substances contain in the same volume more\nnutrition. It becomes almost entirely animalised.\n\nDuring the war, cocoa was rare and very dear. Substitutes were\nsought for, but all efforts were vain. One of the blessings of\npeace was that it rid us of all those humbugs one was forced to\ntaste, but which were no more chocolate than chicory is mocha.\n\nSome persons complain that they cannot digest chocolate. Others\nsay that it does not nourish them, and that it passes away too\nquickly.\n\nThe probability is that the first have only to blame themselves,\nand that the chocolate they use is of bad quality. Good and well\nmade chocolate can be digested even by the weakest stomach.\n\nThe others have an easy remedy, and they need only strengthen\ntheir stomachs by a pate, a cotelette, or a jerked kidney. Then\nlet them take a bowl of sokomusko, and thank God for such a\npowerful stomach.\n\nHere I have an opportunity to give two examples, the correctness\nof which may be relied on.\n\nAfter a good breakfast one may drink a full bowl of chocolate, and\ndigestion in three hours will be perfect, so that one may dine at\nany hour that is pleasant. ... In zeal for the advancement of the\nscience, I tried this experiment on many ladies who assured me\nthey would die. They did not, though, and lived to glorify the\nprofessor.\n\nThose who use chocolate, ordinarily enjoy the most perfect health,\nand are the least subject to the multitude of ailments which\ndestroy life; their embonpoint is stationary. These two examples\nany one can verify in society by a scrutiny of those the regimen\nof whom is known.\n\nThis is the true place to speak of the properties of chocolate,\nwhich I have verified by many examples and experiments, which I am\ndelighted to exhibit to my readers. (See varieties at the end of\nthe volume.)\n\nNow, then, let any man who has indulged too much in the cup of\nvolupte; let every man who has passed in toil too much of the time\nwhen he should have slept; let every man of mind, who finds his\nfaculties temporarily decay; every man who finds the air humid and\nthe atmosphere painful to breathe; let every man who has a fixed\nidea which would deprive him of the liberty of thought; let them\neach take a demi litre of chocolate ambre, (sixty grains of amber\nto the kilogramme), and they will see wonders.\n\nIn my way of distinguishing things, I have called this chocolate\ndes affliges; because in all the conditions I have referred to,\nthere is something very like affliction.\n\nVery good chocolate is made in Spain; one is indisposed to send\nthither for it, for all manufacturers are not equally skillful,\nand when it comes it has to be used as it is.\n\nItalian chocolates do not suit the French, for the cocoa is burned\ntoo much. This makes the chocolate bitter, and deprives it of its\nnourishment. A portion of the bean has been reduced to carbon.\n\nChocolate having become common in France, all sought to learn how\nto make it. Few, however, approximated to perfection for the art\nis not easy.\n\nIn the first place it was necessary to know good cocoa and to use\nit in all its purity. There is no first quality case that has not\nits inferiorities, and a mistaken interest often causes damaged\nbeans to be put in, which should have been rejected. The roasting\nof the cocoa is also a delicate operation, and requires a tact\nvery like inspiration. Some have the faculty naturally, and are\nnever mistaken.\n\nA peculiar talent is necessary to regulate the quantity of sugar\nwhich enters into the composition. It is not invariable and a\nmatter of course, but varies in proportion to the aroma of the\nbean and the degree of torrefaction.\n\nThe trituration and mixture do not demand less care, and on them\ndepends the greater or less digestibility of chocolate.\n\nOther considerations should also preside over the choice and\nquantity of aromas, which should not be the same with chocolate\nmade for food and those taken as luxuries. It should also be\nvaried according if the mass is intended to receive vanilla or\nnot. In fine, to make good chocolate a number of very subtle\nequations must be resolved, and which we take advantage of without\nsuspecting that they ever took place.\n\nFor a long time machines have been employed for the manufacture of\nchocolate. We think this does not add at all to its perfection,\nbut it diminishes manipulation very materially, so that those who\nhave adopted it should be able to sell chocolate at a very low\nrate. [Footnote: One of those machines is now in operation in a\nwindow in Broadway, New York. It is a model of mechanical\nappropriateness.] They, however, usually sell it more dearly, and\nthis fact demonstrates that the true spirit of commerce has not\nyet entered France; the use of machines should be as advantageous\nto the consumer as to the producer.\n\nTRUE METHOD OF PREPARING CHOCOLATE.\n\nThe Americans [Footnote: South Americans.--TRANSLATOR.] make their\nchocolate without sugar. When they wish to take chocolate, they\nsend for chocolate. Every one throws into his cup as much cocoa as\nit needs, pours warm water in, and adds the sugar and perfumes he\nwishes.\n\nThis method neither suits our habits nor our tastes, for we wish\nchocolate to come to us ready prepared.\n\nIn this state, transcendental chemistry has taught us that it\nshould neither be rasped with the knife nor bruised with a pestle,\nbecause thus a portion of the sugar is converted into starch, and\nthe drink made less attractive.\n\nThus to make chocolate, that is to say, to make it fit for\nimmediate use, about an ounce and a half should be taken for each\ncup, which should be slowly dissolved in water while it is heated,\nand stirred from time to time with a spatula of wood. It should be\nboiled a quarter of an hour, in order to give it consistency, and\nserved up hot.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said madame d'Arestrel, fifty years ago, to me at\nBelley, \"when you wish good chocolate make it the evening before\nin a tin pot. The rest of the night gives it a velvet-like flavor\nthat makes it far better. God will not be offended at this little\nrefinement, for in himself is all excellence.\"\n\nMEDITATION VII.\n\nTHEORY OF FRYING.\n\nIt was a fine morning in May; the sun shed his brightest rays on\nthe smoky roofs of the city of enjoyments, and the streets\n(strangely enough) were filled neither with mud nor dust.\n\nThe heavy diligences had long ceased to shake the streets; the\nheavy wagons had ceased to pass, and only open carriages were\nseen, in which indigenous and exotic beauties under beautiful\nhats, cast disdainful looks on ugly, and smiling ones on good-\nlooking cavaliers.\n\nIt was three o'clock when the professor sought his arm chair to\nmeditate.\n\nHis right leg rested vertically on the floor, his left formed a\ndiagonal angle with, and rested on it. His back was comfortably\nsupported, and his hands rested on the lions' heads which\nterminated the arms of the venerable piece of furniture in which\nhe sat.\n\nHis lofty brow indicated intense study, and his mouth a taste for\npleasant amusement. His air was collected, and any one to have\nseen him would have said, \"that is a sage of ancient days.\" The\nprofessor sent for his preparateur en chef, (chief COOK) and that\nofficer arrived, ready to receive orders, advice or lessons.\n\nALLOCUTION.\n\n\"Master la Planche,\" said the professor with that deep grave\naccent which penetrates the very depth of our hearts, \"all who sit\nat my table pronounce your potages of the first class, a very\nexcellent thing, for potage is the first consolation of an empty\nstomach. I am sorry to say though that you are uncertain as a\nfriturier. [Footnote: Anglice. Fryer.]\n\n\"I heard you sigh yesterday over that magnificent sole you served\nto us, pale, watery and colorless. My friend R. [Footnote: Mr. R--\n-, born at Seyssel, in the district of Belley, in 1757, an elector\nof the grand college. He may be considered an example of the good\neffects of prudence and probity.] looked disapprovingly of it,\nM.H.R. turned his gastronomical nose to the left, and the\nPresident S. declared such a misfortune equal to a public\ncalamity.\n\n\"This happened because you neglected the theory, the importance of\nwhich you are aware of. You are rather obstinate, though I have,\ntaken the trouble to impress on you the facts, that the operations\nof your laboratory are only the execution of the eternal laws of\nnature, and that certain things which you do carelessly, because\nyou have seen others do so; yet these are the results of the\nhighest science. Listen to me, therefore, with attention, that you\nmay never again blush at your works.\"\n\nSection 1. CHEMISTRY.\n\n\"Liquids which you subject to the action of fire cannot all\nreceive the same quantity of heat. Nature has formed them\ndifferently, and this secret, which we will call CAPACITY FOR\nCALORIC, she has kept to herself.\n\n\"You may, therefore, with impunity dip your finger in boiling\nspirits of wine; you would take it very quickly from boiling\nbrandy; more rapidly yet from water; while the most rapid\nimmersion in boiling oil would heat you easily.\n\n\"Consequently warm fluids act differently on the sapid bodies\npresented to them. Those subject to water soften, dissolve, and\nreduce themselves to boilli. The result is bouillon and its\nextracts. Those on the contrary treated with oil harden, assume a\ncolor more or less deep, and finally are carbonized.\n\n\"In the first instance, water dissolves and conveys away the\ninterior juices of the alimentary substances placed in it. In the\nsecond the juices are preserved, for they are insoluble in oil. If\nthese things dry up it is because a continuous heat vaporizes the\nhumid parts.\n\n\"The two methods have different names, and FRYING is BOILING in\noil or grease substances intended to be eaten. I think I have told\nyou that officially oil and grease are synonymous; heating the\nlatter being but a concrete oil.\"\n\nSection II. APPLICATION.\n\n\"Fritures are well received in entertainments into which they\nintroduce an agreeable variety. They are agreeable to the taste,\npreserve their primitive flavor, and may be eaten with the hand, a\nthing women are always fond of.\n\n\"Thus cooks are able to hide many things that have appeared on the\nday before, and remedy unforeseen requisitions on them. It takes\nno longer to fry a four pound chop than it does to boil an egg.\n\n\"All the merit of the friture is derived from the surprise, or the\ninvasion of the boiling liquid which carbonizes or burns at the\nvery instant of immersion of the body placed in it.\n\n\"To effect a purpose, the liquid must be hot enough to act\ninstantaneously. It does not, however, reach S this point until it\nhas long been submitted to the action of a blazing and hot fire.\n\n\"By the following means it may be ascertained if the friture be\nheated to the wished-for degree, cut a piece of bread in the form\nof a cube, and dip it in the pan for five or six seconds, if you\ntake it out firm and dark put in what you wish to prepare\nimmediately. If it be not, stir the fire and begin again.\n\n\"The surprise being once effected, moderate the fire that the\naction may not be too hurried, and that by a prolonged heat the\njuices it contains may be changed and the flavor enhanced.\n\n\"You have doubtless observed that fritures dissolve neither the\nsugar nor salt their respective natures require. You should not\nfail then to reduce those substances to a very fine powder in\norder that they may adhere the more readily, and season the dish\nby juxtaposition.\n\n\"I do not tell you about oils and greases for the different\ntreatises I have put in your library give you sufficient light.\n\n\"Do not forget, however, when you get one of those trout which do\nnot weigh more than half a pound, and which come from murmuring\nstreams, far from the capitol, to use the finest olive oil. This\ndelicate dish duly powdered and garnished with slices of lemon is\nfit for a cardinal. [Footnote: Mr. Aulissin, a very well informed\nNeapolitan lawyer, and a good amateur performer on the\nvioloncello, dining one day with me, and eating some thing that\npleased him, said--\"Questo e un vero boccone di cardinale.\"\n\"Why,\" said I, in the same tongue, not say \"boccone in Re.\"\n\"Seignore,\" said he, \"we Italians do nothing; a king cannot be a\ngourmand, for royal dinners are too short and solemn. With\ncardinals things are very different.\" He shrugged his shoulders as\nhe spoke.]\n\n\"Eperlans (smelt or sprat) should be treated in the same manner.\nThis is the becfique of the water, and has the same perfume and\nexcellence.\n\n\"These two prescriptions are founded in the very nature of things.\nExperience tells us that olive oil should only be used with things\nwhich are soon cooked, and which do not demand too high a\ntemperature, because prolonged ebullition developes an\nempyreumatic and disagreable taste produced by a few particles of\npulp, which can, being impossible to be gotten rid of, carbonize.\n\n\"You tried my furnace, and were the first person who ever\nsucceeded in producing an immense fried turbot. On that day there\nwas great rejoicing among the elect.\n\n\"Continue to be coeval in all you attempt, and never forget that\nfrom the moment guests enter the salon WE are responsible for\ntheir happiness.\"\n\nMEDITATION VIII.\n\nON THIRST.\n\nTHIRST is the internal feeling of a wish to drink.\n\nA heat of about 32 [degrees] Reaumur, constantly vaporizing the\ndifferent fluids the circulation of which sustains life, the\ndiminution they undergo would unfit them for their purposes, if\nthey were not renewed and refreshed. The necessity of this renewal\nis what we call thirst.\n\nWe think the seat of thirst is in the digestive system. When\nathirst (we have often felt the sensation when hunting) we feel\ndistinctly that all the inhaling portions of the nostrils, mouth\nand throat are benumbed and hardened, and that if thirst be\nsometimes appeased by the application of fluids to other parts of\nthe body, as in the bath, the reason is that as soon as they are\nabsorbed they hurry rapidly to the seat of the evil and become\nremedies.\n\nVARIETIES OF THIRST.\n\nLooking at the subject in all its bearings we may count three\nvarieties of thirst: latent, factitious and permanent.\n\nLatent or habitual thirst, is the insensible equilibrium\nestablished between transpiratory vaporization and the necessity\nof supplying what is lost. Thus, though we experience no pain, we\nare invited to drink while we eat, and are able to drink at almost\nevery moment of the day. This thirst accompanies us every where,\nand is almost a portion of our existence.\n\nFactitious thirst is peculiar to man, and results from the\ninstinct which impels him to seek in drink the strength he needs.\nIt is an artificial enjoyment rather than a natural want. This\nthirst is really governless, because the fluids we take have the\nfaculty of reviving it, and this thirst becomes habitual, makes\ndrunkards in every country. The consequence is, that they drink as\nlong as liquor lasts, or until they are utterly overcome.\n\nWhen, on the other hand, thirst is appeased by pure water, which\nseems the most natural remedy, we never drink more than we\nactually need.\n\nHardening thirst is the result of the increase of the want, and of\nthe impossibility to satisfy latent thirst.\n\nIt is so called because it is accompanied by hardness of the\ntongue, dryness of the palate, and a devouring heat in all the\nbody.\n\nThe sensation of thirst is so intense, that in all tongues it is\nsynonymous with excessive desire, and irrepressible longing: thus\nwe thirst for gold, wealth, power, science, &c., expressions which\nnever would have become common had men not have been athirst and\naware of their vengeance.\n\nAppetite is pleasant when it does not reach the point of hunger.\nThirst is not so, and as soon as we feel it we are uncomfortable\nand anxious. When there is no possibility of appeasing it, the\nstate of mind is terrible.\n\nTo compensate us for this, the sense of thirst procures us great\npleasure; and when great thirst is appeased, or a delicious drink\nis offered to one moderately athirst, the whole papillary system\nis aroused, from the tip of the tongue to the extremity of the\nstomach.\n\nWe die of thirst more rapidly than of hunger. Men with an\nabundance of water, have lived for eight days without bread.\nWithout water, the system succumbs on the fifth.\n\nThe reason is that in starving, man dies more of weakness; in\nthirst of a burning fever.\n\nPeople are not always able to resist thirst so long: in 1787, one\nof the hundred Swiss of Louis XVI., died from having been twenty-\nfour hours without drink.\n\nHe was at a cabaret with some of his comrades, and as he was about\nto carry his glass to his lips, he was reproached with drinking\noftener than the rest, and with not being able to do a moment\nwithout it.\n\nHe then made a bet of ten bottles of wine, that he would not drink\nfor twenty-four hours.\n\nHe ceased at once, and sat by, for two hours, seeing the others\ndrink.\n\nThe night passed well enough, but at dawn he found it difficult to\ndo without his habitual glass of brandy.\n\nAll the morning he was uneasy and troubled; he went hither and\nthither without reason, and seemed not to know what he was about.\n\nAt one o'clock he laid down, fancying he would be calmer: he was\nreally sick, but those about him could not induce him to drink. He\nsaid he could get on till evening: he wished to gain his bet, and\nit is probable also, that some military pride was mingled in the\nmatter, which prevented him from yielding to pain.\n\nHe kept up until seven o'clock, but at half-after seven was very\nsick and soon died, without being able to swallow a glass of wine\nwhich was presented to him.\n\nI was informed of all these details that very night, by the Sieur\nSchneider, the fifer of the hundred Swiss, in the house of whom I\nlived at Versailles.\n\nCAUSES OF THIRST.\n\nMany circumstances, either united or separate, contribute to\nthirst. We shall mention some which are not without influence on\nour habits.\n\nHeat augments thirst. Whence comes the disposition men have always\nhad to build their habitations near the sea.\n\nCorporeal labor augments thirst. Persons who employ labourers,\nalways gratify them by drink--hence the proverb that wine given\nthem is always well sold.\n\nDancing increases thirst, and for this reason the ball-room is\nalways supplied with invigorating drinks.\n\nDeclamation also increases thirst, which accounts for the glass of\nwater readers always seek to drink with grace, and which is always\nbeside the white handkerchief on the desk.\n\nGenesiac pleasure excites thirst, and accounts for the poetical\ndescriptions of Cyprus, Amathonte, Gnidus, and other homes of\nVenus, in which there are always shady groves and murmuring\nstreamlets.\n\nSong augments thirst, and therefore all vocalists are said to be\nsuch huge drinkers. A musician myself, I protest against this\nassertion, which has neither rhyme nor reason.\n\nThe artists in our saloons drink with as much prudence as\nsagacity; what they lose in this, however, they atone for on the\nother side; if not given to drink, they are untiring gourmands, so\nmuch so, that I am told at the Circle of Transcendental Harmony,\n[Footnote: A well known \"Musical Society.\"] the festivals of St.\nCecile lasted twenty-four hours.\n\nEXAMPLE.\n\nExposure to a rapid current of air, causes a rapid augmentation of\nthirst, and I think the following observations will be read with\npleasure by all the lovers of the chase.\n\nIt is well known that quail are fond of huge mountains, where\ntheir broods are in more safety, from the fact that the harvests\nare later.\n\nWhen the rye is cut, they go into the barley and oats; and when\nthe latter is being harvested, they go into that portion which is\nless matured.\n\nThis is the time to shoot them; because in a small number of\nacres, are found all the birds which a few months before were\nstrewn through a whole commune and are at that time fat as\npossible.\n\nI went with some friends for the purpose of shooting to a mountain\nin the arrondissiment of Nantua, in the canton known as plan\nd'Hotonne, where we were about to commence the day's work under a\nbrighter sun than any Parisian badaud ever saw.\n\nWhile we were at breakfast a violent north wind arose which was\nmuch in the way of our sport: we however continued.\n\nWe had scarcely been out a quarter of an hour, when the most\neffeminate of the party said he was thirsty. We now, doubtless,\nwould have laughed at him, had we not all experienced the same\nsensation.\n\nWe all drank, for an ass loaded with refreshments followed us, but\nthe relief afforded was of brief duration. The thirst soon\nappeared with increased intensity, so that some fancied themselves\nsick, and others were becoming so, and all talked of returning. To\ndo so was to have travelled ten leagues for no purpose.\n\nI had time to collect my ideas, and saw the reason of this strange\nthirst; and told them we suffered from the effects of three\ncauses. The dimunition of atmospheric pressure made our\ncirculation more rapid. The sun heated us, and walking had\nincreased transpiration. More than all these--the wind dried up\nthis transpiration, and prevented all moistness of the skin.\n\nI told them that there was no danger, that the enemy was known,\nand that we must oppose it.\n\nPrecaution however was ineffectual, for their thirst was\nquenchless. Water, wine and water, and brandy, all were powerless.\nWe suffered from thirst even while we drank, and were\nuncomfortable all day.\n\nWe got through the day, however; the owner of the domain of Latour\nentertaining us, joining the provisions we had, to his own stores.\n\nWe dined very well and got into the hay-loft, where we slept\nsoundly.\n\nThe next day's experience showed my theory to be true. The wind\nlulled, the sun was not so warm, and we experienced no\ninconvenience from thirst.\n\nBut a great misfortune had befallen us. We had very prudently\nfilled our canteens, but they had not been able to resist the many\nassaults made on them. They were bodies without souls, and we all\nfell into the hands of the cabaret-keepers.\n\nWe had to come to that point, not however without murmuring. I\naddressed an allocution full of reproaches to the wind, when I saw\na dish fit to be set before a king, \"D'epinards a la graisse de\ncailles,\" destined to be eaten with a wine scarcely as good as\nthat of Surene. [Footnote: A village two leagues from Paris,\nfamous for its bad wine. There is a proverb which says that to get\nrid of a glass of Surene, three things are needed, \"a drinker and\ntwo men to hold him in case his courage fail.\" The same may be\nsaid of Perieux, which people however will drink.]\n\nMEDITATION IX.\n\nON DRINKS. [Footnote: This chapter is purely philosophical: a\ndescription of different kinds of wine does not enter into the\nplan I have marked out for myself. If it was, I would never have\nfinished my book.]\n\nBy drinks we mean all liquids which mingle with food.\n\nWater seems to be the natural drink. Wherever there is animal life\nit is found, and replaces milk. For adults it is as necessary as\nair. WATER. Water is the only fluid which really appeases thirst,\nand for that reason only a small quantity of it can be drank. The\nmajority of other fluids that man drinks are only palliatives, and\nhad he drank nothing else he never would have said that he drank\nwithout being thirsty. QUICK EFFECT OF DRINKS. Drinks are absorbed\nby the animal economy with the most extreme facility. Their effect\nis prompt and the relief they furnish is almost instantaneous.\nGive the most hungry man you can meet with the richest possible\nfood, he will eat with difficulty. Give him a glass of wine or of\nbrandy, and at once he will find himself better.\n\nI can establish this theory by a very remarkable circumstance I\nreceived from my nephew, Colonel Guigard, a man not disposed to\ntell long stories. All may rely upon the accuracy of what he has\nsaid.\n\nHe was at the head of a detachment returning from the siege of\nJaffa, and was but a few hundred paces from the place where he\nexpected to find water, and where he met many of the advanced\nguard already dead with heat.\n\nAmong the victims of this burning climate was a carabinier who was\nknown to many persons of the detachment.\n\nMany of his comrades who approached him for the last time, either\nto inherit what he had left, or to bid him adieu, were amazed to\nfind his limbs flexible and something flexible around his heart.\n\n\"Give him a drop of sacre chien\" said the lustig of the troupe.\n\"If he is not too far gone into the other world, he will come back\nto taste it.\"\n\nAt the reception of the first spoonful of spirits he opened his\neyes: they then rubbed his temples and gave him a drop or two.\nAfter about an hour he was able to sit up in the saddle.\n\nHe was taken to a fountain, nursed during the night, and carefully\nattended to. On the next day he reached Cairo.\n\nSTRONG DRINKS.\n\nThere is one thing very worthy of attention; the instinct which\nleads us to look for intoxicating drinks.\n\nWine, the most pleasant of all drinks, whether due to Noah who\nplanted the vine, or to Bacchus who expressed the juice of the\ngrape, dates back to the infancy of the world. Beer, which is\nattributed to Osiris, dates to an age far beyond history.\n\nAll men, even those we call savages, have been so tormented by the\npassion for strong drinks, that limited as their capacities were,\nthey were yet able to manufacture them.\n\nThey made the milk of their domestic animals sour: they extracted\nthe juice of many animals and many fruits in which they suspected\nthe idea of fermentation to exist. Wherever men are found, strong\nliquors are met with, and are used in festivities, sacrifices,\nmarriages, funeral rites, and on all solemn occasions.\n\nFor many centuries wine was drank and sung before any persons had\nan idea that it was possible to extract the spirituous portion,\nwhich is the essence of its power. The Arabs, however, taught us\nthe art of distillation, invented by them to extract the perfume\nof flowers, and especially of the rose, so celebrated in their\npoems. Then persons began to fancy that in wine a source of\nexcitement might be found to give taste a peculiar exaltation. By\ngradual experiments alcohol, spirits of wine, and brandy were\ndiscovered.\n\nAlcohol is the monarch of liquids, and takes possession of the\nextreme tastes of the palate. Its various preparations offer us\ncountless new flavors, and to certain medicinal remedies, it gives\nan energy they could not well do without. It has even become a\nformidable weapon: the natives of the new world having been more\nutterly destroyed by brandy than by gunpowder.\n\nThe method by which alcohol was discovered, has led to yet more\nimportant results, as it consisted in the separation and\nexhibition of the constituent parts of a body, it became a guide\nto those engaged in analogous pursuits, and made us acquainted\nwith new substances, such as quinine, morphine, strychnine and\nother similar ones.\n\nBe this as it may, the thirst for a liquid which nature has\nshrouded in veils, the extraordinary appetite acting on all races\nof men, under all climates and temperatures, is well calculated to\nattract the attention of the observer.\n\nI have often been inclined to place the passion for spirituous\nliquors, utterly unknown to animals, side by side with anxiety for\nthe future, equally strange to them, and to look on the one and\nthe other as distinctive attributes of the last sublunary\nrevolution.\n\nMEDITATION X.\n\nAN EPISODE ON THE END OF THE WORLD.\n\nI said--last sublunary revolution, and this idea awakened many\nstrange ideas.\n\nMany things demonstrate to us that our globe has undergone many\nchanges, each of which was, so to say, \"an end of the world.\" Some\ninstinct tells us many other changes are to follow.\n\nMore than once, we have thought these revolutions likely to come,\nand the comet of Jerome Lalande has sent many persons to the\nconfessional.\n\nThe effect of all this has been that every one is disposed to\nsurround this catastrophe with vengeance, exterminating angels,\ntrumps and other accessories.\n\nAlas! there is no use to take so much trouble to ruin us. We are\nnot worth so much display, and if God please, he can change the\nsurface of the globe without any trouble.\n\nLet us for a moment suppose that one of those wandering stars, the\nroute and mission of which none know, and the appearance of which\nis always accompanied by some traditional terror; let us suppose\nthat it passes near enough to the sun, to be charged with a\nsuperabundance of caloric, and approach near enough to us to\ncreate a heat of sixty degrees Reaumur over the whole earth (as\nhot again as the temperature caused by the comet of 1811.)\n\nAll vegetation would die, all sounds would cease. The earth would\nrevolve in silence until other circumstances had evolved other\ngerms: yet the cause of this disaster would have remained lost in\nthe vast fields of air, and would never have approached us nearer\nthan some millions of leagues.\n\nThis event, which in the main, has ever seemed to me a fit subject\nfor reverie, and I never ceased for a moment to dwell on it.\n\nThis ascending heat is curious to be looked after, and it is not\nuninteresting to follow its effects, expansion, action, and to\nask:\n\nHow great it was during the first, second, and subsequent days.\n\nWhat effect it had on the earth, and water, and on the formation\nand mingling, and detonation of gasses.\n\nWhat influence it had on men, as far as age, sex, strength and\nweakness are concerned.\n\nWhat influence it has on obedience to the laws, submission to\nauthority, and respect to persons and property.\n\nWhat one should do to escape from danger.\n\nWhat influence it has on love, friendship, parental affection,\nself-love and devotion.\n\nWhat is its influence on the religious sentiments, faith,\nresignation and hope.\n\nHistory can furnish us a few facts on its moral influence, for the\nend of the world has more than once been predicted and determined.\n\nI am very sorry that I cannot tell my readers how I settled all\nthis, but I will not rob them of the pleasure of thinking of the\nmatter themselves. This may somewhat shorten some of their\nsleepless hours, and ensure them a few siestas during the day.