264 



THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



mortar period made the first recorded milling revolution by 

 using male operatives. These were called "pounders." 



THE QUERN was the first complete grinding machine in which 

 the parts were mechanically combined, and it also introduced 

 the circular motion. It was apparently unknown before 200 

 B. C., but it was widely used at the dawn of the Christian era, 

 and it is often mentioned in the Bible. The first form of the 

 lower stone was conical, but the later type was flattened. The 

 upper stone conformed to the pattern of its mate. Hollowed out 

 in the centre until there was a hole at its base, the upper stone 

 also served as a grain hopper. The stone was turned by a 



THE QUERN, AN EARLY FORM OF STONE MILL 



handle inserted in its side. An important improvement was 

 made at an early date when the grinding faces of the stone were 

 grooved, for the edges facilitated grinding and the grooves 

 served as channels through which the meal was forced to the 

 rim of the stones. This was a rude foreshadowing of the prin- 

 ciples of methodical furrowing, a process which was not fully 

 developed until the era of water mills. The quern was the 

 original British flour mill, and it is claimed that it was still 

 used in the mountainous parts of Scotland a decade ago. When 

 the quern was large the upper stone had two handles. Women 

 did the grinding. In Homer's time, the millers were also 

 women, and it required the labor of from one-tenth to one- 

 sixteenth of the community to prepare flour. Ever since the 



