14 



Emphatically called the Staff of life. The chief bulk of those seeds being 

 made up of farinaceous matter,— which, as has been stated, is always 

 innocent and nutritious, — they are consequently well adapted to the sus- 

 tenance of Man. They not only supply us with Bread, — but with all 

 the countless variety of dishes which ingenuity has prepared, — both from 

 the flour, and the unground grain : and if but few species are commonly 

 employed for that purpose, it is because the large size of their seeds, com- 

 pared with those of other Grasses, renders them more eligible as objects 

 of culture. There is but a solitary instance alleged, of the unwholesome- 

 ness of the seeds, in the entire family of the Grasses, — viz. those of the 

 Darnel ( Lolium temulentum, L.), — a common weed in many parts of 

 Europe, — but scarcely known in the United States: and even in this 

 case, the deleterious effects are probably much exaggerated. It is only 

 when the seeds are damaged, or diseased, that they become injurious to 

 health; — as when putrefaction has commenced, — or when that peculiar 

 disease and enlargement of the grain occurs, which is known by the name 

 of Ergot.* This kind of diseased grain (the effect, it is believed, of a par- 

 asilic fungus), has been found to exert a powerful influence on the animal 

 system ; and henoe, instead of being a nutriment, may become either a 

 poison, or a medicine, — according to the quantity taken, or the manner 

 in which it is employed. Indeed, the "remark may be made general,—* 

 that the chief distinction between a poison and an active medicine, consists 

 in the size of the dose, and the skill of the Doctor. A drug that has no 

 power to do mischief, or to disturb the system, can possess but feeble med- 

 icinal virtues; and, if it deserve notice at all, should be classed among tho 

 Aliments, rather than in the Materia Medica. Accordingly, we find the 

 poisonous plants furnishing the multifarious ingredients of the Apotheca- 

 ry's shop, — -while the simple Grasses, in their sound and unsophisticated 

 condition, yield nothing but the wholesome materials for food and nourish- 

 ment. It is true, that human ingenuity has extracted a potent medical a- 

 gent, in the form of Alcohol, from the fermented seeds and juices of the 

 Graminex,—" and it is equally true, that Man has wickedly converted that 

 extreme medicine into his daily beverage: But this is only a signal in- 

 stance of his depravity, in pervciting the blessings bestowed on him, — - 

 and argues nothing against the intrinsic value of the materials thus abused. 

 It merely illustrates the ancient truth — corruptio optimi pessima,""t)xaX 

 tho prostitution o-f the best things produces the vilest results. 



*The quality of grain, and of the flour manufactured from it, may be 

 materially injured by incipient vegetation; The process of germination 

 produces a caemical change in the seeds, and renders the farina unfit for 

 culinary purposes : Hence it is impossible for the Miller to make good 

 flour from grain that has sprouted. 



