rtain dish or food material. Now,
if Apicius prescribes _liquamen_ for the preparation of a meat or a
vegetable, it is by no means clear to the uninitiated what he has in
mind. In fact, in each case the term _liquamen_ is subject to the
interpretation of the experienced practitioner. Others than he would
at once be confronted with an unsurmountable difficulty. Scientists
may not agree with us, but such is kitchen practice. Hence the many
fruitless controversies at the expense of the original, at the
disappointment of science.

_Garum_ is another word, one upon which much contemptuous witticism
and serious energy has been spent. _Garum_ simply is a generic name
for fish essences. True, _garus_ is a certain and a distinct kind of
Mediterranean fish, originally used in the manufacture of _garum_; but
this product, in the course of time, has been altered, modified,
adulterated,--in short, has been changed and the term has naturally
been applied to all varieties and variations of fish essences, without
distinction, and it has thus become a collective term, covering all
varieties of fish sauces. Indeed, the corruption and degeneration of
this term, _garum_, had so advanced at the time of Vinidarius in the
fifth century as to lose even its association with any kind of fish.
Terms like _garatum_ (prepared with g.) have been derived from it.
Prepared with the addition of wine it becomes _{oe}nogarum_,--wine
sauce--and dishes prepared with such wine sauce receive the adjective
of _{oe}nogaratum_, and so forth.

The original _garum_ was no doubt akin to our modern anchovy sauce, at
least the best quality of the ancient sauce. The principles of
manufacture surely are alike. _Garum_, like our anchovy sauce, is the
_puree_ of a small fish, named _garus_, as yet unidentified. The fish,
intestines and all, was spiced, pounded, fermented, salted, strained
and bottled for future use. The finest _garum_ was made of the livers
of the fish only, exposed to the sun, fermented, somehow preserved. It
was an expensive article in old Rome, famed for its medicinal
properties. Its mode of manufacture has given rise to much criticism
and scorn on the part of medieval and modern commentators and
interpreters who could not comprehend the "perverse taste" of the
ancients in placing any value on the "essence from putrified
intestines of fish."

However, _garum_ has been vindicated, confirmed, endorsed, reiterated,
rediscovered, if you please, by mo