_ MEALS S < ” MEALS MEDICINAL: | WITH 7 ELER BAI SeNaP a HG (OF EDIBLE PARTS) Curative Foods from the Cook; in place of Drugs from the Chemist. BY W. T. FERNIE, MD., Author of “ Herbal Simples,” ‘“ Animal Simples,” ‘* Kitchen Physic,’ etc., ete. ‘Bound in vellum, and tied with green tapes,” was a small booklet, published at Liege, 1610—‘‘ the School of Good Living; beginning with Cadmus the Cook, and King, and concluding with the Union of Cookery and Chymistry.”—We borrow its exordium to-day. ‘‘ The writer : confidently trusts as to his readers that many will be found to kiss this little volume heartily, to thumb all its pages, and to carry it in their hands both day and night.” BRISTOL: JOHN WRIGHT & CO. LONDON; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Ly. 1905 B™asouR: BoTaNicap GARDEN LIBRARY TO OUR “LITTLE MARYS” (PLAYEULLY NAMED) ; PREFACE. Ir is told that Sir Walter Scott, having occasion to seek medical aid unexpectedly in a small country town, found a doctor there, one John Lundie, a grave, sagacious-looking man, attired in black, with a shovel hat, who said, “‘ My practice is vera sure: I depend entirely upon twa simples.” “ And what may they be ?” asked Sir Walter. “ My twa simples,” replied John, in a low confidential tone, “are just laudamy and calamy.” “Simples with a vengeance!” quoth Scott; “*And how about your patients, John?” “ Whiles they dies: whiles no.” answered he, “but it’s the wull o’ Provi- dence.” Little did the said doctor surmise that, comprehended within his two simples, lay many constituent principles owning distinct activities, and which have since then become analysed into separate medicaments. The laudamy (opium) has been found to comprise no less than twenty-one elements, all with divers physical, and chemical properties, (some indeed an- tagonistic) ; whilst the calamy is understood now-a-days to exercise a wide variety of effects, determinable by varying methods of its use: these “twa simples” thus making together an ample pharmacopeia of drugs. But those were times of comparatively rude physic, and of rough-shod medical treatment. Our assumption, to-day, is that (in lieu of drugs) an adequate sufficiency of component curative parts stands simi- larly embodied within most of our ordinary dishes and drinks. viii PREFACE. if judiciously appointed and skilfully applied. It rests with the enlightened physician, and the well-informed housewife, to make themselves practically acquainted with these prin- ciples for cure, as possessed by foods and beverages which can be specially prepared and prescribed for the several maladies as they come under management. In which respect we likewise in our case advocate a practice of treating the sick and the ailing, chiefly with “twa simples,” representative of leading kinds, to wit the Cabbage and the Egg. These are our laudamy and calamy of to-day, our compendiums of re- storative, sedative, and alterative powers and virtues. The Cabbage, as Culpeper reminds his readers (1650), “was, for Chrysippus his god, and therefore he wrote a whole volume about it and its virtues; whilst honest old Cato, as men said, made use of no other physick.” In common with its vegetable congeners it affords sulphur, a potential antiseptic ; ‘ also an abundance of mineral salts for tissue-building and repair; starches, too, as fuel for the bodily combustion ; and volatile aromatic oils in rich plenty, as of special virtues for subduing and repelling diseases. Similarly concerning the Egg, this is aptly pronounced “the only complete food afforded by the animal kingdom, for full sustenance, and physical curative benefits.” It comprehends all the alimentary substances required for the support and maintenance of animal life; contained within its body are proteids for structural renovation, arsenic, phosphorus, easy to assimilate, an antibilious oil of remarkable energy, fats against wasting illness, iron to reanimate the bloodless, and lime salts (largely present in the shells) to subserve numerous other reparative ends. But far be it from our meaning to imply that of comes- tibles and drinks, besides the Cabbage, the Egg (and perhaps. PREFACE. iz: Milk, as a third representative support), other therapeutic forms of food are lacking, up to any number, from the cook, or of healing potions from liquid sources as supplied for the table. Convincing evidence to the contrary is borne by the copious testimony of the lengthy volume which we now undertake. Tt will be found that an entire armament of weapons is provided herein, ready at hand for active service alike in sickness and during convalescence therefrom. Some of the food principles obtained thus, are indeed so potent as to become poisonous if accumulating redundantly in the blood. “Somnambulism,” says Dr. Wynter Blyth, “can be produced by starches in excess within the body so as to form amylene ; under the influence of which toxin a person will walk about unconsciously in the same way as the somnambulist does. Afterwards, when the effect goes off, the said person becomes all right again.” So again a sulphur compound, mercaptan, may be produced in the digestive chemistry of certain foods which have been taken at table, causing therefrom an intense melancholy, almost leading to suicide. ‘I have no doubt,” adds Dr. Blyth, “the day is coming when it will be proved that several forms of mental derangement are due to substances resulting morbidly from food products inside our own bodies.” As long ago as in the seventeenth century the Aqua Toffana played a notorious part in serving to destroy (by its secret admixture with the Naples drinking-water) more than six hundred persons, among whom were two popes. This poison is said to have been prepared by killing a hog, dis- jointing it, salting it (as it were) with arsenic, and then collect- ing the juice which dropped from the meat ; which juice was considered far more fata! tha an ordinary solution of arsenic. Combined therewith was a little plant which is most familiar x PREFACE. to ourselves,—the ivy-leaved toad-flax, (linaria cymbalaria), or “mother of thousands,’—growing commonly on old garden walls, and now esteemed as harmless, though bitter and astringent. Again, our English King John, of disrepu- table memory, is recorded to have shut up Maud Fitzwalter the Fair, in the dingiest and chilliest den of the Tower; and, when neither cold, nor hunger, nor solitude broke her strength, while she still disdained his shameful suit, he foisted on her a poisoned egg, of which she ate and died. The leading motive of the present work is, then, to instruct readers, whether medical or lay, how to choose meats and drinks, which can afford precisely the same remedial elements for effecting cures as medicinal drugs have hitherto been relied on to bring about: and which, plus their vital force, are of supreme advantage, because energetically derived straight from the fresh animal and vegetable sources. So that a culinary “Materia Medica” will stand thus com- petently and agreeably provided, on which dependence can be placed, even with greater trust than on prescribed drugs. Tn previous publications we have discussed at some length the groundwork of Vegetable, Animal, and combined Alimen- tary Physic. That our Herbal Simples fairly met a public requirement in this direction, was proved by the speedy demand for two editions of the said Manual, insomuch that it has been for the last three years out of print, the publishers repeatedly urging a third edition; and therefore the main portions of Herbal Simples are reproduced in the present Meals Medicinal (particularly as regards their curative edible belongings). But of our Animal Simples, and Kitchen Physic, searcely any of the same literary substance finds place again here, except in brief allusion, and plainly stated as such; furthermore some few of the pleasantries are repeated, for PREFACE, xi adding zest to the present fare, with a better savour, like that of a twice-cooked curry. ‘‘Scepe stylum vertas, iterum que digna legi sint scripturus.” Having done assiduous scullion service in these three branches of medicinal apprenticeship, and thereby acquired a skilled knowledge of the complete culinary art, as to its needs and methods for the benefit of the sick and the sorry, we now promote ourselves to the advanced office of a physician chef; and we proceed to furnish curative nutriment of as finished a quality as prolonged experience, and the modern scientific progress of the times in such regard, justify us in attempting to advance. Our menu provides a complete dispensatory of remedial diet, applicable to the treatment throughout of most diseases and ailments. Its modus medendi is made lucid and plain, so that any intelligent reader may straightway pursue its directions. As to our discursive condiments inter- posed, such ‘ Digressions,” saith Tristram Shandy, “ are incontestably the sunshine, the life, the soul of reading ; take them out of this book, for instance, you might as well take the book along with them. One cold, eternal winter would reign in every page of it ; restore them to the writer, he steps forth like a bridegroom, bids all hail, brings in variety, and forbids the appetite to falter. All the dexterity is in the good cooking, and management of them, so as to be for the advantage, not only of the reader, but also of the author.” Nevertheless, Si te forte mew gravis uret sarcina charte,— abjicito ! For ourselves we venture to adopt the instructive parable related by Saint Luke in his gospel: ‘‘ A certain man has made a great supper, and bids many thereto. He sendeth forth his servant to say to them that are bidden, ‘‘Come, for all things are ready.” Idle excuses, let us hope that but xii PREFACE. few will begin to make. Else we shall have to seek further in the streets and lanes of the city, for bringing in hither the poor, and the maimed, the halt, and the blind ; which being done as commanded, there will yet be room. Our forefathers did not forget piety in their feasts. At the Coronation of Henry the Sixth, 1429, ‘‘ After a soteltie (at the first course) of Seynt Edward, and Seynt Lewis, armed in their cootes of armes,” the second course opened with a “ Vyaande inscribed with the Te Deum Laudamus.’’ “In the third course was again a soteltie of our Lady syttynge, holding hyr child in hyr armes, in every hand a crowne, and Seynt George knelying on oon syde.” Finally then, in the same spirit, we ‘‘ Bless the Trinity which hath given us health to prosecute our worthless studies thus far: and we make supplication with a Laus Deo, if in any case these our poor labours may be found instrumental to weede out bodily ailments, black melancholy, carking cares, and harte grief, from the minds of men.—Sed hoe magis volo quam expecto.—I, nune liber ; goe forth my brave treatise, child of my labours with the pen; and ye, candids lectores, lo, here I give him up to you: even do with him what you may please, my masters!” “All we know of the matter is, when we sat down, our intent was to write a good book: and, as far as the tenuity of our understanding would hold out, a wise, aye, and a discreet: taking care only, as we went along, to put into it the wit and judgment, (be it more or less) which the great Author and Bestower of them had thought fit originally to give us: so that, as your worships see, ’tis just as God pleases.” “Take therefore, gentle readers, in good part what’s projected for thee: so shall our pains not quite want their recompense ; nor thyselves be branded with the base mark of mean ingratitude.” “Fare ye well!” CONTENTS. PAGE ABERNETHY BIscuiT - - 102 Absinthe - 16-18 Acetones in the blood 668, 680 Acids, acetic - - 446 > citric, of lemons and pk 480 + (lactic) - : - 90 of fruits - - - - 302 >» mineral - - 357 Acorn” - - : 23, 470 Agar-agar - - - 633 Air, open, treatment - 524-526 Albumen - - - - 249, 713 Alcohol - - - 353. 660, 735 ” in fever - - - 494 a (not with Bypshenoms) 498 Ale - - - 31,92, +» Kop’s - - : - 91,96 Alkalies - - - _ 25, 32, 302 Allspice - - - 211, 567-654 Aimoots, sweet, 38, 39, 42, 3 505 ” bitter - 38 Alum - - - - - 116 Ambergris - 206, 630, 731 Annatto - - - - 490 Anchovy - - - 284, 624 Angelica - - - - 42, 431 Angostura cordial - - 481, 432 Animal extracts - - 14, 42-47 » foods - - 474, 634° er eee eer yd Ants - wey, Antiseptios (oe Contents), a iol ( ley oil) - - - Ave ae * 50, othe TAS 305 + cake - “306, 307 » shape - - - 334, 431 » pie i hae - 556 » Water - - - 53,306 A eapeanmaimaine’ Aqua toffana - - - Preface PAGE Arsenic (in egg) 250, and Preface Artichoke, globe - - - 63 x Jerusalem ‘ 60-62 Asparagus - - 2, 63, 65, 66 Asafcetida : 295 Ass, and milk - ” 67, 68, 69, 343 Astringents (see Contents). Bacon - : - iy pat | Bacteria - : - 128 » in mouth 664, 667 Baking papers: 101, 138 Balm - : - 362-364 Balsamic oils - : - 364 Banana - - - 76, 264 Banting system - - - 674 Barberry - : - + 78, 224 Barium - : : - - 36 Barley - - 79, 81, 442 » sugar - - - 81 >» Water - - - - 8l Basil - - - - - 362 Bavarian wasps’ nest - - 136 Bean - - - - - $i » kidney - - - + 8 Bedstraw, yellow - - 148, 149 Bee e = = - 414 Bee beer - - 403-406 »» sting - - - 405 oy WAX - - 406, 407 i, +» extracts = - 87,88 », meal powder - - - 571 » Taw - - 2, 86, 87, 91 +» tea - - 87, 88, 475. . steak Club - = » steak mushroom - 497, 500 ro 28, 32,91, oH » lager Fee: i POO Sit et 2 eS eee 5 es ay aa aes OF, xiv CONTENTS. Beet sugar - - Beri-beri - - - - 591 Berries, pedgerow, - - 587 Biftins - - - 52 Bilberry. - - - 224,312 Biltong - : : - 88 Birch - - 105, 601, 602 Birds - - - 98-201, 245 ixingiiee aes. = 716 Biscuits - - - 101, 102 Blackberry = - - 103-106, 334 Blackbird - - - 98 Black pudding - 2, 626, 627 Bladderwrack (seaweed) 630-632 Blane mange - - - - 332 Blood, animal - - - 2, 107 » of fowls - - 295, 296 Bodily Soetaty ies costive - 275 Bone : - 478 > marrow, ssl - 450-452, 468 Borage - - - + 214, 215 Borax - - - - 491, 582 Bortch soup - - - 97 Botargo - - - 592 Brain, iat - - - 109 Brandy - - 208, 209, 217, 658 >» cherry - - - - 162 jy apap <<. - - - 339 Bread - - - - 109-121 5 > NOW - - - 268 » bran and potato - - 579 >» brown - - ite 114, 119. >> sauce - - 624 > and meat, in oat < - 475 Brewis - - - - 116 Brine - - - - - 618 Bristol milk - - - 492, 493 Brose - - - - - 509 Broths - - - - - 121 » cockroach - - 123, 124 » chicken - + 294 » onion - - 528 » against ‘macrophags, = 603 Bullace - 572 Bull’s heart, “ ‘earain” - - 48 Bun - - - tts} 125 Burgundy - 25, 29, 30 Butter - 126-131, 264, 381, 482 x» cocoa - - - - 167 so omni 2) - - - 482 + mut - - ~ - 505 Cappace - ae 135, 707, 709 Cacao - - - - 170 PAGE Cakes - - - - 135-138 “ Calamy ” (calomel) - Preface Calf - - - - 470-472 » feet - - - 333 Camembert cheese - - 156, 157 Canned foods - - 313, 693, 694 Caper - - - - - 138 Capsicum - - §62, 563 Caramel - - : - 465 Caraway - 120, 139, 140 Carbohydrates: - 667, 706, 714 Carnation - - 196 Carnivora - - 711 Carrot - - - 140-143 Casein - 150-153, 480. Cashew nut - - - - 505 Cassia - - - - - 233 Cassareep : - - - 564 Castor oil - - 521, 522 Cataract (see Byes). Caterpillar = - - - 414 Catsup (mushroom) - 497 Caudle - - - - - 143 + marrow a - - 451 Cauliflower = - - - - 134 Caviare - - - - 144, 145 Cayenne (see Capsicum). Cedar - - - - - 517 Bilary ee ea Cellulose (and see “ Vegetables ’’). 713, 716 Cereals - - - - - 147 Cerealin : - - - 115 Cerebos salt - - - - 620 Chamomile - - 214, 644 Champagne + - 105, 147 Charcoal . - - 345 Chartreuse - - 430, 431 Cheese - - - 147-161 Cherry - - - 161-164 Me GORY: | - 334 » Water - - 429 “ Cheshire Cheese” uvern: - 164 Chestnut - - 164-166, 502 ee horse - J - 166 Chicken (see Fowl). Chicory - ~ - 166, 189, 190 COM Ro) od) 5 ae Chitin - - - - 434 Chives - - - - - 533 Chocolate : - 167, 169, 688 Chowder - - = Seay: Ghataey c+.) ari ap Cider - 171-175, 736, 737 CONTENTS. xv PAGK Cigarettes (tea leaf) - - 698 Cinnamon - - 175-180, 437 Clam < 5 2 ~ B47 Clarets - : 30, 736 “ Cleavers” (goosegrass) - - 148 Clove - - 180-182 Coal tar products - 669 Cocoa - - 167- 1689, 184, 185, » butter - a 506 > nut - - 170, 171 + 4» butter - 167 Cochineal - A 182, 183 Cockle - - - 183, 184, 286 Cockroach - 123, 414, 415 Cod ie Pee «liver and oil - * - 185 Coffee - - - 186-194, 687 Colours, of red wines p aE » of light - - 186, 725 Coltsfoot - = 364, 365, 696 Compressed foods ~ 478 Confectionery es % - 195 Consommé < - & - 648 Cookery and cooks 6, 9, 12, Me) ee ae Corn flour - Costmary Shere - 305 Cotiniat t(auince) - - - 450 Cow 7 - : - 219 » dw ultice - - - 701 Cowsli, lip vi - - 220, 221, 426 Crab apple - 57, 69, 222, 435 Cranberry : - 223, 225, 308 Crawfish - - - 283, 436 » oftartar - - - Cresses - - - - 236, 611 Crust - - - 116, 118, 124 Cucumber - - - 229, 230 Cumin - - - - - 233. Curacoa - - - - - 429 Curds- - - - - 150 Currants, imported - 230, 231 ” b : - 309, 693 » red and basis - 3098, 313 Cu - 231-234 ” vegetable - 713 Custard powder - - 256 Cuttle-fis! - - - 638, 639 Cygnet - - - - 284, 235 Danson - - - 572 Dandelion - 194, 195, 608, 610 Dantzic water- —- - 430 PAGE Date - : - ~ 235-237 Deer - : : - 324-326 Delft - - - - 148, 221 Dew - - - - 526 Dextrin and dextrose - 659, 666, Diet - - - - 237-242 » ofinvalids - - 289 Digressions = - - Preface Dill - : : - - 50 Dillisk - - - - - 630 Dinner - - - - 455-458 Dog flesh - - 69 Domingo, Hindoo cook - - Dreams - - - 639, 640 Dripping - : - - 265 Duck - - - - 244 Dulse_ - : - - - 628 Dutch cheese - - - - 155 ~Esrtu Sarts - - - - 7 Eau sucrée - : - - 673 Eel : - = ~ 245, 246 Egg - 2, 123, 248-257, 727, 728 i eee eae | » Shell - - 251, 252, 258 +» Water - 254, 475, 494 Elderberry tree - 258-261, 335 = flowers - - - 313 Elecampane - - - 261-262 Electricity - - 239, 262, 291 ss making sugar - - 674 .Endive - = - - 609, 610 English Becoury: - 394, 657 Epicure - - 119 et tacky root (Sea Holly) - - 630 Ethers - - - 27 Evolution - - - - 10 Exercise, outdoor - - 525, 526 Extracts, animal 13, 42-47, 474, 475,634 Fartnaczous Foops (see Starches) - - - - 267 Fasting - - - - 460 Fats - - - 263-270, 660 Fennel - - - - 270, 271 Fenugreek - - - - 233 Fermentation - - - 446, 462 Fig - = - - 272-275 +» Tock - - - - 673 >» eaters - - - - 274 Fir - . - - 93,94 Fish eee T6288 » oils = + = 264, 278 xvi CONTENTS. PAGE Flavouring agents - - - 475 Fleas Sy e - - - 370 Fleece, of sheep - - 636 Flower salads 613, 614 Flummery - : : - 512 Foods - - - - 288-293 + compressed - - - 437 Forks and knives - - 203 Formalin - - - 491, 582 Formic acid - 379, 380, 405. Fowl - - - - 293-297 » boiled - : - - 470 Frog - - - 299-301, 380 Fruits - - 31, 34, 301-305. » sugar : - 302, 666 Frumenty - - - 239, 731 Frying - - - - - 263 Tene tea - ‘ - - 691 GaME - 118, 314, 315, 320 Garlic - - 327-331, 531, 532 poor man's - - - 5B4 Garum (fish sauce) - - 283 Gelatin - - - - - 331 Geranium - 223, 441 Gestation - - 526 Giblet — - - - 297 Gill tea - - - 368 Gin - 335-338 Ginseng - - - 217 Ginger - —- 335, 338-341, 655 ee | ae - - 339 bread - - 338-341 Gizzard, of fowl - - - 297 Glucose (grape suger) 402, 583, 659 Gruel - - - onion - - Gruyere cheese - Happock - Halibut - Ham Hare - Heart, bullock’s = - - > Hazel nuts - - Hedgehog - - Helicin (of snails) Herbs - - Heredotus pudding | Herring Hips, of roses - - Hock - - Hee 's malt extract es lice, Ween yhock - Fomine 3 Honey - + Water » pillow - - Horehound = - Horse flesh = - - » fed on wine - wc radi = - - 367, 368 Hum (Bee beer) - - 403-406 Humphrey, Duke, dine with - 448 “ Hungary water” (rosemary, ete.) - - - - - B85 Glycerin - 637 | Ice - - - Glycogen - : - 541, 670 +» confectionery - Goat, and milk = - - 341-344 | Iceland moss - - *Goat’s rue ” - - - 490 | Imperial drink - Gold - - 603, 680 | Incense - iF “ Good King Henry ” - 394,657 | Indian corn - - Goose, and grease - - 345-349 | Inhaler, wie - Gooseberry - - - - 310 | Insects - - - - - 148 | Irish moss - Gorgonzola cheese - - - 156 | Iron, to supply, in foods Gospel oaks - - - - 70 Oe 107, 108 a me $ipgees| Teeteemad 22: 380 Z = » 211, 349-35. » ground - - - 368, 369 maces * - = 3651, 352 Metta >» sugar - - - - 350 | “ Jack BY THE Hepor ze - 584 5 a rr - - 264,625 | Jams ~ 313, 314, 417 Groats - - aw - 358 sae Dr, and Hyde - 45,478 Grog - - - : - 20 - 331-335, 417 Lt ee - 319, 320 | Srl bottle - - - Jews’, meats - - - » lish cookery - John’s (Saint) Wort oil Julep = - 5 - 376, 737 Juniper - - - 335, 336, 337 Junket - - - - 481, 485 KEGEREE - - - - 581 Kidney, animal - 48, 418, 419 King’s touch - - - - 587 Kola - - - - 168 Koshir meat : - 478 Koumiss - - - 419, 489 Kimmel - - - - - 430 Lacric Acrp - : - 90, 480 Lactucarium - - - - 425 Levulose - - - 302, 666 Lamb - : - 469 Lamb, Charles, on food - 291 Lamprey - - - 247 Lado (wool ‘fat) - - - 637 Lard - - - - rate 3 Lark - - - - 98,99 Lavender - - - 369, 370 Laver - - - - 628, 629 Lead - - - - - 363 Lecithin - - : + 240-253 > of apples - - - 50 k - - - - - 532 Lemon - - 420-424, 447 Lentil - - - 85, 86 Lettuce - - 425-427, 612 Leucocytes — - : - 490 Levurine (yeast) 110, Tt; 7375 738 Liebig’s extract of meat - - 475 Light, coloured rays of = - 186, 725 Lime - — 236, 250, 389, 480, 547 Linseed - - - - 427, 428 Liqueurs - - 162, 428-430 Liquorice - - - 371, 372 Liver, animal - - - - 433 Lobster - - 415, 434, 435 Locust - : - + 414-416 Lodestone - - - - 726 Lozenges - - - 436- 437 Lung, animal (see Animal extracts) = - . - 14, 47 Macaroyt-—- - - 438, 439 Macaroon 38, 39, 108s 438, 439 ° Mece. - - - 507 Mackerel Bagi 287, 439, 440 Madeira wine- — - 29 CONTENTS. Maggi essence Magnetism - ‘ . ” personal Maize - = = Mallows - - Malt - - - extract " s» liquor Maraschino Mares’ milk - Margerine - - Marjoram - - Marmalade - - e orange 3 parsnip quince Marrow, red bone - » vegetable U0. ae 710, aM, 717 Marsala - - - - Mayonnaise sauce - - - 633 Mead” - - - - 405, 406 Meals - - 225, 242, 452 461 “Meal, Monday” - - - 612 Meats, 199, 202, 205, 267, ae 479, se Meat extracts - - ” pie » ¥ e is »» powdered - - » Taw - - 200, 474, 476 » koshir - - - - 478 Mebos fost) - - - 59 Medlar - - - - 308 Mental emotion; influence of, by food - : ~ a Menthol - - - 375 Mercaptan (of sulphur) - Preface Mercury, English - - - 394 Metheglin - - 405 Microbes - 524, 525, 534, 535, ra in meat - - - 463 Milk - - - - 128, 479 » not for adult growth —- 480 » butter - - - - 482 » curdled, for old age - 63 x skimmed - - 488 +» Sour - - - 481 iy sterilized - - 487, 490 Sem of - - 479, 494 tu lous - - - 492 Milking machine - - 490-495 Milli, - - + 216 Mince meat, and pies - - 555. Mineral substances - : xviii PAGE Mineral waters 35, 36, 682, 716 Mints - - - - 37 Sauce - - - Moon, influence of - - Moss, Iceland = . Trish (Carrageen) - Motor car, influence of - 527 Moulds of cheese - - - 160 Muffin - - - - 120, 121 Mugwort - - - - 401 Mulberry 196, 311, 496 Mullein - - 696, 697 Mullet - - - - 284 Mulligatawny - - - 234 Mushrooms — - - - 496-501 ” pears after - - 308 x not alcohol with - 498 ni puff-ball —- 499, 500 Musk - - - - 180 Mustard, black and white 377-379, 501 Mutton - - - - 266, 636 » chop - = + - 437 Nasrurtium - - - 227 Neat’s foot oil 3 < - 519 Negus - - © a 29 36 * Nektar ” wines, unfermented 7: Nettle - - - 379, 380, 381 Nonsense, book of - - Mrat.f Noyau liqueur - - Nuclein - - : - Nuts - - - Nutmeg - - - Oak Bark Oat - + meal - - » tincture - - . Odours and perfumes — - 513-518 ” » Strawberry- leaves decaying - ~ - 663 Oils, animal "- - - - 619 »» sheep’s wool (Lanoline) - 637 » cod-liver, and fish - 278, 524 >» Neat’s foot - - - 519 » Salad - - 608-609 +» vegetable - - - - B21 Olive - - : - - 65, om! § a - 621, 522 Omelette - - >> 253, 25° i cpg 2, 328, 527-534 Open air treatment > 534, 535 opium Sloe sae CONTENTS. - PAGE Opiates “ laudamy ” - Preface Orange - - - 447, 535-540 + Seville - = 2 peel - - - + liqueur - : + flower - - Organ broth - - - Orgeat - - - Orris root - - - 718 Oxalates in urine 389, 699, 707 Ox brain (not eatable) - 109 >» Marrow - - - 452 ateildoup = > 3) ice a Reo Oyster - - 446, 459, 540. ip Peairio 2 ce Sete ea » Shells - - - - 547 Panapa - - - - 120 Pancreatin = - - - 677, 67 Pandowdy (apple) - - - 56 Paraguay tea - - - 690, 691 Parkin, gingerbread - 341, 511 Parsley - - - - 381-383. » _ With snails - - - 646 Parsnip - - - - 550, 551 Partridge 134, 314, 315, 317, 551 Pasteurised milk - - - 487 Pastry 0 Ss) Bos RS Paté de foie gras 5, 346, 433, 500 Peas - - 82, 84, 86, 556-558. Pea nuts : - : - 504 Peach - : - - 559, 560. Pear - - - - - 307 Pectin - - - - Pectoral broth - - #9 tea - : - Pellitory lozenges - - Pennyroyal - - Peppers - - - Pepper pot — - - ; Peppermint - 212, 373, 374, 436 Pepsin ferment - - 443-446 Perch - - - - - 285 Perfumes, and scents - 513-518 Perry - - - - - 308 Petroleum - - - - 333 Pheasant - - 317, 318, 319 Phosphates, 85, 155, 291, 511, 540 ” in Cerebos salt - 293 x in milk - - 734 Phosphorus - — 34, 110, 115, 250 Pie, beefsteak - -. + 555 » crust = = 5 ele 3o/ Vassae. =: - - - 10 CONTENTS. Pie, pork . # ” onion Pig (‘‘ roast,” c. Lamb) Pigeon - Pike A Pilchard Pimpernel - - Pine - = Pine apple - ° Pippin - - - Plaice - - - Planked meat - Plasmon - Plover - - Plum : * 309, 310, 572-574 » pudding Sates OTe Poisoning, secret - - Preface Pomatum zs - - 56 Oe seer cee: Z e - 470 » parasite of = - . Bad » crackling - . 72 Porridge te O08; 509, 511, 584 Port wine - - 25, 26 Porter - " = - - 92 » fettled id - - 95 Posset - co - - - 92 » treacle - - - 677 Potash, and its salts, 32, 33, 34, 116 151, 152, 579, 609 Potato 4, 575, 376, Pye Cet eee 707 ‘enew "= - 577 + SCOOP. * - - 58L Poultices, carrot = - : 141 Ps cow-dung - - 701 Sy onfon - - - 529 ea various - - 702 Poultry - - - 293. 297, 470 Preservatives, in foods, 316, 317 491, 582 Primrose - - - 6B Prostatic antral substance - 47 Proteids- - 48, 46, 660, 708 Prune - - - 573. Ptomaines (sce - Antiseptics). Pudding, beefsteak - — - - 154 Puddings - - - 553, 584 Puff-ball mushroom - 499, aed Pumice stone, for shaving - eae - 209, 210 ee 402 - - 709 549, 645 Purslane Putrefaction (see Ant i xix Pyrethrum_ pellitory, Spanish chamomile - - - 436 Quail - . - 326,327 Quince - : 79, 212, 447, 448 Quinic acid of fruits ‘ - 305 Rast - - »» Welsh - - 153, 158, 159 Radish - ~ 593, 594 Raisins - - 213, 355, 356 Raspberry - - - 586 fe yaoeeer - 587 Rat - - 554 Ratafia 38, “41,211, 429, 432,433 Rays, curative - - 185, 186 » red, for pellpone - - 725 Raw meat. - : 200, 474, 476, Resin - - - 600 Revalenta - - - 85, 86 Rhubarb, Basten 389, 390, 391 Rice - - 588-592 Ring, golden (for cramp) - 680 Rob, black currant - - - 309 .» (of elderberries) - - 258 Robin redbreast = - 98, 99, 100. Roe of fish - - 276, 592 Roquefort cheese - - - 157 Rosa solis liqueur - - - 430 Roses - - - - 597-601 > cabbage - : - 600 »» conserve of red - - 598 Rosemary - Rosin - - Rue - - Rum - - +» punch - Ruskin etying slept i - 724 Rye - - 115, 603 SacCHARIN - - - - 669 Sack ete - - - 2h Satioa" - - 213, 604, 605 Sage - - - - 386, 387 xs cheese - - - - ae Sago - : - - = 606 Sake (of rice) - - - - 591 Salads - - 64, 445, 607-616 Salep mise nin orate Salicylic acid - - - - 583 Saliva - - - - 4 - 668 Salmon - - Borie Saloop - 5 | Snuff, antiseptic - Salt 289, 348, 585, 616- 620, 707 Soap - - . - >, Cerebos - - - - 293 » Alicant - Samphire - - - 629 » Barilla Sand bath (marine) | - - 633 | Soapwort - = - 229 Sandwich - : “ Soda - - 32, 38, 147, 683 es apricot - - - + Water - - - - 35 os cotton wool (teeth Sole - = “ ts - 284 swallowed) - - - - 622 | Somnambulism * - Preface Sardine - - - 521 | Sorrel - - 388, 389, 390, 427 Sauces - - 84, 622, 624-626 | Soups - - 647-652 ys poread. =. = - 624 Ke to prolong ‘ald: age - eats. > Cassureep - - - 622 » Bisque - : - 283, 436 » Mayonnaise - - - 62 > bird’s nest = - = - 644 >» Worcester - - - + cockaleekie . - i Sauerkraut = - 2 = »» cockchafer — - . Sausage - - - - - »» cockroach - - » Saveloy . - » fruit Savoy - - - - - > Maigre - - - Scarlet runner - = . So aa: ‘ & S Schalot - - = - - > mock turtle - Scurvy grass - - - - a f6e Pal: = Sea kale - - - » potato - : - +» tans - - - - > sorrel < * i Seaweeds - - - 627-633 +» soupe au yin - 4 Seltzer water - — - - 35 turtle - E Semolina - - - 438 Southernwood “ Serum - - - - 15 | Soy sauce - bc g pe cor old age - : - 603 | Spanish onion . - - 527 Shaving (the Rear), : - 384 | Sparrow - - 98, 652, 653 Sheep - - - 633,| Spearmint - 212,376 +» head - - x - 635 | Spermaceti - 266, 731 » fleece - = “ - 636 | Spices - - 653-656 Shepherd’s purse - - 176,177 | Spider and web - - - 415 Shell-fish - - - - 638 | Spinach - - - 108, 656, 657 Sherry - - - 28, 29,210 | Spirits - - +L >> 657, 658 Shrimp - - - - - 283 7s -Silent..-. s - 658 Skilly - - 359 »» Not destructive to germs 721 ve Sky blue, and sinkers ” - 80 | Sprat - - # - 284 Sleep - 266, 267, 426, 639-641 | Spruce beer - - - - 93 »» how much is needed - 641 | Squab pie - - 55 >» makes brain sett if too Starches c - 238, 580, 659-661 long = A - 640 » ““amylene ” - Preface ete oe ee Raaring oe ” a z 2 - - - 658 | Stilton cheese - - - - 155 Smallpox, red colour for 186, 725 | Stings, of bee and wasp - - 380 Rosie. +5 Ce ALT | i eb neta ee 380 . - - 645 | Stomach bread - - - 472 = = +896. | Stout: 2. ff - 95, 443 = % : - 100 | Strawberry 5 - 661-665, 2 eo eee (et ity ctr ger f 7 5 Es of mil a - 487 - - - 412,413 Busey S y - 167 oy - 191 | Suet - * . - 269, 270 CONTENTS. xxi PAGE Sugar - ~—- 265, 480, 585, 665-677 » beet - - - 96, 97 » candy - - - 428, 675 » carrots - : - - 40 » grape - - - 350, 666 > Of fruits - - - 320 of milk - - - - 494 Sulphur 131, 146, 377, 693, 699 ” held in the hands - 680 * mercantan » . Preface Sunflower - - 61 Sunlight - - - - 525, 726 Swan - - - > 234, 235 Swede turnip - - - 596, 705 Sweetbread —- - 472, 677-679 Sweetmeats = - - - - 195 Syllabub - - - - Syrups - - » golden - - 675, 676 TABASCO - - - 567, 612 Table scraps - - - - 355 Tallow - : - - - 635 Tannin - - - - 69, 683 ‘Tamarind - - - 679-681 Tansy - - - - - 395 Tapioca - - - - - 607 ‘Tar water - - - 94, 95 Tarragon : - : - 396 ‘Tartar, cream of - 26, 350 Tea - - - 187, 681-692, 721 » cigarettes - - - 698 Teeth, artificial - - 665, Tench - - - 288 Throat gland, Spaimnal 47, 633, 634 ‘Throat blessing, at Candlemas 565 Thrush - - - 98, 100, 692 Thyme - - - - 216, 563 » thymol - - - 397, 398 ‘Thyroid gland, animal ig shee, ep) 47, 633, 634 Tinned foods - - 313, 693, 694 Toad - - - 301 "Toadilax, ivy-leaved - Preface Toast - - 116-119 » buttered = a - 782 » water - - - is Tobacco - - 694-699 pe Sage for - - - 387 Toffee - - - - 264, 673 pmato - 5 - - Bue ‘ongue, anima - - Ga) | _ Tortoise - - - - = 650 ‘Totenism . : . - 324 Toxins - - Treacle - - Tripe - Trotter oil 4 ‘Trowsers - Truffle - Turbot - Turkey Turmeric Turnip - - Turpentine = - - Turtle - - - + soup (and mock) Uranrum WINE-~ - U - - 649 737 acid, 43, 44. 418, 434, 464, 686 VEAL - - - 470-473 Vegetables - - 3, 706-718 is cooked = - Vegetarian - oH Venison - - + 324-326 Verjuice - - 57, 58, 69, 222 Vermicelli - - - - 438 Vine - - - - - 737 ee eee » Vapour - - - - 352 Vinegar - 24, 455-447, 608, 718 Violet - - 196-198. 614, 718 »» wild (pansy) - x - 689 »» powder - - - - 718 Vital force - é of vegetables - 708 430 vi odka liqueur - WaALNuT - 262, 526, 726 503, 718-720 Walton, Teaak’s, Angler, 222, 281, 370, 455, 602 Warmth (see Fats, as produc- tive of) - - Wasp sting - > Water - 2 - » glass (for eggs) +» mineral Watercress - Welsh rabbit - Whale - - Wheat - - », Of goat's Smile Whisky - Whiting - - - - 263-270 - 226-228 153, 158, 159 - 729, 730 112, 731-734 - - 731 xxii CONTENTS. PAGE PAGE Whortleberry - - 224,312 | Woodruff - - - 242, 398 Willow-pattern plate - 739-742 | Wood sorrel - - - - 390 Wines” - - - 22.26, 736 | Wool fat - - - - 637 +, natural and fortified - 21 | Wermwood - - 17, 399, 400 + of Italy, rosined - 26, 601 » unfermented ‘ nektar” 736 + uranium - - - 737 | Yuasr - - 110, 111, 737, 738 Winkle - s - 286, 547, 549 » poultice = 2 LE Woodeock - - 98, 100, 323 | Yourt (curdled milk) — - - 486. MEALS MEDICINAL: WITH SELB ALL, SLM LeEe See (of Edible Parts.) INTRODUCTION. Tue purpose of this Handbook is to explain what are the curative constituents of such dishes, and table-waters, as a Doctor can adequately order instead of drugs, when prescribing against diseases ; these same matters of diet being actually medicinal, though in the pleasant guise of eatables, and drinks, to suit the palate. It will be found that no reason whatever can be urged why curative meals of such a character shall not be always effec- tively employed for treating sick persons : indeed, why nauseous medicaments shall not be altogether supplanted by savoury pro- ductions from the cook, and the vintner. Pursuing which methods the Doctor, when minded to administer certain remedies hitherto dispensed by the Chemist, will remember, or learn (for he does not always know) how to fulfil his object far more agreeably through help from the kitchen. Thus also the patient may be led to comprehend how such, and such culinary preparations can do him equal good in lieu of repulsive doses from the Apothecary ; and he, or she will gratefully accept welcome meats, and refreshing drinks, in the place of potions, or pills, for curing definite diseases, as readily as for purifying, purging, or strengthening the system. Furthermore, after this manner the intelligent cook, becoming apprised of the proper- ties, and virtues which her roasts, and stews, her vegetable purées, and her choice confections, are able to convey, if r3 2 MEALS MEDICINAL. thoughtfully admixed, and carefully handled, will gain well- merited promotion in the esteem, and approval of those who profit by her important domestic services, instead of employing the druggist. Nearly three centuries back some such an enlightened practice of cure was foreshadowed by Dr. Tobias Venner (1620), “ Doctor of Physicke at Bathe, in the Spring and Fall.” When dedicating his “ Via Recta ad Vitam longam” to the Right Honourable Francis Lord Verulam, Lord High Chancellor of England, “ In regard,” wrote he, “ of the worthines, and utilitie of the subject, this is “the Dieteticall Part of Physicke, which for preservation of health appertaines to all men (but to none, as I suppose, more than to your Honour, who, under His Majestie, doth chiefly wield the State of our Reipublique”’). Again (in 1685), Liebnitz, the famous German philosopher, said, in a letter to Denis Papin (who invented the Digester which bears his name) : “As regards internal medicine, I hold that this is a mere art like that of playing nine-pins, or backgammon. I have often wished that a skilful physician should write a book ‘ De curandis per dietam morbis,—about curing diseases by means of the diet.” “There will come a time,” as a recent writer of note predicts, “when no medicines will be administered, except in acute, and sudden attacks. Disease will be remedied by foods; the intelligent house-mother is testing the value of this assertion in the daily ordering of meals for her family, seeing that a newly- acquired knowledge of dietetics has put her on the way to such enlightenment.” Celery, for instance, is found to be so consti- tuted as to be curatively efficacious for persons suffering from any form of rheumatism, also for nervous indigestion, and kindred nervine troubles. Water-cress contains principles which are remedial against scurvy. Pea-nuts, which are rich in fats, and proteids, may be specially commended for the rescue of diabetics. Onions are almost the best nervine strengtheners known, no medicine being equally useful in cases of nervous prostration, or so quick to restore, and tone up a jaded physical system. Asparagus, by its alkaloids, will induce salutary perspiration. Carrots will relieve asthma. Eggs, especially their yolks, will disperse jaundice, and can be given for clearing the voice. Instead of iron as a chalybeate, the pulp of raw beef, or animal blood in black puddings, will prove an efficient substitute; whilst the bitter Seville orange will admirably INTRODUCTION. 8 take the place of quinine as a prince among tonics for debilitated persons. Nevertheless, before the subject of cure, or prevention, of disease by a dietary regimen, as skilfully adapted to the needs, and condition of patients under their several ailments, can be properly mastered, its alphabet of fundamental parts, and chemical ingredients must be diligently acquired, at all events in outline. Just after the same fashion with regard to our daily methods of speech; in order to talk correctly, so as to convey the full significance, and true purport of what is said, the speaker must first learn the grammar of sentences, and the etymology of words. It is true the colloquial discourse of untutored rustics will generally suffice to rudely express the sense of what they desire to convey. But this, after all, is only a hit-or-miss method, altogether unreliable, and not worthy of imitation. For example, the Devonshire rustic says: “I be that fond ov cowcumbers I could aight ’um to ivery meal, I could: but I niver did zee nobody zo daainty az yu be: yu carn’t aight nort like nobody else.” Again, a Devon ploughboy, sick with measles, exclaims : “‘Brath! whot, brath agin! Why “twas brath yisterday! brath tha day avore! brath tu day! an mayhap ’tweel be brath agin tu-morrar! I'll be darned ef I'll be keep’d ’pon brath!” Or, “ Poor old Mrs. Fangdin be gettin’ dotty, th’of er’ve a knaw’d a theng or tu in ’er lifetime, za well’s Dr. Budd, ’er ave.” This same art of adapting cookery to the wants of sick, and delicate persons was, as we learn from Dr. Thudicum’s Spirit of Cookery (1895), systematically treated for the first time by Walter Ryf, in 1669; and again in subsidy at considerable length by Scappi, the cook of Pope Paul the Fifth, who gave two hundred culinary receipts for the sick, and for the convalescent, instructing his pupils that if they omitted these things they would fail much in their duty. He therefore described how broths, soups, jellies, barley-water, and such foods should he made. He particularly advised light soups concocted of oysters, snails, frogs, tortoises, and turtles. John Evelyn likewise tells in his Acetaria (1699) : “We read of divers Popes, and Emperors, that had sometimes learned physicians for their master-cooka ; and that of old an excellent cook was reckon’d among the eruditi.” Sydney Smith, later on, in a letter to Arthur Kinglake (1837), advanced a proposition much to the same effect: “I am MEALS MEDICINAL. convinced,” said he, “‘ digestion is the great secret of life ; and that character, talents, virtues, and qualities are powerfully affected by beef, mutton, pie-crust, and rich soups. I have often thought T could feed, or starve men into many virtues, and vices, and affect them more powerfully with my instruments of cookery than Timotheus could do formerly with his lyre. Frequently is it that those persons whom God hath joined together in matrimony, ill-cooked joints and badly-boiled potatoes have put asunder.” “ There is” (to quote the Lancet, December, 1901) “a striking point of view from which the cook may be brought to the aid of the practical physician. Tf, for example, it were clearly shown that drugs such as are now used only in formally-prescribed mixtures, or pills, are capable of being introduced into the more welcome productions of the domestic kitchen, how grateful an assistance we should obtain! It is often difficult, where a medicine has to be taken frequently, and over long periods of time, to be sure that the patient does not grow careless, or forgetful. If, however, instead of taking his draught before, or his pill after his daily meals, the said draught, or the requisite pill, were (without altering the taste of the dish then served, and without losing its own efficacy) combined with the patient’s dinner, instead of preceding it, or following it, we can imagine a far more certain acceptance thereof on his part; and the physician’s orders would be more consistently carried out by connivance on the side of the cook than they ate with the co-operation of the chemist. Such a relegation of the dispenser’s duties to the hands of the chef can only be achieved by familiarity in the mind of the medical man with the work of both his sub- ordinates. As to that of the druggist, he is perhaps fairly cognizant ; with that of the cook it is to be strongly recommended that he shall become more intimately acquainted.” And, indeed, if only on historical grounds, medical men should specially interest themselves in foodstuffs, and their preparation. From early times, when the functions of priest, and physician, were united in the same man, and when votive offerings, and therapeutic agents were alike prescribed, and dispensed by his hands, the association of the culinary, and healing arts has been always a close one. There is a fund of useful lore, and information, in the old accounts of the various properties, and powers with which writers from the earliest times invested different articles of diet. Thus Pliny tells it as the opinion of INTRODUCTION. 5 Cato, that after eating hare, sleep is induced ; but the common people rather suppose that after partaking of such food the body is more lively, and gay for the next nine days. “‘ This may be only an idle rumour ; but still for so widespread a belief there must be some foundation.” And whether such is really the case, or not, an investigation into the exact properties of the flesh of various animals, and into those appertaining to other articles of diet (as shellfish, for instance, which are known to exercise peculiar effects upon certain persons) would not only prove of immediate interest, but might lead to results of great therapeutic value. “Chemical work of this sort is a most fitting direction in which to turn the efforts of such clinical laboratories as are sure in the future to be more, and more extensively employed in connection with all large general hospitals.” ‘‘ There are many widespread beliefs, and theories with regard to the efiects of different foodstuffs in health, and disease, but exact knowledge on such points is scanty. We cannot doubt that in attempting to enlarge, and to define it, direct, or indirect results of importance, and utility would be certainly obtained.” “It is obviously of the greatest moment that if a physician orders a medicine he should be able to tell that it is duly dispensed ; but this is not feasible unless he could dispense it, if necessary, himself; and, conversely, a man familiar with the modes of dispensing will have far wider powers, and greater ingenuity, and will apply drugs with more minute efficiency than one who prescribes them whilst lacking any such intimacy with the materials which he is recommending. A similar argument may certainly be applied to the products of the kitchen. Yet, if a large number of medical men can claim familiarity with drugs, and the methods of dispensing them, few, we imagine, will assert an intimacy with these processes of the kitchen, or even to any considerable extent with the materials which are used therein, and the daily employment whereof they may have many times advised. No doctor can ignore the importance of diet both in health, and in disease ; and the cook may well be regarded as a chief officer in the service of medicine, curative or preventive. It is, without doubt, in the daily provision of wholesome, digestible dishes that the main function of the kitchen lies. Nevertheless, no medical man can afford to neglect its aid when he is reckoning up his thera- peutic resources; and more particularly to-day, when the use 6 MEALS MEDICINAL. of animal extracts in medicine has become so prominent, should the importance of the kitchen be properly recognized.” There is an indisputable measure of truth in the allegation that the qualities of the food affect both mind, and body. Buckle (History of Civilization) took this view, when trying to show that the character of a people depends much on their diet. The theory he has advanced is that the properties, and virtues, or vices, of what is eaten pass into the system of the eater; confir- matory of which view an incident has lately been made public of an English gentleman at Shanghai who, at the time of the Taeping attack, met his Chinese servant carrying home the heart of a rebel who had fallen in fight, and which he meant to eat in order to make himself brave. Thus, too, a well-known Professor of Medicine at Berlin used to say in his lectures, that ‘a doctor ought to be at home, not only in his laboratory, but likewise in the kitchen” ; the truth of which dictum is occasion- ally apparent when practitioners, in prescribing diets for patients, are embarrassed by questions relative to the proper methods for cooking the same. The great majority of medical men are unable to give precise instructions to a cook ; while, nevertheless, on the other hand, many unqualified practitioners impress the public mind by affording careful directions as to the preparation of foods for the sick, who therefore prefer to consult these irregular advisers. Recently two ladies in Berlin, -superinten- dents of Cookery Schools for young women, have arranged to give special courses there for doctors. “ This offer,” says The Lancet, “ should be heartily welcomed by those who think that medical training in such respects ought to be much more practical than has hitherto been the case.” At the International Health Exhibition, London, 1884, Dr. Andrew Blyth, in his authoritative manual issued by the Council, concerning “ Health by Diet,” wrote prophetically of a time, which is now happily at hand after twenty years of steady medical progress. His admirable publication began with these words: “ When by successive researches the Science of Diet has become bette: be t understood, without doubt a School of Physicians will arise, discarding all drugs, and treating maladies by cutting off certain foods, and by surfeiting with others ; if, indeed, there is not at the present time ready formed in the highest representatives of modern medicine the nucleus of this future School of Dietetics. There are diets suited for every age, INTRODUCTION. 7 for every climate, for every species of work, physical, or mental ; there are diets by which diseases may be prevented, and cured ; there are diets fitted for some constitutions, injurious to others ; diets which make the skin glossy, the frame vigorous, and the spirits joyous ; others which mar the face with wrinkles, speckle the body with eruptions, and make the form lean, hollow, and prematurely old.” Two or three classes of disease may be taken as forcibly illus- trating the importance of treating them specially by foods such as are particularly indicated during their pathological course. Hippocrates thought most highly of good judicious feeding in fevers, Tecommending wine, and the ptisan of barley (which we now call gruel), so made that it “ may be thin, but not too thin : thick, but not too thick.” Dr. R. Graves, 1848, again, has ren- dered himself famous by maintaining not only in words, but also in deeds, that the feeding of fevers is the most essential feature in their cure. His plan was to restrict the patient only for the first three or four days to gruel, barley-water, and whey, proceeding quickly after this time to chicken broth, meat jelly, and strong soup ; the great art of duly nourishing fever patients consisting, as he taught, in giving a frequent, almost continuous, supply of liquid nourishment containing very soluble aliments, in a dilute form. ‘‘ Let it be the chief aim to restore that which the thoughtful observer can clearly see is passing exhaustively away,—nitrogenous tissue.” Likewise with regard to hysterical affections, such as hypochondriasis, and others of a like nature, a generous nitrogenous diet is essential in their treatment, particularly in one peculiar form of this malady which arises from eating too sparingly of vegetables, and too abundantly of meat. It is distinguished by the high specific gravity of the urine, mounting from 1025 to 1035, as dependent on the presence of urea alone, in excess, and no sugar. There is in these cases often a remarkable lassitude, and even an apparent paralysis of the limbs occurring suddenly after exertion, and sometimes there is bodily wasting; both of which symptoms usually lead the patient and his friends to attribute the morbid state to insufficient nutrition, and therefore to increase more and more the proportion of meat in the food, in despite of the ailment becoming aggravated thereby. A rapid cure of such a patient will attend the diminution of the meat meals to one daily, and the supplying their place with plenty of well-made porridge, 8 MEALS MEDICINAL. and of green vegetables. Similarly, the advantage of treating many persons commonly insane through an ill-fed brain, by an ample and nutritious diet is daily forcing itself more and more on the convictions of the proprietors of Junatic asylums, though their business interests would, of course, prompt them to an opposite course of proceeding. Once more, as to unsound states of the heart, the dietary of persons having this organ imperfect of function, or structure, should be more nitrogenous than if they were healthy in such respect. “ What we have to dread,” says Dr. Chambers, “is the wasting degeneration of the heart’s muscular walls; for, until such degeneration ensues the original lesion is not aggra- vated, and the constitution will often become so used to the altered mechanism of the heart, that no inconvenience of any sort is felt; if the muscular structure remains healthy, the injured valves do not seem capable of causing the organ to stop in its pulsations. Persons in easy circumstances have valvular lesions for years and years, perhaps through the greater part of a long life, and not only continue to live, but even fail to experi- ence symptoms bad enough to make them consult a doctor. Now the main hope of warding off this wasting degeneration lies in the maintenance of a full, generous diet, easily digested, so as to keep the blood red, and fluid for the continuous repair of the endangered muscle. But in the reverse condition of heart, when there is a state of habitual high arterial pressure, as proved by the hard pulse, and the tense circulatory conditions, then boiled fish once a day is the best animal food. Such a state of high pressure will be probably depending on a want of elasticity, or tone in the coats of the arteries, increased perhaps by the contact of blood surcharged with waste products of nitrogenous food. And for such symptoms it would be altogether wrong to allow strong meats, or any alcoholic drinks.” “Tt is remarkable” (Medical Press, 1902) “that physicians and hygienists but rarely venture to face the realms devoted to the culinary art. The medical practitioner often blames the drains, or complains of the drinking-water, or grumbles at the lack of fresh air; but when does he venture to enquire into the ways, and means of the cook?” “There would be no difficulty in showing that the selection, preservation, preparation, and serving of the food of a household are among the most vital factors in influencing its health. The main part INTRODUCTION. 9 of the problem of life can be expressed in terms of food, whilst much of the indisposition, and many of the minor ailments of everyday life, are directly the outcome of a neglect of hygienic practice in the kitchen. Ifthe illnesses met with in ‘ high life’ are to be effectually dealt with, the ignorance, and neglect often made manifest in ‘low life’ must not be forgotten. We hope the author of Kitchen Physic (1901) will see fit to supplement his discourse by a work dealing with Kitchen Hygiene.” Accordingly, such a compendium of explanatory dietetics is now undertaken, with the conjoint purposes of enlightening the cook, of treating diseases by effective medicinal constituents given at table, and of helping the doctor with points of reference ready at hand concerning the meals which he may best advise for each case as it comes before him. Moreover, he will thus become further furnished with a serviceable stock of culinary suggestions, suitably adapted for such patients as seek his help by correspondence: in which way, when economy of time for immediate study, and research, is an object (the attention being, moreover, of necessity otherwise occupied), important questions concerning appropriate forms of sustenance can be expeditiously solved by a ready reference to our Manual. ** But now the Cook must pass through all degrees, And by his art discordant tempers please, And minister to health and to disease. Homer, less modern, if we search his books Will show us that his Heroes all were Cooks : How loy’d Patroclus with Achilles joins To quarter out the ox, and spit the loins.” In the earlier ages of the world, no palled appetites are recorded, but such as proceeded from the decays of nature by reason of an advanced old age. On the contrary, we are told of a hungry stomach even upon a deathbed, as with patriarchal Isaac. Nor were there other sicknesses but the first, and the last. For two thousand years, and upwards, there were no physicians to prescribe for ailing persons, nor any apothecaries to compound distasteful medicines. Food and physic were then one and the same thing. Primeval mankind, gaunt, brown, and savage, in a state of nature, fed upon roots, fruits, vegetables, and wild animals, all without culture, or cooking. By-and-by, through the transference of the digestive work—in part to the sun as a cooking power, and partly to fire in a like capacity— 10 MEALS MEDICINAL. some measure of his released physical energy, together with an increase of intellect, became wrought in man, and this lessening of the digestive strain had more than one marked effect on his body, and physical aspect. The heavy, protruding jaws, once so necessary for masticating huge quantities of coarse innutritious food, became smaller, and more receding; whilst along with this recession of the jaw there was produced a progressive, or forward, and upward growth of the brain—the lower giving place to the higher—the animal to the man: whereby we see that the advancement of the human race has been largely the result of diet. Manifestly, then, the course of our own evolution depends on ourselves ; we may, according to our own conduct day by day, be building up a better body, and a better mind, or else one that shall be worse than the fair promise of the original germ. And, therefore, it is self-evident that the philosophy of preparing such materials as go to build up, and renew the body, and the brain, must be well worthy of the most careful study ; which philosophy is the Chemistry of Cookery. Right deservedly, then, by a parity of reasoning, does Dr. Rabagliatti, of Brad- ford make it to-day a leading aphorism of modern medicine, that “ Morbi ii qui non mederi victu possunt, viv, vel maxima cum difficultate, medendi sunt ””—‘ those diseases which cannot be cured by victuals are scarcely curable anyhow.” Moreover, this substitution of medicinal constituents for cures by foods, instead of by physic, has its humorous side ; at least so think our American cousins, (who are up to date in such respects), with their ‘‘ Vassar Pie” :— “Give me a spoonful of oleo, ma, And the sodium alkali, For I’m going to make a pie, mamma, I'm going to make a pie : Poor John will be hungry and tired, my ma, And his tissues will decompose ; So give me some grains of phosphate, With carbon, and cellulose. Now hand me a chunk of casein, ma, in a shorten the thermic fat ; nd pass me the ox: bottle, ma, And look at the (eating And, if the electric oyen’s cold, wie turn it on half an ohm, or I want to have supper ready, As soon as John cate face! Soe INTRODUCTION. eo Provide me the neutral dope, mamma, Give a turn to the mixing machine ; But hand me the sterilized water first, And the oleo-margarine ; With the phosphates, too; for now I think His mate in the office has quit, So John will need more phosphate food To help his brain a bit.” It frequently becomes the duty of a doctor to see that the diet of his weakly patients is enriched in special directions, most commonly perhaps in those of light meats, and fats. But of course to advise chicken, and cream for a man with a slender purse would be a useless proceeding ; he simply could not afford to buy these luxuries. It is therefore worth while to remember that cheaper sources of the necessary building material are to be found in skim milk, in such oily fish as herrings and sprats, sound new cheese, and the more easily negotiated pulses, as lentils, haricot beans, etc.; whilst very economical forms of digestible fat—as Dr. Hutchison teaches—are margarine, and good dripping. On the contrary, with regard to drugs, which are costly, “there is not in all the Pharmacopeias a single active article, which has not in conjunction with its virtues the vice of deranging more or less the gastric digestion. It is this which makes it a medicine, and not a food.” Concerning diet as contravening the symptoms of diseases, Dr. Merriman, of Ohio, wrote thus (Medical Record, 1902), “The point I wish to make is this, that in my opinion the time is ripe for an entire revolution in the administration of drugs. The proper ingestion, and the proper digestion of food, constitute the most successful field of healing now known to man. Why, therefore, should not every well-informed physician write prescriptions exclusively for foods, whilst prohibiting those articles of diet which are known to induce conditions causative of the malady he is anxious to cure? Is not this the opportune moment for the physiological chemist to furnish reliable data upon which each physician may construct a suitable diet for _ every patient, or group of patients? Correct dietaries for the brain-worker, the manual labourer, and the average citizen whilst in good health, have been accurately estimated by the scientific experts in Government employ; but the properly adjusted diets for patients troubled with gout, theumatism, and allied illnesses (due mainly to harmful products retained within their bodies, and which must be helpfully neutralized, whilst their 12 MEALS MEDICINAL. future formation is likewise prevented) are still but imperfectly understood by the average medical practitioner.” “Give us good Cooks,” writes Dr. Kellog, of Michigan, “ intelligent cooks, cooks who are thoroughly educated, and then the cure of nine-tenths of all the dyspeptics may be guaranteed, without money, and without medicinal treatment.” Again, “ those bodily infirmities to which so often a constitutional bias is inherited from birth, such as consumption, rheumatism, and gout, may be prevented from development, or held in complete check, by the discipline of diet pursued from childhood, and with a healthful relish. Instead of having to learn painfully, and laboriously throughout the proverbial first forty years of his life, how to become his own physician (or to remain a fool), every man may take practical heed to the lessons which our pages shall plainly teach, and may steer clear of peril throughout a prosperous physical course of years from infancy to the said meridian of life, and onwards to a robust old age.” “ A good Coke,” saith Dr. Andrew Boorde, 1536, in his Dyetary of Helthe, “is half a Physycyon.” * Fair woman, could your soul but view The intimate relation ’Twixt food and fate, there’d be a new, And higher dispensation. Could you but see for “ destiny ” A synonym in dinners, And what the kitchen’s alchemy Can make of mortal sinners, You'd leave odd fads, and Jearn to bake A loaf, and cook a “ tater” ; To roast a joint, or broil a steak, Than which no art is greater ! * Man cannot live by bread alone,’ °Tis well and wisely spoken ; But make that bad, he’ll die unknown, And give the world no token Of high ambitious potencies, Or genius’ slumbering fires, Thi in him through galaxies Of grand illustrious sires ! ‘Then all ye dames, and maidens fair, Who burn with high ambition, Who crave to nobly da your share To better man’s condition, You’d give us, could your soul but view ite, —ere —a new And higher dispensation... INTRODUCTION. 13 “There are,” according to Dr. Thudicum, “cynical persons who profess to despise, or, at all events, rate lowly the liking for good food which the French call fricandise.” Such a refinement of food, however, is not only the efflux of culture, but also has an important influence on the mind, and consequently upon the abilities, and manners of a man. “ Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” (to paraphrase a saying con- cerning the influence of the company you keep) is equally true here. Many persons mistake a natural desirable daintiness for gluttony, or gloutonnerie, as Montaigne once termed it “la science de la gueule,” or, “ the science of the gullet.” We hold absolutely with the gourmandise des esprits delicats: if this cannot be satisfied, then vitality is diminished, and life is shortened. The wit of the Parisians has embalmed for themselves la fricandise in an imperishable form. “ Avoir le nez tourné a la fricandise comme St. Jacques de ? Hospital,” is an expression to the point, derived from an image of St. Jacques de Hospital placed over the building of that name, near the Rue des Oies, at Paris. In this street were the shops of the principal meat roasters, and as the saint in effigy looked in the direction of the frying shops, he was said to have “‘/e nez tourné a la fricandise.” That cookery can be made almost a fine art even by mere intu- ition has been exemplified humorously in Behind the Bungalow (1892), where Domingo, the barefooted, native, untaught Indian servant, exhibits a wonderful fecundity of invention, and an amount of manual dexterity marvellous to behold. And the wonder increases when we consider the simplicity of his imple- ments, and materials. These consist of several copper pots, « chopper, two tin spoons (which he can do without), a ladle made of half a cocoa-nut shell at the end of a stick, and a slab of stone with a stone roller on it; also a rickety table (a very gloomy, and, ominous-looking table, whose undulating surface is chopped, and hacked, and scarred, begrimed, besmeared, smoked, oiled, and stained with the juices of many heterogeneous substances.) On this table he minces meat, chops onions, rolls pastry, and sleeps ; a very useful table! He takes up an egg, gives it three smart taps with the nail of his forefinger, and in half a second the yolk is in one vessel, and the white in another. The fingers of his left hand are his strainer. From eggs he proceeds to onions, then he is taking the stones out of raisins, or shelling peas. Domingo observes no such formula as that of the English cookery 4 MEALS MEDICINAL. book, “ Wash your hands carefully, using a nail-brush,” but wipes his fingers frequently upon his pantaloons, which are blue checked, of a strong material made for jails, and probably in two pairs, the sound parts of one being arranged so as to underlie the holes in the other.” But this is by way of a diversion, as touching our main argument. Again, in China, as Dr. MacGowan, of Shanghai, relates, “little distinction is made between “materia medica,’ and “ materia alimentaria”’ ; certain curative properties being ascribed to most articles which are used as food. Nearly all portions of animals (the human frame included) are suppcsed to be efficacious in the treatment of disease. Some of such animal substances are macerated in fermented, or distilled liquors, and are termed “wines ;” thus there are mutton wine, dog wine, deer wine, deer-horn wine, tiger-bone wine, snake wine, and tortoise wine.” In a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Medicine recently presented to the University of Paris, M. Jean Barrier has embodied the results of a historical research as to the therapeutic preparations of animal origin employed dietetically by the ancients. In the Asclepeia of Greece bull’s blood, and ass flesh were prescribed for consumptives. Preparations of serpent were also largely in use. Hippocrates, although he mostly used simples, occasionally prescribed ox-gall, the dung of asses, and goats, ete. Celsus recommended fox’s liver, or lung, in asthma, and the hot blood of a newly-killed gladiator in epilepsy. Pliny’s Natural History is an encyclopedia of organo-therapy. From him we learn that the ancients used certain glands of the hare, the stag, the horse, the pig, and the hyena, as aphrodisiacs, and as remedies for epilepsy, a disease for which the human brain was also employed. Renal colic was treated with hare’s kidneys, boar’s bladder was in repute for dysuria, the hyena’s heart for cardiac palpitation, the partridge’s stomach for colic. Similar food-medication found favour with the Arabian phy- sicians. Albucasis taught that the human brain could be nourished, and strengthened by eating cock’s brains; hen’s gizzard was excellent for the stomach; in short, each organ could be kept in order, or functionally improved by the adminis- tration of the corresponding organ of an animal, served at table. To sum up our subject—vitally important as it is—the foremost advance of modern science now at length holds out a promise of prolonging healthy life by a suitable broth, far beyond the present = INTRODUCTION. 15 limit of threescore years and ten, or fourscore years “ with labour and sorrow.” Here steps in M. Metchnikoff (Professor at the Pasteur Institute,) with a new theory abounding in hope, and courage. “Old age,” says he, “results because of our protective white corpuscles in the blood having devoured all their habitual enemies the microbes, and being compelled at last, for lack of other nourishment, to batten upon the nobler organs of the human frame. In a few years, we predict that at the Pasteur Institute, or elsewhere, we shall discover a serum, or animal juice, or gravy, which will supply these white corpuscles with their necessary food, thereby preventing exhausting demands on the bodily organs, and will thus prolong the vitality of heart, and brain, and lungs in the human individual.” En attendant, my friends, return to nature (and abjure drugs !), lead a simpler life, diminish the number of your desires, and learn that old age will then cease to be an infirmity. Honoured, useful, in full possession of all his faculties at six score years and ten, the greybeard of the approaching future will be among the most enviable of mankind.” “The fact is that only one man in a million at present dies a natural death. We should live until one hundred and forty years of age. A man who expires at seventy, or eighty is the victim of an accident, cut off in the flower of his days; and he unconsciously resents being deprived of the fifty years, or so, which nature still owes him. Leave him a while longer, and in due season he will desire to depart, as a child at bedtime desires to sleep. To “Go thy way then,” shall be our final exhortation. ‘‘ Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.” “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine; but a broken spirit drieth the bones.” 16 MEALS MEDICINAL. ABSINTHE. ABSINTHE is a liqueur used largely in France, being concocted in the main from the herb Wormwood (artemisia absinthium) which yields an essential oil consisting chiefly of absinthol. This oil is the basis of the said liqueur, the effects whereof, when taken to excess, are frequent giddiness, and attacks of epileptiform convulsions. Much diluted doses of the liqueur, if carefully ad- ministered, will materially relieve ailments of this same char- acter which are determined by physical irregularities within the body. One teaspoonful of the absinthe twice a day with a wineglassful of cold water for an adult patient. The original absinthe was a harmless medicament, prepared and used by a French physician named Ordinaire, who was living as a refugee in Switzerland at the close of the eighteenth century. He was a country doctor, and a druggist, cultivating in his little garden the herbs for making absinthe, then without alcohol. But the French “absinthe” of to-day is a highly aromatic, intoxicating liqueur, of an opaline green colour, and with a bitter taste. It is prepared by steeping in alcohol, or Strong spirit, certain bitter herbs, of which the chief are artemisia absinthium, and artemisia mutellina, with artemisia spicata, each &@ wormwood, The mode generally practised of drinking this liqueur is by adding it to water, drop by drop, or by allowing it to trickle through a funnel having only a minute opening below; thus prepared, it is styled “la hussarde,” and is commonly supplied in the cafés of France, Italy, and Switzerland. When indulged in as an appetizer by connoisseurs, absinthe, the “fairy with the green eyes,” is modified by admixture with anisette, and is of note as an “ agreeable and bronchitis-palliating liqueur.” If served sparingly at table, and not taken habitually, it soothes spinal irritability, and gives tone to persons of a highly ABSINTHE. 17 nervous temperament, acting closely after the manner of those alkaline bromides which constitute drug remedies as prescribed almost specifically for these same bodily ailments. Suitable allowances of the diluted liqueur will promote salutary perspira- tion, and may be given, moreover, for successfully expelling intestinal worms. The use of Absinthe as a stimulating dram, with comforting effects, prevailed at one time amongst French soldiers at Algiers, but led to baneful results because taken too freely. It is now, therefore, forbidden throughout the French army. Wormwood, as employed in making this liqueur, bears also the name ‘‘ wermuth,” or ‘‘ keep mind” (preserver of the mind), from its supposed medicinal virtues as a nervine, and mental restorative. Inferior Absinthe, such as is retailed at the popular bars, and cheap cafés in Paris, and the French provinces, at three halfpence the glass, is generally adulterated with copper for producing the characteristic green colour. To swallow repeated doses of this pernicious stuff in the early morning is called “ killing the worm.” Inveterate absintheurs are found to drop down dead in the streets every day that dawns in Paris, either from apoplexy, or because of heart failure; yet merrily “ strangling the parrot” (as the term goes) is continued, and jests about “taking the blue” are as lively as ever! Unhappily, too, Absinthe may now be bought at most of our London West End public houses, and even the most casual observer can notice in these places that the absinthe habit is growing in our midst. To order an absinthe is regarded as a mark of some distinction. “Yet,” said The St. James’s Gazette, August 7th, 1902, “Absinthe is a liqueur which is particularly unsuited to the English tempera- ment, except for medicinal uses under the guidance of a skilled doctor.” The intensely bitter taste resides in its “ absinthin.” Pepys tells in his Diary, November 24th, 1660: “ Creed, and Shipley, and I to the Rhenish Wine House, and there I did give them two quarts of wormwood wine.” ‘‘ Medical observation in France” (says Herbal Simples) “shows that this liqueur exercises through the pneumogastric nerve a painful sensation which has been taken for that of extreme hunger. The feeling goes off quickly if a little alcohol is then given, though it is aggravated by coffee : whilst under an excessive use of absinthe from day to day the stomach will cease to perform its duty, 2 18 MEALS MEDICINAL. an irritative reaction will come on in the brain, and the effects of blind drunkenness follow each debauch.” Nevertheless, a controversial statement of quite an opposite character has been recently made in France by M. Cusenier, a manufacturer of absinthe, who attributes the superiority of his famous collection of live stock to the use for them of this liquor. He says he has made a practice of liberally feeding his rabbits, poultry, and guinea-pigs with oxygenated absinthe, and has produced the result that his creatures thrive much better than those of his neighbours using other nutriments. “ The people,” says he, “ of the wine and spirit-making departments of France, where absinthe is the favourite beverage, are remarkably robust, and healthy.” By means of experiments on dogs, Professor D’Ormea has lately learnt that Absinthe, in common with the essences of aniseed, lemon, mint, and cinnamon, but more potently than these, has a very decided effect on the circulation of blood in the brain. They severally exercise a chemical action on nerve- centres which govern certain blood vessels in the brain-substance: and they may therefore be used remedially for such a purpose. ACIDS See Fruits (AppLE, Grape, and Lemon); VineGar (Maur). ALCOHOL. This is chemically a toxin of the yeast plant, as the spirituous product of vinous fermentation (whereby are given intoxicating properties of varying relative strength to ardent spirits, wines, and malt liquors, the same product being powerfully stimulating, and remarkably antiseptic). There are different grades of alcohol, according to the source from which they are respectively derived ; as “grain alcohol,” prepared from maize, or other grain ; “root alcohol,” from beets, and potatoes ; and “ moss alcohol,” made in large quantities from reindeer moss, and Iceland moss, in Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Such spirits as whisky, gin, and brandy contain from 40 to 50 per cent of absolute alcohol most wines contain from 7 or 8 to 20 per cent; and malt liquors from 2 to 10 per cent. Each molecule of alcohol consists of two atoms of carbon, six of hydrogen, and one of oxygen ; it contains no nitrogen. When taken into the body alcohol burns by the carbon being set free and then combining with the oxygen, precisely as when paraffin is burnt in a motor car, being a source ALCOHOL, 19 of energy ; alcohol can be made to burn thus within the human body to compensate for the wasteful expenditure of animal heat in fevers, when digestion is arrested, and fails to furnish caloric. Nevertheless, during health only a limited quantity of alcohol can be burnt within the body each day, at the rate of not more than an ounce and a half of whisky, or brandy ; this quantity being well diluted, and taken in doses of half an ounce, at intervals of at least four hours. Such a quantity is all that the average man of normal temperature can utilise; any excess beyond it will be harmful as a positive poison. Then again, alcohol is only a false stimulant, its action as such being in reality a protest of the heart’s muscular walls against the noxious irritant; and such stimulation is invariably followed by a corresponding subsequent depression. As a drug, alcohol vexes the heart, which then sends blood with a rush to stagnate within the outermost blood-vessels in the skin, causing this briefly to feel warmer, though the internal body suffers a cold enfeeblement of the general circulation. Indeed, this loss of heat inside the system is so devitalizing that it often predisposes to pneumonia. Thus it comes about that the net result of taking alcohol, in whatever form, is to lower the inner tempera- ture of the body. It is true that by dilating the blood-vessels of the general skin-surface a deceptive sense of warmth is induced because of the increased heat given off, for a short time only, by radiation, though alcohol does not really keep out the cold, but suffers the heat of the body to sensibly escape through the skin. During fevers, therefore, alcohol often renders helpful service by unlocking the surface blood-vessels, and thus setting free the mischievous, superabundant heat. If a person has been already exposed to chilling cold, and the blood has been repelled into the internal organs so as to stagnate there, with threatened congestion, then the timely administration of alcohol in a hot drink may save the situation by restoring a proper distribution of blood throughout the whole body. So that by all means let alcohol be thus taken when the person comes indoors wet, and shivering; but it must be carefully avoided when proceeding out of doors to encounter frost, and rain, whilst the internal temperature would become lowered by any such a dram. Alcohol has been proved to possess the power of producing. antitoxic effects of an active sort against the tubercular disease of consumptive sufferers. If dock labourers who indulge 20 MEALS MEDICINAL. freely in alcoholic drinks, become affected by pulmonary consumption, it is found that (in spite of their harmful alcoholic excess) the mortality from this disease is less among those who drink heavily than in the more moderate imbibers. The alcohol appears to effect under certain circumstances a neutralization of tuberculous poison in the system; it acts further by serving to block up the blood-vessels around the diseased parts of the lungs, thereby isolating these infective parts; so that (as certain modern physicians pronounce) in all probability a plentiful (but not immoderate) use of alcohol promises true benefit for cases of actual tubercular consumption. We may conclude generally that alcohol is an unnecessary article of diet for persons in complete health (though a moderate use of natural, sound wine seems to augment the agreeables of life). As regards the form in which alcohol may be best used, malted liquor seems most suitable for youth, wine for middle life, and spirits to be reserved for the aged. It cannot be said that alcohol is favourable to the production of perfectly sound brain work. Out of 124 instances (leading men in literature, science, and art) who were consulted on this question, none ventured to seriously recommend alcohol as a useful aid to the performance of mental labour. It is rather under conditions just short of health—in overwork, fatigue, and feeble old age— that the beneficial effects of alcohol become most marked, and chiefly by aiding digestion: therefore it is most profitably taken with meals only, in such quantity, and of such sort, as are best borne by the individual patient. But for aged persons with whom, by reason of their arteries being stiff through senility, and their circulation otherwise impeded about the surface of the body, a laborious action of the heart occurs under alcohol, with a liability of its walls to become dilated, then this is certainly questionable, particularly in the shape of ardent spirit; possibly some generous, well-matured wine of subdued alcoholic strength may be more safely allowed. With regard to the taking of alcohol with water at night as grog for inducing sleep, when this has become difficult, or disturbed, any such practice is ordinarily a mistake. For natural sleep the brain should be comparatively bloodless; but a spirituous beverage as a night-cap produces quite the opposite effect ; if the grog is strong, a measure of narcotism, and stupor _ may simulate sleep, but the penalty will be exacted afterwards ALCOHOL. 21 by reactionary depression. Only will a moderate allowance of alcohol at night be beneficial, when the general circulation is so weak, and inefficient at the end of the day, with depressed vitality, coldness, and feeble action of heart, that blood stagnates passively about the brain for lack of sufficient power to propel it onwards from the heart, and nervous centres. Under such a condition of things, then alcohol may be judiciously given, and will promote better sleep on rational grounds. Boswell, talking to Dr. Johnson about the ethics of drinking, said, respecting himself, “‘I am a lover of wine, and therefore curious to hear what you say remarkable about drinking.” This was apropos of a story as to Dr. Campbell quaffiing thirteen bottles of Port at a sitting. ‘‘ Sir,” said Dr. Johnson, “if a man drinks very slowly, and lets one glass evaporate before he takes another, I know not how long he may drink. Nevertheless, wine gives a man nothing, but only puts into motion what has been locked up in frost. A man should so cultivate his mind as to have without wine that confidence, and readiness which wine gives.” Someone then suggested, “It is a key which opens a box, but the box may be full, or empty.” “‘ Nay, Sir,” said Johnson; “conversation is the key; wine is a picklock which forces open the box, and injures it.” Dr. Thudicum, in his Treatise on Wines, avers: ‘“‘ We have never known an authentic case of delirium tremens produced by drinking, in whatever excess, natural wine. Further, the habitual consumers of natural wine enjoy a remarkable immunity from gout, gravel, and such calculous formations as arise from the uric acid disposition; but no such immunity accompanies the use, or abuse of fortified wines.” : Alcohol has surprisingly little effect by itself on the chemical processes of digestion. The immunity of the gastric juice within the stomach from the action of alcohol thereupon is very striking. It is also a decided antiseptic. But with gouty, diabetic patients alcohol is likely to act harmfully by delaying the disintegration which should occur of starchy, and fatty foods into their nutritive elements. Similarly, also, it hinders elementary changes in animal foods with gouty persons. Again, for female difficulties of monthly function copious hot drinks which are non-alcoholic prove most serviceable, by promoting a general opening of the skin pores throughout the entire surface of the body, and thus relieving internal congestions which are 22 MEALS MEDICINAL attending the periodical epoch. To be sure, a stiff glass of gin and hot water given at the outset will seldom fail to confer ease and comfort, and to tide the patient over the immediate paroxysms of pain; but we cannot make sure that the single tumblerful of hot toddy taken in this way once a month will never be exceeded, or will not seductively lead to frequent future similar indulgences. Otherwise the remedy is an excellent one. Dr. Hutchison thinks that for diabetic persons, who are not also gouty, or of feeble digestive powers, alcohol may be very useful as a food, a source of energy, and an econo- mizer of the proteids; further as helping materially in the digestion of fat. Fifty, or more years ago our forefathers would drink liberally of Port wine (then of excellent quality, and therefore compara- tively harmless), even whilst sojourning at one of the former famous hostelries. Thus, Mr. Pickwick, when taking up his abode for a time “in very good, old-fashioned, and comfortable quarters, to wit, the George and Vulture Tavern (City of London), had dined, finished his second pint of particular port, pulled his silk handkerchief over his head, put his feet on the fender, and thrown himself back in an easy chair, when the entrance of his man-servant, Sam Weller, aroused him from his tranquil meditations.” Far less satisfactory, however, was the fare provided at the “Great White Horse,” Ipswich (1828), where, “after the lapse of an hour, a bit of fish, and a steak were served up to the travellers (Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Peter Magnus), who, when the dinner was cleared away, drew their chairs up to the fire, and having ordered a bottle of port (of the worst possible kind, at the highest possible price) for the good of the house, drank brandy and water for their own.” A gain, “at Mrs. Bardell’s house with the red door, in Goswell Street, the hidden treasures of her closet comprised sundry plates of oranges and bis- cuits, also a bottle of old crusted port, that at one-and-nine, with another of the celebrated East India sherry at fourteenpence, which were produced in honour of the lodger, and afforded unlimited satisfaction to everybody.” We are reminded, as the reverse of this picture, by Dr. King Chambers, when talking about the mighty hunters, and stalwart, robust herdsmen of wild, uncultivated nations, “that as soon as coming within the tide of civilization (and alcohol) the day goes against them: they fade away childless under our very eyes, ALCOHOL. 23 like that. vast. American. tribe of which it.is said the only extant remnants are a chief, a tomahawk, and six gallons of whisky.” It is remarkable that the common Acorn, as produced by our English Oak tree, has a property which will serve to antidote the effects of alcohol. A distilled spirit should be made from acorns, as the “ spiritus glandium quercus,” which will materially help to control an abnormal craving for intoxicating liquors ; also, if taken in doses of from five to ten drops two or three times a day, this spirit will prove of immense aid in subduing morbid symptoms resulting from abuse of alcoholic drinks. With our forefathers an old-fashioned, capacious wine-bottle was in vogue, known as a Jeroboam, being so called after the King who made Israel to sin. There was so much wine in such a big bottle that the topers were made drunk thereby, seeing that when once the cork was drawn the bottle could not be closed again. A Jeroboam is the largest bottle known. Rubaiyat, of Omar Khayyam, the Persian poet, so eloquently and faithfully translated by Edward Fitzgerald, glows with fervour about good liquor :— ‘‘ Here, with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse,—and thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness, And Wilderness is Paradise enow.’’ Beer, as mentioned by Herodotus, was brewed in Egypt 2,000 years ago. Sir Cuthbert Quilter has found at Luxor, on a monolith, the bas-relief of a tankard. Before the time of Elizabeth beer was drunk new in England, but in her day the farmers had become particular as to maturing their beer, and very choice in their ale ; they named their best October-brewing “ Mad dog,” or “ Angels’ food,” or ‘ Dragons’ milk,” “ Merry-go- round,” and other endearing, or facetious appellations. Ladies during the eighteenth century, who were accustomed to drink ale, or small beer, or broth at breakfast, did not take kindly to tea when it was first introduced as a beverage. We read that the family of John Wesley drank small beer at every meal. They “ bless’d their stars, and called it luxury.” The addition of hops first (1524) converted our English ale into beer. Sound beer should be only acid enough to slightly redden test-paper of litmus when dipped therein. As Dr. Chambers admonishes, ‘‘ the first thing to be guarded against in malt liquor is sourness, or, as it is technically termed, hardness. All beer 24 MEALS MEDICINAL. will turn into vinegar after a time, but some brews undergo this degenerative change much more quickly than others, from having been run into dirty vats. In most of the popular London breweries the brewers calculate that the beer which is made will be consumed so quickly that the presence of a little more or less vinegar does not signify, and they brew daily in their vast vats still reeking so strongly of acetic acid that you cannot open your eyes when holding the face over these vats. And yet some of these reckless brewers occupy a most respectable position in society, go to church, and never ask forgiveness for the sickness, poverty, and misery they may have caused by their wilful negligence in this regard. There is no more fertile cause of gout, rheumatism, diseased heart, dropsy, and the premature death of the robust working man, than this beer, just on the turn, and ready to become thick vinegar in the stomach.” The famous Philip Dormer Stanhope (Lord Chesterfield), in one of his noted “letters ” to his son Philip Stanhope (1874), says: “I hear ‘from Duval, the jeweller, who has arrived, and was with me three or four days ago, that you are pretty fat for one of your age; this you should attend to in a proper way, for if while very young you should grow fat it would be trouble- some, unwholesome, and ungraceful. You should therefore, when you have time, take very strong exercise, and in your diet avoid’ fattening things. All malt liquors fatten, or at least bloat, and I hope you do not deal much in them. I look upon wine and water to be in every respect much wholesomer.” “ Bat what is Coffee but a noxious berry Born to keep used-up Londoners awake ? What is Falernian, what are Port and Sherry, But vile concoctions to make dull heads ache ? Nay, Stout itself (though good with oysters —very !) Is not a thing your reading man should take He that would shine, and petrify his tutor Should drink draught Allsop in its native pewter.” Though, as a quaint saying puts the matter pithily, “‘ He who drinks beer thinks beer.” As concerning wines of various vintages, the leading character of a wine must be referred to the alcohol which it contains, and upon which its stimulating, or intoxicating powers chiefly depend. In the stronger ports, and sherries there is present from 16 i __ to 25 per cent of alcohol ; in hocks and clarets from 7 per cent ALCOHOL. 25 upwards. The principal modern wines are Port, Sherry, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Madeira, Rhine, Moselle, Tokay, and Marsala. Sherry and Port are fortified wines; Claret and Hock are natural wines. ‘On the chemistry of food- digestion in the stomach wines exercise a retarding effect out of all proportion to the amount of alcohol which they contain ; that produced on the second digestion by the stomachbread (pancreas) is to be accounted for by their acid qualities.” Dietetically most wines are of equal value, provided they are the products of a favourable season, being pure, and free from fungous defects. It nevertheless by no means follows that because of hindering digestion in some respects, wines are altogether to be prohibited with meals ; seeing that by increasing the appetite, and thus inducing a larger secretion of gastric juice, they may, if taken in moderate quantity, not only neutralize any arrest of the digestive chemistry in the stomach, but are likely to actually accelerate that function on the whole, and to make it more comfortable than it would otherwise be. “‘ This, indeed,” says Dr. Hutchison, “is one of the most useful actions of wine, both in health, and in disease.” The stimulating action of a wine fortified with alcohol is to be considered twice as great as that of a natural wine. The acids of wine are chiefly present in the form of bitartrate of potash (cream of tartar), which eventually goes to increase the alkalinity of the wine ; since the organic acids and their salts, which are combinations with earthy bases, as contained in wine, become converted within the body into alkaline compounds, and are excreted as such by the kidneys, and other outlets. It has been truly said “‘the human brain, and the human stomach are the only analysts which never make mistakes.” Hock, for instance, which is a rather acid wine, if freely imbibed, tends to prevent the precipitation of gouty uric acid in the urine. And the same result follows cider-drinking as a rule; persons who use this beverage freely are not troubled with gravel; indeed, they are found to possess a special immunity from that grievance, for the cider not only makes the urine less acid, but also considerably increases its volume. It has been proved that as a matter of fact the most acid wines are not those which are most generally - eredited with producing gout. Possibly it is the combined presence of both sugar and acid in the wine for the time being which makes the sweet drink harmful to the sufferer from gouty = 26 MEALS MEDICINAL. indigestion ; and there is a likelihood, as we cannot deny, of secondary fermentation being then set up in the wine after it reaches the stomach. Be the explanation what it may, the gouty subject does wisely to avoid the fortified wines, unless when they have become very dry; otherwise the indigestion which ensues may set gout going viciously in the system. Mattieu Williams explains, concerning the “ cookery of wines,” that he “feels quite safe in stating that the average market value of rich wine in its raw state—speaking of it as produced in countries where the grapes grow luxuriantly, and where the average quality of the wine is consequently superlative—does not exceed sixpence per gallon, or one penny per bottle ; in saying which he is speaking of the best, and richest quality of wines, (of course, without including fancy vintages, or those specially produced in certain select vineyards of noted Chateaux), and he refers to 90 per cent of the rich wines that come into the market. So that, to tell the truth, the five shillings paid for a bottle of good Port wine is made up of one penny for the original wine, another penny for the cost of storage, about sixpence for duty, and cost of carriage to this country, and twopence for bottling, making a sum of tenpence in all; therefore it follows that the remaining four shillings and twopence are charged for “ cookery,” and wine merchants’ profits.” The grape juice, which by fermentation makes wine, contains chiefly grape sugar, together with one part of fruit sugar, also albuminous matters, and the acids (principally tartaric, and tannic). This juice is obtained by crushing the grapes, usually by treading, so as to avoid squeezing the stalks, and stones too thoroughly. Hock is a Rhine wine, originally produced at Hockheimer, on the right bank of the Maine, but now the name is applied to any white German wine: it means literally “high home.” Hocks are pale wines, and contain scarcely any sugar; they are really not more acid than claret. In Butler’s Hudibras we read of this wine as having restored the high and mighty when faint :— “And made ’em stoutly overcome With backrach, hockamore, and hum.” The rosined wine which is served in the South of Europe has an admirable antiseptic virtue; though a British pedestrian, when he first quenches his thirst at a Tuscan farm, or rustic ALCOHOL. 