BEAN, the seed of certain leguminous plants cultivated for food all over the world, and furnished by three genera, Faba, Phaseolus, and Dolichos. The common bean, in all its varieties, as cultivated in this country and on the continents of Europe and America, is the produce of the Faba vulgaris. The French bean, kidney bean, or haricot, is the seed of the Phaseolus vulgaris; but in India several other species of this genus of plants are raised, and form no small portion of the diet of the inhabitants. From the genus Dolichos, again, the natives of India and South America procure beans or pulse, of no small importance as articles of diet, such as the D. ensiformis, or sword bean of India, the Lima beans, &c.; and two of the species D. bulbosus and tetragonolobus yield also tuberous roots, held in much estimation by the natives of India. These now form separate genera in modern botanical arrangements. The common bean is even more nutritious than wheat; containing 84 per cent. of nutritive matter, whereas wheat contains only 74 per cent. The principle use of beans is to feed horses, for which they are admirably adapted, as being far more nourishing than oats. In this country French beans are chiefly, almost exclusively, used in the green state, and the whole pod is eaten as a substitute for green peas. It is a wholesome and nutritious vegetable, and it is to be regretted that we do not follow the Dutch and Germans in preserving it for winter and spring use, when other green vegetables cannot be had. In Holland and Germany the pods of the French bean are preserved in salt by almost every family. The green pods are cut across obliquely, most generally by a machine invented for the purpose, and salted in barrels. In this state they keep the whole winter and spring. When wanted for use they are steeped in fresh water to remove the salt, and broiled or stewed, when they form an agreeable addition to the diet at a time when no other vegetable may be had. For the cultivation, &c., of the common bean, see AGRICULTURE.
The ancients made use of beans in gathering the votes of the people, and for the election of magistrates. A white bean signified "absolution," and a black one "condemnation." Beans had a mysterious use in the lemuralia and parentalia, where the master of the family, after washing his hands three times, threw black beans over his head nine
Bean-Cod II Beard. times, still repeating the words, "I redeem myself and family by these beans." Ovid gives a lively description of the whole ceremony. Abstinence from beans was enjoined by Pythagoras, one of whose symbols is κῶμῳν ἀρέσθαι, abstinere a fabis. The Egyptian priests held it a crime to look at beans, judging the very sight unclean; and among the Romans the flamen dialis was not permitted even to mention the name. The precept of Pythagoras has been variously interpreted. Some understand it to imply forbearing to meddle in trials and verdicts; others, resting on the equivocal of the word κῶμῳν, which signifies equally a bean and a human testicle, explain it by abstinence from venery. Clemens Alexandrinus grounds the prohibition against beans on their alleged quality of rendering women barren; and this is confirmed by Theophrastus, who asserts that some other plants have the same property. Cicero suggests another reason for this abstinence, namely, that beans are great enemies to tranquillity of mind. Hence Amphiaraus is said to have abstained from beans, even before Pythagoras, that he might enjoy a clearer divination by dreams.