\n\nGreat danger dissolves all bonds. When the yellow fever was in\nPhiladelphia, in 1792, husbands closed the doors on their wives,\nchildren deserted their fathers, and many similar phenomena\noccurred.\n\nQuod a nobis Deus avertat!\n\nMEDITATION XI.\n\nON GOURMANDISE.\n\nI HAVE looked through various dictionaries for the word\ngourmandise and have found no translation that suited me. It is\ndescribed as a sort of confusion of gluttony and voracity. Whence\nI have concluded that lexicographers, though very pleasant people\nin other respects, are not the sort of men to swallow a partridge\nwing gracefully with one hand, with a glass of Laffitte or clos de\nVougeot in the other.\n\nThey were completely oblivious of social gourmandise, which unites\nAthenian elegance, Roman luxury and French delicacy; which\narranges wisely, flavors energetically, and judges profoundly.\nThis is a precious quality which might be a virtue and which is\ncertainly the source of many pure enjoyments.\n\nDEFINITIONS.\n\nLet us understand each other.\n\nGourmandise is a passionate preference, well determined and\nsatisfied, for objects which flatter our taste.\n\nGourmandise is hostile to all excesses: any man who becomes drunk\nor suffers from indigestion is likely to be expunged from the\nlists.\n\nGourmandise also comprehends, friandise (passion for light\ndelicacies) for pastry, comfitures, etc. This is a modification\nintroduced for the special benefit of women, and men like the\nother sex.\n\nLook at gourmandise under any aspect you please, and it deserves\npraise.\n\nPhysically, it is a demonstration of the healthy state of the\norgans of nutrition.\n\nMorally, it is implicit resignation to the orders of God, who made\nus eat to live, invites us to do so by appetite, sustains us by\nflavor, and rewards us by pleasure.\n\nADVANTAGES OF GOURMANDISE.\n\nConsidered from the points of view of political economy,\ngourmandise is the common bond which unites the people in\nreciprocal exchanges of the articles needed for daily consumption.\n\nThis is the cause of voyages from one pole to the other, for\nbrandy, spices, sugars, seasonings and provisions of every kind,\neven eggs and melons.\n\nThis it is which gives a proportional price to things, either\nmediocres, good or excellent, whether the articles derive them out\nof, or from nature.\n\nThis it is that sustains the emulation of the crowd of fishermen,\nhuntsmen, gardeners and others, who every day fill the wealthiest\nkitchens with the result of their labours.\n\nThis it is which supports the multitude of cooks, pastry-cooks,\nconfectioners, etc., who employ workmen of every kind, and who\nperpetually put in circulation, an amount of money which the\nshrewdest calculator cannot imagine.\n\nLet us observe that the trades and occupations dependent on\ngourmandise have this great advantage, that on one hand it is\nsustained by great misfortunes and on the other by accidents which\nhappen from day to day.\n\nIn the state of society we now have reached, it is difficult to\nconceive of a people subsisting merely on bread and vegetables.\nSuch a nation if it existed would certainly be subjected by\ncarnivorous enemies, as the Hindoos were, to all who ever chose to\nattack them. If not it would be converted by the cooks of its\nneighbors as the Beotiens were, after the battle of Leuctres.\n\nSEQUEL.\n\nGourmandise offers great resources to fiscality, for it increases\ncustoms, imports, etc. All we consume pays tribute in one degree\nor another, and there is no source of public revenue to which\ngourmands do not contribute.\n\nLet us speak for a moment of that crowd of preparers who every\nyear leave France, to instruct foreign nations in gourmandise. The\nmajority succeed and obedient to the unfasting instinct of a\nFrenchman's fever, return to their country with the fruits of\ntheir economy. This return is greater than one would think.\n\nWere nations grateful, to what rather than to gourmandise should\nFrance erect a monument.\n\nPOWER OF GOURMANDISE.\n\nIn 1815, the treaty of the month of November, imposed on France\nthe necessity of paying the allies in three years, 750,000,000\nfrancs.\n\nAdded to this was the necessity of meeting the demands of\nindividuals of various nations, for whom the allied sovereigns had\nstipulated, to the amount of more than 300,000,000.\n\nTo this must be added requisitions of all kinds by the generals of\nthe enemies who loaded whole wagons, which they sent towards the\nfrontier, and which the treasury ultimately had to pay for. The\ntotal was more than 1,500,000,000 francs.\n\nOne might, one almost should have feared, that such large\npayments, collected from day to day, would have produced want in\nthe treasury, a deprecation of all fictitious values, and\nconsequently all the evils which befall a country that has no\nmoney, while it owes much.\n\n\"Alas,\" said the rich, as they saw the wagon going to the Rue\nVivienne for its load; \"all our money is emigrating, next year we\nwill bow down to a crown: we are utterly ruined; all our\nundertakings will fail, and we will not be able to borrow. There\nwill be nothing but ruin and civil death.\"\n\nThe result contradicted all these fears; the payments, to the\namazement of financiers, were made without trouble, public credit\nincreased, and all hurried after loans. During the period of this\nsuperpurgation, the course of exchange, an infallible measure of\nthe circulating of money, was in our favor. This was an\narithmetical proof that more money came into France than left it.\n\nWhat power came to our aid? What divinity operated this miracle?\nGourmandise.\n\nWhen the Britons, Germans, Teutons, Cimmerians, and Scythes, made\nan irruption into France, they came with extreme voracity and with\nstomachs of uncommon capacity.\n\nThey were not long contented with the cheer furnished them by a\nforced hospitality, but aspired to more delicate enjoyments. The\nQueen City, ere long, became one immense refectory. The new comers\nate in shops, cafes, restaurants, and even in the streets.\n\nThey gorged themselves with meat, fish, game, truffles, pastry and\nfruit.\n\nThey drank with an avidity quite equal to their appetite, and\nalways called for the most costly wine, expecting in those unknown\nenjoyments, pleasures they did not meet with.\n\nSuperficial observers could not account for this eating, without\nhunger, which seemed limitless. All true Frenchmen, however,\nrubbed their hands, and said, \"they are under the charm; they have\nspent this evening more money than they took from the treasury in\nthe morning.\"\n\nThis epoch was favorable to all those who contributed to the\ngratification of the taste. Very made his fortune, Achard laid the\nfoundation of his, and Madame Sullot, the shop of whom, in the\nPalais Royal, was not twenty feet square, sold twelve thousand\npetits pates a day.\n\nThe effect yet lasts, for strangers crowd to Paris from all parts\nof Europe, to rest from the fatigues of war. Our public monuments,\nit may be, are not so attractive as the pleasures of gourmandise,\neverywhere elaborated in Paris, a city essentially gourmand.\n\nA LADY GOURMAND.\n\nGourmandise is not unbecoming to women: it suits the delicacy of\ntheir organs and recompenses them for some pleasures they cannot\nenjoy, and for some evils to which they are doomed.\n\nNothing is more pleasant than to see a pretty woman, her napkin\nwell placed under her arms, one of her hands on the table, while\nthe other carries to her mouth, the choice piece so elegantly\ncarved. Her eyes become brilliant, her lips glow, her conversation\nis agreeable and all her motions become graceful. With so many\nadvantages she is irresistible, and even Cato, the censor, would\nfeel himself moved.\n\nANECDOTE.\n\nI will here record what to me is a bitter reflection.\n\nI was one day most commodiously fixed at table, by the side of the\npretty Madame M----d, and was inwardly rejoicing at having\nobtained such an advantageous position, when she said \"your\nhealth.\" I immediately began a complimentary phrase, which\nhowever, I did not finish, for turning to her neighbor on the\nright, she said \"Trinquons,\" they touched each others glasses.\nThis quick transition seemed a perfidy, and the passage of many\nyears have not made me forget it.\n\nARE WOMEN GOURMANDS?\n\nThe penchant of the fair sex for gourmandise is not unlike\ninstinct; for gourmandise is favorable to beauty.\n\nA series of exact and rigorous examinations, has shown that a\nsucculent and delicate person on careful diet, keeps the\nappearance of old age long absent.\n\nIt makes the eyes more brilliant, and the color more fresh. It\nmakes the muscles stronger, and as the depression of the muscles\ncauses wrinkles, those terrible enemies of beauty, it is true that\nother things being equal, those who know how to eat, are ten years\nyounger than those ignorant of that science.\n\nPainters and sculptors are well aware of this, for they never\nrepresent those to whom abstinence is a matter of duty, such as\nanchorites and misers, except as pale, thin, and wrinkled.\n\nTHE EFFECTS OF GOURMANDISE ON SOCIABILITY.\n\nGourmandise is one of the principle bonds of society. It gradually\nextends that spirit of conviviality, which every day unites\ndifferent professions, mingles them together, and diminishes the\nangles of conviviality.\n\nThis it is, which induces every amphitryon to receive his guests\nwell, and also excites the gratitude of the latter when they see\nthemselves well taken care of: here is the place to reprobate\nthose stupid masticators, who with the most guilty indifference to\nthe greatest luxuries, and who with sacrilegious indifference\ninhale the odorous perfume of nectar.\n\nGENERAL LAW.--Every display of high intelligence, makes explicit\npraise necessary. Delicate praise is necessary, wherever a wish to\nplease is evident.\n\nINFLUENCE OF GOURMANDISE ON CONJUGAL HAPPINESS.\n\nWhen gourmandise is shared with another, it has the greatest\ninfluence on conjugal happiness.\n\nA gourmand couple have at least once a day a pleasant occasion to\nmeet, for even those who sleep apart (and there are many) dine\ntogether. They talk of what they have eaten, of what they have\nseen elsewhere, of fashionable dishes and of new inventions, etc.,\netc. We all know how full of charms this CHIT CHAT is.\n\nMusic, doubtless, has many charms for those who love it; but to\nsucceed, one must make a business of it.\n\nBesides, sometimes one has a cold, misplaces the score, has the\nsick headache or feels inert.\n\nOne necessity calls each of the couple to the table, where the\nsame feeling retains them. They exhibit naturally slight\nattentions to each other, which evinces a desire to please, and\nthe manner in which they act to each other speaks loudly of the\nmanner of their lives.\n\nThis observation, though new in France, has not escaped the\nattention of the English novelist, Fielding, who in Pamela gives\nthe well-known instance of the manner in which the heroine and her\nhusband lived on the one hand, and the more magnificent but\nunhappy life of the elder brother and his wife.\n\nHonour then to gourmandise as we present it to our readers,\ninasmuch as it diverts man neither from occupation nor from duty;\nfor as the dissoluteness of Sardanapulus did not cause the world\nto look on woman with horror, neither did Vitellius' excesses\ninduce the world to turn aside from a well-ordered entertainment.\n\nWhen gourmandise becomes gluttony, voracity or debauchery, it\nloses its name and attributes, falling into the hands of the\nmoralist who will treat it by advice, or the medical man who will\ntreat it by remedy. Gourmandise, as the professor has described\nit, has a name only in French; neither the Latin gula, English\n\"gluttony\" nor German lusternheit, expresses it, and we recommend\nall who attempt a translation of this instructive book to preserve\nthe word, changing the article which produces it only. Thus they\ndid with coquetterie.\n\nNOTE OF A PATRIOT GASTRONOMER.\n\n\"I observe with pride, that gourmandise and coquettery, the two\ngreat modifications which society has effected in our imperious\nwants, are both of French origin.\"\n\nMEDITATION XII.\n\nGOURMANDS.\n\nALL WHO WISH TO BE ARE NOT GOURMANDS.\n\nTHERE are individuals to whom nature has refused a fineness of\norgans and a degree of attention, without which the most succulent\nfood passes unperceived.\n\nPhysiology has already recognized the first of these varieties, by\nexhibiting the tongue of those unfortunate men who are badly\nprovided with the means of appreciating flavors and tastes. Such\npersons have but an obtuse sensation, for to them taste is what\nlight is to the blind.\n\nThe second of these varieties is composed of absent minded men, of\nambitious persons, and others, who wish to attend to two things at\nonce, and who eat only to eat.\n\nNAPOLEON.\n\nSuch was Napoleon; he was irregular in his meals and ate quickly.\nWhen hungry, his appetite had to be satisfied at once, and he was\nso completely served, that at any hour he could have fowl, game or\ncoffee.\n\nGOURMANDS BY DESTINY.\n\nThere is however, a privileged class, which organic and material\norganization invites to the enjoyments of the taste.\n\nI was always a disciple of Lavater and Gall, and believe in innate\nideas.\n\nAs persons have been born who see, walk, and hear badly, because\nthey are near-sighted, lame, or deaf, why may there not be others\ninclined to peculiar sensations.\n\nTo the most careless observer there will ever be presented faces\nwhich bear the undeniable expression of some dominant sentiment,\nsuch as disdainful impertinence, self-satisfaction, misanthropy,\nsensuality, &c. A very meaningless face may express all this, but\nwhen the face has a determined expression, one is rarely mistaken.\n\nPassions agitate the muscles, and often when a man is silent, the\nvarious feelings which agitate him may be read on his face. This\ntension, though habitual leave sensible traces, and give the face\na permanent and well defined character.\n\nSENSUAL PREDESTINATION.\n\nThe persons predestined to gourmandise are in general of medium\nstature. Their faces are either round or square, and small, their\nnoses short and their chins rounded. The women are rather pretty\nthan beautiful, and they have a slight tendency to obesity.\n\nThose who are fondest of friandises have delicate features,\nsmaller, and are distinguished by a peculiar expression of the\nmouth.\n\nAgreeable guests should be sought for among those who have this\nappearance. They receive all that is offered them, eat slowly, and\ntaste advisedly. They do not seek to leave places too quickly\nwhere they have been kindly received. They are always in for all\nthe evening, for they know all games, and all that is neccessary\nfor a gastronomical soiree.\n\nThose, on the contrary, to whom nature has refused a desire for\nthe gratifications of taste, have a long nose and face. Whatever\nbe their statures, the face seems out of order. Their hair is dark\nand flat, and they have no embonpoint. They invented pantaloons.\n\nWomen whom nature has thus afflicted, are very angulous, are\nuncomfortable at the table, and live on lenten fare.\n\nThis physiological theory will, I trust, meet with not many\ncontradictions: any one may verify the matter. I will, however,\nrely on facts.\n\nI was sitting one day at a great entertainment, and saw opposite\nto me a very pretty woman with a very sensual face. I leaned\ntowards my neighbor and said, that the lady with such features\nmust be gourmande. \"Bah!\" said he, \"she is not more than fifteen;\nshe is not old enough--let us see though.\"\n\nThe beginning was not favorable, and I was afraid of being\ncompromised. During the first two courses, the young woman ate\nwith a discretion which really amazed me. The dessert came, it was\nbrilliant as it was abundant, and gave me some hopes. I was not\ndeceived, for she not only ate what was set before her, but sent\nfor dishes which were at the other end of the table. She tasted\nevery thing, and we were surprised that so small a stomach could\ncontain so much. My diagnostics succeeded and science triumphed.\n\nTwo years after I met this same lady, who had been married a week.\nShe had become far more beautiful, was something of a coquette,\nfor fashion permitted her to exhibit her charms. Her husband was a\nman worth looking at, but he was like one of those ventriloquists\nwho laugh on one side of the face and weep on the other. He was\nvery fond of his wife, but when any one spoke to her, quivered\nwith jealousy. The latter sentiment prevailed, for he took his\nwife to one of the most remote departments of France, and I, at\nleast, can write no more of her biography.\n\nI made a similar observation about the Duke of Decres, long\nminister of marine.\n\nWe knew that he was large, short, dark and square; that his face\nwas round, that his chin protruded, that his lips were thick, and\nthat he had a giant's mouth. I therefore had no hesitation in\nproclaiming him fond of good cheer and of women.\n\nThis physiognomical remark I whispered to a woman I thought very\npretty and very discreet. I was mistaken though, for she was a\ndaughter of Eve, and my secret was made known. One evening his\nexcellency was informed of the idea I had deduced from his face.\n\nI ascertained this the next day, by a pleasant letter which I\nreceived from the Duke, in which he insisted that he had not the\ntwo qualities I had attributed to him.\n\nI confessed myself beaten. I replied that nature does nothing in\nvain; that she had evidently formed him for certain duties, and\nthat if he did not fulfil them he contradicted his appearance.\nThat besides, I had no right to expect such confidence, etc., etc.\n\nThere the correspondence terminated, but a few days after all\nParis was amused by the famous encounter between the minister and\nhis cook, in which his excellency did not get the best of the\nmatter. If after such an affair the cook was not dismissed, (and\nhe was not,) I may conclude that the duke was completely overcome\nby the artist's talents, and that he could not find another one to\nsuit his taste so exactly, otherwise he would have gotten rid of\nso warlike a servant.\n\nAs I wrote these lines, during a fine winter evening, Mr. Cartier,\nonce first violinist of the opera, entered my room and sat by the\nfire. I was full of my subject, and looked attentively at him. I\nsaid, \"My dear Professor, how comes it that you, who have every\nfeature of gourmandise, are not a gourmand?\" \"I am,\" said he, \"but\nI make abstinence a duty.\" \"Is that an act of prudence?\" He did\nnot reply, but he uttered a sigh, a la Walter Scott.\n\nGOURMANDS BY PROFESSION.\n\nIf there be gourmands by predestination, there are also gourmands\nby profession. There are four classes of these: Financiers, men of\nletters, doctors, and devotees.\n\nFINANCIERS.\n\nFinanciers are the heroes of gourmandise. Hero is here the proper\nname, for there was some contention, and the men who had titles\ncrowd all others beneath their titles and escutcheons. They would\nhave triumphed, but for the wealth of those they opposed. Cooks\ncontended with genealogists; and though dukes did not fail to\nlaugh at their amphitryon, they came to the dinner, and that was\nenough.\n\nThose persons who make money easily must be gourmands.\n\nThe inequality of wealth produces inequality of wants. He who can\npay every day for a dinner fit for an hundred persons, is often\nsatisfied after having eaten the thigh of a chicken. Art then must\nuse well its resources to revive appetite. Thus Mondar became a\ngourmand, and others with the same tastes collects around him.\n\nPHYSICIANS.\n\nCauses of another nature, though far less baneful, act on\nphysicians, who, from the nature of things, are gourmands. To\nresist the attractions set before them they must necessarily be\nmade of bronze.\n\nOne day I ventured to say, (Doctor Corvisart was at the end of the\ntable--the time was about 1806):--\n\n\"You are,\" said I, with the air of an inspired puritan, \"the last\nremnant of a composition which once covered all France. The\nmembers of it are either annihilated or dispersed. No longer do we\nsee farmers general, abbes, chevaliers, &c. Bear the burden they\nhave bequeathed to you, even if you take the three hundred\nSpartans who died at Thermopylae; such a fate should be yours.\"\n\nNobody contradicted me.\n\nAt dinner I made a remark which was worthy of notice:--\n\nDoctor Corvisart was a very pleasant man when he pleased, and was\nvery fond of iced champagne. For this reason, while all the rest\nof the company were dull and idle, he dealt in anecdotes and\nstories. On the contrary, when the dessert was put on, and\nconversation became animated, he became serious and almost morose.\n\nFrom this and other observations, I deduced the following\nconclusion: Champagne, the first effect of which is exhilarating,\nin the result is stupefying, on account of the excessant carbonic\ngases it contains.\n\nOBJUGATION.\n\nAs I measure doctors by their diplomatu, I will not reproach them\nfor the severity with which they treat their invalids.\n\nAs soon as one has the misfortune to fall into their hands, one\nhas to give up all we have previously thought agreeable.\n\nI look on the majority of these prohibitions as useless. I say\nuseless, because patients never desire what is injurious to them.\n\nA reasonable physician should never lose sight of the natural\ntendency of our inclinations, nor forget to ascertain if our\npenchants are painful in themselves, or improving to health. A\nlittle wine, or a few drops of liquor, brings the smiles to the\nmost hypochondriac faces.\n\nBesides, they know that their severe prescriptions are almost\nalways without effect, and the patient seeks to avoid him. Those\nwho are around him, never are in want of a reason to gratify him.\nPeople, however, will die.\n\nThe ration of a sick Russian, in 1815, would have made a porter\ndrunk. There was no retrenchment to be made, for military\ninspectors ran from day to day through the hospitals, and watched\nover the furnishment and the service of the various houses.\n\nI express my opinions with the more confidence, because it is\nsustained by much experience, and that the most fortunate\npractitioners rely on my system.\n\nThe canon Rollet who died about fifty years ago, was a great\ndrinker; and the first physician he employed, forbid him to use\nwine at all. When, however, he came again, the doctor found his\npatient in bed, and before him the corpus delicti, i.e., a table\ncovered with a white cloth, a chrystal cup, a handsome bottle, and\na napkin to wipe his lips with.\n\nThe doctor at once became enraged, and was about to withdraw, when\nthe canon said in a lamentable voice, \"doctor, remember, if you\nforbade my drinking, you did not prohibit my looking at the\nbottle.\"\n\nThe physician who attended M. Montlusin de Point de Veyle was far\nmore cruel, for he not only forbid his patient to touch wine, but\nmade him drink large quantities of water.\n\nA short time after the doctor had left, Mme. de Montlusin, anxious\nto fulfil the requisition of the prescription, and contribute to\nher husband's recovery, gave him a great glass of water, pure and\nlimpid as possible.\n\nThe patient received it kindly and sought to drink it with\nresignation. At the first swallow, however, he stopped, and giving\nthe glass back to his wife, said, \"Take this, dear, and keep it\nfor the next dose; I have always heard, one should never trifle\nwith remedies.\" Men of letters in the world of gastronomy, have a\nplace nearly equal to that of men of medical faculty.\n\nUnder the reign of Louis XIV., men of letters were all given to\ndrink. They conformed to fashion and the memoirs of the day, in\nthis respect, are very defying. They are now gourmands,--a great\namelioration.\n\nI am far from agreeing with the cynic Geoffroy, who used to say\nthat modern works were deficient in power because authors now\ndrank only eau sucree.\n\nI think he made two mistakes, both in the fact and the\nconsequences.\n\nThe age we live in is rich in talents; they injure each other\nperhaps by their multitude; but posterity, judging with more\ncalmness, will see much to admire. Thus we do justice to the great\nproductions of Racine and Moliere which when written were coldly\nreceived.\n\nThe social position of men of letters was never more agreeable.\nThey no longer live in the garrets they used to inhabit, for the\nfield of literature has become fertile. The stream of Hippocrene\nrolls down golden sands: equals of all, they never hear the\nlanguage of protection, and gourmandise overwhelms them with its\nchoicest favours.\n\nMen of letters are courted on account of their talent, and because\ntheir conversation is in general piquant, and because it has for\nsome time been established, that every society should have its man\nof letters.\n\nThese gentlemen always come a little too late: they are not\nhowever received the most on that account, for they have been\nanxiously expected: they are petted up to induce them to come\nagain, are flattered to make them brilliant, and as they find all\nthis very natural, they grow used to it and become genuine\ngourmands.\n\n    DEVOTEES.\n\nAmong the friends of gourmandise are many very devout persons.\n\nBy the word devotee, we understand what Louis XIV. and Moliere\ndid, persons the piety of whom consists in external observances;\npious and charitable persons have nothing to do with this class.\n\nLet us see how they effect this--among those who work out their\nsalvation, the greatest number seek the mildest method. Those who\navoid society, sleep on the ground and wear hair cloth, are always\nexceptions.\n\nNow there are to them certain damnable things never to be\npermitted, such as balls, plays, and other amusements.\n\nWhile they and those who enjoy them are abominated, gourmandise\nassumes an altogether different aspect, and becomes almost\ntheological.\n\nJure divino, man is the king of nature and all that earth creates\nwas produced for him. For him the quail becomes fat, the mocha has\nits perfume, and sugar becomes beneficial to the health.\n\nWhy then should we not use with suitable moderation the goods\nwhich Providence offers us, especially as we continue to look on\nthem as perishable things, and as they exalt our appreciation of\nthe Creator.\n\nOther not less weighty reasons strengthen these--can we receive\ntoo kindly those persons who take charge of our souls? Should we\nnot make a meeting with them pleasant and agreeable?\n\nSometimes the gifts of Comus come unexpectedly. An old college\ncompanion, an old friend, a penitent who humbles himself, a\nkinsman who makes himself known or a protege recalls them.\n\nThis has ever been the case.\n\nConvents were the true ware-houses of the most adorable delacies:\nfor that reason they have been so much regretted. [Footnote: The\nbest liquors in France were made of the Visitandines. The monks of\nNiort invented the conserve of Angelica, and the bread flavoured\nwith orange flowers by the notes of Chiteau-Thierry is yet\nfamous. The nuns of Belley used also to make a delicious conserve\nof nuts. Alas, it is lost, I am afraid.]\n\nMany monastic orders, especially the Bernardins paid great\nattention to good cheer. The cooks of the clergy reached the very\nlimits of the art, and M. de Pressigny (who died Archbishop of\nBesancon) returned from the conclave which elected Pro Sesto, he\nsaid the best dinner he ate in Rome was given by the General of\nthe Capuchins.\n\n    CHEVALIERS AND ABBES.\n\nWe cannot bring this article to a better end than to make an\nhonourable mention of two corporations we saw in all their glory:\nwe mean the Chevaliers and the Abbes.\n\nHow completely gourmand they were. Their expanded nostrils, their\nacute eyes, and coral lips could not he mistaken, neither could\ntheir gossiping tongue; each class, however, ate in a peculiar\nmanner.\n\nThere was something military in the bearing of the Chevaliers.\nThey ate their delicacies with dignity, worked calmly, and cast\nhorizontal looks of approbation at both the master and mistress of\nthe house.\n\nThe Abbes however, used to come to the table with more care, and\nreached out their hands as the cat snatches chestnuts from the\nfire. Their faces were all enjoyment, and there was a\nconcentration about their looks more easy to conceive of, than to\ndescribe.\n\nAs three-fourths of the present generation have seen nothing like\neither the Abbes, or Chevaliers, and as it is necessary to\nunderstand them, to be able to appreciate many books written in\nthe eighteenth century, we will borrow from the author of the\nHistorical Treatise on Duels, a few pages which will fully satisfy\nall persons about this subject. (See Varieties, No. 20.)\n\n    LONGEVITY OF GOURMANDS.\n\nI am happy, I cannot be more so, to inform my readers that good\ncheer is far from being injurious, and that all things being\nequal, gourmands live longer than other people. This was proved by\na scientific dissertation recently read at the academy, by Doctor\nVillermet.\n\nHe compares the different states of society, in which good cheer\nis attended to, with those where no attention is paid to it, and\nhas passed through every scale of the ladder. He has compared the\nvarious portions of Paris, in which people were more or less\ncomfortable. All know that in this respect there is extreme\ndifference, as for instance between the Faubourg St. Antoine and\nthe Chaussee d' Antin.\n\nThe doctor extended his research to the departments of France, and\ncompared the most sterile and fertile together, and always\nobtained a general result in favor of the diminution of mortality,\nin proportion universally as the means of subsistence improve.\nThose who cannot well sustain themselves will be at least wise, to\nknow that death will deliver them soon.\n\nThe two extremes of this progression are, that in the most highly\nfavored ranks of life but one individual in fifty dies, while of\nthose who are poorer four do.\n\nThose who indulge in good cheer, are rarely, or never sick. Alas!\nthey often fall into the domain of the faculty, who call them good\npatients: as however they have no great degree of vitality, and\nall portions of their organization are better sustained, nature\nhas more resources, and the body incomparably resists destruction.