27 inn, is apt to exclaim that the landlord has drawn the wine in a varnish pot, and to sneer accordingly at this balsamic ‘‘ Vino Vermuth.” But the taste is well worth acquiring by thirsty souls in warm climates, and merits the patronage of philan- thropists, for it cannot be doubted that the wholesomeness of many Greek, and Italian native drinks is due to their being preserved from decay and secondary fermentation, by their rosin, in place of fiery and fuselly spirit. The large quantity of this wine habitually consumed without prejudice by its admirers is very remarkable. Six years ago there was living, and perhaps still lives, at Menidi, near Athens, a priest, over ninety years of age, who from early manhood had drunk a dozen bottles of wine every day, partly at meals, and partly at odd times. The American Consul ascribes this venerable toper’s toughness to the special quality of his liquor. The ethers of wines are volatile, and fixed ; they confer much of the bouquet, particularly the cenanthine, or cenanthic ether. Port wine contains a large proportion of such ethers, especially the “‘ fixed.” The colour of red wine is due to a pigment in the skins turned red by the acids of the grape juice, whilst the colour of white wines is caused by the oxidation of tannic acid in the cask. Different yeast plants adhering to the skin of the grapes dis- tinguish different wines, which are first put into cask for some years and then bottled, the formation of ethers still going on. But it is a mistake to think that wine will continue to improve for an indefinite length of time; it is liable eventually to decay by the slow process of complete oxidation. Nevertheless “ what magic there is in an old bottle of red wine! How beautiful it looks as the light shines through it! An old bottle of red wine! For years it has lain in the darkness, and rest of the cellar. For years there has been ripening within it a slow, soft life-warmth ; a magical, fine spirit that will evoke for you dreams, and half-dreams of an entrancing sort. This old bottle of wine holds imprisoned within it a kindly genie which will transport you back to the balmy past—a past from which the bitterness has vanished. This kindly genie will soften for you the present ; and he will show you the glimmer, and the wonder of the future! An old bottle of red wine! It is a precious gift that comes from out the divine essence of the earth! A fine elixir! It cheers and befriends, and soothes. It awakens in man 28 MEALS MEDICINAL. his larger and more potent self. It unravels, and unweaves before him fine thoughts—strange, curious thoughts. It unlocks the mind’s marvellous, and mysterious recesses. It enriches, and enripens the personality. Under its genial spell a man becomes gay ; a man becomes wise with the profound wisdom of tolerance ; he laughs ; his wit sparkles ; a power new, and exalted is given unto him ; he feels the glow of fraternity ; he is brought within the circle of a benignant kindly magic; the cares of yesterday are gone; the cares of to-morrow have not yet come; the present is full of rare, and beautiful colour! Wine! Give me, I beseech you, an old bottle of choice red wine.” But, as some persons persist in supposing, far more durable and sentimentally refined is the bouquet of the purer liquor at a temperance banquet :— ‘** We bid you to a wineless feast, And string our noble lyre. Our blood is warm enough at least, Without the vintage fire ; Affection’s subtle alchemy Repeats with touch divine The miracle of Galilee,— Turns water into wine!’’ Respecting which miracle, as runs an Eton tradition, the single line was found written on the paper of a schoolboy (Tierney) who had failed to accomplish further verse-composition :— *“‘Conscia lympha Deum vidit, et erubuit,” “The modest water saw its Lord, and blushed.” “ Sherry,” according to Sir Wm. Roberts, “ as used dietetically , frequently exercises an important retarding effect on the digestion of food in the stomach. Half-a-pint of such wine is no unusual allowance at dinner with many persons, this being in proportion to the whole meal (at an estimated total of two pounds in its quantity by weight) about 25 per cent—a very obstructive proportion! In the more common practice of taking two, or three wineglassfuls of sherry with dinner we may notice probably a double action,—both a stimulating effect on the secretion of gastric juice as well as on the muscular contractions of the stomach, and a slight retarding effect on the speed of the digestive chemical processes, especially at their early stages. _ In still smaller quantity (a wineglassful, or so) sherry acts as a pure stimulant to digestion ; though in connection with any such ALCOHOL. 29 rr erent taints inerddicb Shona at seas Bale acter erie aanaenetipeinsbliieistessnsiiex/uiionenisanuionts ovinaetenschnics dietetic use of sherry remembrance must be held that it exercises a strong arresting effect (by its free sugar, and its acidity) on the conversion of bread, and other farinaceous foods by the saliva into dextrose. But sherry is superior to the other fortified Wines as to the rapidity with which it develops the volatile ethers. Therefore it is an appropriate stimulant for benefiting certain sorts of infantile, and youthful debility, as well as nervous failure in the digestive functions of enfeebled old invalids. Sherry (Vinum zericum), the wine of Jerez, in Southern Spain, is commonly much manipulated. Negus (an Indian drink) is made with white wine (Sherry or Marsala), sugar, and lemon-juice, with ginger and a little nutmeg being added, whilst steaming hot water serves to complete this fragrant cordial restorative, of moderate alcoholic strength. At Jerez, Sherry is the common everyday drink of working persons, as well as of the upper classes: and their general good health, with an immunity from rheumatism, or gout, is proverbial. It is then a dry natural wine, the most refreshing and wholesome of drinks: whereas the Sherry exported to this country is sweetened, and loaded with spirit. . Elderly persons sometimes cannot fall asleep for a long time after getting into bed, and become worn out with restlessness, and with tossing about. This misfortune may generally be obviated by their taking an egg, lightly boiled, or a plain chicken sandwich, or some equally simple, yet nutritive little repast the last thing at night (supposing no previous solid meal has preceded this by at least a couple of hours), accompanied by half a tumblerful of hot wine and water, or negus, or a glass of sound, light, bitter beer. Sweet, fortified wines are specially to be chosen for this purpose, as Malaga, or Port, or Sherry. Likewise good Burgundy, warmed, spiced, diluted, and sweetened, makes an excellent night-cap. Madeira, again, another fortified wine, will exercise soporific effects either as a separate, but treacherous, potation, or when mulled (Latin mollire, to soften) with spices; the devotees of which wine aver that it should smack of the cockroach. At the Hop Pole Inn, Tewkesbury, where Mr. Pickwick, with Mr. Benjamin Allen, and Mr. Bob Sawyer, stopped to dine, “there was more bottled ale, more Madeira, and some Port besides, and here the case-bottle was replenished for the fourth time; under the influence of which combined stimulants Mr. Pickwick, and Mr. Ben Allen fell fast asleep for 30 MEALS MEDICINAL. the next thirty miles, while Bob, and Sam Weller sang duets in the dickey.” Of Champagne, the best varieties are obtained from Rheims and Kpernay in France. It should be a natural wine, con- taining from nine to twelve per cent of alcohol; but what is now drunk in England as Champagne is mostly a brandied wine. The amount of sugar in this wine varies from nil up to 14 per cent. Most of the Champagnes now in vogue, even those which are high-priced, are fortified up to 12 per cent of absolute alcohol, and are unworthy of choice, or salutary drinking. Marsala is a Sicilian wine, and sweeter than Sherry, whilst containing less of the volatile ethers which characterize the latter. Claret, probably named from clairet, a thin vin ordinaire, is produced in Medoc, of which district the seaport is Bordeaux. It is a pure, natural wine containing from 8 to 13 per cent of alcohol, with a high proportion of volatile ethers. Burgundy re- sembles claret, but is richer in extractive matters, and is of higher alcoholic strength. Beaune and Chambertin are the wines of this kind most to be commended. Claret contains no appreciable amount of sugar. For the invalid it should be a good wine as to its choice, otherwise it cannot be genuine. The cheap Clarets are concocted of grape-spirit, colouring matters, sugared water, and some brandy, making up all together a clever imitation of the natural wine. A true Claret will not cost less than from four to five shillings a bottle ; it should have a raspberry flavour, and is more astringent than Burgundy, but not with tannin, like tea. Though Claret seems to the palate more acid than Port wine, it is really not so. Any fortified wine taken after Claret would stultify its salutary effects. Louis the Fifteenth, of France, asked Richelieu about the wines of Bordeaux, and was told respecting its various vintages, the wine of Upper Burgundy being finally said to be superlative: “One can drink of this as much as one will,” said Richelieu; “ it puts people to sleep, and that is all.” ‘“ Puts people to sleep, does it ?”’ answered the King ; “ then send fora pipe of it.” It is supposed that there is now too much Vin Ordinaire in France, owing to growers having abandoned “vin de luxe.” One proprietor is known to be giving common wine to his horses as part of their diet. This was done likewise in 1874, and 1875, when the vine harvests were specially abundant. The horses require to become ALE. 31 habituated to the wine by having part of their corn steeped in it, and putting this at the bottom of the manger below other corn untreated ; then the proportion of corn with wine is gradually increased until the horses come to like it. Some horses are thus led on to drink wine almost pure, and even to enjoy it. They trot very well on the strength imparted by the wine, although their ration of corn is diminished in proportion. M. Monclar has given wine to draught horses, and finds that barley, or other grain, with such wine is about as stimulating as corn. Dr. Tobias Venner, in his Via Recta ad longam Vitam, said at that time (1620): “ There are also other French wines (would to God they were so common as Claret) which for pleasantnesse of taste, mediocrity of colour, substance, and strength, doe for most bodies (for ordinary use with meates) far excell other wines, such as are chiefly Vin de Congry and d’Hai, which to the Kings, and Peeres of France are in very familiar use. They notably comfort the stomacke, help the concoction, and distribution of the meates, and offend not the head with vaporous fumes. They are regall wines indeede, and very convenient. for every season, age, and constitution, so they might be had.” About a temperate use of wine Androcides was wont to say unto Alexander when being about to drink the same: “O rez, memor sis te terre sanguinem bibere.” Hungarian wines are very fine, natural wines, red and white, almost free from sugar, and of moderate alcoholic strength. Italian wines are natural, with a rather high acidity, and a moderate percentage of alcohol. Australian wines are full- bodied, containing rather more alcohol than most clarets. The juices, fermented or unfermented, of certain fruits, or plants, prepared in imitation of wine produced from grapes, are of home manufacture as sweet wines, being sparingly alcoholic, if at all, whilst they embody, sometimes curatively, the herbal virtues of the distinguishing fruit, or other vegetable product which is the basis of the brew, such as cowslip, currant, elder, gooseberry, raspberry, rhubarb, etc. ALE (See AtcoHot and BEER.) Ate is beer of a certain strength, light in colour,jbeing brewed from malt dried at a low degree of heat. Andrew Boorde, in 1542, distinguished ale (as made of malt, water, and nothing else) 32 MEALS MEDICINAL. from beer as brewed with malt, hops, and water. The hop converted our English ale into beer. But the terms ale, and beer are really synonymous now as applied to the paler malt liquors, whilst the darker drinks are porter, and stout. These latter are made in the same way as ale, or beer, but the malt is first roasted in cylinders, much as coffee berries are treated, which process has the effect of producing some caramel (or partially- burnt sugar); also by killing the fermenting principle this prevents further production of sugar in the mashing. It is probable that a tumblerful of good, brisk ale may actually help digestion by increasing the appetite, and calling out a more abundant secretion of gastric juice, with more active movements of the stomach. But malt liquors must be regarded as frequent predisposers to gout by provoking acetous fermentation in persons liable thereto. ALKALIES IN FOODS. THE alkali, Soda (sodium), which is most necessary in the body for the proper constitution of its fluids, is derived chiefly from animal foods, this being taken in the chemical form of chloride of sodium, or common salt ; whilst the alkali Potash (potassium), which is essential for the renewed construction of cells, perhaps also of the red blood corpuscles, and of the muscles, is got more abundantly from the vegetable group of foods. Green vegetables, and ripe fruits are a particularly valuable source of potash salts. A craving for table-salt as an addition to the diet specially prevails among vegetable feeders. If it be wished, by the use of alkalies, to prevent the gouty formation of uric acid sediments, as gravel, and the like, or to gradually dissolve such concretions as have already become formed in the bladder, it will certainly be more rational to prescribe a diet of fresh fruits, potatoes, and other such vegetable products than to order alkaline mineral waters, or medicines, which, if taken constantly, are likely to create all kinds of irritative disturbances in the blood. Speaking generally, it is not to the laboratory of the chemist we should go for our potash salts, but to the laboratory of nature, and more especially to that of the vegetable kingdom. They exist in the green parts of all vegetables: but we wastefully extract a considerable proportion of these salts when we boil the vegetables, and throw away their potage, which our wiser and more thrifty French neighbours add to their everyday menu. ALKALIES IN FOODS. 33 When we eat raw vegetables, as in salads, though not converting their starch elements into soluble dextrin, especially if vinegar is added, yet we obtain all their potash constituents. Fruits, taken generally, contain important quantities of potash salts; and it is upon these vegetable products that the likely victims of gouty acid formations should especially rely ; lemons, and grapes contain the same most abundantly. It should not be forgotten that nearly all the chemical compounds of potash, as they exist in fruits, and vegetables, are acid. But these organic acids become disintegrated in the body by their com- bustion, and then leave alkaline residual bases. Far different is the case with vinegar, and the mineral acids, which are of fixed chemical composition, and remain acid throughout. Mattieu Williams teaches, in his Chemistry of Cookery (1898), that the saline constituents of vegetables (which are usually boiled out in the cooking water) are absolutely necessary for the maintenance of health ; without them we become the subjects of gout, rheumatism, lumbago, gravel, and all the ills which human flesh, with a lithic acid disposition, is heir to. The potash of these salts existing in the vegetables, as combined with organic acids, is separated from these acids by organic combustion, and is straightway presented as an alkali to the baneful gouty acid of the blood, and tissues, the stony particles of which it converts into harmless, soluble lithate of potass, and thus enables them to be carried out of the system by the urine, the skin, and other channels, “I know not which of the Fathers of the Church invented fast days, and soupe maigre, but I can almost believe he was a scientific monk, and a profound alchemist, like Basil Valentine, who, in his seekings for the “‘ aurum potabile,” the elixir of life, had learnt the beneficent action of organic potash salts on the blood, and therefore used the authority of the Church to enforce their frequent use in vegetable foods among the faithful.” The proper compounds to be produced are those which correspond to the salts existing in the natural juices of vege- tables, and in flesh, viz., compounds of potash with organic acids, such as tartaric acid, which forms the potash salt of the grape ; such again, as citric acid, with which potash is combined in lemons and oranges; likewise malic acid, with which the same alkali is combined in apples, and many other fruits ; similarly, too, the other natural acids of vegetables in general, as well as the lactic acid of milk. As long as the human body remains alive 3 34 MEALS MEDICINAL. a continuous state of slow combustion goes on within its economy, gradually, and for the most part gently, during which the organic acids of these potash salts become slowly consumed, whilst giving off their excess of carbonic acid, and water through the outlets of lungs, skin, and kidneys, but leaving behind their alkaline potash. This potash combines with the otherwise stony lithic acid (gouty material) just when, and where it begins to be harmfully formed, and neutralizes it into a soluble innocent combination. But no such happy decomposition is possible with free mineral acids in the blood, and tissues, to wit, sulphuric, nitric, or hydrochloric (if given medicinally), which are therefore poisonous to persons of a gouty, lithic acid disposition. Neither does the acid of vinegar—acetic, produced by fermentation— become changed so as to yield an alkali against gouty deposits ; but, as already stated, lemons, and grapes contain the fruit salts of potash most abundantly. Persons who cannot afford to buy these fruits as daily food may use cream of tartar, which, when genuine, is the natural salt of the grape. Again, we shamefully neglect the best of all food by failing to partake more freely of fruit when ripe and sound. Ii it must be had cooked, then what we have to say is, “Jam for the million, jelly for the luxurious, but fruit-juice in some form for all.” The desire among boys for fruit, which sometimes tempts them to rob the orchard, is due to the craving of nature at this time of life for vegetable acids, a craving which it is needful to gratify, and wrong to deny. The chief mineral substances necessary in food are soda, potash, lime, magnesia, and iron, together with phosphorus, chlorine, sulphur, and traces of such matters as silica, fluorine, and iodine. These constituents are of vital importance as structure-builders, and renovators. Lime and phosphorus are organically combined in milk; iron in yolk of eggs, meat, and artichokes ; sulphur in all vegetable nitrogenous foods. Of dietetic articles the richest in lime is milk, next eggs, then the cereal grains, especially rice. Iron is present (as to order of richness) in spinach, yolk of egg, beef, apples, lentils, strawberries, white beans, peas, potatoes, and wheat, Milk, and its derivatives, such as cheese, are very poor in iron. Of vegetable foods, oatmeal, and Egyptian lentils are amongst the richest in iron, but bread, rice, artichokes, potatoes, and spinach also contain a good proportion. { ALKALIES IN FOODS. 35 Certain Natural Waters from volcanic regions, former, or present, are in demand as pure and refreshing drinks, because of their amount of carbonic acid gas, as well as their mineral salts. The best, and longest known is the water of Seltzers in Nassau, generally called Seltzer water, which continues to be supplied commercially in just the same state as whilst rising from this wonderful spring. It was first used in 1798. But artificial mineral waters are now much more in vogue, all of which are impregnated with carbonic acid gas made from chalk (carbonate of lime) in its ground, pulverulent form, “ whiting.” Those waters which are distilled should be preferred, not only because they are free from organic impurities, but also because they are without any mineral salts in excess; of course, the source of the water from which these drinks are manufactured must be irreproachable as regards taint of impurity, or infection. And as to ‘“‘ the mineral spring fad,” says Dr. Woods Hutchinson (1903), “‘ this is one of the survivals in medicine from the times of the ‘trembling of the waters’ in the Pool of Bethesda. It origin- ated unmistakably in the good old demon-theory days, when the potency of the water was rated according to the amount of heat, and effervescence from gases contained therein, and, best of all, from its sulphurous smell, and abominable taste, all of which were to the primitive mind clear and convincing proofs that such water issued directly from the infernal regions, being possessed by spirits, and hence peculiarly suitable for the casting out of devils by Beelzebub.” ‘Thus, either sparkle, heat, or a brimstone taste is still the popular requisite for a successful mineral water; if it has all three it inspires a confidence little short of that felt by Montaigne in the waters of Corsena, which he declared ‘ powerful enough to break stones.’ ” A bottle of soda water recovered from the wreck of the Royal George (1780) was sold March 10th, 1903, by public auction in London for the sum of twenty-five guineas, it being more than 120 years old. Soda water was first introduced in 1767, being called “ Mephitic julep,’ by Mr. Richard Bewley, of Great Massingham, and it received its present name before 1798. A glass soda-water bottle was dug up on the Crimean battlefield, thus showing that no alteration in the shape had taken place for seventy-three years. Ginger-beer was at one time put into bottles similar in shape to this same soda-water pattern, but made of stone. ; 36 MEALS MEDICINAL. The effervescent table waters of commerce,—soda-water, potash-water, Seltzer-water, Apollinaris water, and the like,— are all charged more or less with alkaline carbonates, whereby they are prevented from arresting the salivary digestion, so that the use of such waters as an addition to sub-acid wines is commendable. The mineral waters, soda or potash, usually contain in each bottle from ten to fifteen grains of their respective bicarbonates, in addition to the carbonic acid gas. Seltzer-water further contains magnesium, with phosphate, and sulphate of soda. ‘‘ At Bath,” we are told, “in Pickwick’s day, near at hand to the Pump Room, there were mineral baths in which a part of the company wash themselves, and a band plays after- wards to congratulate the remainder on their fellow-visitors having done so.” Further on we read concerning these Bath mineral waters (sulphated lime): ‘ ‘ Have you drunk the waters, Mr. Weller ?’ inquired his companion, the tall footman, as they walked towards High Street. ‘ Once,’ replied Sam. ‘ What did you think of ’em, Sir?’ ‘I thought they was particklerly unpleasant,’ replied Sam. ‘Ah!’ said Mr. John Smawker, “you disliked the killibeate taste, perhaps?’ ‘I don’t know much about that ’ere,’ said Sam; ‘I thought they’d a werry strong flavour of warm flat-irons.’ ‘That is the killibeate, Mr. Weller,’ observed Mr. John Smawker contemptuously. ‘Well, if it is, it?s a welty inexpressive word, that’s all,’ said Sam ; ‘it may be so, but I aint much in the chemical line myself, so I can’t say.’ ” Nowadays much may be done for the relief of functional heart disorders by taking, as a pleasant beverage at meals, Barium water, a famous spring whereof exists at Llangammarch Wells, in Breconshire. This contains more than six grains of barium per gallon. The water is likewise of especial service for curing enlarged tonsils in delicate children, with contingent irritability of the heart; also it is highly useful as a course for lessening arterial stiffness of the vascular coats. The Barium water can be had in bottles, or syphons, for table use. About the middle of the eighteenth century, when stone in the bladder was common, and was sought to be dissolved by alkalies, soap was largely administered as such a solvent. The case of Horace Walpole marked this method in 1748, when he began to take a course consisting of one ounce of Alicant soap in three pints of lime-water daily: The same regimen was continued. ALKALIES IN FOODS. 37 by him until the beginning of the year 1757, when it was calculated that he had consumed no less than 180 pounds of soap, and 1,200 gallons of lime-water. Yet when an examination was made of his body after death by Mr. Sergeant-Surgeon Ranby, and Mr. Hawkins, three stones were found in his bladder. It was to challenge the memory of old Macklin (who had boasted he could learn anything by rote on once hearing it), that S. Foote extemporised the following well-known nonsense- passage. “‘So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage-leaf to make an apple pie, and at the same time a great she-bear coming up the street pops its head into the shop. What! no soap / so he died, and she very imprudently married the barber ; and there were present the Picaninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round button at top; and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can till the gunpowder ran out at the heels of their boots.” A (professedly) Eton boy has rendered the same in Latin hexameters :— ** Ut vice pomorum fungantur caule, placentam Hortulum adit meditans: immani corpore at Ursa Ora taberne infert—eheu, saponis egestas ! Hicce obiit dehinc mortem, temeraria at ille Omine tonsori levo nupsit: Picalilli, Joblillique aderant, cum Garrabulis ; Panjandrum pe 154 et ipse aderat, apice insignisque pusillo : Ludo captantes captabantur quoque, pulvis Calce cothurnorum donec sclopetarius exit.” Professor Kirk, of Edinburgh, in Papers on Health, commends highly for localized neuralgia to lather the part with Barilla soap, which must be genuine (Maclinton’s) as compounded from the ash of the barilla plant, growing abundantly in Sicily, in Teneriffe, and some parts of Spain. Lather made therefrom does not dry on the skin; its composition is a valuable secret. The soap requires eight days for its manufacture, and should be stamped with the name of makers—Brown & Son, Donoughmore, Tyrone, Ireland. This lather will allay the irritation of internal organs by application to the skin outside, as, for instance, over the stomach when it is rejecting all food, and even when retching on emptiness. Handful after handful of the lather (mixed in the palm with a shaving-brush, and hot water) should be laid on until the required surface is well covered ; then a soft hand- kerchief should be put loosely over it. Again, varicose ulcers 38 MEALS MEDICINAL. of the legs can be successfully healed in many cases by simply dressing them with compresses of lint, or soft linen, steeped in a solution of bicarbonate of soda, containing from 2 to 4 per cent of this salt: The suppurative discharges will become straightway lessened, and healing will proceed apace. ALMONDS. Two sorts of almonds are available with us commercially— the sweet, or Jordan almond,—so called, it would seem, from “jardyne,” because of the garden sort (chiefly from Malaga and not in any way connected with the sacred river of Syria) ; and the bitter almond, belonging to the same species, but possessing other volatile poisonous properties which are dangerous. The sweet almond (amygdala) is valuable as a food, and for con- fectionery purposes, being rich in a bland oil, and sustaining as a nutriment. The staying power conferred by a meal of which these almonds, and some raisins, form the chief part, is well known. It has been well said, “‘No man who can fill his pockets with almonds need starve on a journey.” Persons who can readily digest these products are believed to derive from them a quicken- ing of the intellect in magnetism, and in keenness, or argumen- tative force; but, if at all rancid, almonds are apt to upset delicate digestions, inducing nettlerash, and feverishness. Bitter almonds are smaller, and whilst yielding in part the same bland oil, when mixed as emulsion, contain further a powerful bitter prin- ciple known as amygdalin, which becomes identical with prussic acid, and is therefore a potent poison. The volatile, bitter oil which embodies this poison is obtained from the residual almond cake after the bland oil has been first expressed. When eaten in substance the bitter almond is strongly harmful, and its distilled water will cause giddiness, headache, dimness of sight, vomiting, and occasionally convulsions, such as of e pilepsy. An essence of bitter almonds (ratafia) is made by mixing two fluid drachms of the volatile oil with six fluid drachms of alcohol. Sweet almonds roasted to the colour of amber are delicious to eat with biscuits, or with bread and butter ; they contain 24 per cent of vegetable nitrogen (proteid), 54 per cent of fat, 10 per cent of starch material, 3 per cent of salts, 3 per cent of extractives, and 6 per cent of water. As an eligible piece of confectionery which is light, sustaining, ALMONDS. 39 and somewhat sedative to an irritable, or qualmish stomach, the macaroon (“‘ maccare,” to reduce to pulp) is admirable, either at breakfast (instead of the customary egg, including the yolk), or by way of an improvised luncheon, or as an occasional snack, about the easy digestion of which no fear need be enter- tained. The albuminous white of egg, the demulcent, reinvigora- ting sweet almond, the comforting sugar, and the tranquillising modicum of bitter almond, with its infinitesimal quantity of prussic acid as a sedative to the gastric nerves, make altogether a most happy combination for the objects now particularized. In the dietetic treatment of diabetes sweet almonds may be employed for making a kind of bread without starch in it, this being a tolerable substitute for wheaten bread, which is prohibited because of its starch, convertible into sugar. For this purpose the sweet almonds are first blanched, then expressed strongly together so that a portion of their oil may be squeezed out; they are next treated with boiling water in which some tartaric acid has been dissolved for expelling the sugar; and finally they are ground into a powder, which can be used for making bread, or for cakes, and puddings, when combined with eggs, and cream. Almond drink is softening and nutritive in chest affections, being easily prepared by rubbing up a couple of ounces of the compound powder of almonds with a pint of water. This is serviceable in fever, and other acute diseases. Again, Almond soup is a nourishing dish for a delicate stomach disposed to nausea. A quarter of a pound of Jordan almonds, and five bitter almonds, are to be blanched, peeled, and pounded, with half-a-pint of milk added during the process, and a pint of milk afterwards ; then warm the mixture, and pour it over a pint and a half of rice milk, also made hot; mix both these together, when hot enough, in a tureen. It may be that the so-called Jordan almonds have derived their name from the “ Jordan,” an old English vessel (of clay), in shape like a modern soda-water bottle, which was formerly made use of by physicians. Most persons suppose, unthinkingly, that these almonds (which arrive here about Christmas time . with other dried fruits) come from the neighbourhood of the river Jordan in Palestine; but it is better known that they derive their distinctive name from an enterprising Englishman of that title who planted, and reared them first at Malaga. They 40 MEALS MEDICINAL. embody much nitrogenous food (vegetable meat) in a compact form, together with a nice palatable oil, whilst free from starch, or sugar; they are therefore largely employed in making diabetic foods. From these sweet almonds a milky drink can be prepared which will soothe, and pacify troublesome bronchial coughs. The bitter almond contains in 100 parts, 28 of fixed oil, 30 of albumin, 6 of sugar, and 19 of essential oil, including its prussic acid. This almond, when rubbed up with water, has the odour of fresh peach blossom, with the pleasant, bitter taste of peach kernels. Prepared from it sparingly by the cook are macaroon biscuits, smaller ratafia biscuits, and the French sirop @orgeat, which severally supply prussic acid in a safely modified form, excellent against nausea, and the sickness of nervous indigestion. Far back in 1610 John Taylor, the water-poet, wrote: ‘ Let anything come in the shape of fodder, or eating stuffe, it is welcome, whether it be sawsedge, or cheese-cakes, or makroone- kickshaw, or tartaplin.” For making macaroons, according to an old Dutch recipe: “Take one pound of sweet almonds, blanched and pounded, together with a tablespoonful of fresh rose-water, and one pound of white sugar; melt the sugar, and almonds over the fire until quite a tough jelly ; then have ready the whites of four eggs beaten to a froth; whip them together when cold. This way of melting the sugar and almonds is excellent, as it prevents the macaroons from running together in the tins. Three or four bitter almonds, according to taste, may be included among the sweet almonds now ordered. The old-fashioned plan was to put a small piece of candied citron on each macaroon biscuit. Dust some fine cinnamon over before baking.” At Miss Barker’s (the ex-milliner) evening party given to the select ladies of “‘ Cranford” (Mrs. Gaskell) there were “all sorts of good things provided unexpectedly for supper,—scalloped oysters, potted lobsters, jelly, a dish called ‘ little Cupids’ (which was in great favour with the Cranford ladies, although too expensive to be provided except on solemn, and state occasions ; macaroons sopped in brandy I should have called it if I had not known its more refined, and classical name). In short, we were evidently to be feasted with all that was sweetest and best; and we thought it better to submit graciously, even at the cost of our gentility—which never ALMONDS. 41 ate suppers in general, but which was particularly hungry on all special occasions.” Again, Charles Lamb, when in lodgings with Mary Lamb, up two pairs of stairs in East Street, at Miss Benjay’s, rejoiced in “ tea, coffee, and macaroons (a kind of cake), and much love.” Salted almonds make a nourishing side dish at luncheon, or for dessert. Blanch a quarter of a pound of Jordan almonds, fry them in an ounce and a half of butter, and when fried a nice golden brown, drain them on paper, and then roll them in salt dusted with red pepper. Likewise, for serving to dispel nausea (except from obnoxious undigested food) an admirable confection which is delicious to the palate, and which is to be had from most pastrycooks under the name of “apricotine,” answers promptly, being at the same time an acceptable sweetmeat. Small, round sponge cakes are made, within which some almond paste is put, with a thin layer of apricot jam superimposed, whilst white powdered sugar is dusted over the cakes. Ratafia biscuits are composed mainly of bitter almonds, and are smaller in size than macaroons. As ingredients, take half a pound of sweet almonds (blanched, and pounded), with the white of an egg, a quarter of a pound of bitter almonds, three-quarters of a pound of sifted sugar, and the whites of four eggs (whisked) ; bake for ten minutes. In Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, vol. vii, occurs a tenderly humorous piece of delicate writing which bears reference to the macaroon: “Twas a poor ass who had just turned in (at Lyons) with a couple of large panniers on his back to collect eleemosynary turnip-tops, and cabbage-leaves, and stood dubious with its two fore feet on the inside of the threshold, and with its two hinder feet towards the street. He was eating the stem of an artichoke as I held discourse with him, and, in the little peevish contentions between hunger, and unsavouriness, had dropped it out of his mouth half-a-dozen times, and picked it up again. ‘God help thee, Jack!’ said I; ‘thou hast a bitter breakfast on’t, and many a bitter day’s labour, and many a bitter blow, I fear. And now thy mouth, if one knew the truth of it, is as bitter, I daresay, as soot (for he had cast aside the stem), and thou hast not a friend perhaps in all this world that will give thee a macaroon.’ In saying which I pulled out a paper of ’em which I had just purchased, and gave him one; and at this moment 42 MEALS MEDICINAL. that I am telling of it my heart smites me that there was more of pleasantry in the conceit of seeing how an ass would eat a macaroon than of benevolence in giving him one, which presided in the act.” Well might Thackeray say of this passage, ‘‘ The critic who refuses to see in it wit, humour, pathos, a kind nature speaking, and a real sentiment, must be hard indeed to move, and to please.” A nourishing dish for a child, or invalid, is good bread-sauce to which has been added two ounces of ground almonds well pounded ina mortar. It may be served with spinach if approved. Baked almonds lightly salted, and ground, make excellent sandwiches. Whether taken thus, or in a simpler form, they should always be previously blanched, as their brown skin is possessed of irritating properties The sweet almond oil is used in making “ Rowland’s macassar.” The French “ orgeat,” or “ orgeade,’ is a syrup made chiefly from sweet almonds. ANGELICA. Tue candied stems of this aromatic English herb, as sold com- monly by our confectioners, are of excellent service to relieve the flatulence of weakly digestion. They smell pleasantly of musk, being a capital tonic, and carminative. Furthermore they are antiseptic. It was said in the Speculum Mundi (1643) : “Contagious aire ingendering pestilence. Infects not those, who in their mouths have taine Angelica, that happy counterbane.”’ The herb is known as Masterwort, or more popularly, ‘ Jack Jump-about,” also as Lingwort. It is grown abundantly near London, and may be cultivated in.our gardens. Its peculiar resin, “ angelicin,” is stimulating also to the lungs, and the skin, especially for aged, and feeble persons with bronchial catarrh. Some writers have said this plant—the Archangelica—was revealed in a dream by an angel to cure the plague; others aver that it blooms on the day dedicated to Michael the Archangel (May 8th, old style), and is therefore a preservative against evil spirits, and witchcraft. Angelica taken somewhat freely as a sweetmeat will cause a distaste for alcoholic liquors. ANIMAL Foops. A DISTINCTION is to be made between animal foods, and flesh foods, which latter do not include milk, cheese, butter, or eggs, ANIMAL -FOODS. 43 (each of which will be considered here under its proper heading). As to animal foods, when compared with those of a vegetable nature, it is to be noticed that while plants build up their con- tained nutriment by increase of growth, and by materials con- stantly added, animal flesh is always on the downward grade, by wear and tear of consumed tissue, and muscle, etc. Thus it happens that the flesh of animal bodies, when taken by us as food, still contains broken-down products such as were being per- petually excreted through the animal’s skin, kidneys, intestines, lungs, and other emunctory outlets of its body. Therefore it cannot but happen that we eat some of these waste products, modified though they become by proper cooking, otherwise they are liable to provoke poisonous toxication of the blood, and to cause the retention therein of fermentative noxious elements. “* Flesh foods,” says Kellog, “of the animals we consume contain poisonous substances resulting from force-expending processes, such as brain, and nerve activity, and muscle activity, including that of the heart, and glands. In fact, every vital process carried on in the animal’s body produces poisonous material, to be thrown off by this or that extricatory channel. In the flesh of the healthiest animal there is always present a large, or small amount of broken-down products, which are on their way out of its body, to be removed by the liver, the kidneys, the skin, and other organs.” But the plant, as far as we know, has no such waste products ; neither does milk comprehend them. The principal nutritive constituent of flesh meat is “ proteid,” this being characterised by the rapidity with which it can become disintegrated as to its cells, with the liberation of heat ; in other words it isa quick fuel. “It is to such proteid that meat owes its heating qualities, as commonly ascribed ; for which reason its use should be restricted in summer-time.”” ‘ Again,” says Clouston, “the presence of much meat in the diet seems to act as an excitant of the animal passions, such ‘ flesh’ being the incarnation of ram- pant, uncontrollable force.” Moreover, we have to remember that the fundamental principle of our daily urine is urea, a waste product of the muscles and other bodily structures, which we are constantly expending in our daily life, whilst exactly the same conditions obtain with the animals whose flesh we eat. It will therefore be anxiously asked, Is the uric acid still in the meat when it comes to table? Yes, certainly! These waste “ extrac- tives of meat,” as Dr. Hutchison calls them, “ have no nutritive * 44 MEALS MEDICINAL. value, but they are the chief cause of the characteristic taste of meat. Whether or not they exercise bad effects, or the same effects which the like poisons cause when becoming formed in our own bodies, science does not say.” “ Together with the uric acid are found other poisons, e.g., creatin, creatinin, ete. ; so that the flesh diet makes the excretions twice as poisonous from animals, as are the excretions of a person who lives on fleshless diet.” “It is admitted.” writes Dr. Haig, “ that disease germs will grow with the greatest rapidity in beef-tea, and other preparations of animal tissue; whereas fruit juices will often actually destroy these germs.” When an animal is slaughtered for food, its tissues and cells before they are all completely dead still go on consuming the soluble food-elements which surround them, and they yet produce various chemical combinations just as during life ; that is to say, they go on working, and giving off waste matters for a time after death. But no longer can the body remove these corrupt waste products through its several outlets; they accumulate as poisons aiter the animals’ death, and tend to spoil the flesh, being no more washed away by a circulating stream of pure blood ; and we can readily imagine how much worse the effect is when the carcase of the animal has been kept for several days before reach- ing the kitchen. “Concerning the eating of animals,” says the Buddhist Ray, a Hindoo journal, “In the mechanical arts the meat-eating nations of the West surpass, as to skill and ingenuity, the vegetarian nations of the East. Still, this does not make them healthier or happier. The vices, and diseases of the Western carnivorous nations have, within the century recently ended, been the means of the extinction of whole races. On the diet of animal flesh they will never realise the ‘ peace and goodwill among men’ spoken of in the Christian Scriptures. The dream of a pearly-gated, peaceful, New Jerusalem on a carnivorous diet, is the delusory chimera of a fool, ora visionary.” Of animal foods, the most rapidly digested are those of soft consistence, such as sweetbread, and the like. The white meats, chicken, etc., are more digestible than the dark meats, for instance, the duck, or pigeon, or even the red meats; but their method of cooking greatly influences the result. Fresh fish is more rapidly digested than meat. Cauliflower is the most speedily digested of all vegetables. It is remarkable with respect to the infirmity of stammering ANIMAL FOODS. 45 in speech, that several leading German physicians now maintain the opinion that a diminution in the amount of meat that is eaten should be insisted on with a view to lessening these diffi- culties of utterance; three weeks of abstinence from meat are said to marvellously improve a stammering sufferer. Again, in the strange case of Dr. Jekyll, and Mr. Hyde, as told by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1896, it is related how the former personage discovered by researches in the laboratory that man’s nature is not truly that of a unit, but dual,—animal, and intellectual,— and that by a certain compound drug, or tincture, containing various salts corresponding to meat extractives, the two natures could be separated, the animal Hyde being set free to follow his unrestrained brutal indulgences. Other drugs could restore the former double nature in one, but the oftener the separation was practised the greater ascendancy did the low vicious animal nature acquire, until at length it got to possess the man alto- gether, body and soul. And in this way the moral, and in- tellectual redeeming moiety was utterly extinguished, so that the monster Edward Hyde completely overpowered the good, benevolent Dr. Jekyll, and presently came to a miserable end by suicide, that he might escape from the Nemesis of the law for the heinous crimes perpetrated through his flesh-eating propensities. The people who consume the greatest quantity of meat are the Americans, their average individual amount being one hundred and seventy-five pounds per annum. The English come next with an average of rather more than one hundred and ten pounds. The French people eat only half as much meat as the English ; and the people of Germany, Italy, and Austria still less. Long experience by. English, Scotch, and Irish labourers has proved cheese to be a capital substitute for meat in affording satisfactory nourishment. A small quantity of sound cheese with them takes the place of a large allowance of meat, and enables them to endure such hard labour as the American thinks he can only perform upon a generous meat diet. In Germany farm labourers depend largely upon the curd of milk, ater skimming this milk for butter. Such curd is often used in a fresh state, and makes an important part of the labourers diet. Cheese is less liable to putrefactive change than flesh, and thus much less likely to develop in the human system those scrofulous diseases which are attributable to animal food, more or less diseased, if the truth were known. 46 MEALS MEDICINAL. The person who eats in excess, especially of animal food, is always too easily fatigued; even a single meal may produce fatigue, if it is unusually large, or rich. Workmen are sooner tired on a Monday compared with any other day of the week, owing to their having more (animal) food, and less work on the Sunday preceding. The said fatigue is then due to self-poison- ing, or auto-intoxication by corrupt products from a surieited digestion. And on this principle it happens that the staying power of vegetarian eaters is so much greater than that of those who consume meat, when competing, for instance, in walking matches over long distances. Nevertheless a generous diet in the respect of animal food is generally essential towards the cure of hysteria, where the nervous system is always impoverished. As regards the making, and repair of bodily tissues, these effects can be accomplished only by proteids, with mineral matters, and water. Besides the lean of flesh these proteids include white of egg, the casein of milk, the gluten of grains, and gelatin, with fibrin, as parts of meat. They as proteids are alone able to fulfil both functions as a food, viz., tissue-making, and the maintenance’of bodily warmth. Hence is given to them the pre-eminent name, proteids. ‘“‘We may go without fats, but unless we have proteids we die.” Vegetable pro- teid is not so readily assimilable as that of flesh meat. ‘Many of the failures of haphazard vegetarianism are due to a lack oi sufficient proteids in the diet.” Nitrogen enters the body in proteid, and leaves it in urea, the product of expended muscular force. Carbon enters the body in fat, and leaves it in carbonic dioxide, the product of combustion within the body. Sir Thomas Browne, in his Religio Medici, 1635, has discoursed after the following manner about our eating of meat. “ Now for these walls of flesh wherein the soul doth seem to be immured before the Resurrection, it is nothing but an elemental com- position, and a fabric that must fall to ashes. AU flesh is grass is not only metaphorically, but literally true; for all those creatures we behold are but the herbs of the field, digested into flesh in them, or more remotely carnified in ourselves. Nay, further, we are what we all abhor, anthropophagi, and cannibals, i: _ devourers not only of men, but of ourselves; and that not in an allegory, but a positive truth, for all this mass of flesh which ANIMAL FOODS. 47 we behold came in at our mouths, this frame we look upon hath been upon our trenchers ; in brief we have devoured ourselves ! ” Within quite recent times the medical practice has come deservedly into vogue, of curing diseased states due to faulty function of some particular organ (glandular for the most part) in the human subject, by giving as food, or as an extract, portions of the same organ whilst in sound health, taken from a ireshly- slaughtered animal. Thus goitre of the throat, and the depraved state of system induced thereby, are corrected, and the patient restored to full health, by administering the neck gland (or its extract)—‘‘ thyroid”—of a healthy sheep. Similarly for the urinary difficulties of old men, because of the gland (prostate) at the neck of the bladder having become thickened with senile deposits, the chopped prostate gland of a newly-slaughtered bull is given from day to day in small quantities with the most marked benefit. Likewise other such cures are being effected by giving for their allied diseases the glands, or their prepared extracts, of kidney, liver, breast, ovary, etc. Again, an animal extract is being got from the (blind) gland which caps the kidney of sheep or ox, and which corresponds to the same gland in the human body. This extract (adrenalin) has the power to stay bleeding by making the - blood-vessels concerned therein contract, and close themselves up, even when cut by the surgeon’s knife. But it is of difficult production, seeing that each animal gland of this nature (supra- renal) can only furnish a quarter of a grain. Also the gastric juice secreted by a healthy animal’s stomach, as of the pig, or calf, will by its pepsin externally, when dried, cleanse, and serve to heal wounds, and sores complicated by sloughing, the pepsin, which acts only on dead tissues, faithfully seeking out, and breaking up the débris of disorganised cellular structure. The sores must be washed thoroughly from time to time. and a fresh solution of pepsin again applied. Similarly, for chronic urethral soreness, with bladder complications, and disorganized products given off within the urinary passages, the injection of pepsin, or bougies made therefrom, and passed along, have been found eminently successful. : Curative preparations of healthy animal organs exercise this remedial action within the human body under disease, in one of two ways, intrinsic, or extrinsic; the former when they replace some necessary secretion which is wanting in the patient; the 48 MEALS MEDICINAL. latter when not glandular, but identical in structure with the part at fault, so as in some remarkable manner to influence such part for good; as for example by giving animal heart-substance for failure of power in the human heart, or spinal marrow from the ox for weakness of the human spine. Cardin is the medicinal principle of the bullock’s heart, and is contained therein when this is sent to table as food, being found to increase the force, and fulness of the pulse subsequently to eating it. Dr. Hutchison speaks of the animal heart as an excellent, and economical food, to be highly commended for healthy persons, and of which a larger use than at present may be well made. It resembles ordinary meat very closely as far as chemical composition is concerned, (whilst plus the cardin,) but differs from it in being of a denser structure. Likewise with respect to the human brain when disordered in function, it is found that sheeps’ brains, by the *‘cerebrin” of their grey matter, when administered as food act beneficially. Again, the discovery recently made that a local application within the human nostrils of the said animal organ attached to the sheep’s kidney (supra-renal), when dried and powdered, will straightway relieve the distress of hay fever, is remarkable and to the point. This animal substance if blown into, and up the nose exercises a positive remedial effect on the severe nasal trouble. Whether or not the same animal organ if given as food would answer equally well, remains to be tried. Furthermore, proof positive has been obtained that if an animal serum, which can dissolve the red corpuscles of the human blood, is injected by small doses into the human body under the skin, it will positively increase the number of sound healthy red corpuscles possessed by the individual. Likewise other serums, or soups, prepared from healthy animals (as of the liver, kidney, or spermatic fluid) and employed in small quantities, will actually strengthen the specific tissue elements of this, or that same human organ, when weakened by illness, or disease. ANISETTE, OR ANISEED. Tuts is a cordial liqueur, prepared from the condimentary seeds of the herb Anise, which are commonly kept among the pantry stores of a well-ordered household. The said seeds (of the Pimpinella amisum) when distilled with water, yield a valuable fragrant syrupy oil, which separates when cold into two portions, a light ANISETTE, OR ANISEED. 49 volatile oil, and a solid camphor called “anethol.” The oil, being mixed with spirit of wine as an essence, or the liqueur anisette from the liqueur case, has a specially beneficial action on the bronchial tubes to encourage expectoration, particularly with children. For infantile catarrh, after its first feverish stage is over, aniseed tea is very helpful. It should be made by pouring half a pint of boiling water on two teaspoonfuls of the seeds, first bruised in a mortar, and is to be taken (when suffi- ciently sweetened) cold, in doses of one, two, or three teaspoonfuls according to the age of the child, with repetitions as needed. Gerarde teaches that Aniseed “helpeth the yeoxing, or hicket (hiccough), and should be given to young children to eat which are like to have the falling sickness, or to such as have it by patrimony, or succession.” Again, for spasmodic asthma, anisette is, if administered in hot water, an immediate palliative. The Germans have an almost superstitious belief in the medicinal virtues of Aniseed, and all their ordinary household bread is plentifully besprinkled with the whole seeds. The mustacex, or spiced cakes of the Romans, introduced at the end of a rich feast so as to prevent indigestion, consisted of meal with anise, and other such aromatics, as used for staying putrescence or sour fermentation within the intestines. Such a cake was formerly brought in at the close of a marriage banquet ; and hence the bride cake of modern times has taken its origin, though now its rich, heavy composition is rather apt to produce indigestion than to prevent this trouble. An old Latin epithet of the herb Anise was “ solamen intestinorum,” —comforter of the bowels. In the city of Naples, “long before dawn, and whilst unseen by the most active of visitors, comes up and down into the poorer streets a tattered fellow blowing a shrill whistle. ‘O Caffé!’ he shouts as he tramps from cellar to garret of the lofty houses, rousing the sleepy people to their work, and setting down at their doors the comfortable drink which fortifies them for the day. He carries a small bottle of Aniseed, and pours a drop or two into every cup.” For the restlessness of lagging digestion at night, a cup of Aniseed tea made by pouring boiling water on the bruised seeds (tied in a small bit of muslin) and sweetening the infusion, is much to be commended at bedtime. Besides containing the volatile oil, Anise yields phosphates, malates, gum, and a resin. : 4 50 MEALS MEDICINAL. “ Let me tell you this,” says a practical writer of to-day: “li you are suffering from attacks of bronchial asthma, just send for a bottle of the liqueur called Anisette, and take a dram of it with a little hot water ; you will find it an immediate palliative ; you will cease barking like Cerberus; you will be soothed, and go to sleep. I have been bronchitic, and asthmatic for twenty years, and have never known an alleviative so immediately efficacious as anisette.’ Furthermore, its exquisite flavour will give a most grateful warmth, and aroma, to cold water on a hot summer’s day. Similar to the Anise plant for its fragrant aromatic virtues is the herb Dill (Anethum graveolens), cultivated commonly in our kitchen gardens for condimentary, and medicinal uses. It is an umbelliferous herb, bearing fruit which furnishes “ anethol,” a volatile empyreumatic oil like that of Anise, and Caraway. This pungent essential oil consists of a hydrocarbon, “ carvene,” together with an oxygenated oil. It is a “ gallant expeller of the wind, and provoker of the terms.” “‘ Limbs that are swollen and cold, if rubbed with the oil o’ dill are much eased, if not cured thereby.”” The name Dill is derived from a Saxon verb dilla, to lull, because of its tranquillising properties, and its soothing children to sleep. The cordial water distilled from this stomach-comforting herb is well known to every fond mother, and monthly nurse, as a sovereign remedy for flatulence in the infant. The Dill plant is grown extensively in India, where the seeds are put to various culinary purposes; their oil has a lemon-like odour, which is much esteemed. Gerarde says : Dill stayeth the yeox, or hicquet, as Dioscorides has taught.” Of the distilled water, sweetened, one or two teaspoonfuls may be given to a baby, in diluted milk, or with the bottle food. APPLE. Tue Apple in its composition consists of vegetable fibre, albumin, sugar, gum, chlorophyll, malic acid, earthy lime salts, and much water. German food-chemists teach that this fruit contains phosphates more abundantly than any other edible garden product. Apples also afford “lecithin”? a phosphorated com- pound derived chemically from glyco-phosphoric acid. The juice of Apples (when no cane sugar is taken with them) becomes converted within the body into alkaline carbonates, and will APPLE. 51 neutralize acid products of indigestion, or gout. The common source of the term Apple in all its forms has been attributed to the Latin “* Abella,” a town in Campania, where fruit trees abound, and which is therefore styled “ malifera,” or apple- bearing, by Virgil. The acids of Apples (malic and tartaric) are of signal use for men of sedentary habits whose livers are torpid ; they serve to eliminate from the body noxious matters which would, if retained, make the brain heavy and dull, or would produce jaundice, or perhaps eruptions on the skin. Some such an experience has led to our taking Apple-sauce with roast pork, roast goose, and similar rich dishes. Two or three Apples eaten at night, either baked, or raw, or taken with breakfast, are useful against constipation. ‘‘ They do easily and speedily pass through the belly ; therefore they do mollify the belly.” A dish of stewed Apples eaten three times daily has worked wonders in cases of confirmed drunkenness, giving the person eventually an absolute distaste for alcohol, in whatever form. A certain aromatic principle is possessed by the Apple on which its particular flavour depends, this being a fragrant essential oil, the ‘“ valeri- anate of amyl,” which occurs in a small but appreciable quantity. The analysis of cider (fermented apple-juice) shows the presence therein of salicylic acid, formalin, malic acid, and other chemical constituents. The digestion of a ripe, raw Apple occupies only eighty-five minutes, whilst the malic acid of such fruit, cooked, or raw, will help to digest meat in the stomach, as likewise the casein of sound cheese. “ Bearing in mind our first Mother Eve, and the forbidden fruit as the beginning of all our mortal woes, the apple, according to the law of similars, ought homeopathically to be the cure for original sin” (Mark Guy Pearse). Sour Apples should be chosen for cooking, and must not be sliced too thin, else the juice runs out, and. they become tough. In not a few cases the dried apple-rings of to-day have been deprived beforehand of their fresh juices by immersion in a water-bath after paring, coring, and slicing the fruit. These juices are made into independent Apple jelly; and the “ snitz,” or pulp, into the evaporated “apple rings.” In Jane Austen’s novel, Emma (1816), we learn that it was customary then, as a social English refection, to serve baked Apples during afternoon calls by visitors in the country. ‘‘ Dear Jane,” said 52 MEALS MEDICINAL. Miss\ Bates, “makes such a shocking breakfast, but about the middle of the day she gets hungry, and there is nothing she likes so well as these baked Apples, and they are extremely wholesome, for I took the opportunity the other day to ask Dr. Perry; and when I brought out the baked Apples the other afternoon, and hoped our friends would be so obliging as to take some, * Qh,’ said Mr. Churchill, ‘there is nothing in the way of fruit half so good; and these are the finest-looking home-baked Apples I ever saw in my life.’ ‘ Indeed, they are very delightful Apples,’ was the reply, ‘ only we do not have them baked more than twice, but Mr. Woodhouse made us promise to have them baked three times.” Biffins are Apples peculiar to Norfolk, being so called from their close resemblance in colour to raw beef. Dickens, in his charming little story, Boots at the “‘ Holly Tree Inn,” tells that when Mrs. Harry Walmers, junior, was overcome with fatigue, the restorative which Boots was desired to procure was a Norfolk biffin. “I think a Norfolk biffin would rouse her, Cobbs,” said Master Harry. This particular fruit was formerly dried in the oven until shrunk up, and leathery. When cooked it was stewed in syrup, until soft, and of its original size, being esteemed as a delicacy by the youngsters when they came down to dessert. In France, be it noted, these biffins are called ** Pommes bonne femme.” Apples, when stored in a room, absorb oxygen from the air, and give off carbonic acid gas, so that after a while the atmosphere of this room would extinguish a lighted candle brought into it, as likewise the life of a small animal. But such an atmosphere tends to preserve the fruit, because decay is arrested through the deficiency of oxygen; therefore an apple-room should be air-tight. “The rotten apple,” says a suggestive old proverb, “injures its neighbours.” Again, Shakespeare has told us in Henry V: “Faith, as you say, there’s small choice in rotten apples.” In The Life of Samuel Johnson it is related that the direction of his untutored studies was determined at sixteen or seventeen, by finding in his father’s bookseller’s shop at Lichfield a folio of Petrarch on a shelf, where he was looking for apples. The juices of Apples become matured and lose their rawness by keeping the fruit a certain time. These juices (as likewise those of the pear, the peach, the plum, and other such fruits), when taken without any addition of cane sugar, diminish acidity APPLE. 53 in the stomach rather than provoke it, becoming converted chemically into alkaline products which correct sour fermentation. A poultice made of rotten Apples is commonly used in Lincoln- shire for relieving weak, or rheumatic eyes. Likewise in Paris an Apple poultice is employed for inflamed eyes, the Apple being roasted, and its soft pulp applied over the eyes without any intervening substance. ‘‘ The paring of an Apple cut somewhat thick, and the inside of which is laid to hot, burning, or running eyes at night when the party goes to bed, and is tied, or bound to the same, doth help the trouble very speedily, and contrary to expectation ; an excellent secret.” A French physician has lately discovered that the bacillus of typhoid fever cannot live beyond a very short time in apple-juice; and he therefore advises persons who reside where the drinking water is not above suspicion to mix cider therewith before imbibing it. Francatelli gives as a recipe for apple-water, to be drunk during fever: ‘* Slice up thinly three or four Apples without peeling them, and boil these in a very clean saucepan with a quart of water, and a little sugar, until the slices of apple become soft ; then strain the apple-water through a piece of muslin into a jug, and give it cold to the patient. If desired, a small cutting of the yellow rind from a lemon may be added, just enough to give the drink a flavour.” Again, for baked-apple water: “‘ Wash three large Apples, and bake them (unpeeled) until quite soft; then pour over them a pint of boiling water, stir well, and sweeten to taste ; strain afterwards when cold. This makes an excellent refreshing drink.” Likewise a sour Apple cut up, and boiled until soft produces an excellent tea to abate thirst. For apple soup, “take half a pound of Apples, peeled and cored, and one pint of ' water, with two teaspoonfuls of cornflour, one and a half table- spoonfuls of moist sugar, one saltspoonful of powdered cinnamon, and some salt to taste. Stew the apple in the water until it is very soft; then mix together into a smooth paste the cornflour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt, with a little cold water; pour this in with the apple, and boil all for five minutes ; strain into a soup tureen, and keep it hot until ready to serve. It may be eaten with sippets of toast.” The Apple is curative in chronic dysentery, whilst from the bark of the stem, and the root of the Apple tree (as likewise of the peach, and plum trees), a glucoside is to be obtained in small crystals which possesses the peculiar property of inducing 54 MEALS MEDICINAL. artificial diabetes in animals to whom it is given ; wherefore this same glucoside is to be commended remedially in human diabetes when coming on from spontaneous causes. A nice way of cooking Apples, as practised at the Cape, is to “ wipe the apples, but do not peel them; core, quarter, and cut into slices. Have ready some syrup (made in the propor- tion of one pound of sugar to a pint of water) boiled quickly for five minutes, using either moist, or crystallized sugar; throw the apples into the boiling syrup, and boil rapidly for one hour, stirring frequently. The juice should then be clear, and jellied, and stiff, since the watery parts have been driven off in steam by the rapid boiling. Allow one pound of sugar to six fair-sized apples. Cloves, cinnamon, or lemon-peel may be added accord- ing to taste.” The love of Apple pie is as strong in New as in old England, folks being partial in the former to a combination of cheese therewith. §. T. Coleridge is reported to have said that a man could not have a pure mind who refused to eat Apple dumplings. “ Thy breath,” exclaims a swain of the Elizabethan times to his lady-love, ‘‘is like the steame of apple pyes.” Sydney _ Smith, when writing to Lady Holland, September, 1829, tells concerning Mr. Lutrell: ‘‘ He came over for a day, from whence I know not, but I thought not from good pastures ; at least he had not his usual soup and pattie look; there was a forced smile upon his countenance which seemed to indicate plain roast, and boiled, and a sort of apple-pudding depression, as if he had been staying with a clergyman.” For a meal to satisfy hunger when the supplies are short, many prescriptions have been given, from Franklin’s famous mess of gruel with bread crumbled into it, so as to amplify the food, and make it filling at the price, down to the “ cheap living ” recipe of an American writer, who has advised his readers to “ first eat two cents worth of dried Apples, and afterwards drink a quart of water to swell them out as a bellyful.”’ Pippins are Apples which have been raised from pips. Con- cerning Lincolnshire pippins, wrote Fuller in his Book of Worthies (1642): “ With these we will close the stomach of the reader, being concluded most cordial by physicians. Some conceive them not above a hundred years seniority in England. However, they thrive best, and prove best in this county of Lincoln, and particularly about Kirton, whence they have acquired APPLE. 55 irda renter pain ereatienatintineenain the addition of ‘Kirton pippins, a wholesome, and delicious apple.” A Codling is an Apple which needs to be “ coddled,” stewed, or lightly boiled, being yet sour, and unfit for eating whilst raw. The Squab pie, famous in Cornwall, contains Apples, and onions allied with mutton. ** Of wheaten walls erect your paste, Let the round mass extend its breast : Next slice your apples picked so fresh; Let the fat sheep supply its flesh ; Then, add an onion’s pungent juice— A sprinkling—be not too profuse ! Well mixt these nice ingredients, sure, May gratify an epicure.” For Apple-cake, peel, and slice thinly six pounds of good baking apples ; dissolve four pounds of lump sugar in a pint of water ; add the apples, flavoured with lemon-peel and cloves, and boil for one hour. Put into moulds, and keep in a cool, dry place. They will remain good for a long time. Some cooks ornament with split bleached almonds, and call this “ apple hedgehog.” ‘* Long while, for ages unimproved we stood, And Apply Pye was still but homely food, When God-like Edgar of the Saxon Line, Polite of Taste, and Studious to refine, In the Dessert Perfumery Quinces cast, And perfected with Cream, the rich repast. Hence we proceed the outward parts to trim, With crinkum cranks adorn the polished brim, And each fresh Pye the pleased spectator greets With Virgin Fancies, and with New Conceits.” Art of Cookery 1709. An apple and apricot pudding gives the best flavoured preparation of apples that is made, particularly when Grey Russets, or Wellingtons are used. This pudding is provided with a suet crust, and is carefully boiled. In America “ Apple slump” is a pie consisting of Apples, molasses, and bread crumbs, baked in an earthen pan. This is known to New Englanders as “ Pan dowdy,” a very popular dish in some parts of Canada. It is made there in a deep earthen baking dish which has been liberally buttered all over the inside, and then lined with slices of scones well buttered, and sprinkled with nutmeg and cinnamon. Some good-sized apples are peeled, cored, and shred, with which the dish is to be filled, 56 MEALS MEDICINAL. adding half a cup of water poured in, also a cupful of brown sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of molasses. The dish is then finished off with a crust of sliced scones, and covered over by a plate, to be baked in a slow oven for one and a half hours. When done, the “ Pan dowdy” is turned out, and served with sweet sauce, or cream, if appropriate. This is an excellent form of food for growing children in cold weather. The botanical name of an apple tree is Pyrus malus, of which schoolboys are wont to make ingenious uses by playing on the latter word :— ** Malo, I had rather be, Malo, in an apple-tree, Malo, than a wicked man, Malo, in adversity. Or, again, “ Mea mater mala est sus,’ which bears as its most - literal translation, “ My mother is a depraved old sow,” but the intentional reading of which signifies, “ Run, mother! the sow is eating our apples.” The term “ Adam’s apple,” which is applied to the most prominent part in front of a person’s neck, is based on the superstition that a piece of the forbidden fruit stuck in Adam’s throat, and caused this lump to remain. When Sam Weller, in Pickwick, had to affix his signature to a couple of legal instruments at the Bank of England for proving his mother-in-law’s will, this undertaking, “from Mr. Weller’s habit of printing, was a work of so much labour and time that the officiating clerk peeled, and ate three Ribstone pippins while it was performing.” “There was concocted in Gerard’s day an ointment with the pulpe of apples, and swines’ grease, and rose- water, which was used to beautifie the face, and to take away the roughnesse of the skin, and which was called in the shops * pomatum,’ from the apples, ‘ poma’ whereof it was prepared.” Figuratively the “apples of Sodom” signify something which disappoint one’s hopes, or frustrate one’s desires. They sym- bolize a fruit which was formerly reputed to grow on, or near the site of the Biblical city, Sodom. It was, as described by Josephus, and other writers, externally of fair appearance, but turning to smoke and ashes when plucked. Among the Thebans of old the apple was held sacred to Hercules. They were long accustomed to offer a sheep annually on the altar of this deity, but upon one occasion, because of the river being swollen with heavy rains, they could not convey APPLE, 57 the sheep across it for such a purpose. Therefore, knowing the Greek word “ meelon” to signify both a sheep and an apple, they substituted the latter, having stuck wooden pegs in its under surface to represent the sheep’s legs; and this fruit they dedicated to the god always afterwards. Very pathetic are the verses of Christopher Cranch (1880) in Busy, Crowded New York City, touching THE Oxup APPLE Woman. ** She sits by the side of a turbulent stream, That rushes’and rolls for ever, Up and down like a weary dream In the trance of a burning fever : Up and down in the long Broadway It flows with its endless paces ; Down and up through the noisy day, A river of feet, and of faces. Withered and dry like a leafiess bush That clings to the bank of a torrent. Year in, year out, in the whirl and the push, She sits, of the city’s current. Apples and cakes, and candy to sell, Daily before her lying ; The ragged newsboys know her well, The rich never think of buying. Year in, year out, in her dingy shawl, The wind and the rain she weathers, Patient and mute at her humble stall; But few are the coppers she gathers, The loud carts rattle in thunder and dust, Gay Fashion sweeps by in its coaches. With an absent stare she mumbles her crust, Being past complaint, and reproaches : Yet in her heart there remains the hope Of a Father’s love, and pity: For her the clouded skies shall ope’, And the gates of a heavenly City.” As a remedy against pride, “ Bear in mind,” said Spurgeon, ““we are all descended from a certain disreputable old gardener, who was turned out of his Master’s garden for stealing His apples.” The wild Apple tree (scrab, or crab), armed with thorns, grows in our fields, and hedgerows, furnishing verjuice in its fruit, which abounds with tannin, and is highly astringent, being of very helpful use against some forms of chronic diarrhvea. For 58 MEALS MEDICINAL. erab-apple jam, choose some of the largest crab apples; peel, score, and slice them; to each pound of these add one and a quarter pounds of lump sugar ; and boil gently for three-quarters of an hour to a proper consistence. Verjuice also contains citric acid, about ten grains in an ounce. If a piece of a cut crab apple be rubbed on warts first pared to the quick, it will effectually cure them. Warts are brought about by the bacillus porrt. ‘‘ Their disappearance when charmed away by this or that whimsical method, is due,” says Dr. Plowright, “to an auto-immunization, such as occurs likewise with regard to ring- worm, leaving the child immune for the remainder of its life.’” But this would not obtain in the case of adults, or old persons, from whose skin warts may be similarly dispelled by incanta- tion, etc. The greater probability is a physical effect produced on their skin by the mental suggestion. Verjuice—formerly verjuyce—may be expressed from other green crude fruits, such as unripe grapes, etc. ‘‘ Having a crabbed face of her own, she’ll eat the less verjuice with her mutton.” Again, “ His sermons with satire are plenteously verjuiced.” Being rich in tannin, verjuice is a most useful application for old sprains. Similarly, a vinegar poultice put on cold is an effectual remedy for sprains and bruises ; it will also sometimes arrest the growth of scrofulous enlargements of bones. The poultice should be made with vinegar and oatmeal, or with the addition of bread- crumb, as was directed in the Pharmacopaia Chirurgensis (1794). APRICOT (See Marmauane). THE Apricot, Armeniaca, 1s a beautiful stone fruit, of a rich, reddish, yellow colour, “ shining,” as Ruskin has said, “ in sweet brightness of golden velvet.” Its name originated in the Roman epithet “ precor,” early ; because of its ripening so soon in the season. Shakespeare has told of it as “apricock.” At the Cape, Apricots, dried and salted, are commended as remedial against sea sickness. They go by the name of “ Mebos,” and are a delicious confection. The stones of Apricots are imported because of their kernels, which contain Noyau freely. At Cairo the pulp is made into a luscious paste, which is slightly dried, and then rolled, incor- porating the kernels. In Italy the fruit is cut in half, the stones being removed, and the pulp spread out for a while in a spent ARROW ROOT. 59 oven. These are the dried “Italian Apricots” of the shops. Take soft, ripe Apricots, lay them in salt water (about two ounces of salt to a quart bottle) for a few hours; then spread them on a mat to dry in the sun. The next day press them between the hands to flatten, and to let the stones come out. Again the next day repeat the same process. At the Cape these generally dry, and become ‘“‘ Mebos,” after three or four days in the sun ; but if the weather should be damp they may be dried in heated rooms, or in a cool oven. To crystallize the “ Mebos,” lay them in lime water for five minutes till they feel nicely tender; then take them out, and wipe them with a soft cloth, and rub coarse crystallized sugar well into each fruit. One and a half pounds of the sugar will serve for one pound of Mebos. Next pack closely in jars, with plenty of sugar interposed, and cork well. A green Apricot tart is considered by many persons the best tart that is made; but a green Apricot pudding is still better, just as a cherry dumpling is superior to a cherry tart. As to the medicinal virtues which have been attributed to what old John Gerarde, Master in Chirurgeries, 1636, styled the abrecock tree, “the fruit thereof being taken after meat, do corrupt, and putrifie in the stomacke ; peing first eaten before meat they easily descend, and cause other meats to passe down the sooner; but the virtues of the leaves of this tree are not yet found out.” ARROWROOT. THis 1s a starch obtained from the roots of several species of Maranta, chiefly the variety “‘ Arundinacea” (West Indian). Brazilian Arrowroot (tapioca meal) is got from the roots of the Manihot utilissima, after first withdrawing their poisonous juice. English Arrowroot is made from the potato; and Portland Arrowroot from the corms of the Arum maculatum (“lords and ladies”). When dry, Arrowroot starch (eighty per cent) is put for packing into new barrels lined with paper, else it would become contaminated by surrounding flavours. The absorption of Arrowroot, if simply prepared with water as a food, is altogether complete. Hence this starch 1s specially valuable in the treatment of irritative, or continued diarrhea. But it does not furnish any proteid nourishment for growth, or muscular development. Furthermore, for contri- buting bodily warmth arrowroot (unless combined with milk 60 MEALS MEDICINAL. and sugar) is of but feeble effect. Dr. Hutchison tells us that a cupful of water-arrowroot contains only about thirty grains of starch. It would afford to the body less than a two hundredth part in fuel value of what even an invalid requires daily. The cheap kinds of arrowroot are quite as nourishing as those which are expensive. ARTICHOKE. DIETETICALLY are used the Jerusalem Artichoke, (Helianthus tuberosus), of the Sunflower order, and the Globe Artichoke (Cinara maxima anglicana), which is a magnified thistle. The tubers of the former, being dug up, are red outside, and white within ; they contain sugar, iron, albumin, an aromatic principle, and water. Formerly these tubers were baked in pies, with beef marrow, dates, ginger, raisins, and sack. They do not afford any starch, but yield 2 per cent of inulin,—an allied element. When first introduced into England, this Artichoke was “a dainty for a monarch!” but the tuberous roots have none of the potato’s properties, being more of the turnip nature, As containing sugar in considerable quantities, their nutritive value is but slight; the more the tubers are chilled the better their quality. The term Jerusalem is a corruption of Girasole, a Sunflower, turning “vers le soleil,” towards the sun; from which beneficent orb is mainly derived the oil-producing pabulum of the vigorous, sturdy, large flower, giving a practical lesson to the invalid as to the marvellous beneficial effects of direct open sunshine; the more the better, of course under proper precautions. In Dombey & Son (Dickens), at Leamington Spa, the languid old would-be juvenile Mrs. Skewton, full of affectations, and fashionable airs, having disposed herself in a studied attitude on the sofa, gives her hand condescendingly to old Major Bagstocke, when he pays her a visit on a broiling summer morning, and tells him with a simper, he “ actually smells of the sun ; is absolutely tropical.” By a curious perver- sion of terms Artichoke soup, or Jerusalem soup, has been turned into Palestine soup. To bake these tubers, peel and trim the required number, put them into a covered baking dish, using plenty of butter ; season with salt and pepper; bake in a brisk oven for thirty minutes. When done they should be of a rich, brown colour. Serve them ARTICHOKE. 61 while hot. They contain some amount of gummy substance, which makes them mucilaginous when boiled ; and the water in which they are boiled becomes quite a thick jelly when cold, making an excellent foundation for sauces. “As to the broad torus of the Sunflower, ere it comes to expand, and show its golden face, this being dressed as the Artichoke, is to be eaten for a daintie. I once made macaroons with the ripe, blanched seeds, but the turpentine so domineered over all that they did not answer expectations.” Turpentine consists of an essential hydrocarbon oil, and a resin, “ colophony ;”’ it exudes from the incised bark of pine trees as an oleo-resin, which we term spirit of turpentine. When swallowed in-a dose of from eight to twenty drops ina little milk, it promotes perspiration, and stimulates the bronchial mucous membrane. A larger dose might cause congestion of the kidneys, and stran- gury. For bleeding from the lungs five drops are to be given every half hour whilst needed. Quite small doses of turpentine, four drops or less, in milk, or on sugar, will promptly relieve kidney congestion. A pleasant form in which turpentine can be given is when made into a confection with honey and liquorice powder. In the low stages of bronchial pneumonic catarrh, turpentine will often prove specifically a saving sheet-anchor to rescue the patient. A capital way of then administering it is as turpentine punch. Rub a little fresh lemon rind on a lump of sugar: then drop from fifteen to twenty minims of spirit of turpentine on the lump of white sugar, and dissolve the same in a wineglassful of hot whisky punch; or the turpentine may be made into a smooth emulsion with yolk of egg, and peppermint water. It is to be noted that a destructive microbe, diplococcus pneumonie, underlies the lung-inflammation, and must be combated with germicidal remedies, turpentine being one of these. The inhalation of oxygen gas should be combined there- with in advanced severe cases. Sunflower seeds if browned in the oven as you would coffee, and then made into an infusion after being freshly ground like that berry, serve admirably for the relief of whooping cough. Sweeten the decoction, and let the affected child drink it freely, especially at night. The tubers of the Jerusalem Artichoke contain 80 per cent of water, 2 per cent of nitrogenized substance, a minute percentage of fat, 5 per cent of sugar, 1 per cent of inulin, and nearly 10 per 62 MEALS MEDICINAL. cent of other carbohydrates (warming constituents) which are transformable into sugar. Because all these leading principles are very soluble in water, the tubers should be stewed, and served with the juice, rather than boiled, and then taken out of their water. Again they are good if cooked au gratin, with whole capers instead of cheese ; layers of artichoke with bread crumb between, adding the capers, and small bits of butter. These tubers contain 4 per cent more water than potatoes do. If served with milk, the Jerusalem Artichoke curdles this just as rennet acts. Jerusalem Artichokes may be scalloped, to imitate scalloped oysters. Cut up a few of these Artichokes, and stew them till tender. Put one ounce of butter into a saucepan, and when it is melted dredge in flour enough to dry it up; add a little white stock from “ bread soup,” and give one boil. Now put back the Artichokes; with some pepper, and salt, and a little cream. Have ready some buttered scalloped oyster tins, lay the Arti- chokes in them, and as much liquid as they will hold ; cover them over with bread crumbs, upon which drop a little melted butter. Brown them before the fire, or in the oven, and serve very hot indeed. Or, by another way, the remnant of cold boiled Arti- chokes from a previous meal may be utilized. Six good-sized ones will be required for the purpose; rub these vegetables through a wire sieve, and stir into them two tablespoonfuls of thick raw cream, with one wineglassful of liquified butter ; season to taste with salt, pepper, and a dust of cayenne. Scald, skin, and remove the bones from half a dozen fine sardines, and press the flesh likewise through the sieve, mix it with the Arti- choke paste, and add sufficient grated bread-crumbs to work it to a not too stiff paste. Have ready some oyster shells, which must be scrupulously scrubbed first, and pile a small quantity of the mixture upon each; then strew bread crumbs over the surface, and bake in a quick oven until just delicately browned, no real cooking being needed ; serve very hot indeed, and garnish with fresh parsley. The fresh juice of these Artichokes being pressed out beiore the plant blossoms, was employed in former days for restoring the hair of the head, even when the case seemed hopeless, and the person was quite bald. As a fact not generally known, it may be stated casually that red-haired individuals are credited _ with an immunity from baldness, Three dark hairs, being of ASPARAGUS. 63 finer texture, occupy the space as a rule of one red hair. With respect to the practice of shaving, Pepys tells suggestively, and amusingly in his diary, May 31. 1662, “I did in a sudden fit cut off all my beard, which I had been a great while bring- ing up: only that I may with my pumice stone do my whole face, as I now do my chin, and to save time: which I find a very easy way, and gentle.” Evelyn has styled the Globe Artichoke “a noble thistle.” It contains phosphorus in the form of phosphoric acid, and presents as edible parts a middle pulp, together with other soft delicate pulp at the base of each floret. “ This middle pulp,” writes Gerarde (1636), “ when boiled with the broth of fat flesh, and with pepper added, makes a dainty dish, being pleasant to the taste, and accounted good to procure bodily desire.” ‘‘ The Heads being slit in quarters, first eaten raw with oyl, a little vinegar, salt and pepper, do gratefully recommend a glass of wine,”’ (as Dr. Musset says,) “‘ at the end of meals.” ‘ The same true Artichoke,” told Aristotle, ‘‘ has the power of curdling milk, and transforming it into yourt; therefore it should not be eaten therewith, but with pepper, which does not generate wind, and which clears the liver: and this is the reason why donkeys, who eat largely of such thistles, have better stomachs than men.” Dr. Metchnikoff now advises a diet of curdled milk for pro- longing human life. An ancient stockinger, of Nottingham, in the eighteenth century, lived to a great age on this particular food. It was his custom to have fourteen bowls of milk stand- ing on his window sill, so as to ensure one daily, of the requisite age, (fourteen days,) for his consumption. ASPARAGUS. THE title Asparagus comes from Sparage, of Persian origin. and its form Sparagus became corrupted by popular etymology into Sparagrass, and Sparrowgrass, sometimes called simply “grass”; each of which terms was until recently in good literary use. The part of the plant which is supplied for eating is the turion, or young shoots, covered with small scales in place of leaves. These sprouts contain asparagin, a crystalline sub- stance which is an amide of aspartic acid, being sometimes called * althein,” and found also in the juice of beets, in the sprouts of cereals, and in leguminous seeds during germination. The 64 MEALS MEDICINAL. chemical properties of asparagus are acetate of potash, phosphate of potash, and mannite, with wax, and the green resinous asparagin. The shrubby stalks of the plant bear red, coral-like berries, which yield when ripe, grape-sugar, and spargancin. At Aix-les-Bains the eating of Asparagus forms part of the curative treatment for rheumatic gout. This vegetable was formerly known in England as “ paddock cheese ?—A syrup thereof is employed medicinally in France; taken at the evening meal asparagus conduces to sleep. “Your infant pease t’ asparagus prefer, Which to the supper you may best defer.” The water in which Asparagus is cooked will serve to do good against rheumatism, though somewhat disagreeable to drink. Asparagin, which is technically amido-succinamic acid (being contained likewise in the potato) is of no direct nutritive value, but it plays a useful part, when taken dietetically, v-ithin the intestines, by limiting putrescent changes, and so promoting fuller digestion. “ Nothing,” writes John Evelyn in his Book of Salads, “ next to flesh is more nourishing than Asparagus, but in this country we overboil them, and dispel their volatile salts ; the water should boil before they are put in.” A salad of cold boiled Asparagus was an early English way of serving this vegetable. Gerarde advised that “Asparagus should be sodden in flesh broth, and eaten, or boiled in fair water, then seasoned with oil, pepper, and vinegar, being served up as a salad.” This vegetable may fairly be given in diabetes, with a hope of its doing specific good. Though not producing actual sucrose in the urine when eaten freely by a healthy person, yet it forms, and excretes therein a substance which answers to the reactions observed by physicians if testing for sugar (except as to the fermentation test). The peculiar fixed principle asparagin, whilst stimulating the kidneys, and imparting a particular strong smell to the urine, after partaking of the shoots, exercises at the same time by the green resin with which it is combined, gentle sedative effects on the heart, becalming nervous palpitation of that organ. This asparagin occurs in crystals which may be reduced to powder, one grain whereof, when given three times a day, proves useful for relieving dropsy from diffi- culties of the heart. The same can be got likewise from the Toots of liquorice, and marsh-mallow. Asparagus grows wild ASPARAGUS. 