July 6, 1888.] 



SCIENCE. 



sup at 5, and couch at 9." Under Henry IV. the court dined at 1 1, 

 and noon was the rule in the early years of Louis XIV., though in 

 the provinces distant from Paris the dinner-hour remained at 9. In 

 the household ordinances of Henry \'III. of England, the dinner 

 •was established at 10, and the supper at 4. This arrangement 

 ■seems to have been then old, as Froissart mentions waiting on the 

 Duke of Lancaster at 5 in the afternoon, " after he had supped." 

 The differentiated meal, breakfast, with a special character of food, 

 such as we now know it. is of very recent date. A posset or some 

 other confection to stay the stomach was taken on rising without ap- 

 proach to a table, and even now Parisians habitually have their 

 cafe an lait with a trifle of solid food in their bed-chambers, and 

 wait several hours after rising before partaking of what they call, 

 as distinct ixmn goiltcr, the liijetiner, a meal often answering in 

 composition to the old dinner of mid-day. A substantive change 

 even with them is the hour of the latter meal, which is late in the 

 evening, or in the night, instead of early in the afternoon, as it was 

 a few generations ago. 



The position of the participants at any formal repast has been at- 

 tended by intricate punctilios, as much probably among savages as 

 in the most ceremonial courts of Europe. Whether the host 

 should be on the right or left of the door of the wigwam or tepee is 

 a traditional ordinance, and the order in which the calumet should 

 be passed is strictly regulated. The most modern and most judi- 

 cious arrangement of the guests at a dinner-party disregards their 

 social or official importance, and seats them with reference to their 

 personal peculiarities, tastes, and mutual adaptation. Nevertheless, 

 there still remains a relic of former ceremonials in the apparent 

 necessity for the host and hostess to take into dinner and place at 

 their respective right hands the most distinguished two of opposite 

 se.x among their guests. But, apart from this distinction, the dia- 

 gram of seats is arranged to promote agreeable conversation ; 

 which object, as before remarked, is entirely ignored in savage and 

 barbarian repasts. 



The question as to who is to be served first is one about which 

 much has been written by professors of etiquette. It seems now 

 to be decided that on occasions where the entertainment is given 

 for the special'honor of a particular guest, or where any one of the 

 guests towers above the others in point of dignity, such guest 

 should be first served ; but until quite recently it was obligatory 

 for the host or hostess, or both, if both were present, not only to be 

 first served, but actually to eat before any of their guests. This 

 custom originated in the attempt to guard against poisoning, which 

 was common, though apprehended more frequently than was war- 

 ranted, during the middle ages. It is not traced to primitive man. 

 On the contrars", the general rule seems to have been that the giver 

 of a feast did not eat or drink at all, but waited upon the guests, 

 and that practice is found still e.\isting in many parts of the world. 



The posture of the several nations or peoples when at meals has 

 been discussed, without much result save to mark its connection 

 with the invention of furniture and utensils. Savages who squat- 

 ted or sprawled at other times, squatted or sprawled then. So lux- 

 urious nations, or their wealthy members, who habitually reclined 

 on couches, did so at feasts. 



A modern company being assembled and seated, the preliminarj- 

 of grace or form for an address to the Deity or superior powers 

 demands attention. Reference to antiquity and to the practices of 

 uncivilized tribes shows that this almost universal form by no 

 means originated with Christianity. It was a sacrifice to and pla- 

 cation of the gods. Sometimes the whole of the viands were for- 

 mally offered to them ; and nearly always a portion, symbolical of 

 the whole, was actually disposed of by burning or burying in or 

 pouring upon the earth. The early Christian Church, adopting 

 this Pagan ceremonial with many others, gave it in time a new and 

 far more elevated sentiment. Instead of the formula of fear, it be- 

 came that of gratitude to the giver of nourishment and continued 

 life. It is instructive to inquire into the reason why the ceremony 

 of pronouncing grace either before or after meals has of late years 

 so decidedly fallen into disuse. This change undoubtedly preceded 

 the present agnostic disregard of religious services in general, and 

 seems not to have been connected with it, but to have been in- 

 duced by special influences. Religious writers have conscientiously 

 argued that the time when a man was hungry and in sight of the 



food which occupied his attention was not appropriate to prayer. 

