days, months and lives.

They even estimated its influence and thought to ascertain if the
savor he impressed by the organs or if it acts without them. From
all this they deduced a lofty theory which embraces all mankind,
and all that portion of creation which may be animalized.

While all this was going on in the studies of savants, it was said
in drawing-rooms that the science which fed man was at least as
valuable as that which killed him. Poets sang the pleasures of the
table and books, the object of which was good cheer, awakened the
greatest and keenest interest in the profound views and maxims
they presented.

Such were the circumstances which preceded the invention of
gastronomy.

DEFINITION OF GASTRONOMY.

Gastronomy is a scientific definition of all that relates to man
as a feeding animal.

Its object is to watch over the preservation of man by means of
the best possible food.

It does so by directing, according to certain principles, all
those who procure, search for, or prepare things which may be
converted into food.

To tell the truth this is what moves cultivators, vine-dressers,