[ J4I ] 



hiorc ^afy of digeftion, and more nutritive, fince is 

 lofes lefs in being reduced to a proper (late for 

 food, and is more ftimulant, I fay, this glutinous 

 quality afcertains the fuperiority of wheat above all 

 other grain; and it feems to me, after many obfer- 

 ^ations, and on a comparifon between the inhabi- 

 tants of thofe countries which have no wheat, and 

 thofe where it is the principal food, one may ven- 

 ture to affirm, that it is the nourifhment, of ail 

 others, moft favourable to the mental faculties. 



Thofe whofe food is maize, potatoesy or even 

 millet, may grow to a large fize, or be tall ; but I 

 much doubt. Sir, if any one, who lived wholly on 

 them, could ever write the Political Annals of the 

 Sixteenth Century, the pleadings of Monf. Le Due 

 D'AiGuiLLON, and the Defence of Monf. Le 

 Comte De Morangier, &c« 



If the inhabitants of Europe are, in all refpefts, 

 fuperior to other parts of the world, it is owing, 

 perhaps, to their great ufe of wheat. If many na- 

 tions eat lefs of it than others, and yet appear equal 

 in all refpedls, it is that the nature of their other food 

 and drink requires lefs; thofe who drink beer make 

 ufe of foaked bread ; or, indeed, it may be deemed 

 a kind of bread dirtblved, which has the double 

 . Vol. I. 2 cffedt 



