Nor again is it from any insuperable objection to a change of
habit. The Stura people have changed their habit--possibly for the
worse; but if they have changed it for the worse, how is it they do
not find it out and change again?
Take, again, the pane Grissino, from which the neighbourhood of
Turin has derived its nickname of il Grissinotto. It is made in
long sticks, rather thicker than a tobacco pipe, and eats crisp
like toast. It is almost universally preferred to ordinary bread
by the inhabitants of what was formerly Piedmont, but beyond these
limits it is rarely seen. Why so? Either it is good or not good.
If not good, how has it prevailed over so large an area? If good,
why does it not extend its empire? The Reformation is another case
in point: granted that Protestantism is illogical, how is it that
so few within a given area can perceive it to be so? The same
question arises in respect of the distribution of many plants and
animals; the reason of the limits which some of them cannot pass,
being, indeed, perfectly clear, but as regards perhaps the greater
number of them, undiscoverable. The upshot of it is that things do
not in practice find their perfect level any more than water does
so, but are liable to disturbance by way of tides and local
currents, or storms. It is in his power to perceive and profit by
these irregularities that the strength or weakness of a commercial
man will be apparent,
One day I made an excursion from Lanzo to a place, the name of
which I cannot remember, but which is not far from the Groscavallo
glacier.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129