BREAD. 



through an enemy's country, they fometimes, inftead of 

 bread, make bKket. 



Bread, in Domejlk Economy, fcrves as a nutritive ali- 

 ment, in all countries where it can be obtained. The fari- 

 naceous vegetables are dillrlbuted fo univerfally over the face 

 of the earth, and have become to fuch a degree the objefts 

 of culture, that tliey are ve'-y generally made into bread ; 

 and as gencnlly a portion ot them is taken into the mouth 

 alon" with almoft every morfel of other food. By fermen- 

 tation it acquires a more fpongy texture, and becomes more 

 friable, and of courfe more eafily mifcible with the faliva, 

 and our other aliments, during the progrefs of manducalion, 

 which it nectfiarily retards, and whilll the operation of di- 

 gellion is performed in the ftomach. 'To thefe purpofts it is 

 adapted by being bulky without too much folidlty, and by 

 being firm without too great difliculty of fohilion. The 

 be'.l aliment of this kind is bread, made of the flour of good 

 wheat, well fermented, thoroughly baked, with a little lalt ; 

 whereas that which is not thoroughly baked, well kneaded, 

 and without fait, is reckoned luu-tful and unwholefome, as 

 are alfo unleavened bread and cakes baked under the adies. 

 In general, the lighter the bread the better and more agree- 

 able it is ; coarfe and barley bread is deterfive, commonly 

 purgative, at lead to thofe who are not ufed to it. " We 

 are willing to own," favs Dr. CuUen, in his difcufllon of 

 this fnbjcft, " that a farinaceous fubflance, formed by fer- 

 mentation into a perfeft bread, is the mod wholefome con- 

 dition in which farinaceous matters can be employed as a 

 part of our food; and we are ready alfo to allow, that the 

 unfermented farinacea, taken in immoderate quantity, efpe- 

 clally at a certain period of life, or in dyfpeptic ilomachs, 

 may be the caufe of difeafe : but all this feems to have been 

 exaggerated ; for the morbid elTefts of unfermented fari- 

 nacea are truly rare occurrences ; and, indeed, the fame 

 unfermented farinacea are for the moll part very well fuited 

 to the human economy. However confiderable the ufe of 

 fermented bread may be, the ufe of unfermented farinacea 

 is ftiU very great and confiderable amongll almoft every peo- 

 ple of the earth. Tiie whole people of Afia live upon un- 

 fermented rice ; and I believe (fays he) the Americans, be- 

 fore they became acquainted with the Europeans, employed, 

 and for the mod part dill employ, their maize in the fame 

 condition. Even in Europe, the employment of unferment- 

 ed bread, and of unfermented farinacea in other (liapes, is 

 dill very confiderable ; and we are ready to maintain, that 

 the morbid confequences of fuch diet are very fcldom to be 

 obferved. In Scotland, nine-tenths of the lower clafs of 

 people, and that is the greater part of the whole, live upon 

 unfermented bread, and unfermented farinacea in other forms; 

 and at the fame time I am of opinion (fays this writer) that 

 there are not a more healthy people any where to be found." 

 In oppofition to tliis faft it has been alleged, that this kind 

 of diet is only fafe, when ufed by robuft and labouring 

 people : but Dr. CuUen fays, " We give it in this country 

 not only to the farmer's labouring fcrvants, but to our feden- 

 tary tradefmen, to our women, and to our children ; and 

 all of the latter live and grow up in good health, except a 

 very few dyfpeptics who are not free from complaints, which 

 thafe alfo are liable to who live on fermented wheaten 

 bread." 



It is hardly neceflary to fay any thing of bread in refer- 

 ence to its medical ufe ; however, decoftions, creams, and 

 jellies of bread have been direded in fome difpenfaries. 

 Bread, well baked, and infnfed or lightly boiled in water, 

 imparts to it a deep colour, and a highly agreeable reftrin- 

 geiit tafte. This liquor, ufed as common drink, has been 

 fometimes beneficial in a weak las (late of the ftomach and 



inteftines ; and in bilious vomiting and purging, or the 

 cholera morbus ; of which inllances occur in the Edinburgh 

 cdays, in which no other medicine was ufed. The ufe of 

 bread, as an external application, is well known. Mr. 