65 on some parts of the English coast. Juvenal makes mention of a large lobster on a table surrounded with asparagus; and promises (in Satire xi.) to his friend Perseus a plate of mountain asparagus, which had been gathered by his farmer’s wife. ** Montani Asparagi posito, quos legit villica, fuso.” Originally the Asparagus shoot grew from twelve to twenty feet high. Under the Romans stems of this plant were raised, each three pounds in weight, heavy enough to knock down an attendant slave with. But the former Grecian doctors denounced Asparagus as injurious to the sight. “English cooks,” says Sir Henry Thompson, “ rarely follow the proper method for boiling Asparagus, which should be as follows: The stalks of a stouter sort should be cut of exactly equal lengths, and boiled standing, tops upward, in a deep saucepan, nearly two inches of the heads being out of the water ; the steam will then suffice to cook these heads, which form the most tender part of the plant; at the same time the tougher stalky portion is rendered succulent by the longer boiling which this plan permits. Instead of the orthodox twenty minutes allowed to average Asparagus lying horizontally in the saucepan, after the usual English fashion, (which only half cooks the stalk, and overcooks the head, diminishing its flavour, and consistence), a period of from thirty to fifty minutes, on the plan recom- mended, will render delicious fully a third more of the head, which is cooked by the steam alone. One reason why it is not uncommon to hear the best product of the fields of Argenteuil depreciated in this country, and our own Asparagus preferred, is that the former is insufficiently cooked at most English tables.” Pliny mentions in glowing terms the alimentary use of Asparagus. Its sprouts contain 94 per cent of water, nearly 2 per cent of nitrogenized matter, some fat, a minute percentage of sugar, and over 2 per cent of other organic substances. The asparagin forms one seventh part of the whole amount of non-nitrogenized Substance. Formerly the roots were also used medicinally, and the juice of the red berries was an ingredient in what was known as the Benedictine electuary. . Mortimer Collins tells that Liebig, or some other scientist, maintains that asparagin, the alkaloid of asparagus, develops form in the human brain; so that if vou get hold of an artistic child. and give him plenty of asparagus, he is likely to grow into 5 66 MEALS MEDICINAL. _ a second Raffaelle. Evelyn presented some shoots “raised at Battersea, in a natural, sweet, and well-cultivated soil, sixteen, each of which weighed about four ounces, to his wife, showing “what Solum, ccelum, and industry will effect. ” A really good soup, of special nutritive virtues, can be made with the tough ends of asparagus sprouts, cooked, and recooked in the same water until they have become soft, then mashed, and rubbed through a coarse sieve, adding a pint of milk thickened with flour, and a pint of the water in which the vegetable was boiled; also thickening this water with two tablespoonfuls of flour into which two tablespoonfuls of fresh butter are smoothly intermixed. Mrs. Earle (“third Pot Pourri”) found Asparagus quite poisonous in her case. She wrote to ask Dr. Haig how this fact might be explained. He then replied that as far as he knew Asparagus is harmless. But three years afterwards he wrote to her again, telling “‘ what he felt sure would interest her, that the Asparagus is the cause of all your troubles, when you eat it so freely in the Spring.” In a leaflet of his it is stated positively that the “ Xanthin of certain vegetable substances, peas, beans, lentils, mushrooms, asparagus, etc., is as pernicious as that of fish and flesh;” but this dictum is certainly questionable. Charles Lamb gave it as his opinion that Asparagus seems as a vegetable food to inspire gentle thoughts. Dickens narrates, in David Copperfield, concerning Dr. Blimber’s educational establishment at Brighton, where little Paul was placed: “It was a great hot-house in which there was. a forcing apparatus incessantly at work ; all the boys blew before their time. Mental green peas were produced at Christmas, and intellectual asparagus all the year round. Mathematical gooseberries (very sour ones, too) were common at untimely seasons, and these from mere sprouts of bushes, under Dr. Blimber’s cultivation.” Medicinally a fluid extract is made from Asparagus tops by the manufacturing chemist, which proves most helpful in dropsy (whether because of obstructed liver, or of defective heart action), by augmenting the flow of urine, and thus carrying off the dropsical effusion. Teaspoonful doses of this fluid extract should be given twice a day with one or two tablespoonfuls of water. The chemical constituent principles on which Asparagus depends chiefly for its action on perspiration, and urination, are sulphuretted, and phosphuretted hydrogen. ASS’S:. MILK. 67 33 The old English name “Sperage” bears reference to an ancient usage of feathery brushes made with sprays of the wild plant, to be employed for sprinkling (“ asperging”) the con- gregations in old Roman churches of Southern Europe. At Ravenna the sprouts have been sold three to the pound. ASS’S MILK. THERE are various milks used for dietetic purposes. some of these being likewise medicinal. Comprised among them are the milk of cud-chewing animals, human milk, ass’s milk, and mare’s milk. The essential difference between the first two of these milks is in the character of the casein, or curd, and the propor- tions thereof to the other parts which do not clot. The milks of all mammals (creatures which give suck), consist of water which holds in virtual, or actual solution, salts, sugar, cream and other clotting substances, with minute globules of fat uniformly suspended throughout the fluid, though tending towards the top because of their lighter weight. Dilution with water will not alter the fact that cow’s milk is acid in reaction, whilst the human variety, when drawn directly from the mother’s breast, is alkaline. Ass’s milk contains less solids than either of the other sorts, whilst being more rich in sugar than the rest (except human milk). It is poor in curd, and fat. being therefore light, and — easy of digestion. This milk has in every age of physic been valued as a prime antidote to wasting from consumption of the lungs. Furthermore, leading authorities unanimously pronounce as to the superiority of ass’s milk for rearing feeble infants. But Dr. R. Hutchison disagrees from this generally received notion. He complains that being especially poor in fat, which is so important for infants, it is of itself ill suited for their nourish- ment. Moreover, it is slightly laxative, containing relatively more cheesy substance, and less albumin, than human milk. ‘The percentage of fat,” says Ellenburger, “is much too low to make it proper for habitual use by children.” An artificial milk of the same nature as that of the ass may be easily made (on paper) by diluting cow’s milk (thus reducing the percentage of sugar, curd, and fat) to the quality of mother’s milk; but the difficulty of digesting the particular curd from the cow still remains to be overcome. On the whole, therefore, ass’s milk is the nearest approach to good milk from the human 68 MEALS MEDICINAL. mother. It is not yielded by the maternal animals unless the foals are allowed to be with their mothers in the donkeys’ dairy, each foal having a smaller pen beside that of its mother. This article of nursery requirement fetches six shillings a quart, being sold in specially protected sealed bottles. The she-asses are milked twice a day, and afford severally from half a pint to a pint at each milking. For persons at a distance a milch donkey may be hired at the cost of one guinea a week, plus expenses of transport. The amusing fact may be remembered, but none the less will bear repetition, that Thomas Hood, in his famous Ode to Rae Wilson (1843), has drawn a most suggestive moral from the story of a consumptive girl for whom ass’s milk was prescribed :— “ Once on a time a certain English lass Was seized with symptoms of such deep decline, Cough, hectic flushes, ev’ry evil sign, That,—as their wont is at such desperate pass, The doctors gave her over—to an ass. Accordingly, the grisly shade to bilk, Each morn the patient quaff’d a frothy bowl Of asinine new milk, Robbing a shaggy suckling of a foal, Which got proportionately spare, and skinny : Meanwhile the neighbours cried, ‘ poor Mary Ann ! She can’t get over it! she never can!’ When lo,—to prove each prophet was a ninny— The one that died was the poor wet nurse Jenny. To aggravate the case, There were but two grown donkeys in the place, And most unluckily for Eve’s sick daughter The other long-ear’d creature was a male, Who never in his life had given a pail ; Of milk, or even chalk and water. No matter; at the usual hour of eight Down trots a donkey to the wicket gate, With Mister Simon Gubbins on his back. * Your sarvint, Miss—a werry spring-like day ;— Bad time for hasses, tho’! good lack! good lack ! Jenny be dead, Miss ; but I’ve brought *ye Jack ; He does’nt give no milk,—but he can bray!’ ” “So runs the s : And, in vain cell. gory Some Saints would sneer at Gubbins for his blindness ; But what the better are their pious saws To ailing souls than dry hee-haws Without the milk of human kindness ?” It is a significant fact bearing on this subject, that asses are : ASTRINGENTS. 69 not susceptible of any tuberculous disease, such as pulmonary consumption. Horace Walpole, and after him Byron, accused Lawrence Sterne (1758) of having preferred whining over a dead ass (see Sentimental Journey) to relieving a living mother in distress. During the siege of Ladysmith, in the recent South African war, it became proved that while horseflesh is but sorry fare, and that of the dog not to be desired, yet the humble moke is, when dressed for table, rather a delicacy than otherwise. Thirty odd years ago the experience of the Parisians pointed to the same conclusion. Genin, the famous Restaurateur, pronounced that the dog was the siege-cook’s despair ; its flesh has a particularly disagreeable flavour which no seasoning can disguise. But “as to the other animal,” said he, “lane etait rare: on se trouvait heureux den avoir a quinze, ou vingt francs la livre. Le consommé d’ane a un petit gofit de noisette tres agréable. En rosbif, avec des haricots a la Bretonne, assaisonné de sa graisse, cetait un vrai régal.” Elia has discoursed ot a young ass in “ Christ’s Hospital, five and thirty years ago,” to pamper which animal, a petty Nero of a schoolmaster nearly starved forty of the boys, by exacting contributions to the one half of their bread. Incredible as it may seem, he had contrived to smuggle the ass in, and keep it upon the leads of the said boys’ dormitory. “This game went on for better than a week, till the foolish beast, not able to fare well but he must cry roast meat ; foolisher, alas, than any of his species in the fables, waxing fat and kicking, in the fullness of bread, one unlucky minute must needs proclaim his good fortune to the world below; and laying out his simple throat blew such a ram’s-horn blast as (toppling down the walls of his own Jericho) set concealment any longer at defiance. The client was dismissed, with certain attentions, to Smithfield, but I never got to learn that the patron underwent any censure on the occasion.” ASTRINGENTS. THE Crab-apple has already been referred to as furnishing verjuice—a powerful astringent—of particular use when applied externally for old sprains. Tannin in another form, or gallo-tannic acid, which is contained plentifully in what are known as Oak-apples (or galls), as well as in oak-tree bark, will serve to restrain bleedings if taken 70 MEALS MEDICINAL. internally ; and the bark when finely powdered, and inhaled pretty often, has proved very beneficial against consumption of the lungs in its early stages. Working tanners are well known to be particularly exempt from this disease, in all probability through their constantly inhaling the peculiar aroma given off from the tanpits ; and a similar remedial effect may be produced by using constantly as a snuff some fresh oak bark, dried, and reduced to a sufficiently fine powder, whilst also inhaling day after day the steam given off from recent oak bark infused in boiling water. A strong decoction of oak bark is most useful for applying to reduce prolapse of the lower bowel, through a relaxed fundament. Gospel Oaks were formerly resting stations for short religious services when beating the parish bounds. ** Dearest, bury me Under that holy Oke, or Gospel tree, Where, though thou see’st not, thou may’st think upon Me, when thou yearly goest procession.” —Herrick. For a useful astringent drink, as advised by Dr. Yeo, add to a pint of boiling milk a quarter of an ounce of powdered alum, previously mixed with three or four tablespoonfuls of hot water ; then strain. Again, for croup, combine a teaspoonful of powdered alum (sulphate of alumina and potash) with two teaspoonfuls of sugar, and give this promptly; when almost immediate relief will follow. BACON (See also Pork). Tue side, and belly of a pig are called Bacon, when salted and cured in a way similar to that which converts the leg of pork into ham. If the whole side of a pig has been salted, and smoke- dried, it is known as a flitch of bacon. In many districts saltpetre and sugar are used, in addition to salt, for curing the meat to be smoke-dried. About Germany the bacon is so splendidly cured that it may be eaten without any further cooking. But the pig is more liable to diseased flesh than the ox, or sheep, because of its greediness for unwholesome food, though this risk may be guarded against by care in feeding the animal. A harmful parasite, the Trichina spiralis, is frequently noticed in Germany as infesting the human body, through eating smoked ham, and BACON. = sausages, in an uncooked state. The black pig is considered by breeders the best of its kind for food. Dr. Hutchison tells that the comparative indigestibility of pork is shown by the fact that three and a half ounces of it require three hours for their complete digestion, as compared with two hours for an equal quantity of beef. This difficulty is fully accounted for by the large accumulation of fat between the fibres of the pork-flesh. On the other hand, the fat of bacon seems to be in a granular form, which is not difficult of digestion; so that this can often be eaten by persons to whom.other kinds of fat are intolerable. For which reason bacon is an invaluable aid for nourishing delicate children, and diabetic, or consumptive patients, in whose diet the free use of fat is indicated. From the very earliest times the wild pig seems to have occupied a foremost place as an article of diet, seeing that the bones of the wild boar are found in almost all kitchen middens of prehistoric times; and the animal plays an important réle in ancient Scandinavian legends. Even the Hebrews—for whom the pig was condemned as an unclean beast by the Mosaic law— must have afterwards set this law at naught in our Saviour’s time, judging by the herds of swine which fed on the hills near the Sea of Tiberias; since, unless pork was eaten then, it is difficult to conceive for what purpose these droves of swine were kept. Towards correcting in some measure the grossness of his foods, the pig, by instinct, grubs up antiscorbutic roots, and knows that a piece of chalk, or a mouthful of cinder, is a most sovereign remedy against his indigestion. The insalubrity of pork is generally owing to the uncleanly, and unwholesome feeding of the animal; and the quality of its food has a marked influence on the flavour of its flesh. Thus, pigs fed mainly on potatoes have a very white and tasteless meat, whilst the flesh of those porcine animals whose food has consisted largely of beech-nuts, has an oily taste. The notion that eating pork tends to cause cancer is disproved as regards the Jews (of whom a considerable number are no longer strict adherents to the Hebrew dietary laws); and doctors who practice among them have learnt that cancer attacks orthodox Jews as often as it assails the most heterodox in diet of their race. Nevertheless, these people are rigidly careful about the purity, and quality of what they eat, and therefore, as it would seem, cancer is considerably less prevalent 72 MEALS MEDICINAL. among them than among the general population of our country. Lard is the fat of pork melted down, and sold in bladders, or tubs; the lower the heat at which it is melted, the smoother and less granular it is. Usually water is mixed with it in melting, and often much water is left commingled. The French word “ lard” signifies in the first place bacon, whilst our English lard is termed in France ‘ saindoux.” Good lard should contain 99 per cent of hog’s fat. In the peasant speech of Devon it is named “ mort.” -* Aw, Lor, Missis! dawntee tell me nort about butter; poor vokes’ chillern be féced tu ayte curd an’ mort now times be sa bad.” In Lincolnshire lard is known as seam, and by analogy the white wood-anemone, as distinguished from the yellow buttercup, is the seam cup. In Dryden’s Ovid we read of Baucis and Philemon :— ** By this the boiling kettle had prepared : And to the table sent the smoking lard, On which with eager appetite they dine, A savoury bit that served to relish wine.” Charles Lamb, as is well known to all readers of Elia, has devoted a delightful essay to the subject of Roast Pig, and more especially to that luxurious and toothsome dainty called “ Crackling,” showing how this Crackling was first exultingly discovered. The said immortal rhapsody, a “ Dissertation upon Roast Pig” never tires by repetition: “ Of all the delicacies in the whole mundus edibilis I will maintain it to be the most delicate, princeps obsoniorum. I speak not. of your grown porkers—things between pig and pork,—these hobbledehoys,— but a young and tender suckling, under a moon old, guiltless as yet of the sty, with no original speck of the “‘ amor immunditie, the hereditary failing of the first parent, yet manifest; his voice as yet not broken, but something between a childish treble and a grumble, the mild forerunner, or praludium, of a grunt. He must be roasted. I am not ignorant that our ancestors ate them seethed, or boiled ; but what a sacrifice of the exterior tegument ! There is no flavour comparable, I will contend, to that of the crisp, tawny, well-watched, not over-roasted crackling, as it is well called; the very teeth are invited to their share of the pleasure at this banquet, in overcoming the coy, brittle resistance, —with the adhesive oleaginous—QO, call it not fat—but an in- _ definable sweetness growing up to it, the tender blossoming of fat, BACON. 73 fat cropped in the bud, taken in the shoot, in the first innocence, the cream, and quintessence of the child-pig’s yet pure food ! the lean—no lean, but a kind of animal manna—or rather fat and lean (if it must be thus), so blended and running into each other that both together make but one ambrosian result, or common substance! He is the best of Sapors! Pine-apple is great. She is indeed almost too transcendent; a delight, if not sinful, yet so like to sinning that really a tender-conscienced person would do well to pause; too ravishing for mortal taste, she woundeth, and excoriateth the lips that approach her; like lovers’ kisses, she biteth; she is a pleasure bordering on pain, from the fierceness and insanity of her relish; but she stoppeth at the ‘palate; she meddleth not with the appetite, and the coarsest hunger might barter her complacently for a mutton-chop. Pig—let me speak his praise—is no less provocative of the appetite than he is satisfactory to the criticalness of the censorious palate. Behold him while he is doing! it seemeth rather a refreshing warmth than a scorching heat that he is so passive to. How equably he twirleth round the string! Now he is just done. To see the extreme sensibility of that tender age, he hath wept out his pretty eyes; radiant jellies, shooting stars! Then see him in the dish, his second cradle, how meek he lieth! The strong man may fatten on him, and weakling cefuseth not his mild juices. So much for the sucking-pig; then his sauce is to be considered. Decidedly a few bread-crumbs done up with his liver and brains, and a dash of mild sage. But banish, dear Mrs. Cook, I beseech you, the whole Onion tribe! Barbecue your whole hogs to your palate, if you will; steep them in shalots ; stuff them out with plantations of the rank, and guilty garlic ; you cannot poison them, or make them stronger than they are; but consider he (the childish porker) is a weakling— a flower!” In classic Roman times the Emperor Claudius entered the Senate one day, and called out, “Conscript Fathers ! is it possible to live without pickled pork in slices?” And the venerable Fathers replied straightway, “Oh, Sire, it is better to die than to have to live without salt pork.’ A leg of pork. when skinned, and roasted, is called by many persons mock goose. Some cooks, when pork is about to be served, score the skin in diamonds, and take out every second square. The fat of pork consists almost entirely of palmitic, and oleic glycerides. 74 MEALS MEDICINAL. Fried bacon fat, and its liquid part, serve usefully to correct constipation. And a curious old remedy to stay nose-bleeding is vouched-for again recently by Dr. Atkinson—to “take a piece of fat bacon, about 2 or 3 inches long, and of sufficient size ; cut it into a proper shape, and as large as can be easily forced into the nostril; apply it by pressing into the bleeding nostril, and let it remain in place several hours. It controls the hemor- rhage, and is not uncomfortable to the patient.” By the processes of salting, and smoking, the flesh of the hog is made more digestible. Like all fat meats, it is deficient in water. The Romans discovered fifty different flavours in pork ; and under the hands of their skilled cooks, swine’s flesh was often transformed into delicate fish, ducks, turtle-doves, or capons. With them the Trojan Hog was a favourite dish, which was a gastronomic imitation of the Horse of Troy, its inside being stuffed with asafctida, and myriads of small game. In Lincolnshire, a pig when first put up to fatten. has garlands hung round its neck to avert the spell of malicious witches, these garlands being made from branches of the Mountain Ash, or Wicken-tree, or Witchen Wicken. Truly may it be said that without pork there would have been no bacon, and without bacon no accomplished cookery. “Chowder” is a dish of American origin; it consists of boiled pickled pork, cut in slices, with fried onions, slices of turbot, or other fish, and mashed potatoes, all placed alternately in a stewpan, and seasoned with spices and herbs, Claret, also ketchup, and then simmered together. When Benjamin D’Israeli first went as a young man down to High Wycombe (1832) on a political canvass among the Buckingham farmers, after the week’s end, when writing to his sister, he said: “I have been to Marathon ; we have lived for a week on the Honey of Hymettus, and the Boar of Pentelicus ; we found one at a little village—just killed—and purchased half of it, but this was not so good as Bradenham pork.” It is remarkable that the cry of a raven resembles the words “ Pork ! Pork!” “From the mountains The ravens begin with their ‘ pork, porking ’ ery.”—Sylvester. A pork pie with raisins has for many years held its own at farmhouses in the Midlands ; this is a raised pie, in which some BACON. 15 stoned, and halved raisins are interspersed with the pork; about a quarter of a pound of the fruit to each pound of meat is sufficient. So that the full flavour of the pie may be appreciated, no sage is to be included, and only a moderate seasoning of salt, and pepper is to be used. At St. Stephen’s, Westminster, in former days, the presiding genius over the kitchen arrangements was one Bellamy, famous for his pork pies, which have gained immortality, since the elder Pitt in his last dying words expressed a wish for one of these Bellamy dainties. Sam Weller, expostulating with Mr. Winkle for his escapade from Mr. Pickwick, exclaimed : “Come, Sir! this is too rich. as the young lady said when she remonstrated with the pastrycook arter he’d sold her a pork pie as had got nothin’ but fat inside.” Jn 1666 Pepys bought some pork from a butcher, who “ by the same token commended it as the best in England for cloath and colour.” The Duc de Richelieu’s cook became noted by boiling down forty hams to make stock for a single soup. Sydney Smith, when writing to Lady Holland in January, 1809, said: ‘‘ Many thanks for two fine Gallicia hams ; but as for boiling them in wine, I am not as yet high enough in the Church for that, so they must do the best they can in water.” But the day of getting good old-fashioned country-cured ham, and bacon, is practically a thing of the past, particularly in our large cities. Instead of its taking three months to cure the meat after the patient, old-time, wholesome way, the modern hog walks into the packing-house yard in the morning, and within two or three days is shipped as cured hams. The beautiful brown colour that once was the result of smoking with wood, is now procured in a few hours by logwood, or other dyes. The smoky flavour is produced by pyrolignic acid ; and, instead of the old-fashioned sweet pickle, « composition is used of borax, boracie acid, sulphites, salicylic, and benzoic acids. But to paint a ham with the acid (pyroligneous) of wood vinegar, is an ineffective sub- stitute for smoking in a Hampshire chimney where wood fires are burnt, so that the hams treated therein are invariably alkaline, with their albumin coagulated by the continued heat, and their flesh interpenetrated by creosote fumes, whereby microbic engendure therein is prevented. At the Zaduska, or Russian luncheon, one dish which is sometimes seen Is raw sucking-pig, which, though not sounding nice, is distinctly good, being served in very small cubes, highly seasoned, and laid on 76 MEALS MEDICINAL. toast. Other fanciful condimentary substances have been employed with pig-meat, by this, or that “ chef”? :— ** Yet no man lards his pork with orange peel ; Or garnishes his lamb with spitch-cock eel.” Art of Cookery. A ‘pig’s whisper” is proverbial as of rapid utterance. <‘‘ You'll find yourself in bed in something less than a pig’s whisper,”’ said Sam Weller. BALM (see Heres.) BANANA, Tue Banana (Musa sapientum), now so popular with us, and of such common use as a highly nutritious vegetable product © of the plantain tree, especially for children (who eat it with gusto), was probably an Hast Indian native fruit. It was cited in the sixteenth centnry as dating from Guinea, and is now cultivated everywhere throughout the tropics. Bananas have been long noted for their efficacy in correcting the fluxes to which Europeans are often subject on their first coming into the West Indies. An excellent drink is made there from the juice oi the ripe fruit when fermented ; likewise a marmalade which is esteemed as a pectoral of much worth, and is very refresh- ing. Three dozen plantains are sufficient to serve a man for a week instead of bread. Unfortunately, however, we do not get our imported Bananas in a ripe condition. Like most other tropical fruits, these have to be plucked before the sun has completed its beneficent work of converting their starch within the substance of the Bananas into sugar. Such a ripening process can only be carried to perfection whilst the fruit is still a part of its parent organism, the living plant. What is termed ripening here of the Bananas, after importation, is actually only a soitening, and a step towards decay. But few persons realise this fact with regard to our fruits in England of every kind. Dealers will meet the objection that a certain fruit under sale is not ripe, with the assurance, “ Oh, it will ripen in a few days, particularly if put in a greenhouse, or in the warm sunshine.” It is true that very hard fruit may be made thus to soften, and seem mellow ; indeed, it may even need such sun-bakings so as to become at all palatable; but the process is not a ripening ; fruit thus treated will presently rot, and cannot be stored for _ the winter. BANANA. 77 For baked Bananas, “ take the fruit just after the rind has begun to grow golden; cut off each end of the pod, leaving on the jacket, after having first washed the Banana. Bake the desired number of them thus for twenty or thirty minutes in the oven, and serve them then in their jackets; to be split lengthways, and buttered when eaten” (Broadbent). The fresh Banana contains 26 per cent of fattening, warming sustenance (carbohydrates), with an appreciable quantity of building-up material (proteid). If dried in the sun, and well sprinkled with sugar, Bananas c.n compare favourably in nutritive value with dried figs. Being ground into a flour, Bananas will serve for making a bread, which is light, and easy of digestion. In America the fruit, whilst unripe, is dried in the oven, and then eaten as bread, which may be kept in this condition for a long time. It has been asserted that the Banana, when largely consumed as food, produces decay of the teeth, this state- ment being made because the Brazilians, who live chiefly on Bananas, have, as a rule, shockingly bad teeth ; but it should be remembered that their men, women, and children devour sugar also to a very unwholesome extent in the shape of sweetmeats, and confectionery of all sorts; moreover, they indulge largely in hot infusions of native tea. Already some twelve millions of Banana bunches have been exported from Jamaica alone into this country. The iruit is twenty-five times more nutritious by its starchy constituents than good white bread. A bunch of Bananas weighing fifteen pounds will yield three pounds of the flour. As the Bananas ripen, their starch becomes converted into sugar. Their pulp contains grape sugar, cane sugar, nitro- genous matter, celiulose, and fat, with phosphoric elements, lime, earthy salts, and some iron. : To prepare a compdéte of Bananas: Having peeled the fruit when dead ripe—but not speck beyond this,—and having removed any coarse threads, plunge the Bananas into boiling water for a few seconds, and then at once drain them. Put the fruit into a basin, and coat it with boiling syrup (adding, it may be, half a glass of Maraschino to the pint). When cold, dish in a pyramid, with the syrup over. For “creamed Bananas, mash them with a fork, and place this in a small saucepan ; cover with a little hot milk, and add sugar, if desired ; then pour it over toast. Excellent Banana sandwiches are to be made, the merest dash of honey being substituted for sugar. 78 MEALS MEDICINAL. The Banana is well suited for persons who cannot easily digest starchy foods. Stanley, the African traveller, found that a gruel prepared with Banana flour, and milk, was the only thing he could digest during gastric attacks. In Thoughts on the Universe, by Master Byles Gridley (0. Wendell Holmes’ Guardian Angel), stands recorded the reflection, “ What sweet, smooth voices the negroes have! A hundred generations fed on Bananas ! Compare them with our apple-eating white folks! It won’tdo!” ‘‘ By reason of its fat-forming constituents being much in excess of its muscle-feeding, and nerve-nourishing proteids, the Banana,” says Dr. R. Hutchison, “is too bulky to be able to serve as the main constituent of a healthy diet; about eighty would have to be eaten daily so as to yield a proper supply of vital energy for the body. No wonder then that in tropical countries, where Bananas are largely consumed, the inhabitants are apt to show an undue abdominal development.” But this computation is surely overdrawn? A barrel of sugar made from Bananas was recently exhibited in New York, the taste being pleasant, and palatable, the Banana flavour, full, and Sweet in itself, conveying a really tropical impression. But the great trouble is to make this sugar perfectly dry; it can be sold much cheaper than other sugars. BARBERRY (see Fruits). Barserry berries, as supplied at the shops, have some excellent medicinal virtues. They grow on a cultivated variety of the wild shrub Berberis, as found in our English copses, and hedges, particularly about Essex. These small scarlet berries are stoncless when old, containing malic and citric acids ; they also afford curative principles, “‘berberin,’ and “ oxyacanthin,” which exercise a stimulating effect on the liver, and are astringent. Barberry jam helps to obviate gravel, and to relieve irritation of the bladder. Tusser, in his Good Huswifelie Physicke (1573), has commended :— = Conserve of Barbarie; Quinces as such, With Sirops that easeth the sickly so much.” A jelly having virtues of this kind may be made by boiling an equal weight of the berries (when ripe) and of Sugar together, and straining off the sweet juice to jelly when cool. The syrup of _ Barberries forms, with water, an excellent astringent gargle BARLEY. 79 for sore, relaxed throat. Barberry tea, concocted from the yellow bark, will afford prompt relief in-an attack of kidney colic from gravel. Some of it should be drunk in small quantities every five minutes until the pain is subdued. Such a tea of infused Barberry twigs is used locally in Lincolnshire for persons troubled with jaundice, or gall-stones. “The good Elizabethan housewife had always by her a store of cordials, and restoratives, such as rose-water and treacle, kerbs for the ague, fumitory water for the liver, cool salads, syrups and conserves of Quince, and Barberry.” A drink made from the Barberry root, and bark, being sweetened with syrup of Barberries, has proved remarkably curative of ague. Also a jam, or jelly, prepared from the fruit, affords specific help in Bright’s disease, or albuminuria. Provincially the bush is called “* Pipperidge (pepin, a pip, and rouge, red) because of its small, scarlet, juiceless fruit. To make Barberry jam, according to a good old recipe: “Pick the fruit from the stalks, and bake it in an earthen pan; then press it through a sieve with a wooden spoon. Having mixed equal weights of the prepared: fruit, and of powdered white sugar, put these together in pots, and cover the mixture up, setting them in a dry place, and having sifted some powdered sugar over the top of each pot.” Barberries are called “ Rapperdandies” in the North, and “ Rilts.” The ancient Egyptians made a drink from them highly esteemed in pestilential fevers. ‘‘ Elusius setteth it down as a wonderful secret which he had from a friend, that if the yellow bark of Barberry be steeped in white wine for three hours, and be afterwards drunk, it will purge one very marvellously,”’ thus unloading an oppressed liver. The berries upon old Barberry bushes are the best fruit for preserving, or for making the jelly. BARLEY. Hordeum vulgare, or Common Barley, affords a grain chiefly used in Great Britain for brewing, and distilling, but which possesses dietetic, and medicinal virtues of importance. We fatten our swine on this cereal made into meal, which is, however, less nourishing than wheaten flour, and is apt to purge when - eaten in bread. The chemical constituents of Barley are starch, gluten, albumin, oil, and hordeic acid. From the earliest times it has been employed to prepare drinks for the sick, whether in 80 MEALS MEDICINAL. feverish disorders, or as a soothing decoction for sore lining membranes of the chest, and the bladder. Barley is especially rich in iron, and phosphoric acid. Barley bread, always of close texture, was exclusively used in England as late as the time of Charles the First, though, because of its deficiency in gluten, it cannot be made light of itself; if mixed with wheaten flour its combination answers very well, and the bread becomes palatable. Throughout Cumberland in the seventeenth century wheaten bread was an indulgence only allowed about Christmas time, even among the principal families. The crust of the everlasting goosepie which adorned the table of every county magnate, was invariably made of Barley meal, which is rich in mineral matter, and contains more fat than wheat. Tf an ounce of gum arabic be dissolved in a pint of a hot decoction of Barley, this makes a most soothing drink to allay - irritation of the bladder, and of the urinary passages. Honey may be added beneficially to the decoction for bronchial coughs. Barley bread (or porridge) is apt to purge; but such was in ancient times the bread of the Egyptians, likewise of the Jews in the days of our Saviour, as we learn from the miracle wrought with respect to the lad’s five barley loaves, (and two fishes). For Barley soup, put a quarter of a cup of well-washed Barley, with a bayleaf, and a small blade of mace, into a pint and a half of cold water, and boil slowly for three hours. Take out the bayleaf, and mace ; then add a small onion (sliced fine), with two French carrots (cut in dice), and cook these until tender; next add a pint of milk, a good tablespoonful of butter, with salt and pepper to taste; let it come to the boil, then remove it from the fire, and stir into it the yolk of one egg, perhaps beaten with two tablespoontuls of cream. Sixty or seventy years ago the breakfast of Cornish apprentice lads on a farm was invariably “sky-blue and sinkers.” Into a three-legged crock fixed over a brisk fire of furze, and turf, was poured a quantity of water. While this was coming to the boil some Barley-flour was mixed in a basin with scalded milk, and the same was emptied into the water in the crock, and allowed to boil for a minute or two. Next it was poured into basins containing sops of Barley bread. These sops sank to the bottom, nothing being visible but the liquid mess, sky-blue in colour, and therefore called in its entirety “ sky-blue and sinkers,” _ being eaten with an iron spoon. As the price of wheat was in BEAN. 81 those days nearly double that of Barley, wheaten bread was a delicacy which the working classes could but rarely afford themselves: their ordinary bread, and their pasties, were made of Barley-flour. These pasties consisted of a crust mixed without fat, or butter, and containing either potatoes, or a few pieces of turnip; a bit of rusty bacon being considered a luxury. By the ancients a thick, turbid drink was made with Barley, and known as Orgeat. This became adopted by the French, who extended the name to “ Ptisana,” and subsequently to other vegetable decoctions made for invalids. Thus it has happened that the name Orgeat has slipped away from Barley, and become attached to preparations of sweet almonds. Formerly likewise, the confectioner’s Barley sugar (nowadays simply sugar boiled until it becomes brittle, and candied) was boiled in a decoction of Barley, and hence its name. In The - Complete Angler (1653) Piscator bids the Hostess of an “* honest alehouse ” give to his brother Peter, and to Venator, “some of her best Barley wine, the good liquor that our honest forefathers did use to drink of,—the drink which preserved their health, and made them live so long, and to do so many good deeds.” Barley-water for the sick room is a valuable demulcent drink, though containing but little nutriment ; it should be made from the pure farina of fine Scotch Barley, which is better than Pearl Barley for the purpose. Or, take two ounces of Pearl Barley washed clean with cold water ; put this into half a pint of boiling water, and let it boil for five minutes; pour off the water, and then add to the Barley two quarts of boiling water; boil it to two pints, and strain; the same is plain, simple Barley-water. Figs (sliced), raisins (stoned), and liquorice (cut up) are some- times added further. ag BEAN > THE common White Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), because of its seeds bearing a close resemblance to the kidney, and to a sexual gland, was worshipped by the Egyptians, who would not partake of it as a food. Furthermore, by reason of its marked tendency to cause sleepiness, the Jewish High Priest was forbidden to eat Beans on the day of Atonement. The black spot which is seen on these products was regarded as typical of death. In Italy, on November 2nd, All Souls Day, folk eat sweetmeats 6 82 MEALS MEDICINAL. which are called “‘ Fav: dei mortei,” or beans of the dead ; this custom being a survival of an ancient pagan bean-eating rite. Also, a dish of them is left on the table all that night for the ghosts of the departed who may then be abroad. “The Bean plant,” says Dr. Thudicum, “ is interesting, and instructive ; its leaves droop at night, and expand again by day; thus there is perhaps some connection between the sensitiveness of this plant, and the fact that it eliminates a nutriment for brain, and muscles.” A pithy proverb teaches that ‘‘ A Bean at liberty is better than a comfit in prison;” whereat the prosaic Lord North drily remarked, he shouldn’t care to eat a comfit, out of prison. The Kidney, or French Bean, when cooked with its pod, is “haricot vert,” and when the seeds alone are served, either fresh, or after drying, they are “‘ haricots blancs.”” The amount of vegetable cellulose in the pod makes its digestion tedious, so that this is a wasteful form of food. The Scarlet-runner (Phaseolus multiflorus) is allied to the French Bean, and when stewed makes Turkish Bean. The broad Windsor Bean is Faba vulgaris. Both beans, and peas are more readily digested if lemon-juice is added to them in cooking, which presently becomes converted into an alkaline salt, and thus assists to dissolve the starches. Marrowfat Beans stewed are very nutritious, and easily digested. Pick over carefully, and wash one quart of these beans, and soak them in water overnight ; in the morning drain, add fresh cold water, and bring to the boil ; drain again, and turn them into a four-quart stone jar; put ina generous cup of butter, two large tablespoonfuls of Porto Rico molasses, two tablespoonfuls of salt, less than a teaspoonful of pepper, and fill the jar with boiling water. Put it in the oven, covering the jar with a tin cover; it must be cooked in a slow oven for eight or nine hours. The water should last until the beans are perfectly stewed, and when done there will be a good gravy left, about one-third of the depth of the beans in the jar; keep the beans covered for two or three hours whilst cooking ; serve, if liked, with Chili sauce. Beans and peas should be steeped in water overnight, or longer, and the water then thrown away. One of the best methods of cooking them is to stew them for about four hours ; they should be next mixed with bread crumbs, and poured into a buttered dish for baking in the oven; the liquid should be retained, and, BEAN. 83 if properly managed, there will be just sufficient to moisten the bread crumbs. The sugar contained in Haricot Beans is phasio- mannite, identical with sugar as found in flesh-meat, and in brain tissue; in the presence of salt this develops lactic acid, as in sour milk, or meat which has been hung. It is termed ““inosite,”” such as abounds regularly in the human brain. Un- questionably, therefore, this is a food for the brain, and should be conserved in the bean food by preventing its loss in cooking ; for which reason green beans should never be boiled, but stewed, so as to retain all their immediate principles chemically available. Dr. Krost, of Cleveland, U.S., tells about a case which troubled him much, of an elderly steamboat Captain, who had greatly exceeded with tobacco, mainly in chewing, and had been under medical treatment in a sanatorium, for rheumatism, but had lately suffered many a bad quarter of an hour through heart distress. Dr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, on being consulted, said, instantly, * T will give him a graft of my Phaseolus nanus, and if that doesn’t help him I am very much mistaken.”” When Dr. Krost returned with the wonderful remedy, it had happened that meanwhile the old Captain had been attacked with several smothering spells, and was once given up for lost. The Doctor hurried to his side with the nostrum, and became astonished to find that within a few hours the sick man was able to get about again comfortably, declaring that he could now “ lie on either side” (like an expert attorney). And what was this Phaseolus nanus ? Dr. Cushing had been experimenting as to the medicinal effects of the common white kidney Bean. In his trial with it on himself, he had become nearly suffocated, and his heart gave him all forms of anxiety. These were the leading symptoms, upon the strength of which some pellets prepared from the said Bean were administered thus successfully to the Captain. A dish of dry Beans, soaked overnight, then boiled, and served with hot olive oil poured over them, is the regular main meal of many a poor family in Southern Italy. Our English Cottager teaches to “‘ gather your runner Beans whilst they be straight,” which is an old piece of rustic wisdom, founded on the fact learnt by experience, that as the pods become large, and old, they grow curly in shape, and tough. Beans, when bruised, and boiled with garlic, have been known to cure obstinate coughs which had defied other remedies. In Adam Bede, by George Eliot, we read of Alec eating broad Beans with his penknife, and finding 84 MEALS MEDICINAL. in them a flavour that he would not exchange for the finest pineapple About Shropshire “blanks and prizes” are beans and bacon boiled together, and chopped up in union, being also called ‘ blendings.” Both peas and beans contain sulphur (whilst richer in mineral salts of potash, and lime than wheat, barley, or oats), and are therefore apt to provoke flatulent indigestion by the sulphuretted hydrogen gas which is engendered within the stomach, and bowels. Cayenne pepper dusted on such foods, or taken therewith in infusion as a tea, will stimulate a languid digestion, and will correct the flatulency often incidental to such a vegetable diet. In Dickens’ time costers were crying, “‘ Fine Prooshan Blues,” as the very best kind of peas, all over London, and thus it came about that Sam Weller, in Pickwick, addressed his old father, Tony Weller, the stage- coachman, as “‘My Prooshan Blue ” in words of endearment. Dried, or “‘ parched ” peas, as ordinarily supplied, are refractory enough, when eaten, to strain the digestive powers of an ostrich : the human stomach has to pass them on into the long-suffering intestines to pe negotiated. The Soy Bean (Glycina soja) is of three varieties, black, green, and white. These Beans are to be boiled, then mixed with barley, or wheat, until, through fermentation, they become covered with fungi; then brine is added, and further fermenta- tion goes on for a couple of years. The ssuce thus concocted is afterwards boiled afresh, and put, when cool, into bottles, or casks. From a nutritive point of view it is superior to any other sauce in our markets. Soy is made all over Japan, and is partaken of by the entire Japanesé population, almost with ‘every meal. In China, Soy Cheese is extensively eaten, whils : various sauces, and pastes are prepared from the Beans. “Les Soissonais sont heureux ; Les Haricots sont chez eux.” _ An old fable said that Soy was made from certain beetles, and Londoners have improved this to ‘ black beetles.” “* There was an old person of Tr Whose drink was warm lenny. nl soy, Which he took from a spoon, by the light of the moon In sight of the City of Troy.” He Thus sings Edward Lear in his Book of Howie (1862), which book so delighted Ruskin with its “corollary carols, inimitable BEAN, 85 and refreshing, and perfect in rhythm,” that he admiringly declared, “I shall put him first of my hundred authors.” The common Bean is particularly rich in proteids (like animal food), and contains also much fatty matter, but very little starch ; for which reason it makes an admirable substitute for bread in diabetes, a flour being prepared from it, and kneaded into loaves, or biscuits. Lentils (the Zens esculenta), which are a leguminous pulse of allied nature with beans, contain but little sulphur, and therefore do not provoke flatulence as beans and peas are apt to do. The plant (Hrvum lens) is cultivated freely in Egypt for the sake of its seeds, which grow in numerous pods, and are flat on both sides. Three kinds are sold in Great Britain— Indian, Egyptian, and German, the two former being red. In France this pulse is much eaten during Lent, and is supposed by some to give its name to the penitential season, men becoming under its subduing dietary influence “‘ Lentz, et lenes.” About the year 1840 a Mr. Wharton sold the flour of Lentils (under the title of Ervaienta), which was then of a primrose colour. He failed in his enterprise, and Mr. Du Barry took up the business with success, but substituting the red Arabian Lentil for the yellow German pulse. Jacob’s mess of pottage which he bartered te Esau for his birthright was, it is believed, prepared from the red Lentil; and the same food was the bread of Ezekiel. Phos- phates abound in the Lentil, which are restorative, but liable to become deposited by the kidneys, together with such other earthy salts as are taken in the foods, or water; therefore lemon-juice, or orange-juice, is a desirable addition to Lentils at tabie. When in blossom the plant is a good source of honey for bees. ‘fo make Lentil soup, take half a pound of uncrushed Lentils, one carrot (chopped), three onions, one leek, two pounds of parsnips, an ounce of chopped parsley, pepper, salt, a dessert- spoonful of brown sugar, and three large crusts of bread. Wash, and pick the Lentils, and soak them all night; then boil them (with a little soda) in a large saucepan for three hours, press them through a colander, heat up again, and serve. The soup concocted in this way is delicious. Mr. Gibson Ward, writing to The Times some years ago, spoke of Lentil soup as the best potage possible, the Lentils only needing to be washed, soaked, and boiled furiously for three or four hours ; then, if put before the epicure, without remark, this would be 86 MEALS |. MEDICINAL. vaten aS a fine gravy soup. No condiments are required to | flavour it. Lentils contain of proteid food 25 per cent, with 56 per cent of starch, and 2 per cent respectively of fatty, and mineral matters. In common with peas, they are the beef of the vegetable kingdom. Peas are richer in potash, and magnesia ; Lentils are richer in soda, and iron. As for pease pudding, Sir Benjamin Richardson said, “ it took two whole days to cook, and two whole weeks to get rid of.” But digestive flours of both peas, and lentils are now skilfully manufactured, the latter _ being richer in phosphates. Concerning this leguminous pulse, writes Henry Ryecroft (1903): “I hate with a bitter hatred the names of lentils, and haricots, those pretentious cheats of the appetite, those tabulated humbugs, those certificated crudities, calling themselves human food. An ounce of either is equivalent to, we are told, how many pounds (?) of the best rump steak. There are not many ounces of commonsense in the brain of him who proves it, or of him who believes it. Preach, and tabulate as you will, the English palate, which is the supreme judge, rejects this farinaceous makeshift. What is the intellectual and moral state of that man who really believes that chemical analysis can be an equivalent for natural gusto? I will get more nourishment out of an inch of right Cambridge sausage, aye, out of a couple of ounces of honest tripe, than can be yielded me by half a hundredweight of the best lentils ever grown.” BEEF. THE flesh of the ox has been long reputedly in this country the highest form of sustenance, for both the sound, and the sick. Its solid parts are composed of albumin, fat, creatin, creatinin, inosinic acid, muscular tissue, and various salts. Its chief nutriment consists in the albumin, and fibrin, for building up the solids of the body. These elements become coagulated into insoluble substance by heat, and have therefore to be of necessity excluded from liquid extracts of Beef, made to be kept, and taken hot. Raw Beef is more readily assimilated when eaten than cooked meat, because its albumin has not become hardened by heat ; but there is always the risk of its then containing noxious parasites which can only be killed by cooking. If Beef, or other | BEEF. 87 animal food, is taken in excess of the digestive powers, so as to remain within the body unchanged by the gastric juices, it will soon undergo putrescence, whereby corrupt products will pass into the blood, entailing mischief. Raw Beef sandwiches may be given watchfully in cases of great debility, prostration, or bloodlessness. Likewise, sandwiches of ox tongue, gently boiled, are light, and nutritious. Animal tongues consist of soft meat- fibre permeated by fat. “Tongue?” said Mr. Weller at the shooting luncheon (in Pickwick); “Well: tongue’s a wery good thing when it aint a woman’s.” Reindeer’s tongues are largely imported into this country from Russia; they are snow- cured, no salt whatever being used, so that the mildness, and richness of flavour are preserved. With regard to Beef extracts, which are legion in name, and number, it is well said that no satisfactory evidence for any belief in their having nourishing, and really restorative properties, is forthcoming. Two ounces of Liebig’s Extract, for instance, can be taken at one time by a healthy man without producing any other effect than that of slight diarrhcea. And as respects the nervous system, equally unsatisfactory evidence must be confessed. There is no proof that meat extractives act as stimulants to the brain in the same way that tea, and coffee do, though it has to be allowed that they are capable of removing the effects of muscular fatigue after tiring bodily exertion. “ As a matter of fact,” says Dr. R. Hutchison, “the white of one egg will contain as much nutritive matter as three teaspoontuls of any of these advertised preparations, to wit, Liebig’s Extract, Bovril fluid Beef, Bovril for Invalids, Brand’s Essence, Brand’s Beef Bouillon, Armour’s Extract, ete., etc. It is solely on the ‘extractives’ (which are cordials, but of no use as tissue constructors), that these several preparations have to depend. Such extractives represent only the fragments, as it were, of broken-down animal substance.” Again, in like manner concerning Beef-tea, unless this includes a solid sediment of the coagulated albuminous constituents, the nutrient value of the liquid will be ni. “A clear Beef-tea is a useless Beef-tea ; the only, and whole claim of Beef-tea as a food rests on the presence therein of flocculent animal particles which represent albumin, and fibrin; the rest of the liquid consists merely of a solution of the extractives.” Dr. Fothergill has protested that “all the bloodshed caused by the warlike 88 MEALS MEDICINAL. ambition of Napoleon, is as nothing compared to the myriads of persons who have sunk into their graves from a misplaced confidence in the food-value of Beef-tea!” Nevertheless, by adding to the Beef-tea the exhausted fibrous solids of the meat, care being taken to reduce these to a state of fine division, the nutritive qualities of the tea can be materially increased; so that what is termed a “whole Beef-tea” is thus beneficially produced. Ordinary Beef-tea, however well made, is only a cordial stimulant, and not a sustaining food. It may be mixed with chicken-broth (which actually does hold albuminous constituents in solution), and will then represent useful sustenance. Beef juices, expressed from raw, lean meat, differ from meat extracts obtained by heat, in still containing the proteids (or prime solids) of the meat, now uncoagulated; but (says a high authority) none of these juices can be taken in a sufficiently large quantity to supply much proteid to the body. Summing up the question of the value which extractives of Beef, and of other red meats stand entitled to claim, Dr. Hutchison gives it as his dictum that “ they cannot renew the tissues, or supply the body with energy, and therefore are not foods. They pass out of the body through the kidneys in the same form in which they entered it; they do not act as restorative stimulants to the heart, though they may possibly help to remove fatigue; and yet they are powerful aids to digestion by calling out a free flow of gastric juice from within the stomach, whilst their pleasant flavour serves to arouse the appetite. The only means of getting the full value of Beef in small bulk is by the use of the dried meat powders.” A solution of the white of egg flavoured with sound meat-extract forms a cheap and efficient substitute for the juices of raw, lean Beef. In South Africa, Beef is prepared to make what is known there as “ biltong,” which, with bread and butter, is very appetizing for invalids, and most nourishing. The Beef, when cut out in a long, tongue-shaped strip from the hind leg of an ox (from the thigh-bone to the knee-joint), is then rubbed with some salt, some brown sugar, and an ounce of saltpetre. This rubbing, and then turning, is continued daily for three days, after which time the meat is put under a press for a night ; it is next dried in the wind, and then hung in the chimney until still drier, and pretty firm. When eaten it is to be cut into very thin slices, or rasped.+ Persons suffering from sea-sickness on BEEF, 89 board ship have relished this “ biltong” when no other delicacy would tempt them to eat. It is quite as readily assimilated as fresh meat, being generally taken uncooked. Prime Beef, when freshly roasted, or broiled, may be almost compared to alcohol in its stimulating effects at first; indeed, De Quincey has told of a “‘ medical student in London, for whose knowledge in his profession he (Quincey) had reason to feel great respect, who assured him that a patient in recovering from an illness had got drunk on a Beef-steak.” And quite recently the Lancet, borrowing this idea so as to apply it further, has declared : “‘ One can truly state that there are hundreds, and hundreds of men and women in our midst who are daily stupefying themselves with Beef, heavv, and in excess, thereby deadening their brains, paralysing their bodies, and ruining their health ; young people need more of such food than those who are fully grown, but it is the adults who do all the gormandizing!” None the less, though, are we justified in boasting triumphantly of the ‘‘ Roast Beef of Old England ” as pre-eminently our great national dish; and in repeating right loyally the spirited invocation of Charles Morris (Laureate, in 1785), to the “ Old Beef-steak Club” .— ** May beef long bless our favoured coast, Where no despotic ruffian Has dared a brazen bull to roast, With men inside for stuffing ! Where never Jove, a tyrant god, Who loves fair maids to purloin, As a white bull the billows rode With madam on his sirloin. Like Britain’s Island lies our steak, ae sea of gravy round it.— ots, in fragrance scattered, ma. The rock-work which surrounds it: Our Isle’s best emblem here behold, Remember ancient story ; Be, like your grandsires, just and bold ; So live and die in glory.” The first Beef-steak Club was re-organised in the winter of 1749, at the instance of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and met weekly at a famous Beef-steak house in Ivy Lane. This Club had been first formed in 1735 by Rich, the famous Harlequin; it continued to held its meetings in rooms behind the stage of the Lyceum Theatre, in London, up to 1867, when, as the roll of members had become reduced to eighteen, its doors were closed for ever. In 1869 its 90 MEALS MEDICINAL, effects were sold at Christie’s Auction rooms. Originally George Lambert, the Scene Painter of Covent Garden Theatre, had his beef-steak broiled there over the fire in the painting room, and was sometimes joined by visitors, whose conviviality from the savoury dish led them to form the Club. In 1808, when the Covent Garden Theatre was burnt down, the Club moved its quarters, first to the Bedford Coffee House, and then back to the Lyceum stage, where it met on Saturday nights in the famous oak- panelled room, and had steaks from the great gridiron; over this were inscribed Shakespeare’s words: “If it were done, when ’tis done, then ’twere well it were done quickly.” In the Art of Cookery (1708) we read :— “Good beef for men ; pudding for youth and age, Come up to the decorum of the stage.” Also :— “ A cauldron of Fat Beef, and stoupe of ale On the huzzaing mob shall more prevail Than if you gave them, with the nicest art, Ragouts of peacock’s brains, or filber’d tart.” Beef and rump-steak are intimately associated with the history of the food discipline of pugilists. The famous trainer, Sir Thomas Parkyas, of Bunny Park, greatly preferred Beef-eaters to what he termed sheep-eaters, who ate mutton. On the other hand, Humphries, the pugilist, was trained by Ripshaw at first upon Beef, but made thereupon so much flesh that the Beef was changed for mutton, roast, or boiled. The action of air upon Beef, as upon all meat which has not been cooked, or frozen, is the same as that which it exercises in the living body,—oxygen is absorbed, and carbonic acid is exhaled. Concurrently, a certain amount of lactic acid forms in the meat, which, during the subsequent cooking, dissolves, or soitens the fibrinous parts. The flesh of an animal which has died otherwise than by being slaughtered for food, may never be safely cooked, and eaten ; it was a sanitary ordinance enjoined from the time of the Levitical law by Moses to the Israelites, ‘‘ Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself”: though he pro- ceeded to say (in meanness of spirit which was strange for so wise a patriarch), “ Thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates that he may eat it: or thou mayest sell it unto an alien.” Raw Beef, by some special virtue which it possesses, is a BEER. 91 highly useful application to a recent bruise. ‘‘ Eye damaged, Sir?” asked Jingle (at the “Golden Cross” Hotel, travellers’ room). “Here, Waiter: a raw Beef-steak for the gentleman’s eye. Nothing like raw Beef-steak for a bruise, Sir. Cold lamp-post very good, but lamp-post inconvenient. Deuced odd standing in the open street half-an-hour with your eye against a lamp-post, eh ? Very good! ha! ha!” In the Cheetham School (of the thirteenth century) at Manchester, within the Wardens’ Room, is a_ sideboard of beautifully carved oak; it is made from the top of a bookcase, and from the lower part of a bedstead in which the young Pretender slept. The lad who takes a visitor round shows with special delight the carving of “‘ the cock that crows when it smells roast Beef,” opposite to which is a Pelican; tempore, Charles the Second. BEER. (See also ALE and Matt). Brgr, which is practically Ale when brewed together with hops, is not a good beverage for persons of sedentary habits; unless taken quite moderately by such, it burdens the liver with products of starch ferment, and causes dyspeptic sluggishness. If Beer gives rise to acidity in the stomach, this may perhaps be the result of an acid fermentation in the liquor itself, especially if it has not been kept long in the cask. German Beers are fermented at a lower temperature than those made in this country, and contain more starch converted into dextrin ; there- fore a secondary fermentation takes place in them to a consider- able extent when drunk, and produces much carbonic acid gas. The peculiar flavour of Bavarian Beers is attributed to pitch in the wood of the barrels. Lager Beer (or Stock Beer) is a light German Beer, so called because stocked for ripening before being used. It has been said to owe its soporific effects in some cases to the leeks used in its manufacture, which vegetable makes persons who partake thereof sleepy. But the Lancet teaches that the well-known flavour of garlic in Lager Beer is rather due to the low temperature at which this beverage is brewed. In the New England States, unfermented “ Root-Beer” is made for the women, and children, this being somewhat similar in character to the well-known “ Kop’s Ale” of the British Isles. 92 MEALS MEDICINAL. Sir Horace Walpole, writing from Newmarket, October, 1743, to Sir Horace Mann, just after his return from Italy, says “ What a Paradise (after the bare, wide barns of Italian inns) did I think the hostelry at Dover when I got back ; and what magnificence were the twopenny prints, salt-cellars, and boxes to hold the knives ! but the swmmum-bonum was the Small Beer, and the newspaper ! T bless’d my stars, and call’d it luxury!” It was Dick Swiveller who assured the small “‘ Marchioness” slavey, (when she told him confidentially that she “ once had a sip of Beer,”) with much solemnity, that “‘ Beer cannot be tasted in a sip.” In Pickwick we read about “ dog’s nose” (formerly a mixed drink of spiced malt liquor) “which your Committee (of the Brick Lane Temperance Association) find to be compounded of warm porter, moist sugar, gin, and nutmeg (a groan : and ‘So it is!’ from an elderly female).” Again, “ Ale flip” is warmed Ale, or Beer, to which sugar, cognac, or rum, and ginger, with nutmeg, have been added ; this is then beaten up with some stirred, or frothed eggs (half the whites being left out), and is well mixed. The drink is known in some parts as “A yard of flannel.” Pepys (Ihary, January 4th, 1666) says: ‘Comes our company to dinner, served so nobly in plate, and a neat dinner, indeed, though but of seven dishes. At night to sup, and then to cards; and, last of all, to have a flaggon of Ale, and apples, drunk out of a wood cup, as a Christmas draught, which made all merry.” Mulled Ale, and fettled Porter were favourite drinks up to the middle of last century for nourishing the exhausted invalid, and for stuffing a catarrh in its second stage. The mulled Ale was made by warming the liquor, sweetening it, and mixing in beaten-up eggs, and spice, particularly nutmeg. In “ fettled” Porter the eggs were left out, and lemon was added. The fettler was a copper utensil, like an inverted cone, for putting on the fire to heat the drink; elsewhere this is known as a hooter (heater 2), a “ skillet ” (with legs), a Mother Red Cup, and a spigot. The object was to make the ingredients hot quickly, so that all the spirit of the Beer should not be evaporated. We read in recent English history that a couple of centuries ago “the country Squires brewed at home a specially strong ale which, after a mid-day dinner, stood on the table in decanters marked with th ; e oat-plant, and was then drunk in lieu of wine.” “ Ale-posset ” is a more _ modern hot cordial preparation, made with milk (half-a-pint), BEER. 93 a yolk of egg, half an ounce of butter, and half a pint of ale. The milk is poured hot over a slice of toast ; the egg and butter are then added, and are allowed to bind, and the ale is mixed therewith whilst boiling; also sugar according to taste. For sea-sickness, if the stomach feels empty, and, still more, if dry retching occurs, bottled porter will do good, and biscuit spread with some butter on which Cayenne pepper is dusted. Also, for the sickness of pregnancy Hop tea is helpful, or a small glass of sound bitter ale two or three times in the day. Spruce Beer, or Beer of the Norway Spruce fir, or “ Sprouts Beer,” is an agreeable, and wholesome beverage, very useful against scurvy, and for chronic rheumatism. It is made with the young sprouts of the black Spruce fir (7.e., the leaves, and young branches), or with an essence of Spruce, boiled with sugar, or molasses, and fermented with yeast. There are two sorts of this Beer, the brown and the white, of which the latter is preferred by many as being made with white sugar instead of the dark molasses. It may be noted that the term “ spruce,” or “ pruce,” was formerly used in connection with fashionable wearing apparel, and applied allusively as to a land of cockayne, or of luxury. ‘“‘ He shall live in the land of spruce, milke, and honey, flowing into his mouth, sleeping.” “ Essence of Spruce ” is made by boiling the green tops of the black Spruce fir in water, and then concentrating the decoction by further boiling without the tops. The young shoots are seen to be coated with a resinous exudation, which becomes incorporated with the boiling water. Spruce Beer may be brewed at home, by boiling black treacle with water, spices,and essence of Spruce, and letting this ferment, with, or without yeast, and then boiling it again. The said essence of Spruce is a thick liquid with a bitterish, acidulous, astringent taste, to be got from the Norway Spruce fir, the black Spruce, and perhaps other species. Fennimore Cooper has told about the Beer therefrom in his novel, beloved of adventurous school-boys, The Last of the Mohicans: ‘‘‘ Come, friend,’ said Hawkeye, drawing out a keg from beneath a cover of leaves, ‘try a little spruce: “twill quicken the life in your bosom.’ ” The resinous products of certain pines are of great value, and subserve important medicinal uses, as pitch, tar, turpentine, resin, etc., chiefly obtained from the Pinus palustris. Also from these resinous exudations there is procured pine oil, as employed in making varnishes, and colours. Again, from the 94 MEALS MEDICINAL. Pinus sylvestris a fixed oil is extracted chemically by distillation, which oleo-resin consists of a resinous base, and a volatile essential oil. If the “tears,” or resin drops, which trickle out on the stems of pines be taken, five or six of them during the day, they will benefit chronic bronchitis, and will abate the cough of consumption. Also eight or ten drops of the pine oil given in a little milk three or four times a day will relieve chronic rheuma- tism. Wool saturated with some of this oil, and then dried, is made into blankets, jackets, spencers, and socks, for the use of rheumatic sufferers. Tar (Por liquida) is extracted by heat from the Scotch fir ; it has been long employed by doctors both externally, and internally. Tar-water was extolled in 1747 by Bishop Berkeley (Siris) almost as a panacea; he gave it for scurvy, skin diseases, sores, asthma, and rheumatism. It promotes several of the bodily secretions, particularly the urine. Tar yields pyro- ligneous acid, oil of tar, and pitch, also guaiacol, and creosote. Syrup of tar is an officinal medicine in U.S. America, for chronic bronchitis, and winter cough. Tar ointment is highly efficacious for curing some skin eruptions ; but in eczema no preparation of tar should be applied as long as the skin weeps, and is actively inflamed. Dr. Cullen met with a singular practice carried out regarding tar: A leg of mutton was put to roast, being basted during the whole process with tar instead of butter ; whilst it roasted a sharp skewer was frequently thrust into the substance of the meat to let the juices run out, and with the mixture of tar and gravy found in the dripping-pan the body of the patient was anointed all over for three or four consecutive nights, the same body-linen being worn throughout all this time. The plan proved quite successful in curing obstinate lepra. The Swedes call the fir “‘ the scorbutick tree” to this day. Tar-water is to be made by stirring a pint of tar with half a gallon of water for fifteen minutes, and then decanting it; from half a pint to a pint of this may be taken daily. Tar ointment is prepared with five parts of tar to two pounds of yellow wax. Said Mrs. Joe Gargery, in Great Expectations (C. Dickens), to her boy brother Pip, whom she had brought up by hand (and a hard one, too 1), “You come along, and be dosed.” ‘‘ Some medical beast had revived tar-water in those days as a fine medicine, and Mrs. Joe always kept a supply of it in the cupboard, having a belief in = its virtues correspondent to its nastiness. At the best of times BEER. 95 so much of this elixir was administered to me (says Pip in after life) as a choice restorative, that I was conscious of going about smelling like a new fence. On this particular morning the urgency of my case demanded a pint of the mixture, which was poured down my throat for my greater comfort while Mrs. Joe held my head under her arm, as a boot would be held in a boot- jack. Joe (her meek, big husband) got off with half a pint, but was made to swallow that (much to his disturbance as he sat slowly munching, and meditating before the fire) because he had ‘had a turn.’ Judging from myself, thought poor little Pip, I should say he certainly had a turn afterwards if he had had none before.” Edward Fitzgerald, writing to John Allen from Boulogne (July, 1840), said: “I have just concocted two gallons of tar-water under the directions of Bishop Berkeley ; it is to be bottled off this very day, after a careful skimming, and then drank by those who can, and will. It is to be tried first on my old woman; if she survives, I am to begin, and it will then gradually spread into the parish, through England, Europe, etc., as the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake.” Against the foot-rot of sheep, tar is most efficacious, as the trite saying tells, “* Not to lose a sheep tor want of a ha’porth of tar.” In chronic disease of the kidneys the removal of a patient for a residence among, or near pine woods will often prove beneficial, by reason of the terebinthinate atmosphere constantly respired. A diet consisting mainly of skim milk, butter milk, and whey, will give material assistance to this cure by saving the kidneys from hard excretory work. Porter was so called either because it was a favourite drink with the London porters, or in allusion to its strength, and substance for giving bodily support. It is made either partially, or wholly of high-dried malt, which by its solution therein materially aids the conversion into fattening dextrin, and sugar, of starchy foods taken at the same time, as, for example, bread and cheese. An excess of this malt leads to large unwieldy bodily bulk, such as that seen commonly in brewers’ dray- men. Stout is strong Ale, or Beer of any sort; hence, since the introduction of Porter, when of extra strength the brew was termed Stout, such as Dublin Stout, etc. Bottled Stout is an admirable soporific. “If it be desired to avoid nervous disquietude, and to banish insomnia, shun tea, or coffee, and drink Guinness’ Stout. I scarcely ever met with a man 96 MEALS MEDICINAL. who could resist the soporific effects of bottled Stout: they are far better than those of opium, and have been ascribed to the hop resin.” Temperance advocates largely patronize the drink which is now widely known as Kop’s Ale, about the freedom of which from alcohol doubts are often expressed. But just lately this beverage has been carefully, and authoritatively tested, with the result that only -25 per cent of alcohol revealed itself,—an inappreciable quantity, less indeed than is contained in an ordinary loaf of bread. The beverage is bright, clear, well aerated, and of excellent flavour, tasting precisely the same as any light bitter ale which contains alcohol, and keeping for some con- siderable time without its alcohol increasing by further fermen- tation, or the quality, and potability deteriorating. It may be thoroughly commended for all who desire a palatable, refresh- ing, and safe summer drink. Thackeray said about a character in The Newcomes, ‘“ She thinks small beer of painters! Well! we don’t think small beer of ourselves, my noble friend!” BEET ROOT. THE Beet of our kitchen gardens is of the Goosefoot tribe, and derived from the Sea Beet, which grows plentifully about English coasts. Its name originated through a fancied resemblance borne by its seed vessels, when swollen with seed, to the Greek letter B. Therefore, ‘* The Greeks gave its name to the Beet from their alphabet’s second letter’ As an Attic teacher would write the same on wax with a sharp stiletto.’, The Mangel Wurzel, also a variety of Beet, means literally, ‘* Scarcity root.” Occasionally the leaves of the Sea Beet (which is slender- rooted) are cooked as “greens” for the table. Beet root contains a large amount of cane sugar, especially in the large white ve Sugar beet,”’ from the roots of which plant Beet-root sugar is extensively manufactured in France, Germany, and some other countries. The ordinary red garden Beet root contains nearly as much sugar as the Sugar beet; but in the process of cooking for table, a considerable quantity of this soluble sugar is lost, so that the garden Beet when boiled does not contain more sugar than three per cent; but its root is BEET ROOT. 97 richer in cellulose than most other tubers. An addition of vinegar to slices of red Beet root softens the fibrous tissue, and increases its digestibility; but it does not interfere with the cane sugar which is abundantly present. To persons of a certain age Beet root boiled is very indigestible, or rather they do not digest it at all. It is not the sugar pulp which thus proves a difficulty, but the porous network which resists the action of the gastric juice. Therefore, when the root is reduced to a purée, almost any person may eat it, though in the process of cooking much of the sugar is sacrificed. This root is helpful against some derangements of the womb’s functions ; whilst the white Beet is laxative, and will stimulate an increased flow of urine. Though Beet-root sugar, and cane sugar, are chemically identical when pure (which they never are), yet commercially, and for culinary flavour, they differ in two important respects. First, the Beet sugar contains more extractives in the form of alkaline carbonates, many of these having a powerful, and characteristic taste which cannot be dis- pelled ; and therefore it is that an infusion of tea, when sweetened with beet sugar containing such alkaline carbonates, is not in character, and flavour the same beverage as that made with a sugar free from this admixture. A like effect is found in coffee, and in several other sweetened drinks. Next, Beet-root molasses contains more extractives than cane molasses, and its ash gives more of the oxides of soda and potash ; so that cane sugar is on the whole a superior article to Beet-root sugar. The Beet is characterized by a large percentage of sugar, | mucilage, starch, and alkaline salts, especially of soda. A pleasant wine may be made from the roots; and the juice thereof when applied to the skin of the face is an excellent cosmetic. Sometimes the root bears the name of Betterave. Baked beets are capital for the table. A Russian dinner generally begins with Bortch, which is the national soup, and the Russian is as proud of it as is the Englishman of roast beef. This is of a deep red colour, being made from Beet root, but having a “ stock of treasures hidden in its depths; onions, perhaps, are swimming on the top, and beneath the surface tomatoes are not improbably concealed, with—at the bottom—a chop, succulent as a young chicken ; while as an additional zest the waiter brings a tureen which contains sour cream, to be eaten with the soup.” It is quite possible to make a whole meal of “ bortch” soup, with 7 98 MEALS MEDICINAL. vegetables, and meat in it ; or this is therefore much liked as a first course at dinner on a Saint’s day, after a rigorous fast. For Bortch soup “ Bake four beets; peel, slice, and put into good stock ; boil for half an hour. Rub down three raw beets with about one tablespoonful of vinegar, and a little water ; pass all through a sieve ; when ready to serve add one glass of Madeira wine, with cayenne, and salt to taste.” BILBERRY, (See WHOoRTLEBERRY). BIRDS, SMALL. Sucu of our small fowl as the Blackbird, Lark, Robin, Snipe, Sparrow, Thrush, and Woodcock, whilst good for the table, exercise severally certain medicinal effects which are available for curative uses. The Blackbird (Merula nigretta) is said to increase melancholy if its flesh be eaten at all freely. Against depression of the spirits it was prescribed for occasional use by the Salernitan school of physicians. Cardinal Fesch at Lyons had blackbirds sent from Corsica, and used to Say that to eat them was like swallowing Paradise : also, that the smell alone of his blackbirds was enough to revivify half the defunct in his diocese. As a great devourer of snails, this bird possesses properties beneficial for consumptive persons. The Lark is so adored by English folk for its sweet song, trilled forth as it soars high in the blue heavens, that to talk of eating this melodious bird seems at first a sacrilege. But in the south of Europe larks are such a nuisance at certain times that they have to be killed in numbers, so as to reduce the damage which they inflict on agriculture. Some persons have alleged that it is not the skylark which is served for eating—particularly in France—when on spits, or stuffed with joie gras, since the word alouette (a skylark) never appears on a French menu. So far as Paris is concerned, these little birds, which are offered by thousands in the markets, being almost always displayed for sale on wooden skewers, and already plucked, are commonly called mauwviettes by both vendors, and buyers. But in the French language the lark remains an alouette until it is plucked, trussed, and ready to be spitted, when it becomes a mauriette. Moreover, in La _ Cursiniere Bourgeoise, or general French Cookery Book, recipes BIRDS, SMALL. 99 are given for alouettes, réties, or en salmis, or aux fines herbes. “The flesh,” said former physicians, “helps the cholick, and is good against the falling sickness; larks breed thrice in the year, and are themselves much troubled with the epilepsie.” “The lark,” tells old Fuller, ‘‘is wholesome when dead, then filling the stomack with meat as formerly the ear with musick. If men would imitate the early rising of this bird it would conduce much unto their healthfulness.” The great Dr. Johnson often spoke roughly to Mrs. Thrale, and others. One day when she was lamenting the loss of a first cousin killed in America, he said, “Madam, it would give you very little concern if all your relations were spitted like these larks (which they were then eating) and roasted for Presto’s supper” (the lapdog, who lay under the table at the time). For broiled larks, pick, and clean a dozen larks, cut off their heads and legs, truss them firmly, rub them over with beaten egg, and strew bread-crumbs about them, with a pinch of salt; broil them over a clear fire, and serve them on toasted bread. Again, with respect to the Robin Redbreast, we do our best in this country to protect him from harm, and to regard him with an esteem which is well-nigh religious. But abroad the brave, homely little bird fails to meet with any such appreciation. La rouge gorge est la triste preuve de cette verité ; que le gourmand est par essence un étre inhumain, et cruel. Car il wa aucune puié de le charmant petit oiseau de passage que sa gentilesse, et sa jamiliarité confiante devraient mettre « Pabri de nos atteintes ; mars su fallait avoir compassion de tout le monde on ne mangerait personne; et, commiseration & part, il faut convenir que le rouge gorge, qui tient un rang distingué dans la classe de becs fiques, est un roti tres succulent. Cet aimable oiseau se manga « la broche, et en salmi. It is remarkable for a delicate bitter flavour. In Lousiana, likewise, no scruples are known about eating the Robin ; after he has gorged on holly-berries, and become hallt- tipsy on those of the China tree, which grows there around the dwelling-houses, he is easily shot from the “ galleries . (as the verandahs are called), and then he is broiled like a quail, or put into a savoury pie. A French Abbé writes about the Rouge Gorge as “ presque meprisée dans toutes les contrées qu elle habité”’ ; even its popular name “ La Gadille” adds to the ridicule attached to its sad existence. 100 MEALS MEDICINAL. ‘* Who killed Cock Robin ? ” “‘ Qui a tué Rouge-Gorge?”’ ‘*T,” said the Sparrow, ‘ with my | ** Moi, dit le Moineau, ‘“ayee mon bow and arrow, arc, et ma fléche, I killed Cock Robin.” | J’ai tué Rouge- -Gorge.” ‘* Who saw him die? ” | ** Qui l’a vu mourir?”’ ‘‘T,” said the Fly, ‘‘ with my little | ‘‘ Moi,” dit la Mouche, ‘‘ avec mon eye, petit ceil, I saw him die.” Je lai yu moutrir.” “ Who caught his blood?” | ** Qui @ recueilli son sang ?” ‘‘T,” said the Fish, ‘‘ with my little ‘‘ Moi,” dit le Poisson, avec mon dish, | petit plat, I caught his blood.” | J’ai recueilli son sang.’’ It is a bird most easily snared, and has been eaten by scores, though a noted Englishman declared in Italy that he would as soon devour a baby as a Robin. Being a brave, fearless, and highly sociable little creature, it may possibly confer this same estimable character when eaten habitually, even though under protest. The Snipe (Scolopax gallinago), and the Woodcock (Scolopaxr rustica), live chiefly by suction, and therefore contain within themselves, when killed, nothing corruptible ; so that they may be eaten, trail and all, their flavour being delicate, whilst rich. (See ‘‘Game.”) An old French quatrain runs thus :— “Le becasseau est de fort bon manger, Duquel la chair resueille l’appetet : Il est oyseau passager, et petit, Et par sou goust fait des vins bien juger.” The Starling is “one of the worst birds to be eaten that is, for she will eat bitter; but, only keep them alive, one of the best birds that is to talk, or whistle.’ There are the Field Starling, and the House Starling (which breeds in churches, and houses). The Thrush (Turdus musicus) has a flesh excellent for the invalid. Horace, the Latin Poet, formerly declared ‘“ Ni melius turdo”’ ; and, later on, in the London Pharmacopeaia, it is said : ** The Thrush is of good nourishment, hotter in its flesh than the Blackbird, and preferred by many. Roasted with myrtle berries it helps the dysentery, and other fluxes of the belly.” Thrushes are best for eating towards the end of November, because their meat is then aromatic through the juniper berries on which these birds have been feeding. Moreover, the Missel Thrush affords anti-epileptic food, because of living chiefly on mistletoe berries, which are of singular virtue against the falling BISCUITS. 101 sickness; it also eats ivy berries ; but the Song Thrush devours insects for the most part, being thus carnivorous. ‘ Soéil comme une grive”’ is a well-known French proverb, “‘ Drunk as a Thrush,” because the greedy, fat birds fill their crops with ripe juniper berries until they are too lazy to fly. As related in the British Medical Journal (1880), ‘‘ No less exalted a personage than the Princess Bismarck lately reported the Magpie, by its flesh dried, and powdered, to be an infallible cure for epilepsy, insomuch that Her Highness issued a circular to the members of the Eckenfoerd Shooting Association desiring them to furnish before a certain day as many Magpies as possible, from the burnt remains of which an anti-epileptic powder might be manufactured.” In the London Pharmacopewia (1696) it was stated: “ The flesh eaten helps dimness of sight, vertigo, epilepsies, melancholy, and madness.” BISCUITS. As is commonly known, Biscuits are multiform, and of various manufacture. Their general name signifies “twice baked” (bis cuits, or cocti), whilst they consist chiefly of flour, with water, or milk, and salt, or sugar, being baked in thin, flat cakes. When simply made, and newly baked, they are light, and easy of digestion, affording animal warmth, and fat, rather than structural support. ‘I am fearfully hot, and thirsty,” said Alice (Through the Looking-glass), after running with the Red Queen so exceed- ingly fast that she found herself sitting on the ground breathless, and giddy. “I know what you'd like,” said the Queen good- naturedly, taking a little box out of her pocket; “have a Biscuit !”? So Alice took one, and ate it as well as she could, but it was very dry, and she thought she had never been so nearly choked in all her life. ‘“‘ Have another Biscuit,” said the Queen, presently. ‘‘ No, thank you,” said Alice, ** one’s quite enough. In France, and Germany our Sponge Cake, or Savoy Cake, 1s known as Biscuit. The word Biscuit (bis cudt, twice baked) implied the process by which this form of food was made down to within the nineteenth century. : Baking powders, now much in vogue, are essentially com- posed of bicarbonate of potash, and cream of tartar (bitartrate of potash) in a proportion to neutralize one another; the com- bination forms tartrate of potash and soda, (Rochelle salt, mildly | 102 MEALS MEDICINAL. purgative). Two teaspoonfuls of such a baking powder mixed ‘In a quart of flour, represent forty-five more grains of the Rochelle salt than are contained in an ordinary Seidlitz powder. Alum instead of cream of tartar is quite objectionable : it would form sulphate of soda, and would make the phosphates of the flour insoluble. In the early part of the nineteenth century, when Dr. Abernethy, a physician famous for his successful treatment of indigestion, lived in Bloomsbury Square, London, a baker named Hill carried on his business in Southampton Row, which street runs out of that Square. It was customary for the Doctor to pay this baker a morning call for a Captain’s Biscuit. On one of such visits the Doctor said, “ Hill, I think the biscuits would be better with some sugar in them.” Hill followed the Doctor’s suggestion ; and, when he came again the Doctor, on tasting them, said, “ They are all right so far, but put a few caraway seeds in the next batch, so as to break the wind on the stomach ; and I will recommend them.” Such is the history of the Abernethy Biscuit as received sixty years ago from 8. Haddon, a baker who lived at the corner of William and Munster Streets, Regent’s Park, and who had previously worked for Hill. Here is the original mixture used by Hill: ‘‘ Seven pounds of winter wheat flour, eight ounces of granulated sugar, eight ounces of butter, and a few Caraway seeds. Mix, or rub the butter well into the flour, making a bay in the centre: add the sugar, and seeds, mixing all well together; then break until the dough is clear, and smooth. After having done this, about ten Biscuits to the pound may be cut, moulded, and pinned on a crimping board, then baked in a sound oven, and, when taken out, put in the drying oven for four, or more hours.” These were genuine ; but the Abernethy Biscuits now usually sold as such are spurious, and somewhat similar to the unleavened bread told about in the Bible, to prepare which the children of Israel baked their broken grain after soaking it in water, not using any substance for making the bread light, or raised. Mr. Solomon Pell, the confidential adviser of Tony Weller, and Sam, about family matters, was found at the Insolvent Court regaling himself, as business was slack, on an Abernethy Biscuit, and a saveloy. When Lord Roberts first went out to South Africa he took with him a good supply of Bath Oliver Biscuits (excel- — lent against indigestion); and he sent for another supply BLACKBERRY. 