Chap. 23.] THE MODE OF GRINDING COBN. 37 



parch the spelt in the ear, and then pound it with a pestle 

 shod with iron at the end. In this instrument the iron is 

 notched 11 at the hottom, sharp ridges running out like the 

 edge of a knife, and concentrating in the form of a star ; so 

 that if care is not taken to hold the pestle perpendicularly 

 while pounding, the grains will only be splintered and the iron 

 teeth broken. Throughout the greater part of Italy, however, 

 they employ a pestle that is only rough 12 at the end, and 

 wheels turned by water, by means of which the corn is gra- 

 dually ground. I shall here set forth the opinions given by 

 Mago as to the best method of pounding corn. He says that 

 the wheat should be steeped first of all in water, and then 

 cleaned from the husk ; after which it should be dried in the 

 sun, and then pounded with the pestle ; the same plan, he 

 says, should be adopted in the preparation of barley. In the 

 latter case, however, twenty sextarii of grain require only two 

 sextarii of water. When lentils are used, they should be first 

 parched, and then lightly pounded with the bran ; or else, 

 adopting another method, a piece of unbaked brick and half a 

 modius of sand 13 should be added to every twenty sextarii of 

 lentils. 



Ervilia should be treated in the same way as lentils. ^ Sesame 

 should be first steeped in warm water, and then laid out to 

 dry, after which it should be rubbed out briskly, and then 

 thrown into cold water, so that the chaff may be disengaged 

 by floating to the surface. After this is done, the grain should 

 again be spread out in the sun, upon linen cloths, to dry. Care, 

 however, should be taken to lose no time in doing this, as it is 

 apt to turn musty, and assume a dull, livid colour. The grains, 

 too, which are just cleaned from the husk, require various 

 methods of pounding. When the beard is ground by itself, 

 without the grain, the result is known as " acus," 14 but it is 

 only used by goldsmiths. 15 If, on the other hand, it is beaten 



11 This would rather grate the grain than pound it, as Beckmann ob- 

 serves. See his Hist. Inv., vol. i. pp. M7 and 164, BohrisEd., where the 

 meaning of this passage has been commented upon. Gesner, also, in his 

 Lexicon Rusticum, has endeavoured to explain it. 



12 Ruido. 



13 It is surprising to find the Romans, not only kneading their bread 

 with sea-water, but putting in it pounded bricks, chalk, and sand ! 



14 Beard chaff; so. called, probably, from the sharpness of the points, 

 like needles (acus). 



15 See B. xxxiii. c. 3 ; where he says, that afire lighted with this chaff, 

 fuses gold more speedily than one made with maple wood. 



