hich oil, with aniseed
and other spices, was an element; but this was unleavened. Every family
used to prepare the bread for its own consumption, the _trade_ of baking
not having yet taken shape. It is said, that somewhere about the
beginning of the thirtieth Olympiad, the slave of an archon, at Athens,
made leavened bread by accident. He had left some wheaten dough in an
earthen pan, and forgotten it; some days afterwards, he lighted upon it
again, and found it turning sour. His first thought was to throw it
away; but, his master coming up, he mixed this now acescent dough with
some fresh dough, which he was working at. The bread thus produced, by
the introduction of dough in which alcoholic fermentation had begun, was
found delicious by the archon and his friends; and the slave, being
summoned and catechised, told the secret. It spread all over Athens; and
everybody wanting leavened bread at once, certain persons set up as
bread-makers, or bakers. In a short time bread-baking became quite an
art, and "Athenian bread" was quoted all over Greece as the best bread,
just as the honey of Hyamettus was celebrated as the best honey.

1671. In our own times, and among civilized peoples, bread has become an
article of food of the first necessity; and properly so, for it
constitutes of itself a complete life-sustainer, the gluten, starch, and
sugar, which it contains, representing azotized and hydro-carbonated
nutrients, and combining the sustaining powers of the animal and
vegetable kingdoms in one product.

1672. WHEATEN BREAD.--The finest, wholesomest, and most savoury bread is
made from wheaten flour. There are, of wheat, three leading qualities,--
the soft, the medium, and the hard wheat; the last of which yields a
kind of bread that is not so white as that made from soft wheat, but is
richer in gluten, and, consequently, more nutritive.

1673. RYE BREAD.--This comes next to wheaten bread: it is not so rich in
gluten, but is said to keep fresh longer, and to have some laxative
qualities.

1674. BARLEY BREAD, INDIAN-CORN BREAD, &c.--Bread made from barley,
maize, oats, rice, potatoes, &c. "rises" badly, because the grains in
question contain but little gluten, which makes the bread heavy, close
in texture, and difficult of digestion; in fact, corn-flour has to be
added before panification can take place. In countries where wheat is
scarce and maize abundant, the people make the latter a chief article of
sustenance, when