Solidified wine 2,000 years old : glimpses of life in the ancient city of Pompeii. Dr. Louis Sambon on wines and foods: an interesting interview / by J.V. Morton.

  • Morton, J. V.
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Solidified wine 2,000 years old : glimpses of life in the ancient city of Pompeii. Dr. Louis Sambon on wines and foods: an interesting interview / by J.V. Morton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    SOLIDIFIED WINE 2,000 YEARS OLD. GLIMPSES OF LIFE IN THE ANCIENT CITY OF POMPEII. DR. LOUIS SAMBON ON WINES AND FOODS: AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW. By J. V. MORTON (Editor of “The Wine Trade Review.”) Sophocles gave the world a pearl of wisdom when he said, “ Seek ever to add fresh knowledge to thy store.” The world obeys the injunction in its own way and according to its degree of enlightenment; but now and again one comes across seekers after knowledge in the classic sense—men who display a touch of genius in their quest. Dr. Louis Sambon is a man of that type. Although in the prime of life, he has a record of scientific achievements of which any man might be proud. From his articles on Pasteur in two recent numbers of “ The Wine Trade Review,” readers may have gained some insight into the character and power of the writer ; but the man himself is a far greater personality than can he gathered from those contributions, illuminating as they are. Let me introduce him formally. Dr. Sambon and His Parentage. Louis Westenra Sam¬ bon, Knight Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy, M.D. (Naples), F.R.S.M., F.Z.S., Lec¬ turer to the London School of Tropical Medi¬ cine, Honorary or Corre¬ sponding Member of numerous Medical and Scientific Societies throughout the world, Parasitologist, Epidemi¬ ologist, Field Naturalist and Archaeologist, also a profound student of other subjects, including wines and foods. He was born in Milan, Italy, in November, 1865. He is of French, Italian, English and Danish ancestry. His father was French on his father’s side, Italian on his mother’s. His mother, Laura Elizabeth Day, was English, a relative of Charles Dickens and descended from the famous Danish explorer, Vitus Bering. His father, Commendatore Jules Sambon, was one of the thousand volunteers who joined Garibaldi in 1860, and fought for the independence of Italy. He displayed great bravery at the Battle of Milazzo (July 20, 1860), and was twice wounded on the Volturno battlefields. Dr. Sambon’s grandfather, Louis, was the author of a classic work on the coins of Greater Greece : his father also was a numismatist and his work on the coins of Italy (5th to 20th Century) was couronne by the Institut de France, while his remarkable collection of ancient objects illustrative of the History of the Theatre Throughout the Ages, was acquired by the Italian Government, and now forms the museum of the Scala Theatre in Milan. Dr. Sambon’s younger brother, Arthur, lives in Paris ; he, too, is a well-known archaeologist and numismatist, author of several books, and editor of a magnificent art review, Le Musee. His Household Gods. The house of a man with such a family record and varied interests is, as will be easily understood, somewhat in the nature of a museum. Privileged to spend a delightful afternoon with Dr. Sambon at his house not long ago, I found myself in a dream¬ world, in which grotesque wooden idols from wildest Africa winked and goggled at porcelain damsels of rare beauty, some in Dresden flowery gowns, others in Capo-di- Monte deshabille. There were finely crackled Sat- zuma vases decorated with birds and chrysanthe¬ mums of exquisite colour¬ ing, and Campanian fish¬ plates of the third century B.C.,marble and terracotta votive offerings of medical interest from the Capuan Temple of Maternity and the Tiberine Ascle- pieion, and Phoenician glasses and Brazilian Morpho butterflies vieing in the splendour of their colouring. In a Greek red-figured wine-mixing crater I saw several glass tubes containing strange worm-parasites preserved in alcohol. Among bronze surgical instruments, found near lake Trasimenus, there was a—lady’s hair-pin ! The lancets and probes and forceps were hand¬ made, beautifully shaped and well adapted to their rise. While examining these, I could not help visualising a young army surgeon trampled to death by Hanni¬ bal’s Punic horse and leaving a sorrowing girl whose hair-pin he had treasured. A Remarkable Picture Frame. But amid all this profusion of interesting objects, what charmed me most was a picture-frame made of large lumps of Sicilian amber, some opaque and resembling old ivory, others of crystal-like trans¬ parency, and varying in colour from golden Tokay to deepest Port.' It is a wonderful work of the Renaissance, made about 1570, by order of the Governor of Sicily to enclose a life-size portrait of Philip II. of Spain. The conception, which this noble work fully manifests, is the might of Catholic Spain at its highest, when the “invincible ” Armada proudly sailed from the Tagus to vanquish Britain, never dreaming that the storm-raising spirits would side with Elizabeth. Four large blocks of topaz amber