103 by Lady Roberts when she rejoined him. This Biscuit owed its name to Dr. Oliver, a famous physician of Bath, the friend of Pope, Warburton, and other eighteenth century notabilities. When on his deathbed (1749) the doctor called for his coachman, and gave him the recipe for such Biscuits, also ten sacks of flour, and a hundred sovereigns. The fortunate fellow started a shop, whereat the Biscuits were made, and sold, in Green Street, Bath; and there they are still made, and sold to the present day. To manufacture these Biscuits: Put two ounces of fresh butter into a saucepan, with a quarter of a pint of milk, and stir over a gentle fire until the butter is melted ; add a pinch of salt, and a dessertspoonful of yeast ; then mix- in very smoothly three-quarters of a pound of fine flour; knead the mixture well, wrap it in a warmed cloth, put it into a bowl. and place it on a warm hearth for a quarter of an hour. Roll it out eight or nine times, leaving it at last a quarter-o!-an-inch thick. Stamp it into Biscuits with an ordinary cutter; prick them well with a fork, and bake them upon tins in a moderate oven until the Biscuits are lightly browned, say, for about half-an-hour. For Macaroon Biscuits, see ‘“‘ Almonds.” A Bavarian recipe orders, to blanch, and chop fine half a pound of sweet almonds ; then beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth; add half a pound of white sugar, and next the chopped nuts. Drop the macaroons from a small spoon on to paraffin paper, upon a baking sheet, and bake a delicate brown in a moderately hot oven. BLACKBERRY. THe Bramble, or Blackberry Shrub (Rubus fruticosus), which grows in almost every English hedgerow, is familiar to us all. Its popular fruit, ripe in the late summer, furnishes citric, and malic acids, pectin, and albumin. In 1696 doctors declared the ripe berries of the bramble to be a great cordial, and to contain a notable restorative spirit. With the ancient Greeks Blackberries were a common remedy for gout. Blackberry jam, and Blackberry wine are taken nowadays for sore throat in many a rustic English home, whilst Blackberry jelly is esteemed useful against a feeble circulation, and dropsy therefrom. This fruit goes, in some Scotch districts, by the name of “ bumble- kites,” from “bumble,” the cry of the bittern, and “ kyte,” 104 MEALS MEDICINAL. a Scotch word for belly ; “the title bumble-kite being applied,” says Dr. Prior, “from the rumbling, and bumbling caused in the bellies of children who eat the fruit too greedily.” But the Blackberry has also acquired the name of Scaldberry, from producing, as some say, the eruption known as scald-head in children who eat the fruit to excess; or, as others suppose, from the curative effects of the berries in this malady of the scalp ; or, again, from the remedial good produced by applying the leaves externally to scalds. The French name for Black- berries is Méres sauvages, or Mires de haie. Tom Hood, in his comic way, has described a negro funeral as “ going a black- burying.” The fruit, if gathered whilst nicely ripe (before Old Michaelmas Day, October 11th, when the devil is supposed to spit on them), and dried in a slow oven, being then reduced to powder, will prove efficacious by their tannin for curing dysentery, or continued diarrhoea, more so than astringent drugs. This powder must be kept dry in a well-corked bottle. “Where?” asks Laura Matildas Dirge, in the Rejected Addresses of Horace and James Smith (1812) :— “Where is Cupid’s crimson motion, Billowy.ecstasy of woe ? Bear me straight, meandering ocean Where the stagnant waters flow.” “Oh, ubi purpurei motus puer alitis ? O, qui Me mihi turbineis surrepis, angor, aquis ? Due labyrintheum, duc me mare tramite recto Quo rapidi fontes, pigra, caterve ruunt.” Australia produces the Blackberry bush more luxuriantly than any other part of the world: indeed, it is well nigh a pest in some parts, though the fruit which grows thereon is of the most luscious nature. Round about Sydney it is largely gathered, and made into jam, and jelly. For Blackberry wine, which is a reliable astringent cordial, measure your berries, and bruise them; then to every gallon of the fruit add a quart of boiling water. Let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours, being occasionally stirred ; next strain off the liquid, adding to every gallon a couple of pounds of refined sugar, and keep it in a cask, tightly corked, until the following October, when it will be ripe and rich.“ It’s my own wine,” said Armorel of Lyonesse (Besant); “I made it myself last year of ripe Blackberries.” “ Wine of Samson,” answered Roland Lee, “ the glorious vintage _ of the Blackberry ; in pies, and jam-pots I know him, but not BLACKBERRY, 105 as yet in decanters. Thank you! thank you!” He held the glass to the light, smelt it, rolled it gently round in the glass, and then tasted it. ‘‘ Sweet,” he said critically, “‘ and strong: clings to the palate: a liqueur wine! a curious wine!” Then he drank it up. Other home-made sweet Wines are almost equally delicious, and singularly wholesome, containing but little spirit, and each possessing the herbal virtues of the fruit, or flowers, from which it is made. ‘‘ Perhaps you’d like to spend a couple of shillings, or so in a bottle of Currant wine bye-and-bye up in the bedroom,” said Steerforth to little David Copperfield, when newly come to Salem House School; “ you belong to my bedroom, I find.” So, respecting British Raisin wine (which is luscious, and slightly laxative), C. 8. Calverley relates, touching the fair Julia Goodchild, when he was a frisky pupil at Dr. Crabb’s Boarding School :-— “ With me she danced till drowsily her eyes began to blink ; When I brought her Raisin wine, and said, ‘ Drink, pretty creature ; Drink!’ ” It was the opinion of Charles Dickens that the proper place for Champagne is not at the dinner-table, but at the dance, where “it takes its fitting rank, and position, among feathers, gauze, lace, embroidery, ribbons, white satin shoes, and Eau de Cologne ; for Champagne is simply one of the elegant extras of life.” A fermented liquor may be made also from the sap of the Birch tree (Betula alba) in the Spring time, this being collected throughout the mountains, and wooded districts of Germany, and Scandinavia. It is possessed of diuretic properties, and is antiscorbutic, being especially commended for modifying the symptoms of diabetes mellitus. Birch bark yields an oil which is used for giving to Russia leather its peculiar pleasant odour. In the treatment of various chronic maladies the leaves, the sap, and the oil of this tree are employed. The West Indian Birch. or “gumbo-lumbo,” furnishes a kind of gum-elemi, which is beneficial in the treatment of gout. The traditional use of a Birch-rod is known to us all from our youth upwards. Hood bore witness to its tender mercies at Clapham Academy :— * There I was birched, there I was bred, There, like a little Adam fed From lJearning’s woeful tree.” In Chaucer’s time “ Gon a blackberyed ” seems to have been 106 MEALS MEDICINAL. a humorous expression signifying “‘ Gone to pot,” or “ Gone to ruin.” “ Though that her soul’s gon’ a blackeberyed ” (Pardner’s Tale). Jelly, or jam made from the Brambleberry, and taken on bread in the place of butter, was highly commended against red gravel by Mr. Pott, a noted surgeon, two centuries ago. Dr. Franklin, who suffered long from stone in the bladder, has recorded his assurance that Blackberry jam, of which he con- sumed large quantities, certainly served to relieve him. The Anglo-Saxon name was “ Bramble-apple.” Gipsies say that in cooking Blackberries you cannot stew them too long. For “ Blackberry Cordial” the juice should be expressed from fresh ripe fruit, putting half a pound of white sugar to each quart of this juice, together with half an ounce of powdered nutmeg, and the same of cloves (bruised); boil these together for a short time, and add a little good brandy to the mixture when cold. In Cruso’s Treasury of Easy Medicines (1771) it is directed for old inveterate ulcers, to take a decoction of Blackberry leaves made with wine, and foment the ulcers with this whilst hot, each night and morning, which will heal them, however difficult to be cured. BLOOD OF ANIMALS. Wuen Animal Blood is used in cooking : for example, in the sausages known as black puddings, the addition of several aromatic spices is necessary so as to overcome its alkaline flatness, and lack of savour. “ Blood,” says Dr. Thudicum, “is not capable of giving a savoury extract (to gravy), although the blood of each species of eatable animal has its particular, and distinctive flavour; that of the ox, and cow being remarkably redolent of musk.” But among civilized nations the pig is the only animal of which the Blood furnishes a distinct article of food ; mixed with fat, and spices, whilst enclosed in prepared intestines, this pig’s blood is made into black puddings. Chemically the Blood of animals contains a considerable quantity of iron, besides albumin, fibrin, hydrogen, some traces of prussic acid, and some empyreumatic oil. The serum, or thin part of the Blood, includes sulphur. Experimentally it turns out that the blood of snails, which is colourless, contains as much iron as that of the ox, or calf, this fact going to prove that the red colour of animal Blood is not due, as is generally supposed, to ___ the presence of iron in that fluid. The saline constituents of — BLOOD OF ANIMALS. 107 Blood are phosphates of lime, and magnesium, with chlorides, sulphates, and phosphates of potash and soda. In Pickwick, Mr. Roker, the coarse turnkey at the Fleet Prison for debt, when showing Mr. Pickwick what were to be his wretched quarters there, turned fiercely round on him whilst he was mildly expostulating, and uttered in an excited fashion “certain unpleasant invocations concerning his own eyes, limbs, and circulating fluids.” Pliny tells us that the Blood of animals (and, indeed, human Blood as well) was administered in his time for curative purposes ; so likewise the Blood of the ox is in medicinal vogue to-day in certain parts of the Western Hemisphere. This is because of the well-ascertained fact that iron, particularly its organic salt (hemoglobin) as found in Blood, forms one of the most important constituents. It may be thus supplied from the pig in the culinary form of black puddings; as likewise from the ox, or sheep, if so desired. Among the Boers in South Africa dog’s Blood is an established remedy for convulsions, and fits. It is of modern discovery that in health the human liver has to receive a comparatively large allowance of iron, for carrying on the vital processes of combustion and oxidation, as its special functions. This iron is best obtained from the food, and not through any form of physic. We know that many animals, espe- cially beasts of prey, derive their needful supply of iron exclusively from meat containing a large proportion of Blood, which is rich in organic iron. Towards overcoming the natural repugnance of a patient to drinking animal Blood for acquiring its iron remedially, some skilful foreign chemists have produced this essential product of late in a compact form, which they term ** Sanguinal,” as a brownish red powder consisting (as is asserted) of pure crystallized hemoglobin, with the mineral Blood con- stituents, and of muscle albumin. Hypothetically it is fair to suppose that in this way the red corpuscles of a bloodless patient may be beneficially augmented. Pepys (October 17th, 1667) observed about a Mr. Andrews who was dining with him. “‘ What an odd, strange fancy he hath to raw meat, that he eats it with no pleasure unless the Blood run about his chops,” which it did now by a leg of mutton that was not above half-boiled ; but “it seems at home all his meat © is dressed so, beef and all.” ce - Practical experiments have shown that metellic iron, in 108 MEALS MEDICINAL, whatever form it is administered medicinally, can be recovered from the excretions, absolutely undiminished in quantity, so that evidently no particle thereof is assimilated into the system. Nevertheless, the machinery of red Blood-making is undoubtedly started afresh by giving iron, whether in food, or in physic (much more problematically). In 1902 Professor Bunge read an important paper on “Tron in Medicine” before the German Medical Congress. He advocated an increased attention to foods containing iron, as a substitute for its administration in drug-form. “Spinach,” said he, “is richer in iron than yolk of egg, and yolk of egg than beef; milk is almost devoid of iron ; and, as if to provide against this defect, the Blood of the infant mammal is more plentifully endowed with the essential ingre- dients than that of adults, thus showing that nature is always self-provident.” Garden spinach (one of the ‘ Goosefoot ” order), than which no better blood-purifier grows amongst vegetables, contains iron as one of its most abundant salts ; hence it is a valuable food for bloodless persons ; moreover, in both salinity, and digestibility it leads the kitchen greens, its amount of salts being 2 per cent, whereby it helps to furnish red colouring matter (hemoglobin) for the blood. In the fruit world even the apple does not afford so much iron as this vege- table, neither does the strawberry. Spinach insists on having a rich soil in which to grow, out of which it extracts a large proportion of saline matters. Its full green juice abounds in chlorophyll, insomuch that the spinach may be cooked entirely in its own fluids, and in the steam which will arise from them. This brilliant green principle of colour, elaborated from the yellow and blue rays of the sunlight, is peculiarly salubrious. Evelyn (Acetaria) has said, « Spinach being boil’d to a pulp, and without other water than its own moisture, is a most excellent condiment for almost all sorts of boil’d flesh, and may accompany a sick man’s diet. ’Tis laxative and emollient, and therefore profitable for the aged.” Savoy, a nutritious, and wholesome companion of spinach, contains the greatest amount of vegetable oil of all this class of kitchen plants ; and spinach runs the luxuriant Savoy very close in its complement of bland oil-salts, which render the juices nourishing. Quite half a pint of spinach-oil might be expressed from a hundred pounds of the vegetable, and sometimes more bes : than this from the same quantity of Savoy. BRAINS OF ANIMALS, — 109 BRAINS OF ANIMALS. Tue Brains of animals consist largely of a fatty matter containing cholesterin, and lecithin, the latter element being comparatively rich in phosphorus. Dr. Salmon (in 1696) directed that “a ram’s Brain fried, and a cake made of it with sheep suet, cinnamon, and nutmeg, is good against the lethargie, and other drowsie diseases.” But Dr. Yeo now admonishes that “ the large percentage of fat contained in the Brains of animals renders them difficult of use as food by weak stomachs.” Nevertheless, ordinarily, owing to its soft consistency, the Brain is more readily digested than any other animal part ; but, unfortunately, it is very imperfectly absorbed. 43 per cent of it being voided in the excrement from the bowels. Therefore, in spite of its easy digestibility, it cannot be regarded as a valuable food for invalids. Neither. as he supposes, is it in any sense specially fitted for “making Brains.” ‘‘Some persons do fancy,” said Lemery (1674), as an ancient writer has told, “that rabbit’s Brains weaken the memory, because this animal cannot for a moment after retain in mind the toils laid for her, and that she had just escaped ; but this conjecture being founded on a weak foundation, T shall not stop here, and go about to confute it.” To blanch (cali’s) Brains, put them into a basin, with some cold, well-salted water to wash them; then strain, and rinse them in two or three other waters; put them into a stewpan, with a sliced onion, a small bunch of herbs, a few black and white peppercorns, and a teaspoonful of lemon-juice ; bring them to the boil, then leave them in the liquid until cold ; remove the outside of the Brains, and cut up the inside white part into small dice, and use them for the table. The calf’s Brain is tasteless of itself, but palatable with a white sauce, and absolutely tender; when fried it evolves a very fine osmazome flavour, superior to that of any meat, or game ; but the least over-frying is destructive of this flavour. Ox Brain is not eatable. Brain substance, or its medicinal principle—“ cerebrin ’—got from the grey matter of calves’, and sheeps’ Brains, is used remedially by modern physicians against some forms of disease in the human brain. Concerning the dictum which has obtained a widespread belief as to the functions of the human brain, that “ without phosphorus there is no thought,” this is only true in the sense that the brain contains phosphorus as one of its constituents ; 110 MEALS MEDICINAL. and, unless we use the brain, thought, it would seem, is unthink- able. But the fact has never been shown that an increased supply of phosphorus in the food is especially favourable to mental effort. “It comes to this on the whole,” says Dr. Hutchison, “that the digestibility of a food is of far greater concern to a brain-worker than its chemical composition.” Furthermore, mental work influences the amount, and nature of the food which thereby becomes needed, in a different way from muscular labour. Brain work does not appreciably increase bodily waste at all, a fact which should be realized, and acted upon as regards the daily diet. “*‘ Mark this,” wrote Oliver Wendell Holmes, “that I am going to say, for it is as good as a working-man’s professional advice, and costs you nothing: It is better to lose a pint of blood from your veins than to have your nerves tapped. Nobody measures your nerve-force as it runs away, nor bandages your brain and marrow after the operation.” As to special Brain nutriments, they do not exist. Small, and rather frequent meals of easily-digested food make up the ideal to aim at, it being remembered that brain work is usually also sedentary work. The reduction in the diet for mental work should probably affect the starches, sweets, and fats, more than the animal foods, fish, fowl, meat, eggs, and milk. BRANDY (See Corpiats.) BREAD. BreapD is such an essential food in all countries that it may well be called the “Staff of Life.” ‘ Quando deest panis tunc est cibus omnis inans :”—“ Tf Bread one needs in vain one feeds.” Our Bread was evolved from the Old Eastern flat-cake, which was first leavened by the Egyptians, who probably taught the Greeks how to make it. From these latter the Romans acquired the knowledge, which in due course they passed on to the conquered Britons. It is named from the verbal root “ bre owan,” to brew, in allusion to the working of the yeast as leaven, thereby setting up alcoholic fermentation, with the production of some alcohol, and carbonic acid gas, the former of which slowly _ evaporates. The common household loaf of our daily Bread holds its $ per cent of alcohol. . Yeast, “levain” (Saccharomyces cerevisie), consists of fungi BREAD. 111 growing rapidly in fermenting wort, and setting up a similar fermentation in beers, bread, and other starchy matters into which they are introduced. Yeast consists of aggregations of minute cells, each cell constituting a distinct plant. It is employed for inducing fermentation in the making of malt liquors, and of distilled spirits, being also the agent in setting up the panary fermentation of Bread, whereby the Bread- substance is rendered light, porous, and spongy by its aeration throughout. Beer yeast may be employed as an antiseptic stimulant. German yeast is the ordinary yeast, collected, drained, and pressed until nearly dry, in which condition it can be kept good for several months. Patent yeast is gathered from a wort of malt and hops, and treated in a similar way to. German yeast. Leaven is called in Greek Zymee, a yeast. or ferment ; and hence the term “ zymotic” has come to express, and signify a class of diseases due to injurious ferments. There is now made a product, Levurine, as derived from the yeast of beer, possessing remarkable powers of destroying the micro- organisms which underlie boils, carbuncles, and abscesses. It is a coarse, brown powder, with a characteristic yeasty odour, and is given in doses of from one to three teaspoonfuls, in water, or milk, or in cachets. Likewise a yeast poultice is antiseptic, and a spoonful of fresh yeast is a good remedy for “furun- culosis,” or an outbreak of boils. These are immediately due to penetration of the skin from without by the staphylococcus pyogenes, and other allied micro-organisms; so that external germicides are called for ; but, probably, also, there is a predis- posing condition of the whole system at the time (the urine being alkaline); therefore such medicinal remedies as fresh lemon-juice, and orange-juice, will be likewise helpfully alterative. There are certain objections to be made against using yeast for leavening Bread, because of chemical changes which follow, so that some of the flour’s nourishing constituents are lost thereby. English baking powders are made exclusively of tartaric acid, with carbonate of soda, because this acid is cheaper than the superior cream of tartar (an article very commonly adulterated), which works more slowly in the baking, and leads to lighter bread; also arrowroot is mixed with the baking powder for keeping it dry, otherwise a premature chemical combination takes place between the acid and the alkali (particularly if at all meeting with damp) before the powder comes into use for 112 MEALS MEDICINAL. baking purposes. The products of such combination in the dough are carbonic acid gas (which lightens the Bread,) and some tartrate of soda (which is slightly laxative). Bread laws date back in England certainly to the time of King John, from whose reign until that of Edward I. (1280) a seal had to be affixed to every loaf in order that none save those of the prescribed size should be sold. Each baker had his own trade-mark, which he was called on to duly register, so that in any case of dispute it was quite easy to trace a loaf to its maker. There were several qualities of loaves always made, the pure white, or Simnel Bread, being then, as now, that of the “ Quality-folk”” ; a Bread somewhat less luxurious was Wastel; next came “ Puffe,” and “ Croquet ” ; then Trete (or brown Bread); and finally the black Bread of rye called ‘all sorts.” In olden days Bread was never sold on the baker’s premises: it had to be taken to the regular Bread market in vaniers ; and the usual way of obtaining it was through the regatresses, who purchased thirteen loaves at the market for the price of twelve, and then hawked them from door to door, their profit being the sale of the odd loaf in each “ baker s dozen.”” Brown Bread is wheaten Bread made from unbolten flour, so that the bran remains included. In the United States it is commonly called Graham Bread. Four or five hundred years ago this kind of Bread, which was then the staple food of the poorer classes, was known as “ trete, or “ bis, being made of meal which was only once bolted: and to this day bran is called “ trete”’ in the ‘‘ North Countree.” “The farmer has brown Bread as fresh as day, And butter fragrant as the dew of May. A widow has cold pye. Nurse gives you cake. From gen’rous merchants ham, or sturgeon take.” The origin of wheat is hidden in obscurity ; no other cereal will grow in so many climates as wheat, and none of the other cereals are so suitable for making Bread. Wheat grain contains everything necessary for supporting life. All the thirteen minerals, besides flesh-formers, body-warmers, and fatteners, . are packed up in each little grain of the wheat; but, unfor- tunately. most of these nourishment factors are abstracted when the grain is ground by the miller ; he leaves only the fine wheaten flour for making white Bread ; nearly all the minerals are sifted out; and, in fact, little remains for the purpose of bread-making BREAD. 113 besides starch, which only fattens, but does not restore nerve, muscle, or bone. When “ milled” the outermost coat of wheat yields bran, fine pollards, sharps, and middlings, the white flour within being derived solely from the endosperm. Ordinary Bread is usually made from a mixture of “ whites,’ and ‘‘ households.” “Seconds” flour yields a Bread which is richer in proteid than the “ whites,” but the loaf is apt to be rather dark in colour. “ Hovis” flour, prepared by using superheated steam, becomes richer in proteid, and fat, than ordinary flour. The making of Bread from wheaten flour is only possible because this contains gluten, a proteid, or mixture of proteids, which has the peculiar property of becoming viscid when moistened with water. Ifthe viscid mass composed thus is blown out with inter- spersed gas, it has sufficient coherence to remain in the form of a sponge, or honeycomb, instead of collapsing again, and allowing the gas to escape. Most other cereals, such as barley, rice, and oatmeal, do not contain gluten, but possess other forms of proteid which fail to become viscid when wetted, and consequently Bread cannot be made out of these. When Bread is kept it becomes dry from loss of its water, also it becomes stale by the shrinking, and coming together of the wall fibres. In the cooking of Bread a little caramel (or burnt sugar) is produced. New Bread, unless thoroughly chewed, and separated by mastication, offers greater resistance to action upon it by the stomach juices than stale Bread, owing to the tendency of the new, moist dough to clog in close masses. ‘‘ He that will have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding” (Troilus and Cressida). Wheat grain may be used whole as a food, being soaked in water until it swells up, and bursts, and then boiled in milk, with sugar, and other ingredients, thus making the old, and very nourishing mess, formerly called jrumenty, which is seldom seen nowadays on the farmhouse table as of yore. A quaint quondam nursery rhyme, which has an occult significance, runs to this effect :— “Hark! Hark! the dogs do bark, The beggars are come to town ; Some in jags, and some in rags, And one in a velvet gown. Some give them white bread, Some give them brown ; Some take a lon le, And drive secs oer ol ni icigs 114 MEALS MEDICINAL. This disorderly episode must refer to the time when (as Alice learnt Through the Looking-glass) :— “The Lion and the Unicorn Were fighting for the crown.” Prown Bread in which raisins (stoned, and slightly chopped) are mixed, makes a nice loaf which is gently laxative. In the United States Graham Bread is made with milk, and white flour, for afternoon use, whilst for the morning Graham flour is em- ployed, with Porto Rico molasses added. Boston brown Bread is manufactured from mea] of yellow corn, Graham flour, salt, soda, sour milk, Porto Rico molasses, and butter; it is first boiled in a covered mould, and then baked uncovered so as to form a crust. Brown Bread and cherry pudding, is the English analogue of the thick German cherry cake, eaten cold. The bran which is included in wholemeal Bread contains a considerable amount of albuminoid nourishment, as “ cerealin,” this being allied to the solids of milk. It is a soluble nitrogenised ferment, which has a powerful action on starch, converting it rapidly into dextrin, and other similar bodies, thereby actually malting the bread. White wheaten Bread does not contain enough of this albuminoid matter to make it a complete human food; therefore it has been sometimes proposed, and practised, to retain the bran, grinding its silica, and cellulose into a very fine dust; but the realization of this method has proved a failure, and has properly met with the unqualified condemnation of all scientific men. We leave the bran to the animals, which have hitherto consumed 1t: “Some of them, like millers’ horses, are not without evil efiects from the magnesium phosphate, in the bran-forming calculi within their intestines.” Moreover, the husk of whole meal, when used in making Bread, is less digestible than the inner white flour of wheat, whilst the undigested particles will irritate the lining coats of the intestines when passing along. “ Therefore,” says Dr. King Chambers, “white Bread is generally chosen in preference by shrewd working-men who wish to make their money spent in food go as far as it can.” But it must be allowed that our fine white Breads of to-day, from which all the husk is excluded, and which do not contain the lime, are less favourable for building up the bony structures than was the Bread of rye and barley which was pretty general throughout several English counties early in the nineteenth BREAD. 115 century. ‘‘Triticumina ” bread is prepared from the entire wheat grain, including its cerealin; but Dr. Hutchison, who is the best modern authority on foods, and their nutrient values, declares his belief that no dietetic salvation can be obtained by the use of whole-meal Breads. ‘I am no believer,” he says, “in the brown-bread fallacy.” The phosphatides of cereals contain phosphorus, and nitrogen ; their compounds are essential constituents of all the nuclei (or central vitality) of cells in bodily structures, and therefore they are prominent ingredients in nerve tissues. The chief restorative phosphorus-principle is known as lecithin: it is procurable from the cereals, from eggs, apples, and other food sources. For some unhealthy conditions of the skin, with tetter, or ringworm (through a predisposition to develop its mycelium), sluggish sores, and other signs of defective nutrition, a diet consisting chiefly of whole-wheat meal, with fresh, ripe, sound fruit, and fresh, succulent vegetables, will prove curative; and at the same time some of the fixed oil expressed from the wheat germs will heal the sores by its outward application. Bread, mixed with sea-water, is now used in Philadelphia for some forms of indigestion. The finest wheat meal, when cooked with fruit, is famous against chronic constipation ; but whole-wheat meal prepared as Bread by simple baking is less nutritious than fine flour similarly prepared. The roller mill has of late dimin- ished the dietetic value of our Bread, because the finer the flour the less nutriment it affords. Furthermore, defective teeth result from a lack of grain sufficiently coarse to require some masticatory grinding. Savages usually possess magnificent molars, mainly because of their Bread, which is composed of grain — roughly pounded between stones, and retaining much of the coarser parts. A Rye contains less gluten even than barley, and thus yields with leaven a heavy, close-grained Bread of darkest colour ; its bran, however well ground, is never absorbed. The latest equivalent to the Pumpernickel, or black Bread of North Germany, is the English “ York Night Bread,” so called because it must be baked throughout a whole night. Rye grains contain a peculiar odorous substance, and make a sour-tasting, dark Bread, which is apt to cause diarrhcea with some persons ; these grains are liable to the attack of a parasitic fungus, and to become “spurred,” being then poisonous to the spinal cord. Bread 116 MEALS MEDICINAL. made of rye flour with which a small quantity of the spurred rye is included, is to be sometimes prescribed for defective spinal energy. Alum, as “ stuff,’ or “rocky,” is mixed with the dough by bakers in general for making Bread (about two ounces to 280 pounds of dough), because it certainly improves the appearance of the Bread, whitens it, and causes the loaves to break more easily when separated from one another. Potatoes, again, are employed by bakers, under the name of “ fruit,’’ for bread-making—one peck to the sack of flour—not as an adulteration for cheapening the produce, but beneficially to assist fermentation; mashed in their skins, and with yeast added, they supply a ferment. “How is Bread made?” asked the Red Queen of Alice (Through the Looking Glass). “I know,” cried Alice, eagerly ; “you take some flour.” “ Where do you pick the flower?” the White Queen asked; “in a garden, or in the hedges 2? ” ‘Well : it isn’t picked at all,” Alice explained ; “ it’s ground.” ““ How many acres of ground ?” said the White Queen. The crust of Bread is shown to contain more proteid, or principal nutriment, than the crumb. Crust coffee is a light, useful drink for invalids, which resembles in colour an infusion of coffee berries, and is made by steeping well-browned, or toasted crusts of Bread in cold water. For making “ Brewis,” take as many crusts, and other fragments of dry Bread as will be required ; put them into a basin; pour over them sufficient boiling milk to well cover them; stand a plate on top of the vessel, and leave them to soak until they have absorbed the whole of the liquid, and are perfectly tender; then mash them to a smooth paste, removing any hard bits; stir in a small lump of fresh butter ; season with salt, and a squeeze of lemon-juice, and serve them hot, or cold, with a jug of butter-milk, or cream. One Tyson, in Manchester, a while ago, achieved fame as proprietor of a house noted for hot buttered toast. It was Tyson’s humour to supply for his customers only chops, steaks, Cumberland ham, hot buttered toast, and insolence. “ The excellence of his ham and toast, and the badness of his manners, were Tyson’s peculiar claims to remembrance. He walked about the place in his shirt sleeves, superintending proceedings, and showing rudeness to his customers. We regret to find that by these means he acquired fame, and wealth.” In the Book oj Nonsense, written by Edward Lear, London (1862), BREAD. 117 and dedicated to ‘‘ the grandchildren, grand-nephews, and grand- nieces of Edward, the thirteenth Earl of Derby,” we read with amusement :— ** There was an old man of the coast, Who placidly sat on a post ; But when it was cold, he relinquished his hold, And called for some hot buttered toast.” This was quite a wise thing to do, seeing that the melted butter would serve admirably as fuel to quicken his bodily warmth. At the ‘Marquis of Granby’s” (of glorious memory) in Pickwick, when Sam Weller paid a visit to Mrs. Weller, his mother-in-law, “the fire was blazing brightly in the bar parlour, and a plate of hot buttered toast was gently simmering before the fire, and the red-nosed man was busily converting a large slice of bread into the same agreeable edible on a long brass toasting-fork. ‘Governor in?’ enquired Sam. ‘He may be, or he may not,’ replied Mrs. Weller, buttering another round of toast for the red-nosed man. ‘ Ask a blessin’, Mr. Stiggins.’ The red-nosed man did as he was desired, and instantly commenced on the toast with fierce voracity.” Quite an important medical art is that of making proper toast for the sick person. Ii the slice of bread is thick, and carelessly exposed to a blazing fire, the outside is charred, and converted into charcoal before the heat can reach the inside. Thus the moisture within is only heated, not evaporated, and makes the inside doughy, or clammy ; and butter, when spread upon this toast, cannot penetrate through into the interior bread, but floats upon the surface in the form of oil, and the result is one of the most indigestible of compounds. The correct way is to’ have the bread stale, and cut into thin uniform slices, and to dry it thoroughly before browning it. Toast of this kind, when moistened with water, or with milk, is easily, and thoroughly acted upon by the digestive glands. But when it is a chip, dry enough to snap, is too dry. A central layer of soft bread lends it unity, and preserves enough moisture to influence the whole. If the intervening bread between the two toasted surfaces is more than a mere hint, then has the toaster failed ignominiously. Such an anomaly is “ like dancing in thin boots surmounted by heavy gaiters.” We remember it was “a lunatic, all gas, and gaiters,” who made love to Mrs. Nickleby, the loquacious mother of Nicholas. a, When sugar is continuously heated, its water is driven off, 118 MEALS MEDICINAL. and presently the sugar grows darker and darker in colour until it is charred black, and becomes on the outside “ caramel,” which possesses disinfecting properties. Similarly, when bread is toasted, its starch is converted by the fire into dextrin, water being driven off, and the dextrin is carbonized, or burnt brown into “caramel,” nearly identical with that of sugar. The toast, therefore, has likewise disinfecting properties, and when soaked in water makes this toast-water antiseptic, so that its adminis- tration in fever, and other septic diseases is a practically scientific proceeding. ‘‘ Our forefathers and foremothers,” says Mattieu Williams, “probably made this discovery through empirical experience when living in country places where stagnant water was a common beverage, and various devices were tried for making it drinkable. When toast-water is prepared by toasting a small piece of bread to blackness, and letting this float on water in a glass vessel, an observer can notice that little thread-like streams of brown liquid are descending from the bread into the water. They denote a solution of the caramel substance, which ultimately proceeds to tinge all the water. It is in just the same way that meat, or game, which is high before being cooked, becomes, if roasted, or baked, similarly carbonized, and browned outside, and thus made sweet.” To cook food au gratin means that the substance is covered with fine bread-crumb, so as to absorb the gravy thereof. “ Gratins ” were originally the browned parts of cooked rice. The French dishes “ au gratin” signify soups, or sauces consoli- dated by dry heat round spongy objects, such as crusts of bread. When the great Duke of Wellington returned to Dover in 1814, after an absence abroad for six years, the first order he gave at the “Ship Inn” was for an unlimited supply of buttered toast. Moore’s pathetic lines, (in The Fire Worshippers, 1839)— ‘* | never nursed a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well, And love me, it was sure to die,” have been adroitly parodied thus— ** T never took a piece of toast, Particularly long, and wide, But fell upon the sanded floor, And always on its buttered side.” _ It is aptly said, “‘ An epicure can breakfast well with fine bread BREAD. 119 and butter, and good coffee.” Nine persons out of ten, when they call a man an epicure mean it as a sort of reproach, as one who is not content with everyday food, one whom plain fare would fail to satisfy; but Grimod de la Reyniere, the most famous gourmet of his day, author of Almanach des Gourmands, (Paris, 1812), said: ‘A true epicure can dine well from one dish, provided it be excellent of its kind. Yes! excellence is the object to be aimed at; if it be but potatoes and salt, let the potatoes be mealy. and the salt ground fine.” Thackeray declared an epicure to be “ one who never tires of brown bread, and fresh butter.” Fried Bread is a good, homely, nutritious dish. ‘‘ Take slices of brown Bread, fry them a nice brown with some dripping (either of beef, mutton, or fowl), and serve warm, with pepper.” “There was a Prince of Lubberland, A potentate of high command: Ten thousand bakers did attend him, Ten thousand brewers did befriend him ; These brought him kissing crusts and those Brought him small beer before he rose.’’* The Art of Cookery. “* Likewise a few rounds of buttered toast,” said Mrs. Gamp, when giving her orders for her tea to Jonas Chuzzlewit’s servant, “ first cuttin’ off the crustes in consequence of tender teeth, and not too many on ’em, which Gamp hisself, being in liquor, struck out four at one blow,—two single, and two double, as wos took by Mrs. Harris for a keepsake, and is carried in her pocket at this present hour along wi’ two cramp-bones, a bit of ginger, and a grater like a blessed infant’s shoe in tin, with a small heel to put the nutmeg in.” “ Toast and water is a friend, a sick- room ally. It is as cooling as the wind of the morning across fields of dew.’ Again, toast swimming in beef-tea constitutes the first solid food that a convalescent patient may take. For Brown Bread soup, stew half a pound of brown bread- crumbs in half a pint of light beer, and half a pint of water ; when these are well blended, add half a pound of brown sugar, and half a pound of stewed French plums; boil all together, and serve hot. Whipped cream will improve the soup, if suitable. In Mrs. Gaskell’s Cranford we read of “‘ Bread-jelly, for which * In imitation of Horace’s Art of Poetry (de arte Poetica), by the author of Tale of a Tub, (W. King, 1709.) ‘‘Coquus omnia miscet ” (Juvenal). 120 MEALS MEDICINAL. Mrs. Forester was famous. A present of this Bread-jelly was the, highest mark of favour dear Mrs. Forester could confer. Miss Pole had once asked her for the receipt, but had met with a very decided rebuff; that lady told her she could not part with it to anyone during her life; and that after her death it was bequeathed, as her executors would find, to Miss Matty. What Miss Matilda Jenkyns might choose to do with the receipt when it came into her possession, whether to make it public, or to hand it down as a heirloom, she did not know, nor would she dictate. And a mould of this admirable, digestible, unique Bread-jelly was sent by Mrs. Forester to our poor sick conjuror. Who says the aristocracy are proud ?”’ In a Choice Manual : or Rare Secrets in Physick and Chirurgery (1653).is the following as ‘‘ a good remedie against the pleurisie ”’ : “Open a white loaf in the middle (new baked), and spread it well with triacle on both the halfes on the crown side, and heat it at the fire ; then lay one of the halfes on the place of the disease, and the other half on the other side of the body directly against it, and so bind them that they loose not, nor stirre, leaving them so a day and a night, or until the imposthume break, which I have sometimes seen in two hours, or lesse ; then take away the Bread, and the patient will immediately begin to spit, and void the putrefaction of the imposthume; and after he hath slept a little, yee shall give him meat; and with the help of God hee shall shortly heale.”’ For ear-ache the country people in some districts pound up the crumb of a loaf hot from the oven, together with a small handful of bruised caraway seeds ; then wetting the whole with some spirit, they apply it for a while to the painful, and swollen part. In former English days the way to “make a Panada” was “to set on the quantity you will make in a posnet of fair water ; when it boils put a mace in, anda little bit of cinnamon, and a handful of currans, and so much bread as you think meet ; so boil it, and season it with salt, sugar, and rose-water; and so serve it.” Muffins consist of a dough made soft with milk, first mixed with German yeast, the white of egg being added, and the dough being put under cover before the fire to rise. When saturated with hot melted butter, the muffin needs a vigorous digestion to negotiate it. Sam Weller told to Mr. Pickwick a story which BROTHS. 121 is much to the point about a man who “killed hisself on principle,” giving the doctor to know he had eaten four crumpets every night for fifteen years “‘ on principle” : “ Four crumpets a night,” said the doctor, “ will do your business in six months.” ‘* Are you sure of that ’ere ?” enquired the patient. “Tl stake my professional reputation on it,” answered the doctor. “ How many crumpets at a sitting do you think would polish me off ?” asked the patient. ‘“ Do you think half-a-crown’s worth would doit?” “I think it might,” said the doctor. ‘ Three shillings would be sure to do it, I suppose?” says the patient. “ Cer- tainly,’ says the doctor. ‘“ Wery good,” says the patient ; “Good night.” Next morning he gets up, has a fire lit, orders in three shillings’ worth o’ crumpets, toasts ’em all, eats ’em all, and so puts an end to hisself.” The crumpet resembles the spongy inside of a muffin. It much resembles a round piece of a blanket soaked in butter, and 1s nearly as indigestible ; the slang title “sudden death’’ has been given to this risky comestible. “ Bread,” said the Psalmist ‘ eaten in sorrow is vain.” Yet for a sick person of feeble digestive powers, and with a capricious appetite, simply-made bread-sauce, which can be most readily prepared, will often prove grateful, and nourishing, being, moreover, suggestive of game, or fowl. Take a pint of milk, a cupful of crumbled bread-crumb, a small onion, a blade of mace, a little pepper, and salt; peel, and cut the onion into quarters, and simmer them in the milk until tender, then take them out; stir the fine bread-crumbs into the boiling milk, and beat this with a fork very smoothly; add the seasoning, and butter, and a little white pepper, and give one more boil. To enrich the sauce, if desired, a spoonful of cream may be added. Time of making will be altogether only half-an-hour. BROTHS. Ir was about the year 1820 that the term Broth was for the first time given to an essential solution of meat, the strength thereot being determined by the weights of the principal ingredients used. ‘In 1740, according to Le Cuisinier Moderne, an extract of meat was prepared in dry tablets “ which might be easily transported, and preserved during a year, or longer.” These dissolved into ex- cellent Broth, though half their solid matter was gelatine. The 122 MEALS MEDICINAL. French Chemist, Chevreul, who examined this extract of meat in 1835, discovered therein the crystallized substance “ creatin,” and thus originated a chemical knowledge of the principles of flesh. The Germans call such an evaporated extract of the stock-pot ** pocket-bouillon,” and the French style it “bouillon sec.” Prout surmised that the active element of sapid meat-extract is an acid, probably the “ inosinic acid ” of Liebig. The French School of Cookery has unanimously adopted the principle that Broth is the foundation of this art, because it is the basis of all sauces ; since, according to the French system, the sauce is the prime element, if not the actual raison d’étre of the entrée which it supplements. For extemporizing, or strengthening Broths “ Le Saveur des Potages”? (known in this country as “ Maggi’s Essence”) is of great value, and importance. It is a highly concentrated liquid essence, which has to be as sparingly employed as though one were making up a prescription ; it is therefore supplied in small bottles which have little curved spouts fitted in the neck, and thus enable the liquid to be dis- pensed drop by drop; the effect of a few drops on a thin Broth, or Soup is almost magical. To make therewith a good cup of Broth: Beat up the yolk of an egg in a basin previously warmed ; add an eggspoonful of the said essence, and fill up the basin with boiling water, stirring well all the time. The “ Maggi” may be had either plain, concentrated, or slightly flavoured with fine herbs. “ French cookery,” said Dumas, “ owes its superiority over that of other nations only to the excellence of its bouillon.” In Devonshire the peasantry make “ Tay-kittle Brath ” (or “sop ”), its ingredients being one slice of bread cut in dice-shaped pieces, one “spit” (i.e., very small piece) of butter, one tablespoonful of milk, one pint of boiling water, with pepper and salt to taste; sometimes chopped leeks being added, when it is called “ licky Brath.” “I allays likes,” says a Devon peasant, “‘ tu put a vew spits ov butter *pon the tap ov a rice pudden; et kep’th’n vrom burning.” A West Devon farmer was invited to dinner, together with one or two other tenants, by his landlord, who noticed that Mr. Tibbs did not eat his soup (vermicelli), but stirred it backwards and forwards with the spoon, whilst a look of disgust overspread his face. The host, addressing him, said, “I fear you do not care for your soup, - Tibbs ; let John take your plate away.” Mr. Tibbs smiled somewhat grimly, and replied, “ Well, zir! I likes a dish of BROTHS. 123 licky-brath, or tay-kittle brath, ov a vrasty mornin’; but, burnish it awl: I niver ciide stomick maggity brath like this es.”’ Beef gives the weakest Broth ; mutton Broth is a little stronger; and chicken Broth strongest of all. ‘‘ Broth can be made, cold in quality, without the application of heat, by digesting half a pound of finely-minced beef with a pint of cold water to which four drops of hydrochloric acid (the basis of table-salt) have been added. The product thus furnished is richer in soluble albumin than when heat is employed. By using rather more of the same acid, but no salt, heat can be applied up to 130° F., and by this method nearly 50 per cent of the meat can be obtained in the broth.” (Yeo) ‘‘ About 80 per cent of the meat-salts pass into the Broth, and all the chlorides, with most of the phosphates.” Poached egg Soup (Thudicum) is a pure soup quickly procur- able, and a very desirable form of nourishment for persons suffering from an irritable, or sore state of the intestinal canal, as in typhoid, or enteric fever. Prepare some standard Broth, delicately flavoured ; then poach some eggs (contained in immer- sion-moulds) in boiling water; trim them, and transfer them to the tureen, and pour the Broth over them. Dice of toast may be added if approved. To prepare an instantaneous Broth, or Bouillon dla minute, as for cases of urgent illness (the cost being then a secondary considera- tion), cut up one pound of very lean gravy beef, and half a boned chicken ; pound these well, and put into a stewpan, with ten grains of salt; pour over the same three pints of water, and heat to the boil, while stirring ; as soon as the boiling has com- menced, add shredded carrots, turnips, onions, leeks, and celery ; boil for twenty minutes, and pass it through a cloth. In this way the bones are omitted, fat is excluded, the meat is much subdivided, and perfectly exhausted of its juices, whilst the time of boiling is confined to twenty minutes. The saucepan must be kept covered during this boiling, else the adage may become unpleasantly verified—‘* He who boils his pot with chips makes his Broth smell of smoke.” Chicken Broth, for women, or children, “‘ can be rendered emollient,” says Dr. Thudicum, “‘ by boiling in it some marsh-mallow root, and barley, sweetening it with Narbonne honey ; boil, skim, and filter.” A remarkable Broth, or Soup is to be made from the cockroach, or blackbeetle, of kitchen familiarity, for proving beneficial against albuminuna, or what is known as Bright’s disease of the kidneys. M. Dagin’s 124 MEALS MEDICINAL. recipe orders thus: ‘ Pound your cockroaches in a mortar, put them in a sieve, and pour over them boiling water, or hot beef-stock ; this constitutes a delicious, and nutritive plat, preferable to bisque.” Plain Broths, and Soups may be poured over crusts (croutons) which have been prepared as follows for weakly persons needing fat, and bodily warmth, whilst the digestion is fair : ‘‘ Remove the crusts from slices of stale loaves, cut into small dice, and then drop them into boiling butter ; shake very gently, but thoroughly, till of a light golden brown; when done, which will be in about a minute, take them up with a skimmer, and lay them in the mouth of the oven on brown paper to dry. The butter must nearly cover'the bread, and must be boiling.” Herrick mentions a quaint belief which persons formerly entertained—that it is lucky to carry a small piece of dry conse- crated bread in the pocket against terrors by day or night :— “If ye fear to be affrighted, If ye are by chance benighted, In your pocket for a trust Carry nothing but a crust: For, that holy piece of bread Charms the danger, and the dread.” BUN. Tue ordinary sweet Bun was originally ‘“‘ Bugne,” a sort of fritter, a kind of bread made with sugar in it, and baked in cakes, generally round. The first mention of Buns occurs in a comedy of 1676; and eighteenth-century literature makes many allusions to this new form of pastry. The name “ bugne ”’ signified “a lump,” and (absit omen!) “a bunion.” Nowadays this popular comestible as a makeshift form of food is spongy, and filling at the price. A plain penny Bun is to be considered more wholesome than the spiced varieties of Bath, and Chelsea. Specially taxing to digestion is the British Museum Bun. In Devon, large, satisfying Buns, made yellow with saffron, are known as “* stodgers,”’ or “‘ busters.” Mr. Tom: Ward, a baker at Tiverton, used some years ago to manufacture a batch of these Buns, very big, which he sold at one penny each; children, on going into his shop, would invariably say, “ Plaize I wants a penny stodger”; or others would ask for “a penny buster.” _ Bath Buns date back to Roman times as to both composition, and shape, the latter being that of the classic “ placenta.” BUN 125 Formerly in England the famous Chelsea Bun house, at the corner of Jews’ Row, (now Pimlico Road), was kept by a Mrs. Hands. So many persons were in the habit of flocking thither on a Good Friday for eating “hot cross Buns,” that on one occasion fifty thousand assembled there, and two hundred and fifty pounds were taken in the day for these Buns only. The Royal Family, and many of the aristocracy used to frequent this house in the mornings ; and Queen Charlotte even presented Mrs, Hands with a silver half-gallon mug containing five guineas. Sir Charles Phillips, writing a few years before the destruction of the Chelsea Bun house, after admitting that for thirty years he never passed the house without filling his pockets, goes on to say: “ These Buns have afforded a competency, and even wealth, to four generations of the same family ; and it is singular about the Buns that their delicate flavour, lightness, and richness, have never been successfully imitated.” Even as late as in 1839 twenty-four thousand Buns were sold there on a Good Friday alone. In many households at the present time a Good Friday Bun is superstitiously kept for ensuring a healthy, and prosperous time until another such Bun comes to be made in the following year. Moreover, the crossed Bun is believed to protect the house from fire, whilst serving to cure diarrhea, as well as all manner of other ailments, in men, and cattle. When used as a remedy the Bun is grated into a warm drink, or a mash, and given at night. A special virtue of this Bun, as the allegation goes, is that it will not grow mouldy like ordinary bread. Loaves of consecrated bread, each marked with a cross, were found at Herculaneum, showing that the hot cross Buns of our day had really a Pagan origin. The Romans called them “ quadra. Earlier still, cakes dedicated by the Jewish women to Astarte, Queen of Heaven (afterwards the Roman Diana), were marked with a cross, which was the symbol of the goddess 3 OF with horns, in allusion to the crescent moon. “In April, 1902 (Pall Mall Gazette), “a baker in a large way of business confessed to making a free use of the cheapest sherry in his manufacture of Good Friday Buns, also intermixing therein spices of various sorts, and small currants; but the compound proved abominably indigestible, and the idea of thus eating the Cross seemed little short of barbaric.” c sie In South Africa, at the Cape, is compounded the delicious, and wholesome Grape Bun, “ Moss Bolletje (bun).’”’ moss being the juice 126 MEALS MEDICINAL. of the grape in its early stages of fermentation. This Bun is of excel- lent service against atrophy, and the wasting effects of consump- tive disease. During the wine-making season freshly-fermented grape-juice is commonly used instead of yeast by the country- folk at Stellenbosch, French Hoek, etc, and very nice Buns are prepared therewith. Or, if grapes cannot be had, then raisins are taken, and put in a jar which is previously seasoned by having had fermenting grapes, or raisins, within it; the jar is not washed with water when about to be used, but generally dried in the sun, and kept closely covered from dust, being only employed for making the “‘ moss” therein, so as to ensure its fermenting in a given time when thus prepared in the seasoned jar, or calabash. Again, for these Grape Buns the following is another old Dutch recipe: “A good batch”: Take two pounds of raisins, sixteen pounds of flour,, three and a half pounds of sugar, eight eggs, one and a half pounds of butter, one pound of fat, two tablespoonluls of aniseed, two grated nutmegs, one tablespoonful of finely-powdered cinnamon ; cut the raisins, or mince them, put them into a jar, or calabash, with twelve cupfuls of lukewarm water, on the stove, or in the warmest part of your kitchen for twenty-four hours, till they ferment ; have ready the flour, in which, after it is well mixed with the sugar, spices, etc., make a hole, and strain into it the fermented juice of the raisins; sprinkle some flour over the top, and set to rise for some hours in a warm place; then melt the butter and fat, warm the milk, whisk the eight eggs (yolks and whites separately), mix the whole well together into a stiff dough, and knead with the hand for quite three-quarters of an hour ; let it stand overnight to rise; in the morning roll into Buns ; set in buttered pans in a warm place; let them rise for half-an-hour ; brush with the yolk of an egg, and some milk, and sugar ; bake for half-an-hour in an oven heated as for bread. BUTTER. As everyone knows, Butter is the fatty portion of new milk. The name is probably derived from the Greek word “ Bous,” a cow. Butter contains 80 per cent of fat, and therefore is capital food for supplying bodily warmth through its combustion in the system. It can be taken in large quantities if well mixed with starchy food, such as mashed potato ; though, when made BUTTER. 127 hot, Butter develops butyric acid, which provokes indigestion with many persons. Butter, after separation from the milk by churning, and leaving the butter-milk behind, yet retains a small percentage of the casein, or curd, with some water, and a certain amount of mineral matters ; whilst this water includes a little lactic acid (derived from the milk-sugar), and traces of other constituents. By reason of the residual casein, and the water, Butter soon turns rancid, unless melted, and boiled down until the water is driven off; if then strained through muslin, so as to remove the flakes of casein, it will, when cool, in a corked bottle, keep almost indefinitely. The most striking chemical characteristic of Butter-fat is its richness in those fatty acids (butyric, caproic, capric, and caprylic) which are soluble in water, so that the Butter-fat approximates, by its olein, closely to the fat of the human body. As a matter of fact, Butter is the most easily digested of fatty foods, and has a magnificent record on this score, no less than 98 per cent of it being assimilated by the body; thus going to prove that a meal of bread, fresh Butter, and sound new cheese, with lettuce, young watercress, or some such light vegetable addition, is about the most wholesome, and nutritious fare which a man can choose. Freshly-made dairy Butter can be taken freely, whilst uncooked, against chronic constipation with marked success, especially by elderly persons, or by thin persons of fairly active habits. Also against obstructive appendicitis, which has of late become so seriously common, fresh Butter (if otherwise suiting the digestion) will assist capitally to lubricate the affected portion of intestine, and to pass on crude, offending impediments, such as hardened excrement, or tough portions of meat, vegetable fibre, seeds, and the like. The human intestine (larger bowels) contains an enormous quantity of bacteria (most numerous herein), this bacterial flora constituting a third part of the human excrement. Now, so long as the microbes remain within the intestine very few of them get into the general circulation of the blood, or humours, whilst with these few the organism is able to cope. But stagnation of the intestinal excrement within its walls increases the amount of harmful phenol and indol, which are products of this intestinal flora of bacterial microbes, and which then become mischievously absorbed by the intestinal walls; they pass on into the general circulation, and give rise to symptoms of a more or less serious 128 MEALS MEDICINAL. nature. For which reason the salutary effects wrought by good Butter, and similar animal fats, in oiling the intestinal machinery for its better, and easier working, is made manifest. _ Thomas Parr, the “ olde, olde, very olde man,” who lived to the authenticated age of one hundred and fifty-two years, in Shropshire, and then died through a change of foods when invited to stay with the Earl of Arundel (in 1635), has been des- cribed respecting his methods for longevity, by John Taylor, the Water Poet, in lines written a month before Parr’s death :— ** He was of old Pythagoras’ opinion That green cheese is most wholesome with an onion : His physic was good butter, which the soil Of Salop yields, more sweet than candy oil ; And garlick he esteemed above the rate Of Venice treacle, or best mithridate. Coarse *meslin bread ; and for his daily swig Milk, butter-milk, and water, whey, and whig : Sometimes metheglin, and by fortune happy He sometimes sipped a cup of ale most nappy. He entertained no gout ; no ache he felt ; The air was good, and temperate where he dwelt.” Butter-makers have recently learnt to regard as friends those special microbes, without the presence of which the cream does not become sour. All good Butter is churned from cream which has been allowed to stand for this purpose a certain number of hours, partly because soured cream yields more butter than fresh cream, but chiefly because the flavour of the Butter is improved in this way. It is now believed that better flavours can be pro- duced by certain bacteria over those of others, and therefore these higher-class bacteria are purposely put into cultivation. Also the quality of Butter depends intimately on the breed of cows from which the milk is got, as well as on the nature of their food ; and its degree of excellence becomes determined by the place where it is grown, and the mode of its preparation. This influence of the food was expressed by the rustic writers of Rome, in the saying, “ Pabuli ‘sapor apparet in lacte”—“ By the milk we discover what has been the cow’s fodder.” Of the prejudicial flavours imparted to milk by food containing wild plants of the garlic tribe, and other such vegetables as generate sulphuretted hydrogen through their essential oils, only smal! portions are . Meslin bread, or Mashlum, was made of a mixture of several kinds of our. , ne a Re ¢ Sa de e cat if * ie ~ : - BUTTER. 129 retained by the Butter. Cabbages, and turnips are more subject to this imputation, but their unwelcome odours can be made to volatilize. The most useful varieties of Butter next to the English are Irish, Dutch, Holstein, Swiss, Norman, and that from the Channel Islands. Butter was first used as a food by the Hebrews. The early Greeks and Romans employed it as a medicine, or ointment. Perfumed Butter has been a recent fad in the refined ! homes of New York. Pats of Butter are wrapped in muslin, and laid in glass dishes on beds of roses, violets, and carnations, with other blossoms heaped over them, so that the Butter becomes impregnated with the various flower odours. The Mad Hatter, ‘‘ Alice in Wonderland,” took his watch out of his pocket on being asked by Alice what day of the month it was. ‘“ Two days wrong!” sighed the Hatter; “I told you Butter wouldn’t suit the works.’ ‘‘ But it was the best Butter,” meekly replied the March Hare. Again, thus sang the “ aged, aged man in a song of his own invention ” :— **T sometimes dig for buttered rolls, Or set limed twigs for crabs. I sometimes search the grassy knolls For wheels of hansom cabs. And that’s the way (he gave a wink) By which I get my wealth ; And very gladly will I drink Your honour’s noble health.” What is called by the cook “ clarified ” Butter, which is merely melted into a yellow, clear, oily liquid, such as is served at some tables with asparagus, will, more often than not, ferment in the stomach, especially if animal food be eaten therewith so as to stimulate a flow of acid gastric juice. Among the Jews an established rule obtains forbidding Butter to be eaten until some considerable time after a meal of animal food. Never- theless, in the grim kitchen of old Fagin, the Jew, buttered toast was greedily demanded by Noah Claypole at breakfast as part price for playing the spy upon Nancy (Oliver Twist, by Charles Dickens, 1838). It was Ebenezer Elliott, the Corn-law Rhymer, of Sheffield (1831)—(‘‘a voice” said Carlyle “from the deep Cyclopean forges ;”)—who in his early days “ had to rock the cradle, and stir the melted butter,” with the result that “ the poetry was spoilt, and the melted butter burnt.” 9 130 MEALS’ MEDICINAL. ' Bread-and-Butter is the reputed food of adolescence. ‘“‘ She’s but a bread-and-butter Miss.”” Anthony Trollope, in Barchester - Towers, talks of the “ wishy-washy bread and butter period of life.’ ‘‘ Crawling at your feet,” said the Gnat to Alice (Through the Looking Glass), “‘ you may observe a Bread and Butter Fly ; its wings are thin slices of bread and butter, its body is crust, and its head is a lump of sugar ; it lives on weak tea, with cream in it.’— “ The fav’rite child that just begins to prattle, And throws away his silver bells, and rattle, | Is very humoursome, and makes great clutter! Unless appeased with frequent bread and butter.” A curious piece of folk-lore finds credence in South Maryland. It is gravely stated there, that if the mother of twin children will spread with Butter a piece of bread for a boy, or girl suffering from whooping cough, the little one, on eating this specially endowed food, will be speedily cured. Two sons of the State Governor’s wife are twins, and recently various anxious mothers have been appealing to the lady of the Executive Mansion, both in season and out of season, for her good offices in this direction. No social function is too important for the applicants to forego their importunities. The doorkeeper is continually bringing in solicitations for pieces of bread buttered by the said lady. She is too kind-hearted to refuse; so the Ggvernor’s wife, after the fashion of Charlotte in Thackeray’s version of the Sorrows of Werther :— “ Like a well-conducted person Goes on cutting bread and butter.” Not a few invalids of sensitive digestion find they cannot eat ordinary shop Butter without subsequent disturbance of the liver ; and the probable reason is that microbes have become developed therein, or their mischievous toxins are engendered ; whereas the same delicate persons can eat a fair quantity of the day’s dairy Butter, absolutely fresh, without incurring a disturbed digestion some eight or ten hours afterwards. _ Professor Koch, of Berlin, has sagaciously told people, as a point worthy of thoughtful notice, that whilst being so nervous about milk, they forget Butter, in which bacilli (of fever, con- sumption, and other diseases) are equally likely to be nurtured. Nevertheless, so commonly given to the consumption of bread and CABBAGE, 131 butter are the children of the English working-man, that it has been well said this refection goes on daily upon ten thousand London doorsteps. A pithy old English proverb puts it: ‘When the cook and the maid fall out, we shall know what has become of the butter!” It was Charles Lamb who pronounced about Munden, the Actor: ‘‘ His gusto antiquates, and ennobles what it touches ; his pots and his ladles are as grand and primal as the seething pots and hooks, seen in old prophetic vision. A tub of butter contemplated by him amounts to a Platonic idea. He understands a leg of mutton in its quiddity. He stands wondering amid the commonplace materials of life, like primeval man with the sun, and stars about him.” CABBAGE. “ THE time has come,” as said the Walrus (Alice and the Looking Glass) :— “To talk of many things ; Of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax ; of Cabbages, and kings.” Because apt to ferment, the whole tribe of Cabbages, or Coleworts, is named botanically Brassicacew, “ apo tou brassein.”’ They all contain much nitrogen, or vegetable albumin, with a considerable quantity of sulphur, which latter constituent makes them admirably antiseptic; nevertheless, they tend strongly to putrefaction, and when undergeing this process they give off very offensive odours. The white Cabbage is most putrescible, the red most emollient, and pectoral. All the Coleworts are called “Crambe,” from krambos, dry, because they - dispel drunkenness. A Greek proverb said, “‘ Dis crambee thanatos,” signifying the phrase, “‘ Death by twice Cabbage” ; “ the single portion is excellent, the double dish is death ;’’ or, as the Latin maxim of Juvenal renders it, “ Occedit miseros bis repetita.” Most probably the real intention of these warnings was, as old Fuller thought, ‘‘ Crambe bis cocta.” ‘‘ Colewort twice sodden ” (meaning likewise “ stale news ’’) conveys the fact that “ Crambe is a kind of Cabbage which, with vinegar, being raw, is good, boiled better, but twice boiled, noysome to the palate, and nauseous to the stomach.” Athenian doctors prescribed cabbage for young nursing mothers who wished to see their babes grow lusty, and strong. ‘“‘ Honest old Cato,” wrote Culpeper, (1650), 132 MEALS MEDICINAL. “used no other physick than the Cabbage.” “Cato, the Censor, with his strong sense, and his hard-headedness, may probably be taken as the representative of the best household mediciner known to the Romans in their brave days of old. His system of therapeutics was as simple as that of Sangrado, only he used Cabbage instead of water. This homely vegetable was to Cato a veritable panacea; given internally, or applied externally, it was ‘ ad omnes res salubris.’ It cured constipation, and dysentery, headache, and lumbago; retention, and incon- tinence of urine ; pains in the liver, and affections of the heart, colic, toothache, gout, and deafness, insomnia, ophthalmia, gangrene, abscesses, and nasal polypi. It was as efficacious in pulmonary consumption as the modern Lacnanthes, as potent in cancer as violet leaves ; in short, Cato might have anticipated for the Cabbage a famous epitaph, transcribing it as ‘ Nihil tetigit quod non curavit.’”’ But the secret of his Cabbage cure lay in the mode of its administration, about which he made no mystery. For instance, “if one was afflicted with colic, take a Cabbage, and, after letting it simmer well in boiling water, strain thoroughly ; season with salt, cumin seed, oil, and wheat- flour ; then put it on the fire again, and let it simmer for a time, after which take it off to cool. Whilst drinking this potion every morning, during the course of treatment, let your principal food be Cabbage.’ In surgery, likewise, Cabbage was esteemed by Cato as “the sovran’st thing on earth for bruises, ulcers, abscesses, fistule, and dislocations.” ‘‘ An injection of Cabbage- water mixed with wine restored hearing to the deaf; whilst a strong decoction of Cabbage, if inhaled at intervals throughout three days, made polypi fall out of the nose, and destroyed the roots of the disease.” It should be said that other writers of repute have regarded this vegetable with much less favour. Burton, (Anatomy of Melancholy), in the chapter entitled ‘‘ Bad diet a cause of melancholy,” disallows for eating, among other herbs, especially Cabbage. ‘‘ It causeth troublesome dreams, and sends up black vapours to the brain.’’ Galen, too, of all herbs condemns Cabbage. ‘‘ Anime gravitatem facit”—‘‘ it brings heaviness to the soul.” And, as Charles Lamb slyly adds when writing on the “ Melancholy of Tailors ” : “ It is well known that this vegetable, Cabbage, has from the earliest periods which we can discover constituted almost the sole food of this extraordinary race of people.” John Evelyn (1695), long after Cato, whilst CABBAGE. 133 praising the Cabbage for many curative virtues, added: “ It must be confessed this vegetable is greatly to be accused for lying undigested in the stomach, and provoking eructations.” And Culpeper told a like tale respecting the men, and women of Cato’s time: “I know not what metall their bodies were made of; this I am sure: Cabbages are extremely windy, whether you take them as meat, or as medicine! yea, as windy meat as can be eaten, unless you eat bagpipes, or bellows.” Dean Ramsay tells about a Scotch farmer who at a tenants’ dinner was asked by a Duchess to take Cabbage, and excused himself with the delicate insinuation, ‘‘ Disna’ your grace find it a verra windy vegetable ?”’ Partridge and Cabbage suit the patrician table, whilst bacon and Cabbage better please the taste, and the requirements of the man in the street. When fresh and young, and properly cooked, Cabbages are’ of excellent service against scrofula, their innate sulphur being a very salutary constituent. For a swollen face, to keep applied thereto a Cabbage leaf, first made quite hot at the fire, will afford relief (the same being likewise an Irish remedy for a sore throat), emollient warmth being thus secured, together with certain antiseptic exhalations from the steamy leaf. Also, if laid over a blistered surface, a large leaf of common white Cabbage, gently bruised, will promote a free discharge from the denuded skin; similarly, too, when placed next the skin in dropsy of the ankles. Fermented white Cabbage was a well-known dish of the old Romans; and one of our early rustic authors advised to eat a plateful of this sour dish for dessert, ‘‘ which would so quickly digest the dinner just swallowed that another such meal might be relished immediately afterwards, and eaten with impunity.” For the production of this so-called Sauer-kraut the white Cabbage is shredded, mixed with salt in fine powder sufficient to produce a good pickle, then placed in a barrel, or other such vessel, in a compressed state, and allowed to undergo. the lactic acid, or sour milk fermentation, by which the sugar becomes transformed into lactic acid, whilst giving to the product its name of “Sour Cabbage.” In the Sauer-kraut of Germany the Cabbages are similarly allowed to ferment, so that by bacterial development the vegetable starch becomes converted into sugar, and then into vinegar. When prepared for cooking, Sauer-kraut has to be washed, and thus relieved of its excess of acid; it is 134 MEALS MEDICINAL. next stewed with butter, or some other wholesome, and palatable fat, and some standard broth, or stock, and when it is nearly done a little good wine is generally added. “The acme of all accompaniments ” (says Dr. Thudicum), “ not even excepting roast pheasant, is roast partridge with Sauer-kraut.” The juice of red Cabbage, made with sugar into a syrup, but excluding all condiments, is of excellent remedial service. in bronchial asthma, and for chronic coughs. Pliny commended the juice of a raw Cabbage, together with a little honey, for sore and inflamed eyes, when moist and weeping, but not when. dry, and dull. For the scrofulous, mattery eye-inflammation of infants, after the eyes have been cleansed thoroughly every half-hour with warm water, their sockets should then be packed repeatedly . with fresh young Cabbage-leaves cleaned, and bruised to a soft pulp. The flow of. mattery pus will be inéreased for the first few days,. but presently a cure will become effected. To strengthen weak eyes a poultice is employed in Hampshire, and applied cold, being made of bread-crust, and garden snails without the shells. “ Cabbages in general,” as Evelyn supposed, “are thought to allay fumes, and prevent intoxication; but some will have them noxious to the sight ; whilst others impute this harm to the Cauliflower, about which question the learned are not agreed.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, when growing old (in 1888), wrote :- “ My eyes are getting dreadfully dim: one of them has, I fear, though I don’t quite know, a cataract in the kitten state of development.” In 1772, on Septuagesima Sunday, “a printed paper was handed by a footman in mourning to each grande dame on her leaving the Church of St. Sulpice, Paris, which paper contained a recipe for stewing red Cabbage, this proceeding being carried out in accordance with a provision of the will of the Duchesse d’Orleans, who had died on the previous day.” It appeared that Louis the Fifteenth was so passionately fond of this dish that Madame de Pompadour, when she wished to specially please him, prepared it with her own hands. Sydney Smith (1840), in a letter from Green Street, London, said: “I have heard from Mrs. Grote, who is very well, and amusing herself with Horticulture, and Democracy,—the most approved methods of growing Cabbages, and destroying Kings.” Thomas Carlyle, comparing by parable the Cabbage (which of all plants grows most quickly to completion) with the majestic Oak (which takes CAKES. 135 years to become fully grown), has conveyed the lesson that those animate beings which are the slowest in their gradual progress to maturity, are found when at length they reach perfection, to have become the most richly endowed. The word Cabbage means literally the “ firm head,” or “ ball,” formed by the compact leaves turning closely over each other into a globular form; from which circumstance tailors, who formerly worked at the private houses of their customers, were said to ‘‘ cabbage ” pieces of cloth rolled up tightly into a handy ball, instead of the list, and shreds which they might more fairly consider their due. Sea Cabbage—‘“‘ Sea Colewort,” or “ Kale ”—Crambe maritima, (not the Brassica oleracea), is remarkable as being a soda plant ; this mineral, or earth-salt, prevailing over the potash in its ash, and making it unsuitable for gouty persons. Brussel sprouts, which are dwarf Cabbages, go by the name in Northamptonshire of Buffelgreens. CAKES. In the making of Cakes, which are capital food for growing children, but should be plainer for the sick, good sweet butter, and fresh eggs are absolutely necessary; what is known as ‘* cooking butter,”’ which is a little rancid, should never be used, as is often done, this being a matter of false, and bad economy. Again, a dainty worker is needed to mix the ingredients for Cakes, and care should be taken that the baking-tin is never oiled with grease at all rancid: a very little sweet butter, or best olive oil should be employed. The dark-coloured fruit Cakes should be rather prohibited for invalids, and by persons of weak digestive powers, because of the dried fruits used in making such Cakes, also because they are often compact, close- grained, doughy, and not light. No less a saintly man than Columba learnt his alphabet by the process of eating Cakes which had the different letters stamped on them. At Biddenden, in Kent, some curious Cakes impressed with the print of two women joined together, are distributed, together with bread and cheese, to the poor on Easter Sunday. The story goes that two ladies were actually born there in 1100 joined together at the thighs, and shoulders, and who lived this double life for thirty years... . 136 MEALS MEDICINAL. It was told disparagingly of Marie Antoinette that on hearing the poor people in Paris could not afford to buy bread, she heartlessly replied, ‘‘ Then let them buy Cake.’ But Hall Caine has lately shown that what she really said was, “‘ Let them buy bonaches,” which were really small round Cakes made of the cheapest, and coarsest meal, not wheaten at all; so that Marie Antoinette knew what she was talking about, and was positively suggesting a more attainable, because cheaper, article of suste- nance. The most renowned of Cakes in France is the Gateau des Rois, or ‘‘ Cake of the Three Kings,” in which a bean is concealed. On the Day of Epiphany friends and families assemble to ‘‘ draw the Kings,” that is to say, to draw a piece of a Cake first divided into as many parts as the number of persons present; and he, or she, who gets the concealed bean is deemed to be in luck throughout the ensuing year. In some places the Cake is cut into pieces numerous enough to leave one in excess of the number of drawers ; this piece is called the “ part du bon Dieu,” and is given to the first poor mendicant, or wayfarer. Honey Cake, “ Lecker kuchen” (licker =tasty, toothsome), is probably the oldest known Cake in the world, being described in the works of the ancient Roman rustic writers. ‘It should be preserved,” says Dr. Thudicum, “in its purity of perfection, and eaten annually by all who love the historical evolution of human culture.” This is a Cake made of flour and honey, somewhat fermented, and flavoured with various ingredients. It is of admirable use against chronic constipation. Strange to relate, in some cookery books, both of England, and of Germany, neither honey, nor honey Cake, is as much as men- tioned. A Brioche is a French national rich Cake of superlative quality, to be eaten with hot coffee at breakfast. Another excellent Cake for coffee, or tea, goes in Germany by the name of “Bavarian Wasps’ Nests.” Take a pound and a half of flour, sift it into a large pan, or bowl; add six eggs, half a pound of melted butter (which must not be hot), one pint of cream, or rich milk, one ounce and a half of yeast dissolved in the latter, and a saltspoonful of salt; work all this together until it has become a pretty firm, blistering dough, and let it rise; then remove it to a floured baking board, and roll out the dough into a thin sheet; brush it over with melted butter, and sprinkle it thickly with well-picked and washed currants, almonds blanched and minced, powdered cinnamon, and sugar; then cut the CAKES. 137 dough into strips of three fingers width, roll up these strips from one end to the other, and place the rolls on end in a buttered, high-rimmed form; cover it up with a warm cloth, and let it rise again; bake in a moderately hot oven for three-quarters of an hour. It takes a large form to bake the present quantity. This is a Cake of so rich a quality that the lines of good George Herbert, the Divine (1630), in The Church will not be out of place as associated therewith :— ** What though some have a fraught Of cloves and nutmegs, and in cinnamon fail ? To be in both worlds full [s more than God was, who was hungry here. Would’st thou his laws of fasting disannul ? Enact good cheer ? Lay out thy joy, yet hope to save it ? Would st thou both eat thy cake, and have it ? In Jane Austen’s Emma (1816), old Mr. Woodhouse, the Malade Imaginaire, was sadly put out because of the rich wedding Cake, encrusted with sugar, and surmounted with luscious almond paste, finding high favour at, and after, the wedding of Miss Taylor to Mr. Weston. “ He earnestly tried to dissuade them from having any wedding Cake at all; and when that proved vain, he as earnestly tried to prevent anyone’s eating it. He had been at the pains of consulting Mr. Perry, the Apothecary, on the subject; who, when applied to, could not but acknowledge (though it seemed rather against the bias of his inclination) that wedding Cake might certainly disagree with many, perhaps with most people, unless taken moderately.” There was, nevertheless, a strange rumour in Highbury that all the little Perrys had been seen with a slice of Mrs. Weston’s wedding Cake in their hands, but Mr. Woodhouse would never believe it. : Calverley, when at the school of a Doctor Crabb, -with his playmate Tommy, had the following experience (Gemini et Virgo) :— ‘* We did much as we chose to do; We'd never heard of Mrs. Grundy. All the theology we knew Was that we might’nt play on Sunday ; And all the general truths,—that cakes Were to be bought at four a penny, And that excruciating aches Resulted if we ate too many.” 138 MEALS MEDICINAL. Concerning the Poet Crabbe (1818), a lady told Hallam that “Mr. Crabbe was very good Cake, only there was such a thick layer of sugar to be cut through before you could get at. it.” His manner to women was of the kind called “ philandering,”’ and there is nothing a woman hates more. : In the days of our grandmothers the dough of a home-made Cake was sent sometimes to the bakehouse (instead of heating the domestic oven), being wrapped in a blanket, and pricked on the soft dough with the letters of the owner’s name; and hence originated the familiar nursery rhyme :— “ Pat a.cake, pat a cake, baker’s man ! So I do, master, as fast as I can. Pat it and prick it, and mark it with C, Then it will serve for Charley and me.” “ Pistoris puer, o dulcem mibi tunde farinam, Imo etiam rapida res erit acta manu. Punge decenter acu, tituloque inscribe magistri. Sic mihi, sic Carolo serviet illa meo.” For producing light, sweet, and wholesome Cakes a capital baking-powder is to be made from grape cream of tartar, as manufactured in America, and which is said to surpass all others. CAPER. THE Caper (Capparis), with which we are familiar, as pickled, and used in sauce with boiled mutton at table, is a product of countries which border the Mediterranean; the unopened buds being used for condimentary purposes. Sometimes instead of this (Capparis spinosa), those of the wild Caper (Euphorbia lathyris) or Caper Spurge, are substituted, being used while unripe. Canton used to be famous for its capers, but the English market has cut them out. At one time scented Capers figured largely in the list of every Italian warehouseman, and were an indispensable item in every housekeeper’s list of domestic stores. But they are not now nearly so much used as formerly, when brought from Italy, or Toulon, dried, and pickled in salt or vinegar. They then had an established reputation for curing diseases of the Spleen, whilst externally the pickle of capers was applied against the left side of the belly below the ribs, on linen cloths, or sponges, for reducing enlargements of the same organ. In Germany, Capers are chopped up with anchovies, and spice, CARAWAY SEEDS. 139 and are then spread as a paste on rusks, or toast. Our sauces, as that of Capers, were first used in the place of salt, —in Italian salza,—which the French transformed into saulza, and which ultimately became sauce. CAPSICUM. (CaYENNE, See PEPPER.) CARAWAY SEEDS. Tue well-known aromatic Caraway Seeds of our household cakes, and of the confectioner’s sugared comfits, depend for their cordial and comforting properties, (especially when bruised) on an essential oil which is fragrant, carminative, and spicy. Though originally the herb (Caruwm carui) inhabited Caria, a province of Asia Minor, it is now cultivated for commerce in England, par-. ticularly about Kent and Essex. What are known as Caraway Seeds are in reality the small dried fruit taken from the umbels.. When rubbed in a mortar they give off an agreeable, strong- smelling sort of scent. Chemically, their volatile oil consists of * carvol,” and a hydro-carbon, “ carvene,”’ which is a “‘ camphor.” In Germany the peasants flavour their cheese, soups, and house- hold bread with Caraway Seeds. Also in Germany, as well as in Russia, a favourite liqueur, Kummel, is prepared from the Caraway, whilst the seeds are given for hysterical affections, being finely powdered, and mixed with ginger and salt for being spread with butter on bread. The “ powdered seed put into a poultice taketh away blacke and blew spots of blows, and bruises.” The oil, or seeds of Caraway do sharpen vision, and promote the secretion of breast-milk. Therefore dim-sighted men, and nursing mothers, may rejoice in eating seed-cake. This was formerly a standing institution at the feasts given by farmers to their labourers at the end of wheat sowing. Roasted apples are served at table in Trinity College, Cambridge, together with a small saucerful of Caraway seed. For the flatulent gripings of infants a good Caraway julep may be made by infusing half an ounce of the bruised seeds for six hours in half a pint of cold water, covered over ; then pour off the liquor, strained through muslin, and sweeten it to taste ; from one to three teaspoonfuls may be given to a baby for a dose. As a draught for flatulent colic in the adult, twenty grains of the 140 MEALS MEDICINAL. powdered seeds may be taken, with a lump of sugar, in a wine- glassful of hot water. But narcotic effects have been known to follow the chewing of Caraway Seeds in excess, such as two or three ounces at a time. In the north of England an oaten cake made with treacle, and Caraway Seeds, is commonly eaten at breakfast. A poultice of crushed Caraway Seeds steeped in hot water to the consistence of a pulp, and applied within muslin around a sprained joint, will afford speedy relief. The young roots of Caraway plants as cultivated in Kent, and Essex, may be sent to table like parsnips; they warm and stimulate, and strengthen a cold languid stomach. CARROT. THE Garden Carrot (Daucus carota), an umbelliferous plant, is so common a vegetable with us all as not to need any descriptive preliminaries. The root contains an essential oil, which is fragrant, aromatic, and stimulating. Upon this much of the virtues depend. Carrots are also rich in sugar, both cane, and fruit, in kind, to the amount of nearly 10 per cent. Their juice when expressed affords “carotin,” in red crystals, with pectin, albumin, and the volatile oil already mentioned. The chief virtues of the Carrot lie in the strong antiseptic qualities which it possesses, as preventive of putrescent changes either within the body, or when applied externally. The sugar of Carrots can be collected from their inspissated juice, and used at table, being excellent for the coughs of consumptive persons. At Vichy, where derangements of the liver, and of the biliary digestion, are specially treated, Carrots in one form or another are served at every meal, whether in soup, or with meat, or as @ vegetable dish, considerable efficacy for cures being attributed to them. For preparing Carrot juice, rub cleansed Carrots with a grater, and squeeze their juice through a clean cloth ; then boil it, with, or without sugar, skimming carefully the while. When it no longer froths take it off the fire, and let it cool. Then strain it through a cloth, and pour it into glasses. A teaspoonful thereof may be taken several times in the day for subduing a troublesome cough, or as a quieting nervine cordial. Confectioners often mix the pectin of Carrots, residing principally in their outer rind, with fruit jelly as a diluent. CARROT. 141 But “ the Carrot when boiled, or stewed, cannot be regarded,” says Dr. Hutchison, “ as at all a digestible form of food ; nor is. it easily disposed of by the stomach ; five and a half ounces of the cooked root remain there for three hours and twenty minutes.”” The yellow core of the Carrot is the part which is difficult of digestion by some persons, not the outer red layer, the thickness of which is a test of the goodness of the root. For a Potage of Carrots (Creole), “‘ Clean, and cut up fine, four very red Carrots, two large onions, one turnip, and two sticks of celery. Put these to fry with a piece of butter the size of an egg, and about a teaspoonful of sugar. Brown slightiy, and pour in four or five teaspoonfuls of boiling water. Simmer for a quarter of an hour, and turn all into the soup kettle, with salt and pepper to taste, adding a bouquet of herbs, thyme, parsley, a few cloves, and a bay-leaf, tied together with thread. Pour in a quart of boiling water; cover, and simmer gently for at least two hours; the vegetables must become perfectly soft. Mash through a sieve, and return to the fire, adding a pint of milk; when boiling stir in a teaspoonful of flour that has been well blended in a little cold water, or milk. Let it boil a minute or two, and serve at once with croutons.” Being boiled sufficiently in a little water, and mashed into a pulp, Carrots will sweeten, and heal a putrid indolent sore if applied fresh from time to time. The Carrot poultice was first used by Salzer, for mitigating the pain, and correcting the stench of foul ulcers. Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, when writing to Dr. W. Hunt, 1863, tells him how a man’s heel which was severely wounded at the battle of Fredericksburg was treated: ‘“ Dr. Bigelow does nothing but keep the wound open, making the patient use for this purpose a little plug of Carrot, which is handy enough, and seems to agree very well with the wound.” “The great Achilles, who had shown his zeal In healing wounds, died of a wounded heel. Accursed heel, that killed a hero stout, Oh! had your mother known that you were out, Death had not entered at the trifling part, Which still defies the small Chirurgeon’s art With corns, and bunions, (not the glorious John Who wrote the book we all have pondered on), Big tender bunions, bound in fleshy hose, To Pilgrim’s Progress unrelenting foes.” 142 MEALS MEDICINAL. _ When Carrots are eaten as a vegetable, remarkably little of their solid nutriment is so digested as to become absorbed into the system, but this passes off from the bowels as excrementitious waste, (to the extent of nearly 40 per cent of the vegetable taken), though without causing diarrhcea, or other intestinal disturbance. Dishes at table which contain Carrots, patticularly in purée, are said to be “a la Crecy.”’ A tea made from the Carrot plant, sliced root, and leafy top bruised, some of which tea is drunk each night and morning, proves of excellent use when a dis- position to gouty acids, and to gravel prevails. If cows are fed long on Carrots, they begin to pass bloody urine. In one thousand parts of the Carrot, there are ninety-five of sugar. and only threé of starch. Recently M. Charrin kept some rabbits fed on Carrots which had been sterilised of their microbes, whilst other rabbits were kept on Carrots still retaining their microbes from the soil. The former animals soon died from corrupt products within their intestines ; but the latter rabbits continued to thrive. A Manchester physician has told recently of an alleged cure for consumption by the simple remedy of eating raw Carrot ; which method certainly seems to have proved itself well worth a trial. In the British Flora Medica, 1830, it is stated, “ Margrat directs that the recent roots of Carrot should be cut, well washed, and beaten into a pulp, from which the juice is to be expressed through a sieve, and reduced by heating to the consistence of honey, in which state it may be used at table instead of sugar, and is well adapted for the consumptive coughs of young children ; also against worms.” For delicate persons, who find it best to dine in the middle of the day on plain foods, an excellent supper vegetable is a iair- sized Carrot boiled whole so as to retain its aromatic properties ; then split into quarters, and warmed afresh for being served hot. It acts as a nervine sedative, whilst being cordial and restorative. A sense of mental invigoration will follow, and the digestion of this estimable root will be readily performed, without preventing the sleep. To make a purée of Carrots: take one pound of cleansed Carrots, peeled and washed, put them into cold water with a little salt, bring them to the boil, then strain and rinse them, and place them in the stewpan, with enough light stock to _ cever, adding a dust of castor sugar. Simmer the Carrots until CAUDLE. 143 tender, then rub them into a paste with three plainly-boiled potatoes, mashing this through a hair sieve (adding a pat of butter, or a little cream, except for a person with disposition to biliousness), stir till boiling, then serve. The small purple flower which grows in the middle of the umbel crowning a full grown Carrot plant, has been found of benefit for mitigating epilepsy. CAUDLE. PRACTICALLY Caudle, so called from the Latin “* Calidus’’ hot, or the old French word “* Chaudel,” is a drink of warm ale made with groats, and given to the sick as a restorative support. It is more frequently composed of warm wine (or ale), mixed with bread, sugar, spices, and sometimes eggs; being administered specially to a woman in childbed (though with doubtful wisdom), and to her congratulatory visitors. ‘“‘ Hark ye, Master Hollytop ! your wits are gone on wool-gathering : comfort yourself with a Caudle” (Sir Walter Scott’s Abbot). For “tea Caudle, make a quart of strong green tea, and pour it out into a skillet (a long- handled metal pot), and set it over the fire; then beat up the yolks of four eggs, and mix with them a pint of white wine, a grated nutmeg, and sugar to taste’; put all together ; stir it over the fire till it is very hot, then drink it in china dishes.”— Compleat Housewife, 1736. When Harley (in the Man of Feeling, 1771) “ came downstairs to set out for London, he found his aunt in the parlour with a tear on her cheek, and her caudle cup in her hand ; she knew enough of physic to prescribe against going abroad of a morning with an empty stomach: and she gave her blessing with the draught.” ' For old-fashioned brown Caudle: stir two tablespoonfuls ot oatmeal into a pint of water, and add the thin rind of a lemon, a blade of mace, and a tablespoonful of brown sugar. Let all boil together : then strain the liquid, and add a pint of mild ale. Warm it for use. A little grated ginger is often put into this Caudle. The old-fashioned Caudle-pot was of glazed Delft- ware, holding about a quart, and having a small curved spout which went into the mouth of the drinker. Such a pot (now much sought after by collectors) is to be seen among the treasures at Lilford Hall, Northants. e 144 MEALS MEDICINAL. CAVIARE. THE salted roe of the Sturgeon, known as far back as in Shakes- peare’s day (who spoke of it as ‘ Caviare,’ but not appreciated by the multitude), has been humorously styled “ salt blackberry jam.” Some persons deem this commodity delicious, whilst others maintain it to be intolerably nasty. Its parent Sturgeon abounds on the southern coast of Russia, being taken for its Caviare, chiefly at Astrachan. There are two kinds of the roe ; one of a light-grey colour, and semi-liquid, called “ fresh,” of which the Germans are very fond, but which is little known in England; the other kind is of a darker hue, containing the eggs of the roe crushed, and strongly pressed together, so that much of the moisture has been squeezed away. Out of Russia, Caviare is a chaudfroid at table, being eaten cold on hot toast. In England it is served—quite as a mistake—at the end of dinner, when the appetites of the guests are already satisfied ; but in Russia and France it is more wisely regarded as a hors d’cuvre, always appropriate at luncheon, and usually acceptable as a whet before dinner. Caviare is correctly a prelude to a repast, and a stimulus to the appetite. At the end of dinner it is simply useless, and even mischievous. It should be moderately seasoned with cayenne pepper, and lemon juice. The Russians are quite content to eat their Caviare on slices of bread and butter. It is served on a side-table as a preliminary relish to a meal. Taken medicinally, Caviare, by reason of its abundant fish oil, has been found to occasionally rescue a patient when in the last stages of diabetes ; for which disease fat is indeed a sheet anchor, because of its large sustaining powers, and because it never dietetically increases the formation of sugar in the liver. Dr. Yeo has commended Caviare as a savoury for aged persons, who need some sort of condiment with their food, to promote digestion, and prevent flatulence. One of the best kinds in commerce is the Saxony variety, which is packed in linen, and is less salt than the others. There should be no smell to Caviare, though frequently an acid odour is discerned ; the best sort is neutral, but the poorer kinds usually give an acid reaction to litmus (test) paper, containing also traces of free ammonia, some hydrogen sulphide, and free fatty acids. Logan relates in Joyjul Russia, 1897, “It was the fresh Caviare that I revelled in, which was spread on bread or toast, at the Lakuska, or Russian CELERY. 145 snack luncheon, and was in either case laid on thick, being sprinkled over with chopped onion, and lemon.” At St. Petersburg it is eaten fresh as a hors @@uvre, from glass plates, with glass spoons. As to the Sturgeon (or royal fish) for food, its flesh in firmness, and dark red colour resembles beef, or veal, and is almost as savoury. Robert Lovell declared this fish cleareth the voice. It is called a stirrer, because it stirs up the mud by floundering at the bottom of the water. The Sturgeon is killed in the Mediterranean by blows on the head with heavy clubs, and its spinal marrow is taken out, being then made into patés ; the flesh may be boiled in slices, or stuffed and roasted. This flesh cannot be cooked better than by being roasted thoroughly before the fire, whilst basted liberally with white wine; or the fish will make a delicious soup. Queen Elizabeth was very fond of Sturgeon in puddings, or pies. She ordered sturgeon-pie with rosemary-mead to be prepared for breaktfast. Alexis Soyer taught persons of limited means to smuggle a slice of Sturgeon, with a few chopped shalots, beneath the piece otf meat which was sent to the bakehouse, under cover of the potatoes which accompanied it. George the Second of England, who had a German chef as cook, liked everything very full flavoured, Sturgeon not too fresh being one of his favourite dishes. CELERY. Our garden Celery (Apium sativum) is a cultivated variety of the wild Celery (Apium graveolens) which grows abundantly in moist English ditches, and in water, being unwholesome as a food, and with a fetid smell. But like several other plants of the same natural order (umbelliferous), when transplanted into the garden, dressed, and bleached, it becomes fragrant, healthful, and an excellent condimentary vegetable, besides now taking high curative rank. Our edible celery is a striking instance of the fact that most of the poisonous plants can by human in- genuity be so altered in character as to become eminently serviceable for food, or physic. Thus the wild Celery, which is certainly dangerous when growing as a plant exposed to the daylight, becomes most palatable, as well as beneficial, by having its young, crisp, leaf-stalks earthed up, and bleached during a time of cultivation. It contains some sugar, and a volatile, 10 146 MEALS MEDICINAL. odorous principle, which in the wild plant smells, and tastes strongly, and disagreeably. The characteristic odour, and flavour of the cultivated plant are due to this same essential oil, which has now become of modified strength, and qualities; also when freshly cut our Celery affords albumin, starch, mucilage, and mineral matters. Dr. Pereira showed that it contains sulphur, a known antiseptic, and a preventive of rheumatism, as freely as do the cruciferous plants, mustard, and the cresses. “Celery,” said Mr. Gibson Ward, President of the Vegetarian Society, 1879, in some letters to The Times, “is when cooked a very fine dish, both as a nutriment, and as a purifier of the blood. I will not attempt to enumerate all the marvellous cures I have made with celery, lest medical men should be worrying me en masse. Let me fearlessly say that rheumatism is impos- sible on this diet; and yet English doctors in 1876 allowed rheumatism to kill three thousand, six hundred and forty human beings, every death being as unnecessary as a dirty face.” This herb “ Sallery,”” wrote John Evelyn in his Acetaria, or Book of Sallets, “is for its high and grateful taste ever placed in the middle of the grand sallet at our great men’s tables, and our proctor’s feasts, as the grace of the whole board.” Chemically Celery contains apiin, and a glucoside, or sugar, combined with apigenin (a yellowish sublimable aromatic principle) which is said to be harmful to diabetic sufferers. With certain sus- ceptible persons the cultivated garden Celery disagrees violently, causing severe oppression of the chest, and constrictive trouble of the throat, within two or three hours after eating it; also a swelling of the face and hands, with a general itching of the skin. If plainly stewed in only its own water, Celery retains all the useful properties of the stalks. Again, the solid roots of the plant, if cut into dice, and baked a nice brown, may be ground into Celery coffee, which can be used like ordinary coffee, making a refreshing beverage beneficial to the nervous system when needing recruital. The old Romans employed the Celery plant in garlands, to be bound around the head for neutralizing the fumes of wine. It represented one of the Parsleys. Celeriac is the turnip-rooted Celery, and is likewise cooked as a wholesome vegetable. Or again, for relieving rheumatism, wash the Celery, and cut it into small pieces, and stew them well in quite a little water. Strain this, and put it aside to be taken two or three CHEESE. 147 tablespoonfuls at a time. Dr. Stacey Jones advises Celery-tea, hot and strong (with cream and sugar, if desired), to be drunk by the teacupful three or four times in the day, so as to abate neuralgia, and even sciatica, which it sometimes will do very speedily ; likewise sick headaches. For ordinary stewed Celery as a vegetable dish, cut five or six sticks of Celery into lengths, each about four inches, and stew these in some good brown stock until tender; take out the Celery, and reduce the stock to half the quantity: thicken with a little butter and flour: add pepper and salt: then pour this over the Celery, and serve on a square of toast, very hot. For making Celery water, allow a large head for each quart of water. Cook this when washed, and cut up, until the water is reduced to a pint: then strain, and give a wineglassful two or three times in the day. It is best taken on an empty stomach. CEREALS. (See Baruey, Breap, Putse, Rye.) SeveERaL of the esculent grains contain delicate particles of soda, in the chemical form of a sulphate. This salt when given as a drug is not readily assimilated in the body ; but as obtained by Nature’s method it is resolved into its integral elements, so that the sodium base serves to oxidize sugar in the body, and thus to make it available for cell building, and for rendering the bile soluble. CHAMPAGNE (See Wives.) Dry Champagne contains no appreciable sugar, but when exported it usually has some melted sugar-candy, mixed with brandy, put into it. As the grapes from which it is made are not fully ripe, a second fermentation progresses in the bottled wine during the first year and a half. Carbonic acid gas is thus largely retained, which gives the exhilarating effects of the wine more than from its alcohol, this being in only a small percentage. A spurious Champagne is much manufactured, sometimes from goose- berries or rhubarb, and charged with carbonic acid gas. CHEESE. WueEN milk is coagulated by rennet, or some other acid, it separates into solid curd, and liquid whey (or serum). If the 148 MEALS MEDICINAL. solid parts are collected, and pressed together in a mould, hoop, or vat, they unite to form firm Cheese. Other substances will serve to curdle milk in a like manner, such as the “* Bedstraw ” (Galium, from gala, milk), a hedgerow plant; also the juice of the fig-tree.—Parenthetically the curative virtues of the common hedgerow Galium aparine (goose-grass, cleavers, or hedge- heriff) which are specially present in this herb, and its allies, should certainly be told about. They are of undoubted reputa- tion with reference to cancerous growths, and tumours of a kindred nature. For open cancers an ointment is made from the leaves, and stems, with which to dress the ulcerated parts, and at the same time the expressed juice of the fresh herb is given internally. On analysis this plant is found to contain three distinct acids— the tannic acid (of galls), the citric acid (of lemons), and its own peculiar rubichloric acid. Considered generally, the Goose-grass exercises acid, astringent, and diuretic effects, being remedial therefore against such diseases of the skin as lepra, psoriasis, and eczema, whilst remarkably helpful in some cases of epilepsy. An authorized officinal juice of the herb is dispensed by druggists, as well as a thickened extract; or, this Goose- grass may be readily gathered fresh about most of our rural fields, and waste places, in which it grows luxuriantly, climbing with boldness by its slender, hairy stems through the dense vegetation of our hedges into open daylight, whilst having sharp, serrated leaves, and producing small, white flowers “ pearking on the tops of the sprigs.” The stalks and leaves are armed with little hooked bristles with which they attach themselves to adjacent shrubs so as to ascend in ladder-like fashion. The botanical affix “ aparine ” is derived from a Greek verb, “ apairo,” to lay hold of. Dr. Quinlan, of Dublin, directs that whilst a bundle of ten, or twelve stalks is grasped with the left hand, this bundle should be cut into pieces of about half-an-inch long by a pair of scissors held in the right hand. The segments are then to be bruised thoroughly in a mortar, and applied in the mass as a poultice beneath a bandage. The goose-grass has been employed thus with highly successful results to heal chronic ulcers on the legs. Appellations of “ Cheese-rennet” and “ Cheese-running” are given to its order of herbs. Highlanders make use in particular of the common Yellow Bedstraw (Galiwm verum) for curdling their milk to get Cheese, and to colour it; this grows abundantly on dry banks, chiefly near the sea ; from its small golden flowers CHEESE. 149 is prepared an ointment “ good,” says Gerarde, “‘ for anointing the weary traveller.” This herb is par excellence the Bedstraw of “ Our Lady,” who gave birth to her divine Son, says the legend, in a stable, with wild flowers only for the bedding. Thus in an old Latin hymn she sings right gloriously :— ** Lectum stravi tibi soli: dormi, nate bellule! Stravi lectum foeno molle: dormi, mi animule ! Ne quid desit sternam rosis: sternam fcenum violis, Pavimentum hyacinthis, et proesepe liliis.” “* Sleep, sweet little babe on the bed I have spread thee : Sleep, fond little life, on the straw scattered o’er ! ’ Mid the petals of roses and pansies I’ve laid thee, In crib of white lilies: blue bells on the floor.” Pure milk, when curdled by rennet, leaves most of its fat in the Cheese (casein, or curd, as in Cheddar Cheese) ; but if some of the cream is first removed from the milk by skimming, then a Cheese is produced which is poor in fat, like Dutch Cheese. Good Cheese is composed of from 30 to 50 per cent of water, 20 to 25 per cent of casein, or curd, 18 to 30 per cent of fat, and 4 to 6 per cent of mineral matter. If, again, the curd is pre- cipitated by letting the milk become sour, or if by adding vinegar to it, then a comparatively poor Cheese is the result. Also the nature of the Cheese will depend much on the kind of milk used. When the casein, or curd, is squeezed, and pressed so as to remove the liquid whey, if high pressure is used then hard Cheese is made; if lower pressure is employed, then a soft Cheese is produced, but not of a sort which keeps well. The next step is to ripen the Cheese, a process dependent on bacterial life intro- duced from without, either spontaneously, or by design, the flavour of the Cheese being determined by the particular species of germ which obtains access to it whilst it ripens. The mineral matters contained in Cheese are chiefly salts of lime, and some Cheeses contain further about 2 per cent of milk sugar (lactose). The infiltration of plentiful fat comprised in Cheese makes it always an article of diet not easily dealt with by delicate stomachs, especially when animal food is likewise eaten. The incorporated fat (which is not miscible with the gastric juices) prevents digestive juices reaching the curd thoroughly, so that Cheese should be carefully masticated in order to finely divide its substance before swallowing the same; or, another plan is to rate the Cheese before eating it, or to dissolve it in a little water 150 MEALS MEDICINAL. or milk, (perhaps adding a few grains of alkaline potash to assist the solution). Another reason why Cheese proves indigestible to certain persons, is that during the process of ripening, small quantities of fatty acids are produced, which are apt to disagree in the stomach ; but when once reaching the intestines, Cheese is absorbed as readily, and as completely as meat. To the person who wishes to use Cheese as a substitute for meat (because more economical, and fully as nourishing), the Canadian, or Dutch quality may be best commended, preferably the former; and new Cheese is much to be advocated, before fermentation has begun to any degree of progress. But Cheese should not be eaten at all freely by persons who are leading inactive, indolent lives, since the substantial casein, which is its chief constituent, would to such persons be difficult of digestion; otherwise its component principles furnish fat, heat, and energy to a remarkable degree. The average palate has been taught to relish Cheese after it has undergone butyric acid fermentation (which is, in fact, the first stage of putridity). But years ago, when the small dairymen made plain Cheese for their own use, not for the market, they began to eat it before it was a fortnight old, and took it as freely as they did bread, never dreaming of its proving difficult of digestion, which it never was. Nowadays, to put such simply compressed casein before the lover of modern-cured Cheese, would be to him almost an insult ; and yet from the standpoint of health, it is the only Cheese which can be altogether approved ; though equal praise may be given to the fresh curd, consisting of unaltered albumin of milk, in combination with some fat, a little milk sugar, and some lactic acid. The numerous varieties of mature Cheese are products altered more or less to a degree proportionate with their stage of ripeness. Some soft Cheeses ripen in a week or two; others, of firmer consistence, take many months to mature. Parmesan Cheese, made at Parma, in Northern Italy, from skimmed milk of special cows, and coloured greenish with saffron, is a hard article which requires three years to ripen. Whilst contained in fresh milk the casein, which forms the substantial basis of Cheese, exists in two forms, the soluble, and the insoluble; in the first of these it remains completely dissolved in the milk, whilst in the latter it is made by art to coagulate as insoluble Cheese, but carrying CHEESE. 151 with it the fatty matter, or cream. The coagulation from the soluble to the insoluble form by rennet becomes produced rather mysteriously. The milk sugar is probably changed into lactic acid, which then serves to coagulate the milk-casein. A similar coagulation takes place within the stomach by the acid gastric juice, when milk is had as food. The casein of fresh milk contains more nutritious material than any other food which is ordinarily to be obtained, except that the mineral salts which have been dissolved in the whey are left behind. Cooked casein is more digestible than the raw substance as we for the most part eat it in Cheese, junket, or curds ; but its heated preparations are unknown to our kitchens except as Welsh Rabbit (rare-bit), which is an indigestible dish as generally made. ‘““Here comes the practical question, Can we assimilate, or convert into our bodily substance, the Cheese food as easily as we can flesh food?” “I reply” (says Mattieu Williams) ‘‘ we certainly cannot if the Cheese is raw, but I have no doubt we may do so if it be suitably cooked.” The Swiss make, as one of their plainest and commonest dishes, a Cheese fondu, of eggs, and grated Cheese, with a little new milk, or butter, and cooked in the condition of a paste; or else with slices of bread soaked in a batter of eggs and milk, and covered with grated Cheese, being then gently baked ; by some persons the bread-crumb is likewise grated. In such fashion is concocted the ‘‘ Cheese pudding ”’ of the Swiss, who gain the mineral salts lacking in their Cheese by their accompanying salads of fresh vege- table substances rich in potash salts. Mattieu Williams adds : ‘The following is a simplified recipe of my own : Take a quarter of a pound of grated Cheese, add to it a teacupful of milk, in which is dissolved as much powdered bicarbonate of potash as will stand on the surface of a threepenny piece; also add mustard, and pepper to taste; heat this carefully until the Cheese is completely dissolved ; then beat up three eggs (yolks and whites together), and add them to this solution of Cheese, stirring the whole. Now take a shallow metal, or earthenware dish, or tray, which will bear heating, put a little butter on it, and heat the butter until it frizzles; next pour the mixture into the tray, and bake, or fry it until it is nearly solidified. The bicarbonate of potash is an original novelty which may possibly alarm some readers averse to medicinal agents, but its harmless use is to be advocated for two reasons: First, it effects a better solution 152 MEALS MEDICINAL. of the Cheese curd, or casein, by neutralizing the free lactic acid which inevitably exists in the milk beforehand, as well as any other free acids which are present in the Cheese ; and the second reason is of greater weight: salts of potash are essential for mankind as necessary constituents of his food; they exist abundantly in all kinds of wholesome vegetables, and fruits, and in the juices of fresh meats, but they are wanting in Cheese, having, because of their greater solubility, been left behind in the whey. This absence of potash seems to me to be the one serious objection to a free use of Cheese diet exclusively.” Cheese, says an old adage, digests everything but itself,— “°Tis the art of eating which makes for years,” says a sage proverb, and nothing can better promote this art for personal benefit than a sufficiently accurate knowledge of food elements, and their respective uses in the body. Broadly speaking, the sustenance on which we depend for the support of our lives comprehends animal and vegetable substances, besides our beverages. The more readily and thoroughly these substances are absorbed for supplying our physical needs, the better adapted are they for the purposes required. Residual matters are voided as excrementitious, the fact being, nevertheless, that the feces passed by stool consist not simply of the remains of unabsorbed foods, but also to a considerable extent of superfiuous digestive secretions, and the debris of intestinal linings) On a purely animal diet (of milk, eggs, and beef, or mutton) there is but little primary food-constituent (nitrogen) lost in the excrement ; but when vegetable foods are mainly taken (carrots, potatoes, peas, and the like) the waste of nitrogen is very considerable, amounting, as, for instance, in the case of carrots, to nearly 40 per cent of the whole primary elements consumed. The foodstuffs, again, which provide bodily warmth, and serve to fatten, are termed by chemists carbohydrates, contain- ing twice as much hydrogen as oxygen; these include fruit- sugar, cane-sugar, milk-sugar, starch, and the same when made 238 — MEALS MEDICINAL. soluble by the saliva, being then known as dextrine; also cellulose, the basis of vegetable structures. Starch, and the sugars, are almost completely digested by a healthy person, and are sucked up into the blood nearly to the last particle ; it being at the same time an important circumstance that a relatively larger amount of primary food-constituents is excreted by the bowels on a vegetable than on an animal diet. ‘“ Why these primary constituents of vegetable foods should be so much less completely absorbed than the other ingredients is difficult to say.” Human saliva is peculiarly rich in the ferment (diastase) which changes insoluble starches of foods into soluble dextrine, being richer apparently than the saliva of any other animal. The human stomach and the human brain are justly said to be the only analysts which never make mistakes. It is on material food, comprising the particular constituents now discussed, reliance must be placed for supplying vital energy, and bodily health ; nitrogen as primary nourishment, and carbon as fuel, being the chief elements. Nitrogen enters the body as such, and leaves it as waste urea; carbon enters the body as fat, starch, and sugar, leaving it in carbon dioxide. Gain or loss of nitrogen signifies gain or loss of flesh-tissues, whilst gain or loss of carbon signifies gain or loss of fatty deposits, and of bodily warmth. In dealing with weak or impaired digestions the cook can render valuable aid by carrying out as regards the food one or other of three distinct processes; each of these serves to commence the digestion of food by culinary skill before it is given to the invalid, so that the digestive powers are thus considerably economized: First, by malting, or pre- digesting the starches; secondly, by mixing with the meat foods and albuminoids some pepsin, or such ferment as converts these foods into soluble peptones; and, thirdly, by making an emulsion with sweetbread-juice of the fatty food which has to be digested alter leaving the stomach, whilst within the first bowels. *““ We may live without poetry, music, or art, We may live without conscience, and live without heart, We may live without friends, we may live without books : _ {But civilized man cannot live without cooks.” Witty Mr. Punch has lately anticipated the substitution of clean, clever electricity for cooking, in place of black, smutty, . Ba clumsy kitchen coal, with its dust, and its difficulties of transport. DIET. 239 Then, instead of a hot, fiery task, disastrous to the temper, and comfort of the cook, it will be a recreative amusement for ladies to prepare the daily dinner. “You need only turn a handle, and the soup is boiling hot, Appetising odours rising from the hospitable pot. Turn another, and the salmon in its mayonnaise lies fair ; Press a button, and the mutton, with the currant jelly’s there; Press again, and sweets, and entrées will at once appear in sight, - And you'll fall to, on them all too, with a first-class appetite.” A diet of lean meat exclusively will build up the tissues, but if nothing else be taken, then the fat already stored up in the body will be fed upon, and consumed, so that the person will become thinner. Bismarck, by the advice of his physician, reduced his bulk in this way without any loss of energy, or any sense of illness. Again, we have to depend upon what we eat and drink for mental power, and intellectual capabilities. ‘‘ So many factors,” says the Century Invalid Cookery Book, “ enter into the make-up of a thought, that it cannot be said that any particular kind of food will ultimately produce a poem; but of this we may be sure, that the best work, the noblest thoughts, the most original ideas, will not come from «a dyspeptic, underfed, or im any way ill-nourished individual.’”’ Swift, as a writer, was fully alive to this fact. ‘‘I wish you a merry Lent,’ quoth he, in a letter to Stella (March 5th, 1711). “I hate Lent: I hate different diets, and furmity, and butter, and herb porridge, and sour devout faces of people who only put on religion for seven weeks.” Not that a highly elaborate diet is essential for vigour of brain. “ Hominis cibus utilissimus simplex,” said Pliny authoritatively. q as *“* Nam varie res] Ut noceant homini credas. memor illius esce Que simplex tibi sederit.” * For, divers meats do hurt ; remember how When to one dish confined thou healthier wax't than now.” =, Horace Walpole, writing from Norfolk (1743) to his friend John Chute, put the matter thus: ‘‘ Indeed, my dear Sir, you certainly did not use to be stupid ; and till you give me more substantial proof that you are so, I shall not believe it. As for your temperate diet, and milk, bringing about such a metamorphosis, I hold it impossible. I have such lamentable proofs every day before my eyes of the stupefying qualities of ale, beer, and wine, 240 MEALS MEDICINAL. that I have contracted a most religious veneration for your spiritual nouriture. Only imagine that I here every day see men who are mountains of roast beef, and who only seem just roughly hewn out into the outlines of human form, like the great rock at Pratelino! I shudder when I see them brandish their knives in act to carve, and I look on them as savages that devour one another. I shouldn’t stare at all more than I do if your Alderman at the lower end of the table was to stick his fork into his neighbour’s jolly cheek, and cut a brave slice of brown and fat! Why, I swear I see no difference between a country gentleman and a sirloin; whenever the first laughs, or the second is cut, there run out just the same streams of gravy.” In Moxon’s Life of Edmund Kean, the famous actor, we are told that Mossop, another stage celebrity, chose his dish to suit the character he was about to assume: “ Broth,” said he, “for tone; roast pork for tyrants ; steaks with ‘Measure for Measure’; boiled mutton for lovers; pudding for Tancred, etc.” James Howell, contemporary with Sir Kenelm Digby (1603), com- mended to Lady Wallis a Spanish cook “ who hath intellectuals, and senses; mutton, beef, and bacon are to her as the will, understanding, and memory are to the soul. Cabbage, Turnip, Artichoke, Potatoes, and Dates are her five senses, and Pepper the common sense. She must have marrow to keep life in her, and some birds to make her light.” As to the question of how to maintain the body properly nourished under adverse conditions, ‘“ Like all divine truths,” said Dr. K. Chambers, “to love your neighbour as yourself is found to be taught by material nature as well as by revelation. Respecting the effect of practical benevolence, and philanthropy, upon our race, the fact is highly convincing that directly a man begins to care for others in preference to himself alone, his cares cease to wear and exhaust him. There rather seems to be herein a sustaining force. This is the reason why in sieges, and famine, medical men have often remained sleek, and plump, while their neighbours pined; and perhaps also why military officers bear short rations better than the men.” As to regulating the food in quantity, or precise chemical constitution, according to tables of percentages, and the like, which are dry calculations (in a double sense) rather than of any sure practical use for individual consumers, we may take a lesson from the Captain _ Gulliver of Swift’s tale; “for whom a coat, waistcoat, and DIET. 241 breeches were constructed on abstract principles by the pragmatic tailor at Laputa, these garments turning out therefore the worst suit of clothes ever had in the Captain’s life.” It will certainly prove a similar failure to overlook the numberless contingencies in the daily life, and the numberless personal peculiarities of those who seek advice about their diet, and daily regimen. Dr. Talmage, of New York City, preached the doctrine that a man’s food, when he has opportunities of selecting it, suggests his moral nature: “Many a Christian tries to do by prayer that which cannot be wrought except by correcting his meat and drink.” To sum up the whole question of a man’s diet, “ surely the teaching of pathology amounts to this, that the fortifying of the general resistance of the individual against illness, and disease, is the most important indication of all to be fulfilled. Real true advances in the prevention, and cure, of diseases always tend to simplification; and the truest fundamental therapeutic remedies are fresh air, sunshine, excellent plain food in ample quantities, and regulated exercises mainly out of doors. This, certainly, is the innermost purpose of what is now called the Sanatorium treatment.” Also, “the food of a nation,” writes Dr. Andrew Wilson, ‘is largely determined by its geographical boundaries ; dyspepsia seems to be often a matter of geography. The Northman can eat, enjoy, and assimilate what would certainly kill the Southerner; and conversely the food of the latter would fail to nourish the former. When one is in Rome, or South Africa, or Finland, it is best as far as possible to adapt one’s feeding arrangements to the environments, unless of a very temporary nature. This plan will be found to work out better than adherence to the customary home-diet rules. It is quite possible therefore to imagine persons who must perforce pursue a strictly careful dietary regimen at home, getting along famously well on biltong and coffee when settling down in South Africa.” ** A widow has cold pye; Nurse gives you cake ; From gen’rous merchants ham, or sturgeon take. The farmer has brown bread, as fresh as day, And butter fragrant as the dew of May.” Art of Cookery (1708). A well-known physician of Bradford says (Medical Aphorisms) : “The meaning which doctors intend when enjoining care about 16 242 MEALS MEDICINAL. diet should be interpreted thus: If you are excessively careful - you will eat only once a day, say about eight ounces of mixed diet ; if you are very careful you will eat twice daily, eight ounces at one meal, and four ounces at the other, of ordinary mixed diet; if you are moderately careful you will eat thrice a day, eight ounces at one meal, and from four to six ounces at each of the other two; say at 8 a.m., at 1 p.m., and at 7 or 8 p.m.; if you are careless you will eat four times a day, from two to three pounds in all of ordinary food; if you are reckless you will eat five times daily, to the amount of four or ‘five pounds of ordinary mixed diet. I know not what epithet to bestow on those who eat oftener than five times a day, and yet I have met with persons who ate eight times daily, and one person who ate ten times.” DRINKS. (See ALE, Beer, Correr, Minerau Warers, Tea, Water, and WINES). A Spring beverage which in former days went by the name of May-drink in England, and several parts of Europe, was flavoured with the garden herb Sweet Woodruff (Asperula odorata) ; this, by reason of the coumarin it contains, is scented like the Sweet Vernal Grass of our meadows, and the Sweet Clover, each being most fragrant when freshly dried; such coumarin powerfully stimulates the brain. Withering tells that “the strongly aromatic flowers of Sweet Woodrufi will make an infusion exceeding in spicy flavour even the choice teas of China.” The powdered leaves are also mixed with fancy snuffs because of their enduring fragrance. Another species of the same herb is the Quinsy Woodruff (Asperula cynanchica), so called because a most useful gargle can be made from this plant by infusion in boiling water, against quinsy (cynanche), or other such sore throat. “ Ahem!” as Dick Smith said when he swallowed the sponge, teaching to bear troubles bravely, and not to make a fuss about trifles. This herb is to be found growing in dry pastures, especially on a chalky soil; it has tufts of lilac flowers, and very narrow leaves. The Sweet Woodruff has small white blossoms set on a slender stalk, with narrow leaves growing around it in successive whorls, like the common well-known Goose-grass, or Cleavers. The lassitude felt in hot weather on its first access in early DUCK. 243 summer, may be well met by an infusion of Hop leaves, strobiles, and stalks, as Hop-tea, to be taken by the wineglassful two or three times in the day; whilst a more vigorous action of the biliary organs is also stimulated thereby. The popular nostrum “ Hop-bitters ” is thus made: Of Hops (dried), half a pound ; of Buchu leaves, two ounces ; boil these in five quarts of water in an iron vessel for an hour; when it is lukewarm, add thereto Essence of Wintergreen (Pyrola), two ounces, and one pint of spirit (Brandy, Whisky, or Gin). Take one tablespoonful three times a day before eating ; it will improve the appetite consider- ably. Horehound Beer is much drunk by the natives in Norfolk. Again, Balm tea is highly restorative. Borage has a cucumber- like flavour, and when compounded with lemon, and sugar, added to Claret, and water, it makes a delicious “‘ cool tankard” as a summer drink. A tea brewed from Broom tops, with bruised Juniper berries, is famous for increasing the flow of urine, and relieving dropsy. Black Currant leaves make a fragrant infusion as a substitute for China, or Indian tea. A scented Orange- water is largely prepared in France from the flowers, which is often taken by ladies as a gentle sedative at night, when suffi- ciently diluted with Eau Sucrée (sugared water); thousands of gallons are drunk in this fashion every year. ‘‘ There’s nothin so refreshing as sleep, Sir!” (quoth Sam Weller to his Master) “as the servant gal said afore she drank the eggcupful of laudanum.” For, in the more serious language of Dr. Martineau, “ God has so arranged the chronometry of our spirits that there shall be thousands of silent moments between the striking hours.” Primrose tea exercises similar curative effects, though in a lesser degree, to those of the Cowslip ; it is excellent against nervous disorders of an hysterical nature. Sage leaves add pleasantly, and with benefit to the refreshing contents of the afternoon teapot; and a Tamarind drink obviates putrid fevers. DUCK. THe Duck (Anas), which has become included among our domesticated poultry for the table, is scarcely suited for persons of delicate stomach, because of its fat contained in large amount ; otherwise it makes a savoury, nutritious food. This grease is a great anodyne, and of good service against distempers of the nerves; “anoynted it helps the pleurisie, and gout.” Rouen, 244 MEALS MEDICINAL. in France, is famous for the superiority of its ducklings, which are not bled to death as in this country, but are killed by thrusting a skewer through the brain, so that the blood is retained in the flesh of the bird. Sydney Smith has told of an arch-epicure on the Northern Circuit, about whom it was reported “ he took to bed with him concentrated lozenges of Wild Duck so as to have the taste constantly renewed on his palate when waking in the night.” Again, Douglas Jerrold has recorded it of a certain man, “‘ he was so tender-hearted that he would hold an umbrella over a Duck in the rain.” Though tasty, succulent birds, Ducks are somewhat foul feeders ; they will swallow any garbage, yet their preference is for slugs, and snails; if allowed to search for themselves in the early morning, and late evening they will soon fatten on these enemies of the gardener. By the early Romans the Duck, being a good swimmer, was sacrificed to Neptune. Plutarch assures us that Cato preserved in health his whole household through dieting them on roast Duck during a season when plague and disease were rife. In Brittany well- »\/fatted Ducks are salted; also the breasts are pickled, and smoked for a week, then dried, and stored. The Chinese esteem ' Ducks’ tongues, when dried, as dainties. Our Aylesbury white- | plumaged Duck commands the highest price in the market, but the fibre of its meat is harder, and richer, than that of white- fleshed poultry. Dr. Kitchener (1820) bids the cook ‘“ contrive to have the Ducks’ feet delicately crisp, as some people are very fond of them ; to do which nicely you must have a sharp fire.” As a “ bonne bouche ” with the roasted bird, ‘‘ mix a teaspoonful of made mustard, a saltspoonful of salt, and a few grains of Cayenne in a large wineglassful of Claret, or Port wine; pour it into the Duck by a slit in the apron just before serving it up.” By its brown meat, and abundant bird-fat, the Duck is particu- larly well suited for diabetic patients. This fat is in the domesticated bird lard-like, but in the related wild bird it is oily, and of more iodine value. The Chinese have a notion that such material food is acceptable to their friends even after death. A white man who was interested in a Chinese {funeral asked why a Duck was left on the grave. Did they suppose the dead man would come back in the spirit to eat it? “* Yeppe,” replied the Boxer, “alle same as le white deadee man come out and smelle flowers!” Water-fowl, for some reason which is not explained, are not regarded as meat by the Roman Catholic BEL. 245 Church. Thus the Teal (Sarcel/e) was pronounced some years ago by a conference of their leading ecclesiastics to be permissible for eating in Lent. But actual'y this bird is in season only from September until February. EEL. BELONGING to the Anguillid@, or Snake tribe, the Eel shares in some respects the characteristics of the Anguis, (or Choker), named thus on the same foundation as the Boa Constrictor. It is the hero of many fables, having been worshipped as a deity by the Egyptians. Later on the Eel stews of Mahommed the Second kept the whole Turkish Empire in a state of nervous excitement ; and, again, one of the Eel pies which King Philip failed to digest caused the Revolt of the Netherlands. Jews decline to eat Eels, probably because of their similarity to serpents, which they formerly reverenced. An accolade of Eels on the spit used to be put every Saturday on the table of Anne of Austria, Queen of Louis XIII. The sea Hel contains 9 per cent of fat, and the river Eel 25 per cent, with 34 per cent of nutritive substance ; this latter fish is well adapted as a food for the diabetic. For cooking, silver Eels should be chosen, fresh, brisk, and full of life; ‘‘ such as have been kept out of water till they can scarce stir are good for nothing.” Yellow Eels taste muddy. In order to kill the creatures (which are most tenacious of life) instantly, the spinal marrow should be pierced close to the back part of the skull with a skewer sharply pointed ; if this be done in the right place all motion will instantly cease. The humane executioner favours certain criminals by “ hanging them before he breaks them on the wheel.’ Eels were at one time a staple English food, since they supplied almost the only animal nourishment to which the poor could aspire. Likewise they were early favourites in the monasteries. About Italy Eels are eaten for breakfast, dinner, and supper by the masses ; they grow to a large size, and are reputed to be of excellent flavour. The Conger Eel, which is caught on our rocky coasts, and especially round the Channel Islands, is a much larger fish, with an average length of from three to four feet ; sometimes of even far more gigantic conditions—‘‘ Monstrum horrendum, informe, et ingens,” weighing from seventy to eighty pounds. These Eels are dried by the French, and Italians, in the sun, when 246 MEALS MEDICINAL. opened and flattened out, under the name of Conger douce. If ground down into powder they help to enrich soups by being admixed therewith, especially mock-turtle soup, according to Frank Buckland. Also the Conger Eel is cooked in a pie. Because of sometimes containing a special toxin, this Eel will occasionally induce a choleraic attack. ‘“ Though the fresh-water Eel, when dressed,” writes Izaak Walton, “ be excellent good, yet it is certain that physicians account it dangerous meat.” “* Kels,” says Paulus Jovius (Burton), “he abhorreth in all places, and at all times ; every physician detests them, especially about the solstice.” The Eel’s blood contains a highly poisonous principle which asserts its dangerous properties if injected into the human blood, but which becomes inert under the process of digestion when Eels are taken as food. For Alice (in Wonder- land) an old Conger Eel was the “ drawling master, who came once a week to teach drawling, stretching, and fainting in coils.” The skin of an Eel is employed by negroes as a remedy against rheumatism. Formerly our sailors, when they wore pigtails of the hair behind the head, encased the same for protection, and neatness, in an Eel skin. Again, a “ salt Eel” was formerly an Eel skin prepared for use as a whip. Pepys relates in his Diary (April 24, 1663): “ Up betimes, and with my Salt Eele went down in the parlor, and there got my boy, and did beat him until I was faine to take breath two or three times.” The skin of an Eel is hard, tough, and dark of colour, with an oily fat just underneath ; it can be pulled off like a stocking after first cutting a circular incision round the Eel’s neck. Robert Lovell (1661) protested that mud-begotten Eels “fill the body with many diseases; they are worst in summer, but never wholesome.” And a curious old ballad tells the same story as having befallen “ the croodlin’? doo” :— “O, whaur ha’e ye been a’ the day, My little wee croodlin doo ? O I’ve been at my grandmither’s: Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo! “O what gat ye at your grandmither’s, My little wee croodlin doo ? I got a bonnie wee fishie : Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo! “ O whaur did she catch the fishie, My little wee croodlin doo ? She catched it in the gutter hole : Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo! BEL. 247 ** And what did she do wi’ the fishie, My little wee croodlin doo ? She boiled it in a brass pan : Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo! ** And what did ye do wi’ the banes o’t, My little wee croodlin doo ? I gi’ed them to my little dog : Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo ! ** And what did your little doggie do, My little wee croodlin doo ? He stretched out his head, and feet, and dee’d : Mak’ my bed, mammie, noo!” The Lamprey (Petromyzon, stone-sucker) is in appearance like a small Eel, having a mouth like the large end of a funnel, and dotted all over with small hook-shaped teeth; also with tiny sacs instead of gills—seven on each side of the body near the head. It is found principally in the Severn, the Thames, and in Scotch waters. Formerly but little use was made of it, except to be dried, and burnt as a candle. The flesh is sweet, and good, and of much nourishment: it increases lust, and by reason of its richness easily causes surfeits if much eaten. The truth is that Lampreys, and Lamperns, contain an abundance of fish oil, and are most profitable for persons of vivacious hectic temperament needing much caloric, and who betray consump- tive tendencies, because of its rapid expenditure in their bodies. King Henry the First lost his life by eating Lampreys to excess. They should be stewed in their own moisture, with spices, and beef gravy added, and a little Port wine. A Lamprey is first a Lampron, then a Lampret, then a Lamprell, and finally a Lamprey. The Lampern is the river sort (fluviatilis). It has been related that the Romans fed Lampreys on the dead bodies of slaves, and that Pollio Vedius ordered a living slave who had maliciously broken a glass vessel to be “ thrown to the Lampreys ” (as if they were wild beasts). Platina reproved the Popes and great folks of Rome for their luxury in Lampreys, which they drowned in Cyprus wine, with a nutmeg in the mouth, and a clove in each gill-hole. The Lampern of the Thames is much smaller than the Lamprey of the Severn. Pliny tells that “Antonia, the wife of Drusus, had a Lamprey at whose gills she hung jewels, or ear-rings; and that other persons have been so tender-hearted as to shed tears at the death of fishes which they have kept, and loved.” 248 MEALS MEDICINAL. EGGS. THE only complete food afforded by the animal kingdom is | the egg: containing, as it does, all the alimentary substances required for the support, and maintenance of animal life. For their plentiful store of varied sustenance Eggs, in the hands of the cook, and the doctor, may be well described as veritable “Treasure houses wherein lie, Locked by angels’ alchemy, Milk and hair, and blood, and bone.” The early Christians took the egg as a symbol of their hope a to the body’s resurrection. Broadly speaking, the domestic fowl’s egg consists of yolk and white as edible parts, within the hard shell made up chiefly of carbonate of lime. When compared with moderately lean meat the egg contains two-thirds as much primary food (proteid), twice as much fatty substance, twice as much ash, and about an equal quantity of water. The proteid includes what chemists call nuclein, which affords phosphorus, as a nerve renovator, in organic combinations, some thereof being united to iron ; but this is not in the Egg a source of uric acid, else eggs would be improper for gouty persons. Nevertheless, Dr. Haig (whose personal experiences are in several respects exceptional), maintains that Eggs do actually cause an increased excretion of uric acid. He says “I gradually eliminated from my diet all articles which contained even the smallest quantity of egg, having obtained very distinct evidence that these, when taken every day, decidedly increased with me the excretion of uric acid.”” Dr. Hutchison supposes, “ the white of Eggs to be unobjectionable food for grow‘ng boys, but the yolk, though nearly a complete form of food (except for starches, which may be readily superadded by bread and butter), comprises something akin to the uric acid in meat. If it should be suspected that at any time the urine contains albumen, such as white of egg, then a simple bedside test which is sufficiently reliable may be easily employed. Four or five drops of the urine, as passed on first rising, should be put into a glass of clear hot water, when, if any albumen is present, it will be indicated by an opalescence. If the glass is held against a dark background, this opalescence will be very visible, and will be seen to spread through the water like a cloud of smoke. Phosphates in the urine will produce a similar appearance ; but EGGS. 249 on adding a little white vinegar, or acetic acid, the cloud will then immediately disappear; not so, however, if albumen be its cause. An average fowl’s egg contains about one hundred grains of proteid food : as much of this, together with fat, as five ounces of new milk, but minus the sugar of milk. It is also reckoned to be the equivalent of rather under an ounce and a half of fat meat. The raw egg is somewhat laxative. Egg white is a capital substitute for raw meat juice. It consists of dissolved proteid enclosed within many thousands of cells; when this egg white is beaten up the cell walls are ruptured, and the proteid food- matter escapes. Some twelve per cent of egg albumin is present in the egg white, this being in no way inferior as regards nutritive value to the proteids of meat, save as lacking its vital force. One egg yields rather more than an ounce of white; and if to this be added twice its volume of cold water, and the whole quantity be then strained through muslin, there will be obtained three ounces of a clear solution containing as much proteid as an average specimen of commercial beef-juice.” All that then remains to be done is to stir into the same a little Liebig’s extract dissolved in a teaspoonful, or so, of warm water. Animal albumin is thus to be got from the white of eggs ; it may also be obtained from the serum (or thin liquid) of the blood, or from the juices of uncooked meat. Eighty-four dozen eggs produce from one to two gallons of the white, and this yields fourteen per cent of commercial albumin, while the blood of five oxen will supply about two pounds. The albumin is prepared for commercial purposes in a dry state. Dr. Carpenter showed that during hard work on the part of a labourer, a larger supply than usual of albuminoid food is necessary. In chronic Bright’s disease, with passage of albumin from the kidneys in the urine, for the majority of cases the best food is that advised for gout, a.e., a diet only moderately rich in proteid, and that chiefly derived from vegetable sources, and from which diet soups, and all preparations containing the extractives of meat are excluded. The egg yolk contains lecithin, which embodies natural phos- phorus in its most assimilable form, and which will serve to admir- ably recruit exhausted nerve structures through their leading centres when lacking vital energy. A confection of this lecithin principle is prepared by chemists for the use of children. Apples likewise contain similar lecithin, as a phosphorated compound, 250 MEALS MEDICINAL. such as exists naturally in nerve tissues, also in the blood, in fish sperm, and in certain of the cereals, as wheat and maize. When supplied in the yolk of eggs it stimulates the appetite, and leads quickly to an increase of bodily weight. The Medical Record tells passim that from the University of Chicago there has been issued a recipe for bringing about bodily bigness ; and that the age of the race of giants is about to begin again. Henceforward there will be no pigmies, because of a wonderful food-substance which makes men and animals grow fast, and large. This new food is lecithin. Dr. Hatai has experimented with it on white rats, and by feeding them with such nutriment made them grow sixty per cent faster than they grow ordinarily, the same being done even under atmospheric conditions and general surroundings which were unfavourable. Scientists say that lecithin will have a similar effect on human beings. The Professor named above finds that the growth induced thereby is normal, and embraces all parts, including bigness of heart, and of body, as well as of head. Furthermore distinct traces of arsenic are found by the chemist to be present in eggs. A sagacious maxim teaches that ‘‘eggs (should be) of an hour, fish of ten, bread of a day, wine of a year, a woman of fifteen, and a friend of thirty.” In an egg laid only a few hours before, the white is milky, which circumstance sometimes leads to such egg being erroneously considered stale. When an egg has been newly laid it is always damp, and observation shows that the longer it remains wet, or is kept thus, by so much does it remain fresh ; obviously, there- fore, eggs for preservation should be packed wet. The fats of egg yolk differ chemically from ordinary fats, they also contain a large measure of phosphorus, which is easy of assimilation. But the absence of other carbohydrates (starch, sugar, etc.) prevents eggs from being in any sense a complete food. It would moreover require twenty of them daily to supply even the amount of proteid necessary for a healthy man. The egg shell is mainly carbonate of lime; that of the ostrich’s egg is so thick, and hard, that it may seriously wound a man if the egg becomes rotten and explodes by reason of its com- pressed gases produced by decomposition. “* Dumptius in muro sedet teres, atque rotundus, Humptius, heu ! cecidit ; magna ruina fuit. Non homimes, non regis equi—miserabile dictu ! Te possunt sociis reddere, Dumpti, tuis.”’ EGGS. 251 In a boiled egg no air can come into contact with its nutriment until the same is broken for eating, which is an antiseptic security. Eggs are specially rich in fat, and therefore they satisfy the stomach. The ovo-lecithin constituent is chemically the distearo- glycero-phosphate of choline, and embodies phosphorus in its most readily assimilable form, as found in nature ; it is admirably calculated to recruit exhausted nerve centres, and to renovate from nerve fag. Concentrated tablets thereof are now made © reliably by the manufacturing chemist. The yolk fats differ chemically from ordinary fats, being in reality phosphatides ; ‘they exist as palmitin, stearin, and olein, just as in butter. A subcutaneous administration of egg yolk has recently been practised for cases of defective nutrition in infants, and as a substitute for lecithin. The injection, prepared by mixing the yolk of an egg with one-third of its weight of a saline solution, is made into one of the buttocks, and gentle massage is employed afterwards. The general nutrition, and the quality of the blood, are stated to improve more rapidly under this treatment than under lecithin taken as food. For egg and sherry as a cordial of prompt use, with ready sup- port, beat up an egg in a cup with a fork till it froths, add a lump of white sugar first dissolved in two tablespoonfuls of water, mix well, then pour in a wineglassful of dry sherry, and serve before it becomes flat ; or half the quantity of pale brandy may be used in place of the sherry. The proper cooking degree of heat for boiling a fowl’s egg is only one hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit, or fifty-two degrees below boiling point. If two eggs are taken, one of which is kept in water at a temperature of one hundred and seventy-five degrees for ten or fifteen minutes, and the other for an equal length of time in boiling water, it will be found at the end of the experiment that the contents of each egg are solid throughout, but that in the case of the former they consist of a tender jelly, whereas in the boiled egg they are dense, and almost leathery. — For delicate persons of all ages, the following preparation, which will contain egg shells in solution, has been found most si rly useful. Take six fresh eggs, six lemons, half a pound of castor sugar, and half a pint of white rum. Put the eggs in their shells inside a jar, without injuring the shells, peel the lemons, and, after removing their pith, squeeze the fresh juice over the eggs, then lay above them the rind and the pulp. Cover 252 MEALS -MEDICINAL. the jar lightly, and put it in a cool place for seven days, not forgetting to shake it well on each day. At the end of that time strain through muslin, when it will be found that the lemon juice has dissolved the eggshells. Add the sugar, and the rum; then bottle and cork it tightly. A wineglassful taken each morning before breakfast is the full dose, but at first it may be desirable to give only half this quantity. Again, for the cure of certain weaknesses in women, egg shells when. properly prepared are highly lauded in America. The shells are first broken up in vacuo, and then finely powdered in a mortar together with two- thirds of finely powdered sugar of milk. Dr. Edson tells of seventy consecutive cases treated thereby without a single failure. An “ egg foam ” which can be quickly prepared, as in America, is particularly suitable for the passing needs of invalids: Separate one egg, keeping the yolk unbroken in half the shell, whilst beating all the white to a stiff froth. Heap this latter in a dainty little bowl, or egg cup, and make a small well in the centre, into which drop the yolk. Then stand the whole in a saucepan containing a little boiling water, cover the saucepan, and cook for one minute. Serve in the bowl, with a tiny bit of butter, and a few grains of salt. The Germans call frothed white of egg “ snow.” This froth is sweetened and scalded in milk, so as to become set. It then serves as the solid part of a refection whereat the liquid part is milk (perhaps with egg yolk). Such a dish, to be eaten with a spoon, is very refreshing at any time of the year, but particularly in summer, if it be well cooled. It is also a very excellent form of nourishment for persons who are suffering from one or another throat affection, or who have undergone some operation in the mouth or throat, and who cannot chew, or pulp _ with the tongue, but can yet drink the soft custard. A raw egg is not so easily assimilated after being swallowed as is one lightly boiled. The natural principles thereof are albumin, vitellin, lecithin, and nuclein. The egg albumin differs from that contained in the liquid serum of our blood as to certain physical properties, though closely allied to this. If the white of a newly laid egg be applied to a sore burn, or scald, it will keep out the air, and will do much to relieve the pain. Powdered egg shells will subdue acid indigestion from fermenting sour food in the stomach. On _ the assumption that ten milligrammes of iron are required daily _ by the average human body, then seven and a half eggs would EGGS. 253 suffice for supplying this quantity, therefore egg yolk is to be regarded as a useful food for bloodless persons. Dr. Hutchison thinks that as a matter of fact a raw egg seems scarcely digested in the stomach at all, but to be passed out therefrom to a large extent unchanged, being perhaps such a bland nutriment as not to excite the secretion of gastric juice, nor to stimulate the churning movements of the stomach. The absorption of lightly cooked eggs within the intestines appears to be very complete, leaving only a very small residue. When a person of delicate digestion is served with fried bacon and eggs, the latter should be poached separately, and then sent to table with the boiled, or fried bacon, or ham, on the same dish ; there is “reason in roasting eggs.” A fried egg, by reason of the melted fat coating the egg, and hindering the contact of the gastric juice in the stomach, remains imperfectly digested, and burdensome. The omelette, formerly ‘“‘ awme lette d’ wufs,” is a pancake made af eggs, so called from a supposed phrase “ a@ufs melds.” It consists of eggs beaten lightly, with the addition of milk, salt, and sometimes a little flour, being browned in a buttered pan. Sometimes the omelette is prepared with cheese, ham, parsley, fish, jelly, or other additions. A suggestive French proverb runs thus: “On ne jait les omelettes sans caisser des eujs,”— “Omelettes are not to be made without breaking eggs.” A baked egg is good eating, and easy of achievement. Break a new-laid egg on to a thickly-buttered plate, strew it with pepper, and salt, and cook slightly in a moderate oven. It must be eaten exceedingly hot from the same plate, which may be attractively surrounded by a narrow frill of crinkled tissue paper. Eggs to be poached should be a couple of days old; if just laid they are so milky inside that the cook, take all the care she can, will fail to secure therewith the praise of being a prime poacher. On the other hand the eggs must be sufficiently fresh, or success will be equally impossible. The egg-yolk contains certain organic substances in union with sugar, which are gelactosides. Lgg lecithin, when extracted by the chemist, has been found to act curatively by its special phosphorus in cases where fresh raw eggs failed to produce any remedial effects. When given medi- cinally this stimulates the appetite, and leads, as aforesaid, to an increase of weight, constituting an excellent element of food whenever phosphoric treatment is found to be desirable; as in — 254 MEALS MEDICINAL. senile debility, general weakness, phosphatic urine, and similar conditions of exhausted energies, bodily, or mental. Also “ Condensed Egg ” is now made by a process of removing the contents from the shell, and evaporating all excess of moisture, then pure sugar is added as a preservative. “There is no mystery,” says the Lancet, “‘ about this preparation. It consists simply of fresh eggs and refined sugar.” Such “ Condensed Eggs” are put up in jars hermetically sealed, and being perfectly sterilized, they will keep good for any length of time. No coagu- lation is caused in the process. For “ Egg-white water,” in fever and diarrhea, diffuse the whites of two eggs through a pint and a half of cold water, sweeten to taste, and add a little cognac, or other liqueur, if deemed advisable. For Egg-lemonade, shake together in a bottle the white of an egg, a tumblerful of cold water, the juice of half a lemon, and a teaspoonful of white sugar. The Wood-pigeon had called Alice (in Wonderland) a serpent, because of her long neck. When questioned further Alice said very truthfully, “I have tasted eggs, certainly, but then little girls eat eggs, quite as much as serpents do, you know.” “T don’t believe it,” said the Wood-pigeon, “ but if they do, then they’re a kind of serpent! that’s all I can say.” Again, “TI should like to buy an egg, please,” said Alice (Through the Looking Glass) timidly to the old Sheep, in the little dark shop. “How do you sell them?” “ Fivepence farthing for one, twopence for two,” the sheep replied. ‘ Then two are cheaper than one,” said Alice in a surprised tone. ‘‘ Only you must eat them both if you buy two,” said the Sheep. Eggs, are, according to Dr. King Chambers, highly nutritious sus- tenance in fevers, and acute exhausting illnesses, when taken raw, and diluted with water (or milk 2), being thus rapidly absorbed ; but if delayed within the digestive canal so as to become putrid, the products of their decomposition are peculiarly injurious ; the sulphuretted hydrogen and the ammonia evolved are posionous to the intestines. An egg should not be positively boiled, but, so to say, coddled, or put into boiling water, covered over, and allowed to stand (near the hob) for five minutes ; at the end of which time it will be well and evenly cooked all through. Again, for another “ Egg Silky,” whisk the yolk only, or the __ whole egg thoroughly, and grate a little nutmeg over it; take a _ good teaspoonful of sugar, and stir well together; pour in EGGS. 255 gradually about half a tumblerful of boiling water, and lastly add from one to two tablespoonfuls of whisky. This is excel- lent for a catarrhal chill. The eggs of those birds whose young are hatched without feathers, for example, plovers, exhibit when boiled a translucent albuminous white, which is not opaque like that of the fowl’s egg under similar conditions. Moreover, the proportion of yellow yolk in the eggs of wild birds is considerably larger than in those of domesticated ones, adding thereby to the ratio of nutritive elements. But what are usually sold by poulterers as plover’s eggs are those of the common lapwing (Vanellus cristatus). The Plover (Charadius) is thought to have derived its name from the Latin pluvia, rain, because of its fondness for being on the wing in rainy weather. Not that every Plover’s egg that comes now into the market would have become a Plover in due course if allowed to be hatched out. ‘“ All that glitters is not gold,” and every nice-looking, dark speckled egg that reposes in a mossy basket, and is sold for ninepence, or a shilling, in the West-end of London, has not owned a Plover for its mother. The dwellers round the Norfolk Broads could, and they would, tell something about these so-called Plover’s eggs. “ Furriers,” said Dr. King Chambers, “ are in the habit of passing off tabby cats’ skins as Japanese lynx, and hundreds of the best ‘ Plover’s eggs’ are laid by gulls on the East coast.” Sir Lewis Watson, Baron of Rockingham, when at his newly purchased manor of Wilsford, Lincolnshire (1641), received the following delightful letter from his wife—-‘‘To my loueing husband Sir Lewis Watson, at Wilsford,’ ‘‘Sweetheart, I thanke you for your Plouar, the which are very great daynties to us indeede—for the sweet sauce which is your kindnes in sending them, and will procure us doctar diet, and doctar meoriman (merryman) at the eating of them. Writing to you so lately I have no more to say now, but that I will pray for your good helth, and remayne, your ever loueing wife, Eleanor Watson. Rock- ingham, November 23. I have given bearer only Is.” It is an established fact that patients have been cured of obstinate obstructive jaundice by taking a raw egg on one or more mornings while fasting. Dr. Paris tells us that a specially ardent oil may be extracted from the yolks alone of hard- boiled eggs when roasted piecemeal in a frying pan until this oil begins to exude, and then pressed hard. Old eggs furnish 256 MEALS MEDICINAL. the oil most abundantly, and it undoubtedly acts as a very useful medicament for indolent liver. The yolk consists in part of a variety of albumin, and therefore coagulates when heated, just as the white does, though in a less degree. But if the dry hard yolk is crushed, and digested in alcohol, it then becomes colourless in itself, whilst the spirit dissolves out a bright yellow oil, which forms about two-thirds of the weight of the yolk in its periectly dry state. Thus the yolk, like flesh, and fish, is shown to consist of fat intermixed with a substance which closely resembles the gluten of plants. What is termed a Bombay oyster is almost as delicious as the real bivalve, and is easily made: Into two teaspoonfuls of vinegar, with a pinch of pepper, and salt added thereto, break an egg, keeping its contents whole; add a third teaspoonful of vinegar, and the oyster is complete. Egg shells (particularly when the eggs have been subjected to glasswater for preserva- tion), are found, if given in powder, helpful in cataract of the eyes, whether lenticular, or capsular; this is partly because of the sulphur which is present; likewise any sort of garlic is to be equally commended in such cases for the same reason. Though it may not be a sensible thing (Zpicure, January, 1902), to teach one’s grandmother how to suck eggs, yet it is quite possible to instruct that omniscient old lady how to successfully preserve them; the surest method being to wet-pack them on the day they are laid, thus keeping them damp and fresh. Custard powders, so called, are sold as a substitute for eggs, but consist as to the majority chiefly of starch, to which a yellow colour is imparted by admixture with some vegetable dye, for instance, turmeric. Their nutritive value is not in any way equal to that of a genuine custard made with yolk of egg. In England it is customary to serve eggs in their shells, and it is considered bad form to extract the contents from the shells broken open at table; but in America this latter method is general, and certainly more convenient to an invalid. Sir Morell Mackenzie has recorded the striking circumstances which occurred in the family of a distinguished literary man, members of the said family throughout four generations being made seriously ill by eating an egg, or even a small portion of one, whether knowingly, or inadvertently; the fresher the egg, the worse the consequences! At all times eggs laid by fowls fed on garbage, decaying meat, and other such noxious food, are not EGGS. 257 fit to be eaten. The hen’s egg is a good illustration of the fact that albuminous, or proteid food, is earlier in use for life develop- ment than starch foods. The body of the chick is formed (by warmth alone) from the yellow yolk; the white of the egg is almost pure albumin and water; whilst around all is the impene- trable shell, part of which has to be dissolved from within to form the bones. Albumin coagulates at a temperature of fiity-two degrees less than that of boiling water, so that eggs and food dishes made therewith. should be cooked according to this rule ; otherwise the albuminous parts will harden on until leathery and indigestible. The albumin of egg yolk is vitelin, which coagulates firmly at a lower temperature than the white, being supposed also to contain some casein. Eggs fried in fat become inaccessible to the gastric juice within the stomach, and are therefore tardy of digestion; to wit, in the omelette, and the pancake when made without flour, but lemon juice sprinkled over either of these is helpful. An omelette differs from a pancake in not being thin, or browned, and in not being baked on’ both sides. It does not readily assimilate with sweet principles, except when fine fruit jellies are used instead of jams, or stewed fruit. Omelettes with coarse jams, simulating fine confitures,and savoury omelettes with all the whites of the eggs put into them, are inferior products of culin- ary skill. Former cookery books up to 1840 prefer the omission of half of the egg whites, because the preponderance of the yolks makes an omelette more tasty, more loose in its substance, and more tender. Indeed, Dr. Kitchener (Cook’s Oracle) deems this suppression of half the whites so important that without it no omelette can be kept from proving hard.. Scrambled or stirred eggs are a kind of spoiled omelette. Mary Smith in her Complete Housekeeper (1772) gives an omelette as a “ Hamlet,” also Sauce Robert, as “ Roe-boat Sauce,”’ and Queen’s Soup as “ Soupe a la Rain.” Thackeray when he invited schoolboys to dinner always gave them beefsteak, and an apricot omelette; generally as a prelude before taking them to see a pantomime. Fresh eggs, if coated by dipping in, or brushing over with water-glass (a dissolved silicate of soda in hot water, called also “mineral lime”), can be preserved almost indefinitely by the hard impenetrable protective glaze which is thus made to surround them. “ This water-glass,” says the Lancet, “is also a powerful antiseptic.” Eggs treated thus will preserve their fresh milky ag 258 MEALS MEDICINAL. taste for six months, and remain undistinguishable from eggs taken straight out of the nest. Ordinary egg shells, when powdered, are remedial against goitre, or enlarged throat gland, which entails a general deterioration of the whole bodily system, nutritive and structural, (myxedema, as this is called). Mix together three parts of powdered white sugar-candy, one part of finely powdered egg-shells (first dried in the oven), and two parts of burnt sponge. Then let six or eight grains of the mixed powder (kept dry in a well-corked bottle) be taken in a dessert- spoonful of water, or milk, at bedtime for a week together, and every alternate week throughout three months. ELDERBERRY. From the well-known purplish-black berries of the Elder (Sambucus nigra) is made Elderberry wine, which when combined as to its composition with raisins, sugar, and spices, may well pass for Frontignac ; or, if well brewed, and three years old, for English Port. This wine has curative powers of established repute, particularly as a pleasant domestic remedy for promoting per- spiration on the access of a catarrh, with shivering, soreness of throat, aching limbs, and general depression: under which conditions a jorum of hot steaming cordial Elderberry wine taken at bedtime proves famously preventive of further ills. ‘‘ A cup of mulled Elder Wine, served with nutmeg, and sippets of toast, just before going to bed on a cold wintry night, is a thing,” as Cobbett said, “* to be run for.” Again, the inspissated juice, or ‘“ rob,” extracted from crushed Elderberries, and simmered with white sugar, is cordial, laxative, and diuretic. One or two tablespoonfuls are to be taken with a tumbleriul of very hot water. To make this, five pounds of the fresh berries should be used, with one pound of loaf sugar, and the juice should be evaporated to the thickness of honey. Chemically, the berries furnish viburnic acid, with an odorous oil, combined with malates of potash, and lime. Elder-flower tea is also excellent for jodiaiag tals perspiration. ‘‘ The recent Rob of the Elder, if spread thick upon a slice of bread, and eaten before other dishes, is our wives’ domestick medicine, which they use likewise on their infants and children, whose bellies are stopt longer than ordinary: for, this juice is most pleasant, and familiar to children: or, drink a draught of the ELDERBERRY. 259 wine at your breakfast to loosen the belly ” (1760). In Germany the Elder tree is regarded with great respect. ‘From its leaves a fever-drink is made; from its berries a sour preserve, and a wonder-working electuary ; whilst the moon-shaped clusters of its aromatic flowers are narcotic, and are used in baking small cakes.” Our English summer is not here until the Elder is fully in flower, and it ends when the berries are ripe. Douglas Jerrold, once at a well-known tavern, ordered a bottle of Port Wine, ** which should be old, but not Elder.” As a recipe for making Elderberry Wine: “ Strip the berries (which must be quite ripe) into a dry jar, and pour two gallons of boiling water over three gallons of the berries, cover, and leave in a warm place for twenty-four hours ; then strain, pressing the juice well out. Measure it, and allow three pounds of sugar, half an ounce of ginger, and a quarter of an ounce of cloves to each gallon. Boil slowly for twenty minutes: then strain it into a cask, and ferment it whilst lukewarm. Let it remain until it has become still before bunging, and bottle it in six months. If a weaker wine is preferred, use four gallons of water to the above quantity of berries, and leave for two days before straining. Some stone jars will serve the purpose instead of a cask. Or, in another way, to every three gallons of water allow one peck of Elderberries ; to every gallon of juice allow three pounds of sugar, half an ounce of ground ginger, six cloves, one pound of good Turkey raisins ; and a quarter of a pint of brandy to every gallon of wine. Then for working the wine, add three or four table- spoonfuls of fresh yeast from the brewery to every nine gallons of the wine.” Elderberry juice contains a considerable proportion of the principle necessary for a vigorous fermentation, but it is deficient in sweetness. German writers declare that the Elder contains within itself an entire magazine of physic, and a complete chest of homely medicaments. Likewise John Evelyn (Sylva, 1664), has written concerning the Elder: “ If the medicinal properties of its leaves, bark, and berries were fully known, I cannot tell what our countrymen could ail for which he might not fetch a remedy from every hedge, either for sickness, or wounds.” And again, ‘* the buds boiled in water-gruel have effected wonders ina fever; the spring buds are excellently wholesome in pottage; and small ale in which Elder flowers have been infused is esteemed by many so salubrious that this is to be had in most of the 260 MEALS MEDICINAL. eating-houses about town” (1680). The great Boerhaave (1720) always took off his hat through respect when passing an Elder bush. Nevertheless this exhales an unpleasant soporific smell which is said to impair the health of persons sleeping under its shade. “They do make tooth-pickers, and spoons of Elder-wood, to which they attribute much in preservation from the pain of toothache.” Curiously enough an old English proverb ran to this effect : “ Laurel for a garland, Elder for a disgrace.” Sir Thomas Browne has told among his Vulgar Errors (1646), “that Elderberries are poisonous (as we are taught by tradition) experience will unteach us.” At the Christmas Party, Dingley Dell, graphically described in Pickwick: “ Long after the ladies had retired to bed did the hot Elder wine, well qualified with brandy and spice, go round, and round, and round again: and sound was the sleep, and pleasant were the dreams that followed.” Formerly the creamy Elder blossoms were beaten up in the batter of flannel cakes, and muffins, to which they gave a more delicate texture. They were also boiled in gruel as a fever-drink, and were added to the posset of the Christening feast. In Anatomie of the Elder (1655), it is stated: “the common people keep as a great secret in curing wounds the leaves of the Elder (which they have gathered the last day of April). Likewise make powder of the flowers of Elder gathered on a Midsummer day, being first well dryed, and use a spoonful thereof in a good draught of Borage water, morning and evening, first and last for the space of a month, and it will make you seem young a great while.” From Elder flowers a gently stimulating ointment may be prepared with lard, for dressing burns and scalds; also another such ointment concocted from green Elderberries with camphor and lard, has been formerly ordered by the London College of Surgeons for the relief of piles. Thus “the leaves of Elder boiled soit, with a little linseed oil added thereto, if then laid upon a piece of scarlet, or red cloth, and applied to the piles as hot as this can be suffered, being removed when cold, and replaced by one such cloth after another upon the diseased part, by the space of an hour, and in the end some bound to the place, and the patient put then to bed; this hath not yet failed at the first dressing to cure the disease, but if the patient be dressed twice therewith it must needs cure them if the first fail.” ‘It were likewise profitable for the scabby if they made a sallet of those ELECAMPANE. 261 young elder-flower buds, which at the beginning of the Spring doe bud forth; as also for those outbreakings of the skin, or pustules, which by the singular favour of nature are contem- poraneous ; these buds being macerated a little in hot water may be sometimes eaten together with oyle, salt, and vinegar.” The following is a ‘“ grandmothers’ recipe for Elderberry Syrup.” “Stew the berries gently with a little water until all the juice is extracted; then press them through a hair sieve, or squeeze them in a coarse cloth, so as to obtain all the viscid juice. To each pint of this add one pound of preserving sugar, and three (bruised) cloves; then boil it until of a syrupy con- sistence. Afterwards bottle, and cork well; it will keep for years. When using the syrup take a tablespoonful in a tumbler- ful of water ; boiling water if for a cold, so as to afford relief by prompt perspiration.” ‘‘ Elderberry wine made hot, and into which a little cinnamon is mixed, is one of the best preventives known against the advance of influenza, or the ill effects of a chill.” None the less we read in Cranford, “ Not all the Elder wine that ever was mulled could wash out the remembrance of a domestic difference between Miss Pole, the spinster, and her hostess, Mrs. Forrester, who had protested that ghosts were part of her religion.” ELECAMPANE. From the times of the Middle Ages, a candied sweetmeat has been employed in Great Britain, as made from our English familiar plant, Elecampane (Helenium inula), growing tall, stout, and downy, of the Composite order, from three to five feet high, with broad leaves, and bright yellow flowers. ** One of the plants,” says William Coles (1656), “‘ whereof England may boast as much as any, for there grows none better in the world than in England, let apothecaries and druggists say what they will’ An old Latin distich thus celebrates its virtues : Enula Campana reddit precordia sana: ‘* Elecampane will the spirits sustain.” Some fifty years ago its candy was sold commonly in London, made into flat. round cakes, composed largely of the medicated sugar, and coloured with cochineal. A piece was eaten each night, and morning, for asthmatical complaints; and it was customary when journeying by river to suck a bit of the same, or of the — Elecampane root, against poisonous exhalations, and bad air. 262 MEALS MEDICINAL. The candy may still be had from our leading confectioners, but scarcely containing, it is to be supposed, any more of the Elecam- pane than their barley sugar does now-a-days of barley. Chemically the roots, from which this candy is made, include a camphoraceous principle, helenin, and a starch known as “ inulin,” most sparingly soluble, together with a volatile oil, another resin, albumin, and acetic acid. The inulin is a powerful antiseptic to arrest putrefaction ; the helenin relieves chronic bronchitis, and soreness inside the nostrils. Moreover, this latter principle of Elecampane is said to be peculiarly destructive to the bacillus connected with consumptive disease of the lungs. In classic times the poet Horace told how Fundanius made a delicate sauce in which the bitter inula was boiled, and how the Roman stomach when surfeited by an excess of rich viands pined for plain turnips, and the appetising Enulas acidas from frugal Campania :— **Quum rapula plenus Atque acidas mavult inulas.”' Prior to the Norman Conquest, and during the Middle Ages, the root of Elecampane was much employed medicinally in Great Britain. Though now found but infrequently as of local growth in our copses, and meadows, yet it is cultivated in private herb gardens as a culinary, and medicinal plant. ELECTRIC PHYSICAL EFFECTS. “ Know,” saith John Swan, (Speculum Mundi 1643), “ that the horn of a Unicorne hath many sovereigne virtues, and with an admirable dexteritie expelleth poyson, insomuch that being put upon a table furnished with many junkets, and banqueting dishes, . will quickly decrie whether there be any poyson amongst them.” “ Inshort (Night side of Nature, Catherine Crowe, as far back as in 1848), “we are the subjects, and so is every thing around us of all manner of subtle, and inexplicable influences; and if our ancestors attached too much importance to these ill understood arcana of the night side of nature, we have attached too little. The sympathetic effects of multitudes on each other, of the young sleeping with the old, of magnetism on plants, and animals, are now acknowledged facts. May not many other asserted pheno- mena that we yet laugh at, be facts also ? though probably too FATS. 263 capricious in their asserted nature, by which I mean depending on laws beyond our comprehension, to be very available? For, I take it, as there is no such thing as chance, all would be certainty if we knew the whole of the conditions.” To paraphrase a letter written by Sydney Smith, December, 1821, from Foston, for Lady Mary Bennett: ‘Dear Lady, spend all your fortune in an electric lighting apparatus! Better to eat dry bread by the splendour of electric light, than to dine on grouse by gas, or on wild beef with wax candles; and so, good-bye ! dear lady.” To wear silken clothing next the skin, will serve to retain a healthful electrical state of the body, thereby promoting cheerfulness of mind under atmospheric surroundings which would otherwise depress. ENDIVE (See Sabaps). FATS. Soup neutral fats, such as suet, lard, and spermaceti, also liquid non-volatile oils, such as olive oil, and sperm oil, are classed together as chemical fats. They are composed of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, but do not contain any nitrogen. When a fat is treated with an alkali, the fatty acid unites with the alkaline base, making a soap, and glycerine is set free. Fats are distinct from other food elements which increase the weight, and warmth of the body, such as the sugars, starches, and cellulose, these being carbohydrates, which are more affected by heat than the fats; but the latter when cooked, at a high temperature, which is kept up, undergo some disintegration, and a free fatty acid is liberated ; this is apt to disagree with delicate stomachs. Meat to be fried should be plunged suddenly into a deep pan of nearly boiling fat, pure olive oil, or dripping, or butter. The intense heat produces an instant coagulation of the proteids (resembling white of egg) on the surface, and forms a protective crust. It is supposed that the greater digestibility of cold fats over hot fats is because the fatty acid then unites again with glycerine to form a neutral {fat free from acid on cooling. Carbon enters the body for fuel in fat, starch, and sugar, and quits it as carbonic dioxide. Lean persons who wish to gain fat should eat but little lean meat, whilst taking freely of butter, potatoes, _ white bread, and plain pastry, if easily digested ; they should live - in warm well-ventilated rooms, and refrain from much active 264 MEALS MEDICINAL. out-door exercise. Furthermore there is much truth in the maxim, “ to eat little and often will make a man fat.” For contributing fat to lean persons the Banana cure is now popular in America. This consists of eating scarcely anything besides baked Bananas, which not only add weight, but at the same time recruit the nervous energies of body and mind. But those who advocate cooked Bananas are emphatic in condemning them raw as dangerous and unwholesome. Banana flour is found valuable in cases of stomach inflammation, and in typhoid fever, as it can be retained, if suitably prepared, when other forms of the appropriate foods are rejected. Sir Henry Stanley, the famous explorer, wrote concerning this Banana flour, ‘if only its virtues were publicly known, I cannot doubt that it would be largely consumed in Europe. For infants, persons of feeble digestion, and dyspeptics, the flour, properly prepared, would be in universal demand. During my two attacks of gastritis, a light gruel of such flour mixed with milk, was the only matter that could be digested.”