566 
VARIETIES. 
stances,  and  56  per  cent,  of  unassimilable  substances,  and,  finally,  because 
dogs  fed  on  it,  lost  weight,  which  was  not  the  case  when  they  were  fed  on 
bread.  But,  according  to  M.  Magendi,  the  animals  live  on  brown  bread, 
and  die  when  fed  on  white  bread. 
Finally,  M.  Mouriet  considers  that  in  the  internal  part  of  the  pellicle, 
there  exists  a  ferment  which  renders  starch  fluid,  which  has  the  property 
of  converting  this  substance  into  sugar,  which  otherwise  would  be  rejected 
by  the  intestines  as  unassimilable.  Thus,  if  bread  in  which  the  bran  is  left 
is  not  so  nourishing  as  bread  which  is  deprived  of  it,  this  inferiority  is 
compensated  for  by  qualities  which  are  important  with  respect  to  digesti- 
bility ;  it  is,  moreover,  more  rapid.  Moreover,  which  is  my  chief  point, 
whether  from  its  fermenting  properties,  or  by  a  mechanical  effect  of  the 
ligneous  matters  which  it  contains,  it  has  the  effect  of  increasing  the 
peristaltic  movement  of  the  intestines,  and,  consequently,  of  aiding  the 
evacuations.  I  say  nothing  here  but  what  has  been  known  from  time 
immemorial.  The  ancients,  who  made  three  kinds  of  bread,  of  which  one 
was  inferior  (panis  confusaneus),  and  another  quite  coarse  (panis  furfura- 
ceus),  knew  quite  well  how  they  varied  in  this  respect.  Hippocrates  (Be 
metis  rationis)  makes  special  mention  of  it,  as  well  as  Galen.  Parum  alii 
et  facile,  subsidet  et  quia  furfur  non  nihil  habit  facultatis  detersorice  id  circo 
irritatis  intestinis  cito  dejicitur.    This  is  very  explicit. 
Having  been  frequently  consulted  by  my  patients,  of  the  superior  classes 
especially,  for  they  lead  the  most  sedentary  life,  frequently  of  studious 
habits,  and  in  whom  a  more  delicate  diet  renders  constipation  more  fre- 
quent, I  have  requested  them  to  eat  brown  bread  for  breakfast,  and  I  must 
say  that  the  effect  has  always  answered  to  my  wishes.  Bran  has  at  all 
times  one  inestimable  advantage  over  medicinal  drugs ;  it  does  not  fatigue 
the  digestive  organs,  and  frustrate  the  intestinal  contraction,  which  is,  to 
the  degree  desired  by  nature,  necessary  for  the  regularity  of  the  functions. 
Finally,  it  has  not  the  disadvantage  of  medicinal  substances,  of  losing  its 
efficacy  from  habit,  and  thus  requiring  increased  doses  to  keep  up  its  action. 
Liebig  says  that  the  separation  of  the  bran  from  the  flour  is  rather  injuri- 
ous than  useful  to  nutrition.  In  old  times,  until  the  epoch  of  the  Roman 
Empire,  bolted  flour  was  unknown.  In  many  parts  of  Germany,  especially 
in  Westphalia,  they  use  the  bran  with  the  flour  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
bread  called  pumpernickel,  and  there  never  were  people  whose  digestion 
was  in  a  better  state.  Without  seeking  examples  from  the  other  side  of  the 
Rhine,  may  we  not  judge  from  the  healthy  condition  of  the  French  peas- 
antry who  eat,  almost  all  over  France,  bread  in  which  the  bran  is  left? 
Let  us  then  understand,  that  bolting  the  flour  is  a  measure  of  luxury, 
and  not  of  hygiene.  It  is  probable  that  in  this  matter  there  has  been  made 
merely  one  of  those  false  progresses,  sometimes  met  with  in  the  history  of 
the  sciences,  which  is  considered  one  on  face  of  d  priori  reasoning,  and  on 
the  value  of  which,  experience  frequently  pronounces  in  a  manner  which  is 
opposed  to  theory. 
