HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



fishes appear to grow as long as they live, and to 

 live for very many years, does this hold good with 

 all fishes ? Chas. C. Abbott, M.D. 



Trenton, N.J., U.S.A. 



THE HISTORY OF CULTIVATED 



VEGETABLES. 

 No. VIII— The Bean (Flcia Faba). 



WE now come to the history of the Leguminous 

 or pea-flowering plants, among which the 

 place of honour must be awarded to the Bean ; for, 

 if we are to believe Isidorus, this was the first culi- 

 nary vegetable man made use of. The monuments 

 of Egypt show that the bean was cultivated in that 

 country at an early date, and the Egyptians, Greeks, 

 and Romans all held very curious aud superstitious 

 notions respecting this vegetable. Some authors 

 say because its pod resembles the ark of Noah in 

 form, and in gratitude for the preservation of that 

 patriarch, the bean was forbidden to be eaten. It 

 was formerly consecrated to the dead, and the 

 Egyptian priests held it a crime to look at beans, 

 judging the very sight unclean. The Flamines, or 

 the priests of Jupiter, were forbidden to touch a 

 bean, or even to pronounce its name, for the fatal 

 plant contains a little black spot, which is no other 

 than a noxious character — a type of death. Hippo- 

 crates is said to have trembled for his patients when 

 beans were in blossom, from this superstitious fear. 

 Pythagoras expressly forbade his disciples to eat 

 beans, professing to believe that at the creation man 

 was formed of them. The Romans at one time 

 believed that the souls of such as were departed 

 resided in this plant, and Lucian introduces a philo- 

 sopher in hell, saying that to eat beans and to eat 

 our father's head were equal crimes. Ovid informs 

 us that this vegetable was used in the funeral 

 banquets of the Parentalia, or sacrifices offered to 

 the manes or the spirit of deceased relations. 

 Clemens Alexandrinus attributes the abstinence 

 from beans to the opinion that they occasioned 

 sterility, which is confirmed by Theophrastus, who 

 extends the effects even to plants. Cicero suggests 

 another reason for this abstinence, viz., that beans 

 are great enemies to tranquillity of mind, for which 

 reason Amphiaraus is said to have abstained from 

 them, even before Pythagoras, that he might enjoy 

 a clearer divination by his dreams. However, in 

 spite of such ridiculous prejudices, this vegetable 

 had numerous and enlightened defenders both 

 amongst Greeks and Romans. It is stated that one 

 of the festivals to Apollo — the Pyanepsia — owed its 

 origin and pomp to the bean. It was then, as Soyer 

 remarks, that this vegetable obtained pre-eminence 

 over all that were boiled in the saucepan. The 

 Romans presented beans as an oblation in their 



solemn sacrifice called Fabaria, a festival held in 

 honour of Carna, wife of Janus. Pliny informs us 

 that they offered cakes made of bean meal unto 

 certain gods and goddesses in these ancient rites 

 and ceremonies. Lempriere states that bacon was 

 added to the beans in the offerings to Carna, not so 

 much to gratify the palate of the goddess as to 

 represent the simplicity of their ancestors. If this 

 was the case, our dish of beans and bacon is certainly 

 of very ancient origin. Pliny further informs us 

 that when green it was served on tables renowned 

 for delicacies, aud when fully ripe it frequently re- 

 placed both wheat and other corn. 



In aucieut times beans were used instead of balls 

 or pebbles in voting by ballot. A white beau sig- 

 nified absolution, and a black one condemnation. 

 From this practice, perhaps, was derived the plan 

 of black-balling obnoxious persons; and from this 

 cause it has been suggested that Pythagoras, in 

 recommending his disciples to abstain from beans, 

 meant to advise them to have nothing to do with 

 politics. The Roman husbandmen had a religious 

 custom connected with this pulse. When they 

 sowed corn of any kind, they took care to bring 

 home some beans, which were offered up to a god to 

 insure good luck; from which circumstance these 

 beans were called llefrinre. In sales by public 

 auction, too, it was thought lucky to include a 

 bean in the lot for sale. Pliny tells that bean meal 

 is known as '''lomentum," and, as is the case with 

 the meal of all leguminous plants, it adds consider- 

 ably, when mixed with flour, to the weight of the 

 bread. This lomentum was a celebrated cosmetic 

 with the Romau ladies, as it was thought to possess 

 the virtue of smoothing the skin and taking away 

 wrinkles. Columella notices beans in bis time as 

 food for peasants only : 



" And herbs they mix with beans for vulgar fare." 



Pliny states that in the vicinity of Macedonia and 

 Thessaly the custom was to plough them into the 

 ground as manure just as they began to bloom, and 

 that the land was exceedingly enriched by the 

 process. This author says that the bean is the first 

 leguminous plant that is sown, being done before 

 the setting of the Vergilise, in order that it may pass 

 the winter in the ground. He also states that beans 

 grew spontaneously in most places, particularly in 

 certain islands lying within the Northern Ocean ; 

 from whence they have derived the name of Fabaria?. 

 They grew wild also throughout Mauritania (now 

 Morocco) ; but these Pliny characterizes as so hard 

 and tough that they could not be boiled tender. 

 One of the most noble and powerful families of Rome 

 derived the name of Fabii from some of their an- 

 cestors having cultivated the bean. 



Although many allusions are made in the Scrip- 

 tures to wheat and barley, we do not read of the 

 bean being cultivated, and it is only twice men- 