—It contains twenty per cent of proteids, and sixty-eight per cent of sede te Agi The Banana is always pure, and never tainted by grubs : outer skin protects the fruit entirely from pum ente Experts say that the Banana, like the Medlar, can scarcely be in too ripe a stage for eating. The British Medical Journal (1904), teaches that Bananas should not come to table before their skin has turned black in places, whilst their pulp is at the same time slightly discoloured. Fish-oils, notably that from the cod’s liver, are more easily digested than ordinary fats, but are not so highly organized. The next most readily borne, and assimilated is bacon fat, either hot, as rashers, or of cold boiled bacon, which serves a much better purpose for building up the bodily tissues. Then comes cream, a natural emulsion; likewise butter. For children another capital combination of fat may be supplied by toffee, this being made of sugar, butter, and sometimes a portion of treacle. Butter in such a shape is especially agreeable to the young stomach; and most of the toffee-sugar occurs as ‘invert,’ which is particularly easy of digestion. For lean, or wasted patients one of the simplest means of enriching the diet is by adding to it a certain quantity of rich new milk, two, or three pints a day, besides the ordinary nourish- ments ; also “croutes au coulis,’ or gravy fingers, afford fat in FATS. 265 a useful and palatable form. ‘‘ Take several slices of stale bread, choosing them not too much dried up, chop off the crusts, cut the crumb into neat finger lengths, dip them rapidly in, and out of a basin of cold milk, drain them, brush them over with white of egg, and dredge them thickly with flour. Melt three table- spoontuls of clarified beef-dripping in a small saucepan, and bring it to the boil, lower the fingers separately into this, and cook them until crisp, and brown. Build them up as a small pyramid in the centre of a heated dish, and pour over it a teaspoonful or two of strong beef gravy, or of a flavoured brown sauce.” All children need a liberal allowance of heat-producing food, but most of them have a dislike of fat; therefore they naturally crave for sugar as a substitute. Thus their desire for sweets is the cry of nature for what she wants; and this voice of nature should be obeyed ; nevertheless fatty foods are good for prurigo, and other skin troubles of children. Dr. R. Hutchison, in a recent lecture before the National Health Society of London, “‘ had a-good word to say for Margerine as physiologically equal to Butter; than which latter substance there is no food stuff of higher value!” His emphatic opinion is that there is too much starch, and too little fat in the national diet system, and that therefore a stunted race of the working classes is growing up. Dripping used to be given liberally to the children of the poor ; bread and dripping was the staple article of their food ; but this has now given place to cheap jams, which do not possess the same nutritive value as the said fatty substance, (whereto the homely bloater likewise may be profitably compared), these things being supplemented with lentils, oatmeal, haricot beans, and a certain amount of animal food; for it cannot be doubted that together with the carbohydrates, such as starches, sweets, cream, etc., an adequate allowance of nitrogenous nutri- ment in the form of fresh meat, eggs, casein of cheese, gluten of cereals, and vegetable nitrogens, helps materially to lay on fat ; indeed, is essential for the purpose. At the same time a considerable amount of bodily exercise, chiefly out of doors, must indispensably accompany this dietary, unless it is prohibited by a previous wasting of the muscles during some acute disease, with as yet insufficient convalescence. Dr. Hutchison further-says, there is no sort of carbohydrate food more fattening than sugar, because, unlike any other such food, this contains no water, the nourishing value whereof is nil. 266 MEALS MEDICINAL. Such preparations therefore as the malt extracts can never add to the diet as much fattening and warming support as an equivalent in weight of ordinary cane sugar. Spermaceti, as obtained from the whale, used to be largely given for the purpose of making a thin person fat, but it has now dropped out of use. It was administered in the form of a powder, mixed with sugar, and three-quarters of an ounce could be thus taken daily, being well borne, and not difficult to absorb. Cream contains about 20 per cent of fat, and three tablespoonfuls of it are more than equal in food value to one tablespoonful of cod-liver oil emulsion. Butter has 80 per cent of fat, and can be taken in considerable quantity if mixed with starchy food, such as mashed potato. As Dr. Hutchison says, “ There can be no doubt that mutton- fat, especially when hot, proves irritating to the stomachs of some persons ; and in them the eating of mutton pies, or Irish stews, is likely to be followed by bothering indigestion, or even acute catarrh of the stomach.” Sleep of itself seems to lessen the waste of bodily fat. A German writer goes so far as to assert that an extra hour's sleep at night is equivalent to the saving of two and a half pounds of fat in the year. A good homely form of fatty food at breakfast is fried bread. Take slices of brown bread, fry them a nice brown with some dripping (either of mutton, beef, or roast chicken), serve warm with pepper. ‘‘ You'll find,’ said the elder Mr. Weller to his son Sam, “that as you gets vider you'll get viser. Vidth and visdom, Sammy, always goes together.” Practically, when it is wished to increase the bodily weight and nutrition by laying on fat only, then the food increment must be made as regards giving fats, and carbohydrates (starches, and sweet things) ; but where one desires rather to enrich the body as to its muscular tissue, and complement of blood, thereby adding weight as well as vital force, or, in other words, to confer more proteids, then the proportion thereof in the daily food must be augmented; whilst what are termed proteid-sparers, or economisers, are also given, such as gelatin, and the like. This is the plan to be pursued in strengthless, nervous disorders. Lean fresh meat is to be regarded as the type of a natural proteid food. It contains about one-fifth of its weight of that con- stituent, the rest being made up chiefly of water; the proteids are not only rapidly consumed, but they cause a sympathetic increase in the consumption of sugars and fats; therefore an FATS. 267 animal diet makes for leanness. Where, on the other hand, it is desired to reduce the amount of bodily fat, as in obese persons who are encumbered thereby, it will be proper to reduce the number of fat- and heat-producers in the daily food; also to increase the output of energy as supplied in the food, by taking more exercise, or doing more daily active work, or by a com- bination of these methods. The richer meats should be used very sparingly, such as pork, and goose ; likewise the fatty fish, as salmon, mackerel, eels, herrings, sardines in oil, and sprats ; the coarser sorts of bread will be best, such as contain much unassimilable bran. Potatoes are not so fattening as white bread, and may be allowed in moderation. Fresh fruits will be very useful, but not so the dried sweet fruits. Thick soups, sauces, and pastry are fat-producing, likewise starchy farinaceous foods. Lean meat may be taken liberally. Rest and sleep seem to lessen the waste of fat. But sleep is useful as an aid to diges- tion only in the case of invalids, and aged persons, and even then it may be injurious, because of the depressed circulation meanwhile. At first, for those newly convalescent from a wasting disease, pounded meat should be added to soups in the form of purées ; then passing on to the more easily digested forms of animal food, such as chicken, fish, and eggs. Jellies properly made from lean superior meat are to be commended, likewise custard, and light milk puddings, which are proteid-sparers. The enrichment of the diet in fat for such patients may be wisely deferred until later, being then accomplished, if desirable, by the free use of cream, butter, bacon, and suet. Warner, in his Literary Recollections, tells of an eccentric lady, Mrs. Jefferys, the sister of Wilkes, who lived at Bath, and who dined every day at a boarding-house, with a bottle of Madeira at her side, eating largely of some big joint particularly abundant in fat. She was served with frequent slices of this fat meat, which she swallowed alternately with pieces of chalk, neutralizing, as she supposed, the acids of the fat with the alkaline basis of the chalk. Furthermore she amalgamated, diluted, and assimilated the delicious compound with half a dozen glasses of her Madeira. Charles Lamb, in Grace before Meat, inveighs against overfed, obese greedy eaters. “Gluttony and surfeiting,” says he, “are no proper occasions for thanksgiving. We read that when 268 MEALS. MEDICINAL. Jeshurun waxed fat he kicked.’’ ‘‘ Whenever I see a fat citizen at a feast in his bib and tucker I cannot imagine this to be a surplice.” The shrewd worldly old Lord Chesterfield, in one of the noted letters to his son, then at Paris, 1752, for the recovery of his health, gave the advice, “ I pray you leave off entirely your heavy greasy pastry, fat creams, and indigestible dumplings ; and then you need not confine yourself to white meats, which I do not.take to be one jot wholesomer than beef, mutton, and partridge.” ; . M. Brillat Savarin directs (1889), “‘ that lean persons for whom it is sought to correct this disposition should eat plenty of newly- baked bread, taking care to masticate it thoroughly, and not to leave any of the crumb ; also to partake of eggs for luncheon at about 11.0 a.m. Then at dinner, potage, meat, and fish, may be had as desired, but to these must be added rice, macaroni, sweet pastries, sweet cream, chariottes, etc. At dessert, savoy biscuits, babas, and other preparations which contain starch, with eggs and sugar. Beer is to be the beverage by preference, or Burgundy, or Claret. Acids are to be avoided, except with the salad, which rejoices the heart. Eat plenty of grapes in the season. Go to bed at about eleven p.m. on ordinary days, and not later than one o’clock in the morning on holiday occasions.” Such is the French method for getting fat ! Sydney Smith, who had been trying anti-fat dieting, and lessen- ing his sleep, wrote in 1819 from Saville Row, London, to Lady Mary Bennett, “I shall be so thin when you see me that you may trundle me about like a mop.” It should be remembered that the dietetic requirements of old age are just the reverse of those of childhood. The assimilative power of the bodily cells is now on the wane, and the physical activities are restricted, so that less food is required. ‘“ Leanness and longevity,” it has been remarked, “ go together, and a man will only roll all the faster down the hill of life if his figure be rotund.” “ Discerne,” taught Bacon, “of the coming on of yeares, and thinke not to doe the same things still, for age will not be defied.” Charles Dickens, when humorously describing a foot-race between the Boston Bantam, and the Man of Ross (very fat), said of this Roscius, “ according to the epigram of some anony- mous cove” :— | “And when he walks the streets the paviours ery ' “God bless you, sir,’ and lay their rammers by.” FATS. 269 Per contra, Tennyson in his Vision of Sin admonishes us solemnly thaé :— ** Every face, however full, Padded round with flesh and fat, Is but modelled on a skull! ” Edward Fitzgerald, in a letter to his friend Bernard Barton, August, 1844, wrote “I spent four pleasant days with Donne, who looks pale and thin. We are neither of us in what may be called the first dawn of boyhood, but Donne maintains his shape better than I do, for, sorrow, I doubt not, has done this with me; and so we see why the house of mourning is better than the stalled ox. For, it is a grievous thing to grow poddy: the age of chivalry is gone then.” Few children’s rhymes are more common than that which relates to Jack Sprat and his wife ; but it is little known that this has been current for two centuries and more. When Howell published his Collection of Proverbs in 1659 it contained the rhyme :— ** Archdeacon Pratt would eat no fat, His wife would eat no lean: ’Twixt the archdeacon and his wife The meat was ate up clean.” In certain animals, as the ox, sheep; goat, and hart, the tatty tissue about the loins and kidneys is known as suet ; it is harder fat and less fusible than that from other parts of these animals. Fat of the ox, or sheep, when melted out of its connective tissue forms tallow ; the corresponding flaky fat of hogs furnishes leat- lard. Mutton suet may be purified from its peculiar odour by being heated to 150° Fahrenheit, at which temperature the hircin is decomposed, and the hircic acid passes away. During the siege of Paris some candles made of mutton fat were thus purified, and the fat was then used for food. The South Germans term the brisket-fat, or breast-fat of sheep and oxen, because of its excellent nut-like flavour, “ breast-kernel.’”’ The hump of the Camel is analogous to it both in structure and in taste. If the diet of a patient is restricted to milk, and if this is well- borne, it may be made more nourishing as “ superfatted milk ” by immersing in the milk some suet finely chopped, and enclosed in a muslin bag; then simmering the whole for a while with moderate heat. To begin with, a good-sized teaspoonful of the suet should be used for a pint of milk, advancing presently to 270 MEALS MEDICINAL, larger quantities of the suet if the stomach does not rebel. Chopped suet is neither heavy, nor indigestible, if the pudding, or dumpling, or other dish in which it is used be boiled, or steamed, a sufficiently long time, so as to render it light, and easy of digestion. For a plain suet pudding: take one pound of flour, half a pound of chopped suet, and a pinch of salt. Mix all together, with about a quarter of a pint of cold water; then flour a cloth, and put the pudding into it, tie up, and drop it into a saucepanful of boiling water, and boil for two or three hours. The late Lord Leighton, President of the Royal Academy, who loved everything about him to be beautiful in form, colour, and texture, and who would have wished, it might be naturally supposed, to live almost on ambrosia and nectar, when he was asked what he would specially like for his birthday dinner, could think (as Miss Cockran tells) of no greater delicacy than roast mutton with suet pudding. Tennyson, again, loved beer, and chops. So it does not appear that these gifted men, whose pen and pencil seem to have been inspired, manifested any special nicety of palate, or natural craving for choice culinary dishes. FENNEL, Tue herb Fennel (Feniculum) of our kitchen gardens is best known to cooks as supplying a tasty, fragrant, spicy material for sauce to be eaten with boiled mackerel. But furthermore :— “* Above the lowly plants it towers, The fennel, with its yellow flowers, And in an earlier age than ours Was gifted with the wondrous powers Lost vision to restore.” ie A carminative oil is distilled from the Fennel, which is employed in the making of cordials. Shakespeare, in his play of Henry the Fourth, tells of “eating conger and Fennel” (two highly stimulating things together) as the act of a libertine. The Garden Fennel is admirably corrective of flatulence. If from two to four drops of its essential oil are taken on a small lump of sugar, or, similarly, if a tea be made of the bruised green herb, and drunk, a small teacupful at a time, any griping of the bowels, with flatulent distension, will be promptly relieved ; as likewise the bellyache of infants by reduced quantities of the same tea. Chemically Fennel yields also a fixed fatty principle, some sugar, FENNEL. 271 and some starch, with a bitter resinous extract. Gerarde has taught that “the green leaves of the Fennel eaten doe fill women’s brestes with milk.” The camphoraceous vapour of its essential oil will cause the tears, and the saliva to flow. A syrup prepared from the expressed juice of the herb, was formerly given for chronic coughs. The plant was eaten in olden times as a savoury herb. Its leaves are served nowadays with salmon to correct the oily indigestibility thereof. Roman bakers put the herb under their loaves in the oven for giving the bread an agree- able flavour. A physician to the first Emperor of Germany saw a monk cured by his tutor in nine days of a cataract, simply by applying frequently to the eyes a strong decoction of the whole Fennel plant (bruised whilst fresh), in boiling water, and then allowed to become cool. It was formerly the practice to boil Fennel with all fish; and French epicures keep their fresh fish in Fennel-leaves so as to make the flesh firm. The whole herb is thought to confer longevity, strength, and courage; though an old proverb has said, ominously enough, “ To sow Fennel is to sow sorrow.” Keats, 1817, who was first a student of medicine, and then a poet, has sung: “Fill your baskets high, with Fennel green, and balm, and golden pines.” John Evelyn has taught that the peeled stalks, soft, and white, of the cultivated Garden Fennel, when dressed “like salery,” exercise a pleasant action conducive to sleep. The Italians eat these blanched stalks, which they call “* Cartucci,” as a salad. Fennel seeds, when macerated in spirit of wine (together with the seeds of Juniper, and Caraway), make a cordial which is noted for promoting a copious flow of urine in dropsy. If the herb is dried, and powdered, a valuable eye-wash can be prepared therefrom, half a teaspoonful being infused in a wineglassful of cold water, and presently strained off clear. A similar application will speedily relieve earache, and toothache, being then first made hot, if desired. Wm. Coles, in his Nature’s Paradise (1650), taught that “ both the seeds, leaves, and roots of our Garden Fennel are much used in drinks, and broths, for those that are grown fat, to abate their unwieldinesse, and cause them to grow more gaunt, and lank.” The ancient Greek name, Marathron, of the herb, as derived from the verb maraino, to grow thin, seems to have conveyed a similar meaning. Hot Fennel tea, made by pouring boiling water on the bruised seeds, and flowers, is an efficient promoter 272 MEALS... MEDICINAL. of female functions (half a pint of water on a teaspoonful of the bruised seeds.) Also against fleas, some of the seeds if carried in a small muslin bag about the person will be effective. FIG (Ficus). Onty one kind of Fig comes to ripeness with us in England, so as to be supplied as fresh fruit: the great blue Fig, as large as a Catherine Pear. “It should be grown,” said Gerarde, “ under a hot wall, and eaten when newly gathered, with bread, pepper, and salt ; or it is excellent in tarts.” This fruit is soft, easily digested, and corrective of strumous disease. Among the Greeks it formed part of the ordinary Spartan fare; and the Athenians forbade exportation of the best Figs. Informers who betrayed offenders against this restriction were called ‘“ Suko-phantai,” or fig-discoverers, (now sycophants). Bacchus was thought to have derived his vigour, and his corpulency, from eating Figs in abundance, such as the Romans gave to professional wrestlers, and champions, for conferring bodily strength. The dried Figs of the shops afford no idea of the fresh fruit as enjoyed in Italy at breakfast, and which supplies a considerable quantity of grape sugar. In its green state this fruit secretes a milky, acrid juice, which will serve to destroy warts if applied to them externally ; such juice becomes afterwards saccharine, and oily. In England the Fig tree flourishes best on our sea-coasts, because of the salt-laden atmosphere. Near Gosport, and at Worthing, there are orchards of Fig trees. The famous Fig gardens at West Tarring, Worthing, are said to have originated with Thomas a Becket, and one particular tree is still pointed out as having been planted by his own hand. In the local Church- yard there is an epitaph on “the bodie of John Parson, buried March, 1736” :— “Youthe was hys age, Virginitie hys state, Learning hys love, Consumption hys fate.” On the Saturday preceding Palm Sunday, the market at North- ampton is abundantly supplied with Figs, and more of the fruit is purchased at this time than throughout the rest of the year. Even charity children are regaled with Figs on the said Sunday FIG. 273 in some parts of the country; whilst in Lancashire Fig pies made of dried Figs, with sugar, and treacle, are eaten in Lent. Foreign Figs come to us as dried in the oven (the larve within them of the cynips insect being thus destroyed), and compressed in small boxes. They consist in this state mainly of mucilage, sugar, and small seeds. As imported from Turkey they contain glucose (a sugar), starch, fat, pectose, gum, albumin, mineral matter, cellulose, and water. They exercise a gentle laxative effect when eaten; also, if split open and applied hot against gum-boils, or other similar suppurative gatherings, they will afford ease, and promote maturation of the abscess. The first Fig-poultice on record was that employed by King Hezekiah 260 years before Christ, as ordered by the Prophet Isaiah, to “take a lump of Figs, and lay it on the boil; and the King recovered.” Likewise for glandular enlargements this fruit was of old renowned as a resolvent remedy :— “* Swine’s evil, swellings, kernels, _ Figs by a plaster cure.””—(1665). When eaten raw, the dried Figs are apt to produce a passing soreness inside the mouth. Grocers prepare from the pulp of these foreign dried Figs (mixed, it may be, with honey) a jam known as “ Fignine,” which is wholesome, and will prevent costiveness if eaten at breakfast with brown bread. Again, the pulp of Turkey Figs is mucilaginous, and acts as a useful pectoral emollient for hard, dry coughs; it may therefore be well added to ptisans for such catarrhal troubles of the air passages. Figs — cooked in milk make a good useful drink for costive invalids. Barley water boiled up with dried Figs (first split open), liquorice root, and stoned raisins, forms the “Compound decoction of Barley ” prescribed by doctors as an admirable demulcent. In Cornwall raisins are called Figs, and “a thoompin’ Figgy puddin’ ” is popular at Christmas. ‘“‘ Weight for weight,” says Dr. Hutchison, “dried Figs are more nourishing than bread, and a pint of milk with six ounces of dried Figs will make a good meal.” ‘Oh, excellent! I love long life better than Figs” (Antony and Cleopatra). Fifty years ago at the Hall table of Brasenose College, Oxford, was served ‘‘ Herodotus pudding,” a rich confection of Figs, and their accompaniments ; and probably the same is still prepared there at the hands of a classical cook. For Herodotus pudding, “take half a pound ee 274 MEALS MEDICINAL. of bread-crumbs, half a pound of good Figs, six ounces of suet, six ounces of moist sugar, half a saltspoonful of salt, three eggs, and nutmeg to taste; mince the suet, and Figs, very finely ; add the remaining ingredients, taking care that the eggs are well whisked ; beat the mixture for a few minutes, put it into a buttered mould, tie it down with a floured cloth, and boil the pudding for five hours; serve with wine-sauce.”’ To stew Turkey Figs, remove any stalks, or hard pieces from the fruit, prick the skins, and soak them overnight in enough water to cover them ; then put them, and the water, into a small stewpan, and simmer very slowly for about twenty minutes. French plums, or prunes, may be stewed in the same way, adding a little sugar if liked. The juices of Figs and Prunes have peptonizing powers which will materially aid the digestion of milk, and cheese. Certain small birds known as “ becca ficas,”’ or Fig-eaters, are to be found plentifully on the Continent, and at times in this country during the summer and autumn, being said by Brillat Savarin “to fill and beautify (when cooked) all the digestive powers.” ‘ This bird cannot be eaten, it can only be chewed ; and the consommé of choice flavours stored in its roasted carcase has to be sucked out.” Such is the advice of the Canon Charcot, as quoted by a renowned physician. For making a Fig pudding, “ put three ounces of bread-crumbs in a basin; add Figs cut in small pieces, with a little sugar, or ‘ log maple sugar,’ and a little grated lemon rind; mix with milk (and perhaps a little water); pour into a buttered basin, and steam for three hours.” Fig tart is likewise a good old-fashioned dish, and useful as a gentle laxative: ‘“‘ Stew some good Figs in a little syrup sharpened with lemon-juice, and use them when cold, covering with a plain paste, as for an apple, or other fruit tart ; or let the syrup boil until thick after the Figs are tender, and are removed from it ; cut them in little pieces, and use them with some of the syrup for pies in patty pans, so that when baked they resemble mince-pies ; they will suit the elders better than richer compounds containing suet. A small amount of grated apple may be added, with a little spice, and some lemon, or orange rind (candied), also perhaps chopped apple (about one-fourth the weight of the Figs).” An excellent gargle for sore throat may be concocted by boiling two ounces of split Turkey Figs for thirty minutes in half a pint of water, straining this when cool. FISH FOODS. 275 Towards assisting the laxative action of stewed Figs, or Prunes, against constipation, it is important to manage a proper position of the body as regards the bowels during sleep at night. Anatomical arrangements are to be borne in mind for this end, as to lying on the proper side at the proper time. Thus, for a while after the meal to lie on the right side is correct, so that the food undergoing digestion may pass presently out of the stomach into the first bowels, and gradually onwards, until after some hours it reaches the ascending colon, which passes up the right side of the abdomen. At this stage to turn over on to the left side will be of service, so that the fecal mass may slide along the transverse colon across the top of the abdomen into the descending colon, which runs down the left side, and so on into the rectum, or lowest bowel, for evacuation in the morning without any straining, or hindrance. When a relaxed condition of bowels prevails, then just the opposite tactics should be pursued. If Figs, instead of being stewed, as anti-costive, are steeped overnight in cold, soft water, enough to cover them, and perhaps adding a few drops of fresh lemon- juice, they will be found nicer, and more efficacious for the purpose. The fresh Fig does not fructify in this country, because no special wasps essential for such a function are available here. Caprification, or the fertilizing process, is artificially practised in South Italy for ensuring a good crop of Figs. A wild Fig, or Caprifig, which is inedible, is suspended upon the tree of the edible variety. This Caprifig contains a particular kind of wasp, which eats its way out in search of other Caprifigs wherein it may lay its eggs; but not finding any such wild Figs, it enters the flower of an edible Fig, taking in with itself some fertilizing pollen. A supply of these wasps is therefore essential to the Fig grower. “Do men gather grapes of thorns, or Figs of thistles ?”” is an instructive question propounded in Scripture, which would bear application to the wild Caprifig. FISH FOODS. As to the animal characteristics and endowments of Fish, both generally, and particularly, a reference may be made to former writings, whilst we have now to consider specially the therapeutic principles and capabilities of Fish foods regarded as medicinal. 276 MEALS MEDICINAL. Speaking broadly, the substance of Fish served at table is thought to be lighter of digestion, but less nourishing, than the flesh which we eat as beef, mutton, lamb, veal, and pork. It is credited with the faculty of imparting phosphorus to the brain, and to the nervous organization; it is further believed to be a sexual stimulant, and restorative, but its exclusive protracted use is thought to engender outbreaks of skin disease. Some persons also find Fish, as a food instead of meat, to be a nervine calmative, and to exercise soporific effects. Moreover, the oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, cod’s-liver, herrings, and sprats, when adequately digested, promote fatty development, and bodily warmth. Fish roe is reputed to be a rich source of organic phosphorus; and bone materials, such as phosphates of lime, potash, and soda, are contributed by various fish. Count Romford concluded that of all foods a red herring has the highest specific sapidity; that is, the greatest amount of flavour in a given weight of insipid food with which it is inter- mixed. Again, a Connecticut Professor in the State Agricultural College found when investigating the comparative values as food, of meat, and other matters of daily sustenance, that the climax of nutrition is reached in the eminently popular Red Herring. Alphonse Karr tells amusingly in his Tour round my Garden of a midnight mass at Lille, where some old women were praying, and preparing a supper called a “‘ reveillon”; ‘‘ from time to time they drew from under their petticoats a small chafing dish, upon which were cooking two or three herrings ; they turned the herrings, put the chafing dish back in its place. and resumed their prayers.” The bloater is so called because partially smoke-dried (d/oat, an obsolete term to smoke) after some salting, and is not split open. The fat under the skin of a herring is never of good taste, and is best extracted by broiling. Kippered, or smoked, herrings are frequently dipped instead into pyroligneous acid, which gives them the smoky flavour. But they furnish,” says Dr. Haig, “ more than 6 per cent of gouty uric acid.” About the year 1600 Robert Greene, the Play- wright, fell a victim to a surfeit of pickled herrings, and Rhenish wine, at some merry gathering of his associates. A “ Yarmouth Capon”? (or fowl), is a bloater, and says old Fuller, “‘ Few Capons save what have more fins than feathers are bred in Yarmouth.” Irish herrings are frequently smoked with juniper wood. Father _ Prout was loud in their praise :— FISH FOODS. 277 “Sure! of Dublin bay herrings a keg, And an egg, Is enough for all sensible folk ! Success to the fragrant turf-smoke That curls round the pan on the fire ; While the sweet yellow yolk From the egg-shell is broke In the pan, Who can If he have but the heart of a man, Not feel the soft flame of desire Which inflames e’en the soul of a friar ? ” Sydney Smith, writing to Lord Murray, from London, in November, 1843, said: ‘I shall be obliged to you for the herrings, and tell me at the same time how to dress them; but perhaps I mistake, and they ought to be eaten naked.” Mr. Benjamin Bell, a famous surgeon of the last century, supposed the eating of fish to be on the whole a mischievous practice ; and Dr. Cheyne, a well-known physician of 1750, entertained similar views. The products of decomposition in fish are rapidly formed, and then act as poisons to the human system ; occasion- ally also living fish elaborate similar toxic substances. The widespread impression that much fish-eating entails a liability to skin diseases, and particularly of stale fish to leprosy, is founded on trustworthy scientific data, and has been confirmed by eminent authorities. One practical outcome of this beliet is shown by the abolition of fish from the dietary of the patients in the St. Louis Hospital for Skin Diseases at Paris. “ Perhaps, indeed, Gehazi, the grasping and dishonest servant of the Israelitish prophet in the Old Testament, fell a victim in his pursuit of the newly-cured Syrian to his greed of appetite, as well as to his avarice. If he fed while overtaking the chariot of Naaman, on such an unattractive, but eminently portable diet as dried fish, septic in its nature, his punishment was doubly justified. Certain is the fact that while in England the stale Cod, or carelessly pickled Halibut, are no longer consumed as food by the masses, leprosy has vanished from the land; yet in those countries where this enlightened policy is not pursued the fell disease is still rife. It is true, nevertheless, that the man who eats bad dried fish, though not of necessity a leper, is still somewhat of a beast.”? Two hundred years, or so, ago cases of leprosy, and scurvy, and allied diseases were frequent throughout England; for at that time all sheep, and cattle, 278 MEALS MEDICINAL. except those reserved for breeding, were killed, and salted down at the beginning of winter; and the meat-eating population had for several months in the year only salted meat. Now, thanks to the cabbages, and turnips, grown in most cottage allotments, and to the winter use of these vegetables on farms, such terrible scorbutic diseases as formerly prevailed are no longer with us. With reference to the theory that leprosy is due in the main to badly-cured, and badly-cooked salt fish, a modern authority holds as an opposite opinion that the leprosy is owing, not to the imperfect curing of the fish, but to the inherent uncleanness of the creature itself. ‘“ Fish,” says this deponent, “are scavengers, garbage-mongers, and devourers of carrion; and although, thanks to a taste for cabbage, we nowadays avoid leprosy, we still contract lupus from the turbot, epilepsy from the festive whitebait, with tuberculosis from the mackerel, and the filleted sole.” It has been supposed that the mackerel was one of the fish forbidden to the Israelites of old under the law “ Whatsoever hath not fins and scales, ye may not eat.” The fat of fish comprises a smaller proportion of the compounds of solid fatty acids than does the fat of land animals. It is~ mainly composed of the glycerides of various unsaturated acids. The fish-liver oils commonly contain certain bile products (which give rise to characteristic reactions in colour with acids, and alkalies). A considerable proportion of unsaponifiable matter, chiefly cholesterin, is also a usual constituent thereof. Iodine is sparingly present in fish, but the significance of its occurrence is yet obscure. Salt fish is but slowly dissolved in the stomach, because its fibres have become hardened by the salt. Fish oil for medicinal purposes is obtained principally from the Cod, but also from the Pollock, Turbot, Ling, and Dorse. The milt, or soft roe, is the spermatic organ and its secretion (a sexual stimulant ?) of the male fish ; whilst the ovarian spawn, or hard roe, is that of the female fish. Hufeland, and others, have found the soft roe of herrings useful against tubercular consumption affecting the windpipe. Considered widely, a diet comprising frequent fish, always fresh, and of proper quality, plainly cooked, is certainly calmative for excitable persons of vivaciously nervous temperament. Nevertheless, Shakespeare has told of others who :-— “* Making many fish meals, Fall into a kind of male green sickness.” FISH FOODS. 279 Proteid, and fat, are the chief nutritive constituents found in fish, of which the value as a source of energy depends upon the amount of contained fat. Fish further includes a considerable quantity of waste substance in skin, bones, etc. Lean fish are better tolerated by the stomach than the fat ones, and are apparently more easily digested, as a rule, than the same quantity of lean meat. In hot weather, and for sedentary persons, white fish, plainly cooked, is better than meat. Boiled Haddock is very suitable for an invalid, but containing innumerable small bones. Finnan Haddies, cured and dried at Findhorn, near Aberdeen, were originated through a fire in one of the fish-curing houses at Port Lethen, on the North Sea, which fire partly burnt a pile of lightly-salted, freshly-caught Haddock lying on beds of dry kelp. After the flames were extinguished these smoked fish were found to be so delicious to the taste, that from then until now no one at Port Lethen, or the larger fishing village a mile away (Findhorn), has ever cured a Haddock except by smoking it over seaweed. With respect to fish as specially stimulating the sexual functions, this opinion is open to question, and Dr. Pereira has pointed out the significant fact that maritime populations are not especially prolific. In the time of Elizabeth, on great occasions the stewards of noblemen provided dinner for their lord’s guests; beef, and venison for the rich, but salted fish, then known as “ Poor John,” also apple pies, for the humbler visitors. Beating the rolling-pin on the dresser served as a dinner bell. In the middle ages fish was a luxury obtainable only by the rich, and, except near the coast, it could never have been served in anything like a fresh condition, the consequence being that smaller folk had to subsist on fish imperfectly salted, (particularly during the Lenten Fast), and disastrous effects on the skin followed. Pepys complained: “* Notwithstanding my resolution, yet for want of fish, and other victuals, I did eat flesh this Lent.” Sir Henry Thompson has advised that as a rule fish should be roasted (in a Dutch, or American oven), that is, cooked by radiated heat, so that none of its juices may be dissolved away, and lost. Matthieu Williams commends equally for this purpose the side oven of a kitchen range, or a gas oven, these being practically roasters. He directs that as a matter of course the roasted fish shall be served in the dish wherein it is cooked. Here is a way of dressing a fish to make it taste 280 MEALS MEDICINAL. excellent, if you are camping out far afield: “ Take some nice clean clay, and work it up a little; then, without either scaling, or dressing, plaster your fish (fresh from the water) all ever with the clay, about an inch thick, and put him right into the hot ashes. When ’tis done, the clay, and scales will all peel off, and you'll have a dish that would bring to life any starved man if he hadn’t been dead more than a week! That’s the ordinary way, but if you want an extra touch, cut a hole in the fish, and stick in a piece of salt pork, and a few beech-nuts, or meat of walnuts, or butternuts, and you'll think you are eating a water- angel.” Many sorts of fish will break if suddenly immersed, for cooking, in water under agitation by boiling, which mis- fortune may be prevented by not allowing the water to actually boil at all from beginning to end of the cooking. Otherwise, not only does the breaking disfigure the fish, but it further opens outlets by which the juices escape, and thereby depreciates the flavour, besides sacrificing some of the nutritious albumin. Izaak Walton advised that “lying long in water, and washing the blood out of any fish after they be gutted, abates much of their sweetness. You will find, for example, the Chub being dressed in the blood, and quickly, to be such meat as will recom- pense your labour, and disabuse your opinion of him; yet the French esteem him so mean as to call him ‘ Un villain. ” Respecting the Pike, it is observed by Gesner that “ the jaw- bones, and hearts, and galls of Pikes are very medicinable for several diseases, or to stop blood, to abate fevers, to cure agues, and to be many ways medicinable, and useful for the good of mankind.” The practice obtains generally with doctors to advise convalescent patients that they should first resume animal diet after a severe illness by taking a Sole, lightly and plainly cooked. This fish has a very delicate flavour, and is easily digested by an invalid. To stew the same in milk, carefully lift the fillets from a very fresh Sole, then roll each piece of fish, and fasten with white tape; lay the fillets in a perfectly clean stewpan, and cover them with new milk; season with a little salt, and simmer very gently until tender. The salts of potash, and phosphate of lime thus supplied, are highly nutritious mineral constituents, whilst the comparatively small quantity of proteids is an advantage. An easy way to test the freshness of such fish is to press a finger on the flesh, when, if fresh, it will be firm, and elastic, but if it be stale, then an indented impression is made FISH FOODS. 281 in the soft flesh. Again, Whiting may be similarly allowed when baked in milk. Take a Whiting, half a pint of milk, half an ounce of fresh butter, and one quarter of an ounce of flour, with salt to taste. Place the fish in a small pie-dish, and pour over it the milk; cover closely, and bake in a slow oven for about twenty minutes; when the flesh leaves the bones readily it is done; then place the fish in a hot dish; knead the butter and flour together in a basin, and add to them the milk in which the fish has been cooked ; pour into a saucepan, and boil for five minutes, stirring all the time; serve hot. Concerning the fried fish of the Jews, their representative modern author of fiction, I. Zangwill, writes: “Fried fish! but such fried fish! Only a great poet might sing the praises of the national dish! and the golden age of Hebrew poetry is, alas, over.” ‘‘Israel is among other nations as the heart is among the limbs,” so sang the great Jehuda Haller. “ Even thus is the fried fish of Judea to the fried fish of Christendom, and heathendom!” With the audacity of true culinary genius Jewish fried fish is always served cold; the skin is of a beautiful brown, and the substance firm, and succulent; the very bones thereof are full of marrow, yea, and charged with memories of the happy past. Fried fish binds Judea more than all the lip professions of unity. Its savour is early known of youth, and the divine flavour endeared by a thousand recollections, entwined with the most sacred associations, draws back the hoary sinner into the paths of piety. It is mayhap on fried fish the Jewish matron grows fat. Moreover, there is “ gefzillite fisch,” a delicious thing in Jewish cookery, or fish stuffed without bones; but fried fish reigns above all in cold unquestioned sovereignty ; no other people possesses the recipe. As a poet of the century’s commencement has sung :— ‘The Christians are ninnies: they can’t fry Dutch plaice ; Believe me, they can’t tell a Carp from a Dace.” Izaak Walton “ advised anglers to be patient, and to forbear swearing, lest they be heard of the finny tribe, and catch no fish.” Concerning whom Leigh Hunt wrote (1830): *‘ Angling does indeed seem the next thing to dreaming. It dispenses with locomotion, reconciles contradictions, and renders the very countenance null, and void. A friend of ours who is an admirer of Walton was struck, just as we were, with the likeness 282 MEALS MEDICINAL. of the old angler’s face to a fish. It is hard, angular, and of no expression ; it seems to have been a thing ‘ subdued to what it worked in,—to have become native to the watery element. One might have said to Walton, ‘ Oh, flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified !’ He looked like a Pike dressed in broadcloth instead of butter.” “A pretty kettle of fish” is a familiar phrase as applied to any muddled, or mismanaged concern, the “kettle of fish ” being actually a sort of stew well known in Scotland as fish and sauce, generally made from Haddocks. Said Alice (Through the Looking Glass) :— *T took a kettle, large and new, Fit for the deed I had to do ; My heart went hop, my heart went thump, I filled the kettle at the pump. Then someone came to me and said, * The little fishes are in bed.’ I said to him, I said it plain, ‘Then you must wake them up again.’ ” It is of essential requirement that all fish before being eaten should be raised in temperature somehow (by cooking, for choice) to a degree at which all germs of an animal, or a vegetable nature, which may be within, or upon the fish, shall be killed. This rule must be enforced with regard to fish as rigorously as to veal, and pork, in each case for similar reasons ; for it has been proved that several varieties of fish harbour in their flesh the young forms of certain parasites, which, if they escape death by the process of cooking, and are eaten by man, develop within his intestinal tract into the adult form of the parasite, and cause serious illness, with a long-continued disturbance of health. All fish therefore (except some shell-fish) must be cooked for the above reason, as well as to make it palatable, in some way before it will be eatable; and of all modes of cooking, to boil the fish is easiest, and most certain in effect. Whenever sea- water irom the open sea is available for boiling fish it should be preferred to water artificially salted, this mode of cooking being known as “d Hollandaise.” Fish cannot be too fresh for kitchen purposes ; the Dutch are as nice about this point at the present day, as the Romans were formerly. According to Seneca, in past times the most fastidious among them would not eat fish unless it were cooked on the same day as that of its being taken, so that, as they expressed it, “ there should be still FISH FOODS. 283 a taste of the sea.”” Garum, the fish sauce of the ancient Romans, was made of certain fish, to be eaten with other fish. Pliny states that garum had the flesh of shrimps originally for its basis (“‘ garos”” being the Greek name for shrimp, and “ garus”’ the Latin name). Garum was in truth a combination from various sea-creatures—the shrimp, scomberfish, anchovy, red mullet (with its intestines, and with the roe, soft, and hard). Bisque soup, made from the Crawfish (Cancer astacus), is credited in Paris with wonderful properties as a sexual restorative. The Crayfish, or Crawfish, has been long held in medicinal repute also in England, but chiefly as providing what used to be employed as ‘‘ Crabs’ eyes,” consisting mainly of lime, as phosphate, and carbonate. They were given powdered for acid indigestion, and heartburn. The Crawfish is found about banks of rivers, in holes, or under stones, feeding on small molluscs, and larve. In the French capital “Je Bouillon d’ Ecrevisses”’ is esteemed as “ analeptique, anciennement recommendé dans la phthisie pulmonaire, dans le lépre, et dans les affections du systeme cutané.”” A spirited allusion to this bouillon was made by Meslin de Saint Gelais, Chaplain to Francis the First, of France, in a poetical letter addressed to a lady :— “* Quand on est febricitant Madame on se trouve en risque, Et pour un assez longtemps. De ne jouer a la brisque. Et de mal diner, partant De ne point manger de bisque Si rude, et si facheux risque Que je bisque en y songeant.” Shrimps, again (or Gravesend sweetmeats), when fried in their shelly coverings, are very delicious; the chitin, or horny material of the outer coat, is thus cooked to crispness ; though for this effect the Shrimps must be fried just as they come from the sea, not as they are usually sold by the fishmonger after having been boiled in salted water. “Shrimps,” as Robert Lovell supposed (1661), “‘ were held to be good for sick people, and of few excrements, being of the best juyce.” These “ sea- flies’ are caught in great abundance near Margate; the red, or beaked, Shrimp is superior to the brown, or flat-nosed species. In the South Sea Islands live Shrimps, pure, and transparent, are scattered over a salad, have vinegar dashed quickly over them, and, being caught up in a leaf, half-a-dozen of them are 284 MEALS MEDICINAL. tossed into the mouth. Shrimps are carnivorous feeders, being of repute against consumption, and highly restorative in chicken broth. The Sole does not keep long, and should be eaten as fresh as possible ; when in roe its flesh is insipid. The Lemon Sole is, if not really a different species, at all events inferior in kind. A well-flavoured Sole is the ‘“ Sea-partridge.” The Red Mullet, abundant on all Mediterranean coasts, and taken in the English Channel, particularly at Plymouth, is termed by some the ‘‘ Woodcock of the Sea,”’ as its trail is eaten if properly cooked. When dressed the fish should be only lightly scraped, or not scraped at all; the gills should then be pulled away, and such part of the trail as is connected with them ; no other evisceration is required. The name of this fish, Mudlus surmulletus, is said to be derived from mudlus, the scarlet sandal, or shoe, worn by the Roman Consuls. Fishermen usually scrape off the scales with their thumb-nails immediately the mullets are caught, else the rich crimson hue invariably fades; then the bared skin becomes brilliantly red. The flesh is white, and remarkably free from fat. The flavour of the fish improves with its size, and small fish deprived of the liver are more or less insipid. The method of cooking them, by rolling in paper to prevent injuring the skin, has been observed for at least two thousand years. The Romans placed enormous value upon the Mullet, paying its weight in gold when unusually large. Sussex boasts an Arundel Mullet, a Chichester Lobster, a Shelsey Cockle, and an Amerly Trout. Sprats contain a large amount of oily fat, disagreeable in flavour, and quite uneatable ; this causes all culinary preparations of the Sprat_ except when broiled, to be unattractive, or repulsive ; broiling dissipates, or volatilizes, most of the oil. The Sprat (Encrasicholus, or bitter-headed) should be decapitated, and deprived of its gall; pickled like the Anchovy it strengthens the stomach; the flesh taken before meat loosens the belly. The true Anchovy was esteemed of old as giving tone to the stomach, restoring appetite, loosening the belly, and good against agues. When these fish are salted, and placed in barrels, a little reddish ochrous earth is added to give them colour, which mineral is dangerous unless well washed off at the time of serving the Anchovies. Sprats are often supplied as sardines; naturalists do not recognize a fish called a sardine. This term merely signifies FISH: “FOODS: 285 a mode of preparation; perhaps Pilchards may be likewise employed: Pepys wrote (August 27th, 1660): ‘‘ Major Hart come to me, whom I did receive with wine, and Anchovies, which made me so dry that I was ill with them all night, and was fain to have the girl rise and fetch me some drink.” Dr. Kitchener tells that the Epicure Quin was superlatively pleased with the Banns of Marriage between delicate Ann Chovy, and good John Dory. A former Yarmouth historian relates that the Dutch fishermen highly esteem the medicinal qualities of the Herring. An old saying of theirs runs to the effect, “ Herrings in the land, the doctor at a stand.” The fat beneath the Herring’s skin, like that of the Sprat, is never of a good flavour, and ought to be extracted before the fish is eaten; this is best done by broiling the Herring. A century back Herring plasters were much in vogue. Again, a Red Herring when steeped in tar was thought to be a sovereign remedy for a cow which had lost the power of chewing the cud. Half a century or more ago the labourers in Cornwall dined at noon, for the most part on Pilchards, and potatoes cooked in their jackets. The fish, boiled together with the potatoes, were placed on plates, but the cooked potatoes were cast in a heap on the bare table, each member of the family taking a helping, and peeling their own potatoes. Shipments of the Pilchard (Clupea pilchardus), when salted, are sent from Cornwall largely to Italy, for consumption there during Lent. These fish appear in immense numbers on the Cornish coast about the middle of July. They resemble the Herring, but are thicker, and rounder. “ Fools are as like husbands as Pilchards are to Herrings.” Train oil is expressed from the Pilchard’s liver. “The Perch, or Peurch, is so wholesome,’ says a German proverb, “that physicians allow him to be eaten by wounded men, or by men in fevers, or by women in child-bed.” The Plaice (Platepa) has ruddy spots on its surface, and a small, wry mouth. Tom Hood pretended to be angry with his wife for buying this fish when broken out into red spots ; also, writing to a favourite child, he told her that having caught a Plaice spotted red he thought he had “ caught the measles.” : The Whiting (Merlangus), one of the Cod family, has flesh of a pearly whiteness. “‘ And here’s a chain of Whitings’ eyes for pearls.” Whiting soup had at one time a notoriety for 286 MEALS MEDICINAL. increasing the flow of breast milk with nursing mothers, but Dr. Routh gives very much the preference to Conger Eel soup in this respect. ‘“‘ Do you know why it is called a Whiting ?”’ asked the Gryphon (Alice in Wonderland). ‘“‘I never thought about it,” said Alice. ‘‘ Why, it does the boots and shoes,” the Gryphon replied very solemnly. ‘ What are your shoes done with? I mean what makes them so shiny?” Alice looked down at them, and said, “ They’re done with blacking, I believe.” ‘Boots and shoes under the sea,’ the Gryphon went on to say in a deep voice, “‘ are done with Whiting; now you know.” ‘“‘ And what are they made of ?”’ asked Alice in a tone of great curiosity. ‘“‘ Soles, and Eels,’ the Gryphon replied. ‘ Any Shrimp could have told you that.” ‘ Merlans mangés ne restent non plus dans l’estomac, que pendus dla ceinture.” Cockles, and Winkles, are popular shell-fish in the poorer parts of London, and other cities. As a street scene in a squalid South London district on a dismal winter’s Saturday night, at the various itinerant stalls for cheap articles of food, we read how “‘a pale-faced young woman is poking a Cockle into her year-old baby’s mouth with her forefinger, as she tells the merchant that the ‘little un tykes to ’em as kindly as ’er dad does.’ ”” On another stall hard by are tiny flat fish which suggest a minimum of nutriment, lying at a respectful distance from more or less fresh, and worn-looking haddocks, the vendor pro- claiming the merits of his wares in no modest terms. (Venator, in The Complete Angler, has told of those that venture upon the sea, and are there shipwrecked, drowned, and left to feed haddocks.) “As we presently moralize on the pathetic scene, the devoted mother with the infant, who can scarcely have yet digested its Cockle, comes again in sight, stops at a small fruit stall, purchases a very green apple, and, biting off one half, begins to administer the other by easy instalments to the babe, perhaps as an antidote to the fish course. No wonder the chemist’s shop over the way does a roaring trade; and the tall-hatted, frock-coated young doctor, standing on his doorstep, looks cheerfully up and down the street awaiting developments.” “Turning down a side-street on our homeward journey, we pass a provision shop lit up by rows of flaring gas-jets, and with many cheap dainties exposed outside. The pious proprietor, not content with extolling his butter, eggs, cheese, and bacon on three large announcement boards, devotes a fourth, and still FISH FOODS. 287 larger one, to warning all and sundry to prepare themselves betimes for a future state, this board standing in suggestive proximity to a festoon of the highly questionable carcases of tenpenny rabbits.” Mackerel, when a big haul has been made on the coast, finds its way abundantly into the cheap markets on hucksters’ stalls for the poor. In former times, because of its perishable nature, it was allowed to be sold on a Sunday. Gay notes, “ Ev’n Sundays are prophaned by Mackrell cries.” This fish furnishes nearly 3 per cent of xanthin, or uric acid. “ But flounders, sprats and cucumbers yere cry’d, And every voice, and every sound were try’d. At last the law this hideous din supprest, And ordered that the Sunday should have rest, And that no nymph the noisy food should sell Except it were new milk, or mackerel. Hence mack’rel seem delightful to the eyes, Tho’ drest with incoherent gooseberries.” Art of Cookery. The Mackerel is from Maculellus, spotted, of the Scombride, because of their brilliant prismatic coats. The Turbot (Psella maxima) is called after “ a top,” being also the Water-pheasant (with a flavour of its flesh, like that of the game bird), and the “ Cannock fluke.” The Greeks and Latins named it “‘ Rombus, the lozenge, which beareth justly that figure.” It is the largest flat fish of European waters except the halibut. For invalids fond of Lobster, but who may not eat this, a salad thereof may be well imitated by cutting strips of cold boiled Turbot, and colouring them outside with beetroot juice, or by substituting cold Turbot, with pepper, and vinegar. “If you would live long”—says a trite adage— avoid controversy, lobster salad, and quarrelsome folk.” The Salmon (Salmo, king of fish) is red-fleshed, and contains much fat, which is interspersed amongst the muscular fibres, and is accumulated under the skin. This fish is at its best just before spawning ; on returning afterwards to the sea it is thin, and wasted. “ Daintie, and wholesome is the Salmon,” wrote Fuller, “and a double riddle in nature: First, for its invisible feeding, no man alive having ever found any meat in the maw thereof; secondly, for its strange leaping, or flying rather, so that some will have them termed Salmons, a saliendo.” The fish is not named a Salmon before it attains the age of six years ; 288 MEALS MEDICINAL. in its first year it is called smolt, in the second sprod, in the third mort, in the fourth fork-tail, and in the fifth halj-fish. When Salmon is crimped immediately after its removal from the water its flesh remains more solid, and retains the curd, or the coagulable albumin, which becomes a milky curd after the fish is boiled ; but when the fish is kept a few days its flesh undergoes a change whereby the curd disappears; the meat then becomes more tender, and is improved in taste, or, as some enthusiasts declare, oily and balsamic properties are developed which render the flesh nutritious, and invigorating, diuretic, pectoral, and restor- ative. ‘‘ By the fishmonger,”’ says The Art of Cookery, “ Crabs, salmon, lobsters are with Fennel spread That never touched the herb till they were dead.” Tinned Salmon is a questionable form of food, because at times the can has not remained completely air-tight, or the fish being left, however short a time, within the can after it has been opened, acts on the tin, and poisonous products are formed. Byron has recorded the prevailing notion that in his day Salmon was thought to need serving with a corrective sauce of some kind :— “From travellers accustomed from a boy To eat their Salmon at the least with Soy.” The Tench (Tinca vulgaris), being of a golden yellow colour, was formerly commended, on the doctrine of signatures, for giving to persons with jaundice, and liver obstructions. It was further supposed to have some healing virtue in its touch. Izaak Walton says in his Compleat Angler: “The Tench is observed to be a physician to other fish; and it is affirmed that a Pike will neither devour, nor hurt him, because the Pike being sick, or hurt by any accident, is cured by touching the Tench.” FOODS, WirH respect to foods of divers sorts, which embody curative virtues whilst served at table by way of customary meals, certain desultory matters will not be out of place here. The only cure for a host of bodily derangements, such as gout, rheumatism, biliousness, and kidney troubles, is a stern attention to the diet, always being mindful that too much food prematurely wears out the digestive energies, and their parent organs, through FOODS. 289 imposing an excess of work upon them. By way of a rest, an occasional fast, of varying duration according to the individual powers, is a most excellent thing. Human nature is, moreover, made up of both sentiment, and hunger, so that Thomas Hood was truthful in his epicurean reminiscences when he said :— *“ T’was at Christmas, I think, when I met with Miss Chase, Yes! for Morris had asked me to dine ; And I thought I had never beheld such a face, Or so noble a turkey, and chine.” As soon as man began to pass from a vegetable to an animal diet ** O fortunatos nimium sua, si bona norint, Agricolas!” Virgil’s Georgic. ii. 458. and to feed on flesh, fowl, and fish, then condiments became necessary, both to render such foods more palatable, and savoury, and also to preserve from intestinal corruption those parts which were not immediately used up. Probably salt was the first seasoning discovered for such a purpose; we read of this in the Book of Leviticus ii. 13, “ Every meat-offering shalt thou season with salt.” “Certain dyspep- tics,’ as Dr. King Chambers teaches, “ get into a bad habit of striking out from their bill of fare henceforward everything that has once seemed to disagree, the result of which policy is an unwholesome monotony of wrongly-chosen victuals, and a despairing resignation to a needless abstinence. Let them, on the other hand, take the more hopeful course of adding to their dietary everything that they have once found to agree, and they will acquire a choice nearly as extensive as their robust brethren could wish. If one cook cannot make a coveted article digestible, let them try another.’ It is noteworthy that several of the large leading West End Hotels in London now think it worth while to make a special feature of invalid diet. The truth is, most persons suffer nowadays from some one or other ailment, gout it may be, or rheumatism, bloodlessness, skin trouble, influenza, neuralgia, diabetes, kidney disorder, or what not, for which persons the regulation meals are quite unsuitable. Perhaps milk only is desired, or prepared cocoa, plain bread, boiled chicken, fish free from grease, and delicate, simple, sugarless, butterless, or acidless puddings. At present everything of such sort which an invalid may want is happily provided at these several Hotels. 2 19 290 MEALS MEDICINAL. Hippocrates said, in an aphorism, that “‘ the younger a human being is, the easier is it starved, until we come to extreme old age, when the powers of life are considered by some physiologists, Celsus among the number, to give way more quickly under famine than those of middle-aged men.” Again, a nutritious diet, and a plentiful increase of good constructive food, are indispensable for children, hitherto badly fed, among the poor, who are found to suffer from inflammation of the eyes as to their outer membranes, with some ulceration thereof. To treat such cases medicinally whilst restricting the diet, would be a lamentable mistake. It is also an assured fact that certain physical troubles, such as corns, and enlargements of the toe-joints, with cold feet, each from a gouty condition, will improve under diminished food, the enlargements of the toes become lessened, and the peeling of the outermost skin, by removing the hardened hyper- trophied growth, whilst forming a sounder tissue beneath, enables well-fitting shoes, or boots, even smaller than before, to be worn with comfort. Corns, and likewise certain cancerous indurations about the lips, or elsewhere, are actual overgrowths of the outermost skin, and they both arise fundamentally from an excess of certain materials in the blood; considering which we may conclude that to cure these evils we should restrict the diet accordingly. For example, a man, forty-eight years of age, who had lessened his daily food in order to mitigate, or cure, bronchitis, and asthma, combined with rheumatism, (in which endeavour he was altogether successful), became much surprised to find that the corns (hard, and soft) from which he had suffered for many years, altogether disappeared likewise under this code of treatment. Of course, corns are indirectly the effect of pressure from outside by tight, or ill-fitting shoes. But any direct pressure would of itself make the skin thinner, just as pressure tends to wear out a boot-sole; whereas the indirect effect of pressure on living tissues is to thicken them through excessive nutrition; so says Dr. Rabagliati in his Book of Aphorisms. The great Duke of Wellington looked upon physic, and much food, as things equally objectionable, and to be avoided. “ All my life,” he declared, “I have taken as little medicine as I could; and I have always eaten, and drunk, as little as possible.’ Saint Francis of Assisi once, when obliged to dine at the sumptuous table of a rich gourmand, instead of eating FOODS. 291 the rare meats, sprinkled ashes thereupon, saying as he did it, “* Brother ash is good.”’ Nevertheless, nourishing and abundant food is essential for invalids whose nervous system has failed under some prolonged taxation of its endurance, so that impairment of the brain’s functions, or painful neuralgia, or sleeplessness has supervened, especially through excess of literary work. “Tales versus facio quale vinum bibo, Nihil possum scribere nisi sumpto cibo, Nihil valet penitus quod jejunus scribo, Nasonem post calices carmine preeibo.”” Confession of Golias (12th century). Wm. Hazlitt tells in his Conversation of Authors (1801): “There was Lamb himself, the most delightful, the most provoking, the most witty, and sensible of men. He always made the best pun, and the best remark in the course of the evening at a meal. No one ever stammered out such fine, ' piquant, deep, eloquent things in half-a-dozen sentences as he. How often did we cut into the haunch of letters while we discussed the haunch of mutton on the table! How we skimmed the cream of criticism! How we got into the heart of astronomy ! How we picked out the marrow of authors! On one occasion he was for making out a list of persons famous in history whom one would wish to see again in the flesh, at the head of whom were Pontius Pilate, Sir Thomas Browne, and Doctor Faustus. With what a gusto would he describe his favourite authors, Donne, and Sir Philip Sidney, calling their most crabbed pages delicious! He tried them on his palate as epicures taste olives, and his observations had a smack in them like roughness on the tongue. To finish this subject, Mrs. Montagu’s conversation is as fine-cut as her features, and I like to sit in the room with that sort of coronet face; what she says leaves a flavour like her green tea. Hunt’s is like Champagne, and Northcote’s like Anchovy sandwiches; Lamb’s like Snap-dragon; and my own (if I do not mistake the matter) is not very much unlike & game at nine-pins.” : It is quite possible that much of the world’s food-supply will be furnished on some future day, not far off, by electricity. Already we know that when powerful electrical discharges occur in air, nitric acid is produced, which, when combined presently with soda, potash, or lime in the soil, produces the nitrates so indispensable for plant life. And it is asserted that by simply 292 MEAES MEDICINAL. passing a current of definite potential energy through soda-water, a series of products is formed culminating in sugars; oxalic acid is first formed, then tartaric acid, next citric acid, until grape sugar appears. The paramount importance of phosphatic foods for building up the vital structures of nervous centres, and the main bodily organs, is unquestionable; so that food sources of phosphorus as present in alkaline phosphates are well worth consideration. Those foods which are most rich in phosphoric elements are yolk of egg, fish roe, the germ of wheat, calves’ brains, and the thymus gland. Furthermore, phosphates of potash, soda, and other mineral salts are furnished inter alia by the cabbage, potatoes, lentils, and new milk. Phosphoric acid occurs with animals, and vegetables, in varying degrees. The phosphorus, whereof we cannot over-rate the importance, is present inorganically, as well as in combination with alkalies, or earths. Dr. King Chambers, however, explains as to certain popular notions with respect to taking phosphorus as of power for specially feeding the brain. He elucidates this matter by telling that “the dogmatic expression of Biichner’s—‘ No thinking without phosphorus’—has gained an unhappy notoriety. If it be held to mean that the amount of phosphorus passing through the nérvous system bears a proportion to the intensity of thought, it is simply a mis-statement of facts. A captive lion, tiger, or leopard, or hare, who can have wonderfully little to think about, assimilates, and parts with a greater quantity of phosphorus than a professor of chemistry working hard in his laboratory ; while a beaver, who always seems to be contriving something, excretes so little phosphorus, at least in his urine, that chemical analysis cannot detect it. All that the physiologist is justified in stating is that for the mind to energize in a living body, that body must be kept living up to a certain standard, and that for this continuous renewal of life a supply of phosphatic salts is required. The phosphates, indeed, are wanted, but wanted by pinches, whilst water must be pouring in by pailfuls. One might go on thinking for weeks without phosphates, but without water only a few days; and without oxygen a few minutes would terminate the train of self-conscious- ness. The practical points taught us by physiology are, that for the integrity of thought, the integrity of the nervous system is requisite, and for the integrity of the nervous system, a due FOWL. 293 quantity of such food as contains digestible phosphatic salts.” Acting on which plain principle, not only foods rich in the phosphates are to be specially commended for invalid conditions, where there is a deficiency of the same, but the phosphatic salts themselves may be superadded in small quantities to the appro- priate foods, particularly for children with scrofulous ailments, or rickets. Cerebos Salt, which is now frequently supplied by the grocer as “ best salt,” is a mixture of four parts of phosphates derived from bran, with ninety-six parts of ordinary table salt ; ‘* but this is” (says Dr. Hutchison) “ of doubtful utility, because the phosphates thus present are purely in an inorganic iorm.” Otherwise such phosphates help much to repair defective brain, and nerve structures, whilst promoting the growth of bone in children. If a saltspoontful of Cerebos is stirred in a wineglassful of cold water, it will then form a milky fluid, thus showing that it is something more than common salt. It does not cake in the saltcellar, and may be sprinkled as freely as sifted sugar. For retaining the potash salts in potatoes they must be cooked in their jackets. FOWL. THE Capon (a cock-chicken fed for the table), “ being fat, and not old, is generally for all bodies, and in all respects for whole- someness of meat, the best of all fowls, for it is easily digested, and acceptable to the stomacke, and maketh much good, firme, and temperate nourishment, almost altogether free from excre- ment”; thus quoth Dr. Tobias Venner (1620). “ Poultry,” declares Brillat Savarin, “is to the sick man who has been floating over an uncertain, and uneasy sea, like the first odour, or sight of land, to the storm-beaten, exhausted mariner.” Nevertheless, this same experienced gastronome regards the pullet as being no more to a cook than his canvas is to the painter, which is, of course, to say that a chicken is only a mere vehicle for exploiting the cook’s learning, and skill. What is termed by the chef a “Spread Eagle,” or ‘“‘ Poulet a la Crapoline,” is a young, plump chicken split down the back, and flattened, its breastbone being removed, and the bird being seasoned, oiled (or buttered), and grilled, or baked. The breast of a boiled chicken is among the most digestible forms of animal food, but the leg muscles are often tough, and stringy. Moreover, very 294 MEALS MEDICINAL fat poultry should be avoided by the dyspeptic, as such fat is particularly apt to become rancid in the stomach. Chicken broth, if poured on sippets of bread laid at the bottom of the dish in which boiled fowl, or partridge, is served, makes a capital sauce therewith, when the invalid is well enough to be allowed solid food. Some cooks add the feet when making the broth, but these members contribute a peculiar, and not always acceptable flavour. Again, those persons to whom cost is an object, may make a very good broth of fowls’ heads, ends of pinions, and feet alone, these being obtained cheap from any poulterer. Fowls’ liver soup (“ Potage & la Camerani ”) was at one time prepared according to a secret method known only to Grimod de la Reyniere, and his compeers. Thus the fable arose that its concoction in 1806 cost three louis d’or for each person who partook of it at dinner. To standard broth, just before it is done, are added fowls’ livers, one for each person, finely minced, whilst the tureen should contain some ready-boiled macaroni, and Parmesan cheese. According to certain French enthusiasts “a single spoonful of this liver soup will lap the palate in Elysium ; and while one drop thereof remains on the tongue, each other sense continues eclipsed by a voluptuous thrilling of the lingual nerves.” Verily it might be quoted of the said boastful “ cordon bleu,” in the words of Ingoldsby :— ** He seemed by his talk, And the airs he assumed, to be ‘ cock of the walk.’ ” The right wing of a fowl, having the liver tucked into it, is preferred by epicures. “Mr. Pumblechook” (Dickens, in Great Expecta- tions) “helped me to the liver-wing, and to the best slice of tongue.” Lord Tennyson declared that the only advantage he got from being Poet Laureate, was that he invariably had given him the liver-wing of a chicken at luncheon. Venetia Anastasia, the wife of Sir Kenelm Digby (1650), was remarkable for her extraordinary beauty; and he was so proud of her that to preserve her health he kept her supplied with the flesh of capons fed on vipers. In order to retain her lovely complexion he was continually inventing new cosmetics for her use; and itis suspected that this too great love for her was the cause of her death, for one morning she was found dead in her bed, at the early age of thirty-three. An English officer in India not long ago set before his guests FOWL, 295 at dinner with great success, and satisfaction all round, a turkey stuffed with the strong-flavoured gum-asafcetida, known to druggists as having a powerful odour, and a persistent taste of garlic (with anti-spasmodic medicinal effects). It is the concrete juice from the roots of several large umbelliferous plants belonging to the genus Ferula, having a bitter, acrid taste, whilst consisting of resin, gum, and an essential oil which contains phosphorus, and sulphur. In Persia, and Afghanistan, this sap is collected also as a culinary condiment to be employed by the Indian cook, but in such infinitesimal quantities as to suggest rather than to convey the actual flavour. With curry, and rice, it is found to be delicious when skilfully combined. A Royal Academician who was noted among his friends for making an exquisite salad, always passed asafcetida over the bowl. John Evelyn makes reference to this “ fcetid asa’ as highly prized at classic Delphi : ‘“‘ Nor are some of our modern skilful cooks ignorant of how to condite it, with the applause of those who are unaware of the secret.” Pureira tells of a noted gourmet, who assured him that ‘the finest relish which a beefsteak can possess may be com- municated to it by rubbing the gridiron on which the steak is to be cooked with asafcetida.’’ The gum in moderate quantity acts on all parts of the body as a wholesome stimulant, enlivening the spirits, and at the same time improving the vision; it quickens the appetite, and invigorates the digestion, particularly in persons of a cold, languid temperament. The late Archbishop Magee was once asked, or rather volunteered the reply, that “the two things which tired him most in his clerical administrative consecrations, were the hymn, ‘The Church’s One Foundation,’ and cold chicken for lunch afterwards.’ As compared with lean beef, which contains eighty-six grains of proteid food in an ounce, the flesh of the common fowl contains eighty grains. In cases of wasting, bloodlessness, and great prostration of strength, the fresh blood of animals, such as fowls, mixed with warm wine, or milk, punch, warm lemonade, or coffee, and taken immediately, or before its coagulation ensues, proves highly useful. It relieves extreme weakness (as in a case of flooding), restores the bodily warmth, and circulation, acting better, and more promptly, it is said, than transfusion of human blood from vein to vein. The fresh blood of two or three chickens should be given thus in twenty-four hours, according 296 MEALS MEDICINAL. to the authoritative advice of a leading medical text-book. But in refutation of this advice, Dr. R. Hutchison now enters his protest as follows: “ Blood is a dilute fluid in animals, and man, having in every 100 parts from 78 to 82 of water. It is not of itself the food of the tissues to which it is circulated in the body, but merely the vehicle by means of which nourish- ment is carried from the intestines to the places where it is required in the body. One might as well expect a spoon to be of nutritive value because it conveys food from the plate to the mouth.” Two French experimenters found that fresh blood when administered to dogs, even in the liberal allowance of two pounds daily, did not suffice to maintain the life of the animals for more than a month. Blood, in fact, from a chemical point of view, is not so much thicker than water after all: in its solids there is plenty of proteid (primary food), but the other nutritive constituents needed to sustain life, as fat, and sugar, starch, and glucose, are only in quite an inappreciable amount. Further- more, the red colouring matter (hemoglobin) which makes up the larger part of the proteid, is a substance which is very far from being completely absorbed. Thus it happens that though blood may be used dietetically without much harm, yet at the same time it will be without much benefit, as given in black puddings, and similar culinary preparations; this being true also of the use of animal blood for the sick as a source of iron. Importance should be attached to the proper and wholesome feeding of fowls which are served for the invalid. They are affected healthfully, or otherwise, as to their quality of flesh, by the care exercised in feeding them, and the character of the fodder which is supplied to them. Recently a French experi- mentalist kept some domestic fowls in cages, exclusively on hashed meat (previously stripped of sinew, and fat), with as much water as they liked to drink. At first this diet seemed to suit well enough; but after some time (in from three to five months) the fowls began to show positive signs of gout; their legs became weak, and their gait uncertain; their joints were seen to be manifestly swollen, whilst on some days the birds re- mained lying down, and would not take any food. Attacks of this nature became more and more frequent, and finally the fowls grew thin, and died. Deposits of urates were found around the joints, as well as in the sheaths of the tendons; likewise some FOWL. 297 in the kidneys. A doctor in Paris ascertained that the adminis- tration to a hen of any medicament results in a similarly doctored egg, and he recommends the faculty of physicians to make a practical use of this discovery. It has naturally elicited scorn- fully humorous comment :— “ In dealing with the modern egg Please pause e’er you begin it. Inspect it carefully, I beg, There’s something nauseous in it. Be wary, scrutinize it well, Lest nasty drugs be present. There’s castor oil within the shell, Or things still more unpleasant.” It is noteworthy that the giblets of poultry exercise certain solvent properties on other foods, particularly by the gizzard, which in fowls secretes their gastric juice, whilst its lining membrane will coagulate milk, just as rennet does from the calf. Giblets as a combination include the gizzard, head, neck, heart, joints, and pinions of poultry, principally of geese, turkeys, and ducks. From the dried, and powdered lining of the fowl’s gizzard, is prepared “ ingluvin,” a pepsin of specific use against the sickness of pregnant women, especially if taken shortly before food. Various culinary methods of preparing poultry for the sick are detailed in Kitchen Physic, which it would be tedious to repeat. As a specially suitable dish for the convalescent before proceeding to red meat, boiled fowl, and chicken mould, are to be commended. For the former, put the chicken to boil for one and a quarter hours with just enough cold water to cover it; season with salt, and four or five sliced onions (unless forbidden), a bunch of herbs, and about a dozen pepper- corns ; simmer gently until tender; then make use of the liquor, boiling it down to the required quantity, with the onions in it for flavouring. For chicken mould, take a large chicken, one quart of cold water, pepper, and salt; skin the chicken, and put it into a saucepan with the water, and boil it the usual time ; take it out, and cut pieces from the breast, and legs; put back the bones, ete., into the saucepan, and boil till the water is reduced to a pint; strain it, and add to the liquor the pieces of chicken cut off, minced finely, and pepper and salt to taste ; let it stand until cold, and jellied, then turn it out. 298 MEALS MEDICINAL. The “ Poule d’Inde,”’ or fowl of India, cock, or hen, is our Turkey (Meleagris), the bubbly jock of Scotland, which originally came from America, having been first found wild there, and nowhere else. Turkeys do not hail from Turkey any more than Turkey corn, which also came first from America. In Paris this fowl has become known as a dindon, or “ poulet d’Inde,” though quite on an equal misconception of its origin. “‘ When young,’ said Robert Lovell (1661), “it recovereth strength, nourisheth plentifully, kindleth lust, and agreeth with every temper, and complexion, except too hot, and troubled with rheumes, and gouts.’”’ ‘‘ The flesh,” wrote Dr. Salmon (1695), “is most excellent food, and of great nourishment; you may concoct broth, ale, or jelly of it against consumptions, for it restoreth strength plentifully, and agrees with all dispositions.” Young Turkeys will not fatten unless they have free access to pebbles, many of which are found in their gizzards, This lordly fowl began to appear as a Christmas dish about 1585. “‘ Turkeys, hops, and carp ’”’ were introduced into England during the reign of Henry the EHighth. After the middle ages Turkeys were practically extinct in Europe; they were imported again in 1432 by a French trader who was master of the Mint, and director of Artillery in the service of Charles the Seventh of France. The story is told of a gourmand who, when recovering from an illness, was allowed by his doctor, in writing, as a simple dinner, “‘ Une cuisse de poulet.” But scarcely had the doctor taken his departure when the patient caught up the prescribed menu-card, and, cleverly imitating the physician’s hand, added “d'Inde”’ after poulet. This order being duly carried out by the cook, the patient regaled himself on a big meal, and a laugh at the doctor’s expense. The Turkey Cock goes by the popular names Gobble Cock, and Gobbler. Said Sam Weller (Pickwick) when getting into some trouble, “I’m pretty tough! that’s vun consolation, as the wery old Turkey remarked ven the farmer said he wos afeer'd he should have to kill him for the London market.” Alexis Soyer, the noted London chef, at the time of the Crimean War, invented a hundred-guinea dish, for producing which a hundred Turkeys had to be slaughtered, each of which furnished only the two dark pieces of solid flesh trom the hips, called by the French “Je sot Vy laisse.” Meleager, after whom the Turkey is named, was a king of Macedonia. FROG. 299 FROG. As is well known, Frogs are esteemed for the table in France, their thighs being chiefly eaten there, though in Germany the other muscular parts are similarly used. Even amongst ourselves, an edible Frog is found about Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, which is of admirable nourishing use. The flesh is mainly gelatinous, and closely resembles that of delicate white chicken. Fried with tomatoes, or mushrooms, and bacon, these English Frogs are simply delicious ; so says the Tramps’ Hand- book (1902). It is to an historical dish of Frogs served to Madame Volta, we owe the important discovery of voltaic electricity. The creatures yield a bland broth rich in mucin, and when cooked, together with edible snails, they afford a mucilaginous and gelatinous potage, which greatly comforts raw, sore, denuded lining surfaces of the mouth, and throat, serving to restore the lost protective covering of which these parts have become morbidly deprived. For such broth, hay saffron is the orthodox condiment, and colouring addition. The edible Frog is olive- green in appearance, with yellow stripes on its back; there is no valid reason why we should regard it with aversion, as it lives on insects, and slugs, varied with vegetable matters, just in the same way as many birds, animals, and fishes which we are quite willing to consume. Frog-farming in Canada is made quite a profitable business; no fewer than 5,000 pounds in weight of Frogs’ legs prepared for table use, was the output of one Ontarian farm alone during last season, and still the demand exceeds the supply. . | Frog pies were introduced into England from Italy by Thomas Coryate, (Furcifer)—(see Coryate’s Crudities, 1602). “ I did eate fried Frogges in this citie, which is a dish much used in many cities of Italy.” They were highly esteemed in London from James the First’s time till the death of Charles the Second. If fricasseed in white wine, the Frog has been long found more delicate than chicken, and an easily digested dish. “ Muse, sing the man that did to Paris go, : That is nahh taste their soups, and mushrooms know. Oh ! how would Homer praise their dancing dogs, Their fetid cheese, and fricassee of frogs. Dr. Hutchison pronounces to-day that the Rana esculenta, or edible Frog, is readily digested, and of a delicate flavour. The 300 MEALS MEDICINAL. hind legs are taken, skinned, and the claws twisted together, in which form they resemble appetizing little lamb cutlets. “ It is absolutely impossible,” says a French gourmet, “to bring on an indigestion by Frogs, no matter what quantity you eat.” The edible portions should first be thrown into plenty of fresh cold water to blanch ; next they should be drained, and dried ; then put to soak awhile in white of eggs (well beaten up); now powder them over with flour, and finally fry them in plenty of fine olive oil until they are crisp as “the Whitebait of the Minister, that treasure of the sea,”’ and until the bones have become changed into something so rich and strange, that they melt in the mouth. Add a lemon, red pepper, brown bread, and butter, to complete the “ loaves and fishes ” illusion, and say if a “ fricasee de grenouilles’” be not much easier to eat than to pronounce, and a species of “ small deer ”’ by no means to be abandoned to poor Tom. You can devil them, too, if you like, and they make a tip-top curry, or they fry well in batter, or you may stew them in butter, and white wine, with parsley, and garlic enough to swear by, chopped up fine. But no matter how they be cooked, they are very pretty eating, and make a delicious entrée, more tender than the youngest chicken, and still with a flavour, and a velvety texture all their own. The Frog which is eaten lives chiefly on insects, so that really for the table it is considerably cleaner than the pig. There is a painful French proverb, ‘‘ IJ n’y a pas de grenouille qui ne trouve son crapaud,” and it has a dreadful double-edged explanation. It means “ there is no girl so ugly that she cannot find a more repulsive husband.’’ We have rhymed this saying in a much prettier way, as “ Froggy would a wooing go,” when “ a lily-white duck came and gobbled him up; etc.” But ugly, or not, Froggy eats well, as we shall all probably acknowledge some day. In seeking for Frogs the French peasants often meet with toads, which they do not reject, but prepare them in a similar manner. As for the rest of the Frog’s body (besides the legs), and the skin, so sticky, and slimy, what is done therewith 2 Why, they make turtle-soup of the same! Yes, the savoury mock turtle over which gourmands lick their lips, has for its chief foundation the amphibians which haunt the marshes and fields of Luxembourg. _ In Kitchen Physic we have explicitly told how the flesh of Frogs 1s good against coughs, and such as are hectick. Broths made thereirom are restorative, and anti-scorbutic, being prescribed FRUITS. 301 by continental physicians for pulmonary consumption, skin affections, and other maladies. Frog oil has been extracted by some of our leading chemists, and used externally against cancer. The ancient heraldic device of the Parisians was three Frogs, (or toads), and their city was Lutetia (the land of mud). As becomes a true Hohenzollern, the present Kaiser always wears the talismanic ring of his ancestors. It is a quaint old ting set with a stone of no intrinsic value, the legend connected therewith relating how a toad hopped into the room of the wife of Elector John of Brandenberg, and deposited this stone on her bed. The toad then mysteriously disappeared, but the pebble was zealously treasured among the Hohenzollern Archives. The father of Frederick the Great had it mounted in a ring, which has ever since then been worn by the Head of the House as a medieval Mascot. On May 12th, Anno Domini 1827, Samuel Pickwick, Esq., G.C.M.P.C. (General Chairman, and Member of the Pickwick Club), communicated a paper (received by the Association with feelings of unmingled satisfaction, and unqualified approval) entitled, “Speculations on the Sources of the Hampstead Ponds, with some observations on the Theory of,Tittlebats.” FRUITS. ‘No part of the diet in any season is so healthful, so natural.,. and so agreeable to the stomach as good and well-ripened fruits.” Thus Sir Wm. Temple taught (About Beautiful Gardens, 1685). “T can say it for myself at least, and all my friends, that the season of summer fruits is ever the season of health with us, which I reckon from the beginning of June to the end of September ; and for all sicknesses of the stomach (from which most others are judged to proceed) I do not think that any who are like me (who am most subject to them) shall complai whenever they eat thirty or forty cherries before meals, or the like proportion of strawberries, white figs, soit peaches, or grapes perfectly ripe. Now whoever will make sure to eat good fruit must do it out of a garden of his own; so that for all things out of a garden, either of salads, or fruits, a poor man will eat better that has one of his own, than a rich man that has none. The best fruit that is bought has no more of the master’s care than how to raise the greatest gains ; his business is to have as much 302 MEAIS MEDICINAL. fruit as he can upon a few trees, whereas the way to have it excellent is to have but little on many trees.” “Health is preserved”? (Treatise on Fruit-trees, 1653) “‘ by wholesome meats, and drinks, all the yeare from the garden of fruit trees. These dishes, and drinks from orchard fruits are both alimentall, and physicall; they cure disease, and preserve health. Now the garden of fruit trees is profitable to the body for long life, first by the bodily organs, secondly by the affections of the minde; the sweet perfumes of fruits work immediately upon the spirits for their refreshing; such healthfull ayres are speciall preservatives to health, and are therefore much to be prized.” The flavour fruits are chiefly eaten for the sake of their agreeable tastes, but they are also of service by reason of the vegetable salts of potash which they furnish. The food fruits contain a large proportion of special sugar which gives them a high nutritive value. This sugar is levulose, and better suited to delicate, or gouty digestions than dextrose (or cane-sugar). It may be utilized even by diabetic invalids without detriment, being given in such fruits as apples, green gooseberries, cherries, and green currants, before the sugar is fully matured therein. Or, this “levulose” can be obtained as a sugar from certain grocers, being a white crystalline article, of which two ounces may be safely, and profitably used with the daily food. The value of fruits as food does not lie in their nutritious constituents nearly so much as in their mineral salts, and in their fruit acids, which are of essential benefit to the health, and the blood. These acids, as already shown, exist in union with alkalies, and render uric acid (gouty, if in excess) soluble. The organic acids of fruits (citric, tartaric, malic, etc.) exist mainly in combination with alkalies, but in such a manner that no chemistry can form their counterpart ; we may give to a patient for scurvy citrate of potash as a drug (just such a chemical salt as exists in lemons, and oranges) somewhat successfully, but with nothing of results as compared with those obtained by giving the said fresh fruits, rich in natural citrate of potash. And it is the same with the other acids found combined with an alkaline base, such as malic, and tartaric, in grapes, apples, pears, peaches, and apricots. Bananas, peaches, and prunes are among the least acid fruits. The organic acids combined with their basic earths in fruits improve the quality of the blood, whilst acting as anti-scorbutics, laxatives, and diuretics, increasing the movements of the bowels, FRUITS. 