Genre:

Essay, Drollery

Subjects:

Adulteration, Nutrition, Mental Illness, Politics, Mental Illness, Psychology

    Notes Alfred S Taylor's argument, in On Poisons, concerning the 'extraordinary' effect of some types of bread and fish on the human body. Links the 'mental alteration' of a thinly-veiled Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, to a consumption of these loaves and fishes. Believes that the effect of 'Treasury bread' and fish upon Disraeli's mind preaches to us 'the wonderful impartiality of nature'. Using Taylor, attributes Disraeli's recent 'irritation' to his consumption of oysters and periwinkles at Downing Street.