A STUDY OF WHEAT. 



49 



turnips and clover. It is supposed by many that the common 

 bean is much more nutritious than wheat. It contains a high 

 proportion of nitrogenous matter, under the form of legumin. 

 It is, on this account, rather a coarse food, and difficult of 

 digestion, although it is regarded as the best of food for horses, 

 by many as far better than oats. 



The Greeks and Romans regarded beans with very great 

 interest. They were used by them as ballots at the time of 

 the election of magistrates. Among them a white bean signi- 

 fied the affirmative, and a black one the negative. Ovid gives 

 a description of an important custom which existed among the 

 ancients. He says : " Beans had a mystic use, for the master 



Fig. 10. Bean Starch after being Baked as in Bread. 



a, Starch grains. 3, Fragments of cell-walls. 



of the family, after washing his hands three times, threw black 

 beans over his head nine times, continuing to repeat the words, 

 "I redeem myself and my family by these beans." Pytha- 

 goras urged abstinence from the use or contact of beans, and 

 the Egyptian priests considered the sight even of beans to be 

 unclean. Cicero used to maintain that beans were a great 

 enemy to tranquility of mind. 



There are three distinct coats surrounding the bean. The 

 outer seed coat, as seen at a figure 7,' the middle seed coat 

 seen at b, and the inner coat, consisting of all the remaining 

 structure. The first, or outer coat a, is made up of radially 