\n\nThis physiological truth may be also sustained by history, which\ntells us that as often as impervious circumstances, such as war,\nsieges, the derangement of seasons, etc., diminish the means of\nsubsistence, such times have ever been accompanied by contagious\ndisease and a great increase of mortality.\n\nThe idea of Lafarge would beyond a doubt have succeeded in Paris,\nif those who had advanced it had introduced into their\ncalculations the truths developed by Doctor Villermet.\n\nThey calculated mortality according to Buffoon's tables, and those\nof Parcieux and others, all of which were based on the aggregate\nof all classes and conditions. Those who made the estimate,\nhowever, forgot the dangers of infancy, indulged in general\ncalculations, and the speculation failed.\n\nThis may not have been the only, hut it was the principal cause.\n\nFor this observation, we are indebted to the Professor Pardessus.\n\nM. de Belloy, archbishop of Paris, had a slight appetite, but a\nvery distinct one. He loved good cheer and I have often seen his\npatriarchal face lighten up at the appearance of any choice dish.\nNapoleon always on such occasions paid him deference and respect.\n\n    MEDITATION XIII.\n\n    GASTRONOMICAL TESTS.\n\nIN the preceding chapter, we have seen that the distinctive\ncharacteristics of those who have more pretension than right to\nthe honors of gourmandise, consists in the fact, that, at the best\nspread table, their eyes are dull and their face inanimate.\n\nThey are not worthy of having treasures, when they do not\nappreciate what is exhibited to them. It, however, was very\ninteresting for us to point them out, and we have sought every\nwhere for information on so important a matter, as who should be\nour guests and our hosts.\n\nWe set about this with an anxiety which ensures success, and, in\nconsequence of our perseverance, we are able to present to the\ncorps of amphitryon, gastronomical tests, a discovery which will\ndo honor to the nineteenth century.\n\nBy gastronomical tests, we mean dishes of so delicious a flavor\nthat their very appearance excites the gustatory organs of every\nhealthy man. The consequence is, that all those who do not evince\ndesire, and the radiancy of ecstasy, may very properly be set down\nas unworthy of the honours of the society and the pleasures\nattached to them.\n\nThe method of TESTS duly deliberated on, and examined in the great\ncouncil, has been described in the golden book, in words of an\nunchangeable tongue, as follows:\n\nUtcumque ferculum, eximii et bene noti saporis appositum fuerit,\nfiat autopsia convivoe; et nisi facies ejus ae oculi vertantur ad\necstasim, notetur ut indignus.\n\nThis was rendered into the vernacular, by the translator of the\ngrand council, as follows:\n\n\"Whenever a dish of a distinguished and good flavor is served, the\nguests should be attentively watched, and those, the faces of whom\ndo not express pleasure, should be marked as unworthy.\"\n\nTests are relative, and should be proportioned to the various\nclasses of society. All things considered, it should be arranged\nso as to create admiration and surprise. It is a dynameter, the\npower of which should increase as we ascend in society. The test\nfor a householder in La Rue Coquenard, would not suit a second\nclerk, and would be unnoticed at the table of a financier, or a\nminister.\n\nIn the enumeration of the dishes we think worthy of being\nconsidered as tests, we will begin at the lowest grade, and will\ngradually ascend so as to elucidate the theory, so that all may\nnot only use it with benefit, but also invent a new series\ncalculated for the sphere in which they chance to be placed.\n\nWe will now give a list of the dishes we think fit to be served as\ntests; we have divided them into three series of gradual ascents,\nfollowing the order indicated above.\n\n  GASTRONOMICAL TESTS.\n\n FIRST SERIES.--INCOME OF 5,000 FRANCS.\n\nA breast of veal baked in its own juice.\n\nA turkey stuffed with Lyons chestnuts.\n\nBaked pigeons.\n\nEggs a la neige.\n\nSourkrout, with sausages dressed with lard, fume  de Strasburg.\n\nEXPRESSION. \"Peste; that looks well; let us pay  our devoirs to\nit.\"\n\n SECOND SERIES.--INCOME 15,000 FRANCS.\n\nA filet de boeuf pique, and baked in its juice, with  pickles.\n\nA quarter of Chevreuil.\n\nTurbot plain.\n\nA Turkey Truffee.\n\nPetits pois.\n\nEXCLAMATION. \"My dear sir, this is pleasant indeed!\"\n\n THIRD SERIES.--INCOME 30,000 FRANCS, OR MORE.\n\nA fowl weighing seven pounds, stuffed with truffles,  so that it\nhas become a spheroid.\n\nA patte perigord in the form of a bastion.\n\nA cask a la Chambord richly dressed and decorated.\n\nA pike stuffed with craw-fish secundum artum.\n\nA pheasant dressed a la sainte alliance.\n\nAsparagus, large as possible, served up in osmazome.\n\nTwo dozen ortolans a la provencale, as the dish is  described in\nthe Cook's Secretary.\n\nA pyramid of sweet meats, flavored with rose and  vanilla.\n\nEXPRESSION. \"Monsieur, or Monseigneur, your cook  is a man of\nmind. Such dishes we eat only at your  house.\"\n\n   MEDITATION XIV.\n\n ON THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE.\n\nMAN of all the animals who live on the earth, is beyond doubt, the\none who experiences most suffering.\n\nNature condemned him to suffering by robbing him of hair, by\ngiving him such a peculiar formation of his feet, also by the\ninstinct of destruction, and of war which has followed man every\nwhere.\n\nAnimals have never been stricken with this curse, and with the\nexception of a few contests, caused by the instinct of\nreproduction, harm would be absolutely unknown to the lower\nanimals of creation. Man, though he cannot appreciate pleasure\nexcept by a small number of organs, may yet be liable to intense\nagony.\n\nThis decree of destiny was engraved by a crowd of maladies, which\noriginated in the social system. The result is that the most\nintense pleasure one can imagine, cannot atone for certain pains,\nsuch as the gout, the tooth-ache, etc., acute rheumatisms,\nstrictures, and many other diseases we might mention.\n\nThis practical fear of pain has had the effect, that without even\nperceiving it, man has rushed into an opposite direction, and has\ndevoted himself to the small number of pleasures nature has placed\nat his disposal.\n\n ORIGIN OF THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE.\n\nMeals, as we understand the word, began at the second stage of the\nhistory of humanity. That is to say as soon as we ceased to live\non fruits alone. The preparation and distribution of food made the\nunion of the family a necessity, at least once a day. The heads of\nfamilies then distributed the produce of the chase, and grown\nchildren did as much for their parents.\n\nThese collections, limited at first to near relations, were\nultimately extended to neighbors and friends.\n\nAt a later day when the human species was more widely extended,\nthe weary traveler used to sit at such boards and tell what he had\nseen in foreign lands. Thus hospitality was produced, and its\nrights were recognized everywhere. There was never any one so\nferocious as not to respect him who had partaken of his bread and\nsalt.\n\nDIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE PLEASURE OF EATING AND   THE PLEASURES OF\nTHE TABLE.\n\nSuch from the nature of things, should be the elements of the\npleasures of the table which, where eating is a necessity, of\ncourse takes the precedence.\n\nThe pleasure of eating is a peculiar sensation directed to the\nsatisfaction of a necessity. The pleasures of the table is a\nreflected sensation, originating in various facts, places, things\nand persons.\n\nWe share with animals in the pleasure of eating. They and we have\nhunger which must he satisfied.\n\nIt is peculiar to the human race, for it supposes a predisposition\nfor food, for the place of meeting, and for guests.\n\nThe pleasures of the table exact, if not hunger, at least\nappetite. The table is often independent of hoth the one and the\nother.\n\nThis we may see at every entertainment.\n\nAt the first course every one eats and pays no attention to\nconversation; all ranks and grades are forgotten together in the\ngreat manufacture of life. When, however, hunger begins to be\nsatisfied, reflection begins, and conversation commences. The\nperson who, hitherto, had been a mere consumer, becomes an amiable\nguest, in proportion as the master of all things provides him with\nthe means of gratification.\n\nEFFECTS.\n\nThe pleasures of the table afford neither ravishing pleasure,\necstasy, nor transport, but it gains in intensity what it loses in\nduration. It is the more valuable because it exposes us to all\nother gratifications and even consoles us for their loss.\n\nAfter a good dinner body and soul enjoy a peculiar happiness.\n\nPhysically, as the brain becomes refreshed, the face lightens up,\nthe colors become heightened, and a glow spreads over the whole\nsystem.\n\nMorally, the mind becomes sharpened, witticisms circulate. If La\nFarre and Saint Aulaire descend to posterity with the reputation\nof spiritual authors, they owe it especially to the fact that they\nwere pleasant guests.\n\nBesides, there are often found collected around the same table,\nall the modifications of society which extreme sociability has\nintroduced among us: love, friendship, business, speculation,\npower, ambition, and intrigue, all enhance conviviality. Thus it\nis that it produces fruits of all imaginable flavors.\n\nACCESSORIES.\n\nAn immediate consequence of all these antecedents is that human\nindustry has toiled to augment the duration of the gratifications\nof the table.\n\nPoets complain that the throat is too short for the uses of\ndegustation, and others lament the want of capacity of the\nstomach. Some even regret that digestion is accomplished in a\nsingle act and not divided into two.\n\nThis was but an extreme effort to amplify the enjoyments of taste;\nin this respect, however, it is impossible to exceed the limits\nimposed by nature, and an appeal was made to accessories, which\noffered more latitude.\n\nVases and goblets were crowned with flowers; crowns were\ndistributed to the guests, and dinners served beneath the vault of\nheaven, in groves, and amid all the wonders of nature.\n\nMusic and song were made to increase the pleasures of the table.\nThus while the king of the Pheacians ate, the singer Phemius sang\nthe praises of the wars and warriors of other days.\n\nOften dancers and pantomimists of both sexes, in all possible\ncostumes, occupied the attention without injuring the pleasure of\nthe meal. The most exquisite perfumes were diffused in the air,\nand guests were often waited on by unveiled beauty, so that every\nsense was appealed to.\n\nI might consume many pages in proving what I advance. The Greek\nauthors and our old chroniclers only need to be copied. These\nresearches, however, only need to be made to be evident, and my\nerudition would be of little value\n\nTHE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURY.\n\nWe have adopted to a greater or less degree various methods of\nenjoyment, and have, by new discoveries, somewhat enhanced the\nnumber.\n\nThe delicacy of our tastes would not permit the vomitoria of the\nRomans to remain. We did better, however, and accomplished the\nsame object in a more pleasant manner.\n\nDishes of such an attractive flavor have been increased that they\nperpetually reproduce the appetite. They are so light that they\nflatter the appetite without loading the stomach. Seneca would\nhave called them NUBES ESCULENTAS.\n\nWe have advanced so far in alimentation that if business called us\nfrom the table, or if it became necessary for us to sleep, the\nduration of the meal would have been almost indeterminable.\n\nOne must not, however, believe that all of these accessories are\nindispensable to the pleasures of the table. Pleasure is enjoyed\nin almost all its extent when the following conditions are united:\ngood cheer, good wine, a pleasant company, and time.\n\nI have often, therefore, wished to have been present at one of\nthose pleasant repasts which Horace invited one of his neighbors\nto share, viz: a good chicken, a lamb (doubtless fat,) and as a\ndesert, grapes, figs and nuts. Uniting these to wine, made when\nManlius was consul, and the delicious conversation of the poet, I\nfancy I could have supped very pleasantly.\n\nAt mihi cum longum post tempus venerat hospes Sive operum vacuo,\nlongum conviva per imbrem Vicinus, bene erat non piscibus urbe\npetitis, Sed pullo atque hasdo, tum [Footnote: Le dessert se\ntrouve precisement designe et distingue par l'adverbe TUM et par\nles mots SECUNDAS MENSAS.] pensilis uva secundas Et nux ornabat\nmensas, cum duplice ficu. Thus it was only yesterday I regaled six\nfriends with a boiled leg of mutton and a kidney A L'PONTOISE.\nThey indulged in the pleasures of conversation so fully that they\nforgot that there were richer meats or better cooks.\n\nOn the other hand, let persons make as much research as possible\nfor good cheer; there is no pleasure at the table if the wine be\nbad, and the guests collected without care. Faces will then be\nsure to seem sad, and the meal will be eaten without,\nconsideration.\n\nSUMMARY.\n\nBut perhaps the impatient reader will ask how, in the year of\ngrace 1825, can any table be spread which will unite all of these\nconditions?\n\nI will answer this question. Be attentive, readers. Gasterea, the\nmost attractive of the muses, inspires me. I will be as clear as\nan oracle, and my precepts will live for centuries:--\n\n\"Let the number of guests never exceed twelve, so that the\nconversation may be general.\n\n\"Let them he so chosen that their occupations may be varied, their\ntastes analogous, and that they may have such points of contact\nthat introduction may be useless.\n\n\"Let the dining-room be furnished with luxury, the table clean,\nand the temperature of the room about 16 degrees Reaumur.\n\n\"Let the men be intelligent, but not pedantic--and the women\npretty, but not coquettes.\n\n\"Let the dishes be of exquisite taste, but few in number at the\nfirst course; let those of the second be as pleasant and as highly\nperfumed as possible.\n\n\"Let the coffee be hot, and let the master select his own wines.\n\n\"Let the reception-room be large enough to permit those who cannot\ndo without the amusement, to make up a card party, and also for\nlittle COTERIES of conversation.\n\n\"Let the guests be retained by the pleasures of society, and by\nthe hope that the evening will not pass without some ulterior\nenjoyment\n\n\"The tea should not be too strong, the roast dishes should be\nloaded artistically, and the punch made carefully.\n\n\"None should begin to retire before eleven o'clock, and at\nmidnight all should have gone to bed.\n\n\"If any one has been present at an entertainment uniting all these\nconditions, he may boast of having witnessed his own apotheosis.\nHe will enjoy it the more, because many other apotheosis have been\nforgotten or mistaken.\"\n\nI have said that the pleasure of the table, as I have described\nit, was susceptible of long duration, and I am about to prove it\nby the history of the longest meal I ever was present at. It is a\nBONBON I give the reader as a reward for patient attention to me.\nHere it is:-\n\nI had a family of kinsfolk in the Rue de Bac, constituted as\nfollows: a doctor, who was seventy-eight; a captain, who was\nseventy-six; and their sister, Jeannette, who was sixty-four. I\nused to visit them sometimes, and they always received me kindly.\n\n\"PARBLEU!\" said Doctor Dubois, rising on his toes one day to tap\nme on the shoulder; \"you have a long time been bragging about your\nFONDUES, (eggs and cheese,) and you always make our mouths water.\nThe captain and I will come to dine with you, and we will see what\nyour famous dish is.\" (This took place about 1801.) \"Willingly,\"\nsaid I, \"and to enable you to see it in all its glory, I will cook\nit myself. I am delighted with your proposition, and wish you to\ncome punctually at ten to-morrow.\"\n\nAt the appointed time my guests came, clean shaved, and with their\nheads powdered. They were two little old men; yet fresh, however,\nand well. They smiled with pleasure when they saw the table ready,\nset with three covers, and with two dozen oysters by each plate.\nAt the two ends of the table were bottles of Sauterne, carefullly\nwiped, except the cork, which indicated that it had been long\nbottled. Alas! I have gradually seen oysters disappear from\nbreakfast, though they were once so common. They disappeared with\nthe ABBES, who never ate less than a gross; and the CHEVALIERS,\nwho ate quite as many. I regret them but as a philosopher. If time\nmodifies governments, how great must be its influence over simple\nusages. After the oysters, which were very good, grilled kidneys,\na PATE of FOIE GRAS with truffles, and then the FONDUE.\n\nThe elements had been put in a chafing-dish, and brought to the\ntable with spirits of wine. I set at once to work, and my two\ncousins watched every motion I made.\n\nThey were delighted, and asked for the recipe, which I promised,\ntelling them two anecdotes, which the reader will perhaps meet\nwith elsewhere.\n\nAfter the FONDUE we had the various fruits which were in season,\nand a cup of real mocha, made A LA DU BELLOY, which was then\nbecoming fashionable. We ended with two kinds of LIQUEURS.\n\nBreakfast being over, I invited my two kinsmen to take a little\nexercise, and to accompany me through my lodgings, which are far\nfrom being elegant, and which my friends, in consequence of their\nsize and splendor, prefer to the gilding and OR MOLU of the reign\nof Louis XV.\n\nI showed them the original bust of my pretty cousin, Mme. Recamier\nby Chinard, and her miniature by Augustin. They were so much\npleased, that the Doctor kissed the latter with his thick lips,\nand the Captain took a liberty with the bust of the first, for\nwhich I reproved him. Were all the admirers of the original to do\nas he did, the bust would soon be in the condition of the famous\nstatue of St. Peter at Borne, which the kisses of pilgrims have\nworn away.\n\nI showed them afterwards, casts of old statuary, some pictures,\nwhich are not without merit, my guns, my musical instruments, and\nseveral fine editions of the French and foreign classics.\n\nThey did not forget the kitchen in their voyage of discovery. I\nshowed them my economical furnace, my turnspit by clock-work, my\nroasting apparatus, and my vaporiser. They were much surprised, as\nevery thing in their house was done in the style of the regency.\n\nJust as we were about to enter the room, the clock struck two.\n\"Peste!\" said the Doctor, \"the dinner time and Jeannette awaits\nus; we must go, not because I wish to eat, but I must have my bowl\nof soup like Titus DIEM PERDIDI.\" \"My dear Doctor,\" said I, \"why\ngo so far? what is here? Send some to my cousin and remain here,\nif you will, and accept my apology for a somewhat hasty dinner and\nyou will delight me.\"\n\nThere was an ocular consultation on the matter between the two\nbrothers, and I at once sent a messenger to the Faubourg St.\nGermain. I also told my cook what I wished. After a time, in part\nwith his own resources and from the neighboring restaurants, he\nserved us up a very comfortable little dinner.\n\nIt was a great gratification to me, to see the SANG FROID and\nquiet nerve with which my kinsmen sat down, unfolded their napkins\nand began. They met with two surprises which I did not anticipate;\nI gave them PARMESAN with soup, and a glass of dry Madeira. These\ntwo novelties had just been introduced by M. De Tallyrand, the\nfirst of our diplomatists, to whom we are indebted for so many\nshrewd expressive words, and whom public attention has always\nfollowed with marked interest even when he had retired.\n\nDinner passed very comfortably, and as far as the substantiate and\nthe accessories were concerned, my friends were as agreeable as\nthey were merry.\n\nAfter dinner, I proposed a game of PIQUET, which they refused,\npreferring, as the Captain said, IL FAR NIENTE of the Italians,\nand we sat around the fireplace.\n\nIn spite of the pleasures of the FAR NIENTE, I have often thought\nthat nothing enlivens conversation more than any occupation which\ndistracts but does not absorb all coversation.\n\nTea was a novelty to the French at that time. They however took\nit; I made it in their presence, and they took it with greater\npleasure, because, hitherto they had only looked on it as a\nremedy.\n\nLong observation had informed me, that one piece of complaisance\never brings on another, and that after one step there is no choice\nbut to continue in the same route.\n\n\"You will kill me,\" said the Doctor. \"You will make me drunk,\"\nsaid the Captain. I made no reply, but rang for rum, sugar, and\nlemons. I made some punch, and while I was preparing some,\nexcellent well buttered toast was also prepared.\n\nMy cousins protested that they could not eat a morsel more; but,\nas I was familliar with the attraction of this simple preparation,\nI insisted, and the Captain having taken the first slice, I had no\nhesitation in ordering more.\n\nTime rolled on, and the clock was on the stroke of eight. \"Let us\ngo,\" said the worthies, \"for we must eat a salad with our sister,\nwho has not seen us to day.\"\n\nI did not object, and accompanied the two pleasant old men to\ntheir carriage, and saw them leave.\n\nPerhaps, the question may be asked, if their long visit did not\nannoy me.\n\nI answer, no. The attention of my guests was sustained by the\npreparation of the FONDUE, by their examination of my rooms, by a\nfew novelties after dinner, by the tea, and especially by the\npunch, which was the best they had ever tasted.\n\nThe Doctor, too, knew all the genealogy and history of the people\nof Paris. The Captain had passed a portion of his life in Italy,\neither as a soldier or as envoy to the Court of Parma. I had\ntravelled much, and conversation pursued its natural bent. Under\nsuch circumstances time could not but fly rapidly.\n\nOn the next day, a letter from the Doctor informed me, that their\nlittle debauch had done them no harm, but that after a quiet\nnight's rest, they awoke convinced that they could go over the\nwhole matter again.\n\nMEDITATION XV.\n\nHALTES DE CHASSE.\n\nAMID all the circumstances in life, when eating is considered\nvaluable, one of the most agreeable is, doubtless, when there is a\npause in the chase. It alone may be prolonged the most without\nennui.\n\nAfter a few hours exercise, the most eager huntsman feels a\nnecessity for rest. His face needs caressing by the morning\nbreeze: he halts, however, not from necessity, but by that\ninstinctive impulse which tells him that his activity is not\nindefinite.\n\nShade attracts him, the turf receives him, the murmur of the\nrivulet advises him to open the flask he has brought to revive\nhimself I with. [Footnote: For such purposes, I prefer white wine;\nit resists heat better than any other.] Thus placed, he takes out\nthe little well baked loaves, uncovers the cold chicken some kind\nhand has placed in his havresack, and finds the piece of gruyere\nor roquefort, which is to represent a dessert.\n\nWhile he makes these preparations, he is accompanied by the\nfaithful animal God has created for him; co-operation has overcome\ndistance. They are two friends, and the servant is at once happy\nand proud to be the guest of his master.\n\nIt is an appetite equally unknown to the worldly and devotees: the\nfirst do not allow hunger time to come: the second never indulge\nin exercises which produce it.\n\nThe repast being prepared, each has its portion; why not sleep for\na while? Noon is an hour of rest for all creation.\n\nThe pleasures are decuples by being shared with friends. In this\ncase, a more abundant meal is brought in military chests now\nemployed for both purposes. All speak of the prowess of one, the\nmesses at the other, and of the anticipations of the evening.\n\nWhat if one should come provided with one of those vases\nconsecrated to Bacchus, where artificial cold ices the madrin, the\nstrawberry, and pine-apple juice, those delicious flavors which\nspread through the whole system a luxury unknown to the profane.\n\nWe have not, however, reached the last term of progression of\npleasure.\n\nLADIES.\n\nThere are times when our wives, sisters, and cousins are invited\nto share in these amusements. At the appointed hour, light\ncarriages, prancing horses, etc., hearing ladies collect. The\ntoilette of the ladies is half military, and half coquette. The\nprofessor will, if he be observant, catch a glimpse of things not\nintended for his eye.\n\nThe door of the carriages will soon be opened, and a glimpse will\nbe had of pates de Perigord, the wonders of Strasburg, the\ndelicacies of d'Achard, and all that the best laboratories produce\nthat is transportable.\n\nThey have not forgotten foaming champagne, a fit ornament for the\nhand of beauty. They sit on the grass--corks fly, all laugh, jest,\nand are happy. Appetite, this emenation of heaven, gives to the\nmeal a vivacity foreign to the drawing-room, however well\ndecorated it may be.\n\nAll, however, must end; the oldest person present gives the\nsignal; all arise, men take their guns, and the ladies their hats-\n-all go, and the ladies disappear until night.\n\nI have hunted in the centre of France, and in the very depths of\nthe departments. I have seen at the resting places carriage loads\nof women of radiant beauty, and others mounted on a modest ass,\nsuch as composes the fortunes of the people of Montmorency. I have\nseen them first laugh at the inconveniences of the mode of\ntransportation, and then spread on the lawn a turkey, with\ntransparent jelly, and a salad ready prepared. I have seen them\ndance around a fire lighted for the occasion, and have\nparticipated in the pleasures of this gypsy sport. I am sure so\nmuch attraction with so little luxury is never met with elsewhere.\n\nLes haltes de la chasse are a yet virgin subject which we have\nonly touched, we leave the subject to any one who pleases to take\na fancy to it.\n\nMEDITATION XVI.\n\nON DIGESTION.\n\nWe never see what we eat, says an old adage, except what we\ndigest.\n\nHow few, however, know what digestion is, though it is a necessity\nequalizing rich and poor, the shepherd and the king.\n\nThe majority of persons who, like M. Jourdan, talked prose without\nknowing it, digest without knowing how; for them I make a popular\nhistory of digestion, being satisfied that M. Jourdan was much\nbetter satisfied when his master told him that he wrote prose. To\nhe fully acquainted with digestion, one must know hoth its\nantecedents and consequents.\n\nINGESTION.\n\nAppetite, hunger, and thirst, warn us that the hody needs\nrestoration; pain, that universal monitor, never ceases to torment\nus if we do not obey it.\n\nThen comes eating and drinking which are ingestion, an operation\nwhich begins as soon as the food is in the mouth, and enters the\noesophagus.\n\nDuring its passage, through a space of a few inches much takes\nplace.\n\nThe teeth divide solid food, the glands which line the inside of\nthe mouth moisten it, the tongue mingles the food, presses it\nagainst the palate so as to force out the juice, and then collects\nthe elements in the centre of the mouth, after which, resting on\nthe lower jaw, it lifts up the central portion forming a kind of\ninclined plane to the lower portion of the mouth where they are\nreceived by the pharynx, which itself contracting, forces them\ninto the oesophagus.\n\nOne mouthful having thus been treated, a second is managed in the\nsame way, and deglutition continues until appetite informs us that\nit is time to stop. It is rarely, though, that it stops here, for\nas it is one of the attributes of man to drink without thirst,\ncooks have taught him to eat without hunger.\n\nTo ensure every particle of food reaching the stomach, two dangers\nmust be avoided.\n\nIt must not pass into the passage behind the nose, which luckily\nis covered by a veil.\n\nThe second is that it must not enter the trachea. This is a\nserious danger, for any particle passing into the trachea, would\ncause a convulsive cough, which would last until it was expelled.\n\nAn admirable mechanism, however, closes the glottis while we\nswallow, and we have a certain instinct which teaches us not to\nbreathe during deglutition. In general, therefore, we may say,\nthat in spite of this strange conformation, food passes easily\ninto the stomach, where the exercise of the will ceases, and\ndigestion begins.\n\nDUTY OF THE STOMACH.\n\nDigestion is a purely mechanical operation and the digestive\napparatus, may be considered as a winnowing mill, the effect of\nwhich is, to extract all that is nutritious and to get rid of the\nchaff.\n\nThe manner in which digestion is effcted has been so long a\nquestion for argument, and persons have sought to ascertain if it\nwere effected by coction, fermentation, solution, chemical, or\nvital action.\n\nAll of these modes have their influence, and the only error was\nthat many causes were sought to be attributed to one.\n\nIn fact food impregnated by all fluids which fill the mouth and\noesophagus, reaches the stomach where it is impregnated by the\ngastric juices, which always fill it. It is then subjected for\nseveral hours to a heat of 30 [degrees] Reaumer; it is mingled by\nthe organic motion of the stomach, which their presence excites.\nThey act on each other by the effect of this juxtaposition and\nfermentation must take place. All that is nourishing ferments.\n\nIn consequence of all of these operations, chyle is elaborated and\nspread over the food, which then passes the pylorus and enters the\nintestines. Portion after portion succeeds until the stomach is\nempty, thus evacuating itself as it was filled.\n\nThe pylorus is a kind of chamber between the stomach and the\nintestines, so constructed that food once in it can ascend only\nwith great difficulty. This viscera is sometimes obstructed when\nthe sufferer, after long and intense agony, dies of hunger.\n\nThe next intestine beyond the pylorus is the duodenum. It is so\ncalled because it is twelve fingers long.