SCENTS AND FLAVORS.
A passion for strong odors is frequently observed among savage tribes. Members of the African race especially have this taste developed, and =ploy various vegetable preparations to anoint and perfume themselves. The ancient Mexicans, according to the historian Sahagun, collected large numbers of sweet-scented flowers and aromatic plants, which they mixed with gums and resins, and burned as pastilles or employed as lotions and unguents. In that and in many other lands "the burping of sweet incense" was regarded as an act particularly acceptable to the gods, and formed a prominent feature in the rites of the temples. The early Egyptians prepared perfumes for toilet purposes and for their process of embalming. Some of them were so pungent that they are yet easily perceptible on mummies thousands of years old. Some of these were obtained from Arabia; others, even at a very early day, from so remote a country as India.
In later days the Greeks became distinguished for their skill in com pounding perfumes, and during the period of the Roman empire most of this trade was in their hands. One of the principal streets of Capua was made up altogether of shops devoted to this branch of the arts. An idea of the extent to which it was carried may be derived from the Natural History of the elder Pliny, who gives a full account of the extraordinary number of artificial odors popular in his day. They were collected from all parts of the then known world, and for many of them fabulously high prices were paid by the luxurious aristocracy of Rome.
Pleasures of the the extravagance of the wealthy of that day found its chief field in the search for new and pleasing flavors. The pleasures of the palate seem at all times to have exerted a most powerful attraction on the race. Merely to supply the needs of the system has ever been bnt a minor part in the art of preparing food. Spices, condiments, and sweet and luscious flavors have in all conditions of society urged men to undergo unwonted exertions for their enjoyment. This is prominently seen in the use of salt. Though certain tribes have been found who did not know it, as a rule it is highly prized by all races. Travellers state
that a child in the Soudan will suck a piece of rock salt with the same zest that one with us will enjoy a stick of candy. The numerous remains of thick earthenware evaporating-pans around the "salt licks" of Illinois and Kentucky testify to the industries this taste developed among the aborigines of the United States. So highly prized was it in ancient Mexico that quarrels about the salt-supply were frequent causes of war between the Tlascalans and Aztecs (Jourdanet). Throughout tropical America the red pepper was scarcely less esteemed, and to this day is an invariable accompaniment of the native dishes.
The I Ycc of the Old World the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were all devoted to the pleasures of the table—to such an extent, indeed, that the severest strictures of the ancient moralists were directed against this form of indulgence. A Roman proverb ran to the effect that gluttony killed more persons than occidit Kula glum gladius. The extravagance of the Romans in this respect knew no bounds. The famous epicure Lucullus gave dinners to a small circle of guests which would cost as much as $S000 ; but his expenditure was completely thrown in the shade by that of the emperor Vitellins, who in the one year in which he enjoyed the imperial dignity is said to have disbursed for his culinary expenses alone nearly a hundred million dollars, and to have sat down to single dishes of meats so rare that they cost forty thousand dollars apiece.
It is instructive to note that in modern times, at least in nations of European descent, there has been a steady decrease in the vice of glut tony, although attention to the rational pleasures of the table has not diminished. As late as the middle of the last century instances of excess in eating must have been frequent, judging from the denunciations they called forth. Now, however, in spite of a more rigid code of social ethics, condemnations of such indulgence are rarely heard, because it has almost ceased to exist.