Ambrosia in Homer's poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods; it was with ambrosia Hera "cleansed all defilement from her lovely flesh", and with ambrosia Athena prepared Penelope in her sleep, so that when she appeared for the final time before her suitors, the effects of years had been stripped away, and they were inflamed with passion at the sight of her. On the other hand, in Alcman, nectar is the food, and in Sappho and Anaxandrides, ambrosia is the drink. A character in Aristophanes' "Knights" says, "I dreamed the goddess poured ambrosia over your
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth them into giants when they become adults. "The Food of the Gods" is divided into three "books": "Book I: The Discovery of the Food"; "Book II: The Food in the Village"; and "Book III: The Harvest of the Food." Book I begins with satirical remarks on "scientists," then introduces Mr. Bensington, a research chemist specialising in "the More Toxic Alkaloids," and Professor Redwood, who after studying reaction times takes an interest in "Growth." Redwood's suggestion "that the process of growth probably demanded the presence of a considerable quantity of some necessary substance in the blood that was only formed very