\n\nWhen chyle reaches the duodenum, it receives a new elaboration by\nbeing mingled with bile and the panchreatic juice. It loses the\ngrey color and acidity it previously possessed, becomes yellow and\ncommences to assume a stercoral odor, which increases as it\nadvances to the rectum. The various substances act reciprocally on\neach other; there must, consequently, be many analagous gasses\nproduced.\n\nThe impulse which ejected chyle from the stomach, continues and\nforces the food towards the lower intestines, there the chyle\nseparates itself and is absorbed by organs intended for the\npurpose, whence it proceeds to the liver, to mingle with the\nblood, which it revives, and thus repairs the losses of the vital\norgans and of transpiration.\n\nIt is difficult to explain how chyle, which is a light and almost\ninsipid fluid, can be extracted from a mass, the color of which,\nand the taste, are so deeply pronounced.\n\nBe that as it may, the preparation of chyle appears to be the true\nobject of digestion, and as soon as it mingles with the\ncirculation, the individual becomes aware of a great increase of\nphysical power.\n\nThe digestion of fluids is less complicated than that of solids,\nand can be explained in a few words.\n\nThe purely liquid portion is absorbed by the stomach, and thrown\ninto circulation; thence it is taken to the veins by the arteries\nand filtered by urethras, [Footnote: These urethras are conduits\nof the size of a pea, which start from the kidneys, and end at the\nupper neck of the bladder.] which pass them as urine, to the\nbladder.\n\nWhen in this last receptacle, and though restrained by the\nspinchter muscle, the urine remains there but a brief time; its\nexciting nature causes a desire to avoid it, and soon voluntary\nconstriction emits it through canals, which common consent does\nnot permit us to name.\n\nDigestion varies in the time it consumes, according to the\ntemperament of individuals. The mean time, however, is seven\nhours, viz., three hours for the stomach, and the rest of the time\nfor the lower intestines.\n\nFrom this expose which I have selected from the most reliable\nauthors, I have separated all anatomical rigidities, and\nscientific abstractions. My readers will thence be able to judge\nwhere the last meal they ate is: viz., during the first three\nhours in the stomach, later in the intestinal canal, and after\nseven hours, awaiting expulsion.\n\nINFLUENCE OF DIGESTION.\n\nOf all corporeal operations, digestion is the one which has the\nclosest connection with the moral condition of man.\n\nThis assertion should amaze no one; things cannot be otherwise.\n\nThe principles of physiology tells us that the soul is liable to\nimpressions only in proportion as the organs subjected to it have\nrelation to external objects, whence it follows that when these\norgans are badly preserved, badly restored, or irritated, this\nstate of degradation exerts a necessary influence on sensations,\nwhich are the intermediates of mental operations.\n\nThus the habitual manner in which digestion is performed or\naffected, makes us either sad, gay, taciturn, gossiping morose or\nmelancholy, without our being able to doubt the fact, or to resist\nit for a moment.\n\nIn this respect, humanity may be arranged under three categories;\nthe regular, the reserved, and the uncertain.\n\nEach of the persons who belong to each of the series, not only\nhave similar dispositions, and propensities, but there is\nsomething analagous and similar in the manner in which they\nfulfill the mission from which chance during their lives has\nseparated them.\n\nTo exhibit an example, I will go into the vast field of\nliterature. I think men of letters frequently owe all their\ncharacteristics to their peculiar mode of life. Comic poets must\nbe of one kind, tragic poets of another, and elegiac, of the\nuncertain class. The most elegiac and the most comic are only\nseparated by a variety of digestive functions.\n\nBy an application of this principle to courage, when Prince Eugene\nof Savoy, was doing the greatest injury to France, some one said,\n\"Ah, why can I not send him a pate de foie gras, three times a\nweek I would make him the greatest sluggard of Europe.\"\n\n\"Let us hurry our men into action, while a little beef is left in\ntheir bowels,\" said an English general.\n\nDigestion in the young is very often accompanied by a slight\nchill, and in the old, by a great wish to sleep. In the first\ncase, nature extracts the coloric from the surface to use it in\nits laboratory. In the second, the same power debilitated by age\ncannot at once satisfy both digestion and the excitement of the\nsenses.\n\nWhen digestion has just begun, it is dangerous to yield to a\ndisposition for mental work. One of the greatest causes of\nmortality is, that some men after having dined, and perhaps too\nwell dined, can neither close their eyes nor their ears.\n\nThis observation contains a piece of advice, which should even\nattract the most careless youth, usually attentive to nothing. It\nshould also arrest the attention of grown men, who forget nothing,\nnot even that time never pauses, and which is a penal law to those\non the wrong side of fifty.\n\nSome persons are fretful while digestion is going on. At that\ntime, nothing should be suggested to and no favors asked of them.\n\nAmong these was marshal Augereau, who, during the first hour after\ndinner, slaughtered friends and enemies indiscriminately.\n\nI have heard it said, that there were two persons in the army,\nwhom the general-in-chief always wished to have shot, the\ncommissary-in-chief and the head of his general staff. They were\nboth present. Cherin the chief of staff, talked back to him, and\nthe commissary, though he said nothing, did not think a bit the\nless.\n\nAt that time, I was attached to his general staff, and always had\na plate at his table. I used, however, to go thither rarely, being\nalways afraid of his periodical outbreaks, and that he would send\nme to dinner to finish my digestion.\n\nI met him afterwards at Paris, and as he testified his regret that\nhe had not seen me oftener, I did not conceal the reason. We\nlaughed over the matter and he confessed that I was not wrong.\n\nWe were then at Offenbourg, and a complaint was made by the staff\nthat we ate no game nor fish.\n\nThis complaint was well founded, for it is a maxim, of public law,\nthat the conquerors should always live at the expense of the\nconquered. On that very day I wrote a letter to the master of the\nforests to point out a remedy.\n\nThis official was an old trooper, who doubtless was unwilling to\ntreat us kindly lest we should take root in this territory. His\nanswer was negative and evasive. The game keepers, afraid of our\nsoldiers, had gone, the fishermen were insubordinate, the water\nmuddy, etc. To all this, I said nothing, but I sent him ten\ngrenadiers to be lodged and fed until further orders.\n\nThe remedy was effective; for early on the next day after, I saw a\nheavily loaded wagon come. The game-keepers had come back, the\nfishermen were submissive; we had game and fish enough to last for\na week.\n\nWe had kid, snipe, lark, pike, etc.\n\nWhen I received the offering, I freed the superintendent from his\ntroublesome guests, and during the whole time we remained in that\npart of the country, we had nothing to complain of.\n\nMEDITATION XVII.\n\nREPOSE.\n\nMAN is not made to enjoy an indefinite activity; nature has\ndestined him to a variable existence, and his perceptions must end\nafter a certain time. This time of activity may be prolonged, by\nvarying the nature of the perceptions to be experienced, and a\ncontinuity of life brings about a desire for repose.\n\nRepose leads to sleep, and sleep produces dreams.\n\nHere we find ourselves on the very verge of humanity, for the man\nwho sleeps is something more than a mere social being: the law\nprotects, but does not command him.\n\nHere a very singular fact told me by Dom Duhaget, once prior of\nthe Chartreuse convent of Pierre Chatel, presents itself.\n\nDom Duhaget was a member of a very good family in Gascogne, and\nhad served with some distinction as a captain of infantry. He was\na knight of St Louis. I never knew any one, the conversation of\nwhom was more pleasant.\n\n\"There was,\" said he, \"before I went to Pierre Chatel, a monk of a\nvery melancholy humor, whose character was very sombre, and who\nwas looked upon as a somnambulist.\n\n\"He used often to leave his cell, and when he went astray, people\nwere forced to guide him back again. Many attempts had been made\nto cure him, but in vain.\n\n\"One evening I had not gone to bed at the usual hour, but was in\nmy office looking over several papers, when I saw this monk enter\nin a perfect state of somnambulism.\n\n\"His eyes were open but fixed, and he was clad in the tunic in\nwhich he should have gone to bed, but he had a huge knife in his\nhand.\n\n\"He came at once to my bed, the position of which he was familiar\nwith, and after having felt my hand, struck three blows which\npenetrated the mattrass on which I laid.\n\n\"As he passed in front of me his brows were knit, and I saw an\nexpression of extreme gratification pervaded his face.\n\n\"The light of two lamps on my desk made no impression, and he\nreturned as he had come, opening the doors which led to his cell,\nand I soon became satisfied that he had quietly gone to bed.\n\n\"You may,\" said the Prior, \"fancy my state after this terrible\napparition; I trembled at the danger I had escaped, and gave\nthanks to Providence. My emotion, however, was so great that\nduring the balance of the night I could not sleep.\n\n\"On the next day I sent for the somnambulist and asked him what he\nhad dreamed of during the preceding night.\n\n\"When I asked the question he became troubled. 'Father,' said he,\n'I had so strange a dream that it really annoys me; I fear almost\nto tell you for I am sure the devil has had his hand in it.' 'I\norder you to tell me,' said I, 'dreams are involuntary and this\nmay only be an illusion. Speak sincerely to me.' 'Father,' said\nhe,' I had scarcely gone to sleep when I dreamed that you had\nkilled my mother, and when her bloody shadow appeared to demand\nvengeance, I hurried into your cell, and as I thought stabbed you.\nNot long after I arose, covered with perspiration, and thanked God\nthat I had not committed the crime I had meditated.' 'It has been\nmore nearly committed,' said I, with a kind voice, 'than you\nthink.'\n\n\"I then told him what had passed, and pointed out to him the blows\nhe had aimed at me.\n\n\"He cast himself at my feet, and all in tears wept over the\ninvoluntary crime he had thought to commit, and besought me to\ninflict any penance I might think fit.\n\n\"'No,' said I, 'I will not punish you for an involuntary act.\nHenceforth, though I excuse you from the service of the night, I\ninform you that your cell will be locked on the outside and never\nbe opened except to permit you to attend to the first mass.'\"\n\nIf in this instance, from which a miracle only saved him, the\nPrior had been killed, the monk would not have suffered, for he\nwould have committed a homicide not a murder.\n\nTIME OF REST.\n\nThe general laws of the globe we inhabit have an influence on the\nhuman race. The alternatives of day and night are felt with\ncertain varieties over the whole globe, but the result of all this\nis the indication of a season of quiet and repose. Probably we\nwould not have been the same persons had we lived all our lives\nwithout any change of day or night.\n\nBe this as it may, when one has enjoyed for a certain length of\ntime a plentitude of life a time comes when he can enjoy nothing;\nhis impressibility gradually decreases, and the effects on each of\nhis senses are badly arranged. The organs are dull and the soul\nbecomes obtuse.\n\nIt is easy to see that we have had social man under consideration,\nsurrounded by all the attractions of civilization. The necessity\nof this is peculiarly evident to all who are buried either in the\nstudio, travel, as soldiers, or in any other manner.\n\nIn repose our mother nature especially luxuriates. The man who\nreally reposes, enjoys a happiness which is as general as it is\nindefinable; his arms sink by their own weight, his fibres\ndistend, his brain becomes refreshed, his senses become calm, and\nhis sensations obtuse. He wishes for nothing, he does not reflect,\na veil of gauze is spread before his eyes, and in a few moments he\nwill sink to sleep.\n\nMEDITATION XVIII.\n\nSLEEP.\n\nTHOUGH some men be organized that they may be said not to sleep,\nyet the great necessity of the want of sleep is well defined as is\nhunger or thirst. The advanced sentinels of the army used often to\nsleep though they filled their eyes with snuff.\n\nDEFINITION.\n\nSleep is a physical condition, during which man separates himself\nfrom external objects by the inactivity of his senses, and has\nonly a mechanical life.\n\nSleep, like night, is preceded and followed by two twilights. The\none leads to inertion, the other to activity.\n\nLet us seek to elucidate these phenomena.\n\nWhen sleep begins, the organs of the senses fall almost into\ninactivity. Taste first disappears, then the sight and smell. The\near still is on the alert, and touch never slumbers. It ever warns\nus of danger to which the body is liable.\n\nSleep is always preceded by a more or less voluptuous sensation.\nThe body yields to it with pleasure, being certain of a prompt\nrestoration. The soul gives up to it with confidence, hoping that\nits means of fiction will he retempered.\n\nFrom the fact of their not appreciating this sensation, savants of\nhigh rank have compared sleep to death, which all living beings\nresist as much as possible, and which even animals show a horror\nof.\n\nLike all pleasures, sleep becomes a passion. Persons have been\nknown to sleep away three-quarters of their life. Like all other\npassions it then exerts the worst influences, producing idleness,\nindolence, sloth and death.\n\nThe school of Salernum granted only seven hours to sleep without\ndistinction to sex or age. This maxim was too severe, for more\ntime is needed by children, and more should, from complaisance, be\ngranted to women. Though whenever more than ten hours is passed in\nbed there is abuse.\n\nIn the early hours of crepuscular sleep, will yet exists. We can\nrouse ourselves, and the eye has not yet lost all its power. Non\nomnibus dormio, said Mecenes, and in this state more than one\nhusband has acquired a sad certainty. Some ideas yet originate but\nare incoherent. There are doubtful lights, and see indistinct\nforms flit around. This condition does not last long, for sleep\nsoon becomes absolute.\n\nWhat does the soul do in the interim? It lives in itself, and like\na pilot in a calm, like a mirror at night, a lute that no one\ntouches, awakes new excitement.\n\nSome psycologists, among others the count of Redern, say that the\nsoul always acts. The evidence is, that a man aroused from sleep\nalways preserves a memory of his dreams.\n\nThere is something in this observation, which deserves\nverification.\n\nThis state of annihilation, however, is of brief duration, never\nexceeding more than five or six hours: losses are gradually\nrepaired, an obscure sense of existence manifests itself, and the\nsleeper passes into the empire of dreams.\n\nMEDITATION XIX.\n\nDREAMS.\n\nDreams are material impressions on the soul, without the\nintervention of external objects.\n\nThese phenomena, so common in ordinary times, are yet little\nknown.\n\nThe fault resides with the savants who did not allow us a\nsufficiently great number of instances. Time will however remedy\nthis, and the double nature of man will be better known.\n\nIn the present state of science, it must be taken for granted that\nthere exists a fluid, subtle as it is powerful, which transmits to\nthe brain the impressions received by the senses. This excitement\nis the cause of ideas.\n\nAbsolute sleep is the deperdition or inertia of this fluid.\n\nWe must believe that the labors of digestion and assimulation do\nnot cease during sleep, but repair losses so that there is a time\nwhen the individual having already all the necessities of action\nis not excited by external objects.\n\nThus the nervous fluid--movable from its nature, passes to the\nbrain, through the nervous conduits. It insinuates itself into the\nsame places, and follows the old road. It produces the same, but\nless intense effects.\n\nI could easily ascertain the reason of this. When man is impressed\nby an external object, sensation is sudden, precise, and\ninvoluntary. The whole organ is in motion. When on the contrary,\nthe same impression is received in sleep, the posterior portion of\nthe nerves only is in motion, and the sensation is in consequence,\nless distinct and positive. To make ourselves more easily\nunderstood, we will say that when the man is awake, the whole\nsystem is impressed, while in sleep, only that portion near the\nbrain is affected.\n\nWe know, however, that in voluptuous dreams, nature is almost as\nmuch gratified as by our waking sensations; there is, however,\nthis difference in the organs, for each sex has all the elements\nof gratification.\n\nWhen the nervous fluid is taken to our brain, it is always\ncollected in vats, so to say, intended for the use of one of our\nsenses, and for that reason, a certain series of ideas, preferable\nto others, are aroused. Thus we see when the optic nerve is\nexcited, and hear when those of the ear are moved. Let us here\nremark that taste and smell are rarely experienced in dreams. We\ndream of flowers, but not of their perfume; we see a magnificently\narranged table, but have no perception of the flavor of the\ndishes.\n\nThis is a subject of enquiry worthy of the most distinguished\nscience. We mean, to ascertain why certain senses are lost in\nsleep, while others preserve almost their full activity. No\nphysiologist has ever taken care of this matter.\n\nLet us remark that the influences we are subject to when we sleep,\nare internal. Thus, sensual ideas are nothing after the anguish we\nsuffer at a dream of the death of a loved child. At such moments\nwe awake to find ourselves weeping bitterly.\n\nNATURE OF DREAMS.\n\nWhimsical as some of the ideas which visit us in dreams may be, we\nwill on examination find they are either recollections, or\ncombinations of memory. I am inclined to say that dreams are the\nmemory of sensations.\n\nTheir strangeness exists only in the oddity of association which\nrejects all idea of law and of chronology, of propriety and time.\nNo one, however, ever dreamed of any thing absolutely unknown to\nhim.\n\nNo one will be amazed at the strangeness of our dreams, when we\nremember, that, when awake, our senses are on the alert, and\nrespectively rectify each other. When a man sleeps, however, every\nsensation is left to his own resources.\n\nI am inclined to compare these two conditions of the brain, to a\npiano at which some great musician sits, and who as he throws his\nfingers over the keys recalls some melody which he might harmonize\nif he use all his power. This comparison may be extended yet\nfurther, when we remember that reflection is to ideas, what harmony\nis to sounds; that certain ideas contain others, as a principle\nsound contains the others which follow it, etc. etc.\n\nSYSTEM OF DR. GALL.\n\nHaving followed thus far a subject which is not without interest,\nI have come to the confines of the system of Dr. Gall who sustains\nthe multiformity of the organs of the brain.\n\nI cannot go farther, nor pass the limits I have imposed on myself:\nyet from the love of science, to which it may be seen I am no\nstranger, I cannot refrain from making known two observations I\nmade with care, and which are the more important, as many persons\nwill be able to verify them.\n\nFIRST OBSERVATION.\n\nAbout 1790 there was in a little village called Gevrin, in the\narrondissement of Belley a very shrewd tradesman named Landot, who\nhad amassed a very pretty fortune.\n\nAll at once he was stricken with paralysis. The Doctors came to\nhis assistance, and preserved his life, not however without loss,\nfor all of his faculties especially memory was gone. He however\ngot on well enough, resumed his appetite and was able to attend to\nhis business.\n\nWhen seen to be in this state, all those with whom he ever had\ndealings, thought the time for his revenge was come, and under the\npretext of amusing him, offered all kinds of bargains, exchanges,\netc. They found themselves mistaken, and had to relinquish their\nhopes.\n\nThe old man had lost none of his commercial faculties. Though he\nforgot his own name and those of his servants, he was always\nfamiliar with the price-current, and knew the exact value of every\nacre and vineyard in the vicinity.\n\nIn this respect his judgment had be en uninjured, and the\nconsequence was, that many of the assailants were taken in their\nown snares.\n\nSECOND OBSERVATION.\n\nAt Belley, there was a M. Chirol, who had served for a long time\nin the gardes du corps of Louis XV. and XVI.\n\nHe had just sense enough for his profession, but he was\npassionately fond of all kinds of games, playing l'hombre, piquet,\nwhist, and any new game that from time to time might be\nintroduced.\n\nM. Chirol also became apoplectic and fell into a state of almost\nabsolute insensibility. Two things however were spared, his\nfaculty for digestion, and his passion for play.\n\nHe used to go every day to a house he had been used to frequent,\nsat in a corner and seemed to pay no attention to any thing that\npassed around him.\n\nWhen the time came to arrange the card parties, they used to\ninvite him to take a hand. Then it became evident that the malady\nwhich had prostrated the majority of his faculties, had not\naffected his play. Not long before he died, M. Chirol gave a\nstriking proof that this faculty was uninjured.\n\nThere came to Belley, a banker from Paris, the name of whom I\nthink was Delins. He had letters of introduction, he was a\nParisian, and that was enough in a small city to induce all to\nseek to make his time pass agreeably as possible.\n\nDelins was a gourmand, and was fond of play. In one point of view\nhe was easily satisfied, for they used to keep him, every day,\nfive or six hours at the table. It was difficult, however, to\namuse his second faculty. He was fond of piquet and used to talk\nof six francs a fiche, far heavier play than we indulged in.\n\nTo overcome this obstacle, a company was formed in which each one\nrisked something. Some said that the people of Paris knew more\nthan we; and others that all Parisians were inclined to boasting.\nThe company was however formed, and the game was assigned to M.\nChirol.\n\nWhen the Parisian banker saw the long pale face, and limping form\nopposed to him, he fancied at first, that he was the butt of joke:\nwhen, however, he saw the artistic manner with which the spectre\nhandled the cards, he began to think he had an adversary worthy of\nhim, for once.\n\nHe was not slow in being convinced that the faculty yet existed,\nfor not only in that, but in many other games was Delins so beaten\nthat he had to pay more than six hundred francs to the company,\nwhich was carefully divided.\n\nRESULT.\n\nThe consequences of these two observations are easily deduced. It\nseems clear that in each case, the blow which deranged the brain,\nhad spared for a long time, that portion of the organ employed in\ncommerce and in gaming. It had resisted it beyond doubt, because\nexercise had given it great power, and because deeply worked\nimpressions hatf exerted great influence on it.\n\nAGE.\n\nAge has great influence on the nature of dreams.\n\nIn infancy we dream of games, gardens, flowers, and other smiling\nobjects; at a later date, we dream of pleasure, love, battles, and\nmarriages; later still we dream of princely favors, of business,\ntrouble and long departed pleasures.\n\nPHENOMENA OF DREAMS.\n\nCertain strange phenomena accompany sleep and dreams. Their study\nmay perhaps account for anthropomania, and for this reason I\nrecord here, three observations, selected from a great many made\nby myself during the silence of night.\n\nFIRST OBSERVATION.\n\nI dreamed one night, that I had discovered a means to get rid of\nthe laws of gravitation, so that it became as easy to ascend as\ndescend, and that I could do either as I pleased.\n\nThis estate seemed delicious to me; perhaps many persons may have\nhad similar dreams. One curious thing however, occurs to me, which\nI remember, I explained very distinctly to myself the means which\nled me to such a result, and they seemed so simple, that I was\nsurprised I had not discovered it sooner.\n\nAs I awoke, the whole explanation escaped my mind, but the\nconclusion remained; since then, I will ever be persuaded of the\ntruth of this observation.\n\nSECOND OBSERVATION.\n\nA few months ago while asleep I experienced a sensation of great\ngratification. It consisted in a kind of delicious tremor of all\nthe organs of which my body was composed, a violet flame played\nover my brow.\n\nLambere flamma comas, et circum temporo pasci.\n\nI think this physical state did not last more than twenty seconds,\nand I awoke with a sensation of something of terror mingled with\nsurprise.\n\nThis sensation I can yet remember very distinctly, and from\nvarious observations have deduced the conclusion that the limits\nof pleasure are not, as yet, either known or defined, and that we\ndo not know how far the body may be beatified. I trust that in the\ncourse of a few centuries, physiology will explain these\nsensations and recall them at will, as sleep is produced by opium,\nand that posterity will be rewarded by them for the atrocious\nagony they often suffer from when sleeping.\n\nThe proposition I have announced, to a degree is sustained by\nanalogy, for I have already remarked that the power of harmony\nwhich procures us such acute enjoyments, was totally unknown to\nthe Romans. This discovery is only about five hundred years old.\n\nTHIRD OBSERVATION.\n\nIn the year VIII (1800,) I went to bed as usual and woke up about\none, as I was in the habit of doing. I found myself in a strange\nstate of cerebral excitement, my preception was keen, my thoughts\nprofound; the sphere of my intelligence seemed increased, I sat up\nand my eyes were affected with a pale, vaporous, uncertain light,\nwhich, however, did, not enable me to distinguish objects\naccurately.\n\nDid I only consult the crowd of ideas which succeeded so rapidly,\nI might have fancied that this state lasted many hours; I am\nsatisfied, however, that it did not last more than half an hour,\nan external accident, unconnected with volition, however, aroused\nme from it, and I was recalled to the things of earth.\n\nWhen the luminous apparition disappeared, I became aware of a\nsense of dryness, and, in fact, regained my waking faculties. As I\nwas now wide awake, my memory retained a portion of the ideas\n(indistinctly) which crossed my mind.\n\nThe first ideas had time as their subject. It seemed to me that\nthe past, present and future, became identical, were narrowed down\nto a point, so that it was as easy to look forward into the\nfuture, as back into the past. This is all I remember of this\nfirst intuition, which was almost effaced by subsequent ones.\n\nAttention was then directed to the senses, which I followed in the\norder of their perfection, and fancying that those should be\nexamined which were internal as well as external, I began to\nfollow them out.\n\nI found three, and almost four, when I fell again to earth.\n\n1. Compassion is a sensation we feel about the heart when we see\nanother suffer.\n\n2. Predilection is a feeling which attracts us not only to an\nobject, but to all connected with it.\n\n3. Sympathy is the feeling which attracts two beings together.\n\nFrom the first aspect, one might believe that these two sentiments\nare one, and the same. They cannot, however, be confounded; for\npredilection is not always reciprocal, while sympathy, must be.\n\nWhile thinking of compassion, I was led to a deduction I think\nvery just, and which at another time I would have overlooked. It\nis the theory on which all legislation is founded.\n\nDO AS YOU WILL BE DONE BY.\n\nAlteri ne facias, quod tibi fieri non vis.\n\nSuch is an idea of the state in which I was, and to enjoy it\nagain, I would willingly relinquish a month of my life.\n\nIn bed we sleep comfortably, in a horizontal position and with the\nhead warm: Thoughts and ideas come quickly and abundantly;\nexpressions follow, and as to write one has to get up, we take off\nthe night cap and go to the desk.\n\nThings all at once seem to change. The examination becomes cold,\nthe thread of our ideas is broken; we are forced to look with\ntrouble, for what was found so easily, and we are often forced to\npostpone study to another day.\n\nAll this is easily explained by the effect produced on the brain\nby a change of position. The influence of the physic and moral is\nhere experienced.\n\nFollowing out this observation, I have perhaps gone rather far,\nbut I have been induced to think that the excitability of oriental\nnations, was, in a manner, due to the fact, that, in obedience to\nthe religion of Mahomet, they used to keep the head warm, for a\nreason exactly contrary to that which induced all monastic\nlegislators to enjoin shaven crowns.\n\nMEDITATION XX.\n\nINFLUENCE OF DIET ON REST, SLEEP AND DREAMS.\n\nWHETHER man sleeps, eats, or dreams, he is yet subject to the laws\nof nutrition and to gastronomy.\n\nTheory and experience, both admit that the quantity and quality of\nfood have a great influence on our repose, rest, and dreams.\n\nEFFECTS OF DIET ON LABOR.\n\nA man who is badly fed, cannot bear for a long time, the fatigues\nof prolonged labor; his strength even abandons him, and to him\nrest is only loss of power.\n\nIf his labor be mental, his ideas are crude and undecided.\nReflection contributes nothing to them, nor does judgment analyze\nthem. The brain exhausts itself in vain efforts and the actor\nslumbers on the battlefield.\n\nI always thought that the suppers of Auteuil and those of the\nhotels of Rambouillet and Soissons, formed many of the authors of\nthe reign of Louis XIV. Geoffrey was not far wrong when he\ncharacterised the authors of the latter part of the eighteenth\ncentury as eau sucree. That was their habitual beverage.\n\nAccording to these principles, I have examined the works of\ncertain well known authors said to have been poor and suffering,\nand I never found any energy in, them, except when they were\nstimulated by badly conceived envy.