THE CINCINNATUS- 



DoL 1. JULY 1, 1856. J^o. Z 



BREAD. 



Bread is a very essential article in the commissary department ; the 

 very "staff of life;" but, unlike other staves, its value is not in propor- 

 tion to its solidity and toughness, unless as a last resort in time of war, 

 the loaves might be needed as destructive missiles, why then the heavier 

 the better. But in these peaceful times we regard broad only in con- 

 nection with its legitimate use, the supporter and not the destroyer of 

 life ; therefore it becomes all its manufacturers, be they mistresses of 

 households or bakers of the town, to see that they furnish us good 

 staves for our weary, mortal pilgrimage. 



Who was the first inventor of bread is not known ; it is probable, 

 however, that he flourished soon after that celebrated discoverer, the 

 inventor of labor. We can not suppose that at the first, the quality was 

 equal to our modern productions ; for Pliny says, that Barley was the 

 only species of corn first used for food ; and even after the method of 

 reducing it to flour had been discovered, it was long before mankind 

 learned the art of making it into cakes. 



The Cappadocians, Lydians and Phoenicians are said to have particu- 

 larly excelled in the art of baking. Some of those earlier Orientals 

 invented ovens, for the Jews and Greeks were familiar with their use. 



Five hundred and eighty years after the foundation of Piomc, the 

 Eoman army brought Grecian bakers into Italy. As these bakers had 

 also to be their own millers, their shops were called Pistorige. from the 

 mortars in which they bruised their corn. In the time of Augustus, 

 there were no fewer than 329 public bake-houses in Eome, almost all of 

 which were in the hands of the Greeks, who long continued the only 

 persons in that city acquainted with the art of baking good bread. 

 VOL. I., NO. VII.— 20. (305) 



