33.The first herbage made use of by man would be the most succulent leaves or stalks which the surface around him afforded; of these every country has some plants which are succulent even in a wild state, as the Chenopodeï¾µ. Cabbage and asparagus were known to the Greeks from the earliest ages, and still abound in Greece; the latter on the sandy plains, and the former on the sea shores. Of the green seeds of herbage plants, the bean and other Leguminosï¾µ were evidently the first in use, and it is singular that Pythagoras should have forbidden the use of beans to his pupils, because they were so much of the nature of flesh; or, in the language of modern chemistry, because they contained so much vegeto-animal matter. Cabbage, crambe or sea-kale, pulse of various kinds, and onions are mentioned in Solon's law.