\n\nOn the eve of his departure for Boulogne, the Emperor Napoleon\nfasted for thirty hours, both with his council and with the\nvarious depositories of his power, without any refreshment other\nthan two very brief meals, and a few cups of coffee.\n\nBrown, mentions an admiralty clerk, who, having lost his\nmemorandum, without which he could not carry on his duty, passed\nfifty-two consecutive hours in preparing them again. Without due\nregimen, he never could have borne the fatigue and sustained\nhimself as follows:--At first, he drank water, then wine, and\nultimately took opium.\n\nI met one day a courier, whom I had known in the army, on his way\nfrom Spain, whither he had been sent with a government dispatch.\n(Correo ganando horas.)\n\nHe made the trip in twelve days, having halted only four hours in\nMadrid, to drink a few glasses of wine, and to take some soup.\nThis was all the nourishment he took during this long series of\nsleepless nights and fatigues. He said that more solid sustenance\nwould have made it impossible for him to continue his journey.\n\nDREAMS.\n\nDiet has no trifling influence on sleep and dreams.\n\nA hungry man cannot sleep, for the pain he suffers keeps him\nawake. If weakness or exhaustion overcome him, his slumber is\nlight, uneasy and broken.\n\nA person, however, who has eaten too much, sinks at once to sleep.\nIf he dreams, he remembers nothing of it, for the nervous fluid\nhas been intercepted in the passages. He awakes quickly, and when\nawake is very sensible of the pains of digestion.\n\nWe may then lay down, as a general rule, that coffee rejects\nsleep. Custom weakens and even causes this inconvenience entirely\nto disappear. Europeans, whenever they yield to it, always feel\nits power. Some food, however, gently invites sleep; such as that\nwhich contains milk, the whole family of letuces, etc., etc.\n\nCONSEQUENCE.\n\nExperience relying on a multitude of observations, has informed us\nthat diet has an influence on dreams.\n\nIn general, all stimullkt food excites dreams, such as flock game,\nducks, venison and hare.\n\nThis quality is recognised in asparagus, celery, truffles,\nperfume, confectioneries and vanilla.\n\nIt would be a great mistake to think that we should banish from\nour tables all somniferous articles. The dreams they produce are\nin general agreeable, light, and prolong our existence even when\nit is suspended.\n\nThere are persons to whom sleep is a life apart, and whose dreams\nare serial, so that they end in one night a dream begun on the\nnight before. While asleep they distinguish faces they remember to\nhave seen, but which they never met with in the real world.\n\nRESULT.\n\nA person who reflects on his physical life and who does so\naccording to the principles we develop, is the one who prepares\nsagaciously for rest, sleep and dreams.\n\nHe distributes his labor so that he never over-tasks himself, he\nlightens it and refreshes himself by brief intervals of rest,\nwhich relieve him, without interrupting its continuity, sometimes\na duty.\n\nIf longer rest is required during the day, he indulges in it only\nin a sitting attitude; he refuses sleep unless he be forced\nirresistibly to use it, and is careful not to make it habitual.\n\nWhen night brings about the hour of repose, he retires to an airy\nroom, does not wrap himself up in curtains, which make him breathe\nthe same air again and again, and never closes the blinds so that\nwhen he wakes he will meet with at least one ray of light.\n\nHe rests in a bed with the head slightly higher than the feet. His\npillow is of hair; his night cap of cloth and his breast\nunincumbered by a mass of coverings; he is careful, however, to\nkeep his feet warm.\n\nHe eats with discretion, and never refuses good and excellent\ncheer. He drinks prudently, even the best wine. At dessert he\ntalks of gallantry more than of politics, makes more madrigals\nthan epigrams. He takes his coffee, if it suits his constitution,\nand afterwards swallows a spoonful of liquor, though it he only to\nperfume his breath. He is, in all respects, a good guest, and yet\nnever exceeds the limits of discretion.\n\nIn this state, satisfied with himself and others, he lies down and\nsinks to sleep. Mysterious dreams then give an agreeable life; he\nsees those he loves, indulges in his favorite occupations, and\nvisits places which please him.\n\nThen he feels his slumber gradually pass away, and does not regret\nthe time he has lost, because even in his sleep, he has enjoyed\nunmixed pleasure and an activity without a particle of fatigue.\n\nMEDITATION XXI.\n\nOBESITY.\n\nWere I a physician with a diploma, I would have written a whole\nbook on obesity; thus I would have acquired a domicil in the\ndomain of science, and would have had the double satisfaction of\nhaving, as patients, persons who were perfectly well, and of being\nbesieged by the fairer portion of humanity. To have exactly fat\nenough, not a bit too much, or too little, is the great study of\nwomen of every rank and grade.\n\nWhat I have not done, some other person will do, and if he be\nlearned and prudent, (and at the same time a good-fellow,) I\nforetell that he will have wonderful success.\n\nExoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus hoeres!\n\nIn the intereim, I intend to prepare the way for him. A chapter on\nobesity is a necessary concomitant of a book which relates so\nexclusively to eating.\n\nObesity is that state of greasy congestion in which without the\nsufferer being sick, the limbs gradually increase in volume, and\nlose their form and harmony.\n\nOne kind of obesity is restricted to the stomach, and I have never\nobserved it in women. Their fibres are generally softer, and when\nattacked with obesity nothing is spared. I call this variety of\nobesity GASTROPHORIA. Those attacked by it, I call GASTROPHOROUS.\nI belong to this category, yet, though my stomach is rather\nprominent, I have a round and well turned leg. My sinews are like\nthose of an Arab horse.\n\nI always, however, looked on my stomach as a formidable enemy: I\ngradually subdued it, but after a long contest. I am indebted for\nall this to a strife of thirty years.\n\nI will begin my treatise by an extract from a collection of more\nthan five hundred dialogues, which at various times I have had\nwith persons menaced with obesity.\n\nAN OBESE.--What delicious bread! where do you get it?\n\nI.--From Limet, in the Rue Richelieu, baker to their Royal\nHighness, the Due d'Orleans, and the Prince de Conde. I took it\nfrom him because he was my neighbour, and have kept to him because\nhe is the best bread maker in the world.\n\nOBESE.--I will remember the address. I eat a great deal of bread,\nand with such as this could do without any dinner.\n\nOBESE No. 2.--What are you about? You are eating your soup, but\nset aside the Carolina rice it contains! I.--Ah: that it is a\nregimen I subject myself to.\n\nOBESE.--It is a bad regimen. I am fond of rice pates and all such\nthings. Nothing is more nourishing.\n\nAN IMMENSE OBESE.--Do me the favor to pass me the potatoes before\nyou. They go so fast that I fear I shall not be in time.\n\nI.--There they are, sir.\n\nOBESE.--But you will take some? There are enough for two, and\nafter us the deluge.\n\nI.--Not I. I look on the potatoe as a great preservative against\nfamine; nothing, however, seems to me so pre-eminently fade.\n\nOBESE.--That is a gastronomical heresy. Nothing is better than the\npotatoe; I eat them in every way.\n\nAN OBESE LADY.--Be pleased to send me the Soissons haricots I see\nat the other end of the table.\n\nI.--(Having obeyed the order, hummed in a low tone, the well known\nair:)\n\n\"Les Soissonnais sont heureux, Les haricots font chez eux.\"\n\nOBESE.--Do not laugh: it is a real treasure for this country.\nParis gains immensely by it. I will thank you to pass me the\nEnglish peas. When young they are food fit for the gods.\n\nI?--Anathema on beans and peas.\n\nOBESE.--Bah, for your anathema; you talk as if you were a whole\ncouncil. I.--(To another.) I congratulate you on your good health,\nit seems to me that you have fattened somewhat, since I last saw\nyou.\n\nOBESE.--I probably owe it to a change of diet.\n\nI.--How so?\n\nOBESE.--For some time I eat a rich soup for breakfast, and so\nthick that the spoon would stand up in it.\n\nI.--(To another.) Madame, if I do not mistake, you will accept a\nportion of this charlotte? I will attack it.\n\nOBESE.--No, sir. I have two things which I prefer. This gateau of\nrice and that Savoy biscuit--I am very fond of sweet things.\n\nI.--While they talk politics, madame, at the other end of the\ntable, will you take a piece of this tourte a la frangipane?\n\nOBESE.--Yes; I like nothing better than pastry. We have a pastry-\ncook in our house as a lodger, and I think my daughter and I eat\nup all his rent.\n\nI.--(Looking at the daughter.) You both are benefitted by the\ndiet. Your daughter is a fine looking young woman.\n\nOBESE LADY.--Yes; but there are persons who say she is too fat.\n\nI.--Ah! those who do so are envious, etc., etc. By this and\nsimilar conversations I elucidate a theory I have formed about the\nhuman race, viz: Greasy corpulence always has, as its first cause,\na diet with too much farinacious or feculent substance. I am sure\nthe same regime will always have the same effect. Carniverous\nanimals never become fat. One has only to look at the wolf,\njackal, lion, eagle, etc.\n\nHerbiverous animals do not either become fat until age has made\nrepose a necessity. They, however, fatten quickly when fed on\npotatoes, farinacious grain, etc.\n\nObesity is rarely met with among savage nations, or in that class\nof persons who eat to live, instead of living to eat.\n\nCAUSES OF OBESITY.\n\nFrom the preceding observation, the causes of which any one may\nverify, it is easy to ascertain the principle causes of obesity.\n\nThe first is the nature of the individual. Almost all men are born\nwith predispositions, the impress of which is borne by their\nfaces. Of every hundred persons who die of diseases of the chest,\nninety have dark hair, long faces and sharp noses. Of every\nhundred obese persons, ninety have short faces, blue eyes, and pug\nnoses.\n\nThen there are beyond doubt persons predestined to obesity, the\ndigestive powers of whom elaborate a great quantity of grease.\n\nThis physical fact, of the truth of which I am fully satisfied,\nexerts a most important influence on our manner of looking at\nthings.\n\nWhen we meet in society, a short, fat, rosy, short-nosed\nindividual, with round limbs, short feet, etc., all pronounce her\ncharming. Better informed than others, however, I anticipate the\nravages which ten years will have effected on her, and sigh over\nevils which as yet do not exist. This anticipated compassion is a\npainful sentiment, and proves that a prescience of the future\nwould only make man more unhappy.\n\nThe second of the causes of obesity, is the fact that farinacious\nand feculaferous matter is the basis of our daily food. We have\nalready said that all animals that live on farinaceous substances\nbecome fat; man obeys the common law.\n\nThe fecula is more prompt in its action when it is mingled with\nsugar. Sugar and grease are alike in containing large quantities\nof hydrogen, and are both inflammable. This combination is the\nmore powerful, from the fact that it flatters the taste, and that\nwe never eat sweet things until the appetite is already satisfied,\nso that we are forced to court the luxury of eating by every\nrefinement of temptation.\n\nThe fecula is not less fattening when in solution, as in beer, and\nother drinks of the same kind. The nations who indulge the most in\nthem, are those who have the most huge stomachs. Some Parisian\nfamilies who in 1817 drank beer habitually, because of the\ndearness of wine, were rewarded by a degree of embonpoint, they\nwould be glad to get rid of.\n\nSEQUEL.\n\nAnother cause of obesity is found in the prolongation of sleep,\nand want of exercise. The human body repairs itself much during\nsleep, and at the same time loses nothing, because muscular action\nis entirely suspended. The acquired superfluity must then be\nevaporated by exercise.\n\nAnother consequence is, that persons who sleep soundly, always\nrefuse every thing that looks the least like fatigue. The excess\nof assimilation is then borne away by the torrent of circulation.\nIt takes possession, by a process, the secret of which nature has\nreserved to herself, of some hundredths of hydrogen, and fat is\nformed to be deposited in the tubes of the cellular tissue.\n\nSEQUEL.\n\nThe last cause of obesity is excess of eating and drinking.\n\nThere was justice in the assertion, that one of the privileges of\nthe human race is to eat without hunger, and drink without thirst.\nAnimals cannot have it, for it arises from reflection on the\npleasures of the table, and a desire to prolong its duration.\n\nThis double passion has been found wherever man exists. We know\nsavages eat to the very acme of brutality, whenever they have an\nopportunity.\n\nCosmopolites, as citizens of two hemispheres, we fancy ourselves\nat the very apogee of civilization, yet we are sure we eat too\nmuch.\n\nThis is not the case with the few, who from avarice or want of\npower, live alone. The first are delighted at the idea that they\namass money, and others distressed that they do not. It is the\ncase, however, with those around us, for all, whether hosts or\nguests, offer and accept with complaisance.\n\nThis cause, almost always present, acts differently, according to\nthe constitution of individuals; and in those who have badly\norganized stomachs, produces indigestion, but not obesity.\n\nANECDOTE.\n\nThis one instance, which all Paris will remember.\n\nM. Lang had one of the most splendid establishments of the\ncapital; his table especially, was excellent, but his digestion\nwas bad as his gourmandise was great. He did the honors with\nperfect taste, and ate with a resolution worthy of a better fate.\n\nAll used to go on very well, till coffee was introduced, but the\nstomach soon refused the labor to which it had been subjected, and\nthe unfortunate gastronomer was forced to throw himself on the\nsofa and remain in agony until the next day, in expiation of the\nbrief pleasure he had enjoyed.\n\nIt is very strange that he never corrected this fault: as long as\nhe lived, he was subjected to this alternative, yet the sufferings\nof the evening never had any influence on the next days' meal.\n\nPersons with active digestion, fare as was described in the\npreceding article. All is digested, and what is not needed for\nnutrition is fixed and turned into fat.\n\nOthers have a perpetual indigestion, and food is passed without\nhaving left any nourishment. Those who do not understand the\nmatter, are amazed that so many good things do not produce a\nbetter effect.\n\nIt may be seen that I do not go very minutely into the matter, for\nfrom our habits many secondary causes arise, due to our habits,\ncondition, inclinations, pleasures, etc.\n\nI leave all this to the successor I pointed out in the\ncommencement of this work, and satisfy myself merely with the\nprelibation, the right of the first comer to every sacrifice.\n\nIntemperance has long attracted the attention of observers.\nPrinces have made sumptuary laws, religion has moralized for\ngourmandise, but, alas, a mouthfull less was never eaten, and the\nbest of eating every day becomes more flourishing.\n\nI would perhaps be fortunate in the adoption of a new course, and\nin the exposition of the physical causes of obesity. Self-\npreservation would perhaps be more powerful than morals, or\npersuasive than reason, have more influence than laws, and I think\nthe fair sex would open their eyes to the light.\n\nINCONVENIENCE OF OBESITY.\n\nObesity has a lamentable influence on the two sexes, inasmuch as\nit is most injurious to strength and beauty.\n\nIt lessens strength because it increases the weight to be moved,\nwhile the motive power is unchanged. It injures respiration, and\nmakes all labor requiring prolonged muscular power impossible.\n\nObesity destroys beauty by annihilating the harmony of primitive\nproportions, for all the limbs do not proportionately fatten.\n\nIt destroys beauty by filling up cavities nature's hand itself\ndesigned.\n\nNothing is so common as to see faces, once very interesting, made\ncommon-place by obesity.\n\nThe head of the last government did not escape this law. Towards\nthe latter portion of his life, he (Napoleon) became bloated, and\nhis eyes lost a great portion of their expression.\n\nObesity produces a distaste for dancing, walking, riding, and an\ninaptitude for those amusements which require skill or agility.\n\nIt also creates a disposition to certain diseases, such as\napoplexy, dropsy, ulcers in the legs, and makes all diseases\ndifficult to cure.\n\nEXAMPLES OF OBESITY.\n\nI can remember no corpulent heroes except Marius and John\nSobieski.\n\nMarius was short, and was about as broad as he was long. That\nprobably frightened the Cimber who was about to kill him.\n\nThe obesity of the King of Poland had nearly been fatal to him,\nfor having stumbled on a squadron of Turkish cavalry, from which\nhe had to fly, he would certainly have been massacred, if his aids\nhad not sustained him, almost fainting from fatigue on his horse,\nwhile others generously sacrificed themselves to protect him.\n\nIf I am not mistaken, the Duc de Vendome, a worthy son of Henry\nIV., was also very corpulent. He died at an inn, deserted by all,\nand preserved consciousness just long enough to see a servant\nsnatch away a pillow on which his head was resting.\n\nThere are many instances of remarkable obesity. I will only speak,\nhowever, of my own observations.\n\nM. Rameau, a fellow student of mine and maire of Chaleur, was\nabout five feet two inches high, but weighed five hundred pounds.\n\nThe Duc de Luynes, beside whom I often sat, became enormous. Fat\nhad effaced his handsome features, and he slept away the best\nportion of his life.\n\nThe most remarkable case, though, I saw in New York, and many\npersons now in Paris will remember to have seen at the door of a\ncafe in Broadway, a person seated in an immense arm-chair, with\nlegs stout enough to have sustained a church. [Footnote: Many\npersons in New York remember the person referred to. The\ntranslator has heard, that as late as 1815, he was frequently to\nbe seen at the door of a house near where the Atheneum Hotel was.\nBrillat Savarin is said scarcely to exaggerate.]\n\nEdward was at least five feet ten inches, and was about eight feet\n(French) in circumference. His fingers were like those of the\nRoman Emperor, who used to wear his wife's bracelets as rings. His\narms and legs were nearly as thick as the waist of a man of medium\nsize, and his feet were elephantine, covered by fat pendant from\nhis legs. The fat on his cheek had weighed down his lower eye-lid,\nand three hanging chins made his face horrible to behold.\n\nHe passed his life near a window, which looked out on the street\nand drank from time to time a glass of ale from a huge pitcher he\nkept by his side.\n\nHis strange appearance used to attract the attention of passers,\nwhom he used always to put to flight by saying in a sepulchral\ntone \"What are you staring at like wild cats? Go about your\nbusiness, you blackguards,\" etc.\n\nHaving spoken to him one day, he told me that he was not at all\nannoyed and that if death did not interrupt him, he would be glad\nto live till the day of judgment.\n\nFrom the preceding, it appears that if obesity be not a disease,\nit is at least a very troublesome predisposition, into which we\nfall from our own fault.\n\nThe result is, that we should all seek to preserve ourselves from\nit before we are attacked, and to cure ourselves when it befalls\nus. For the sake of the unfortunate we will examine what resources\nscience presents us.\n\nMEDITATION XXII.\n\nPRESERVATIVE TREATMENT AND CURE OF OBESITY. [Footnote: About\ntwenty years ago I began a treatise, ex professo, on obesity. My\nreaders must especially regret the preface which was of dramatic\nform. I averred to a physician that a fever is less dangerous than\na law suit; for the latter, after having made a man run, fatigue,\nand worry himself, strips him of pleasure, money, and life. This\nis a statement which might be propagated as well as any other. ]\n\nI WILL begin by a fact which proves that courage is needed not\nonly to prevent but to cure obesity.\n\nM. Louis Greffulhe, whom his majesty afterwards honored with the\ntitle of count, came one morning to see me, saying that he had\nunderstood that I had paid great attention to obesity, and asked\nme for advice.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said I, \"not being a doctor with a diploma, I might\nrefuse you, but I will not, provided you give me your word of\nhonor that for one month you will rigorously obey my directions.\"\n\nM. Greffulhe made the promise I required and gave me his hand. On\nthe next day, I gave him my directions, the first article of which\ndemanded that he should at once get himself weighed, so that the\nresult might be made mathematically.\n\nAfter a month he came to see me again, and spoke to me nearly\nthus:\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said he, \"I followed your prescription as if my life\ndepended on it, and during the month I am satisfied that I have\nlost three pounds and more; but have for that purpose to violate\nall my tastes and, habits so completely, that while I thank you\nfor your advice I must decline to follow it, and await quietly the\nfate God ordains for me.\"\n\nI heard this resolution with pain. M. Greffulhe became every day\nfatter and subject to all the inconveniences of extreme obesity,\nand died of suffocation when he was about forty.\n\nGENERALITIES.\n\nThe cure of obesity should begin with three precepts of absolute\ntheory, discretion in eating, moderation in sleep, and exercise on\nfoot or horseback.\n\nThese are the first resources presented to us by science. I,\nhowever, have little faith in them, for I know men and things\nenough to be aware that any prescription, not literally followed,\nhas but a light effect.\n\nNow, imprimus, it needs much courage to be able to leave the table\nhungry. As long as the want of food is felt, one mouthful makes\nthe succeeding one more palatable, and in general as long as we\nare hungry, we eat in spite of doctors, though in that respect we\nfollow their example.\n\nIn the second place to ask obese persons to rise early is to stab\nthem to the heart. They will tell you that their health will not\nsuffer them, that when they rise early they are good for nothing\nall day. Women will plead exhaustion, will consent to sit up late,\nand wish to fatten on the morning's nap. They lose thus this\nresource.\n\nIn the third place, riding as an exercise is expensive, and does\nnot suit every rank and fortune.\n\nPropose this to a female patient and she will consent with joy,\nprovided she have a gentle but active horse, a riding dress in the\nheight of the fashion, and in the third place a squire who is\nyoung, good-tempered and handsome. It is difficult to fill these\nthree requisites, and riding is thus given up.\n\nExercise on foot is liable to many other objections. It is\nfatiguing, produces perspiration and pleurisy. Dust soils the\nshoes and stockings, and it is given up. If, too, the patient have\nthe least headache, if a single shot, though no larger than the\nhead of a pin, pierce the skin it is all charged to the exercise.\n\nThe consequence is that all who wish to diminish embonpoint should\neat moderately, sleep little, and take as much exercise as\npossible, seeking to accomplish the purpose in another manner.\nThis method, based on the soundest principles of physics and\nchemistry, consists in a diet suited to the effects sought for.\n\nOf all medical powers, diet is the most important, for it is\nconstant by night and day, whether waking or sleeping. Its effect\nis renewed at every meal, and gradually exerts its influence on\nevery portion of the individual. The antiobesic regimen is\ntherefore indicated by the most common causes of the diseases, and\nby the fact that it has been shown that farina or fecula form fat\nin both men and animals. In the latter, the case is evident every\nday, and from it we may deduce the conclusion that obtaining from\nfarinaceous food will be beneficial.\n\nBut my readers of both sexes will exclaim, \"Oh my God, how cruel\nthe professor is. He has at once prescribed all we like, the white\nrolls of Limet, the biscuit of Achard. the cakes of ... and all\nthe good things made with sugar, eggs, and farina. He will spare\nneither potatoes nor macaroni. Who would have expected it from a\nman fond of everything good?\"\n\n\"What is that?\" said I, putting on my stern look which I call up\nbut once a year. \"Well, eat and grow fat, become ugly, asthmatic\nand die of melted fat. I will make a note of your case and you\nshall figure in my second edition. Ah! I see, one phrase has\novercome you, and you beg me to suspend the thunderbolt. Be easy,\nI will prescribe your diet and prove how much pleasure is in the\ngrasp of one who lives to eat.\"\n\n\"You like bread? well, eat barley-bread. The admirable Cadet de\nVaux long ago extolled its virtues. It is not so nourishing and\nnot so agreeable. The precept will then be more easily complied\nwith. To be sure one should resist temptation. Remember this,\nwhich is a principle of sound morality.\n\n\"You like soup? Eat julienne then, with green vegetables, with\ncabbage and roots. I prohibit soup au pain, pates and purees.\n\n\"Eat what you please at the first course except rice aux volailles\nand the crust of pates. Eat well, but circumspectly.\n\n\"The second course will call for all your philosophy. Avoid\neverything farinacious, under whatever form it appears. You have\nyet the roasts, salads, and herbacious vegetables.\n\n\"Now for the dessert. This is a new danger, but if you have acted\nprudently so far, you may survive it. Avoid the head of the table,\nwhere things that are dangerous to you are most apt to appear. Do\nnot look at either biscuits or macaronies; you have fruits of all\nkinds, confitures and much else that you may safely indulge in,\naccording to my principles.\n\n\"After dinner I prescribe coffee, permit you liqueurs, and advise\nyou to take tea and punch.\n\n\"At breakfast barly-bread is a necessity, and take chocolate\nrather than coffee. I, however, permit strong cafe au lait. One\ncannot breakfast too soon. When we breakfast late, dinner time\ncomes before your digestion is complete. You eat though, and\neating without appetite is often a great cause of obesity, when we\ndo so too often.\"\n\nSEQUEL OF THE REGIMEN.\n\nSo far I have, like a tender father, marked out a regimen which\nwill prevent obesity. Let us add a few remarks about its cure.\n\nDrink every summer thirty bottles of Seltzer water, a large glass\nin the morning, two before breakfast and another at bed-time.\nDrink light white acid wines like those of Anjon. Avoid beer as\nyou would the plague. Eat radishes, artichokes, asparagus, etc.\nEat lamb and chicken in preference to other animal food; eat only\nthe crust of bread, and employ a doctor who follows my principles,\nand as soon as you begin you will find yourself fresher, prettier,\nand better in every respect.\n\nHaving thus placed you ashore, I must point out the shoals, lest\nin excess or zeal, you overleap the mark.\n\nThe shoal I wish to point out is the habitual use made by some\nstupid people of acids, the bad effects of which experience has\ndemonstrated.\n\nDANGERS OF ACIDS.\n\nThere is a current opinion among women, which every year causes\nthe death of many young women, that acids, especially vinegar, are\npreventives of obesity. Beyond all doubts, acids have the effect\nof destroying obesity, but they also destroy health and freshness.\nLemonade is of all acids the most harmless, but few stomachs can\nresist it long.\n\nThe truth I wish to announce cannot be too public, and almost all\nof my readers can bring forward some fact to sustain it.\n\nI knew in 1776, at Dijon, a young lady of great beauty, to whom I\nwas attached by bonds of friendship, great almost as those of\nlove. One day when she had for some time gradually grown pale and\nthin (previously she had a delicious embonpoint) she told me in\nconfidence that as her young friends had ridiculed her for being\ntoo fat, she had, to counteract the tendency, been in the habit\nevery day of drinking a large glass of vinaigre.\n\nI shuddered at the confession, and made every attempt to avoid the\ndanger. I informed her mother of the state of things the next day,\nand as she adored her daughter, she was as much alarmed as I was.\nThe doctors were sent for, but in vain, for before the cause of\nher malady was suspected, it was incurable and hopeless.\n\nThus, in consequence of having followed imprudent advice, our\namiable Louise was led to the terrible condition of marasmus, and\nsank when scarcely eighteen years old, to sleep forever.\n\nShe died casting longing looks towards a future, which to her\nwould have no existence, and the idea that she had involuntarily\nattempted her own life, made her existence more prompt and\npainful.\n\nI have never seen any one else die; she breathed her last in my\narms, as I lifted her up to enable her to see the day. Eight days\nafter her death, her broken hearted mother wished me to visit with\nher the remains of her daughter, and we saw an extatic appearance\nwhich had not hitherto been visible. I was amazed, but extracted\nsome consolation from the fact. This however is not strange, for\nLavater tells of many such in his history of physiogomy.\n\nANTIOBESIC BELT.\n\nAll antiobesic tendencies should be accompanied by a precaution I\nhad forgotten. It consists in wearing night and day, a girdle to\nrepress the stomach, by moderately clasping it.\n\nTo cause the necessity of it to be perceived, we must remember\nthat the vertebral column, forming one of the walls in the cavity\ncontaining the intestines, is firm and inflexible. Whence it\nfollows, that the excess of weight which intestines acquire as\nsoon as obesity causes them to deviate from the vertical line,\nrests on the envelopes which compose the skin of the stomach. The\nlatter being susceptible of almost infinite distention, would be\nunable to replace themselves, when this effort diminishes, if they\ndid not have a mechanical art, which, resting on the dorsal\ncolumn, becomes an antagonist, and restores equilibrium. This belt\nhas therefore the effect of preventing the intestines from\nyielding to their actual weight, and gives a power to contract\nwhen pressure is diminished. It should never be laid aside, or the\nbenefit it exerts in the day will be destroyed in the night. It is\nnot, however, in the least troublesome, and one soon becomes used\nto it.