and yet nothing can be easier than to carry it as nearly as may be to perfection.”
The writer then proceeds to mention in the most favourable terms the “Appareil-Rolland,” as it is called, which is, he says, so “superior in point of economy, uniformity of produce, and cleanliness,” that it cannot fail to be generally adopted by the trade, except perhaps by those avaricious members of it, who prefer, before every other consideration, the few centimes which they gain by the weight of their water-logged loaves.
Extract, on the same subject, from “The Cosmos,” a scientific review:—
“We might refuse to believe, if the fact were not forced on our conviction, that the most important and the most ancient of all the arts is the one which at the present day is the least advanced, and we might almost say, which is still in the rudest and most barbarous state; but enter into the first baking establishments of the capital, and follow in all its details the conversion of flour into bread! You will be grieved to see that, though incessantly repeated for thousands of years, the process has remained absolutely devoid of improvement; and you will turn away from the sight of it with a saddened spirit, even if it should not have inspired you with deep disgust.
“In the middle of the nineteenth century bread
CH. III.] THE “ MOANER.” 35
making is still a cruel labour!* The closed knuckles must be violently thrust into a huge mass of tenacious dough, which must be raised by the muscular effort of the arms, and turned and tossed over repeatedly with the most violent exertion. The workman who performs this hard task has consequently received the too-expressive appellation of moaner (Geindre), because the exhausting nature of his toil is betrayed by the heavy stifled groans which it forces from his chest. Every part of his body is soon overflowing with perspiration, which falls in large drops, and is amalgamated with the dough he is kneading; and he is entirely overwhelmed with fatigue by the time he has reached the end of his killing labour.”
The further sufferings of the unfortunate workman, from the fine dust which he constantly inhales, and which is said to cause various pulmonary affections, from the manner in which it clogs the lungs; and the destructive effect on the eye-sight of the burning atmosphere, which he encounters when placing his bread in the oven, are dwelt on by the journalist just quoted, as well as by other writers, in the most influential and popular of the French papers; and it is obvious
* This applies only to bread-making on an extensive scale. There is nothing very laborious in preparing it in small quantities for domestic consumption.
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36 THE ENGLISH BREAD-BOOK. [PART I.
that some great modification at least is imperatively needed, of a system which combines so many serious evils as those which they describe; and which is not confined to their country, or to our own.
For some years past persevering efforts have been made in France to supersede manual labour, by the use of machinery in fabricating bread. None of these seem to have answered the purpose entirely, until Monsieur Rolland—himself an experienced baker—controlled himself an experimentalists had begun, and introduced, not only a complete machine by which the dough was perfectly mixed and kneaded, but an oven also of novel construction, in which it was baked in a superior manner. It will be seen that his inventions were met for awhile by the most vehement opposition on the part of the trade; but, to judge by a long list of places where they have been adopted, and of persons who have given the highest testimonials in their favour after having practically tested their efficiency, their real utility is now appreciated.
A Monsieur Lesobre, to whose intelligent agency and indefatigable exertions the Appareil-Rolland owes much of its success, addressed himself thus, upon the subject of it, to the Scientific Congress of France, at its meeting of March 1st, 1856:—
CH. III.] MECHANICAL PROCESSES. 37
“Gentlemen,—In the list of questions which are to be discussed by the Congress in the present year, there is one which is especially opportune, and which deserves its most serious consideration. It is proposed in these terms: ‘What measures ought to be taken for the introduction of mechanical power into the baking-trade, that its processes may be simplified, and bread obtained at a moderate price; and which is the best system of bread-making ?’
“It is because these questions have occupied my attention for many years past, that I beg to have the honour of addressing a few words to the meeting.
“You all know, gentlemen, what, even five years since, was the state of the bread-trade in France as elsewhere. The kneading of the dough was effected by the arms; and in countries where it was customary to make it very firm it was prepared by stamping it with the feet! This practice has been continued from the most remote and barbarous ages, up to our own times.
“Nevertheless, within the last century numberless attempts have been made to improve the fabrication of bread; and the annals of The Conservatory of Arts and Trades* will show that more than a hundred inventions have been pro-
* Le Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers.
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38 THE ENGLISH BREAD-BOOK. [PART I.
duced during that period for its mechanical preparation, and for a more economical and cleaner mode of baking it.
“Still the trade has remained obstinately un-advanced; rejecting with dogged and almost savage resolution every proposed improvement.
“Are we then to conclude that amongst so many new inventions there have been none which could have been generally adopted with advantage? Assuredly not! There have been several of which the general application would have been a great step gained; but which, having been tested only in individual cases, were wrecked in the storm of opposition which they encountered.
“The aid of machinery in bread-making is opposed equally by the journeyman-bakers and their masters; by the men, because they fear that it should throw them out of work; and by the masters, because they are not in general very enlightened, and for that reason adhere the more tenaciously to their old customs; and also because the purchase of the machinery would be expensive to them.
“This, gentlemen, explains the slight success which has attended the inventions designed for the improvement of the bread trade.
“But in 1851 a new state of things commenced. At that period the paste-kneader of a distinguished inventor, M. Boland, was in operation in several