 Boyle adures us fPliil. Works Abr. vol. i. p. ,H- 39-) that 

 he derived a mendruum from bread ilrongerthan aqua fortis, 

 and which would aft even upon glafs itfelf. See farther 

 concerning bread in the writers on food and cookery ; efpe- 

 cially in Hen. Nicolai, Tia£l. de Pane, Dantifc. 165 1. 

 Eabr. Bib. Antiq. c. 19. §. 6. Cullen's Mat. Med, vol. i. 

 p. 2S3. 



Brkad, banpournichok, or lonpaurn'iclcl, the name of a 

 vci-y coarfe bread eaten in Wedphalia, and many other places. 

 This bread of the Wedphalians dill retains the opprobrious 

 name once given it by a French traveller, of bvnpournicljoli;, 

 good for his horfe Nlchole, but is by no means a contempti- 

 ble kind. It is far from being peculiar to this age or coun- 

 try : it has been known in dillant places, and in different 

 ages, and was called by the ancients p,iius furfunictiis, or 

 panislmpurus, from its not being fo thoroughly cleanfed from 

 the hufli or bran, as the fine forts of bread are. The wref- 

 tlers of old eat only this fort of bread, to prcferve them in 

 their drength of limbs ; and we may learn from Pliny, that 

 the Romans for three hundred years knew no other bread : 

 and it has been faid, that this coarle bread nouridies more, 

 aduages hunger better, and generates humours lefs fubjeft to 

 corruption than the white. 



The inhabitants of Wedphalia, who are a hardy and ro- 

 bud people, and capable of enduring the greated fatigues, 

 are a living tedimony to the falutary efletls of this fort of 

 bread ; and it is remarkable, that they are very feidom at- 

 tacked by acute fevers, and thofe other difeafes which arife 

 from an ebullition of the humours, and a malignant colliqua- 

 tion of the blood, and of the humours of which it is com- 

 pofed. It is certain that a lefs drong diet is more proper to 

 weakly conftitutions, and people of fedentary lives, than 

 this ; but for thofe who will ufe the necefiary exercife with 

 it, it is eafy to fee that it is preferable to all other kinds of 

 bread ; fince it remarkably reftores drength, and has another 

 falutary effeCl, which is, that it renders the belly foluble : 

 this was a quality remarked in coarfe bread, and highly com- 

 mended in it, fo early as in the days ot Hippocrates. 



The Germans make two forts of waters by didillation 

 from this bread ; the one with, the other without, the ad. 

 dition of a fpirituous liquor : to both which great virtues 

 are afcribed. Tliat without any thing fpirituous, is made 

 of the juice of craw-fidi, May-dew, rofe-water, nutmegs, 

 and faftron, didilled from a large quantity of this bread. 

 This is edeemed a great rellorative, and given in heclic 

 habits. The other is didilled from this bread and Rhenidi 

 wine, with nutmegs and cinnamon. This is given in all the 

 diforders of the ilomach, vomiting, and lofs of appetite, and 

 other complaints of the fame kind ; and befides thefe, there 

 is a fpirit didilled from it by the retort, in the dry way, 

 which, when feparated from its fetid oil, is edeemed a power- 

 ful fudorilic, and very valuable medicine, in removing im- 

 purities of the blood. Hoffman. 



Bread, horfe, is made of wheat, oats, and beans, to which 

 fometimes are added anifeed, gentian, liquorice, fenu- 

 greek, eggs, and ale ; and fometimes i^e and white wine are 

 ufed. 



For race-horfes, three forts of bread are ufually given 

 with fuccefs, for the fecond, third, and fourth fortnights 

 feeding ; they are all made of beans and wheat, worked 

 with barm, the difference confiding chiefly in the proportion 

 of the two former. In the firft kind, three times the quan- 

 tity of beans is ufed to one of wheat ; in the fecond, equal 

 6 quantities 