\n\nThe belt also shows when we have eaten enough; and it should be\nmade with great care, and so contrived as to diminish as the\nembonpoint decreases.\n\nOne is not forced to wear it all life long, and it may be laid\naside when the inconvenience is sufficiently reduced. A suitable\ndiet however, should be maintained. I have not worn it for six\nyears.\n\nQUINQUINA.\n\nOne substance I think decidedly antiobesic. Many observations have\ninduced me to think so, yet I leave the matter in doubt, and\nsubmit it to physicians.\n\nThis is quinquina.\n\nTen or twelve persons that I know, have had long intermittent\nfevers; some were cured by old women's remedies, powders, etc.\nOthers by the continued use of quinquina, which is always\neffective.\n\nAll those persons of the same category, gradually regained their\nobesity. Those of the second, lost their embonpoint, a\ncircumstance which leaves me to think the quinquina which produced\nthe last result had the effect I speak of.\n\nRational theory is not opposed to this deduction, for quinquina,\nexciting all the vital powers, may give the circulation an impetus\nwhich troubles all, and dissipates, the gas destined to become\nfat. It is also shown that quinquina contains a portion of tannin\nwhich is powerful enough to close the cells which contain grease.\nIt is possible that these two effects sustain each other.\n\nThese two ideas, the truth of which any one may understand, induce\nme to recommend quinquina to all those who wish to get rid of\ntroublesome embonpoint. Thus dummodo annuerit in omni medicationis\ngenere doctissimi Facultatis professores. I think that after the\nfirst month of any regimen, the person who wishes to get rid of\nfat, should take every day before breakfast, a glass of white\nwine, in which was placed a spoonful of coffee and red quinquina.\nSuch are the means I suggest to overcome a very troublesome\naffection. I have accommodated them to human weakness and to our\nmanners.\n\nIn this respect the experimental truth is relied on, which teaches\nthat in proportion as a regime is vigorous, it is dangerous, for\nhe who does not follow it literally, does not follow it all.\n\nGreat efforts are rare, and if one wishes to be followed, men must\nbe offered things vacile, if not agreeable.\n\nMEDITATION XXIII.\n\nTHINNESS.\n\nDEFINITION.\n\nTHINNESS is the state of that individual, the muscular frame of\nwhom is not filled up by strength, and who exhibits all angles of\nthe long scaffolding.\n\nVARIETIES.\n\nThere are two kinds of thinness; the first is the result of the\nprimitive disposition of the body, and is accompanied by health,\nand a full use of the organic functions of the body. The second is\ncaused by the fact that some of the organs are more defective than\nothers, and give the individual an unhappy and miserable\nappearance. I once knew young woman of moderate stature who only\nweighed sixty-five pounds.\n\nEFFECTS OF THINNESS.\n\nThinness is a matter of no great trouble to men. They have no less\nstrength, and are far more active. The father of the young woman I\nspoke of, though, very thin, could seize a chair by his teeth and\nthrow it over his head.\n\nIt is, however, a terrible misfortune to women, to whom beauty is\nmore important than life, and the beauty of whom consists in the\nroundness and graceful contour of their forms. The most careful\ntoilette, the most, sublime needle-work, cannot hide certain\ndeficiencies. It has been said that whenever a pin is taken from a\nthin woman, beautiful as she may be, she loses some charm.\n\nThe thin have, therefore, no remedy, except from the interference\nof the faculty. The regimen must be so long, that the cure must be\nslow.\n\nWomen, however, who are thin, and who have a good stomach, are\nfound to be as susceptible of fat as chickens. A little time,\nonly, is necessary, for the stomach of chickens is comparatively\nsmaller, and they cannot be submitted to as regular a diet as\nchickens are.\n\nThis is the most gentle comparison which suggested itself to me. I\nneeded one, and ladies will excuse me for the reason for which I\nwrote this chapter.\n\nNATURAL PREDESTINATION.\n\nNature varies its works, and has remedies for thinness, as it has\nfor obesity.\n\nPersons intended to be thin are long drawn out. They have long\nhands and feet, legs thin, and the os coxigis retroceding. Their\nsides are strongly marked, their noses prominent, large mouths,\nsharp chins and brown hair.\n\nThis is the general type, the individual elements may sometimes\nvary; this however happens rarely.\n\nThin people sometimetimes eat a great deal. All I ever even talked\nwith, confess that they digest badly. That is the reason they\nremain thin.\n\nThey are of every class and temperament. Some have nothing salient\neither in feature or in form. Their eyes are inexpressive, their\nlips pale, and every feature denotes a want of energy, weakness,\nand something like suffering. One might almost say they seemed to\nbe incomplete, and that the torch of their lives had not been well\nlighted.\n\nFATTENING REGIMEN.\n\nAll thin women wish to be fat; this is a wish we have heard\nexpressed a thousand times. To render, then, this last homage to\nthe powerful sex, we seek to replace by folds of silk and cotton,\nexposed in fashion shops, to the great scandal of the severe, who\nturn aside, and look away from them, as they would from chimeras,\nmore carefully than if the reality presented themselves to their\neyes.\n\nThe whole secret of embonpoint consists in a suitable diet. One\nneed only eat and select suitable food.\n\nWith this regimen, our disposition to sleep is almost unimportant.\nIf you do not take exercise, you will be exposed to fatness. If\nyou do, you will yet grow fat.\n\nIf you sleep much, you will grow fat, if you sleep little, your\ndigestion will increase, and you will eat more.\n\nWe have then only to speak of the manner they who wish to grow fat\nshould live. This will not be difficult, according to the many\ndirections we have laid down.\n\nTo resolve this problem, we must offer to the stomach food which\noccupies, but does not fatigue it, and displays to the assimilant\npower, things they can turn into fat.\n\nLet us seek to trace out the daily diet of a sylph, or a sylph\ndisposed to materialize itself.\n\nGENERAL RULE. Much fresh bread will be eaten during the day, and\nparticular care will be taken not to throw away the crumbs.\n\nBefore eight in the morning, soup au pain or aux pates will be\ntaken, and afterwards a cup of good chocolate.\n\nAt eleven o'clock, breakfast on fresh broiled eggs, petit pates\ncotelettes, and what you please; have eggs, coffee will do no\nharm.\n\nDinner hour should be so arranged that one should have thoroughly\ndigested before the time comes to sit down at the table. The\neating of one meal before another is digested, is an abuse.\n\nAfter dinner there should be some exercise; men as much as they\ncan; women should go into the Tuilleries, or as they say in\nAmerica, go shopping. We are satisfied that the little gossip and\nconversation they maintain is very healthful.\n\nAt times, all should take as much soup, potage, fish, etc., and\nalso meat cooked with rice and macaronies, pastry, creams, etc.\n\nAt dessert such persons should eat Savoy biscuits, and other\nthings made up of eggs, fecula, and sugar.\n\nThis regimen, though apparently circumscribed, is yet susceptible\nof great variety: it admits the whole animal kingdom, and great\ncare is necessarily taken in the seasoning and preparation of the\nfood presented. The object of this is to prevent disgust, which\nprevents any amelioration.\n\nBeer should be preferred--if not beer, wines from Bourdeaux or\nfrom the south of France.\n\nOne should avoid all acids, except salads. As much sugar as\npossible should be put on fruits and all should avoid cold baths.\nOne should seek as long as possible, to breathe the pure country\nair, eat many grapes when they are in season, and never go to the\nball for the mere pleasure of dancing.\n\nOrdinarily one should go to bed about eleven, P. M., and never,\nunder any circumstances, sit up more than an hour later.\n\nFollowing this regime resolutely, all the distractions of nature\nwill soon be repaired. Health and beauty will both be advanced,\nand accents of gratitude will ring in the ears of the professor.\n\nSheep are fattened, as are oxen, lobsters and oysters. Hence, I\ndeduce the general maxim; viz: \"He that eats may be made fat,\nprovided that the food be chosen correctly, and according to the\nphysiology of the animal to be fattened.\"\n\nMEDITATION XXIV.\n\nFASTING.\n\nDEFINITION.\n\nFASTING is a moral abstinence from food, from some religious or\nmoral influence.\n\nThough contrary to our tastes and habits, it is yet of the\ngreatest antiquity.\n\nORIGIN.\n\nAuthors explain the matter thus:\n\nIn individual troubles, when a father, mother, or beloved child\nhave died, all the household is in mourning. The body is washed,\nperfumed, enbalmed, and buried as it should be--none then think of\neating, but all fast.\n\nIn public calamites, when a general drought appears, and cruel\nwars, or contagious maladies come, we humble ourselves before the\npower that sent them, and mortify ourselves by abstinence.\nMisfortune ceases. We become satisfied that the reason was that we\nfasted, and we continue to have reference to such conjectures.\n\nThus it is, men afflicted with public calamities or private ones,\nalways yield to sadness, fail to take food, and in the end, make a\nvoluntary act, a religious one.\n\nThey fancied they should macerate their body when their soul was\noppressed, that they could excite the pity of the gods. This idea\nseized on all nations and filled them with the idea of mourning,\nprayers, sacrifice, abstinence, mortification, etc.\n\nChrist came and sanctified fasting. All Christian sects since then\nhave adopted fasting more or less, as an obligation.\n\nHOW PEOPLE USED TO FAST.\n\nThe practice of fasting, I am sorry to say, has become very rare;\nand whether for the education of the wicked, or for their\nconversion, I am glad to tell how we fast now in the XVIII.\ncentury.\n\nOrdinarily we breakfast before nine o'clock, on bread, cheese,\nfruit and cold meats.\n\nBetween one and two P. M., we take soup or pot au feu according to\nour positions.\n\nAbout four, there is a little lunch kept up for the benefit of\nthose people who belong to other ages, and for children.\n\nAbout eight there was a regular supper, with entrees roti\nentremets dessert: all shared in it, and then went to bed.\n\nIn Paris there are always more magnificent suppers, which begin\njust after the play. The persons who usually attend them are\npretty women, admirable actresses, financiers, and men about town.\nThere the events of the day were talked of, the last new song was\nsung, and politics, literature, etc., were discussed. All persons\ndevoted themselves especially to making love.\n\nLet us see what was done on fast days:\n\nNo body breakfasted, and therefore all were more hungry than\nusual.\n\nAll dined as well as possible, but fish and vegetables are soon\ngone through with. At five o'clock all were furiously hungry,\nlooked at their watches and became enraged, though they were\nsecuring their soul's salvation.\n\nAt eight o'clock they had not a good supper, but a collation, a\nword derived from cloister, because at the end of the day the\nmonks used to assemble to comment on the works of the fathers,\nafter which they were allowed a glass of wine.\n\nNeither butter, eggs, nor any thing animal was served at these\ncollations. They had to be satisfied with salads, confitures, and\nmeats, a very unsatisfactory food to such appetites at that time.\nThey went to bed, however, and lived in hope as long as the fast\nlasted.\n\nThose who ate these little suppers, I am assured, never fasted.\n\nThe chef-d'oeuvre of a kitchen of those days, I am assured, was a\nstrictly apostolic collation, which, however, was very like a good\nsupper.\n\nScience soon resolved this problem by the recognition of fish,\nsoups, and pastry made with oil. The observing of fasting, gave\nrise to an unknown pleasure, that of the Easter celebration.\n\nA close observation shows that the elements of our enjoyment are,\ndifficult privation, desire and gratification. All of these are\nfound in the breaking of abstinence. I have seen two of my grand\nuncles, very excellent men, too, almost faint with pleasure, when,\non the day after Easter, they saw a ham, or a pate brought on the\ntable. A degenerate race like the present, experiences no such\nsensation.\n\nORIGIN OF THE REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION IN FASTING.\n\nI witnessed the rise of this. It advanced by almost insensible\ndegrees.\n\nYoung persons of a certain age, were not forced to fast, nor were\npregnant women, or those who thought themselves so. When in that\ncondition, a soup, a very great temptation to those who were well,\nwas served to them.\n\nThen people began to find out that fasting disagreed with them,\nand kept them awake. All the little accidents man is subject to,\nwere then attributed to it, so that people did not fast, because\nthey thought themselves sick, or that they would be so. Collations\nthus gradually became rarer.\n\nThis was not all; some winters were so severe that people began to\nfear a scarcity of vegetables, and the ecclesiastical power\nofficially relaxed its rigor.\n\nThe duty, however, was recognised and permission was always asked.\nThe priests were refused it, but enjoined the necessity of extra\nalms giving.\n\nThe Revolution came, which occupied the minds of all, that none\nthought of priests, who were looked on as enemies to the state.\n\nThis cause does not exist, but a new one has intervened. The hour\nof our meals is totally changed; we do not eat so often, and a\ntotally different household arrangement would be required for\nfasting. This is so true, that I think I may safely say, though I\nvisit none but the best regulated houses, that, except at home, I\nhave not seen a lenten table, or a collation ten times in twenty-\nfive years.\n\nWe will not finish this chapter without observing the new\ndirection popular taste has taken.\n\nThousands of men, who, forty years ago would have passed their\nevenings in cabarets, now pass them at the theatres.\n\nEconomy, certainly does not gain by this, but morality does.\nManners are improved at the play, and at cafes one sees the\njournals. One certainly escapes the quarrels, diseases, and\ndegradation, which infallibly result from the habit of frequenting\ncabarets.\n\nMEDITATION XXV.\n\nEXHAUSTION.\n\nBY exhaustion, a state of weakness, languor or depression, caused\nby previous circumstances is understood, rendering the exercise of\nthe vital functions more difficult. There are various kinds of\nexhaustion, caused by mental labor, bodily toil and the abuse of\ncertain faculties.\n\nOne great remedy is to lay aside the acts which have produced this\nstate, which, if not a disease, approximates closely to one.\n\nTREATMENT.\n\nAfter these indispensable preliminaries, gastronomy is ready with\nits resources.\n\nWhen a man is overcome by too long fatigue, it offers him a good\nsoup, generous wine, flesh and sleep.\n\nTo a savant led into debility by a too great exercise of his\nmental faculties, it prescribes fresh air, a bath, fowl and\nvegetables.\n\nThe following observation will explain how I effected a cure of\nanother kind of exhaustion. [The translator thinks it best not to\ntranslate this anecdote, but merely to append the original.]\n\nCURE BY THE PROFESSOR.\n\nJ'allai un jour faire visite a un de mes meilleurs amis (M.\nRubat); on me dit qu'il etait malade, et effectivement je le\ntrouvai en robe de chambre aupres de son feu, et en attitude\nd'affaissement.\n\nSa physionomie m'effraya: il avait le visage pale, les yeux\nbrillants et sa levre tombait de maniere a laisser voir les dents\nde la machoire inferieure, ce qui avait quelque chose de hideux.\n\nJe m'enquis avec interet de la cause de ce changement subit; il\nhesita, je le pressai, et apres quelque resistance: \"Mon ami, dit-\nil en rougissant, tu sais que ma femme est jalouse, et que cette\nmanie m'a fait passer bien des mauvais moments. Depuis quelques\njours, il lui en a pris une crise effroyable, et c'est en voulant\nlui prouver qu'elle n'a rien perdu de mon affection et qu'il ne se\nfait a son prejudice aucune derivation du tribut conjugal, que je\nme suis mis en cet etat.--Tu as done oublie, lui dis-je, et que tu\nas quarante-cinq ans, et que la jalousie est un mal sans remede?\nNe sais-tu pas furens quid femina possit?\" Je tins encore quelques\nautres propos peu galants, car j'etais en colere.\n\n\"Voyons, au surplus, continuai-je: ton pouls est petit, dur,\nconcentre; que vas-tu faire?--Le docteur, me dit-il, sort d'ici;\nil a pense que j'avais une fievre nerveuse, et a ordonne une\nsaignee pour laquelle il doit incessamment m'envoyer le\nchirurgien.--Le chirurgien! m' ecriai-je, garde-t'en bien, ou tu\nes mort; chasse-le comme un meurtrier, et dis lui que je me suis\nempare de toi, corps et ame. Au surplus, ton medecin connait-il la\ncause occasionnelle de ton mal?--Helas! non, une mauvaise honte\nm'a empeche de lui fairs une confession entiere.--Eh bien, il faut\nle prier de passer cher toi. Je vais te faire une potion\nappropriee a ton etat; en attendant prends ceci.\" Je lui presentai\nun verre d'eau saturee de sucre, qu'il avala avec la confiance\nd'Alexandre et la foi du charbounier.\n\nAlors je le quittai et courus chez moi pour y mixtionner,\nfonctionner et elaborer un magister reparateur qu'on trouvera dans\nles Varietes, avec les divers modes que j'adoptai pour me hater;\ncar, en pareil cas, quelques heures de retard peuvent donner lieu\na des accidents irreparables.\n\nJe revins bientot arme de ma potion, et deja je trouvai du mieux;\nla couleur reparaissait aux joues, l'oeil etait detendu; mais la\nlevre pendait toujours avec une effrayante difformite.\n\nLe medecin ne tarda pas a reparaitre; je l'instruisis de ce que\nj'avais fait et le malade fit ses aveux. Son front doctoral prit\nd'abord un aspect severe; mais bientot nous regardant avec un air\nou il y avait un peu d'ironie: \"Vous ne devez pas etre etonne,\ndit-il a mon ami, que je n'aie pas devine une maladie qui ne\nconvient ni a votre age ni a votre etat, et il y a de votre part\ntrop de modestie a en cacher la cause, qui ne pouvait que vous\nfaire honneur. J'ai encore a vous gronder de ce que vous m'avez\nexpose a une erreur qui aurait pu vous etre funeste. Au surplus,\nmon confrere, ajouta-til en me faisant un salut que je lui rendis\navec usure, vous a indique la bonne route; prenez son potage, quel\nque soit le nom qu'il y donne, et si la fievre vous quitte, comme\nje le crois, dejeunez demain avec une tasse de chocolat dans\nlaquelle vous ferez delayer deux jaunes d'oeufs frais.\"\n\nA ces mots il prit sa canne, son chapeau et nous quitta, nous\nlaissant fort tentes de nous egayer a ses depens.\n\nBientot je fis prendre a mon malade une forte tasse de mon elixir\nde vie; il le but avec avidite, et voulait redoubler; mais\nj'exigeai un, ajournement de deux heures, et lui servis une\nseconde dose avant de me retirer.\n\nLe lendemain il etait sans fievre et presque bien portant; il\ndejeuna suivant l'ordonnance, continua la potion, et put vaquer\ndes le surlendemain a ses occupations ordinaires; mais la levre\nrebelle ne se releva qu'apres le troisieme jour.\n\nPen de temps apres, l'affaire transpira, et toutes les dames en\nchuchotaient entre elles.\n\nQuelques-unes admiraient mon ami, presque toutes le plaignaient,\net le professeur gastronome fut glorifie.\n\nMEDITATION XXVI\n\nDEATH.\n\nOmnia mors poscit; lex est, non poena, perire.\n\nGod has subjected man to six great necessities: birth, action,\neating, sleep, reproduction and death.\n\nDeath is the absolute interruption of the sensual relations, and\nthe absolute annihilation of the vital powers, which abandons the\nbody to the laws of decomposition.\n\nThese necessities are all accompanied and softened by a sensation\nof pleasure, and even death, when j natural, is not without\ncharms. We mean when a man has passed through the different phases\nof growth, virility, old age, and decrepitude.\n\nHad I not determined to make this chapter very short, I would\ninvoke the assistance of the physicians, who have observed every\nshade of the transition of a living to an inert body. I would\nquote philosophers, kings, men of letters, men, who while on the\nverge of eternity, had pleasant thoughts they decked in the\ngraces; I would recall the dying answer of Fontinelle, who being\nasked what he felt, said, \"nothing but the pain of life;\" I\nprefer, however, merely to express my opinion, founded on analogy\nas sustained by many instances, of which the following is the\nlast:\n\nI had a great aunt, aged eighty-three when she died. Though she\nhad long been confined to her bed, she preserved all her\nfaculties, and the approach of death was perceived by the\nfeebleness of her voice and the failing of her appetite.\n\nShe had always exhibited great devotion to me, and I sat by her\nbed-side anxious to attend on her. This, however, did not prevent\nmy observing her with most philosophic attention.\n\n\"Are you there, nephew?\" said she in an almost inaudible voice.\n\"Yes, aunt! I think you would be better if you would take a little\nold wine.\" \"Give it to me, liquids always run down.\" I hastened to\nlift her up and gave her half a glass of my best and oldest wine.\nShe revived for a moment and said, \"I thank you. If you live as\nlong as I have lived, you will find that death like sleep is a\nnecessity.\"\n\nThese were her last words, and in half an hour she had sank to\nsleep forever.\n\nRicherand has described with so much truth the gradations of the\nhuman body, and the last moments of the individual that my readers\nwill be obliged to me for this passage.\n\n\"Thus the intellectual faculties are decomposed and pass away.\nReason the attribute of which man pretends to be the exclusive\npossessor, first deserts him. He then loses the power of combining\nhis judgment, and soon after that of comparing, assembling,\ncombining, and joining together many ideas. They say then that the\ninvalid loses his mind, that he is delirious. All this usually\nrests on ideas familiar to the individual. The dominant passion is\neasily recognized. The miser talks most wildly about his\ntreasures, and another person is besieged by religious terrors.\n\n\"After reasoning and judgment, the faculty of association becomes\nlost. This takes place in the cases known as defaillances, to\nwhich I have myself been liable. I was once talking with a friend\nand met with an insurmountable difficulty in combining two ideas\nfrom which I wished to make up an opinion. The syncopy was not,\nhowever, complete, for memory and sensation remained. I heard the\npersons around me say distinctly he is fainting, and sought to\narouse me from this condition, which was not without pleasure.\n\n\"Memory then becomes extinct. The patient, who in his delirium,\nrecognized his friends, now fails even to know those with whom he\nhad been on terms of the greatest intimacy. He then loses\nsensation, but the senses go out in a successive and determinate\norder. Taste and smell give no evidence of their existence, the\neyes become covered with a mistful veil and the ear ceases to\nexecute its functions. For that reason, the ancients to be sure of\nthe reality of death, used to utter loud cries in the ears of the\ndying. He neither tastes, sees, nor hears. He yet retains the\nsense of touch, moves in his bed, changes the position of the arms\nand body every moment, and has motions analogous to those of the\nfoetus in the womb. Death affects him with no terror, for he has\nno ideas, and he ends as he begun life, unconsciously.\n\"(Richerand's Elements on Physiology, vol. ii. p. 600.)\n\nMEDITATION XXVII.\n\nPHILOSOPHICAL HISTORY OF THE KITCHEN.\n\nCOOKERY is the most ancient of arts, for Adam must have been born\nhungry, and the cries of the infant are only soothed by the\nmother's breast.\n\nOf all the arts it is the one which has rendered the greatest\nservice in civil life. The necessities of the kitchen taught us\nthe use of fire, by which man has subdued nature.\n\nLooking carefully at things, three kinds of cuisine may be\ndiscovered.\n\nThe first has preserved its primitive name.\n\nThe second analyzes and looks after elements: it is called\nchemistry.\n\nThe third, is the cookery of separation and is called pharmacy.\n\nThough different objects, they are all united by the fact that\nthey use fire, furnaces, etc., at the same time.\n\nThus a morsel of beef, which the cook converts into potage or\nbouilli, the chemist uses to ascertain into how many substances it\nmay be resolved.\n\nORDER OF ALIMENTATION.\n\nMan is an omnivorous animal: he has incisors to divide fruits,\nmolar teeth to crush grain, and canine teeth for flesh. Let it he\nremarked however, that as man approaches the savage state, the\ncanine teeth are more easily distinguishable.\n\nThe probability was, that the human race for a long time, lived on\nfruit, for it is the most ancient food of the human race, and his\nmeans of attack until he had acquired the use of arms are very\nlimited. The instinct of perfection attached to his nature,\nhowever, soon became developed, and the sentiment attached to his\ninstinct was soon exhibited, and he made weapons for himself. To\nthis he was impelled by a carniverous instinct, and he began to\nmake prey of the animals that surrounded him.\n\nThis instinct of destruction yet exists: children always kill the\nanimals that surround them, and if they were hungry would devour\nthem.\n\nIt is not strange that man seeks to feed on flesh: He has too\nsmall a stomach, and fruit has not nourishment enough to renovate\nhim. He could subsist on vegetables, but their preparation\nrequires an art, only reached after the lapse of many centuries.\n\nMan's first weapons were the branches of trees, and subsequently\nbows and arrows.\n\nIt is worthy of remark, that wherever we find man, in all climates\nand latitudes, he has been found with and arrows. None can see how\nthis idea presented itself to individuals so differently placed:\nit must be hidden by the veil of centuries.\n\nRaw flesh has but one inconvenience. Its viscousness attaches\nitself to the teeth. It is not, however, disagreeable. When\nseasoned with salt it is easily digested, and must be digestible.\n\nA Croat captain, whom I invited to dinner in 1815, was amazed at\nmy preparations. He said to me, \"When in campaign, and we become\nhungry, we knock over the first animal we find, cut off a steak,\npowder it with salt, which we always have in the sabretasche, put\nit under the saddle, gallop over it for half a mile, and then dine\nlike princes.\"\n\nWhen the huntsmen of Dauphiny go out in Septemher to shoot, they\ntake both pepper and salt with them. If they kill a very fat bird\nthey pluck, season it, carry it some time in their caps and eat\nit. They say it is the best way to serve it up.\n\nIf our ancestors ate raw food we have not entirely gotten rid of\nthe habit. The most delicate palates like Aries' sausages, etc.,\nwhich have never been cooked, but which are not, on that account,\nthe less appetising.\n\nDISCOVERY OF FIRE.\n\nSubsequently to the Croat mode, fire was discovered. This was an\naccident, for fire is not spontaneous. Many savage nations have\nbeen found utterly ignorant of it.\n\nBAKING.\n\nFire having been discovered it was made use of to perfect food; at\nfirst it was made use of to dry it, and then to cook it.\n\nMeat thus treated was found better than when raw. It had more\nfirmness, was eaten with less difficulty, and the osmazome as it\nwas condensed by carbonization gave it a pleasing perfume.\n\nThey began, however, to find out that flesh cooked on the coals\nbecame somewhat befouled, for certain portions of coal will adhere\nto it. This was remedied by passing spits through it, and placing\nit above burning coals at a suitable height.\n\nThus grillades were invented, and they have a flavor as rich as it\nis simple. All grilled meat is highly flavored, for it must be\npartially distilled.\n\nThings in Homer's time had not advanced much further, and all will\nbe pleased here to read the account of Achilles' reception of the\nthree leading Greeks, one of whom was royal.\n\nI dedicate this story to the ladies, for Achilles was the\nhandsomest of all the Greeks, and his pride did not prevent his\nweeping when Briseis was taken from him, viz:\n\n[verse in Greek]\n\nThe following is a translation by Pope:\n\n\"Patroclus, crown a larger bowl, Mix purer wine, and open every\nsoul. Of all the warriors yonder host can send, Thy friend most\nhonours these, and these thy friend.\"\n\nHe said: Patroclus o'er the blazing fire Heaps in a brazen vase\nthree chines entire: The brazen vase Automedon sustains, 'Which\nflesh of porket, sheep, and goat contains: Achilles at the genial\nfeast presides, The parts transfixes, and with skill divides.\nMeanwhile Patroclus sweats the fire to raise; The tent is\nbrightened with the rising blaze:\n\nThen, when the languid flames at length subside, He strews a bed\nof glowing embers wide, Above the coals the smoking fragments\nturns And sprinkles sacred salt from lifted urns; With bread the\nglittering canisters they load. Which round the board Menoetius'\nson bestow'd: Himself, opposed to Ulysses, full in sight, Each\nportion parts, and orders every rite. The first fat offerings, to\nthe immortals due, Amid the greedy Patroclus threw; Then each,\nindulging in the social feast, His thirst and hunger soberly\nrepress'd. That done, to Phoenix Ajax gave the sign; Not\nunperceived; Ulysses crown'd with wine The foaming bowl, and\ninstant thus began, His speech addressing to the godlike man:\n\"Health to Achilles!\"\n\nThus then a king, a son of a king, and three Grecian leaders dined\nvery comfortably on bread, wine, and broiled meat.