CORN CORN LAWS. 



more than onre when* anything else ran be liail. 

 .Nevertheless, naval officers, and others, condemned, 

 by the nature of their service, to situations where 

 tliey are lony debarred from fresh provisions, some- 

 t ; mes have (la- cormorant served at their tables, after 

 having taken the precaution to skin it, ami endeav- 

 oured, by the artnices of cookery, to disguise its pe- 

 culiar flavour. 



I'tHlN ; a hardened portion of cuticle produced by 

 pressure ; >o called, because a piece can IK- picked out 

 like a corn of barley. Corns are generally found 

 on the outside of the toes, but sometimes between 

 them, on the sides of the foot, or even on the ball. 

 They gradually penetrate deeper into the parts, and 

 sometimes occasion extreme pain, and, from the fre- 

 quency of their occurrence, hold a prominent rank 

 among the petty miseries of mankind, and frequently 

 e\ert no small influence upon the temper of individ- 

 uals. A monarch's corns may affect the welfare of a 

 nation. No part of the human body, probably, has 

 IH-I-II injured so much by our injudicious mode of 

 dress, as (he feet, which have become, in general, 

 deformed ; so much so, that sculptors and painters 

 can hardly ever copy this part from living subjects, 

 but depend for a good foot almost solely on the re- 

 m tins of ancient art. To this general deformity of 

 the foot belong the corns, produced by the absurd 

 forms of our shoes and boots. They appear, at first, 

 as small dark points in the hardened skin, and, in 

 this state, stimulants or escharotics, as nitrate of sil- 

 ver (lunar caustic), are recommended. The corn is to 

 be wet, and rubbed with a pencil of the caustic every 

 evening. Ft is well to have the skin previously 

 softened. I f the corn lias attained a large sue, re- 

 moval by cutting or by ligature will be proper : if it 

 hangs by a small neck, it is recommended to tie a 

 silk thread round it, which is to be tightened every 

 day, until the corn is completely removed. In all 

 cases of cutting corns, very great precaution is to be 

 ol)served. The feet ought always to be bathed pre- 

 viously. Mortification has, in many instances, re- 

 s'lLed from the neglect of this precaution, and from 

 cutting too deep. Another simple and generally very 

 efficacious means, is the application of a thick adhe- 

 sive plaster, in the centre of which a hole has been 

 made for the reception of the projecting part. From 

 time to time, a plaster must be added. Thus, the 

 surrounding parts being pressed down, the corn is 

 often expelled, and at all events, is prevented from 

 enlarging. Paring with files, rubbing with fish-skin, 

 &c., have been likewise found effective. In large 

 cities, as London, Paris, &c., people m ike a business 

 of curi ng corns. 



CORN, INDIAN. See Maize. 



CORN LAWS. An adequate supply of grain for 

 bread is evidently of the very first importance to 

 every country, and should be as regular as is pos- 

 sible, since sudden fluctuations in an article of so uni- 

 versal necessity are injurious, and scarcity, with the 

 consequent high prices, brings distress upon the 

 poorer classes, and is a fruitful cause of discontent 

 and convulsions. The best means of securing a suf- 

 ficient and steady supply of this article is a subject of 

 ,ome diversity of opinion, and the practice of go- 

 vernments has varied much at different times. One 

 theory, urged by Adam Smith, but questioned by Mr 

 Malthus and most others, is, that the government 

 should do absolutely nothing in the matter, on the 

 ground that the farmers and corn-merchants, if un- 

 checked, will always form correct views of thei&own 

 interest, and that their interest will coincide with 

 tliat of the community. But broad, sweeping the- 

 ories of this sort are rarely adopted in the practical 

 administration of affairs ; and a government, in mak- 

 ing regulations on this subject, as on every other, 



looks at its internal condition, the character and pur- 

 suits of its population, and ii> foreign commercial re- 

 lations ; and though it may not judge correctly of 

 the best means of securing a steady and sufficient 

 supply, this does not, prove that a total neglect of 

 the subject would be the wisest and safest, policy in 

 all countries and at all times. It is certain, however, 

 that very unwise measures have often IM-CII resorted 

 to, and sometimes such as tended to aggravate the 

 evil rather than to provide a remedy. One way to 

 guard against a scarcity is that adopted by the king 

 of Egypt, in the time of Joseph the purchasing of 

 corn by the government, in time of plenty, at home, 

 or importing it from abroad, and storing it in public 

 magazines, V> be distributed as the public wants may 

 demand. But this system is attended with great ex- 

 pense, and a!lords but an uncertain and inadequate 

 provision. Most governments, accordingly, instead 

 of making direct purchases, attempt to provide a re 

 medy by the passing of laws. This subject of grain 

 legislation is by no means entirely modern. 



The Athenians had laws prohibiting the exporta- 

 tion of corn, and requiring merchants who loailed 

 their vessels with it in foreign ports, to bring their 

 cargoes to Athens. The public provision and dis- 

 tribution of corn was an important branch of admin- 

 istration at Rome, and very intimau-iy connected 

 with the public, tranquillity. The reg.iiatiou of the 

 supply of corn and the trade in the article have been 

 a fruitful subject of legislation in modern Kurope. 

 But it is to be observed, that the public solicitude 

 and current of legislation take this direction only in 

 populous countries, or at least those in which the po- 

 pulation presses hard upon the means of dome-tic 

 production of bread stuffs; fora country of which, 

 like Poland, the staple export is corn, needs to take 

 no measures for securing a supply ; and as flour 

 and Indian meal are great articles of exportation in 

 America, that country lias had no occasion for laws 

 to guard against a famine, since the ordinary course 

 of industry and trade gives the greatest possible se- 

 curity, by producing a surplus or provisions, which a 

 high price at home, in anticipation of any scarcity, 

 will be sure to retain for the supply of domestic 

 wants. In agricultural countries, the object of solici- 

 tude is to supply the want of arts and in nufactiires, 

 as in populous and highly improved countries, it is 

 to supply the want of food. 



But the laws directed to this object have been very 

 various, and some of them contradictory ; for as in 

 Athens, so in Britain at one period, the laws pro- 

 hibited the exportation of corn ; whereas, at another 

 period, and for a very long one in the latter country, 

 a bounty was given on the exportation ; and both 

 these laws had the same object, viz. the adequate and 

 steady supply of the article. For this purpose, the 

 bounty is the measure undoubtedly calculated to 

 produce the effect intended, and the permanent pro- 

 hibition of exportation must aggravate the scarcity 

 which it is intended to prevent. Such a bounty tends 

 to stimulate a surplus production, and so to give a 

 country, by this factitious encouragement, the same 

 security, in respect to a supply, as results from the 

 spontaneous course of industry and trade in Poland, 

 the southern part of Russia, and the United States of 

 America. But the objection to the bounty is its 

 great expense, requiring, as it does the imposition of 

 a tax, and, at the same time, raising the price of the 

 article to the domestic consumer. To secure the 

 advantages, and avoid some of the burdens of this 

 law, Mr Burke, in 1773, proposed the system of corn 

 laws since adhered to in Great Britain, according to 

 which no bounty is paid, but the exportation of corn 

 is permitted when it is sold under a certain price in 

 the home market. This price is determined by the 



