The literary fabric of the ancient world has been woven from a warp of fiction and a woof of fact. When we turn to it, we find the beautiful, the poetic, the absurd and the true so mixed together that scholars of every nation regard their separation as worthy of their most profound thought. It was from this confusion that the word “cereal" came. Ceres was a goddess worshiped by the ancient Romans. She occupies a most conspicuous place in the beautiful myths that adorn the classic literature of those ancient peoples. She was considered the head of the Agricultural Department. Her special duty was to sit on fleecy clouds and pour from the hollow of her mythical hands floods of sunshine and showers of rain over the grain fields of the Caesars. Therefore, all grains grouped together were called cereals. These articles were first used only when in a green or soft state—that is, from the time the grains began to form in a milky condition until they ripened and became so hard as to hazard the integrity of the teeth. Later they were soaked in water to soften them, and then in warm water, which saved time and facilitated the work of preparation. This custom evolved into the use of hot water, until boiling, or the present method of cooking, resulted.

In order to facilitate and lighten the labor in the preparation of cereals, they were pounded, crushed and broken, which custom very naturally evolved into the modern grinding and bolting mill.

When cereals are in a milky state, before they become hardened-before nature throws around them an envel

ope of cellulose for their protection— they are easy of digestion and are excellent food. But when they have become thoroughly ripened and hardened, each molecule of starch-of which they are so largely composedis enclosed in another envelope, which is almost impervious to the digestive fluids. It has been shown by modern research that cooking does not break up this covering. The modern methods of grinding and cooking cereals render mastication unnecessary, as far as pulverizing them is concerned. Therefore, they pass the taste-buds under false pretenses; they deprive them of their rights; they do not have time to perform their duties, hence they do not pour into the mouth the amount of salvia necessary to perform the first stage of digestion.

Soft, mushy foods are also responsible for the woeful decay of teeth, which is such a conspicuous mark of civilized man. Nature will not keep

alive or produce, generation after generation, any part of the anatomy that is not used. Her system of economy is perfect.

When cereals are taken in their natural state, or not too completely pulverized, so that the teeth may be employed in their final and complete grinding, they constitute a valuable food for a normal, healthy person. This would also be better for the teeth, and make cereal substances much easier to digest, and more thoroughly convertible into energy. Under present dietetic regime, in which cereals are regarded as the staff of life, it is safe to say that more than fifty per cent. of all stomach disorders are caused by undigested cereal starch.

FIGHTING THE PURE FOOD

ACT.

Whatever the courts may decide to be the law in the latest case brought against the Government by the users of preservatives in food, the sympathies of the public will be with those who have made a consistent effort to uphold and make effective the Pure Food Act. This act was one of the bits of constructive reform accomplished by the last administration. Fortunately, the agricultural department was under the direction of men who looked upon the public welfare as of paramount importance, and who, accordingly, used energy and persistency in enforcing the law.

Such a law was, of course, certain to arouse antagonisms among people who had thrived for years by "curing" the food of the people, because the new regulation meant greater expense and smaller profit to them. War against the department and the Government has been almost constant since the act took effect. It is to the credit of such men as Secretary Wilson and Chemist Wiley that they were not cowed by the power and influence of their opponents, but stayed by their guns and fought for the general health.

Of the merits of the particular case now before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, no opinion can bc expressed. But any effort to nullify the Pure Food Act or cripple its efficiency should and would be generally resented. [Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Constitutionality of the Food and Drugs Act is to be tested, so we are informed by the daily papers, in a

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suit brought against the Secretary of Agriculture by an egg-canning concern of St. Louis, representing itself and other interests. Even should the courts hold the law to be unconstitutional, which does not seem to us to be at all likely, there would still be the State laws to deal with the question of food and drug adulteration, and, what is of more importance, there is an aroused public sentiment against the practice so long indulged in by large numbers of food and drug manufacturers of proceeding on the assumption that anything that "pays" is good enough for the public. In case the present national food and drugs statute should be wiped off the books by the Supreme Court, this public sentiment would cause a better and more far-reaching one to be enacted. Without especial reference to any firm or line of products, it may be said in general terms that the poisoners and adulterators have had their day; but they die hard. In common with other reptilian creatures, they will continue to show signs of life in their caudal extremities long after their bodies have been pounded into an unrecognizable mass and thrown on the trash pile.— [Druggist Circular.

A strong fight is to be put up in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia against the Federal pure food laws. The people of this country waited a long time for a code of laws which would protect them them against conscienceless sharks, and it is not probable that the courts will undertake to nullify the enactments secured after a campaign extending through many years. [Zanesville (O.) Courier.