\n\nWe cannot but think that Achilles and Patroclus themselves\nprepared the entertainment, if only to do honor to the\ndistinguished guests they received. Ordinarily the kitchen\nbusiness was abandoned to slaves and women, as Homer tells us in\nOdyssey when he refers to the entertainment of the heralds.\n\nThe entrails of animals stuffed with blood were at that time\nlooked on as very great delicacies.\n\nAt that time and long before, beyond doubt, poetry and music, were\nmingled with meals. Famous minstrels sang the wonders of nature,\nthe loves of the gods, and warlike deeds of man. Theirs was a kind\nof priesthood and it is probable that the divine Homer himself was\nsprung from one of those men favored by heaven. He would not have\nbeen so eminent had not his poetical studies begun in his\nchildhood.\n\nMadame Dacier observes that Homer does not speak of boiled meat\nanywhere in his poems. The Jews had made much greater progress in\nconsequence of their captivity in Egypt. They had kettles. Esau's\nmess of potage must have been made thus. For this he sold his\nbirthright.\n\nIt is difficult to say how men learned the use of metals. Tubal\nCain, it is said, was the inventor.\n\nIn the present state of knowledge, we use one metal to\nmanufacture another. We overcome them with iron pincers; cut them\nwith steel files, but I never met with any one who could tell me\nwho made the first file or pair of pincers.\n\nORIENTAL ENTERTAINMENTS.--GRECIAN.\n\nCookery made great advances. We are ignorant however of its\nutensils, whether of iron, pottery or of tin material.\n\nThe oldest books we know of make honorable mention of oriental\nfestivals. It is not difficult to believe that monarchs who\nruled such glorious realms abounded in all that was grateful. We\nonly know that Cadmus who introduced writing into Greece, was cook\nof the king of Sidon.\n\nThe idea of surrounding the table with couches, originated from\nthis voluptuous prince.\n\nCookery and its flavors were then highly esteemed by the\nAthenians, a people fond of all that was new. From what we read in\ntheir histories, there is no doubt but that their festivals were\ntrue feasts.\n\nThe wines of Greece, which even now we find excellent, have been\nestimated by scientific gourmands the most delicious that were.\n\nThe most beautiful women that ever came to adorn our\nentertainments were Greeks, or of Grecian origin.\n\nThe wisest men of old were anxious to display the luxury of such\nenjoyments. Plato, Atheneus, and many others, have preserved their\nnames. The works of all of them, however, are lost, and if any\nremember them, it is only those who have heard of a long forgotten\nand lost book, the Gastronomy [Greek word]--the friend of one of\nthe sons of Pericles.\n\nSuch was the cookery of Greece, which sent forth a few men who\nfirst established themselves in the Tiber, and then took\npossession of the world.\n\nROMAN FESTIVALS.\n\nGood cheer was unknown to the Romans as long as they thought to\npreserve their independence or to overcome their neighbors, who\nwere poor as they were. Their generals therefore lived on\nvegetables. Historians have never failed to praise these times,\nwhen frugality was a matter of honor. When, however, their\nconquests had extended into Africa, Sicily and Hellas, when they\nhad to live as people did where civilization was more advanced,\nthey brought back to Rome the tastes which had attended them in\nforeign lands.\n\nThe Romans sent to Athens a deputation charged to bring back the\nlaws of Solon. They also sent them thither to study belles lettres\nand philosophy. While their manners became polished they became\naware of the attractions of festivals. And poets, philosophers,\norators, etc., all came to Rome at once.\n\nAs time advanced, and as the series of events attracted to Rome\nalmost all the riches of the world, the luxury of the table became\nincredible.\n\nEvery thing was eaten--the grass-hopper and the ostrich, the\nsquirrel and the wild-boar--all imaginable vegetables were put in\nrequisition.\n\nArmies and travellers put all the world in requisition. The most\ndistinguished Roman citizens took pleasure, not only in the\ncultivation of fruits once known, such as pears, apples, etc., but\nsought out things Lucullus never dreamed of. These importations\nwhich naturally had a great influence, prove at least that the\nimpulse was general, that each one sought to contribute to the\nenjoyment of those around him.\n\nOur drinks were not the object of less attention, nor of less\nattentive cares. The Romans were delighted with the wines of\nItaly, Greece, and Sicily. As they estimated their value from the\nyear in which they were made, we may understand Cicero's much\nabused line,\n\n Oh tortuna tam, natura, me consule Roman.\n\nThis was not all. In consequence of an instinct hitherto referred\nto, an effort was made to make them more highly perfumed, and\nflowers, aromatics, etc., were infused. Such things which the\nRomans called condita, must have had a very bad effect on the\nstomach.\n\nThus the Romans came to dream of alcohol, which was not discovered\nuntil long after they were born.\n\nRESURRECTION OF LUCULLUS.\n\nThe glorious days of old might arise again, and nothing but a\nLucullus is needed, to bring this about. Let us fancy that any\nman, known to be rich, should wish to celebrate any great act, and\ngive in this manner an occasion for a famous entertainment.\n\nLet us suppose that he appeals to every one to adorn his\nentertainment, and orders every possible resource to be prepared.\n\nLet him make every imaginable preparation and Lucullus would be as\nnothing compared with the civilized world as it is.\n\nBoth the Romans and the Athenians had beds to eat on. They\nachieved the purpose but indirectly.\n\nAt first they used beds only for the sacred festivals offered to\nthe gods. The magistrates and principal men, adopted the custom,\nand ere long, it became general and was preserved until in the\nbeginning of the fourth century.\n\nThese couches were at first, only boxes filled with straw, and\ncovered with skins. Gradually, however, they became more\nluxurious, and were made of the most precious woods, inlaid with\nivory, and sometimes with gems. Their cushions were soft and their\ncovers magnificently embroidered.\n\nPeople only laid down on the left elbow. Three usually slept\ntogether.\n\nThis the Romans called lectisternium. It is not a very bad name.\n\nIn a physical point of view incubitation demands a certain\nexhibition of power to preserve equlibrium, and is not without a\ndegree of pain; the elbow supporting an undue proportion of the\nweight of the body.\n\nIn a physiological point of view, something also is to be said.\nImbuccation (swallowing) is effected in a less natural manner. The\nfood is passed with more difficulty into the stomach.\n\nThe ingestion of liquids, or drinking, is yet more difficult. It\nrequired particular attention not to spill the wine from the large\ncups on the tables of the great. Thence came the proverb:\n\n \"Between the cup and lip,\n\n There is often time a slip.\"\n\nNone could eat comfortably when reclining, especially when we\nremember that many of the guests had long beards, and that\nfingers, or at least only knives were used. Forks are an invention\nof modern times, for none were found at Herculaeneum.\n\nSome violations of modesty must also have occurred at repasts\nwhich frequently exceeded the bounds of temperance, and where the\ntwo sexes have fallen asleep, and were mingled together. A poet\nsays:\n\n \"Nam pransus, jaceo, et satur supinus,\n\n Pertimdo tunicamque, palliumque.\"\n\nWhen Christianity had acquired some power, its priests lifted up\ntheir voices against intemperance. They declaimed against the\nlength of meals which violated all prudence by surrounding persons\nby every species of voluptuousness. Devoted by choice to an\naustere regimen, they placed gourmandise in the list of capital\nsins, and rigidly commented on the mingling of sexes and the use\nof beds, a habit which they said produced the luxury they\ndeplored.\n\nTheir menacing voice was heard; couches disappeared, and the old\nhabit of eating sitting, was restored. Fortunately this did not\nviolate the demands of pleasure.\n\nPOETRY.\n\nConvivial poetry then underwent a new modification, and in the\nmouths of Horace and Tibullus assumed a languor the Greeks were\nignorant of.\n\n Dulce ridentem Lalagem amabo,\n\n  Dulce luquentem.\n\n        HOR.\n\n Quaeris quot mihi batiationes\n\n  Tuae, Lesbia, sint satis superque.\n\n        CAT.\n\n Pande, puella, pande capillulos\n\n Mavos, lucentus ut aurum nitidum.\n\n Pande, puella, collum candidum\n\n Productum bene candidis humeris.\n\n        GALLUS.\n\nIRRUPTION OF THE BARBARIANS.\n\nThe five or six centuries we shall run over in a few pages, were\nglorious days for the cuisine; the irruption however of northern\nmen overturned and destroyed everything.\n\nWhen the strangers appeared, alimentary art made its appearance,\nas did the others that are its companions. The greater portion of\nthe cooks were massacred in the palaces they served. The\nforeigners came and they were able to eat as much in an hour as\ncivilized people did in a week.\n\nAlthough that which is excessive is not durable--conquerors are\nalways cruel. They united themselves with the victors, who\nreceived some tints of civilization, and began to know the\npleasures of civilized life.\n\n *  *  *  *  *  *  *\n\nAbout the seventeenth century, the Dutch imported coffee into\nEurope. Solyman Agu, a Turk, whom our great, great grandfathers\nwell remember, sold the first cups in 1760. An American sold it in\n1670, and dealt it out from a marble bar, as we see now.\n\nThe use of coffee then dates from the eighteenth century.\nDistillation, introduced by the crusades, remained arcana, with\nfew adepts. About the commencement of the reign of Louis XIV,\nalambics became more common, but not until the time of Louis XV.,\ndid the drink become really popular.\n\nAbout the same time the use of tobacco was introduced. So that\nsugar, coffee and tobacco, the three most important articles of\nluxury in Europe, are scarcely two centuries old.\n\n[The translator here omits a whole Meditation. It would now be\nscarcely pleasant.]\n\nMEDITATION XXVIII.\n\nRESTAURATEURS.\n\nA restaurateur is one, the business of whom is to offer a dinner\nalways ready, and with prices to suit those that consume them.\n\nOf all those who frequent restaurants, few persons cannot\nunderstand that a restorateur is not necessarily a man of genius.\n\nWe shall follow out the affiliation of ideas which has led to the\npresent state of affairs.\n\nESTABLISHMENT.\n\nAbout 1770, after the glorious days of Louis XIV., and the frolics\nand tranquility of the regency of Cardinal Fleury, foreigners had\nfew means of good cheer.\n\nThey were forced to have recourse to inn-keepers, the cookery of\nwhom was generally very bad. A few hotels kept a table d'hote\nwhich generally contained only what was very necessary, and which\nwas always ready at an appointed hour.\n\nThe people we speak of only ordered whole joints, or dishes, and\nconsequently such an order of things could not last.\n\nAt last a man of sense arose, who thought that an active cause\nmust have its effect. That as the same want sent people every day\nto his house, consumers would come whenever they were satisfied\nthat they would be served. They saw that if a wing was cut from a\nfowl for one person, some one would be sure to taste the thigh.\nThe separation of one limb would not injure the flavor of the rest\nof the animal. More pay the least attention to the increase of\nprices, when one considers the prompt service of what was served.\n\nThis man thought of many things, which we may now easily devise.\nThe one who did so was the first restaurateur and the inventor of\na business which is a fortune to all who exercise it promptly and\nhonorably.\n\n[The translator here omits a whole chapter.]\n\nFrom the examination of the bills of fare of different\nrestaurants, any one who sets down at the table, has the choice of\nthe following dishes:--\n\n12 soups.\n\n24 side dishes.\n\n15 or 20 preparations of beef.\n\n20 of mutton.\n\n30 of fowl or game.\n\n16 or 20 of veal.\n\n12 of pastry.\n\n24 of fish.\n\n15 roasts.\n\n50 side dishes.\n\n50 desserts.\n\nBesides the fortunate gastronomer has thirty kinds of wine to\nselect from, passing over the whole scale from Burgundy to Tokay,\nand Constantia, and twenty various kinds of essences, without\ntaking into consideration such mixed drinks as punch, negus,\nsillabubs and the like.\n\nOf the various parts of a good dinner, many are indigenous, such\nas butcher's meat, fowl and fruits. Others for instance, the beef-\nstake, Welch rare-bit, punch, etc., were invented in England.\nGermany, Spain, Italy, Holland, all contribute, as does India,\nPersia, Arabia, and each pay their quota, in sour-krout, raisins,\nparmera, bolognas, curacao, rice, sago, soy, potatoes, etc. The\nconsequence is, that a Parisian dinner is perfectly cosmopolitan.\n\n[The translator here omits two Meditations, which refer\nexclusively to Paris is 1825. Few Frenchmen NOW would understand\nthem, and none but a Frenchman could.]\n\nPHYSIOLOGY OF TASTE\n\nPART SECOND.\n\nTRANSITION.\n\nIf I have been read with the attention I wished, all must have\nseen that I had a double purpose in view. The first was to\nestablish the theoretical basis of Gastronomy, so as to place it\namong sciences where it should doubtless be. The second was to\ndefine gourmandise, and to separate this social character, as free\nfrom gluttony and intemperance, with which it is often confounded.\n\nThis equivoque has been introduced by intolerant moralists, who,\ndeceived by too much zeal, saw excesses where there was only\ninnocent enjoyment. The treasures of creation were not made to be\ntrodden under the feet. It was afterwards propagated by\ngrammarians who defined it as blind men do, and who swore in verba\nmagistri.\n\nIt is time that such an error should cease, for now all the world\nunderstand each other. This is true, for there never was a person\nwho would not confess to some tincture of gourmandise, and even\nwould not boast of it, none however would not look on gluttony as\nan insult, just as they do on intemperance and voracity.\n\nAbout these two cardinal points, it seems that what I have\ndescribed should satisfy all those who do not refuse conviction. I\nmight then lay down my pen and look on the task I have imposed on\nmyself as finished. As however, I approached those subjects which\nbelong to every thing, I remembered many things which it did not\nseem to me fit to write, such as anecdotes, bon mots, recipes, and\nother odd things.\n\nHad they been put in the theoretical portion of the book they\nwould have taken the connection; place them all together, they\nwill not be disadvantageous because they contain some experimental\ntruths and useful explanations.\n\nI have also inserted personal biography, but when I read them\nover, I feel to a degree uneasy.\n\nThis anxiety originated in my last lectures and glossaries, which\nare in the hands of every body. I think, however, that I may be\ntranquil, having sheltered myself under the mantle of philosophy,\nI insist that my enemies have uneasy consciences and sleep badly.\n\nVARIETIES.\n\nI.\n\nL'OMELETTE DU CURE.\n\nAll know that twenty years ago, Madame R---- was the most\nbeautiful woman in Paris. All know that she was very charitable\nand took an interest in the various enterprises, the object of\nwhich was the alleviation of misery, perhaps greater in the\ncapital than elsewhere.\n\nHaving business with the cure of----, she went thither about five\nP. M., and was surprised to find him at dinner.\n\nShe believed that every body dined at six P. M., and was not aware\nthat ecclesiastics dined earlier, from the fact that they were\nused to take light collations.\n\nMadame R---- wished to retire, but the cure would not permit her\nto do so, either because the matter under discussion would not\ninterrupt conversation, or that a pretty woman never disturbs any\nentertainment.\n\nThe table was very well arranged; old wine sparkled in a chrystal\nflagon, and the porcelain was faultless. The plates were kept hot\nby boiling water, and an old housekeeper was in attendance.\n\nThe meal was half way between luxury and abstinence. A soup of\necrevisses was removed and a salmon trout, an omelette, and a\nsalad were placed on the table.\n\n\"My dinner tells you,\" said the priest \"what you do not know, that\nto day is a fast day.\" My friend assented with a blush.\n\nThey began with the trout, the shoulders of which were soon eaten.\nThe sauce was made by a competent person and the pastor's brow was\nirradiated with joy.\n\nThen the omelette, which was round and done to a point, was\nattached.\n\nAs soon as the spoon touched it, the odor and perfume it contained\nescaped, and my friend owns that it made her mouth water.\n\nThe curel had a sympathetic movement for he was used to watch my\npassions. In reply to a question he saw Madame R---- was about to\nask, he said, \"It is an omelette au thon. My cook understands them\nsimply, and few people ever taste them without complimenting her.\"\n\"I am not amazed,\" said his lady guest, \"for I never ate anything\nso delightful.\"\n\nThen came the salad. (I recommend it to those who have confidence\nin me. It refreshes without exciting. I think it makes people\nyounger.)\n\nDinner did not interrupt conversation. They talked of the affair\nwhich had occasioned the visit, of the war, of business, of other\nthings which made a bad dinner passably good.\n\nThe dessert came. It consisted of septmoncel cheese, of apples and\npreserves.\n\nAt last the house-keeper brought forward a little round table,\nsuch as once was called a gueridon, on which was a cup of strong\nmocha, the perfume of which filled the room.\n\nHaving sipped it, the cure said grace, and arose, adding \"I never\ntake spirits, though I offer them to my guests. I reserve them as\na succor for extreme old age.\"\n\nWhile all this was progressing, time had passed, and as it was six\no'clock, Madame R---- was anxious to get into her carriage, for\nshe had several friends to dine with her. She came late, and told\nher guests, of whom I was one, what she had seen.\n\nThe conversation passed from subject to subject, but I, as a\nphilosopher, thought the secret of the preparation of such a dish\nmust be valuable. I ordered my cook to obtain the recipe in its\nmost minute details. I publish it the more willingly now, because\nI never saw it in any book.\n\nOMELETTE AU THON.\n\nTake for six persons the roe of four cash [Footnote: the\ntranslator has followed this recipe with shad, pike, pickerel,\netc., and can recommend it with a quiet conscience. Any fish is a\nsubstitute for tunny] and steep them for a few minutes in salt\nwater just below boiling point.\n\nPut in also a fresh tunny about as large as an egg, to which you\nmust add a charlotte minced.\n\nMix the tunny and the roes together, and put the whole in a kettle\nwith a portion of good butter, and keep it on the fire until the\nbutter has melted. This is the peculiarity of the omelette.\n\nTake then another piece of butter and mix it with parsely and\nsage. Put it in the dish intended to receive the omelette, cover\nit with lemon juice and put it on hot coals.\n\nThen beat twelve eggs, (fresh as possible), pour in the fish and\nroe so that all may be perfectly mixed.\n\nThen cook the omelette as usual, making it thin and firm. Serve it\nup hot.\n\nThis dish should be reserved for breakfasts, where all the guests\nare connoisseurs. It is caviare to the vulgar.\n\nOBSERVATIONS.\n\n1. The roes and fish should be warmed, not boiled. They will thus\nmingle more easily with the eggs.\n\n2. The plate should be deep.\n\n3. It should be warm, for a cold porcelain plate would extract the\ncaloric of the omelette and make it insipid.\n\nII. A NATIONAL VICTORY.\n\nWhen I lived in New York I used every once in a while to pass the\nevening in a kind of tavern kept by a man named Little, (the old\nlank coffee house) where one could always get turtle soup and all\nthe dishes common in the United States.\n\nI often went thither with the Vicomte de la Massue and M. Fehr, an\nold broker of Marsailles; all three of us were emigrants, and we\nused to drink ale and cider, and pass the evening very pleasantly\ntogether.\n\nThere I became acquainted with a Mr. Wilkinson, who was a native\nof Jamaica, and a person he was very intimate with, for he never\nleft him. The latter, the name of whom I do not remember was one\nof the most extraordinary men I ever met. He had a square face,\nkeen eyes, and appeared to look attentively at everything, though\nhis features were motionless as those of a blind man. When he\nlaughed it was with what the English call a horse-laugh, and\nimmediately resumed his habitual taciturnity. Mr. Wilkinson seemed\nabout forty, and, in manner and appearance, seemed to be a\ngentleman.\n\nThe Englishman seemed to like our company, and more than once\nshared the frugal entertainment I offered my friends, when Mr.\nWilkinson took me one evening aside and said he intended to ask us\nall to dine with him.\n\nI accepted the invitation for three o'clock on the third day\nafter.\n\nThe evening passed quietly enough, but when I was about to leave,\na waiter came to me and said that the West Indian had ordered a\nmagnificent dinner, thinking their invitation a challenge. The man\nwith the horse-laugh had undertaken to drink us Frenchmen drunk.\n\nThis intelligence would have induced me, if possible, to decline\nthe banquet. It was, however, impossible, and following the advice\nof the Marshal de Saxe, we determined, as the wine was uncorked,\nto drink it.\n\nI had some anxiety, but being satisfied that my constitution was\nyoung, healthy and sound, I could easily get the better of the\nWest Indian, who probably was unused to liquors.\n\nI however, went to see Messrs. Fehr and Massue, and in an occular\nallocution, told them of my plans. I advised them to drink as\nlittle as possible, and to avoid too many glasses, while I talked\nto our antagonists. Above all things, I advised them to keep up\nsome appetite, telling them that food had the effect of moderating\nthe fumes of wine.\n\nThus physically and morally armed, we went to the old bank coffee\nhouse, where we found our friends; dinner was soon ready. It\nconsisted of a huge piece of beef, a roasted turkey, (plain)\nboiled vegetables, a salad and pastry.\n\nWine was put on the table. It was claret, very good, and cheaper\nthan it then was in France.\n\nMr. Wilkinson did the honors perfectly, asking us to eat, and\nsetting us an example, while his friend, who seemed busy with his\nplate, did nothing but laugh at the corners of his mouth.\n\nMy countrymen delighted me by their discretion.\n\nAfter the claret came the port and Madeira. To the latter we paid\ngreat attention.\n\nThen came the dessert composed of butter, cheese and hickory nuts.\nThen came the time for toasts, and we drank to our kings, to human\nliberty, and to Wilkinson's daughter Maria, who was, as he said,\nthe prettiest woman in Jamaica.\n\nThen came spirits, viz., rum, brandy, etc. Then came songs, and I\nsaw things were getting warm. I was afraid of brandy and asked for\npunch. Little brought a bowl, which, doubtless, he had prepared\nbefore. It held enough for forty people, and was larger than any\nwe have in France.\n\nThis gave me courage; I ate five or six well buttered rolls, and I\nfelt my strength revive. I looked around the table and saw my\ncompatriots apparently fresh enough, while the Jamaican began to\ngrow red in the face, and seemed uneasy. His friend said nothing,\nbut seemed so overcome that I saw the catastrophe would soon\nhappen.\n\nI cannot well express the amazement caused by this denouement, and\nfrom the burden of which I felt myself relieved. I rang the bell;\nLittle came up; I said, \"see these gentlemen well taken care of.\"\nWe drank a glass to their health. At last the waiter came and bore\noff the defeated party feet foremost. Wilkinson's friend was\nmotionless, and our host would insist on singing, \"Rule\nBritannia.\" [Footnote: The translator is sorry to say, that at the\ntime Savarin speaks of, \"Rule Britannia\" was not written.]\n\nThe New York papers told the story the next day, and added that\nthe Englishman had died. This was not so, for Mr. Wilkinson had\nonly a slight attack of the gout.\n\nIII.\n\nMYSTIFICATION OF THE PROFESSOR AND DEFEAT OF A GENERAL.\n\nSeveral years ago the newspapers told us of the discovery of a new\nperfume called the emerocallis, a bulbous plant, which has an odor\nnot unlike the jasmin.\n\nI am very curious, and was, therefore, induced in all probability\nto go to, the Foubourg St. Germain, where I could find the\nperfume.\n\nI was suitably received, and a little flask, very well wrapped up,\nwas handed me, which seemed to contain about two ounces. In\nexchange for it I left three francs.\n\nAn etourdi would at once have opened, smelled and tasted it. A\nprofessor, however, acts differently, and I thought modesty would\nbecome me. I took the flagon then and went quietly home, sat on my\nsofa and prepared to experience a new sensation.\n\nI took the package from my pocket and untied the wrappings which\nsurrounded it. They were three different descriptions of the\nemerocallis, and referred to its natural history, its flower, and\nits exquisite perfume, either in the shape of pastilles, in the\nkitchen, or in ices. I read each of the wrappings. 1. To indemnify\nmyself as well as I could for the price I have spoken of above. 2.\nTo prepare myself for an appreciation of the new and valuable\nextract I have spoken of.\n\nI then opened, with reverence, the box I supposed full of\npastilles. To my surprise, however, I found three other copies of\nthe edition I had so carefully read. Inside I found about two\ndozen of the cubes I had gone so far for.\n\nI tasted them, and must say that I found them very agreeable. I\nwas sorry though, that they were so few in number, and the more I\nthought of the matter, the more I became mystified.\n\nI then arose with the intention of carrying the box back to its\nmanufacturer. Just then, however, I thought of my grey hairs,\nlaughed at my vivacity, and sat down.\n\nA particular circumstance also recurred to me. I had to deal with\na druggist, and only four days ago I had a specimen of one of that\ncalling.\n\nI had one day to visit my friend Bouvier des Eclats.\n\nI found him strolling in a most excited state, up and down the\nroom, and crushing in his hands a piece of poetry, I thought a\nsong.\n\nHe gave it to me and said, \"look at this, you know all about it.\"\n\nI saw at once that it was an apothecary's bill. I was not\nconsulted as a poet, but as a pharmaceutist.\n\nI knew what the trade was, and was advising him to be quiet, when\nthe door opened, and we saw a man of about fifty-five enter. He\nwas of moderate stature and his whole appearance would have been\nstern, had there not been something sardonic about his lips.\n\nHe approached the fire-place, refused to sit down, and I heard the\nfollowing dialogue I have faithfully recorded.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said the general, \"you sent me a regular apothecary's\nbill.\"\n\nThe man in black said that he was not an apothecary.\n\n\"What then are you?\" said the general.\n\n\"Sir, I am a pharmaceutist.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the general, \"your boy--\"\n\n\"Sir, I have no boy.\"\n\n\"Who then was the young man you sent thither?\"\n\n\"My pupil--\"\n\n\"I wish to say, sir, that your drugs--\"\n\n\"Sir, I do not sell drugs--\"\n\n\"What then do you sell?\"\n\n\"Remedies.\"\n\nThe general at once became ashamed at having committed so many\nsolicisms in a few moments, and paid the bill.\n\nIV.\n\nTHE SNARE.\n\nThe chevalier de Langeac was rich, but his fortune was dispensed\nas is the fortune of all rich men.\n\nHe funded the remnants, and aided by a little pension from the\ngovernment, he contrived to lead a very pleasant life.\n\nThough naturally very gallant, he had nothing to do with women.\n\nAs his other powers passed away, his gourmandise increased. He\nbecame a professor and received more invitations than he could\naccept.\n\nLyons is a pleasant city, for there one can get vin de Bourdeaux,\nHermitage and Burgundy. The game of the neighborhood is very good,\nand unexceptionable fish is taken from the lakes in the vicinity.\nEvery body loves Bresse chickens.\n\nLangeac was therefore welcome at all the best tables of the city,\nbut took especial delight in that of a certain M. A.\n\nIn the winter of 1780, the chevalier received a letter, inviting\nhim to sup ten days after date, (at that time I know there were\nsuppers) and the chevalier quivered with emotion at the idea.\n\nHe, at the appointed time, made his appearance, and found ten\nguests. There was at that time no such A grand dinner was soon\nserved, consisting of fish, flesh, and fowl.\n\nAll was very good, but the chevalier was not satisfied with the\nhopes he had entertained.\n\nAnother thing amazed him. His guests did not seem to eat. The\nchevalier was amazed to see that so many anti-convivial persons\nhad been collected, and thinking that he had to do justice to all\nthese fasting people set to work at once.\n\nThe second service was solid as the first. A huge turkey was\ndressed plain, flavored by salads and macaroni au parmesan.\n\nWhen he saw this, the chevalier felt his strength revive; all the\nother guests were overpowered, excited by the changes of wines, he\ntriumphed over their impotence, and drank their health again and\nagain. Every time he drank their health, he took a slice from the\nturkey.\n\nDue attention was paid to the side-dishes, and the chevalier stuck\nto business longer than any one would have thought possible. He\nonly revived when the becfigues appeared, and became fully aroused\nwhen truffles were put on the table.\n\nTHE TURBOT.\n\nDiscord one day sought to effect an entrance into one of the most\nharmonious houses of Paris. A turbot was to be cooked.\n\nThe fish was on the next day to be served to a company of which I\nwas one; it was fresh, fat, and glorious, but was so large that no\ndish in the house could hold it.\n\n\"Let us cut it in half,\" said the husband.