e up
academic positions to devote a year to the study of modern cookery in
order to be able to interpret Apicius. These enthusiasts overlooked,
however, two facts: Apicius cannot be understood by inquiring into
modern average cookery methods, nor can complete mastery of cookery,
practical as well as theoretical, including the historical and
physiological aspects of gastronomy be acquired in one year. Richard
Gollmer, another Apicius editor, declares that the results of this
course in gastronomy were negative. We might add here that Schuch's
edition of Apicius, apart from the unwarranted inclusion of the
_excerpta_ of Vinidarius is the least reliable of all editions.

Gollmer published a free version of Apicius in German in 1909. If he
did not render the original very faithfully and literally, it must
be said in all fairness that his methods of procedure were correct.
Gollmer attempted to interpret the ancient text for the modern
reader. Unfortunately he based his work upon that of Schuch and
Wuestemann and Lister. A year or so later Eduard Danneil published a
version of his own, also based on Schuch. This editor is a
practising _chef_,--_Hof-Traiteur_ or caterer to the court of one of
the then reigning princes of Germany. Danneil's preface is dated
1897, though the date of publication is 1911. In view of the fact
that Gollmer had covered the ground and that Danneil added nothing
new to Apician lore, his publication seems superfluous. Danneil's
translation differs in that the translator adhered literally to the
questionable Schuch version whereas Gollmer aspired to a free and
readable version for an educated public.

A comparison reveals that the one author is not a cook while the other
is not a savant.

Like the scholars who tried their hand at cookery, there are a number
of worthy and ambitious practitioners of cookery who have endeavored
to reach the heights of scholarship, among them Careme and Soyer, men
of great calibre. Unfortunately, the span of human life is short, the
capacity of the human mind is limited. Fruitful achievements in widely
different fields of endeavor by one man are rare. This is merely to
illustrate the extreme difficulty encountered by anyone bent on a
venturesome exploration of our subject and the very narrow chances of
success to extricate himself with grace from the two-thousand year old
labyrinth of philosophical, historical, linguistical and gastronomical
technicalities.

This task w