The Physiology of Taste Part 34

At eight o'clock they had not a good supper, but a collation, a word derived from cloister, because at the end of the day the monks used to a.s.semble to comment on the works of the fathers, after which they were allowed a gla.s.s of wine.

Neither b.u.t.ter, eggs, nor any thing animal was served at these collations. They had to be satisfied with salads, confitures, and meats, a very unsatisfactory food to such appet.i.tes at that time.

They went to bed, however, and lived in hope as long as the fast lasted.

Those who ate these little suppers, I am a.s.sured, never fasted.

The chef-d'oeuvre of a kitchen of those days, I am a.s.sured, was a strictly apostolic collation, which, however, was very like a good supper.

Science soon resolved this problem by the recognition of fish, soups, and pastry made with oil. The observing of fasting, gave rise to an unknown pleasure, that of the Easter celebration.

A close observation shows that the elements of our enjoyment are, difficult privation, desire and gratification. All of these are found in the breaking of abstinence. I have seen two of my grand uncles, very excellent men, too, almost faint with pleasure, when, on the day after Easter, they saw a ham, or a pate brought on the table. A degenerate race like the present, experiences no such sensation.

ORIGIN OF THE REMOVAL OF RESTRICTION IN FASTING.

I witnessed the rise of this. It advanced by almost insensible degrees.

Young persons of a certain age, were not forced to fast, nor were pregnant women, or those who thought themselves so. When in that condition, a soup, a very great temptation to those who were well, was served to them.

Then people began to find out that fasting disagreed with them, and kept them awake. All the little accidents man is subject to, were then attributed to it, so that people did not fast, because they thought themselves sick, or that they would be so. Collations thus gradually became rarer.

This was not all; some winters were so severe that people began to fear a scarcity of vegetables, and the ecclesiastical power officially relaxed its rigor.

The duty, however, was recognised and permission was always asked.

The priests were refused it, but enjoined the necessity of extra alms giving.

The Revolution came, which occupied the minds of all, that none thought of priests, who were looked on as enemies to the state.

This cause does not exist, but a new one has intervened. The hour of our meals is totally changed; we do not eat so often, and a totally different household arrangement would be required for fasting. This is so true, that I think I may safely say, though I visit none but the best regulated houses, that, except at home, I have not seen a lenten table, or a collation ten times in twenty- five years.

We will not finish this chapter without observing the new direction popular taste has taken.

Thousands of men, who, forty years ago would have pa.s.sed their evenings in cabarets, now pa.s.s them at the theatres.

Economy, certainly does not gain by this, but morality does.

Manners are improved at the play, and at cafes one sees the journals. One certainly escapes the quarrels, diseases, and degradation, which infallibly result from the habit of frequenting cabarets.

MEDITATION XXV.

EXHAUSTION.

BY exhaustion, a state of weakness, languor or depression, caused by previous circ.u.mstances is understood, rendering the exercise of the vital functions more difficult. There are various kinds of exhaustion, caused by mental labor, bodily toil and the abuse of certain faculties.

One great remedy is to lay aside the acts which have produced this state, which, if not a disease, approximates closely to one.

TREATMENT.

After these indispensable preliminaries, gastronomy is ready with its resources.

When a man is overcome by too long fatigue, it offers him a good soup, generous wine, flesh and sleep.

To a savant led into debility by a too great exercise of his mental faculties, it prescribes fresh air, a bath, fowl and vegetables.

The following observation will explain how I effected a cure of another kind of exhaustion. [The translator thinks it best not to translate this anecdote, but merely to append the original.]

CURE BY THE PROFESSOR.

J'allai un jour faire visite a un de mes meilleurs amis (M.

Rubat); on me dit qu'il etait malade, et effectivement je le trouvai en robe de chambre aupres de son feu, et en att.i.tude d'affaiss.e.m.e.nt.

Sa physionomie m'effraya: il avait le visage pale, les yeux brillants et sa levre tombait de maniere a laisser voir les dents de la machoire inferieure, ce qui avait quelque chose de hideux.

Je m'enquis avec interet de la cause de ce changement subit; il hesita, je le pressai, et apres quelque resistance: "Mon ami, dit- il en rougissant, tu sais que ma femme est jalouse, et que cette manie m'a fait pa.s.ser bien des mauvais moments. Depuis quelques jours, il lui en a pris une crise effroyable, et c'est en voulant lui prouver qu'elle n'a rien perdu de mon affection et qu'il ne se fait a son prejudice aucune derivation du tribut conjugal, que je me suis mis en cet etat.--Tu as done oublie, lui dis-je, et que tu as quarante-cinq ans, et que la jalousie est un mal sans remede?

