THE FRUIT GIFT. 157 



in English, 'Flour,' both in the perfectly nourishing ele- 

 ments of it, and its easy and abundant multiplicability, be- 

 comes the primal treasure of human economy. 



3. It has been the practice of botanists of all nations to 

 consider the seeds of the grasses together with those of roses 

 and pease, as if all could be described on the same principles, 

 and with the same nomenclature of parts. But the grain of 

 corn is a quite distinct thing from the seed of pease. In it, 

 the husk and the seed envelope have become inextricably one. 

 All the exocarps, endocarps, epicarps, mesocarps, shells, husks, 

 sacks, and skins, are woven at once together into the brown 

 bran ; and inside of that, a new substance is collected for us, 

 which is not what we boil in pease, or poach in eggs, or munch 

 in nuts, or grind in coffee ; but a thing which, mixed with 

 water and then baked, has given to all the nations of the world 

 their prime word for food, in thought and prayer, Bread ; 

 their prime conception of the man's and woman's labor in pre- 

 paring it ("whoso puttethhand to the plough " two women 

 shall be grinding at the mill) their prime notion of the 

 means of cooking by fire ("which to-day is, and to-morrow 

 is cast into the oven "), and their prime notion of culinary office 

 the " chief baker," cook, or pastry cook, (compare Bedred- 

 din Hassan in the Arabian Nights) : and, finally, to modern 

 civilization, the Saxon word 'lady,' with whatever it imports. 



4. It has also been the practice of botanists to confuse all 

 the ripened products of plants under the general term ' fruit.' 

 But the essential and separate fruit-gift is of two substances, 

 quite distinct from flour, namely, oil and wine, under the last 

 term including for the moment all kinds of juice w r hich will 

 produce alcohol by fermentation. Of these, oil may be pro- 

 duced either in the kernels of nuts, as in almonds, or in the 

 substance of berries, as in the olive, date, and coffee-berry. 

 But the sweet juice which will become medicinal in wine, can 

 only be developed in the husk, or in the receptacle. 



5. The office of the Chief Butler, as opposed to that of the 

 Chief Baker, and the office of the Good Samaritan, pouring in 

 oil and wine, refer both to the total fruit-gift in both kinds : 

 but in the study of plants, we must primarily separate our 



