ill become comparatively easy, however, and surely
interesting and with a foreboding of many delights and surprises if we
penetrate the jungle aided by the experience of predecessors,
steadfastly relying on the "theory of evolution" as a guide, and armed
with the indispensable equipment for gastronomical research, i.e., the
practical and technical knowledge of cookery, mastery of languages,
augmented by practical experience gathered by observations and travel
in many lands, and last but not least, if we are obsessed with the
fixed idea that so menial a subject is worth all the bother.

We have purposely refrained from presenting here a treatise in the
customary scientific style. We know, there are repetitions,
digressions, excursions into adjacent fields that may be open to
criticism. We really do not aim to make this critical review an
exhibition of scholarly attainments with all the necessary brevity,
clarity, scientific restraint and etiquette. Such style would be
entirely out of our line. Any bookish flavor attaching itself to our
work would soon replace a natural fragrance we aim to preserve, namely
our close contact with the subject. Those interested in the scholarly
work that has been contributed to this cause are referred to modern
men like Vollmer, Giarratano, Brandt and others named in the
bibliography. Of the older scientists there is Martinus Lister, a man
whose knowledge of the subject is very respectable and whose devotion
to it is unbounded, whose integrity as a scientist is above reproach.
His notes and commentaries together with those of Humelbergius, the
editor-physician of Zuerich, will be enjoyed and read with profit by
every antiquary. The labors of Bernhold and Schuch are meritorious
also, the work, time, and _esprit_ these men have devoted to the
subject is enormous. As for Torinus, the opinions are divided.
Humelbergius ignores him, Gryphius pirates him, Lister scorns him, we
like him. Lister praises his brother physician, Humelbergius: _Doctus
quidem vir et modestus!_ So he is! The notes by Humelbergius alone and
his word: _Nihil immutare ausi summus!_ entitles him to all the praise
Lister can bestow. Unfortunately, the sources of his information are
unknown.

Lacking these, we have of course no means of ascertaining whether he
always lived up to his word that he is not privileged to change.
Humelbergius and Lister may have made contributions of value from a
philological point of view but thei