The art of baking was carried on to a high perfection among the Egyptians, who are said to have baked cakes in many fantastic shapes, using several kinds of flour. The Romans took up the art of baking, and public bakeries were numerous on the streets of Rome. In England the business of the baker was considered to be one so closely affecting the interests of the public that in 1266 an act of Parliament was passed regulating the price to be charged for bread. This regulation continued in operation until 1822 in London and until 1836 in the rest of the country. The art of making bread has not yet reached some countries in Europe and Asia. In the rural parts of Sweden no bread is made, but rye cakes are baked twice a year and are as hard as flint. It is less than a century ago that bread was used in Scotland, the Scotch people of every class living on barley bannocks and oaten cakes.--Chicago News. [491] Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, p. 96. [492] Shâyast lâ-Shâyast, par. 32, note 6, pp. 283, 284 (Max Müller's ed., Oxford, 1880). [493] Ibid., p. 315, note 3. [494] "And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour" (Levit., II, 4); "With all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt" (Ibid., 13)--Brand, Pop. Ant., vol. 2, p. 82. [495] Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 441. [496] Ibid., p. 447. [497] Brand, Pop. Antiq., vol. 1, pp. 345, 346, quoting Gen. Vallencey's Essay on the Antiquity of the Irish Language. [498] Ibid., p. 345. [499] Ibid., p. 154. [500] Ibid., pp. 155, 156. [501] See also "Buns" in Inman's Ancient Faiths. [502] "Ofrecian el pan al ídolo, hincados de rodillas. Bendezianlo los sacerdotes, y repartian como pan bendito, con lo qual se acabaua la fiesta. Guardauan aquel pan todo el año, teniendo por desdichada, y sugeta a muchos peligros la casa que sin el estaua."--Padre Fray Alonso Fernandez (Dominican). Historia Eclesiastica de Nuestros Tiempos, Toledo, 1611, p. 16. [503] Brand, Popular Antiquities, vol. 2, pp. 100 et seq., quoting Blount, Moffet, and Moresin. [504] Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 7, cap. 9, p. 100. [505] Nat. Hist., lib. xviii, caps 10 et seq. and 39. [506] "Var (from the Hebrew word _var frumentum_) Grain. It not only means a particular kind of grain, between wheat and barley, less nourishing than the former, but more so than the latter, according to Vossius; but it means bread corn, grain of any kind. Ætius gives this application to any kind of frumentaceous grain, decorticated, cleansed from the husks, and afterwards bruised and dried." London Medical Dictionary, Bartholomew Parr, M. D., Philadelphia, 1820, article "Far". "_Ador_ or _Athor_ was the most sacred wheat, without beard, offered at adoration of gods. In Latin _Adorea_ was a present of such after a victory, and _Ad-oro_ is 'I adore,' from _oro_, 'I pray to.'"--Forlong, Rivers of Life, vol. 1, p. 473, footnote, speaking of both Greeks and Romans.