The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1895-01-17
BREAD IN HISTORY.
Entire Populations Wholly lgno-
rant of Its Use.
THE USE OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.
Bread Eaters are Still in the Minority.
France Consumes More than
any other Country.
The USE OF UNLEAVENED BREAD.

1t would seem natural to suppose
that bread must always have been
something like the article by that
name with which we are so familiar.
This is, however, far from being the
case; men were not always familiar
with the preparation of wheaton flour
which we call bread; indeed, in our own
day there are entire populations wholly
ignorant of its use. The black races
of Africa and the red men of America
have no notion of it. In the vast en-
pire of China, containing a quarter OF
the whole human race, bread is almost
unknown. Only in the province of Kan
Son is bread, such as we use, made.
The people Of Hindoostan use only un-
leavened bread. Archaeology furnishes
evidence of the use of unleavened bread
toward the close Of the prehistoric
period. Wharred bread has been found
in the lake-dwellings of Switzerland
and in the subterranean vaults of
Egypt. These specimens afford pre-
]
ing among the Helvetians of the Stone
Age, and the Egyptians thousands of
years before, our era. The bread of
that age shows that the grain had
been crushed by beating it between
two stones. 1t contained much sand,
and to its presence is attributable the
ground-down state Of the teeth so fire.
q uently observed in mummies and i'll
the skeletons Of the lake jewellers.
In the days Of the patriarchs the
Hebrews used unleavened bread, and
it does not appear that they knew of
any other bread before their sojourn in
Egypt. The use of unleavened bread
is no less ancient among the peoples of
the Aryan stock The Greeks ascribed
its origin to the remote NEUROLOGICAL
ages of Ceres and Pan. In the heroic
days depicted by Homer, the Greeks had
nothing but unleavened bread, and
even that the poet mentions only III
connection with some particular feasts
The loaves of antiquity were fiat.
and they were so prepared that there
was no necessity to cut them; they
were broken; hence the expression "to
break bread" so common among the
old writers. Athenaeus, describing
the festivals of the Gauls, remarks
that they served the bread "all
broken" According to FORTUNATE,
the sanity Queen Radegonde lived on
coarse bread, in spirit of mortifca-
ta hnl fA 10
and this was the only nourishment of
very many unfortunates in the sixth
century. Even in this nineteenth CEN
tury the use of unleavened bread is
habitual in certain cantons of Spain
and Italy. The griddlecakes of Ire
land. the pogatcha of Bosnia, the pun
pernickel of Westphalia, the fad brood
of the Norwegian peasants, are all
varieties of unleavened bread. The
ancients attributed the discovery of
leaven to the Egyptians, and it was
from them that the Hebrews learned it.
We learn from the dream of Pha-
raoh's chief baker, interpreted by
Joseph that baking had at that time
become distinct pursuit; and that it
had reached high state of develop
ment may be safely inferred from the
chief bakers dream of the "three bas.
kets which contained all manner OF
baked meats" This was nineteen cen
turtles before Christ; and about -four
centuries later when the Israe]ites left
Egypt leavened bread was their chief
article of diet and it was also in gen
eral use throughout the East. Hero.
dotus tells us that Crpsus erected q
statue of gold to his baker in memory
of his skill and the same author tells
us that the number of women engag-
| ing in making bread for Xerxes's army
: of 1,700, 900 men was beyond count.
l The first bakers who followed theil
: craft i'll Rome were slaves captured
during the expedition against Philip
III B. G. The substitution of beef
t yeast for leaven appears to have beer
r adopted by the ancient Gauls but the
custom fell into disuse and was com
pletely forgotten until toward the mid
, die of the seventeenth century when il
:, was rediscovered in London. This
, innovation was very theoretically OPP
posed by the medical profession. The
Faculty of Paris on being consulted by
the lieutenant of police decided Oh
: March 4, 1868, by vote of forty five
to thirty that the leaven of beer "wal
> opposed to health. and prejudicial t.
the human frame ON account of it,
acridity, due to the decomposition O
9 wheat and barley" Guy .Patin ant
Q the more ardent Of the physicians char
$ acterized yeast as 'villaineous foam. )
j. But public opinion favored the limo
walton. the Faculty had to give way
!. and two years later the use of yeas
), was sanctioned by special act of Parlia
! ment.
- For long time every family con
tinued to make its own bread. 1t wa.
the universal custom among all tn
: Germanic peoples The terms "lord'
, and lady" are indeed derived iron
: the Anglo-Saxon, the first, hlaford
: which signifies the author or custodian
of bread; and the second, hloebdige
l. the one who employs herself about tn
d bread. Even in France, until the seven
g teenth century there were no bakers ez
cept in the cities.
The bread-eaters are still in til
minority in the world. The number q
)t CIVILIZED persons who habitually con