\n\n\"Would you thus dishonor it?\" said the wife.\n\n\"We must, my dear.\"\n\n\"Well, bring the knife, we will soon do it.\"\n\n\"Wait though, our cousin, who is a professor, will soon be here.\nHe will relieve us from the dilemma.\"\n\nThe gordian knot was about to be released, when I came in hungry,\nas a man always is at seven P. M.\n\nWhen I came in I tried in vain to make the usual compliments. No\none listened, and for that reason no one replied to me. The\nsubject in discussion was at once submitted to me.\n\nI made up my mind at once, went to the kitchen, found a kettle\nlarge enough to boil the whole fish, and did so. There was a\nprocession composed of the master, mistress, servants, and\ncompany, but they all approved of what I did. With the fish we\nboiled bulbous root and other vegetables. [Footnote: From the\nabove it is very clear that Brillat Savarin made what the late D.\nWebster called a \"chowder.\"] When the fish was cooked we sat down\nat the table, our ideas being somewhat sharpened by the delay, and\nsought anxiously for the time, of which Homer speaks, when\nabundance expells hunger. [The translator here omits a very\nexcellent recipe for a fish-chowder. Everybody knows it.]\n\nVI.\n\nPHEASANTS.\n\nNone but adepts know what a pheasant is. They only can appreciate\nit.\n\nEverything has its apogee of excellence, some of which, like\ncapers, asparagus, partridges, callow-birds, etc., are eatable\nonly when they are young. Others are edible only when they obtain\nthe perfection of their existence, such as melons and fruits, and\nthe majority of the beasts which furnish us with animal food.\nOthers are not good until decomposition begins, such as the snipe\nand pheasant.\n\nWhen the pheasant is eaten only three days after its death, it has\nno peculiarity; it has not the flavor of a pullet, nor the perfume\nof a quail.\n\nIt is, however, a highly flavored dish, about half way between\nchicken and venison.\n\nIt is especially good when the pheasant begins to be decomposed--\nan aroma and exciting oil is then produced, like coffee, only\nproduced by torrefaction.\n\nThis becomes evident by a slight smell and change of color.\nPersons possessed, however, of the instincts of gourmandise see it\nat once, just as a good cook knows whether he should take his bird\nfrom the spit or give it a turn or two more.\n\nWhen the pheasant is in that condition it should he plucked, and\nnot before.\n\nThe bird should then he stuffed, and in the following manner:\n\nTake two snipe and draw them so as to put the birds on one plate,\nand the livers, etc., on another.\n\nTake the flesh and mingle it with beef, lard and herbes fines,\nadding also salt and truffles enough to fill the stomach of the\npheasant.\n\nCut a slice of bread larger, considerably, than the pheasant, and\ncover it with the liver, etc., and a few truffles. An anchovy and\na little fresh butter will do no harm.\n\nPut the pheasant on this preparation, and when it is boiled\nsurround it with Florida oranges. Do not be uneasy about your\ndinner.\n\nDrink burgundy after this dish, for long experience has taught me\nthat it is the proper wine.\n\nA pheasant served in this way is a fit dish for angels, if they\nvisited the world as they did in Lot's day.\n\nWhat I say, experience has already proved. A pheasant thus stuffed\nby Picard at La Grange [Footnote: Does he refer to La Fayette's\nestate?] was brought on the table by the cook himself. It was\nlooked on by the ladies as they would have looked at one of Mary\nHerbault's hats. It was scientifically tasted, and in the interim\nthe ladies eyes shone like stars, and their lips became coral.\n\nI did more than this; I gave a similar proof to the judges of the\nsupreme court. They are aware that the toga is sometimes to be\nlaid aside, and I was able to show to several that good CHEER was\na fit companion and reward for the labors of the senate. After a\nfew moments the oldest judge uttered the word excellent. All\nbowed, and the court adopted the decision. I had observed that the\nvenerable old men seemed to take great delight in smelling the\ndish, and that their august brows were agitated by expressions of\nextreme serenity, something like a half smile hanging on their\nlips.\n\nAll this thing, however is naturally accounted for. The pheasant,\nitself, a very good bird, had imbibed the dressing and the flavor\nof the truffle and snipe. It thus becomes thrice better.\n\nThus of all the good things collected, every atom is appreciated\nand the consequence is, I think the pheasant fit for the table of\na prince.\n\nParve, nec invideo, sine me liber, ibis in aulam.\n\nVII.\n\nGASTRONOMICAL INDUSTRY OF THE EMIGRES.\n\nToute Francaise, a ce que j'imagine,\n\nSalt, bien ou mal faire, un peu de cuisine.\n\nBelle Arsene, Act. III.\n\nIn a chapter written for the purpose, the advantages France\nderived from gourmandise in 1815, were fully explained. This was\nnot less useful to emigres; all those, who had any alimentary\nresources, received much benefit from it.\n\nWhen I passed through Boston, I taught a cook, named Julien, who\nin 1794 was in his glory, how to serve eggs with cheese. Julien\nwas a skilful lad, and had, he said, been employed by the\nArchbishop of Bourdeaux. This was to the Americans a new dish, and\nJulien in return, sent me a beautiful deer he had received from\nCanada, which those I invited to do honour to it, thought\nadmirable.\n\nCaptain Collet also, in 1794 and 1795 earned much money by the\nmanufacture of ices and sherbets.\n\nWomen always take care to enjoy any pleasures which are new to\nthem. None can form an idea of their surprise. They could not\nunderstand how it could remain so cold, when the thermometer was\nat 26 [degrees] Reaumur.\n\nWhen I was at Cologne, I found a Breton nobleman, who thought\nhimself very fortunate, as the keeper of a public house; and I\nmight multiply these examples indefinitely. I prefer however to\ntell of a Frenchman, who became very rich at London, from the\nskill he displayed in making salad.\n\nHe was a Limousin, and if I am not mistaken, was named Aubignac,\nor Albignac.\n\nPoor as he was, he went, however, one day to dine at one of the\nfirst restaurants of London. He could always make a good dinner on\na single good dish.\n\nWhile he was discussing a piece of roast beef, five or six dandies\nsat at the next table, and one of them advanced and said, \"Sir,\nthey say your people excel in the art of making a salad. Will you\nbe kind enough to oblige us?\"\n\nAfter some hesitation d'Albignac consented, and having set\nseriously to work, did his best.\n\nWhile he was making his mixture, he replied frankly to questions\nabout his condition, and my friend owned, not without a little\nblushing, that he received the aid of the English government, a\ncircumstance which doubtless induced one of the young men to slip\na ten pound bank bill into his hand.\n\nHe gave them his address, and not long after, was much surprised\nto receive a letter inviting him to come to dress a salad at one\nof the best houses in Grosvenor square.\n\nD'Albignac began to see that he might draw considerable benefit\nfrom it, and did not hesitate to accept the offer. He took with\nhim various preparations which he fancied would make his salad\nperfect as possible.\n\nHe took more pains in this second effort, and succeeded better\nthan he had at first. On this occasion so large a sum was handed\nto him that he could not with justice to himself refuse to accept\nit.\n\nThe young men he met first, had exaggerated the salad he had\nprepared for them, and the second entertainment was yet louder in\nits praise. He became famous as \"the fashionable salad-maker,\" and\nthose who knew anything of satirical poetry remembered:\n\nDesir do nonne est un feu pui devore,\n\nDesir d'Anglaise est cent fois piri encore.\n\nD'Albignac, like a man of sense, took advantage of the excitement,\nand soon obtained a carriage, that he might travel more rapidly\nfrom one part of the town to the other. He had in a mahogany case\nall the ingredients he required.\n\nSubsequently he had similar cases prepared and filled, which he\nused to sell by the hundred.\n\nUltimately he made a fortune of 80,000 francs, which he took to\nFrance when times became more peaceful.\n\nWhen he had returned to France, he did not hurry to Paris, but\nwith laudable precaution, placed 60,000 francs in the funds, and\nwith the rest purchased a little estate, on which, for aught I\nknow, he now lives happily. His funded money paid him fifty per\ncent.\n\nThese facts were imparted to me by a friend, who had known D\n'Albignac in London, and who had met him after his return.\n\nVIII.\n\nRECOLLECTIONS OF THE EMIGRATION.\n\nTHE WEAVER\n\nIn 1794, M. de Rostaing, my cousin and friend, now military\nintendant at Lyons, a man of great talent and ability, and myself\nwere in Switzerland.\n\nWe went to Mondon, where I had many relations, and was kindly\nreceived by the family of Troillet. I will never forget their\nhospitality.\n\nI was there shown a young French officer who was a weaver, and who\nbecame one thus:--\n\nThis young man, a member of a very good family, was passing\nthrough Mondon, to join Condes army, and chanced to meet an old\nman with one of the animated heads usually attributed by painters\nto the companions of the famous Tell.\n\nAt their dessert, the officer did not conceal his situation, and\nreceived much sympathy from his new friend. The latter complained\nthat at such an age, he had now to renounce all that was pleasant,\nand that every man should, as Jean Jacques, says, have some trade\nto support themselves in adversity.\n\nThe conversation paused there; and a short time after, he joined\nthe army of Conde. From what he saw there, however, he saw he\nnever could expect to enter France in that way.\n\nThen he remembered the words of the weaver; and finally making up\nhis mind, left the army, returned to Mondon, and begged the weaver\nto receive him as an apprentice.\n\nOn the next day the officer set to work, dining and sleeping with\nthe weaver, and was so assiduous, that after six months, his\nmaster told him, he had nothing to teach him, thought himself\nrepaid for the care he had bestowed, and that all he earned\nhenceforth was his own profit.\n\nWhen I was at Mondon, the new artisan had earned money enough to\npurchase a shop and a bed. He worked with great assiduity, and\nsuch interest was taken in him, that some of the first houses of\nthe city enquired after him every day.\n\nOn Sunday, he wore his uniform, and resumed his social rights. As\nhe was very well read, all took pleasure in his company, and he\ndid not seem discontented with his fate.\n\nTHE STARVING.\n\nTo this picture of the advantage of industry, I am about to add an\naltogether different one.\n\nI met at Lausanne, an emigre from Lyons, who to avoid work used to\neat but twice a week. He would have died beyond a doubt, if a\nmerchant in the city had not promised to pay for his dinner every\nSunday, and Wednesday of the week.\n\nThe emigre came always at the appointed time, and always took away\na large piece of bread.\n\nHe had been living in this manner some three months, when I met\nhim; he had not been sick, but he was so pale that it was sad to\nsee him.\n\nI was amazed that he would suffer such pain rather than work. I\nasked him once to dine with me, but did not repeat the invitation\nbecause I believe in obeying that divine precept, \"By the sweat of\nthy brow shalt thou earn thy bread.\"\n\nSOJOURN IN AMERICA.\n\nFrom Switzerland I went to America.\n\n* * * * * * *\n\nASPARAGUS.\n\nPassing one day in February, by the Palais Royal, I paused before\nthe shop of Mme Chevet, the largest dealer in comestibles in\nParis, who always wished me well. Seeing a large box of asparagus,\nthe smallest of which was large as my finger, I asked the price.\n\"Forty francs,\" said she. \"They are very fine, but only a king or\nprince could eat at such a rate.\" \"You are wrong sir,\" said she,\n\"such things never go to palaces, but I will sell the asparagus.\n\n\"There are now in this city at least three hundred rich men,\ncapitalists and financiers, retained at home by gout, colds, and\ndoctors. They are always busy to ascertain what will revive them\nand send their valets out on voyages of discovery. Some one of\nthem will remark this asparagus, and it will be bought. It may be,\nsome pretty woman will pass with her lover, and say, 'what fine\nasparagus. How well my servant dresses it.' The lover then does\nnot hesitate, and I will tell you a secret, that dear things are\nsold more easily than cheap ones.\"\n\nAs she spoke two fat Englishmen passed us. They seemed struck at\nonce. One seized hold of the asparagus and without asking the\nprice paid for it, and as he walked away whistled \"God save the\nKing.\"\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said Madame Chevet, \"a thousand things like this\nhappen every day.\"\n\nFONDUE.\n\nFondue is a soup dish, and consists only in frying eggs in cheese\nin proportions revealed by experience. I will give the recipe. It\nis a pleasant dish, quickly made and easily prepared for\nunexpected guests. I refer to it here only for my peculiar\npleasure, and because it preserves the memory of things which the\nold men of Belley recollect.\n\nTowards the end of the 17th century M. Madot became bishop of\nBelley, and took possession of the diocese.\n\nThose to whom his reception had been confided had provided an\nentertainment worthy of the occasion, and made use of all the\npreparations then known in the kitchen, to welcome my lord.\n\nThere was an immense fondue, to which the prelate paid great\nattention; to the surprise of all he ate it with a spoon, instead\nof a fork, as people had been used to do.\n\nAll the guests looked at each other with a perceptible smile on\nevery face. A bishop from Paris, however, must know how to eat. On\nthe next day there was a great deal of gossip, and people that met\nat the corners, said \"Well did you see how our bishop ate his\nfondue? I heard from a person who was present that he used a\nspoon!\"\n\nThe bishop had some followers, innovators who preferred the spoon,\nbut the majority preferred the fork, and an old grand-uncle of\nmine used to laugh as if he would die, as he told how M. de Madot\nate fondue with a spoon.\n\nRECIPE FOR FONDUE, COPIED FROM THE PAPERS OF M. TROLLET, BAILLI OF\nMONDON IN BERNE.\n\nCalculate the number of eggs in proportion to the guests.\n\nTake one-third of the weight of Gruyere and one-sixth of the\nweight of butter.\n\nBeat the eggs and mingle them with the butter and cheese in a\ncasserole.\n\nPut the kettle on a hot fire and stir it until the mixture is\nperfect. Put in more or less salt in proportion as the cheese is\nold or new. Serve it hot, with good wine, of which one should\ndrink much. The feast will see sights.\n\nDISAPPOINTMENT.\n\nAll one day was quiet at the Ecu de France, between Bourg and\nBresse, when the sound of wheels was heard, and a superb English\nberline drove up, on the box of which were two pretty Abigails,\nwrapped in blue and red cloths.\n\nAt the sight, which announced a nobleman on his travels, Chicot,\nthat was his name, hurried to the door of the equipage. The wife\nstood at the door, the girls near by, while the boys from the\nstable hurried forward satisfied that they would receive a\nhandsome gratuity.\n\nThe women were unpacked and there came from the berline, 1st, a\nfat Englishman, 2d, two thin, pale, red-haired girls, and 3d, a\nlady, apparently in the first stage of consumption.\n\nThe last spoke:\n\n\"Landlord,\" said she, \"take care of the horses, give us a room and\nthe women refreshments. All must cost only six francs; act\naccordingly.\"\n\nChicot put on his bonnet, madame went into the house, and the\ngirls to their garrets.\n\nThe horses were, however, put into the stable, the Englishman read\nthe papers, and the women had a pitcher of pure water. The ladies\nwent up stairs. The six francs were received as a poor\ncompensation for the trouble caused.\n\nWONDERFUL EFFECTS OF A CLASSICAL DINNER.\n\n\"Alas! how much I am to be pitied,\" said the elegiac voice of a\ngastronomer of the royal court of the Seine. \"Hoping to be soon\nable to return home, I left my cook there; business detains me at\nParis, and I have to depend on an old women the preparations of\nwhom make me sick. Anything satisfies my wife and children, but I\nam made a martyr of the spit and pot.\"\n\nLuckily a friend heard the complaint, who said, \"You will not, my\nfriend, be a martyr. Deign to accept a classical dinner to-morrow,\nand after a game of piquet we will bury all in the abyss of the\npast.\"\n\nThe invitation was accepted, the mystery was solved, and since the\n23d June, 1825, the professor has been delighted at having one of\nhis best friends in royal court.\n\nEFFECT AND DANGER OF STRONG DRINKS.\n\nThe artificial thirst we previously alluded to, is that which for\nthe moment appeals to strong drinks as a momentary relief. It\ngradually becomes so habitual that those who grow used to it\ncannot do without it even through the night, and have to leave\ntheir bed to appease it.\n\nThis thirst then becomes a real disease, and when he has reached\nthat point, it may safely be said that he has not two years to\nlive.\n\nI travelled in Holland with a rich Dantzick merchant, who had for\nfifty years kept the principal house for the sale of brandy.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said he \"none in France are aware of the importance of\nthe trade in brandy, which for nearly a century my father and\nmyself have carried on. I have watched with attention the workmen\nwho yield to it as too many Germans do, and they generally die in\nthe same manner.\"\n\n\"At first they take simply a glass in the morning, and for many\nyears this suffices. It is a common habit with all workmen, and\nany one who did not indulge in it would be ridiculed by his\ncompanions. Then they double the dose, that is to say, take a\nglass at morning and night. Thus things continue about three\nyears, when they begin to drink three times a day, and will only\ntaste spirits in which highly scented herbs have been infused.\nHaving reached that point, one may be sure they have not more than\nsix months to live, for they go to the hospital and are seen no\nmore.\"\n\nCHEVALIERS AND ABBES.\n\nI have already referred to these categories of gourmandise\ndestroyed by time.\n\nAs they disappeared thirty years since, few of the present\ngeneration ever saw them.\n\nAbout the end of the century they will probably reappear, but as\nsuch a phenomenon demand the coincidence of many future\ncontingencies, I think few who live will ever witness this\npalingenesia.\n\nAs a painter of manners I must give the last touch to my portrait,\nand will borrow the following passage from an author, who, I know,\nwill refuse me nothing.\n\n\"The title of Chevalier was only correctly granted to persons who\nhad been decorated, or to the younger sons of noble houses. Many\nof the Chevaliers of other families would take the title for\nthemselves, and if they had education and good manners, none\ndoubted the accolade.\n\n\"They were generally young, wore the sword vertically and kept a\nstiff upper lip. They gamed and fought and were a portion of the\ntrain of any fashionable beauty.\"\n\nAt the commencement of the revolution many of the Chevaliers\njoined the army of the emigres, enlisted or dispersed. The few who\nsurvive can yet be recognized by their military air; almost all of\nthem, however, have the gout.\n\nWhen any noble family had many children, one was dedicated to the\nchurch; at first some benefice, barely sufficient to pay for the\nexpenses of education, was obtained, and ultimately he became\nPrince, Abbe, or Bishop, as circumstances dictated.\n\nThis was the real Abbe; but many young men who disliked the perils\nof the Chevalier, called themselves Abbes when they came to Paris.\n\nNothing was so convenient, for, with a slight change of dress,\nthey could appear as priests and the equals of anybody. There was\na great advantage in this for every house had its Abbe\n\nThey were generally small, round, well dressed and agreeable. They\nwere gourmands, active and pleasant. The few that remain have\nbecame very devout and very fat.\n\nNone could be more comfortable than a rich prior or abbot. They\nhad no superiors and nothing to do. If there be a long peace, the\npriors will turn up again, but unless there be a great change in\nthe ecclesiastical organization, the Abbes are lost for ever.\n\nMISCELLANY.--WINE.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said an old marquise to me one day, \"which do you like\nbest, Burgundy or Bordeaux?\" \"Madame,\" said I, \"I have such a\npassion for examining into the matter, that I always postpone the\ndecision a week.\"\n\nSTRAWBERRIES.\n\nThe Count de la Place recommends that strawberries should always\nbe dressed with orange juice.\n\nJUDGMENT.\n\n\"He is not a man of mind,\" said the Count de M---- \"Why?\" \"Ah! he\ndoes not eat pudding a la Richelieu, nor cutlets a la Soubise.\"\n\nRAISINS.\n\n\"Take a raisin--\"\n\n\"No I thank you; I do not like wine in pills.\"\n\nA DAY WITH THE BERNARDINES.\n\nIt was about one A. M., on a fine summer night, and I set out\nafter having been serenaded by many who took an interest in us.\nThis was about 1782.\n\nI then was the chief of a troop of amateur musicians All of whom\nwere young and healthy.\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said the abbe of Saint Sulpice to me one day, and he\ndrew me into a window recess, \"you would enjoy yourself very much\nif you come some day to play for us at Saint Bernard's. The Saints\nwould be delighted.\"\n\nI accepted the offer at once, for it seemed to promise us an\nagreeable evening. I nodded assent, and all were amazed.\n\nAnnuit, et totum nutu tremefecit olympum.\n\nEvery precaution had previously been taken, for we had yet to go\nfour leagues, a distance sufficient to terrify the persons who had\nascended Mont Martre.\n\nThe monastery was in a valley, enclosed on the west side by a\nmountain, and on the east by a hill that was not so high.\n\nThe eastern peak was crowned by a forest of immense pines. The\nvalley was one vast prairie, and the beech grows much like the\narrangements of an English garden.\n\nWe came about evenfall, and were received by the cellarer who had\na nose very rich-like an obelisk.\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" said he, \"our abbe will be glad when he hears you\nhave come. He is yet in bed; but come with me, and you will see\nwhether we have expected you or not.\"\n\nWe followed him, and besought him to take us to the refectory.\n\nAmid the display of the table arose a pate like a cathedral; on\none side was a quarter of cold veal, artichokes, etc., were also\non the eastern range.\n\nThere were various kinds of fruits, napkins, knives and plate; at\nthe foot of the table were many attentive servants.\n\nAt one corner of the refrectory was seen more than an hundred\nbottles, kept cool by a natural fountain. We could snuff the aroma\nof mocha, though in those venerable days none ever drank mocha so\nearly in the morning.\n\nThe reverend cellarer for a time laughed at our emotion, and then\nspoke to us as follows:\n\n\"Gentlemen,\" said he, \"I would be pleased to keep you company, but\nas yet I have not kept my mass. I ought to ask you to drink, but\nthe mountain air dispenses the necessity. Receive, then, what we\noffer you. I must to matins.\"\n\nHe went to matins.\n\nWe did our best to eat up the abbe's dinner, but could not. People\nfrom Sirius might, but it was too much for us.\n\nAfter dinner we dispersed. I crept into a good bed until mass;\nlike the heroes of Rocroy, who slept until the battle began.\n\nI was aroused by a great fat friar, who had nearly pulled my arm\nout of its socket, and went to the church where I found all at\ntheir posts.\n\nWe played a symphony at the offertory and sung a motet at the\nelevation, concluding with four wind instruments.\n\nWe contrived, in spite of the jests usually expended on amateurs,\nto get out of the difficulty very well.\n\nWe received with great benignity the praises heaped on us, and\nhaving received the abbot's thanks went to the table.\n\nThe dinner was such as people used to eat in the fifteenth\ncentury. There were few superfluities, but the choice of dishes\nwas admirable. We had plain, honest, substantial stews, good\nmeats, and dishes of vegetables, which made one regret they were\nnot more general.\n\nThe dessert was the more remarkable, as it was composed of fruits\nnot produced at that altitude. The gardens of Machuras, of\nMorflent and other places had contributed.\n\nThere was no want of liqueurs, but coffee needs a particular\nreference.\n\nIt was clear, perfumed and strong, but was not served in what are\ncalled tasses on the Seine, but in huge bowls, into which the\nmonks dipped their lips and smacked them with delight.\n\nAfter dinner we went to vespers, and between the psalms executed\nantiphones I prepared for the purpose. That style of music was\nthen fashionable. I cannot say if mine was good or bad.\n\nOur DAY being over, my orchestra was enabled to look and walk\naround. On my return the abbe said, \"I am about to leave you, and\nwill suffer you to finish the night. I do not think my presence at\nall importunate to the fathers; but I wish them to do as they\nplease.\"\n\nWhen the abbot had left, the monks drew more closely together, and\na thousand jokes were told, not the less funny because the world\nknows nothing of them.\n\nAbout nine a glorious supper was served, long in advance of the\ndinner.\n\nThey laughed, sang, told stories, and one of the fathers recited\nsome very good verses he had himself composed.\n\nAt last a monk arose, and said, \"Father Cellarer, what have you to\nsay?\"\n\n\"True,\" said the father, \"I am not cellarer for nothing.\"\n\nHe left, and soon returned with three servitors, the first of whom\nbrought some glorious fresh buttered toast. The others had a table\non which was a sweetened preparation of brandy and water--vulgo,\npunch.\n\nThe new comers were received with acclamation; the company ate the\ntoasts, drank the toddy, and when the abbey clock struck twelve,\nall went to their cells to enjoy a repose they had richly earned.\n\nPROSPERITY EN ROUTE.\n\nOne day I rode a horse I called la Joie through the It was at the\nworst era of the revolution, and I went to see Mr. Prot to obtain\na passport which, probably, might save me from prison or the\nscaffold.\n\nAt about 11 P. M., I reached a little bourg or village called Mont\nSt. Vaudrey, and having first attended to my horse, was struck by\na spectacle no traveller ever saw without delight.\n\nBefore a fire was a spit covered with cock quails and the rails\nthat are always so fat. All the juice from the quails fell on an\nimmense rotie so built up that the huntsman's hand was apparent.\nThen came one of those leverets, the perfume of which Parisians\nhave no faith in though they fill the room.\n\n\"Ah ha!\" said I; \"Providence has not entirely deserted me. Let us\nscent this perfume and die afterwards.\"\n\nSpeaking to the landlord who, while I was making my examinations,\nwalked up and down the room, I said, \"Mon cher, what can you give\nus for dinner?\"\n\n\"Nothing very good, Monsieur. You can have potatoes. The beans are\nawful. I never had a worse dinner.\"\n\nThe landlord seemed to suspect the cause of my disappointment. I\nsaid, however, \"for whom is all this game kept?\"\n\n\"Alas, Monsieur,\" said he, \"it is not mine but belongs to some\nlawyers and judges who have been here several days on a business\nwhich concerns a very rich old lady. They finished yesterday, and\nwish to celebrate the event by a revolt.\"\n\n\"Monsieur,\" said I, \"be pleased to say that a gentleman asks the\nfavor of being permitted to dine with them, that he will pay his\nportion of the expense, and also be much obliged to them.\"\n\nHe left me and did not return, but after a few minutes a little\nfat man entered, who hovered around the kitchen, lifted up the\ncovers and disappeared.\n\n\"Ah, ha!\" said I. The tiler has come to look at me. I began to\nhope, for I knew my appearance was not repulsive. My heart beat\nquickly as a candidate's does after the ballot-box is opened, and\nbefore he knows the result, when the landlord told me the\ngentlemen only waited for me to sit down.\n\nI went at once, and was received in the most flattering manner.\n\nThe dinner was glorious, I will not describe it, but only refer to\nan admirable fricassee of chicken not often seen in such\nperfection in the country. It had so many truffles that it would\nhave revived an old Titan.\n\nWe sang, danced, etc., and passed the evening pleasantly.\n\n[The translator here omits half a dozen songs, which are\nessentially French, and which no one can do justice to in another\ntongue.]\n\nH. ... DE P ...\n\nI believe I am the first person who ever conceived the idea of a\ngastronomical academy. I am afraid, however, I was a little in\nadvance of the day, as people may judge by what took place fifteen\nyears afterwards.\n\nThe President, H. de P., the ideas of whom braved every age and\nera, speaking to three of the most enlightened men of his age,\n(Laplace, Chaptal, and Berthollet,) said \"I look in the history of\nthe discovery of a new dish, which prolongs our pleasures, as far\nmore important than the discovery of a new star.\"\n\nI shall never think science sufficiently honored until I see a\ncook in the first class of the institute.\n\nThe good old President was always delighted when he thought of his\nlabor. He always wished to furnish me an epigraph, not like that\nwhich made Montesquieu a member of the academy. I therefore, wrote\nseveral verses about it, but to be copied.\n\nDans ses doctes travaux il fut infatigable;\n\nIl eut de grands emplois, qu'il remplit dignement:\n\nEt quoiqu'il filt profond, erudit et savant,\n\nIl ne se crut jamais dispense d'etre aimable.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\nMy work is now done, yet I am not a bit out of breath.\n\nI could give my readers countless stories, but all is now over,\nand as my book is for all time, those who will read it now will\nknow nothing of those for whom I write.\n\nLet the Professor here end his work.","title":"The Physiology of Taste; Or, Transcendental Gastronomy","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":69762}