 Others claimed that the end of the meal, when the mind was made 

 sluggish by feeding, was also inappropriate. The perficient objec- 

 tion was probably the inconvenience to the service of the repast. 

 At all events, few subjects were more prolific of jests, squibs, and 

 derisive anecdotes during the last century than that of asking 

 grace. Perhaps this ridicule has had effect upon its disuse. 



The duty of the entertainer among us is to subordinate his own 

 dinner to attention to the perfect service of his guests. Among the 

 northern Algonkins and Iroquois, he had another function. He 

 must not eat, and no one talked, but his special duty was to sing. 

 In some Chinese circles the entertainer goes out of the banquet- 

 room, and leaves his guests to unobserved revelry. Davy Crockett 

 would have approved of this, as he declared that the politest man 

 he ever saw was the Philadelphian who handed him the decanter 

 of whiskey and then looked out of the window. 



It is laid down in some books of etiquette that upon the conclu- 

 sion of each course, in order that the servant may be aware that 

 the time has arrived for a change, the guest shall lay his knife and 

 fork parallel to each other upon his plate, but it is also observed that 

 it is extremely vulgar to place these instruments crosswise upon the 

 plate. There is a tradition in reference to the crosswise arrange- 

 ment, that it accompanied a religious formula of blessing the pab- 

 ulum which had then been consumed and was relegated to the 

 digestive apparatus. In this connection it may be noted, that, be- 

 fore the fork was common, the Guelphs or imperials placed their 

 knives and spoons longwise, and the Ghibellines or papal faction 

 placed theirs crosswise, on the table. This practice of subsequent 

 blessing has gone into desuetude with even more generality than 

 has that of invoking preliminary grace. Becoming rejected, per- 

 sons who used the sign connected with it showed themselves be- 

 hind the times ; videlicet, low-bred or vulgar. 



In all repasts of uncivilized peoples it is remarkable that certain 

 kinds or parts of food were refused by particular individuals, or 

 avoided by the whole body of feeders. 



At this time and in this country, but two relics of these supersti- 

 tions would probably be met. One might occur on any day in case 

 a strict Israelite were present ; and another, relating to the days of 

 the week and seasons of the year, would be apparent in the absti- 

 nence of other religionists. 



The e.vplanation once offered, that the Mosaic prohibition of 

 certain animals, especially the hog, as food, was founded in pro- 

 found hygienic wisdom, is not now considered satisfactory. Pork 

 in good condition is recognized to be as healthful food as other 

 meats in the same condition throughout the world, and it is now 

 eaten with the same immunity in SyTia as in Ohio. The modern 

 Israelites offer most interesting notes to the ethnologist by their 

 continued preservation, in the midst of a high civilization, of the 

 religious taboo of savagery. This rite has had paramount influence 

 beyond that of their written doctrines, in their segregation from the 

 nations in which they have sojourned ; and, now that it is becom- 

 ing less strictly observed, there are evidences of their ceasing to be 

 a peculiar people. 



The refusal, at certain times and seasons, of food that in itself is 

 hygienically good and palatable, in placation of a deity, or, without 

 further explanation, to avoid bad luck, is well known among the 

 lower tribes of men. Fasting may be either ytr/V/////////, in which all 

 kinds of food and drink are prohibited, or abstiiicnlia in relation to 

 specified articles. 



The origin of fasting is probably to be found in physiological 

 considerations. There is a marked loss of appetite in the reflex 

 result of grief, fear, and other strong emotions, from which noticed 

 fact abstinence may become the conventional symbol and some- 

 times pretence of those emotions, and afterwards a formal act of 

 homage to their inspiring cause. Certain it is that the practice has 

 been found in all times and in every race of man, and therefore has 

 no necessary connection with Christianity. 



A similar explanation, pro tanto, attends the substitution of fish 

 for other meats: but this topic has some peculiar features. In the 

 early riparian populations the arrival from the mysterious depths of 

 waters of the shoals of fish, on which they depended, was, and still 

 is among savages, always signalized by religious ceremonies. In 

 the same connection may be noted the rites of our plains Indians 