Ne sais-tu pas furens quid femina possit?" Je tins encore quelques autres propos peu galants, car j'etais en colere.

"Voyons, au surplus, continuai-je: ton pouls est pet.i.t, dur, concentre; que vas-tu faire?--Le docteur, me dit-il, sort d'ici; il a pense que j'avais une fievre nerveuse, et a ordonne une saignee pour laquelle il doit incessamment m'envoyer le chirurgien.--Le chirurgien! m' ecriai-je, garde-t'en bien, ou tu es mort; cha.s.se-le comme un meurtrier, et dis lui que je me suis empare de toi, corps et ame. Au surplus, ton medecin connait-il la cause occasionnelle de ton mal?--Helas! non, une mauvaise honte m'a empeche de lui fairs une confession entiere.--Eh bien, il faut le prier de pa.s.ser cher toi. Je vais te faire une potion appropriee a ton etat; en attendant prends ceci." Je lui presentai un verre d'eau saturee de sucre, qu'il avala avec la confiance d'Alexandre et la foi du charbounier.

Alors je le quittai et courus chez moi pour y mixtionner, fonctionner et elaborer un magister reparateur qu'on trouvera dans les Varietes, avec les divers modes que j'adoptai pour me hater; car, en pareil cas, quelques heures de r.e.t.a.r.d peuvent donner lieu a des accidents irreparables.

Je revins bientot arme de ma potion, et deja je trouvai du mieux; la couleur reparaissait aux joues, l'oeil etait detendu; mais la levre pendait toujours avec une effrayante difformite.

Le medecin ne tarda pas a reparaitre; je l'instruisis de ce que j'avais fait et le malade fit ses aveux. Son front doctoral prit d'abord un aspect severe; mais bientot nous regardant avec un air ou il y avait un peu d'ironie: "Vous ne devez pas etre etonne, dit-il a mon ami, que je n'aie pas devine une maladie qui ne convient ni a votre age ni a votre etat, et il y a de votre part trop de modestie a en cacher la cause, qui ne pouvait que vous faire honneur. J'ai encore a vous gronder de ce que vous m'avez expose a une erreur qui aurait pu vous etre funeste. Au surplus, mon confrere, ajouta-til en me faisant un salut que je lui rendis avec usure, vous a indique la bonne route; prenez son potage, quel que soit le nom qu'il y donne, et si la fievre vous quitte, comme je le crois, dejeunez demain avec une ta.s.se de chocolat dans laquelle vous ferez delayer deux jaunes d'oeufs frais."

A ces mots il prit sa canne, son chapeau et nous quitta, nous laissant fort tentes de nous egayer a ses depens.

Bientot je fis prendre a mon malade une forte ta.s.se de mon elixir de vie; il le but avec avidite, et voulait redoubler; mais j'exigeai un, ajournement de deux heures, et lui servis une seconde dose avant de me retirer.

Le lendemain il etait sans fievre et presque bien portant; il dejeuna suivant l'ordonnance, continua la potion, et put vaquer des le surlendemain a ses occupations ordinaires; mais la levre rebelle ne se releva qu'apres le troisieme jour.

Pen de temps apres, l'affaire transpira, et toutes les dames en chuchotaient entre elles.

Quelques-unes admiraient mon ami, presque toutes le plaignaient, et le professeur gastronome fut glorifie.

MEDITATION XXVI

DEATH.

Omnia mors poscit; lex est, non poena, perire.

G.o.d has subjected man to six great necessities: birth, action, eating, sleep, reproduction and death.

Death is the absolute interruption of the sensual relations, and the absolute annihilation of the vital powers, which abandons the body to the laws of decomposition.

These necessities are all accompanied and softened by a sensation of pleasure, and even death, when j natural, is not without charms. We mean when a man has pa.s.sed through the different phases of growth, virility, old age, and decrepitude.

Had I not determined to make this chapter very short, I would invoke the a.s.sistance of the physicians, who have observed every shade of the transition of a living to an inert body. I would quote philosophers, kings, men of letters, men, who while on the verge of eternity, had pleasant thoughts they decked in the graces; I would recall the dying answer of Fontinelle, who being asked what he felt, said, "nothing but the pain of life;" I prefer, however, merely to express my opinion, founded on a.n.a.logy as sustained by many instances, of which the following is the last:

I had a great aunt, aged eighty-three when she died. Though she had long been confined to her bed, she preserved all her faculties, and the approach of death was perceived by the feebleness of her voice and the failing of her appet.i.te.

She had always exhibited great devotion to me, and I sat by her bed-side anxious to attend on her. This, however, did not prevent my observing her with most philosophic attention.