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colored green throughout with saleratus. "We never see per- 

 sons making a feed (it cannot be a meal) on such indi- 

 gestible stuff but visions of dyspepsia, nightmare, and work 

 for the dentist come up before us ; for it is now admitted by 

 all that nothing destroys the enamel of teeth like saleratus 

 taken into the stomach. Yet we have heard people who daily 

 eat bread made green by saleratus, cursing the doctor, who, 

 in a case of sickness years ago, gave them a dose of calomel 

 and destroyed their teeth. 



We once heard a lady, who took pride in her cooking, assert 

 that to have good bread it must rise till it was thoroughly 

 sour, then add saleratus till it was sweet ; that would make 

 nice bread. It was suggested that it could be soured with 

 cream of tartar. Ah ! no ; she knew better ; she wanted the 

 natural sour. We could never imagine why people who use 

 cream of tartar to sour their dough, do not buy sour flour as a 

 matter of economy; it can be bought less, and would save 

 buying cream of tartar. We do not see why the same result 

 could not be obtained. We wish every family in this country 

 (rebels included) could have, daily, as good bread as the poor- 

 est specimen offered for our inspection; — although we sup- 

 pose some persons, who have been used to eating bread of the 

 brickbat sort, would not relish decent bread, because the taste 

 gets so depraved they could not recognize good bread when 

 they eat it. This ought not so to be ; for of all the various 

 kinds of ailment to which civilized man has had recourse dur- 

 ing our historical period, none have been so universally em- 

 ployed as bread. 



Like most arts of primary importance, the invention of bread 

 undoubtedly long preceded its history, which is involved in the 

 usual obscurity of early times. The Greeks ascribe the intro- 

 duction of agriculture to Ceres, and the invention of bread to 

 Pan ; but we know that the Chaldeans and Egyptians were 

 acquainted with these arts at an earlier period. " And Abra- 

 ham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, make ready 

 quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it and make cakes 