303 and the flow of urine. But all persons cannot eat fruit with impunity. For instance, a case is on record of a patient who could not take a single strawberry without incurring great numbness in both legs; and another of a lady in whom the eating of ripe, uncooked fruit would provoke asthma. Skin eruptions likewise sometimes ensue after any such indulgence. Pepys tells a humorous incident about “our parson, Mr. Mills, on Lord’s-day, April 17th, 1664, making a remarkable mistake when reading the morning service; instead of saying * We beseech thee to preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth.” he prayed, ‘ Preserve to our use our Gracious Queen Katherine.’ ”’ Oranges, again, prove disturbing to the liver, and biliary functions of some persons; and with others the skin becomes troubled by an eruptive outbreak if one or another sort of certain fruits is indulged in. The various uses of fruits in relieving diseased conditions of the body have been summarised as follows: Under the category of laxatives we may place oranges, figs, tamarinds, prunes, apples, mulberries, dates, nectarines, and plums ; pomegranates, cranberries, blackberries, jewberries, raspberries, barberries, quinces, pears, wild cherries, and medlars are astringent fruits ; grapes, peaches, strawberries, whortleberries, prickly pears, black currants, and melon seeds are provocative of urine ; gooseberries, red and white currants, pumpkins, and melons are cooling fruits; whilst lemons, limes, and apples, again, are sedatives to the stomach. For the modern treatment of chronic dysentery the value of certain kinds of fresh fruit has come to be recognized in medical practice. Of these fruits may be specified apples, strawberries, fresh figs, and tomatoes, all of which are seed fruits as distinguished from stone fruits; it is essential that they shall be absolutely sound, and in good condition. Dr. Lacy, of Guernsey, has successfully practised this treatment for many years, and recently it has come into use by other physicians for chronic dysentery, and diarrhcea, with most happy results. Professor Sheridan has lately reported to the Linnzan Society his conclusions from experiments to ascertain the digestive qualities of various fruits, such as the fig, pineapple, melon, banana, apple, orange, also the vegetable marrow, cucumber, lettuce, dandelion, etc. He has found that the enzyme, or ferment, contained in the juices of these plants will exercise the property of peptonizing the higher proteids, and sien Ted ee ies 304 MEALS MEDICINAL. is also proteolytic. With the apple, and the orange, their peel is particularly sensitive in this respect, whilst the pulp is less so. Those fruits which we do not peel before they are eaten should certainly be thoroughly washed first, as it is impossible to say what dirty places they may have been in since gathered, or what unclean hands they may have passed through ; and sundry diseases can be conveyed by contaminated fruit. Speaking broadly, we eat fruits more for the sake of their flavours, and sweetness, than for the actual nourishment which they afford. Of the various sorts, apples, apricots, bananas, dates, figs, grapes, plums, prunes, raisins, strawberries, and raspberries are best supplied with substantial proteid ; whilst the fattening, and warming principles are chiefly found in the dried sweet fruits containing levulose, and vegetable gums; cran- berries being the most acid fruit. The mineral constituents are chiefly salts of potash, united with the acids (citric, malic, and tartaric), which give a pleasant flavour, but do not cause | sour digestion. When converted by the heat of the blood into foods, the acids are burnt off into carbon, and the alkaline bases remain to circulate. Moreover, as fruits ripen the acids diminish to some extent. Cooking renders fruit more digestible, by softening the cellulose, and by converting the gums into a gela- tinous form; but a great loss is sustained unless the fruit-juice is eaten with the fruit (stewed for preference), and then it proves of service against constipation, or inactivity of the liver. Uncooked {fruits should be warmed for easier digestion by weakly persons. As to taking cane sugar with fruit, if gouty acids, as urates, are already in the blood of those who live freely, or indulge in alcohol, and if these acids are ready to cause fermentation within the digestive organs, such fruits will start this fer- mentation anew, and further gouty salts will accrue; but if by judicious abstinence the blood is set free from urates, and they be not provoked again, then cane sugar may be taken with impunity as a welcome addition to fresh fruits (though their more exquisite flavours will be masked thereby). Compotes are fresh fruits stewed with sugar. First make a syrup of three and a half cups of sugar, and two and a half cups of water, and boil for five minutes from the time of its beginning to boil; when it is boiling drop the fruit in carefully, a few pieces at a time, so that it shall not break; cook until tender, but firm enough to keep their shape; remove with a FRUITS. 305 skimmer, and arrange daintily on a dish; then boil down the syrup until thick. and pour it over the fruit ; let this cool before serving. Apples, pears, peaches, apricots, and oranges may all be cooked in this wholesome way. Charles Lamb, in his early story (a sweet, homely, pathetic pastoral), of Rosamund Gray, draws the moral: ‘Shall the good housewife take such pains in pickling, and preserving her garden fruits, her walnuts, her apricots, and quinces: and is there not much spiritual housewifery in treasuring up our mind’s best fruits—our heart’s meditations in its most favoured moments?” “ Hating strawberries ont of season,’ said Washington “ invariably produces mental depression. I do not believe there would be so many suicides (more frequent in the spring than at any other time of the year) if people would not eat strawberries until they are ripe at home.” The use of fruit will materially help to diminish a craving for alcohol. Lord Chesterfield, in one of his celebrated letters to his son Philip Stanhope, when in Italy (1749), wrote: ‘Fruit when full ripe is very wholesome, but then it must be within certain bounds as to quantity, for I have known many of my countrymen die of bloody fluxes by indulging in too great a quantity of fruit in those countries where from the goodness, and the ripeness of it, they thought it could do them no harm.” Scientists now find that cherries, strawberries, and some other fruits tend to lessen the quantity of uric acid in gouty subjects by the action of their guinic acid, or “ China saure.” Fruit soups are to be commended as agreeable, and useful ; they can be made by boiling fresh, or dried fruits in water (with or without the addition of sugar, lemon-peel, etc.), and then freeing them from the solid residue by pressing, and straining off. These soups are pleasant to some persons as drinks, being sustaining, because they will contain quite a small amount of albuminates, rather more carbohydrates, and certain of the organic acids. Apples stewed with raisins make an excellent dish for overcoming constipation : Pare, core, and cut into quarters a dozen, or more, of medium-sized apples; clean thoroughly as many raisins of good quality as equal in weight one-fourth of the apples employed, and pour over these raisins one quart of boiling water; then let them steep until well swollen; stone them, and add the apples, proceeding to cook them until tender. Some sugar to sweeten may be added if desired, although scarcely needed 20 306 MEALS MEDICINAL. unless the apples are very tart. Dried apples soaked overnight may be stewed with raisins in the same way for about forty minutes. As already noted (page 51), apples from which the juices have been artificially evaporated, and then used in- dependently, are sometimes sold in the shops as dried apple- rings, or snitz. These ‘“‘snitz” are bleached with sulphur to prevent them from turning brown. An old recipe of 1754 by the Duke of Bolton’s chef ordered : “For making blackcaps, take a dozen good pippins, cut each of them into halves, and remove the cores; then place them on a right mazarine dish with their skins on, the cut sides down- wards; put to them a very little water, and scrape on them some loaf sugar; put them in a hot oven till the skins are burnt black, and your apples tender; serve them on plates, strewed over with sugar.” To make a simple apple-water, as an excellent fever-drink, “slice up thinly three or four good apples, without peeling them; boil these in a clean saucepan with a quart of water, and a little sugar, until the slices of apple are soft; the apple-water must then be strained through a piece of clean muslin into a jug, where it should be left until cold. For apple- jelly, “take some cooking apples, and cut them in quarters, but without paring, or coring them; put them to boil, one quart of water to every pound of fruit; when they are boiled to a pulp, strain through a sieve, or bag ; then to every pint of juice put one pound of sugar, and boil till it jellies, stirring all the time.” Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, when leaving Baden Baden, after a sojourn there in 1876, brought with her a noted Apple-cake, and the recipe for making it, “‘ Apjel kuchen mit Rahm Giiss.” The kitchen there boasted an excellent cook named Marie, and it was she who first made this capital cake for our late Queen. Marie has since then gone over to the great majority, but her excellent Apple-cake lives on. “ Line a round baking-sheet which has been buttered, with a paste (not made too thick) composed with one pound of sifted four, half a pound of fresh butter, six hard-boiled yolks of eggs (having passed the same through a fine wire sieve), six raw yolks of eggs, half a pound of castor sugar, some ground cinnamon, a little ‘ground cloves, and a few tablespoonfuls of cream ; mix thoroughly and roll out thinly ; the paste should be of the colour of cocoa. In lining the baking-sheet, bring the pastry slightly above the FRUITS. 307 edge. Wash, and pick equal quantities of currants, and sultanas ; peel some Wellington apples, and cut them into quarters, which are to be cut again into the thinnest possible slices, so as to well cover ihe base of the paste with these slices of apples, and with the currants, and sultanas. Now place three-quarters of a pound of castor sugar in a basin, and work well into this nine yolks of eggs, and whip the whites. Mix in lightly half a pound of finely-sifted flour, adding a little ground cinnamon, putting in the whipped whites last. Fill up the paste containing the apples, currants, and sultanas with this mixture, and bake in a moderate oven, being very careful that the bottom paste is well cooked. When the cake is done, sprinkle it over with fine cinnamon-sugar, cut it out in pieces, and serve cold in a napkin.” Pears are a colder fruit than apples, having an astringent quality, with an earthy substance in their composition. Their cellular tissue contains minute stony concretions which make the fruit in most of its varieties bite short, and crisp. Pears owe their special taste to an amylacetate; they also contain malic acid, pectose, gum, sugar, albumin, mineral matter, cellulose, and water. When peeled they constipate, but with their skins on they are somewhat laxative. Lemery told about Pears (1675): ‘They create an appetite, and do fortily the stomach; those that be of a sour and harsh taste are more binding than the others, and fitter to stop a looseness.” Perry is a fermented drink brewed from the juice of Pears ; it is described by Gerarde as “a wine made of the juice of Pears, called in English, Perry, which purgeth those that are not accustomed to take thereof, especially when it is new. Notwithstanding, it is a wholesome drink (being taken in small quantities) as wine ; it comforteth, and warmeth the stomacke, and causeth good digestion.” The Barland Pear, which was chiefly cultivated in the seventeenth century, still retains its health, and vigour; the identical trees in Herefordshire which then supplied excellent liquor, continuing to do so in this, the twentieth century. During Henry the Highth’s reign a “Warden” Pear (‘‘wearden,” because long-keeping) was commonly grown In orchards. Evelyn, in his Pomona, says: “ Pears are nourishing, especially the baked Wardens, edulcorated with sugar, and are exceed- ingly restorative in consumptions; the Perry being a great cordial.” The chemical gout of Pears can be artificially imitated in the laboratory, and an essence made thus is used for flavouring 308 MEALS MEDICINAL. Pear-drops, and other sweetmeats; the said acetate-amyl essence being got as an ether from vinegar, and potato oil. Perry owns about 1 per cent of alcohol over cider, and a slightly larger proportion of malic acid, so that it is some- what more stimulating, and better calculated to produce the healthful effects of vegetable acids in the body. Pears were deemed by the Romans an antidote to poisonous fungi; and for this reason (which subsequent experience has confirmed) Perry is still reckoned the best thing to be taken after partaking freely of mushrooms. A time-worn maxim directs that after eating Pears wine must be drunk as a corrective, or else mischief may ensue: “‘ Apres le poire ou le vin, ou le prétre.” When Jersey Pears, or other such superior fruit, are gathered in the autumn, being fully grown, they are then woody, and acid, and unfit for food; but by being stored for one, two, or three months they become lusciously tender, and sweet; the woody fibre is converted by fermentation into sugar (as happens with ensilage), and the harsh acids are neutralized, the air having been excluded by the thick rind, whilst the fibre is closely packed. A crop of small Pears grown in Switzerland, which ripen in September, is made into the wholesome “ Birnen-bonig,” as found on every hotel breakfast table. ‘‘ Pear puddings” were fashioned in Shakespeare’s day, but not containing any Pears ; they consisted of cold chicken chopped up with sugar, currants, and spices, being moulded mto shapes like Pears. The statesman Hume, when at St. Stephens, never purchased food from the kitchen there, but took thither with him a pocketful of Pears as refreshment. The Pear tree loves a sunny house-front, some sweet old-iashioned country mansion with ancient gables, where the fruit may be reached through the lattice. The remedial constituent principles of other fruits available for curative purposes may be stated in brief thus: Much acid (citric, and malic) which is astringent, and helpful against sluggishness of the liver, as in the Cranberry, belonging to the Bilberry tribe. This is a small fruit, brilliantly red in colour when ripe; it makes a delightful jam, with a keen flavour, somewhat bitter, and useful as a tonic. There is likewise an aromatic acid in the Medlar (Mespilus germanica) whilst passing into the early stages of decay ; but this fruit when first gathered is hard, harsh, and uneatable. In Shakespeare’s As you like it occurs the passage, “ You'll be rotten ere you be half ripe; FRUITS. 309 and that’s the right virtue of the Medlar.” “ This fruit,” says Culpeper, “is old Saturn’s, and very retentive.” The small stones found within the Medlar, when dried, and powdered, will help to dissolve gravel in the kidneys, or bladder. Again, the Currants (Ribes), black, red, and white, by their fresh juices exercise salutary actions; these juices are anti-putrescent, containing citric, and malic acids. Both red, and white Currants give help in most forms of obstinate visceral obstruction, and they correct impurities in the blood. The Black Currant, by its viscid, sweet, aromatic juice (thickened over the fire), makes a “robb” of capital use for relieving a sore throat, or quinsy. This old-fashioned “ robb,” or “rob,” is an inspissated fruit juice (of ripe fruit) mixed with honey, or sugar, to the consistence of a conserve, and is to be preferred before the berries themselves. White Currants are the most simple in kind, and the Red are a step in advance. In northern Counties the Red Currant is known as Wineberry, or Garnetberry, from its rich ruddy colour, and transparency. When made into a jelly with sugar (aided by the chemical “ pectin”’ of the fruit) the juice of Red Currants acts as an anti-putrescent, being therefore taken at table with venison, or hare, and other “high” meats. The sweetened juice is a favourite drink in Paris, being preferred there to Orgeat (a syrup of almonds). Both the Red and the Black Currants afford a useful home-made wine. “Hx eo optimum vinum fieri potest, non deterius vinis vetioribus viteis,” wrote Haller in 1750. The White Currants yield a wine which is still superior, and which becomes improved by keeping, even for twenty years. Dr. Thornton says: “I have used old wine of White Currants for calculous affections, and it has surpassed all expectation.” The Black Currant is often named by our peasantry “ Quinsyberry ”; its jelly (for a sore throat) should not be made with too much sugar, else the medicinal virtues will be impaired. d From the Blackthorn of our hedgerows is gathered in the autumn an oval blue-black fruit, the Sloe, harsh, and sour of taste, but presently mellowed, and covered with a fine purple bloom. The juice of this fruit whilst unripe is highly astringent, and is a popular remedy for stopping a flow ot blood from the nose. The ripe fruit yields a dark ruby juice which, when bottled with sugar, and kept for some time, is an excellent astringent cordial. Our cultivated Plums are descendants of the Sloe, 310 MEALS MEDICINAL. being most varied in form, and character. When ripe they are cooling, and slightly laxative, especially the French fruit, which is dried, and bottled for dessert. The garden fruit contains less sugar than cherries, but a large quantity of gelatinizing pectose. Unripe Plums will provoke severe diarrhcea. From France has come the Green Gage, having been brought to England from the Monastery of La Grande Chartreuse about the middle of the eighteenth century by the Reverend John Gage, of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, and hence was derived its name. Culpeper said: “ All Plumbs are under Venus, and are like women—some better, some worse.” Mr. Walter Shandy, the father of Tristram (Sterne), ‘ when having to take his wife to London for her lying-in, was sadly vexed, more by the provoking time of the year than by everything else, this being towards the end of September, when his wall-fruit, and Green Gages especially, (in which he was very curious), were just ready for pulling! Had he been whistled up to London in any other month of the whole year, he should not have said three words about it.” There are also the Golden Gage, and the Transparent Gage, each of these being sweet, luscious, and preventive of gout by their fruit acids, which become alkaline presently in the blood. It should have been stated above that Red Currant jelly, being antiseptic, will, if applied externally immediately after a burn, ease the pain, and prevent inflammation, or the formation of blisters. Again, the Gooseberry (Ribes grossularia) contains citric acid, pectose, sugar, and mineral matters; the pectose under heat making a capital jelly of this fruit. The juice was said of old to “cure all inflammations”; it is sub-acid when the Goose- berries are green, and is corrective of putrescent foods, such as mackerel, or goose. The French name for Gooseberry sauce is “uu PAnglaise; aux groseilles «« Maquereux.”’ From the Red Gooseberry may be prepared an excellent light jelly, which is of service to sedentary, plethoric, and bilious subjects. The Yellow Gooseberry is richer, and more vinous of taste, suiting admirably for Gooseberry wine. ‘‘ Gooseberry fool’’ consists of the unripe green fruit fowlé (crushed, or beaten up), with cream, or milk. In Devon the rustics call Gooseberries “ Deberries,” and in Sussex they are familiarly known as “* Goosegogs.” The Scotch name this fruit when ripe “ Honey- blobs.” In Ramsay’s Scottish Life and Character, we read: FRUITS, 311 “He saw out of the coach window a woman selling the sweet Yellow Gooseberries, and he cried, ‘Gie me a haporth o’ Honey- blobs.’ ” Wild Sloes yield, if made into Sloe-gin, certain soluble phos- phates which are of specific benefit for bloodlessness, and brain- fag. This is a celebrated Devonshire liqueur prepared from the Blackthorn, and Juniper fruits, and of value for its restorative, sustaining principles. Some reference must be made to other fruits useful for curative purposes by reason of their medicinal constituents—the Mulberry, Prune, Peach, Quince, Raspberry, and Tamarind. Mulberries (Morus nigra) are grown commonly in the orchard, or paddock, or gardens, where this well-known, rich, syrupy fruit ripens in September. The juice, boiled with sugar, is admirable for curing sore throats, especially of the putrid sort, when used in gargles; also for thrush in the mouth; and the ripe fruit is gently laxative. Mulberries are particularly whole- some for gouty, or rheumatic persons, because their sweet juice does not undergo acetous fermentation in the stomach. This juice contains malic, and citric acids, with glucose, pectin, and gum. In France Mulberries are served at the beginning of a meal. The fruit, with its abundant luscious juice, of regal hue, is used in Devonshire for mixing with cider during fermentation, giving to the drink a pleasant taste, and a deep red colour. Mulberries are remarkable for their large quantity of fruit sugar, being excelled in this respect only by the fig, the grape, and the cherry. In the City of Naples, during the summer, fruit-sellers come in betimes in the morning from the suburbs. The red Mulberries are brought first, very early, with a layer of snow upon them to keep them fresh, and cool; they are carried in by women, and are eaten at the beginning of breakiast (snow and iruit together). Later in the day white Mulberries are brought in by boys. The bargains are struck by gestures, in that wonderfully expressive language of signs which can replace speech altogether, and which invariably accompanies it, in rapid pantomime, hands, head, eyes, and every part of the body emphasizing the spoken words; thus has it been from early Roman days. When perfectly ripe, Mulberries somewhat relax the belly, but when unripe (particularly if dried) they will “ bind exceedingly, and are therefore given to such as have lasks, and fluxes.” A pleasant home-made wine can be brewed from ripe 312 MEALS MEDICINAL. Mulberries. “Alice” (in Through the Looking Glass) “found herself singing the old catch of children as they dance round, hand-in-hand, in a circle, ‘ Here we go round the Mulberry bush,’ which certainly was funny.” The Bilberry, Whortleberry, Trackleberry, Blackheart, or Whinberry, grows abundantly in our heathy, and mountainous districts, as a small, branched shrub bearing globular wax-like flowers, and black berries, which are covered when quite fresh with a grey bloom. The Bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) is a capital astringent, and from it can be made a useful domestic cordial as such. If some good brandy be poured over two handfuls of the bruised fruit in a bottle, this will form an extract which will continually improve by being kept. Obstinate diarrhoea may be remedied by giving doses of a tablespoonful of such extract, with a wineglassful of warm water, every two hours whilst needed, even for severe dysenteric diarrhcea. The berries contain chemically much tannin. An extract of Bilberries, when brushed on skin surfaces affected by eczema, and other such diseased conditions, being afterwards covered over with cotton-wool, will signally relieve. Bilberry pudding is one of the things to be commended for consumptive, or scrofulous patients. Together with the Bilberries, some of the moorland air from whence they come seems to be also swallowed ; and perhaps reminiscences arise of the sweet fresh breeze, and the short, pleasant grass of the Bilberry hills, and then it’s “Oh, who would o’er the downs so free?” Why, the con- sumptive, and delicate people, to be sure! “Make a crust as light as you can ; grease a basin, and line it with the crust ; half fill it with well-picked Bilberries ;_ strew two tablespoontuls of sugar over them, and continue to fill in fruit until the basin is well filled up, and heaped ; next put on the crust, flour a cloth, tie it over, and boil for two hours.” The Irish call them “ Frawms.” Lowell, in Fireside Travels, tells that the greater part of what is now Cambridge Port, U.S.A., was at one time a “Huckleberry pasture.” As already notified, against the intestinal bacilli of typhoid fever the fruit of the Bilberry shrub affords a specific remedy, because the small, sweet, blackish, purple berries are highly antifermentative, freeing the stools from putridity, and the bowels from flatulence. It has been shown experimentally that the typhoid bacillus becomes destroyed by Bilberry juice, and prevented from recurrent growth, FRUITS. 313 of which there is otherwise a risk, leading to a relapse. This juice gives relief against intestinal colic, besides being admirable when applied to a sore tongue, as well as for burns. It contains fruit sugar, malic acid, limonic acid, a pigment, tannin, and pectins. The typhoid bacillus becomes killed within twelve hours. Certain fruits are largely imported from countries where they abound more plentifully than with ourselves, as canned, or tinned fruits, excellent in quality when preserved air-tight. However, if a can of apricots, cherries, peaches, or other fruit be opened, seeing that each of these several fruits is acidulous, then, unless the contents are immediately turned out upon an earthenware plate, or into a dish made of earthenware, or glass, the action of the acid combining with the surrounding air will begin to engender a deadly metallic poison. If the fruit is allowed to stand for some time in the opened tin, or metal can, then the work of poison goes on. Fresh fruits in hermetically- sealed cans, if properly prepared, and kept air-tight, do not generate any poison. For a similar reason lemonade, or other extemporized sustaining drinks which are acidulous, should never be made in a tin bucket, nor allowed to stand in a vessel of tin. Jams, and Preserves, consist of fruits conserved in a strong solution of sugar. The fruit acids, aided by the high temperature employed in the course of preparation, bring about the conversion of a considerable part of the cane sugar into what is termed the “invert” form, 7.e., a mixture of dextrin, and levulose, such as may be made by boiling cane sugar with acids. “ Almost half the weight of any jam is made up of sugar in one form or another.” Few persons realize now-a-days how many of the good old-fashioned preserves were had recourse to formerly in times of sickness. Black Currant jam, for instance, was almost a specific, and in those days every housewife kept by her a store thereof for needs of illness. Elder flowers, again, were used for making a drink invaluable for colds, and bronchial troubles. In short, with the well-stocked herb garden the variety of dainty remedies which could be produced was almost infinite. Said the White Queen to Alice (in Through the Looking Glass), “ Pil take you with pleasure as my lady’s-maid : twopence a week, and jam every other day.” Alice replied, “I don’t care for jam: I don’t want any to-day, at any rate.” “ You couldn't have it if you did want it,” said the Queen; “ the rule is jam 314 MEALS MEDICINAL. to-morrow, and jam yesterday, but never jam to-day.” “It must come to jam to-day,” Alice objected. ‘‘ No, it can’t,” said the Queen; “ it’s jam every other day; to-day isn’t any other day, you know.” GAME. SPEAKING collectively, ‘“ Game ” signifies creatures taken in the chase; with us it includes Venison (of the Deer), Grouse, Hare, Partridge, Pheasant, Snipe, and Woodcock. The flesh _ of such “‘ game ”’ is finer in texture than that of butcher’s meat, | and does not so soon become putrid. When a domestic animal _ is placed under the same conditions as a wild one its flesh in the _ course of time assumes the closer texture, and other character- __ istics of game, as seen by the instance of Welsh Mountain mutton. If sent to table shortly after being killed these creatures of the chase are tough, and insipid; but when game is allowed to hang for some time in a whole condition there takes place the gradual creation of a chemical acid by fermentation in the flesh, which becomes strongly acid ; also the muscular tissues grow tender, and after some time traces of hydrogen sulphides are liberated. The characteristic flavours of the game are in direct proportion to the amount of these sulphides, or mercaptans, thus set free, but not to putrefactive compounds. Such birds as Partridge, Plover, Snipe, Pheasant, Woodcock, and the like are particularly appropriate food for the sick, partly as dainties, but more’ especially by reason of the nutrient properties which they contain. They are remarkably rich in mineral salts, especially the phosphates, which are so much needed when the system has become exhausted by disease. Birds which feed mainly on grains, such as the Partridge, and the Pheasant, will keep a long while in cold weather ; but birds with dark flesh, living chiefly on animal food, quickly undergo decay. Game of white meat should be done well in cooking; that with dark flesh should be rare. The dangerous microbes which are at first associated with decomposition of game, are presently succeeded by other microbes which are harmless. Therefore if game be eaten at its preliminary stage of putrefaction it may produce serious ill effects ; whilst these do not ensue after partaking of game kept longer until tender, and succulent. According to Julius Cesar (Scaliger), the Partridge came originally from Mount Olympus, and has always + GAME. 315 preserved the proud consciousness of his divine origin. Par excellence the grey English Partridge is the best for eating, there being also a red-legged variety which has culinary excellence. “The young birds that are taken even as they be readie to fly, and are afterwards fattened, prove the best, for they make a pure, and excellent nourishment; they are only hurtful to countrymen, because they breed in them the asthmatick passion, which is a short, and painful fetching of breath: by reason whereof these will not be able to undergoe their usuall labours. Wherefore when they shall chance to meet with a covie of young partridges, they were much better to bestow them upon such for whom they are convenient, than to adventure (notwithstanding their strong stomackes) the eating of them, seeing that there is in their flesh such a hidden and perilous antipathie unto their bodies.” Says Mr. George Saintsbury, in Fur and Feather Series, ‘‘ my private conviction is that the best thing you can do with a Partridge, provided he be an honest grey Partridge of British nationality (and the only one which a true gourmand would ever admit to his table), is to roast him in front of the fire, and serve him hot; furthermore to eat what is left cold of him next morning for breakfast, with no other condiment but salt, and a little cayenne pepper. For a plain roast the English grey Partridge, young, and plump, has no rival, and can be put to no better use than roasted plain, being served with such accompaniments as you may please of bread sauce, brown bread crumbs, or fried potatoes. Partridge with celery sauce is helpful in cookery for invalids ; again, Partridge pudding is a capital dish, thoroughly English ; it is thought to have been invented by the South Saxons, having its origin in the region of Ashdown Forest. “‘ Phick, draw, and singe a brace of well-hung partridges. Cut them into neat joints, and if they are not very young take off the skin first.’” Line a quart pudding basin with a good suet crust, half an inch thick, and in trimming it off leave an inch above the edge. Lay a thin slice of rump steak at the bottom of the pudding, then put in the pieces of partridge: season with pepper and salt; and pour over them a quarter of a pint of good brown gravy. Roll out the cover, lay it on the pudding, moisten the edge, and press over it the inch that was left round the rim. Wring a pudding-cloth out of hot water, flour it well and tie it securely over the pudding, then plunge this into boiling water and keep it fast boiling all the time it ison the fire. As soon as it is taken off, cut a small round out of 316 MEALS MEDICINAL. the top to let the steam escape. Like all other meat puddings it is much better if served in the dish in which it has been cooked. A few fresh mushrooms will (as some think) improve the pudding. Game, when “high” (also fish), will emit if in a dark cellar luminous phosphorescence, acting on which fact an Austrian scientist has constructed a lamp consisting of luminous bacilli, or microbes, in gelatine. ““ When, they tell me, food decays, It emits quite dazzling rays, And a lobster in your room If it’s ripe, dispels the gloom. “ Legs of mutton somewhat high, Shine like diamonds in the sky. Further than a lamp, it seems, Gorgonzola sheds its beams. “ Gas has had its little day, Microbe light has come to stay. Shortly we shall see each street Lit by tins of potted meat.” The Exquimaux bury the flesh of animals killed for food until it is putrid (so it is said, but would not the earth deodorise, and keep it sweet ?); and the Zulus, whose synonym for heaven is, according to Dr. Colenso, ‘‘ Maggot’s meat,” follow suit. “ Of course,” adds Dr. K. Chambers, “ rather than die of starvation, or be reduced to the straits suffered by King Hezekiah’s army, one would acquire such a habit, and invent a sauce to make it tolerable : but it is not worth while to do this in civilised society.” A few words may well be said here with regard to the food preservatives of the present day, which are used (in some cases much to the detriment of the consumer’s health), for preventing game, fish, meat, milk, and other perishable foods from betraying staleness, or putridity, when kept too long on hand, because still unsold whilst yet wholesome, and proper for eating. It should be generally known that most of these preservatives are poisonous if employed on provisions for the kitchen to any extent. And certainly it is high time that some supervision of our meats, and drinks, in this respect should be adequately entrusted to the competent cook, or the doctor, for the public safety and pro- tection; because of a fully enlightened knowledge on their parts of the risks incurred, and the injuries inflicted by such mischievous mal-practices, concerning the dangerous results of which the legislature is at length becoming actively cognisant. In former GAME. 317 times it was the custom, we are told, about Italy and Venice to employ a scalco, who had the honour and life of his master in his hands; his life, because it was then not uncommon to put poison into the food of enemies in politics, or rivals in love: so that the cook held in those days a most important, and vital position, when great persons lived in constant fear of being done to death by poisoned meals. Equally important is it now-a-days that an authorised inspection of perishable food-commodities shall be the duty of competent disinterested officials, whenever they may think proper, for the welfare, and safety of a com- munity. For boiled partridge, or pigeon, “ Clean, and season the bird : enclose it in a puff paste, and boil. Serve in its own gravy, supplemented by the liver rubbed up with some stock: and do not forget the bread-sauce. To make this latter, take the crumbs of a French roll, of water half a pint, black pepper six to eight corns, a small piece of onion, and salt to taste. Boil all smooth, then add a piece of butter about as big as a walnut, and mix for use. It is good hot with hot birds, cold with cold birds, and is an excellent food for the sick.” Likewise, roast partridge, with sauerkraut (fermented cabbage), is declared by some to be the perfection of game food. Our English Partridge was pronounced in the new London Dispensatory, “ Excellent food for a weak stomach : its liver dried and drunk helps the epilepsie ; its marrow and brain cure the jaundice ; its gall is one of the most eminent things for defects of the eyes in the world, helping suffusions, and dimness of sight ; its broth is of use against the French venereal disease.” The Pheasant, originally from the banks of the Grecian river Phasis, is nowhere met with in a wild state, but requires the continued assistance of man for its preservation, and breeding. This bird has the faculty, when properly matured for cooking, or, as the French say, when properly mortified, ot proving tender, short, and easily digested : for which reasons it is liked by aged, and delicate persons. : ‘“* The pheasant,” tells Brillat Savarin, ‘is a riddle of which the solution is revealed only to adepts! Every substance has its apogee of excellence, which the pheasant attains only when it begins to decompose. This state it does not reach in less than three days after its death, requiring sometimes several more. If eaten within three days it has no distinguishing flavour. Just 318 MEALS MEDICINAL. when it begins to decompose, the aroma develops, and is the result of an oil which needs a little fermentation to bring out its perfume, just as the oil of coffee is obtained only by roasting. The bird should not be plucked till such a moment, and then larded carefully with the freshest and firmest bacon. When the proper time for this has arrived it will be indicated by a slight odour, and by a change of colour in the breast of the bird. It is a matter of importance not to pluck the pheasant too soon. Ex- perience has shown that birds kept in the feather are much more highly flavoured than those which have been plucked, and then hung for some time ; whether it be that contact of the flesh with the air neutralises some portion of the aroma, or that a part of the juices which nourish the feathers becomes absorbed by the flesh. When the bird has been duly prepared it must be properly stuffed. Then cut a slice of bread four inches longer than the pheasant, and toast it. Next take the liver and entrails, grind them up with two big truffles, in anchovy, with a little chopped bacon, and a suitably-sized piece of good fresh butter. Spread this equally on the toast, and place the pheasant in the middle. When it is sufficiently cooked serve it on the toast, surrounding it there with bitter oranges; and be tranquil as to the result. These highly-flavoured dishes should be accompanied preferably with a first-class Burgundy.” ‘‘ A pheasant prepared after the above fashion is worthy of being set before angels, if they are still travelling about the earth as in the time of Lot.’ “For sweetnesse and pleasantnesse of taste the pheasant excelleth all other fowle: verily for goodness, and pleasantnesse of fiesh it may of all sylvestriall fowle well challenge the first place at tables, for it giveth a most perfect and temperate nourishment to them that be healthy. And to the weak, sickly, or that be upon a recovery unto health, there is not so profitable a flesh, for it is very delightsome to a weak stomache ; and quickly by treason of the pure and restorative nourishment which it giveth it repaireth weake, and feeble strengths.”” Thus declared “‘ Tobias Venner (1620), doctor of physicke, at Bathe in the Spring and Fall ; and at other times in the Burrough of North Petherton, neare to the ancient hauen towne of Bridgwater in Somerset.” Sydney Smith (1836) wrote: “ If there is a pure and elevated pleasure in this world, it is that of roast pheasant, and bread sauce ; but, “ Mangé trop frais (writes M. Sausanne), sa chair est jude, et moins delicat que celle du poulet.” There was a certain GAME. 319 Duke of Rutland, who would never allow a Leicester partridge to be dressed for his table, since, as he said, “ partridges are worth nothing in a grass district.” But the same may be told much more emphatically about pheasants: bred between the maggots, and the buckwheat, these birds may run to bulk, but they lose in flavour, and wholesomeness of flesh. ‘‘ Per contra,” pheasants from the Welsh woods, and their natural succulent shrubberies, are unimpeachable. The merits of a well roasted pheasant with browned bread crumbs, and potato chips,. or surrounded with bitter oranges, are to be enthusiastically extolled. Again, a plump, young hen pheasant boiled with unbroken skin, and bedded on celery, whilst served with celery sauce, contain- ing the faintest dash of lemon, is a “dish for the gods.” “ But Pll have no pheasant, cock, or hen,’’ exclaims the shepherd, in the Winter’s Tale. According to Lemery (1674), ‘‘ the use of the pheasant (which is a wholesome bird) prevails against epilepsies and convulsions.”” French cooks make the bodies of pheasants into pies. whilst the plumage is profitably sold. Game should not be too fat, because in cooking, the oily, yellow, fatty tissues become rank; being less digestible than other animal fats, they leave a reproachful flavour for some time after the meal through retarded digestion. “ An old fowl, likewise,” says Dr. Chambers, “ has a rank taste, as of a close hen house, because of the absorption into its flesh of the oil furnished by nature to lubricate the feathers.” Whilst shooting at Sandringham in November, 1902, as our King’s favoured guest, the Kaiser killed a golden pheasant, and asked that it might be cooked for his own special eating. The Chinese are said to make a great use of pheasants’ eggs as a cosmetic to give their hair lustre and brilliancy. ‘‘ Describe the adventures of the Duke of Monmouth after the Battle of Sedgemoor,” was a question propounded to a class under ex- amination; when a brilliant youngster replied, on He changed his clothes with a pheasant, and was found dead in the gutter. A French saying (translated) runs that “ In October de English- man do shoot de pheasant ; in November he do shoot himself. Pheasants brains were among the ingredients of the dish which — Vitellius named the “ Shield of Minerva ” in old Roman days. Grouse (Lagopus Scoticus), from the Scotch moors, have flesh of a grey colour, with an excellent aromatic flavour; but they require to be drawn as soon as killed, or they would soon become 320 MEALS MEDICINAL. tainted ; they should be hung long to make them tender, and then always roasted. Sauerkraut (the pickled cabbage) goes well with them, if stewed with butter, and a little wine, in standard broth. “I think,” said a wise and gracious hostess “Grouse is a dinner.” As an accompaniment nothing can equal French beans, which nature supplies precisely at the right time. The liver of grouse when cooked separately, pounded with butter, salt, and cayenne pepper, is, if spread upon toast, to be much commended. Soyer liked to eat grouse absolutely by themselves, with nothing but a crust of bread. Watercress suits for an adjunct, as with most roasted birds. From twenty to thirty minutes should be the time allowed for roasting a young grouse: but there should be nothing red, or soignant about the bird when carved ; if possible it should be taken from the fire promptly after the ‘last likelihood of such a trace has disappeared. | As commendable aids to the digestion of all game, a prune salad, and freshly expressed orange juice, are of service to the invalid ; likewise a sauce made with equal parts of orange and lemon juice, with brown sugar added thereto in sufficient quan- tity. Sir Henry Thompson has told of a wild duck roasted and served without sauce. The bird was served over a spirit lamp, and after some long slices had been carved from the breast, the remains of the bird were put into a nickel-silvered press, when a few turns of the lever brought forth “a quantity of hot, rich, red juice to make a most exquisite sauce.” The Hare (Lepus), as to its medicinal uses in whole, or parts, has been considered somewhat fully in Kitchen Physic. Here we may sum up its character generally on a consensus of evidence as “melancholy meat,” bad for persons disposed to hypochon- dria, and sluggish liver. The Egpytians expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form. Lucretius attributed sadness to the influence of hares even amid nature’s brightest surround- ings. ft ** Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid quod in ipsis floribus angat.” The poet Cowper (1780) whose lamentable fits of depression are on literary record, chose pet hares, Puss, Tiny, and Bess, wherewith to try and divert his mind. “Never give way to melancholy,” taught Sydney Smith, “‘ resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach. I once gave a GAME. 321 lady two and twenty recipes against melancholy: One was a bright fire ; another to remember all the pleasant things said of and to her ; another to keep a box of sugar-plums on the chimney piece, and a kettle simmering on the hob. I thought this mere trifling at the moment, but have in after life discovered how true it is that these little pleasures often banish melancholy better than higher and more exalted objects.” The flesh of a hare is such dry food that cooks have a saying, “ A hare with twelve pennyworth of sauce is worth only a shilling.” Matthiolus prescribed hare’s liver dried, and reduced to powder, as a specific for biliary derangements; this was anticipating the advanced scientific treatment now recognized of such dis- orders by an animal extract from the same healthy organ (of sheep, calf, etc.), as that at fault in the human subject. The iodine value, and drying property of hares’ fat are remarkable, as showing the presence therein of an unsaturated acid. The hare was not eaten by the ancient Britons. Hippocrates for- bade its use because thickening the blood, and causing wakeful- ness. None the less hare soup is a favourite English dish having some of the blood included. The proverbial phrase “ first catch your hare” (before proceeding to cook it), was attributed to Mrs. Glasse in Dr. Johnson’s time, this having actually been a misprint in her Cookery book, for “ first case (or, skin) your hare.”’ The aphorism signifies that before disposing of a thing one should first make sure of possessing it. In Shakespeare’s time there were several superstitions about the hare; its shape, and aspect were thought to be assumed frequently by witches; the blood was reputed to cure ringworm, a bone of the hind leg prevented cramp, the skin burnt to powder stanched blood, and the animal was believed to have taught men the medicinal virtues of the succory plant. Under the Levitical law propounded by Moses the hare was prohibited as food for the Israelites because “he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof, therefore he is unclean unto ou.”’ Charles Lamb devoutly favoured roasted hare as delicious food. “‘ Pheasants,” said he, “are poor fowls dressed in fine feathers ! but a hare! roasted hard and brown, with gravy and melted butter!” Old Mr. Chambers, the sensible clergyman in Warwickshire, used to allow a pound of Epping to every hare. © Perhaps that was overdoing it! But in spite of the note of 21 322 MEALS MEDICINAL. Philomel who reiterates every Spring her cuckoo cry of Jug- jug-jug, Elia pronounces that a hare to be truly palated must be roasted ; jugging sophisticates her, whilst in our way it eats so “crips,” as Mrs. Minikin, the cook, says. Nash tells in his Spring song for that season :— ** Cold doth not sting, the pretty birds do sing, Cuckoo, jug-jug, pu-we, to-witta-woo.” «The ancients must have loved hares, else why adopt the word lepores, but for some subtle analogy between the delicate flavour of the creature and their finer relishes of wit in what we poorly translate pleasantries. In fact, how light of digestion we feel after a hare! How tender its processes after swallowing ! What chyle it promotes! How etherial, as if its living celerity were a type of its nimble coursing through the animal juices!” Incidentally elsewhere Lamb says that bullock’s heart is a sub- stitute for hare. Certain large hares in the United States are ‘* Jackass rabbits.” Sam Weller in Pickwick described a fidgety invalid as ‘“‘ A genlem’n of the precise and tidy sort who puts their feet in little India-rubber fire-buckets wen it’s vet vether, and never has no other bosom friends but hare-skins.”’ Piscator, in Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler, teaches Scholar “ there are many country people that believe hares change sexes every year ; and there be very many learned men think so too, for in their dissecting them they find many reasons to incline them to that belief.” The Rabbit, Lepus Cuniculus, which we know so well in its wild state as a most prolific little animal, and of much popularity as a food for the working classes, ‘‘ thrives best,” says Fuller, “on barren ground, and grows fattest in the hardest frosts ; their flesh is fine and wholesome.” Both this animal and the hare affect some persons who partake of either, with nettlerash, or spasmodic asthma. Rabbit pie made without a hole in the top crust to let ptomainic vapours escape, as generated by the flesh whilst being baked, has proved actually poisonous in several recorded cases. “ Talbotays” was a former sauce taken with rabbits and hares, being concocted of the blood, with pepper, salt, and ale. In Yorkshire there is a familiar nursery rhyme :— * Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit pie, Come my ladies, come and buy, Else your babies they will cry.” GAME. 323 Rabbit flesh somewhat resembles fowl. The thin sides about the ribs of a rabbit, and the flabby belly flanks are always of a bad taste, and should be removed in the trimming of the animal, so as not to be used. For the same reason it is never advisable to fill a rabbit with stuffing inside the belly. Likewise care should be exercised only to approve of a sound liver for cooking, as free from nodules, or discoloured spots. In Lear’s Book of Nonsense (about which Ruskin pronounced, “ The Book of Nonsense, by Edward Lear, with its corollary carols, inimitable and refreshing, and perfect rhythm, is surely the most innocent and beneficial of all such books ’’) occurs the quaint jingle :—- ‘- There was an old person whose habits Induced him to feed upon rabbits ; When he’d eaten eighteen, he turned perfectly green, Upon which he relinquished those habits.” The Woodcock (Scolopax Rusticola), gets its food mainly by suction, and is clean for cooking in its entirety, except the gizzard, after being plucked of the feathers. The flesh is better as the winter advances. It may be eaten with benefit by asthmatic persons, but cannot be kept fit for the table long after - being killed: the rump and the loins are furnished with firm white fat. Montreuil has a high reputation for its woodcock patés. In English clubs when woodcocks and snipes are served, their heads are taken off and returned to the kitchen, from whence they reappear at the end of dinner smothered in mutton fat, and well seasoned with salt and pepper; thus prepared they are presented on a plate to each guest, accompanied by a lighted candle. The guest then grills, or rather burns, the head in the flame of the candle, and proceeds to crunch it whilst still splutter- ing with the heat, having first well smothered it with cayenne pepper. So says M. Suzanne. Neither bread-sauce, nor fried crumbs are usually served with woodcock. Some persons choose an orange sauce, or cranberry jelly, or red currant jelly. Few dainties can rival a woodcock simply roasted: dress it (likewise red mullet) with a little butter: the gravy which comes from each of them is its best sauce. Open fire roasting 1s the only means of doing culinary justice to this noble bird; the in- equality of roasting because of the legs makes it clear that such a delicate operation cannot be anyhow effected in a baking oven. The time for cooking may be estimated at from fifteen to twenty 324 MEALS MEDICINAL. minutes, but if over-cooked the bird becomes tough, and without savour. Serve on toast, and garnish with watercress. Retrievers do not like the scent of the woodcock, and will frequently decline to bring it in. November and December are the woodcock months. ** A la Saint Michel Becasse tombe du ciel.” A curious doctrine termed “ Totenism ” was held of old among the Greeks, and the North American Indians, this signifying the existence of persons who asserted their several claims to descent from, and kinship with certain birds, beasts, or vegetables. Where- fore because of the particular “totem,” or family association, each of such persons would religiously abstain from eating his, or her, own kindred creature, or plant. Thus in his Roman Orations, Plutarch asks, “‘ Why do the Latins abstain strictly from par- taking of the Woodpecker’s flesh ?” (Picus). It was the Roman “gens,” the Piceni, which specially took the woodpecker for its totem. In Australia we hear of a medicine-man whose clan totem through his mother was a kangaroo, but whose individual (secret) totem was the tiger-snake, on which account snakes of that species would not hurt him. Longfellow in Hiawatha refers to this particular custom. “And they painted on the grave posts *h his own ancestral totem, Each the symbol of his household, Figures of the bear, and reindeer, Of the turtle, crane, and beaver, Each inverted as a token That the owner was departed.” Venison.—The flesh of the deer, is particularly digestible by invalids because of its looseness of fibre, and texture, which per- mits a special ready access of the gastric juices. But it must not be hung long enough to become at all corrupt, so as to engender ptomaines afterwards within the stomach, or bowels. Robert Lovell (1661) said the flesh of the buck is dry, and causeth piles, except used with pepper, cinnamon, and mustard. Venison, which is a highly savoury food, consists of albuminates, or nutritive solids, nineteen parts, fat two parts, and water seventy- nine parts. It was formerly served in Egypt, as by Joseph to GAME. 325 his brethren, together with furmity made from wheat. If eaten too freely, the flesh will breed melancholy. It should never be eaten in a hurry,” wrote James Payn, “as though it were a soup at a railway station. Like a moderately good picture at the Academy Exhibition it should be hung, and not too high.” If it only smelt as nice as it tastes, it would be a public boon, but often as the time comes for dressing it, the cook “ thinks as it ought to be put underground before it produces a pestilence, and puts her there, too.” Venison Panada will please the sick sportsman, this being a preparation of bread soaked, softened, and flavoured with a purée of venison. The famous Robin Hood said to Henry the Eighth in Sherwood Forest, “Sir, outlaws’ breakfast is venison, and therefore you must be content with such fare as we use. Then the king and queen sate down, and were served with venyson, and wyne, by Robin Hood and hys men, to theyre great contentacion.” ** For, finer, or fatter Ne’er ranged in a forest, nor smoked on a platter. The haunch was a picture for painters to study, The fat was so white, and the lean was so ruddy.” Oliver Goldsmith’s Haunch of Venison. The name ‘“alderman’s walk” is given to the centre cut (long incision) of the haunch, where the most delicate slices are to be found. Venison pasty, formerly so much esteemed, owed its attraction chiefly to the currants placed between the layers of meat. Roger Bacon commended venison, “for,” said he, ‘that which liveth long by his own nature maketh others also to live long.” In Borneo, the men may not eat the flesh of the deer, though it is allowed to the women and children. The reason given is that if the men were to eat venison they would become as timid as deer. Rebecca, of the Old Testament, must have cooked with considerable skill, as she converted the kid into savoury meat so nearly resembling venison as to be eaten for it by the blind old patriarch Isaac, who evidently could appreciate venison as much as do modern epicures. Among the privy purse expenses of Henry VII (1490), under date August 8th, occurs the item, to a woman, three shillings and four pence, for clarifying deer suet,” to be used by the King, not for culinary, but for medicinal purposes. It was then, and much later employed as an ointment. “ Quod olfactu fodum est, idem est esu turpe,” says the Comic Latin Grammar, “ that 326 MEALS MEDICINAL. which is foul to be smelled is also nasty to be eaten (except venison, onions, and cheese).”” Shakespeare knew that at the rutting season the hart’s horn is dangerous, “if thou be hurt with hart it brings thee to thy bier.” But under ordinary circumstances the burnt horn of a stag was given against worms, and hart’s grease was a remedy for the gout. “The fat, or suet, and the marrow of venison (the stag) applied outwardly, are very good against rheumatism, and for dissolving tumours, for sciatica, and to fortify the nerves.” A venison dinner is customary annually at Farnham, over which the Bishop of Winchester presides. This is a survival of the grand old days when the lords of Farnham Castle were princes as well as Bishops. In 1892, the stair carpets there were measured by miles. Samuel Pepys, January 6th, 1659, “ took his wife to their cosen Thomas Pepys, and found them just sat down to dinner, which was very good, only the venison pasty was palpable mutton, which was not handsome.” Quails (coturniz), though for the most part imported into this country, yet find their way commonly into game-sellers shops, and afford for the invalid as delicate, succulent, easily digested a little dish as can well be desired, though lacking a true gamey flavour. As many as two hundred thousand are brought in a month to Leadenhall Market during the season. Such great quantities have been captured in the Isle of Capri, near Naples, as to afford the Bishop the chief part of his revenue, and distinguish him as the Bishop of Quail. The most approved way of cooking a quail is to envelop it in a very thin slice of bacon, tie it up in a large vine leaf, and then roast it ; or again, en papillote, in a paper case. Also a cold quail pie is a capital dish for persons in good health. He that feeds never on worse meat than quails, And with choice dainty pleaseth appetite, Will never have great lust to gnaw his nails, ; Or in a coarse, thin diet take delight,” . The quail is a clean, plump bird, feeding at night on insects and seeds. It abounds at the Cape in October and November, being generally cooked there in a baking pot, or made into a curry. The flavour of a quail is very volatile, and whenever it is brought into contact with liquid the perfume evaporates, and is lost. Sicilian quails, sent alive to this country, are fattened en route on hemp seed, and ground corn soaked in oil. GARLIC. 327 The Romans diverted themselves with fights between the male birds pitted one against another; and it was with quails of the same species the Israelites were fed of old in the wilderness, and became plague-stricken for their greed. ‘ And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails, and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague; and he called the name of that place Kibroth- hattaavah (the graves of the greedy), because there they buried the people that lusted.” The ancient Romans feared quails because supposed to cause epileptic fits; but these birds are said to have cured Hercules of epilepsy. GARLIC. ALLIUM sativum, or garlic, a bulb of strong oniony odour, and pungent taste, consists in fact of numerous bulblets known technically as “cloves,” and grouped together within one whitish integument, or capsule, which holds them as it were in a sac. An essential oil of garlic, as obtained by distillation with water, is a sulphide of the radical allyl, to which most of the special properties of garlic are due. This oil contains much sulphur, but no oxygen; all the volatile oils of the onion and cabbage tribe are sulphurised. Dumas has described the very air of Southern France, particularly of Provence, as pe with the refined essence of this mystically attractive bulb; but on the other hand Dr. King Chambers writes, “ Another article of cuisine that offends the bowels of unused Britons when abroad only procurable animal food without garlic in it. Flatulence re ae are the frequent results. Bouilli, with its accompaniments of mustard sauce, and water melon, is the safest resource, and not an unpleasant one aiter a little education.” Sydney Smith, writing to Lady Holland, his daughter, January, 1836, said, “ Mrs. Sydney and I have been 328 MEALS MEDICINAL. reading Beauvilliers’ book on cookery, from which I find, as I suspected, that garlic is power.” In November, 1810, he had said to Lady Grey, “I am performing miracles in my parish with garlic for whooping cough.” Likewise from York, in 1818, “We conquered here the whooping cough with a pennyworth of salt of tartar; after having filled the sufferers in vain with Dr. Alford’s expensive poisons. What an odd thing that such a simple specific should not be more known!” Again, writing from Heslington, 1813, he tells his friend Jeffreys, ‘I have been Spending some weeks of dissipation in London, and was trans- formed by Circe’s cup, not into a brute, but a beau. Fam now eating the herb moly in the country.” Wild garlic, allium moly, represents the fabled moly of Homer as given by Hermes to Odysseus for counteracting the spells of Circe. It is to the intensely-smelling sulphuret of allyl that garlic and the onion owe their peculiar odour; and the rank aroma of the breath after eating these plants is caused by the constant presence of such oil in minute quantities exhaled from the lungs into the air; it exudes likewise through the pores of the garlic- eater’s skin, and characterises the perspiration. The odour is so diffusible that it is given off from the lungs even when garlic is applied to the soles of the feet only. If sniffed into the nostrils it will revive an hysterical sufferer. The smell thereof is the most acrimonious of all the onion tribe. Many marvellous effects, and healing powers have been ascribed to garlic, the leek, and onions, their juices and preparations. Amongst physiological results it is reported that garlic makes the eye retina more sensitive, and less able to bear strong light. Dr. Pearse, of Plymouth, 1902, has reported concerning the remark- able longings of the Irish peasantry for garlic, and their faith in its value for curing coughs. During twenty-five years his experience has met with the same craving in consumptively inclined patients at Plymouth ; he concludes that there must be some state of molecular energy in the leek, and onions, which serves to furnish the body of a consumptive person with the true correlative for maintaining healthy growth. ‘ Such,” he adds, “is the craving for onions by consumptive patients, and such the agreement of these odorous bulbs therewith, that I do not doubt that this is an instance parallel with that of the Swiss, who by some instinct, or evolved experience, have learnt to eat burnt sponge for the dispersion of their throat goitre, or GARLIC. 329 with the passion of the poorly fed Hindu for tamarinds, and lime-juice. For chronic bronchitis garlic is of particular virtue ; therefore such garlic is largely used by country people throughout Ireland, enjoying among them a reputation for curing coughs when it is made into a tea, or mixed with whisky. It is also pounded and employed as a poultice for scrofulous sores; and further, it is said to prevent anthrax, or “ blackleg” in cattle, being used largely for such a purpose. The old-fashioned syrup of garlic is made by first pouring a quart of boiling water upon a _ pound of the fresh bulbs cut in slices, putting the same in a close earthen vessel to stand for twelve hours, then the syrup is made of this infusion slowly cooked with the proper quantity of sugar. But indeed garlic ought never to be actually boiled, because by this treatment the essential oil on which the whole virtue of the garlic depends becomes exhaled, and dissipated. To be taken as a medicine garlic is stimulating, and agrees capitally with persons of a cold, passive temperament, but it offends and upsets others who are of a hot feverish disposition, and apt to become dyspeptic. Dr. Minchin, medical officer at Kells, published (1902) articles on the successful treatment of tubercular consumption, and of lupus (an erosive skin disease) by garlic. He finds that the allium sativum exercises a specifically destructive action on the bacillus of tubercle, at all events in the human subject. Cases of very encouraging cure in confirmed consumption are given by him in detail. The freshly expressed juice from the garlic, without removing the chlorophyl, is used by him, being most reliably prepared at home. When diluted with an equal quantity of water (or dilute spirit of wine), this is inhaled anti- septically on a small extemporised inhaler made of pliable perforated zinc plate, (as introduced by Dr. Yeo); some of the liquid being put afresh on the sponge of this inhaler three times during the day, and the inhaler being worn constantly (except at mealtimes) over the mouth and nose. Respecting this mode of treatment, Dr. Berdoe writes, “the only objection thereto is the offensive smell of the remedy as due to the sulphides, and oxides of allyl. No doubt this has militated against the employment of the onion tribe in regular medicine, since its virtues in bronchial troubles, and as affording topical remedies for abscesses, sores, etc. have always been recognized by country 330 MEALS MEDICINAL. folk. I look upon it as a perfectly safe treatment, efficient in most cases of incipient tubercular disease of the lungs, in nearly all cases moderately advanced, and in many very advanced cases. Its action is fairly rapid, and the treatment is scarcely open to any objection, it being readily applicable to all cases of consump- tion, whether in the well-to-do, or the poorer classes, either at home, or in the general wards of a hospital. I have had so much success with it that I have come to look upon few cases of consumption as hopeless.”’ If intestinal troubles are further present, Dr. Minchin gives the garlic juice also by the mouth, in doses of twenty drops diluted with water, and repeated several times a day. Garlic in syrup promotes expectoration, and is therefore beneficial in the chronic bronchial affections of aged, weakly subjects. It has been related in Kitchen Physic how Cavazanni at Venice throughout more than two years used garlic with remarkable success for tubercular consumption, having treated more than two hundred cases, all of which were shown by a bacteriological inspection of the sputa to be un- doubtedly consumptive. For imparting a mild flavour of garlic to a salad of endive, or chicory, a crust of stale bread which has been rubbed with garlic is sometimes placed at the bottom inside the bowl, this being called in France a capon (chapon). It was originated by the Gascons, who were poor, but vain, so that it occurred to one of them to name this flavoured crust a capon, in order that he might truthfully tell his friends he had dined superbly on a capon, and salad. A clove of garlic inserted in the knuckle of a shoulder, _ or leg of mutton will impart a slight, but distinct flavour to the whole joint ; and a rump steak is improved in taste if served on a plate first rubbed over with a clove of garlic cut in two. For an adult taking garlic remedially on account of bronchial trouble. one or more cloves may be eaten at a time. Raw garlic applied to the skin reddens it; when bruised and mixed with lard, it makes a very useful counter-irritant opodeldoc. If employed thus over the chest in front, and between the shoulder blades behind, of a child with whooping cough, it proves eminently helpful. Old Fuller says, “‘ indeed a large book has been written de esu allii, about the culinary virtues of garlic, which book, if it hold proportion with truth, one would wonder that any man should be sick and dye who hath Garlic growing in his garden. Sure I am our palate-people are much pleased therewith as giving GELATIN. 331 a delicious haut godt to most meats they eat, as tasted, and smelt in their sauce, though not seen therein.” The old Greeks, in their fastidious refinement detested garlic. It is true the Attic husbandmen ate it from remote times, probably in part to drive away by its odour venomous creatures from assailing them; but persons who partook of it were not allowed to enter the temples of Cybele. Horace, among the Romans, was made ill by eating garlic at the table of Meecenas, and he afterwards (Epode the third) reviled the plant as ‘‘ Cicutis allium nocentius,” garlic more poisonous than hemlock. “ Tf his old father’s throat any impious sinner Has cut with unnatural hand to the bone, Give him garlic—more noxious than hemlock—at dinner. Ye Gods! what strong stomachs the reapers must own.” Translation by Sir THEopoRE MarrTIN. When leprosy formerly prevailed in this country, garlic (most acrimonious of odour) was a prime specific for its relief, and as the victims had to “ pil” (or peel) their own garlic, they got the nickname of Pilgarlics; hence too it came about that any one shunned like a leper had this epithet applied to him, or her. Durand, the gallstone specialist, advised the free use of garlic to his patients. A garlic clove, when introduced into the lower bowel, will destroy thread worms, and. if eaten, will abolish round worms. GELATIN. JELLIES for the convalescent give benefit chiefly by the gelatin which is their basis. It is a leading constituent of young animal flesh, veal, calf’s foot, trotter, etc., in its connective tissue. Likewise it occurs purely in isinglass from the swimming bladder of fish, especially the sturgeon. Gelatin is soluble in boiling water, easily digested, and has the advantage of fixing the acids during digestion, being thus of service in cases with an excess of gastric juice. But the main value of gelatin is as an economiser of primitive food-substance (proteid). Whilst not a food of itself, it materially enhances the nutritiveness of other products with which its combination occurs. J ellies are thereby | fundamentally improved, so that the old-fashioned notion of calf’s foot jelly is founded on a substantially useful fact, as regards its sustaining properties. Such jelly also supplies sustenance 332 MEALS MEDICINAL. by its sugar. Bones are a common source of gelatin, but dog’s fed exclusively on ground bones have failed to survive; it being thus proved that gelatin alone cannot maintain life, and that plain jellies are not of themselves substantial food. Nevertheless, light animal jellies are of distinct service for the delicate invalid. Several varieties, such as hartshorn jelly, ivory jelly, sick room jelly (Francatelli’s), and brown bread jelly, are formulated in Kitchen Physic. Likewise, milk jelly, vaseline jelly, apple jelly, and meat jelly, are to be commended under varying bodily requirements. Isinglass is the purest form of commercial gelatin, the best being prepared from the sounds, or air bladders of fish, whilst that of a second rate quality is made from clean scraps of hide, from skins, hoofs and horns; also in Bengal from some seaweeds. There are “lyre,” “leaf,” and “ book” isinglass. When com- bined with brandy, isinglass makes an excellent cement for mending broken china. Isinglass of good quality contains osmazome, gelatin, and some salts of potash, soda, and lime. It is emollient, and demulcent, and serves as a useful subsidiary nutriment for the invalid, whether added to milk, broth, or made into a jelly. Boil an ounce of isinglass, and a dozen cloves, in a quart of water down to a pint, strain hot through a flannel bag on to two ounces of sugar candy, and flavour with a little angelica, or with two or three teaspoonfuls of some approved liqueur. For an isinglass jelly, to be given in dysentery, or chronic diarrhoea: dissolve one ounce of isinglass in a pint of water over the fire, add an ounce of white sugar, and a pint of good port wine, strain through muslin, and allow it toset. The old name Icthyocolla is derived from icthus, a fish, and kolla, glue. Strange as it may seem, a clear day is usually much better for making fruit jellies than a cloudy one, because the atmosphere afiects the boiling of the sugar. Blanc mange prepared now-a- days with milk and some starch such as of corn flour, so as when boiled, and having become cold, to form an opaque jelly, was originally a soup, composed of consommé of lean meat, with milk of almonds, and spiced with cinnamon, or cloves, or made from roast fowl, minced, and pounded, or veal treated in like manner. If properly supplied in our modern way, it should be a jelly prepared from calf’s foot, or gelatin, with milk of almonds. The word jelly was formerly gelly, as signifying GELATIN. 333 gelatus, congealed, or frozen with cold. For making a meat jelly: Take half an ounce of gelatin, and dissolve it in half a tea- cupiul of cold water. Cut the meat from half « chicken, cut up half a pound of veal, and half a pound of gravy beef, and put all these into a saucepan, with half a pint of cold water, and a little salt. Stand it at the side of the fire, and simmer slowly. Put the chicken bones, and any bones from the veal, into another saucepan, covering them with cold water, and let them boil gently for three or four hours. Pour the liquor from both saucepans into a basin, and add the dissolved gelatin. Strain two or three times through muslin until quite clear, then pour into a mould, rinsed previously out of cold water, and put the jelly aside in a cold place to set. Calves’ feet, free from bone, yield twenty-five per cent of gelatin on boiling, therefore they are well known for affording abundant substance for a pure jelly ; but we find that the cost of procuring the jelly in this way from the feet is sixteen times as much as to use good commercial gelatin for the purpose. It is better to add such gelatin to plain good stock (as of chicken) than to boil up veal or calves’ feet for the jelly, which of itself is poor nutriment. Ordinary jellies can only be regarded as dear foods, and the calf’s foot jelly of the shops yields no building material at all. For milk jelly : Take one pint of milk, half an ounce of gelatin, and one ounce of white sugar. Boil up the milk, and add the sugar; dissolve the gelatin in a little milk, or water; heat this up, and put it with the sweetened milk ; cool a little, and pour into a wetted mould in a cool place ; turn out whenset. Vaseline jelly, or petroleum jelly, makes an admirable intestinal anti- putrescent, and destroyer of microbes within the digestive tract ; it is also demulcent in some way, even although taken up but sparingly as a food. Indeed, Dr. Hutchison contends that the petroleum when swallowed in this form can be discovered finally in the foecal excrement which passes out of the bowels. Ii made into an emulsion with cream, the petroleum is foundito defeat alcoholic, lactic, and butyric fermentation, preventing any self-poisoning by noxious matters absorbed into the blood from the bowels. The purest petroleum is white vaseline. _ Tea jelly and coffee jelly, though affording but little nourish- ment, are of a revivifying character, and frequently of service to the invalid. For the former: Soak half an ounce of good 334 MEALS MEDICINAL. gelatin (Nelson’s) in half a pint of water for an hour, so as to quite dissolve it; then add a breakfastcupful of strong, clear, fragrant tea, just made; sweeten to taste, and put into the mould for setting, adding perhaps a little cognac, if expedient. Coffee jelly may be prepared in like manner, whilst substituting strongly-made fresh coffee instead of the tea infusion. Whipped cream, if served with these jellies, will make them more nourishing. For apple shape jellied, take one pound of (rennet) apples, one pound of sugar, three quarters of an ounce of gelatin, and a little seasoning of lemon peel, or clove. Add a teacupful of water to the sugar, and boil for five minutes. Cut the apples neatly into quarters, core them, and stew into the syrup until quite clear. Take out the apples and put them nicely into a buttered mould. Soak the gelatin and add it to the syrup, then let it boil a little, and when slightly cooled pour into the mould. Turn out when cold, and serve with whipped cream if allowed. An apple jelly has little or no perfume of its own, and therefore it may be pleasantly, as well as usefully, flavoured with orange flowers, orange, quince, cherries, or rose water. Cherry jelly is a delicate confection for a capricious stomach liable to nausea. Crush the succulent cherries, and take out the stones, except from about one-eighth part of the fruit used ; these stones should be bruised, and left, so as to impart a suffi- cient taste of almonds to the jelly ; they should be strained out before cooling. But Cherries possess pectin, or solidifying juice, only to a small extent ; therefore a quarter of the same weight of red currants should be added. Put the whole into a preserving pan with rather less sugar than fruit, but using an equal weight of each if the Cherries are watery, or very acid ; bring up to the boil, and keep it at this for a quarter of an hour; then pour the contents of the preserving pan on a sieve over an earthenware dish, and allow them to drain. When the mass in the sieve is sufficiently cooled, squeeze the remaining juice out by wringing in a cloth; next put the juice into the preserving pan again, bringing it up to the boil, and keep it at this until the jelly has reached the proper degree of consistence; then take it off the fire, let it cool a little, and fill the pots. For Blackberry jelly, take two pounds of Blackberries, a quarter of a pound of white sugar, and half an ounce of gelatin ; extract the juice from the fruit by putting it in the oven in a jar GIN. 335 for a few hours, then strain through a muslin bag placed over a colander. Soak half an ounce of Gelatin in a little water, and add this to the Blackberry juice, with a quarter of a pound of white sugar, and boil all for half an hour. Put it into a wet mould, and turn out the next day. The same recipe will serve for preparing Mulberry jelly, whilst making use of this fruit instead of Blackberries. Ginger jelly, which is excellent as a stomachic adjunct to stewed fruits, may be readily made by adding extract of the root (see “‘ Ginger’) to water sweetened to taste, and into which when boiling a quarter of an ounce of Gelatin is stirred so as to become dissolved. GIN. (and See Spirits). As an ardent spirit Gin is obtained by fermenting a mash of malt and rye, this product being distilled, and re-distilled, whilst some juniper berries, with a little salt (and sometimes hops) are added in the final distillation. The two important varieties of Gin are Dutch “ Hollands,” or Schiedam, and English Gin, known when sweetened, and diluted, as “‘ Old Tom.” This last appellation was got from the fact of Gin having been sold surreptitiously by the twopennyworth, when to supply less than two gallons at a time was forbidden by law. A leaden pipe was passed cunningly through the vendor’s wall beneath the paw of a cat, which animal figured outside, the money being put into the cat’s mouth by illicit purchasers of the spirit, as then dispensed from inside by means of a funnel through the pipe. The tavern bearing this sign of a cat (“Old Tom”) was in Blue Anchor Alley, Saint Luke’s. Hollands Gin is almost free from sweetness, and is generally more pure than English Gin, which is of all spirits the poorest in alcoholic strength. Juniper berries, as used in making the best Gin, contain juniperin, sugar, resins, wax, fat, with formic, and acetic acids, also malates; they afford a yellow, aromatic oil which acts on the kidneys, and gives a sense of cordial warmth to the stomach. In France, and Italy, the berries are eaten raw, fifteen or twenty at a time, to stimulate a flow of urine. Likewise by an old Tract (London 1682), On the use of Juniper, and Elder berries in our Publick Houses, we are told that “ the simple decoction of these berries. 336 MEALS MEDICINAL. sweetened with a little sugar candy, will afford liquors so pleasant to the eye, so grateful to the palate, and so beneficial to the body, that the wonder is they have not been courted, and ushered into our Publick Houses, so great are the extraordinary beauty, and virtues of these berries.” Purple, aromatic J uniper berries grow commonly in England on a low, stiff evergreen Conifer shrub, about heathy ground. They serve to make a capital liqueur, half a pound of the crushed berries being infused for a fortnight in two quarts of brandy, with six ounces of loaf sugar, closely stopped down, then strained off, filtered, bottled, and corked securely. The prophet Job has told about rude wanderers driven forth from among men to dwell in caves and rocks, who taunted him with cruel derision: ‘ They cut up mallows by the bushes, and Juniper roots (bitter, and harsh fodder) for their meat.” In much more modern times, as saith The Hushandman (1750), “* When women chide their husbands for a long while together it is commonly said they ‘ give them a J uniper lecture,’ which, I am informed, is a comparison taken from the long lasting of the live coals of that wood, not from its sweet smell ; but comparisons run not upon all four.” In France the Thrush is specially esteemed for table use because of the Juniper berries on which it grows fat. When this bird is cooked its crop, redolent of the woodland Juniper, is left untouched ; whilst to each plump breast an apron of sliced fat bacon is fitted, the bird being then threaded with others on a thin spit, and set twirling to roast before a brisk fire of vine trimmings. Juniper berries, besides being fragrant of smell, have a warm sweet, pungent flavour, which becomes bitter on further mastication. Sprays of the Juniper shrub are sometimes strewn over floors of apart- ments so as to give out when trodden-upon their agreeable odour, which is thought to promote sleep. The Prophet Elijah was sheltered from the persecutions of King Ahab by a Juniper tree ; since which time the shrub has been always regarded as a place. of refuge, and as a symbol of succour. The berries are said to have performed wonders in curing the stone. Evelyn has named them the Foresters’ Panacea, “one of the most universal remedies in the world to our crazy Forester.” In a case of any painful local swelling, rheumatic, or neuralgic, some of the bruised berries, if applied topically, will afford prompt, and lasting relief. Formerly by the use of Juniper berries one Sir Theodore GIN. 337 Mayerne (1645) cured patients deplorably afflicted with epilepsy, when every other tried remedy had failed. His dictum was “let the patient carry a bag of these berries about with him, and eat from ten to twenty of them every morning for a month, or more, before breakfast. The berries should be well masticated, and the husks either rejected, or swallowed. In France the Geniévre (Anglice ‘ Geneva”), from which we derive our word “Gin,” is made from these berries. But at present English Gin is more cheaply manufactured by leaving them out altogether, and giving the spirit their flavour by distilling it with a portion of oil of turpentine, which somewhat resembles the Juniper berries in taste. Again, much so-called Gin is fabricated out of silent spirit tinctured with Juniper, salt and turpentine. The “ Gin fizz” of Philadelphia is a drink composed of Gin, lemon- juice, and effervescing water, with, or without sugar. Gin applied externally is destructive to parasites. Carlyle was eruelly severe on Charles Lamb, against whom he attributed “an insuperable proclivity to Gin.” ‘Poor old Lamb’s talk is contemptibly small, and usually ill-mannered to a degree, a ghastly make-believe of wit! A Cockney to the marrow.” The famous Dr. Samuel Johnson, though often rough, and surly as a bear, had in reality a tender heart, and his charity was unbounded, though he was never rich. He would fill his pockets with small cash, which he distributed to beggars, in defiance of political economy. When told that the recipients of his money only laid it out upon Gin and tobacco, he replied that it was savage to deny them the few coarse pleasures which the richer folk disdained. Because of its diuretic action in pro- moting a free flow of urine, whether by reason of its admixture with Juniper, or through its containing turpentine, Gin is of signal use for helping to relieve some forms of dropsy ; which affection is not of itself a disease, but symptomatic of obstructed circulation in the liver, the heart, or the kidneys. This being the case, any remedial treatment must of course be directed to the particular organ at fault in every case, whether one of those already named, or the brain, the pleura, or the abdominal peritoneum. Certain signs serve in a measure to indicate the kind of dropsy which is present; that of the kidneys declares itself by swelling at first in the face, and the upper extremities, with puffiness of the loose tissues about the eyelids ; that of the heart begins with swelling of the feet, and ankles, which gradually 22 338 MEALS MEDICINAL. moves upwards ; that of the liver is chiefly denoted by abdominal enlargement. In dropsy from congested kidneys it is always questionable whether diuretics are not likely to do harm by mischievously stimulating these organs already overfull of blood. GINGER AND GINGERBREAD. Except for its popular essence as a stomachic, Ginger is better known to the cook, and confectioner, than as a medicament. Nevertheless, this condimentary root-stock, crushed, or in powder, will serve most admirably as a stimulant in various bodily emergencies. Its restorative effect is immediate, and more telling than that of alcohol ; furthermore, its pain-relieving qualities are positive, though the modus operandi cannot be easily explained. Whenever there is a sudden reduction of the temperature, with coldness of the skin and extremities, and with a sense of depressing chill, all accompanying some severe pain, Ginger in a quickly operating form will afford prompt, and specific relief. It is the rhizome of a plant which grows in the East, and West Indies, and is scraped before importation. Its odour is due to an essential oil, and its pungent, hot taste to a resin. For gouty indigestion the root may be powdered in a mortar, and a heaped teaspoonful of it should then be infused in boiling milk, to be taken warm at supper, or at breakfast. Ginger is best suited for persons of relaxed habits, especially when from the pale peeled root. For making an essence of Ginger, take three ounces, freshly grated, and an ounce of lemon peel, cut thin; put these into a quart of French brandy, and let it stand for ten days, shaking it daily. Half a wineglassful of the same may be taken for a dose, with (or without) hot water. It will speedily subdue colic, or flatulent spasms. In cases of inert constipation, because the intestinal energies want rousing into activity, Ginger is an excellent spice, particularly in the form of Gingerbread, made also with honey, and brown treacle. Recipes for Ginger cake, and a Gingerbread loaf, as well as for Yorkshire “ parkin,” are given explicitly in Kitchen Physic. Preserved Ginger (imported) is a capital sweetmeat. which is cordial, and somewhat laxative. It is prepared by scalding the Ginger roots when they are green, and full of sap, then peeling them in cold water, and putting them into round jars with a GINGER AND GINGERBREAD. 339 tich syrup. This Ginger when cut into thin strips makes a delicious, and wholesome filling for sweet sandwiches. Dr. Tobias Venner (1620) advised the Universities that “ green Ginger is good for the memory ; whilst a conserve of Rosemary, and Sage, if often used by students, particularly in the morning when fasting, doth greatly delight the brain.” An extract of Ginger, very serviceable for domestic uses, may be made by crushing half a pound of fine whole Ginger in a mortar, and putting the same into a wide-mouthed bottle with half a pint of unsweetened Gin; let it stand for a month, shaking it from time to time; then drain it off into another bottle, allowing it to remain undisturbed until it has become clear. If a piece of Ginger root is chewed it causes a considerable flow of saliva, and will thus relieve heartburn by the patient swallowing the alkaline saliva as it continues to be secreted. Powdered Ginger mixed with some water into a paste, and applied against the skin, will produce much tingling, and heat of surface ; to which end it may be spread on brown paper, and put as a plaster on the temples, or against the back of the neck, as a means for relieving the headache of passive fulness. Queen Elizabeth {so say the Arcana Fairjaxiana, 1640) had a famous “ pother”’ (powder) ‘‘to be used att anietime after, or before meate, to expel winde, comforte ye stomack, and help digestion. It was composed chiefly of white Ginger, powdered with Cinnamon, Anise, Caraway, and Fennel Seed, pounded, and searced ({sifted).”’ For making Brandy Snaps of Ginger, which are carminative, and gently relaxing to the bowels, take one pound of flour, half a pound of coarse brown sugar, a quarter of a pound of butter, one dessertspoontul of allspice, two dessertspoonfuls of ground ginger, the grated peel of half a lemon, and the juice of a whole lemon; mix all together, adding half a pound of dark brown treacle (not golden syrup), and beat well. Butter some sheet tins, and spread the paste thinly over them, and bake in a rather slow oven. When done, cut it into squares, and roll each square round the finger as it is raised from the tin. Keep the Snaps in a dry, closely-covered tin, out of any damp, so that they shall remain crisp. Now-a-days Ginger Ale is made thus: Of plain syrup, one gallon; essence of Ginger, four ounces; essence of Cayenne pepper, one ounce; white wine vinegar, four ounces; burnt 340 MEALS MEDICINAL. sugar, for colouring, half an ounce; mixed together, and to be used from an ounce to an ounce and a half to each bottleful of water, or mineral water. The Ginger beer of ordinary use, as provided in stone bottles, and fermented with yeast, contains at least 2 per cent of alcohol as the result of its fermentation proceeding to the vinous stage. Dr. Robt. Hutchison, in his Food and Dietetics (1902) avers that the article named Ginger beer, as now commonly sold, may have nothing to do with Ginger at all, because the requisite degree of sharpness is usually obtained by aid of tincture of capsicum (Cayenne pepper). Genuine fermented Ginger-beer is a very different product ; its ingredients are: water, seven gallons; loaf sugar, seven pounds ; bruised ginger, half a pound ; tartaric acid, two ounces ; gum arabic, one-third of a pound ; oil of lemon, one fluid drachm ; yeast (brewer's), one-sixth of a pint. We are warned that latterly in the making of Ginger essence certain unscrupulous manufacturers, particularly in America, and Germany, have taken to the use of wood alcohol, a poisonous agent, which has a deadly effect upon the nervous centres. Mothers are in the habit of giving this “ Essence of Jamaica Ginger” for griping pains in the belly to their children after eating unripe fruit, thereby doing the poor sufferers much more harm than if they had been left alone to fight the battle of passing colic. Grantham Gingerbread, a white form of Ginger biscuit, is made especially at Grantham, Lincolnshire, and sold there particularly at Fair times. Forty or fifty years ago the brown Gingerbread displayed on stalls at village Feasts, and Fairs, was shaped into the figures of animals, and whimsical devices (sometimes coarsely significant), which were gilded over with Dutch metal. In Tom Brown’s School Days Gingerbread of such sort was retailed at the stall of “ Angel Heavens,” sole vendor thereof, “‘ whose booth groaned with kings, and queens, and elephants, and prancing steeds, all glaring with gold ;_ there was more gold on Angel’s cakes than there is ginger in those of this degenerate age.” Gingerbread (‘‘ Pain d’Epice”’) has been in use at Paris since the fourteenth century. For “ Ginger- bread Nuts,” which are handy, comforting, and slightly laxative, rub half a pound of butter into one and a half pounds of flour, with half a pound of brown sugar, and three-quarters of an ounce of fine ginger, powdered; mix well with ten ounces of dark treacle ; make into a stiff paste, and cut into circular nuts with GOAT. 341 a tin mould, or drop in buttons on a baking tin; bake in a moderate oven, and keep the nuts in an air-tight canister. ** Parkin ” is suitable at the light supper, or at the lunch, of a costive invalid. Take one pound of flour (and, if approved, one pound of medium oatmeal), two pounds of brown treacle, one pound of dark moist sugar, half a pound of butter, one ounce of ground ginger, the yolks of four fresh eggs (well beaten), and half a teaspoonful of powdered carbonate of soda; melt the treacle in a warm oven, rub the butter into the flour (with the oatmeal), mix all the other ingredients well together, and stir into the flour; pour into well-buttered baking tins (not more than an inch thick of the mixture into the tins), and bake very slowly in a cool oven for quite an hour, then cut into suitable squares. For the prevention of habitual constipation a simple sort of Gingerbread made with some fresh butter (and perhaps oatmeal, unless this disagrees) is effective. In Dame Deborah Bunting’s Book of Receipts (1766) it is directed to “ take half a pound of London treacle, two eggs beaten up, one pound of fresh butter (melted), half a pound of moist brown sugar, one and a half ounces of powdered ginger, which mix with as much flower (sic) as will roll it into a paste ; roll it out, and cut it into whatever shapes you please ; bake it into a slow oven; a little time does it.” Ginger tea was at one time a popular beverage. Coleridge had a weakness for this infusion, and advised it to his wife for their small son Hartley. He thought the boy would like it, and that it would help him to grow, the father declaring that a teaspoonful of Ginger piled up would make enough tea to last the child for two days, always half-filling the teacup with milk ; he himself took Ginger mixed in his morning coffee, and a cup of Ginger tea in the afternoon. Similarly, “ When feeling cold think of Ginger,” quoth the immortal Jorrocks. . For “ Mandarin Pudding,” a wholesome stomachic dish, “ mix a quarter of a pound of fine bread-crumbs, a quarter of a pound of finely-chopped suet, a quarter of a pound of Jamaica preserved Ginger, with two eggs, and two tablespoonfuls of syrup otf Ginger ; pour into a buttered mould, and steam for four hours.” GOAT. Cartes Lams, in his Elia’s Essay, Grace before Meat, has said : “During the early times of the world, and the hunter state of 342 MEALS MEDICINAL. man, when dinners were precarious things, and a full meal was something more than a common blessing, when a bellyfull was a windfall, and looked like a special providence, then in the shouts, and triumphal songs with which, after a season of sharp abstinence a lucky booty of goat’s flesh (or deer’s flesh) would naturally be ushered home, existed perhaps the germ of the modern “ Grace before meat.” This animal, the Goat (Capra hircus), long associated with medicine, and named a carpendo, from cropping, yields a milk “accounted cordiall against consumption: yea, its very stench is used fora perfume in Araby the Happy.” The milk is richer in solids than that of the woman, the cow, or the ass, containing the largest proportion of cheese substance (casein), and the most fatty constituents, as well as salts, though it is comparatively poor in sugar of milk. It possesses hircin, r hircic acid, which has a peculiar smell, and taste. Goats’ milk will often serve to check obstinate diarrhea, whilst whey made therefrom helps to obviate scrofulous disease. This whey is the chief means of a cure carried out specially in well-known establishments of Germany, and the Tyrol. The whey is sweetish, balsamic, and agreeable, with a greenish tint, and consisting of sugar in solution with lactic acid, and with animal extractive matters, such as osmazome, and the like ; also mineral salts are present, these being the chlorides of potassium, and sodium, sulphate of soda, and phosphate, and carbonate of lime. Help is given in the cure by the restorative atmospheric, and climatic influences which are brought locally to bear. It is essential that the whey shall be made from the milk of Goats which range, and browse on high mountains, particularly of Switzerland. In habitual torpor of the digestive organs, with constipation of the bowels, this whey-cure by Goats’ milk effects admirable results, whilst in the scrofulous affections of children the benefits. are simply wonderful. At Naples there are no milk carts, but the cow is brought to the door, and milked on the spot to the quantity required. “ Passa la vacca”’ is said by the customer on a blank day,— “Pass on! can’t afford milk to-day;” which has become a homely proverb expressing far more than that, “the wolf (as well as the cow) is at the door.” ‘“ Close behind come the Goats, and they, too, must be milked in sight of the purchasers, or how can it be sure that this milk is not watered.” Upstairs climbs Nanny, if need be to the topmost storey, her owner professing GOAT. 343 loudly his innocence of tricks; but under his ragged jacket he has a skin of water, with a tube extending down his sleeve. In Italy a kind of cream cheese (ricotta) is made from Goats’ milk, and is sold in the streets, being much appreciated as sweet, and palatable. The vendors carry it on their heads like our muffin sellers, and retail it at so much a centime. Sir Wm. Broadbent, writing about the prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis, says “‘ it is interesting to note that asses, and Goats, do not suffer from this disease’; wherefore, adds Mrs. Earle in Pot Pourri, “ it is a continual surprise to me that Goats are not kept for supplying their milk to the Consumptive Sanatoriums.” Old Lord Chesterfield, in one of his famous letters to his son (London, March, 1759), wrote: ‘‘ I am rather better than I was, which I owe, not to my physicians, but to an ass, and a cow, who nourish me, between them, very plentifully, and whole- somely ; in the morning the ass is my nurse, at night the cow ; and I have just now bought a milch goat, which is to graze, and to nurse me at Blackheath. I do not know what may come of this latter, and I am not without apprehensions that it may make a satyr of me; but should I find that obscene disposition growing upon me I will check it in time, for fear of endangering my life, and character, by rapes.” Again, in another letter, from Italy, he records the fact that the Italian doctors had ordered for his lungs, then out of order, that he must drink asses’ milk twice a day, and Goats’ whey as often as he pleases, the oftener the better; whilst in his common diet they recom- mended an attention to pectorals, such as sago, barley, turnips, etc. In the Essay on Witches and Night Fears, Elia says : ‘* Nor, when the wicked are expressly symbolised in Scripture by a Goat, was it so much to be wondered at that by our ancestors (whom we are too hasty to set down in the gross as fools) the devil was thought to come sometimes in the body of this animal, and assert his metaphor.” It is a fact worthy of notice that where a goat is kept about a dwelling-place rats will not come. Dr. Robert Hutchison tells us that Goats’ milk, because stronger even than cows’ milk, is unsuitable for the use of infants. One hundred parts contain four and a half of proteid solids. Whey procured from this milk ranks between aliments, and medicines, being of high value in the treatment of patients debilitated by organic disease of the stomach, or intestines. Paul Kruger, when among the Boers (as recently told in his Life,) 344 MEALS MEDICINAL. had his left thumb blown off by the bursting of his rifle when firing at a rhinoceros charging upon him, from which animal he then had to ride for his life. He doctored his hand roughly with turpentine, but everybody insisted it would have to come off. Kruger, however, flatly refused to lose his hand. ‘ The two joints of what was once my thumb had gone, but it appeared that it would still be necessary to remove a piece of bone. I took my knife intending to perform the operation, but it was snatched away from me. A little later I got hold of another knife, and cut across the ball of the thumb, removing as much as was necessary ; the worst bleeding was soon over, but the operation was a very painful one. I had no means by me of deadening the pain, and tried to persuade myself that the hand upon which I was performing this surgical operation belonged to somebody else. The wound healed very slowly. The women sprinkled finely- powdered sugar on it, and from time to time I had to remove the dead flesh with my pocket-knife ; but gangrene set in after all. Different remedies were applied, but all seemed useless, for the black marks rose as far as the shoulder. Then they killed a goat, took out the stomach, and cut it open; and I put my hand into it while it was still warm. This Boer remedy succeeded, for when it came to the turn of the second goat my hand was already easier, and the danger much less. The wound took over six months to heal, and before it was quite closed I was out hunting again.” Goats’ milk is found to be far less subject to germs than cows’ milk; it has wonderful nutritive properties, and will sometimes rescue infants, and invalids, as a last resource in diet. ‘“‘ The Indians,” says Antient Cymric Medicine, “are treated by their native doctors for asthma in a remarkable way. Ghee prepared with Goats’ milk is given to the patient internally, and a Goat is brought into the sick person’s room three times a day. The patient is directed to make use of the animal as a pillow, and to hug it during his paroxysms of difficult breathing, then inhaling the strong scent of the beast ; and the sick man will within a short while become cured of his complaint.” From the days of Moses the Goat has been accredited with a certain virtue as the carrier away of what is evil. Originally, according to the old Jewish ritual, on the great day of atonement the sins of the people were symbolically laid on the head of a Goat, which was afterwards turned out into the wilderness, GOOSE. 345 GOOSE. “THE flesh of Goose (Anser),” declared The London Pharma- copeia (1696), “‘is exceedingly hard of digestion, but being digested nourishes well; the liver is of great nutriment; the grease is exceeding hot, and of thin parts, piercing, and dissolv- ing.” Goose-grease (Adeps anseris) got from a roasted Goose is highly emollient, and very useful in clysters; this readily proves emetic. It is chiefly, however, to the liver of Geese artificially fattened for its adipose enlargement (this liver being mixed by foreign confectioners with truffles, and various condi- ments) regard may be had for helping patients who are atrophied, and wasted. Constant heat, and deprivation from water, or exercise, develop enormously the fatness, and size of the Goose liver, it being a curious fact that charcoal powder helps materially towards producing this excessive growth of the said liver in size. At Alsace a trough of water, in which pieces of wood charcoal remain to steep, is placed in front of the Geese under treatment. Liebig taught that charcoal powder will so hypertrophize the Goose’s liver as to cause finally the death of the bird ; by this fatty degeneration the liver becomes surcharged with a phosphoric oil. Geese livers in patés, and in terrines, with truffles, are now consumed all over Europe. When the birds are considered ripe enough of liver enlargement, they are killed, and the livers are taken to the truffling house. Meantime the carcases, shrivelled out of all knowledge, are sold for about one shilling apiece to the peasants, who make soup of them. The next step is to take each liver (from two to three pounds in weight), and to lard it with truffles, half a pound of truffles to a pound of liver; then to convey it to an icehouse, where it must remain on a marble slab for a week so that the truffle- perfume may thoroughly permeate its structure. At the end of a week each liver, being removed, is cut into the size required for the pot which it is to fill, and introduced into that pot between two thin layers of mincemeat made of the finest veal, and bacon fat, both truffled with the liver itself; and one inch depth of the whitest lard is then spread over the whole so that none of the savour may escape in baking, which process takes about five hours, the fire being carefully regulated. Nothing remains afterwards but to pack the dainty, either in earthenware, wood, or tin. With the livers of Ferrara Geese fattened to excess, 346 MEALS MEDICINAL. “exquisite as the food was, did Heliogabalus” (as Smollett relates, in Peregrine Pickle) “regale his hounds.” Macaulay has said in his essay about Horace Walpole: “ His writings rank as high among the delicacies of intellectual epicures as the Strasburg pies among the dishes described in the Almanach des Gourmands. But as the Paté de foie gras owes its excellence to the diseases of the wretched animal which furnishes it, and would be good for nothing if it were not made of livers preeter- naturally swollen, so none but an unhealthy, and disorganized mind could have produced such literary luxuries as the works of Walpole.” The Truffle (Zuber cibarium) is an edible tuber, of subterranean growth, found in the earth, especially beneath beech trees, and uprooted by dogs trained for the purpose; “the tubers have a heavy, rank, hercline smell, are of a chestnut colour, and are dis- covered not seldom in England.” The most famous field for the production of Truffles is the old Province of Perigord in France, these having a dark skin, and smelling of violets. Piedmontese Truffles suggest garlic ; those of Burgundy are a little resinous; the Neapolitan specimens are redolent of sulphur; and in the Gard department (France) they have an odour of musk. When once dug up Truffles soon lose their perfume, and aroma: therefore they are imported bedded in the very earth which produced them. At the sight of Truffles, or even the hearing their name, a proper French gastronomer is expected to go into ecstasies of delight, and admiration; he knows them as the sacrum sacrorum of epicures, the diamonds of the kitchen, and by other hyperbolical names. According to Dumas, the Truffle says, “ Eat me, and adore God.” The author of the Physiology of Taste ascribes to these tubers such effects as that “ they awaken amatory recollections, and, without being positively sexual excitants, they will under certain conditions make women more loving, and men more amiable.” Besides the fragrant principles which distinguish its several kinds, the Truffle contains cellulose, glucose, pectose, gum, and water ; in its ash phosphoric acid, and potash prevail, whilst a very little sulphuric acid may also be detected. The name “ Truffle” is derived from the Italian “ Tartufolo,” signifying he who hides, or. disguises himself. Truffles are in season from November to March. They are found under oak trees, the range of their area for growth being strictly limited to the area covered by the branches. GOOSE. 347 Two French epicures, not being satisfied with the flavour given to the turkey by its stuffing of Truffles for the table, determined to try whether this Truffle favour might not be imparted to the bird by a suitable system of diet. They selected a fat young turkey, and fed it for two months with the most exquisite Truffles that the South of France could produce ; and the turkey seemed to enjoy the experiment. At the end of two months the bird was killed, roasted with delicate care, and brought upon the table. Each of the experimenters eagerly took a wing, and found to his disappointment that the turkey had absolutely no Truffle flavour whatever. It was thus proved that a diet of volatile fragrance does not impart its special flavours to an animal kept living on such diet for a length of time. Evelyn, in his Diary (September 30th, 1644), wrote about “a dish of Trufles, which is a certaine earth-nut found out by an hogg train’d to it, and for which these animals are sold at a greate price.” Samuel Boyse (whose poem on the Deity is quoted with high praise by Feilding) was an improvident writer always in want of money. Dr. Johnson generously exerted himself to collect by sixpences a sufficient sum for getting Boyse’s clothes out of pawn. But two days afterwards Boyse had spent this money in some self- indulgence, and was found in bed, covered only with a blanket, through two holes in which blanket he passed his arms so as to write. It appears that when thus impoverished he would lay out his last hali-guinea to buy Truffles, and mushrooms, for eating with his scrap-end of beef. Mahometans, and Jews who abjure the use of lard, find in countries where butter is scarce a substitute for it in Goose-fat, clarified, and made excellent of taste. Goose oil has long been a popular remedy of sovereign use externally for croup, or a swollen throat. The whimsical version of “ Old Father William,” by Alice, to the Caterpillar, in Wonderland, runs thus :— “ * You are old,’ said the youth, ‘ and your jaws are too weak For anything tougher than suet ; Yet you fini the goose, with the bones, and the beak ; Pray, how did you manage to do it ?’ «In my youth,’ said his father, ‘I took to the law, And argued each case with my wife ; : ra And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw, Has lasted the rest of my life.’ ” To prevent indigestion from the richness of a Goose, after a. 348 MEALS MEDICINAL. cleaning, and trussing it for roasting, rub it all over (inside and out) with coarse kitchen salt; then put into the bird’s inside two large handfuls of salt; get a basket woven loosely enough at its bottom to let the salt drop through into a pan put underneath ; hang up the bird thus prepared in a cool place over the pan to catch the salt, and let it remain like this for three days; then before cooking wash the Goose thoroughly from the salt, and all the coarse, fatty material comes away in the water, whilst the bird’s flesh will prove as tender, and delicate as that of a turkey. The male Goose is known as a Gander (and a ‘‘ Goosey Gander ”’ means a blockhead); young Geese are Goslings, which are called green Geese until about four months old; these were formerly eaten with raisin, or crab-apple sauce. Kate Wiggin, in her Diary of a Goose-girl, recounts certain characteristics of the bird. “As to going to roost, ducks, and Geese, unlike hens, whose intelligence prompts them to go to bed at a virtuous hour of their own accord, have to be practically assisted, or, I believe, they would roam the streets until morning. Never did small boy detest, or resist being carried off to his nursery as these dullards. young and old, detest, and resist being borne off to theirs.” “ An ortolan is good to eat, A partridge is of use ; { But these are scarce, whereas you meet At Paris, ay! in every street, A goose! ” And yet, as saith an old proverb, “ A Goosequill (pen) may be more dangerous than a lion’s claw;” though “le moineau en la main vaut mieux que Voie qui vole.” ‘A sparrow in the hand is worth more than a goose on the wing.” During the days of middle England, Goose was eaten pickled with cloves, and ginger. The fowl is rich in fat. “ This fat,” as Lemery taught (1674), “eases the piles; and those parts of the body which are troubled by rheumatism should be rubbed therewith.” As is commonly known, sage and onions are the usual condiments for stuffing a Goose. That the use of apple- sauce with roast Goose is an old custom can be proved by a reference to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: “Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting ” (7.e., a sweet apple) “it is a most sharp sauce, and is it not well served with a sweet Goose?”’ In the fourteenth century a Goose was often stuffed by Italian cooks GRAPES. 349 with garlic, and quinces. The Germans fill this bird with apples, and chestnuts, and serve it with red cabbage. On July 3rd, Lord’s-day (1664), Pepys, as his Diary tells, “ went to dinner where the remains of yesterday’s venison, and a couple of brave green Geese, we were fain to eat alone, because they will not keep, which troubled us.”’ For a vegetarian dish, “‘ Savoury Goose,”’ soak half a pound of brown haricot beans for six or eight hours, boil them till tender, and rub through a wire sieve ; peel, and chop coarsely three onions, and fry these in butter ; mix together the beans, and onions, and add half a pound of bread-crumbs, two ounces of butter, two tablespoonfuls of finely-chopped sage, four raw eggs beaten up, and salt, and pepper to taste. Grease a basin, and pour in the mixture, cover with buttered paper, and steam for two hours; turn it out, and allow it to become cold, and to set. Flour a board, and cut into slices of two fingers’ breadth, and an inch thick ; dip each into beaten-up egg, sprinkle all the sides with finely-crushed brown bread- crumbs, and fry a golden brown. Serve with brown gravy (made with fried onion, lemon-juice, brown sugar, cornflour, and water, boiled together), and apple-sauce. Gastronomers pronounce a March Goose insipid, and a Michaelmas Goose rank. The Hebrews are said to eat more Geese than any other class of persons. “‘ Three women and a Goose ” are supposed to make a market. We have a proverb ““ As wise as a Goose;” and it is a matter of history that Geese saved the Roman capital. Saint Martin’s Day, November 11th, when a second little summer is proverbial, stands denoted in old almanacks by the sign of the Goose. “ Whom all people worshippeth with roasted Goose, and wine.” The quaint Nursery Rhyme with its subtle religious significance, is familiar to us all :— ** Goosey, goosey, gander, Whither Shall E wander ? Upstairs, and downstairs, and to my lady’s chamber. There I met an old man Who wouldn’t say his prayers, I took him by the left leg, And threw him down the stairs.” GRAPES. The principal virtue of grapes is contained in their sugar, which differs chemically from cane sugar, and passes more quickly into 350 MEALS MEDICINAL. the bodily system, with speedy combustion asa food. The amount of this grape sugar varies according to the greater or less warmth of the climate in which the different grapes are grown. Tokay grapes are the sweetest; next are those of Southern France; then of Moselle, Bohemia, and Heidelberg, whilst the fruit of the vine in Spain, Italy, and Madeira, is not so well adapted for curative purposes. The grape fruit consists of pulp, stones. and skin. Within the pulp is contained the grape sugar, together with a certain quantity of fruit sugar, which is identical with cane sugar. The grape sugar warms (and fattens) speedily, being taken up straightway into the circulation without waiting to be changed slowly by the saliva; therefore this grape sugar serves to repair the waste of burning fever quickly, and to recruit the strength promptly when thereby consumed, grapes being at such times most grateful to the sufferer. But for the same reason they do not suit inflammatory, or gouty persons under ordinary circumstances, as well as foods sweetened with cane sugar which has to undergo slower chemical conversion into heat, and sustenance. The chief ingredients of grape fruit are tannin, gum, bitartrate of potash, sulphate of potash, tartrate of lime, magnesia, alum, iron, chlorides of potassium, and sodium, tartaric, citric, racemic, and malic acids, some albumin, and azotized matters, with water. Grapes can supply but little nutritious matter for building up the solid structures of the body. Sweet grapes act as gentle laxatives, though the stones, if crushed are astringent. When taken in any quantity grapes act freely on the kidneys, and promote a flow of urine. The acids of the fruit are burnt off from their alkaline bases which remain behind, and help to neutralise such other gouty acids as they may encounter. But for a person in good health, and with sound digestion, grapes are excellent to furnish bodily warmth by their ready-made sugar, whilst the essential flavours of the aromatic fruit are cordial and refreshing. Besides being useful against gout by its alkaline base, the bitartrate of Potash salt (cream of tartar) in grapes proves of remedial use for other affections. It is reputed to have been of signal curative service in, or against small-pox. Mr. Rose, of Dorking, first gave it in 1826, and with remarkable success, losing only one case in over a thousand, and that one compli- cated with whooping cough. Likewise the son, Mr. Charles Rose, later on gave the remedy against small-pox with equally GRAPES. 351 satisfactory effects. In 1863 it was tried by the authorities of the Highgate Small-pox Hospital, with the result that they reported “it does not seem to do the least good.’’ Yet during the same time it was being given at Dorking with a result that the mortality there among unvaccinated patients was only 11 per cent as against 47 in the Highgate Small-pox Hospital. The usual mixture was a quarter of an ounce of the bitartrate of potash to a pint of water, taking a wineglassful of this at frequent intervals. Later on the same remedy was supplied in the form of whey ; half, or three-quarters of an ounce of cream of tartar being administered in half a pint of hot, almost boiling milk. Mr. Rose came to the conclusion that this was essential in some cases, which the other form of the potash salt taken with Turkey Rhubarb, failed to benefit. “I am _ willing,” wrote Edward Hume to the Liverpool Mercury, 1875, “ to forfeit my reputation as a public man if the worst cases of small-pox cannot be cured in three days simply by the use of an ounce of cream of tartar dissolved in a pint of water, and drunk at intervals, when cold, as a certain never-failing remedy. It has cured thousands, never leaves a mark, never causes blindness, and avoids tedious lingering illness.” A limited diet of sweet grapes taken almost exclusively will sometimes work wonders for the feeble digestive powers of persons rendered weak and bloodless by over-work, or worry; to eat a grape each minute for an hour at a time, three or four times in the day, while taking very little else beyond dry bread, will often prove highly beneficial in such cases. What is known as the Grape Cure is pursued in the Tyrol, Bavaria, on the banks of the Rhine, and elsewhere, with two objects in view according to the respective class of patients. Those weakly bloodless persons who are labouring under wasting disease, as in chronic catarrh of the lungs, requiring quick supplies of animal warmth, and adipose repair, gain special help from sweet ripe grapes, being ordered to take these almost exclusively, from three to six pounds a day. On the other hand, sufferers from torpid biliary functions, sluggish liver, or passive local congestions, benefit rather by taking the grapes not fully ripe, and not sweet, in moderate allowance ; these latter grapes have a diuretic, and somewhat laxative effect, being eaten four or five times a day during the promenade ; their reaction is alkaline, as aforesaid, therefore suitable for persons troubled with gravel, or acid gout. 352 MEALS MEDICINAL. For consumptive persons the ripe, luscious, sweet grapes, besides affording an exceptionally large quantity of warming, fattening glucose (7.e. grape sugar), specifically stimulate the lung substance to healthier action, and help it to throw off effete matters by thus encouraging the formation of new tissue. During the grape cure the fruit if taken on an empty stomach would act as a laxative: so that eating them does not begin until after breakfast. A hundred pounds weight of ripe, sweet grapes include within their pulp as much as thirteen pounds, full weight, of the purest glucose ; and because of this abundance the said glucose has received, wherever obtained, the comprehensive name of grape sugar. Furthermore, the tartaric acid which sweet grapes contain plentifully is the basis of several so-called * blood-purifying ” medicines. Neuralgia and the sleeplessness of debility may be materially improved by the sweet grape cure, because nutrition is thereby stimulated, and the needful quality of good blood restored. “Some of the credit,” says Dr. Hutchison. “of the results attained must be put down to the circumstances under which the grape cure is carried out ; seeing that the patient is expected to gather the grapes for himself, the doing which entails a certain amount of exercise in the open fresh air. Consumptive patients are sent to the Gironde for the purpose of breathing-in the vapour from the wine vats whilst the grape juice is fermenting, this proving to be highly beneficial as a restorative for weakly and delicate young persons. The wine-vapour in this district is more stimulating, and more curative than in Burgundy. Young girls who suffer from atrophy are at first made to remain for some hours daily in the sheds whilst the wine-pressing is going forward. After a time, as they become less weak, they are directed to jump into the wine press, where they skip about and inhale the fumes of the fermenting juice, until they sometimes become intoxi- cated thereby, and even senseless. But this effect subsides after two or three trials, and presently the girls return to their homes, and work, with renewed strength and heightened colour, hopeful, joyous, and robust.”’ A stranger on his first visit to the Bodegas. or wine vaults of Southern Spain experiences a decided sense of exhilaration, with quickening of the pulse, this being followed presently by a narcotic effect, with a feeling of languor and headache. According to an authoritative examination (Lancet) made of the distillery air it appeared that no less than an ounce GRAPES. 353 of absolute alcohol may be present in five cubic feet of the air. From which result it is obvious that a very appreciable amount of alcohol would be inhaled during a stay, say of eight hours, in such air; and since the alcohol by the medium of the lungs would rapidly get into the general circulation, it cannot but be concluded that such air would in the long run produce in per- sons habitually respiring it the well known pernicious effects of alcoholic excesses. Nevertheless, short systematized dosings with such alcoholized air, modified in degree, and properly regulated, may be curatively prescribed with safe benefit. The vats of the famous Chateau D’Yquem have effected the most wonderful cures on this principle, even in cases considered to be past human aid. Perhaps a modified pursuance of the inhaling process just described might be carried out for suitable cases at our leading home breweries ? The fresh sap of the vine (/acryma, a tear) is an excellent application to weak eyes, because of its tannin in the juices, also for corneal specks. The large family of Muscat grapes get their distinctive title, not because of any flavour of musk attached to them, but because the luscious berries are particularly attractive to flies (musce). “On attrape plus de mouches avec le miel qu ‘avec le vinaigre,” says a pithy French proverb. Sometimes when eaten to excess grapes cause soreness of the tongue, and within the mouth, resembling the symptoms of thrush. and honey will act in like manner. The sweet grape cure is highly to be commended for persons threatened with consumptive mischief in the lungs, because of the abundant sugar and the potash salts supplied in the fruit. But children as a rule do not bear the grape cure satisfactorily. Other fruits, it has been aptly said, “ May please the palate equally well, but it is the proud prerogative of the kingly grape to minister also to the mind.” Grape sugar as such may be used with benefit for sweeten- ing the drinks of patients in fevers, or to mix with their light farinaceous foods. Recipes for grape juice in bottle, for grape jelly, grape sauce, and grape jam (“raisiné”) are given fully in Kitchen Physic. The best grapes wherewith to make grape juice for keeping in bottles are of the purple kind. For another “ grape jam,” as made at the Cape, South Africa, take four pounds of the fresh fruit, and one pound of sugar. Carefully pick the grapes from the bunches, and prick them with a steel, or gold pin. Beil a syrup of the sugar, and put the grapes into 23 354 MEALS MEDICINAL. é the syrup whilst boiling. Some sliced apple, or quince, may be added to the grapes ; for every pound of the same, one pound again of sugar; also some orange peel cut up may be introduced. Boil rather quickly at first. Take out some of the jam, and put it in a shallow saucer to cool. so as to see if it will jelly properly. It is well worthy of remark with respect to grape juice, that whilst it exercises when freshly obtained an inhibiting effect, more or less, in typhoid fever on the growth and vitality of the typhoid bacillus, as likewise on the colon bacilli which are the cause of many forms of acute intestinal ailments, yet the bottled grape juice found in grocery stores gives the most conclusive experimental results. It should be observed, there is a marked difference between the brands of this bottled grape juice. Ex- perimentally certain brands have been found to kill the bacilli by the end of a minute, such effect being almost instantaneous. Moreover the quantity of grape juice required for securing this vital object does not disturb the digestion, as lemon juice (also destructive to the bacilli) might do. It was found that the recently expressed grape juice, prepared in the laboratory, had no effect on the bacilli, even in the proportion as high as 100 per cent. American physicians declare that unfermented grape juice, not artificially preserved by mischievous salicylic acid, etc., is a grand food for the sick, particularly in fever cases. Dr. Foster, of Chicago, reported in the Medical Era, 1886, “‘ grape juice has done me this one inestimable service : it has given me a food, the only food, which little ones when endangered by wasting and febrile diseases, can, or will take, whilst the temperature remains high, and the pulse quick.” ‘* When I had found a food of which a boy four years old would drink one and a half pints daily, and ask for more, while he would absolutely refuse all other food, I had discovered a means whereby his strength could be maintained throughout ten days during a raging scarlet fever, and that food saved my little patient’s life.” Still more important has this advice become to-day. Grape juice (easily sterilized by a simple, harmless process) is highly beneficial in all forms of low wasting diseuse. Grapes are sometimes employed systematically as a means of cure for continued diarrheea : the grape sugar is partly absorbed into the system unchanged, and whilst rich in silicates, phos- phates, tartrates, and pectin. The skins afford some aromatic ethereal oils, and the stones a good deal of tannin; the grape GRAPES. 355 sugar becomes partly converted into lactic acid. In the Song of Solomon occurs the pleasant passage, “the fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell: Arise. my love, my fair one, and come away.” With respect to table scraps for the poor (Epicure, 1898), “a little ingenuity may often render these tempting, and appetising. Half a bunch of grapes, and a couple of spoonfuls of jelly (lemon, or wine) left from dinner, do not by themselves look particularly attractive, one has to admit; but just melt the jelly, and set the grapes therein, using a small pudding basin, or brawn basin, as a mould, and see how glad some sick child will be of the morsel, though your servants would probably disdain to touch it. Verily the poor may easily be fed with the crumbs which fall from rich men’s tables, did the rich only know how to utilize such crumbs. There are stalls at some of the Paris markets where may be seen portions of foods laid out, the relics of dainty dinners from restaurants, and large households: a morsel of fish, a simple cutlet, a spoonful of bavaroise, all disposed neatly together as one of such portions, to be sold for a few sous, under the name of an ‘arlequin.’ These scraps in England go to help fill the hog-tub, or into the dust-hole, because no one has taken the trouble to teach the English cook how she should put away her * beauc- restes’ tidily.” In countries where the fruit can be successfully dried certain kinds of grapes are converted into raisins, always specially associated with Christmas time. To quote again the Song of Solomon, when the Bride feeling faint cries out, “ Stay me with ‘ashishah,’ comfort me with apples,” the genuine sense of this Hebrew word is “ raisin-cakes,” as long familiar to scholars ; and now the revised version puts it, “‘ Stay ye me with raisins, comfort me with apples.” Muscatels are known as “ raisins of the sun,” because left upon the tree to dry in the sunshine before being gathered. Grapes can be better cured and dried, because of local conditions, in certain parts of Spain than elsewhere, especially near Malaga. The Valentia, or pudding raisins, are likewise imported from Spain. Sultanas, which are destitute of stones, or seeds, are received from Smyrna. “Surpassing even the banana in nutritive value (Dr. Hutchison) is the group of dried fruits which includes the raisin, and the date.” Raisin-tea is found to — be of the same proteid value as milk, and much more easily 356 MEALS MEDICINAL. digested, therefore of superior use in many cases of gastric disease where milk or soups (vegetable or animal) must be dis- allowed. “Take half a pound of good raisins, and wash them well in cold water. Cut them up roughly to free the pulp in cooking, and put them into a stewing jar with one quart of cold water. Cook for from three to four hours, when the liquid will be reduced to one pint. Press all but the insoluble skins, and stones, through a fine scalded sieve, and use the tea either hot, or cold ; if too sweet a little lemon juice may be added.’ But the tea is scarcely to be advised for meat eaters, as its sweetness might induce biliousness. For persons who suffer from coldness of the feet, and hands, it is very warming and cherishing. Also stewed sultana raisins are restorative when fatigue of body and mind are felt, being at the same time mildly laxative. Wash and pick one pound of sultanas, soak them all night in cold water; next morning drain off the water, and put the raisins into a pan, or basin, and barely cover them with water, add a little grated lemon peel, put a plate over the top, and stew them in the oven till quite tender, and soft. Some of these, hot or cold, with a slice of whole-meal bread, or brown bread, will make a very sustaining repast. Dried raisins contain 2} per cent of proteid substance, 743 of heat-forming parts (carbohydrates), 4 of salts, and 19 of water. The German doctors used to keep their patients: whilst under the grape cure almost entirely without other food, but now some suitable light nourishment is also allowed, at regular times, and even a moderate quantity of Bordeaux wine. The sap of the vine is used commonly in Italy for strengthen- ing, and improving the hair, increasing and renewing its growth even when it has taken +o fall out considerably. In the Spring when the vines are pruned, a fluid percolates out from the cut boughs, which the peasants are careful to collect in little tin pots, some time being needed to gather the juice as it oozes out by drops. When sufficient has been obtained it is strained through muslin, though some of the fibrous substance must be also kept in hand, as it helps to do good. Practically the same process may be adopted in this country by persons who possess vineries. The liquid will keep sweet, and useful for six or eight months, and even then it only acquires a sharp odour which is not unwhole- some. One sort of grape, the Bourdelas, or Vergus, being intensely sour when green is never allowed to ripen, but its large berries are made to yield their acid liquor for use instead of GRUEL. 357 vinegar, or lemon juice, in drinks, medicines, and sauces. The human stomach will tolerate acids which are comparatively strong, even of a mineral sort, and these not presently becoming alkaline as the vegetable acids do by chemical change. Drs. Gould and Pyle record a case (Curiosities of Medicine, 1901) of ““a bootmaker who constantly took half an ounce of strong sulphuric acid (oil of vitriol) in a tumbler of water, saying that it relieved his dyspepsia, and kept his bowels open”; of course this was a most exceptional immunity, and a strange power of resistance. GRUEL. In primitive Britain the cereal, and leguminous foods were originally eaten unshelled, and uncooked, as testified by the extremely ground-down state of our early ancestors’ teeth, and those of the pre-Saxon inhabitants. But meanwhile in more civilized Gaul these foods were advanced to the state of being pounded by stones, and in mortars, so as to make a sort of mass with water, or milk,—the primitive Gruel. ‘‘ Rome,” said Cato of Utica, “was raised upon Gruel.” Later on in mid-English times Gruel was groat ale, or oatmeal soup, made with malt liquor instead of water, and then rendered in base Latin gruellum, from grutellum, a diminutive of grutum, meal; so oatmeal, grits, groats. Grout, similarly, was a quondam Danish dish, and it is still claimed as an honour by a certain old Danish family to carry a platter thereof at a Royal Coronation :— “ King Hardyknute, midst Danes, and Saxons stout, Caroused on nut-brown ale, and dined on grout, Which dish its pristine honour still orang. ; And when each prince is crowned in splendour reigns.’ r Art of Cookery (1708). Again, the True Gentlewoman’s Delight (1653) taught how “ to make Grout”: ‘‘ Take some wheat, and beanes, and when you have made it into malt, then tittle it; then take some water, or some small wort, and heat it scalding hot, and put it.into a pail; then stir in the malt; then take a piece of sower leaven ; then stir it about, and cover it, and let it stand till it will cream, then put in some orange pills (peels ?), then put it over the fire, and boil it, keeping it stirring till all the white be gone. Nowa- days Gruel is an invalid preparation for weakly persons of 2 858 MEALS MEDICINAL. disabled digestion, or to obviate a recent cold, and promote free action of the skin, or for infants. It is made by boiling meal, or groats, or other farimaceous substance, in water. If nicely sweetened with treacle, and taken immediately before going to bed, Gruel is an admirable little repast for anyone troubled with a cold in the chest, or head. Or, it may be seasoned with salt, pepper, spices, herbs, celery seed, shalots, or onions. A good Gruel for bowel complaints is to be made with a spoonful of ground rice mixed with a pint of milk, and boiled, some cinnamon being added, and perhaps Port wine, or Brandy. “ Plain Gruel,” quoth Dr. Kitchener, ‘“‘is the most comforting soother of an irritable stomach we know of.” ‘“‘ Water Gruel is the king of spoon-meats, the queen of soups, and gratifies nature beyond all others. This essence of oatmeal makes a noble, and exhil- arating meal.” Sir Kenelm Digby wrote in his Closet opened (1645) about “ Water-gruel”’; “ This should be boiled till it rises in great ebullition, in great galloping waters; when the upper surface hath no gross visible oatmeal in it, this should be then skimmed off, and it will be found much better than the part which remaineth below of the oatmeal. Yet even that will make good Water-gruel for the servants.” Groats is the grain of oats freed from its husk, and when crushed forms ‘‘ Embden Groats,” as used for making gruel. Likewise barley, arrowroot, and flour, or biscuit, will serve for preparing this food. Any Gruel should be drunk slowly, so that the starch may become mixed with saliva, and thus partially digested before being swallowed. For “a pleasant Gruel,” “take a small cupful of good wheaten bran, and mix this with a little cold water; then stir in two quarts of boiling water into which a bruised stick of cinnamon has been put; let it boil for half an hour till sufficiently thick; strain, and when the Gruel is to be served add a teaspoonful of lemon, or orange juice, and as much sugar as is liked.” But in the making of Gruel sugar is mentioned with hesitation, for ‘“‘a sweet Gruel is an abomination,” says the Century Invalid Cookery Book. And yet a Gruel containing just a little sugar has a pleasanter flavour than one without any. It should be noted that the starch of such grain as is used in preparing Gruel is not readily digested unless it be well cooked. When dear old Mr. Woodhouse, the kindly vale- tudinarian paterfamilias, in Jane Austen’s Emma, was visited by his married daughter, and her husband, he bade her “ go HEDGEHOG. ° 359 to bed early, as she must be tired; and,” said he, “I recom- mend to you a little Gruel before you go; you and I will have a nice basin of Gruel together. My dear Emma” (the elder daughter), “suppose we all have a little Gruel together!” “Thin Gruel,” writes Austin Dobson in a certain Preface, “once moved a noble Earl to poetry for a contemporary keepsake.” Derisively in some of the casual wards of the London workhouses the Gruel given to able-bodied paupers passes under the name of “ Skilly,”’ a word perhaps first derived from the skillet (Latin, Scutella, a small dish, or plate), which vessel was formerly used in heating a drink over the fire. From the same word Sceutella our scullery, or dishery, is obtained ; hence also a scullion, a dish-washer. In Lear’s Book of Nonsense, so beloved by children, they gain acquaintance with an odd dish of the food under notice :— * There was an old person of Ewell Who chiefly subsisted on gruel. But to make it more nice he inserted some mice, Which refreshed that old person of Ewell.” Oatmeal Gruel may be made by boiling from one to two ounces of the meal with three pints of water, down to two pints, then straining the decoction, and pouring off the thinner liquid when cool. Its flavour can be improved by adding split raisins towards the end of boiling, or sugar, and nutmeg (grated). To _ “get one’s gruel” is a slang term for being severely punished, or disabled, or slain, perhaps deservedly. ‘“ He shall have his gruel, said one.” (Guy Mannering, Cap. xxvii). HARE (See Game.) A provers of our sagacious sires has taught that “He who would have a Hare for breakfast must hunt overnight.” HEDGEHOG. Famiuiar in country districts throughout England is the Hedgehog, Hedgepig, or Urchin, a small animal armed with prickly spines, being of nocturnal habits, feeding by night on insects, and such prey, and sleeping by day under dead leaves, or similar herbage. When captured, and domesticated, the Hedgehog will clear the kitchen of beetles, cockroaches, mice, 360 MEALS MEDICINAL. and even rats. In the London Pharmacopwia (1696) it was stated: ‘‘ The flesh roasted makes pleasant meat; its ashes cure dropsies, as well as the bed-wetting, or not holding the water.” Gypsies have an excellent way of roasting the delicate little ‘‘ Hotchi-witchi ’’ in a ball of clay, which is a slow con- ductor of the fire, and defends the small creature’s body from unsavoury products of charring, whilst the fat, and the gravy which ooze out assist, the cooking within the clay. Hedgehog pie is a dish which is much relished on the continent. For deafness in the head, several old medical authors advise to take the drippings from a roast Hedgehog, and put the same to the patient’s ears so grieved, and stop them with black wool. Quite — recently the Tramps Handbook (1903) instructs that “‘ from September to January is the season for Hedgehogs, when nice and fat, especially at Michaelmas when they have been eating the crab-apples which fall from the hedges. Some have yellow fat, and some have white fat, so that we calls °em mutton, and beef Hedgehogs ; and very good eating they be, sir, when the fat is on ’em.” A second recipe for cooking these small creatures of the hedgerow, or plantation, is thus explained: ‘‘ You cut the bristles off ’em (after they have been fust killed) with a sharp knife ; then you sweals ’em (burn them with straw like a bacon pig), and makes the rind brown; then you cuts ’em down the back, and spits *em on a bit of stick pointed at both ends, and then you roasts *em with a strong flare.” The little animal should first be despatched by a blow on the head, and then roasted just as caught; when it is done the bristles, and skin, will come off en bloc, and he is found to be juicy, and full of most delicate flavour. In France the Marquis de Cherville tells how the foresters on his estate are given to concoct a delicious stew made of the Hedgehog, and the Morille (Fungus meruleus), a choice mushroom gathered in the woods. In ancient times the Greeks ate Hedgehogs’ flesh (Erinaceus Europeus). HERBS. Besrpes those edible Herbs which come under notice here seriatim, there are several others which may be considered collectively, with a more brief, though sufficient, description. These are commonly used, or of cultivation for the kitchen, whilst likewise embodying curative principles for culinary HERBS. 361 development as foods. John Swann, in his Speculum Mundi (1643), swore by “herbs, hot, and drie, or herbs moist, and cold: herbs of more than ordinairie properties.” “Good Lord, how many gaping souls have scap’t By th’ aid of herbs, for whom the grave have gap’t. Tis not alone their liquor inlie ta’ne, That oft defends us from so many a bane, But ev’n their savour, yea, their neighbourhood, For some diseases, is exceeding good.” Valentine, in the Dedication to his Liber Simplicium (Sixteenth Century), bore like witness. ** Herbis, non verbis curo; sincerus in omni Curandi methodo, quem mea praxis habet.” “By worts, not words, I cure—honest in all my ways.” As to certain herbs administered for the relief, or cure of ailments due to a deficiency of energies, or physical atoms, on the hypo- thesis of such herbs possessing correlative energies, and atoms, it must be remembered that a plant to be in perfect usefulness must find its elective essential elements in the soil producing it ; the amount thereof may be exceedingly small, but that amount is all-essential to its health, life, and virtues. The very slightest secular changes are the occasion, or causes of the greatest operations in nature; and the human body is equally subject to parallel laws. The growth of herbs, and plants, is influenced by the moon, as well as by the sun. Shakespeare recognized this when writing (in Troilus and Cressida) “ As true as steel, as plantage to the moon, as sun to day ;”’ which allusion is explained in the Discourse of Witchcrajt: “The poor husbandman perceiveth that the increase of the moon maketh plants fruitful. Nor need the outdoor wayfarer in search of health-giving medica- ments be ever dependent altogether on any kitchen garden for green stuff, and fruits. The hedgerow, and woodland, the cliffside, and riverside, the meadow, and heath, will furnish blackberries, hips, _ barberries, dewberries, whortleberries, samphire, seakail, wild chicory, sorrel, dandelion leaves, nettles, watercress, and, of course, mushrooms, as well as the many other edible fungi now neglected through sheer ignorance. Poscas tandem wger: si sanus negligis herbas, Esse cibus nequeunt: at medicamenta erun' ‘In health, if sallet herbs you won’t endure, i : i for f or cure.” Sick, you'll desire them, or for food, Menten: Uheehisio): 362 MEALS MEDICINAL. Saith John Swann again in Speculum Mundi : “ First, concern- ing Herbs, I begin with Basil, whose seeds, being mixed with shoemakers’ black, do take away warts. We in England, though we seldom eat it, yet greatly do esteem it because it smelleth sweet, and comforteth the brain. But know that weak brains are rather hindered than holpen by it; for the savour is strong, and therefore much smelled into procureth the headach:; and hath a strong propertie beyond all these, for a certain Italian, by often smelling the Basil, had a scorpion bred in his brain, and after vehement, and long pain he died thereof. I pray thee, gentle reader, bear in mind this tragic tale, and have a care lest thou, through over-indulgence in one sweet smell, should turn thy brain into the unwilling hostelry of a too lively scorpion ! Be discreet in thy generation, and, setting on one side the pot of treacherous Basil, gather to thyself great armsful of never- dying Borage (called also the ‘Cucumber herb’).” The herb Basil (Ocymum basilicum) is often used in cookery, especially by the French ; it grows commonly with us in the kitchen garden, but dies down every year, so that the seeds have to be sown annually. The leaves, when slightly bruised, exhale a delightful odour ; they gave the distinctive flavour to the original Fetter Lane sausages. The herb furnishes a volatile, aromatic, camphoraceous oil, and on this account it is much employed in France for flavouring soups, especially mock turtle, and sauces. Dr. Kitchener tells, as a useful secret, the value of adding a table- spoonful of Basil vinegar to the tureen of mock turtle soup ; “this the makers thereof will thank us for teaching.” ‘* Basil,” says Evelyn, “ imparts a grateful taste to sallets, if not too strong, but is somewhat offensive to the eyes.” This sweet herb has been immortalized by Keats in his tender, pathetic poem of Isabella and the Pot of Basil, founded on a story from Boccaccio. George Eliot, in Middlemarch, wrote about one of her characters: “He once called her his Basil plant, and when she asked for an explanation, he said that the Basil was a herb which had flourished wonderfully on a murdered man’s brains,” Balm (Melissa officinalis), so called because of its honied Sweetness, occurs plentifully in our kitchen gardens, and was so highly esteemed by Paracelsus as the “ Primum ens Melissa ” that he believed it would completely revivify a man. The London Dispensatory of 1696 said: ‘“ An essence of Balm given HERBS. 363 in Canary wine every morning will renew youth, strengthen the brain, relieve languishing nature, and prevent baldness.’ Or, a Balm wine containing all the virtues of the fragrant, restorative herb may be made thus: Into four gallons of water put ten pounds of moist sugar; boil for more than an hour, skimming thoroughly ; then pour into a crock to cool; place a pound and a quarter of Balm tops (bruised) into a small cask with a little new yeast, and when the liquor is cool pour it on the Balm. Stir them well together, and let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours, stirring it frequently; then close it up, lightly at first, and more securely after fermentation has quite ceased. When it has stood for six or eight weeks, bottle it off, putting a lump of sugar into each bottle. Cork the bottle well, and keep it for at least a year before putting it into use. Double the above quantity may be made at a time if more suitable for the requirements. ‘“ Balm,” adds John Evelyn, “is sovereign for the brain, strengthening the memory, and powerfully chasing away melancholy.” A tea made from the Garden Balm with boiling water, and drunk hot, is admirably cordial, and promotes free perspiration on an excess of catarrhal cold, or influenza ; but against hysterical, or nervous troubles the tea should be made with cold water, so as not to dispel the volatile aromatic virtues of the herb.. Formerly a spirit of Balm, combined with lemon-peel, nutmeg, and angelica root, enjoyed a great restorative reputation under the name of Carmelite water, being highly useful against nervous headache, and neuralgic affections. It is fabled that the Jew Ahasuerus (who refused a cup of water to our Saviour on his way to Golgotha, and was therefore doomed to wander athirst until Christ should come again) on a Whitsuntide evening begged for a draught of small beer at the door of a Staffordshire cottager, who was then far advanced in consumptive disease of the lungs. He got the drink, and out of gratitude advised the sick man to gather from his garden three leaves of Balm, and to put them into a mug of beer. This was to be repeated as a draught every fourth day throughout twelve days, the refilling of the cup to be continued as often as desired, and “ then thy disease shall be cured, and thy body shall be altered.” So saying, the Jew departed, and was never seen there again. But the cottager fulfilled his injunctions, and at the end of twelve days had become a sound man. The word Balm is an abbreviation of “Balsam,” the chief of sweet-smelling oils. 364 MEALS MEDICINAL. Gerarde has told that “ the juice of Balm glueth together greene wounds ;” and “ the leaves,” say Pliny, and Dioscorides, “ being applied do close up wounds without any perill of inflammation.” It is now understood as a scientific fact that the balsamic oils of aromatic plants make excellent surgical dressings ; they give off ozone, and thus exercise anti-putrescent effects ; moreover, being chemical hydrocarbons, they contain so little oxygen that in wounds dressed with the fixed balsamic herbal oils the atomic germs of disease are starved out. Furthermore, the resinous parts of these balsamic oils as they dry upon the sore, or wound, seal it up, and effectually exclude all noxious air. Thus the essential oils of Balm, Peppermint, Lavender, and similar herbs, as well as Pine Oil, the resin of Turpentine, and Benzoin (Friar’s Balsam), should serve admirably for ready application, on lint, or soft fine rag, to cuts, and superficial sores. A couple of hundred years ago pancakes were made whilst using the herb Coltsfoot (Tussilago farjara), and fried with Sage butter. ‘‘ Hark! I hear the Pancake bell,” said poor Richard, making allusion thereto in his Almanack (1684). It is said that the Pancakes particular to Shrove Tuesday were originally appointed to be made then so as to dispose of the dripping and fat remaining over from the prolonged Christmas festivities, before the advent of the Penitential Fast. The bell rang for Confessional in every Church throughout England in Catholic times on the morning of Shrove Tuesday. “ It is a day whereon both rich and poore Are chiefly feasted on the selfsame dish ; When every paunch till it can hold no more Is fritter-filled as well as beast can wish; And every youth and maid do take their turn, And tosse their pancakes up for fear they burn, And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound To see the pancake fall upon the ground.” In our day the modern confectioner provides Coltsfoot Rock, concocted in fluted sticks, of a brown colour, as a sweetmeat, flavoured with some essential oil, as of Anise, or Dill. The herb Coltsfoot, which grows abundantly throughout England, especially along the sides of our railway banks, has been justly termed “‘ nature’s best herb for the lungs, and her most eminent thoracic.” Its very name suggests this virtue,—tussis, a cold, ago, I dispel. All parts of the plant contain tannin, with a special bitter principle, and free mucilage. Coltsfoot tea can HERBS. 365. be usefully made from the leaves, so strong as to be sweet, and glutinous ; liquorice root, and honey may be added, and a decoction prepared therefrom if preferred. The older authors named this plant ‘“‘ Filius ante patrem,” (the son before the father), because the starlike golden flowers appear, and wither, | before the broad sea-green leaves are produced, and become conspicuous. It is useful, and pleasant, to know that for sound physical reasons a moderate supper of bread and butter, with crisp, fresh lettuces (perhaps also a spring onion or two), and light, home- brewed ale made with Hops, is admirably calculated to promote healthy sleep (except for a full-blooded, plethoric person, whe should fare otherwise). The Hop (Humulus lupulus) grows wild in our hedges, and copses, with only male flowers; but when cultivated in the Hop garden it produces also the female catkins, or strobiles, which are commonly known as Hops, and are largely used for brewing purposes. The Hop was employed by the Saxons, and was imported into England from Flanders (1524). Soon afterwards a petition was presented to Parliament against the use of Hops, describing the plant as “‘ a wicked weed which will spoil the taste of drink, and endanger the people.” Persons have fallen into a deep sleep after remaining for some while in a storehouse of Hops. ‘‘ Hops,” says Evelyn, in his Pomona (1670), “transmuted our wholesome ale into beer, which doubtless much altered our constitutions, This one ingredient, by some suspected not unworthily, preserves the drink indeed, but repays the pleasure with tormenting diseases, and a shorter life.” The “‘ hops,” or chaffy capsules of the flower seeds, turn brown early in the autumn; they possess a heavy, fragrant, aromatic odour, and a very bitter, pungent taste. The yellow glands at the base of their scales afford a volatile, strong-smelling oil, and an abundant yellow powder (lupulin) which possesses. most of the virtues owned by the plant. Various Simples may be made from the Hop (such as Hop tea, Hop wine, and the Lupulin given in powder), each of which will ease pain, and lull to sleep. Hop tea is an excellent drink in delirium tremens ; also it will give ease to an irritable bladder. Sherry in which Hops have been steeped is a capital stomachic cordial. And a pillow stuffed with newly-dried Hops was successfully prescribed by Dr. Willis for our King George the Third when sedative 366 MEALS MEDICINAL. medicines had failed to give him sleep ; as likewise for our present King, when Prince of Wales, at the time of his severe attack of typhoid fever (1871), it being then used in conjunction with a most grateful draught of ale which had been previously withheld. The young tops of the Hop plant, if gathered in the spring, and boiled, may be eaten as asparagus; they were formerly brought to market tied up in small bundles for table use. The Hop is tonic, and acts on the kidneys, besides having antiseptic properties. “ Les jets de houblon” (says T Art Culinaire) are the spring vegetable par excellence in Belgium ; the young sprouts are boiled in salted water, with a squeeze of lemon-juice, and served “aw beurre,” or “i la créme.” A poached egg is the unfailing accompaniment: you cannot realize the one without the other. Hops, and poached eggs, are the Orestes and Pylades of the Belgian cuisine. If boiled in water, with a little salt, pepper, and vinegar, Hop sprigs, tips, or points, make a nice, wholesome salad when cold. For the severe morning sickness of pregnant women, to drink freely of Hop tea (an ounce of the Hops to a pint of boiling water) will afford great relief ; or a glass of bitter ale will ward off the attacks. In Norfolk scarcely a cottage garden can be found without its Horehound corner, and Horehound beer is commonly drunk there by the natives. Again, Candied Horehound is a sweetmeat made by our confectioners from the fresh plant, by boiling it down until the juice is extracted, and then adding sugar before boiling this again till it has become thick enough of consistence to be poured into a paper case, and to be cut into squares when sufficiently cool. The plant White Horehound (Marrubium) is found growing in waste places, or is cultivated in the herb garden, being of popular use for coughs, and colds. It has a musky odour, and a bitter taste, affording chemically a fragrant volatile oil, a bitter extractive, “ marrubin,” and gallic acid. Its preparations are specially useful for coughs accompanied with copious thick phlegm; also for chronic bronchial asthma. Gerarde has said: “ Syrup made from the greene, fresh leaves, with sugar, is a most singular remedy against the cough, and wheezing of the lungs. It doth wonderfully, and above credit, ease such as have been long sicke of any consumption of the lungs, as hath been often proved by the learned physicians of our London College.” “Just within recent times,” according to Albert Broadbent, HERBS, 367 “our garden plant, familiar particularly to all lovers of the National Roast Beef,—Horse Radish (Cochlearia armoracia)— has come to deserve specially well from the British public.” Grated Horse Radish, if eaten at frequent intervals during the day, and likewise at meals, is found remarkably efficacious for getting rid of the persistent distressing cough which lingers aiter influenza. The root of Horse Radish contains sulphur, a volatile oil, a bitter resin, sugar, starch, gum, albumin, and acetates. Chemically its volatile oil is identical with that of mustard, being highly diffusible, and pungent, because of the “ myrosin.” One drop of this: most volatile oil will suffice to odorize the atmosphere of a whole room. The root is expectorant, anti-scorbutic, and, if taken too freely, emetic. That it contains a somewhat large proportion of sulphur is shown by the black colour given to silver, and other metals with which it comes in contact. Because of this constituent the plant proves serviceable in chronic rheumatism, and for remedying scurvy. Bergius alleges that by cutting the root into very small pieces, without bruising it, and then swallowing a tablespoonful of these segments every morning without chewing them, throughout three or four weeks, a cure has been effected of chronic rheumatism which had proved intractable by all else which was tried. The sulphuretted oil is crystallizable. As to an outward use of Horse Radish, Gerarde has said about the root: “If bruised, and laid to a part grieved with the sciatica, gout, joynt-ache, or the hard swellings of the spleen, and liver, it doth wonderfully help them all.” The botanical name Cochlearia implies a resem- blance between the leaves of the plant and an old-fashioned spoon, cochleare. Formerly it was named Mountain Radish, and Great Raifort, (as now styled in France.) or Cran. When scraped it exhales a nose-provoking odour, and possesses a hot, biting taste, combined with a certain sweetness; on exposure to the air it quickly changes colour, and loses its volatile strength. Taken by itself, or in a plain sauce (but not being boiled) with oily fish, or rich, fatty viands, scraped Horse Radish acts as a spur to complete digestion thereof; at the same time it can benefit a relaxed sore throat by contact during the swallow- ing. When sliced across with a knife the root will exude some drops of a sweet juice which may be rubbed beneficially into rheumatic, or palsied limbs. An infusion of Horse Radish, sliced, or bruised, in cold water makes an excellent gargle, which 368 MEALS. MEDICINAL. should be sweetened with honey, or glycerine. Also an infusion of sliced Horse Radish in milk, forms, by virtue of its contained sulphur, and by its stimulating pungency, an excellent cosmetic for the skin when lacking clearness, and freshness of colour. A mixture of recent Horse Radish juice, with white vinegar, will, if applied externally, do much towards removing freckles. When indolent pimples with a white head (acne) affect the skin, particularly at puberty, if each of these is touched now and again with some compound spirit of Horse Radish from the chemist, then the several pimples will be aborted, and will be dispersed without giving further trouble. For a relaxed throat, with loss of voice, a strong syrup of Horse Radish may be concocted, some of which should be mixed with water (a teaspoonful thereot to a wineglassful of cold water), and used freely as a gargle. Again, if the scraped root is macerated in vinegar it will form a mixture which, when sufficiently diluted with water, and sweetened, with glycerine, will give marked relief in whooping- cough of children, the dose being from one to two dessertspoontuls according to age. Care should be had not to mistake poisonous aconite root for Horse Radish root when digging it up; the two roots really differ in shape, and colour; furthermore, aconite leaves, if present, cannot be easily mistaken for those of any other plant, being completely divided to their base into five wedge-shaped lobes, which are again subdivided into three. Scraped Horse Radish, if applied to recent chilblains, and secured with a light bandage, will help to cure them. For facial neuralgia some of the fresh scrapings, if held in the hand of the affected side, will give relief, the hand becoming in some cases within a short time bloodlessly white, and benumbed. When infused in wine, Horse Radish root will stimulate the whole nervous system, and promote perspiration, whilst acting further to excite a free flow of urine. If applied topically for pleuritic pain in the side, the bruised root will mitigate such pain. For making Gill tea, which is popular in rural districts against a cough of long standing, the common and very familiar little herb, Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma) deserves notice from a culinary point of view. It is endowed also with singular curative virtues against nervous headaches, and for the relief of chronic bronchitis. “ Medicamentum hoc non satis potest laudari : si res ex usu estimarentur, auro equiparandum. est.” The small Ivy-like aromatic leaves, and the striking whorls of dark blue HERBS. 369 blossoms which characterize this fragrant plant are conspicuous in early springtime about the bottom of almost every hedgerow throughout our country. It is gifted with a balsamic odour due to its particular volatile oil, and its special resin. For making a tea of this Ground Ivy: one ounce of the bruised fresh herb should be infused in a pint of boiling water, and a wineglassful thereof, when cool, should be taken three, or four times in the day. The whole plant was employed by our Saxon progenitors for clarifying their so-called beer, before hops had been introduced for this purpose. The Ground Ivy thus acquired its allied titles “ Ale- hoof,” and ‘“ Tun-hoof.” Other names which it commonly bears are “ Gill go by the ground,” ‘“‘ Haymaids,” “ Catsfoot,” and “ Lizzy run up the hedge.’ Gill tea, as brewed by country persons, is sweetened with honey, sugar, or liquorice. The expressed juice of the herb is usefully astringent against bleedings. ‘ Boiled in mutton broth,” says Gerarde, “it helpeth weak, and aching backs.” Dr. Pitcairn extolled this plant before all other vegetable medicines for curing consumptive diseases of the lungs. In the Organic Materia Medica, of Detroit, U.S.A., 1890, it is stated ‘‘ Painters use the Ground Ivy as a preventive of, and remedy for lead colic. A wineglassful of the freshly made infusion, or tea, is to be given repeatedly.” Said Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his farewell address to the medical students at Boston College, “there is no form of lead poisoning which more rapidly, and more thoroughly pervades the blood, bones, and marrow than that which reaches the young author through mental contact with type-metal. ‘Qui a bu boirra, * He whe has once drunk will drink again,’ tells a French proverb. So, the man, or the woman who has tasted type is sure to resume the seductive indulgence, sooner or later. In my early college days, a students’ periodical, conducted by some undergraduate friends of mine, tempted me into print. Such was my first attack of author’s lead-poisoning, and I have never quite got rid of it from that day to this.” A snuff made from the dried leaves oi the Ground Ivy will render marked relief against a dull congestive headache of the passive kind. Succus hujus plante naribus attractus cephalalyiam etiam vehementissimam et inveteratam non lenit tantum, sed et penitus aufert. The herb remaineth green, not only in summer, but also in winter, at all times of the year. In earlier English days the herb Lavender was used, and deservedly, as a rare condiment of cordial virtues, and welcome 24 370 MEALS MEDICINAL. aroma for flavouring dishes, and comforting the stomach ; but at present its domestic service is solely for fragrance, and for scenting the household linen. Nevertheless, Lavender water as a spirit comes into handy appliance for a restorative against faintness, palpitations, or spasms. It proves refreshing to the sense of smell, and.if taken as a speedy stimulant, dispels flatulence whilst reviving the spirits. The sweet-smelling shrub is grown largely for market purposes in Surrey, Hertfordshire, and Lincoln, affording its essential oil from the flowering tops. These “spikes ” of Lavender contain tannin, and a resinous camphor. Ordinarily the Lavender water of commerce is a misleading compound of various scents. During the twelfth century a washerwoman was ordinarily known in the north as a Lavenderess, whence comes our name Laundress. “Ill now lead you,” says Piscator, in Walton’s Compleat Angler (1653), “ to an honest ale-house, where we shall find a cleanly room, Lavender in the window, and twenty ballads stuck about the wall.” Again, “a match, good master! let’s go to that house, for the linen looks white, and smells of Lavender: and I long to be in a pair of sheets that smell so.” This tavern was probably the “ Angler’s Inn,” near Hoddesdon, Herts, called then the “ Rye House.” Charles Lamb pronounced, “It might sweeten a man’s temper at any time to read the Compleat Angler.’ Conserves of Lavender were served at table in Gerarde’s day. This fragrant herb is- hostile by its powerful aromatic odour to pestilent flies, fleas, and other such troublesome insects which assail the person. Even, say the Reliquiw Antique, “ Flys populum Domini caedunt ” —“ Fleas afflict the people of the Lord!” It is told on good authority that the lions, and tigers, in our Zoological Gardens are strangely affected by the smell of Lavender, and become docile under its influence. A tea brewed of moderate strength from Lavender tops is excellent for relieving headache from fatigue, or exhaustion ; also to mop the temples with Lavender water. Again, for palsied limbs, friction with a spirit of Lavender will powerfully stimulate towards restoring the use thereof. “Tt profiteth them much,” says Gerarde, “that have the palsy if they be washed with the distilled water from the Lavender flowers, or are anointed with the oil made from the flowers, and olive oil, in such manner as the oil of Roses is used.” “In each bright drop there is a spell, *Tis from the soil we love so well, From English gardens won.” HERBS. 371 Fifty-six pounds of Lavender will yield exactly one pound of the liquid perfume. Liquorice, or Licorice, as formerly called, is a plant-product familiar to us all, whether by the succus hardened into the well-known black stick of Spanish juice, or as made into lozenges, or Pontefract tablets, or as the pipe Liquorice of the sweet-stuff shops. The Liquorice plant is grown abundantly at Mitcham, near London, for supplying our markets, the roots being dug up after a three-years’ cultivation. But the search of Diogenes for an honest man was scarcely more difficult than would be that of an average person for genuine prepared Liquorice ; this is because the juice is adulterated to any extent, and there is no definite standard of purity for the article now so commonly used. Potato starch, millers’ sweepings mixed with sugar,and any kind of such rubbish are employed as adulterants. The Chinese make much use of the Liquorice root, and its juice, which they regard as rejuvenating,,and very nutritious. ‘‘In their drug stores,” says the Kew Bulletin (1899), “‘ one can generally obtain a panacea for all bodily ills, this varying in the number of its ingredients according to the price paid, twenty-five, thirty-five, or fifty cents. Such a prescription usually contains a few slices of Liquorice root (Glycyrrhiza), with the dried flowers of some composite plant, dried cockroaches, dried cockchafers, and the skin, with head, and tail, of a lizard stretched on thin sticks. An extra five cents will procure a dried sea-horse ; and yet another five cents a dried fish of peculiarly narrow shape, and about four inches long. All these are boiled together, and the decoction drunk as a remedy for heartburn, toothache, cough, dimness of sight, and almost any other ailment. The vegetable portion of one of these mixtures has been examined at Kew. Among the medicaments recognized were the fruit-heads of a species of Eriocaulon, which has a reputation in China for curing various diseases, such as ophthalmia, nose-bleeding, and some affections of the kidneys. Other vegetable ingredients were likewise botanically recognized, and identified. Liquorice 1s commonly employed as a pectoral in coughs, and hoarseness. Chemically the root from which it is obtained affords a special sort of sugar, glycyrrhizine, a demulcent starch, asparagin, phosphate, and malate of lime, and magnesia, a resinous oil, albumin, and woody fibre. The extract is largely imported, that described as Solazzi juice being most highly esteemed, . 372. MEALS MEDICINAL. which comes to us in cylindrical, or flattened rolls enveloped in bay leaves. The sugar of Liquorice may be safely taken by diabetic patients. By far and away the best Liquorice lozenges (for inducing quiet sleep, and against constipation), are those of old fashion still to be obtained as_ the manufacture of “‘Smith,”’ in the Borough, London; not the pilules. Old Fuller wrote respecting Nottingham: ‘ This county affordeth the first, and best Liquorice in England ; great is the use thereof in physick. A stick of the same is commonly the spoon prescribed to patients to use in any loaches. If (as the men of Aineas were forced to eat their own trenchers) these chance to eat their spoons, their danger is none at all.’ Liquorice is likewise used in various other articles of confectionery, in brewing, and to be mixed with tobacco :— “ But first he cheweth greyn, and lycorys To smellen sweete.”’ Miller's Tale.—Chaucer. . Another favourite pot herb grown in the kitchen garden is Sweet Marjoram, of which the generic title Origanum signifies “Joy of the mountains.” This plant furnishes an essential, fragrant, volatile oil which is cordial, warming, and tonic. “ Organ,” says Gerarde, “is very good against the wambling of the stomacke, and stayeth the desire to vomit, especially at sea. It may be used to good purpose for such as cannot brooke their meate.” Externally the herb has been successfully employed against scirrhous tumours of the breast. Murray writes: ‘‘ Twmores mammarum dolentes scirrhosos herba recens. viridis, per tempus applicata, feliciter dissipavit.” The essential oil, when long kept, assumes a solid form, and was at one time much esteemed for being rubbed into stiff joints. A tea brewed from the fresh herb will relieve headache of a nervous hysterical nature. Several kinds of the Mints have been used medicinally from the earliest times, such as Pennyroyal, Peppermint, and Spear- mint ; each of which, though growing wild in wet and marshy wastes, is cultivated in our herb gardens for kitchen purposes. Their flowering tops are all found to contain a certain portion of camphor. The Mint plant was eaten gaily of old, with many a joke, because said to have been originally a pretty girl metamorphosed by Persephone. The Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) was formerly known as Pudding grass, from being HERBS. 373 used in making stuffing for meat, in days when such stuffing was called a pudding. ‘Let the corporal Come sweating under a breast of mutton stuffed with pudding.” Old Play. Treadwell tells that the Pennyroyal was especially put into hogs’ puddings, which were composed of flour, with currants, and spices, stuffed into the entrail of a hog. The fresh herb Pennyroyal yields about 1 per cent of a volatile oil containing oxygen, with other diffusible matters. Folk talk in Devonshire of “ Organ broth,” and ‘‘ Organ tea,”’ which are much in favour with women. The oil of Pennyroyal, if applied externally, will promptly relieve severe neuralgic pain. Dryden, in Ovid's Metamorphoses, writes to this effect :— “ They rubbed it o’er with newly-gathered mint, A wholesome herb that breathed a grateful scent.” “ Organ tay,” say the Devonshire peasants, “ sweentened wi’ ’oney is a cabbical cure vur a cold ef yii putt’th a drap ov zometheng short in’t.” ‘“‘ Hillwort”’ was another old name oi the herb. Peppermint (Mentha piperita), or ‘“‘ Brandy Mint,” is of universal acquaintance among all classes through its “ sweeties,” drops, lozenges, and comforting, fragrant ‘ water,” being “familiar in our mouths as household words.” The herb is so called because of its peppery, pungent taste, and smell. Preparations of Peppermint when swallowed diffuse warmth in the stomach, acting as carminative stimulants, with some considerable power of allaying the distress of colic, flatulent distension, spasm, or oppressive food. This is through the potent volatile oil, of which the herb yields 1 per cent as Mint camphor. . ** Anise and mint, with strong Molian sway Intestine storms of flatulence allay.” There are two sorts of the Peppermint herb—black, and white— of which the first furnishes the most, but not the best oil. As an antiseptic and destroyer of germs, this oil is rerfarkably efficacious; on which account it is advised for inhalation by consumptive patients, so that the volatile preservative vapour may reach remote diseased parts of the ultimate lung passages, and may heal by destroying the morbid germs which are keeping 374 MEALS MEDICINAL. up mischief therein. A simple respirator for inhaling the oil vapour can be made with a small square of thin, ductile, perforated zinc plate, bent, and adapted as a little funnel, widely open at top to the shape of the mouth, and nostrils, but without any free side apertures; and within the narrow end of which funnel may be secured a small pledget of sponge, or absorbent cotton-wool, for frequent saturation with from twenty to thirty drops of a spirituous essence of Peppermint made with the oil, and spirit. This quantity of the essence should be dropped on the sponge each night, and morning, whilst the apparatus is to be worn over the mouth, and nostrils, (by tapes at its sides to tie over the head) all day, except at meals. The oil, and the essence are of an agreeable odour in a room, and are absolutely harmless. In France continuous inhalations of Peppermint oil (either by itself, or combined with oil of tar) have come into approved use with much success, even when cavities are present in the lungs, with copious expectoration of the consumption microbes. The cough, the night-sweats, and the heavy phlegm have been arrested, whilst the nutrition, and the weight have steadily increased. “ Peppermint ”’ (Dr. Hughes) “ should be more largely employed than it is in coughs, especially in a dry cough, however caused, when it seems to act specifically as a cure. It will relieve in this way even the persistent hectic cough of a consumptive patient.” Unhealthy external sores may be cleansed, and their healing promoted by being dressed with strips of soft rag dipped in sweet oil to each ounce of which two or three drops of oil of Peppermint have _ been added. The oil, or the essence of Peppermint can be used of any strength, and in any quantity, without the least harm to a patient. It checks the discharge of unhealthy matter when applied to a sore, or wound, whilst exercising a salutary antiseptic effect. ‘“‘ Altogether” (as Dr. Braddon writes) “the oil of Peppermint forms the best, safest, and most agreeable of known antiseptics.”” For obviating mosquito bites, the ablutionary use of Peppermint soap all over the body, or, in default thereof, employing soft soap with which a few drops of oil of Peppermint have been mixed, will prove efficacious. ‘“ Take a little of this,” says an experienced traveller, ‘‘ into the hands with some water, then wash therewith the face, the body throughout, and the hands, and let it dry on every part likely to be exposed to HERBS. 375 mosquito bites.” Continental pathologists have found oil of Peppermint highly useful as an internal antiseptic for correcting poisonous intestinal products given off when fecal matters are detained within the bowels so long as to undergo corrupt putre- factive changes, because of persistent constipation: Various skin troubles may result from this cause, such as nettle-rash, mattery pimples, itching, and erysipelatous redness, whilst severe general neurotic rheumatism may: eventually ensue until the difficulty is obviated. When crystallized into a solid form as ‘‘ menthol,” the oil, if rubbed over the skin suriace of a painful neuralgic part, will give speedy, and marked relief, as for frontal headache, tic doloureux, facial toothache, and other such grievous troubles. Distilled Peppermint water should be always preferred medicinally, from half to one wineglassful at atime. The stronger, and smaller Peppermint lozenges supplied by chemists are of excellent use when sluggishness of the intestines causes detention within them of the torpid food mass, with putrescent changes, and the giving off of noxious gases for absorption into the body. Two of these lozenges should be then sucked slowly a couple of hours after each more substantial meals of the day. ‘They will serve to act in this manner as preventive of appendicitis from a similar cause. For making “Peppermint drops,” take two cupfuls of granulated sugar, half a cupful of cold water, and a tiny pinch of cream of tartar. Boil these together for ten minutes, without stirring, and let the sugar melt slowly so that it may not burn. Add eight (for the stronger Peppermints twelve) drops of oil of Peppermint while the mixture is still on the fire. When removed from the stove mix with an egg-beater until it falls in long drops, then drop quickly on oiled paper. As an antiseptic snuff for use on the first access oi a cold in the head, or against attacks of hay-fever, menthol (in combination with some cocaine ?) is found to be promptly, and preventively useful. How glad Sydney Smith would have been to learn this fact! When victimized by hay-fever (in June, 1335) he wrote as follows to the famous Sir Henry Holland, from Combe Florey: “I am suffering from my old complaint, the hay-fever (as it is called) ; my fear is perishing by deliquescence. I melt away in nasal, and lachrymal profluvia. My remedies are, warm pediluvium, cathartics, and topical application of a watery solution of opium to eyes, ears, and the interior of the nostrils. 376 MEALS MEDICINAL. The membrane is so irritable that light, dust, contradiction, an absurd remark, the sight of a dissenter, anything sets me sneezing; and if I begin sneezing at twelve I don’t leave off till two o’clock, and am heard distinctly in Taunton, when the wind sets that way, a distance of six miles. Turn your mind to this little curse.” Spear Mint (Mentha: viridis), or Garden Mint, is an allied herb which is of popular use for making Mint sauce, to be eaten with roast lamb. It likewise possesses a fragrant aromatic odour, and a warm, spicy taste; bearing the name also of ‘“‘ Mackerel Mint,” and in Germany of “ Lady’s Mint.” Its volatile oil makes this herb antiseptic, and conducive to the better digestion of young immature meat, whilst the vinegar and sugar added in Mint sauce, help forward the solution of crude albuminous fibre. But, as is well said, “‘ Mint often makes lamb out of an old sheep.” Mint sauce was described by Tusset, and blest by Cobbett. Dr. Hayman has supposed it to historically reflect the bitter herbs of the Jewish Passover. When some fresh leaves of this herb are macerated in milk the curdling thereof is slower than if the milk clots by itself; therefore Spear Mint, or its essence, is much to be commended for use with milk foods by delicate persons, and for young children of feeble digestive powers. A distilled water of Spear Mint is made which will relieve hiccough, and flatulence, as well as the giddiness of indigestion, wherefore Martial called the herb * Ructatric mentha.’ “This is the Spear Mint,” writes our Poet Laureate, “that steadies giddiness.” The name Spear, or Spire, indicates the spiry form of its floral blossoming. Washington Irving, in Knickerbocker, speaks of New Englanders who “were great roysterers, much given to revel on_hoe- cakes, and bacon, Mint julep, and apple-toddy.” Julep is an ancient Arabian name for a calming drink (originally containing opium, with mucilage), and possibly connected with the Persian “ salep’? made from bulbs of an orchis. Culpeper wrote: “ The Mints are extreme bad for wounded people; and they say a wounded man that eats Mints his wound will never be cured, but that is a long day.” Nevertheless, modern experience teaches that the Mints are to be credited with terebinthine antiseptic healing virtues, notably . peppermint, rosemary, and thyme. “ As for the Garden Mint,’’ wrote Pliny, “the very smell of it alone recovers, and refreshes the spirits, HERBS. 377 much as the taste stirs up the appetite for meat, which is the reason that it is so general in our acid sauces wherein we are accustomed to dip our meat.” Our table Mustard, which flanks English roast beef, and other rich viands, is made from the seeds of a herb originally wild on waste places in this country, but now cultivated, the Sinapis, both black, and white. It is the black Mustard which yields the condiment of the mustard pot, and the pungent yellow flour which we employ for the familiar stimulating poultice, or sinapism. The virtues of this black Mustard depend on an acrid volatile oil comprised in the seeds, which is combined with an active principle containing sulphur abundantly; as shown by the discoloration of a silver spoon if left in contact with Mustard made for the table, a black sulphuret of silver being formed. The chemical basis is “ sinnigrin,” with myronic acid. The acridity of the oil is modified in the seeds by being combined with another fixed oil of a bland nature which can be readily separated by pressure, and which will promote the growth of hair if employed as a mild pomade ; it may be used also exter- nally with friction for relieving rheumatic stiffness of muscles. Mustard flour is a capital antiseptic, and sterilizing agent. Admixture with vinegar will check the development of pungency in Mustard made for the table, so that this practice is now discontinued. Probably the Romans, who were great eaters of Mustard seed, pounded, and steeped in new wine (mustum), brought the condiment with them to our shores, and first taught the ancient Britons how to prepare it. For obstinate hiccough a teacupful of boiling water should be poured on a teaspoonful of Mustard flour, and taken as promptly as may be, half at first, and the other half in ten minutes, if still needed. When an emetic is required for speedy effect, if a tablespoonful of Mustard flour has poured on it a pint of lukewarm water, to be mixed, and taken at a draught, this will operate briskly, and surely. The volatile oil of Mustard flour contains erucic, and sinapoleic acids. A hot Mustard foot-bath serves by the diffusion of this oil around the person to prove soporific by inhalation, whilst the feet also are beneficially stimulated below. The notion has long prevailed that for preserving one’s memory even to an advanced age, nothing is better than Mustard. Messrs. Keen & Co., the oldest London firm of the Mustard trade, had their place of business as long ago as 1742 at Garlick Hill, 378 MEALS MEDICINAL. or Hythe, the harbour to which garlic, and other such seasonings were brought. Hard by was the church of St. James, who was often represented as a Pilgrim, and whose device in that capacity, a scallop-shell, appears above the church porch. Hence the adoption of this scallop-shell as a trade-mark of the Keen firm. Actual scallop-shells, or metallic imitations of them, were formerly used as scoops by retail dealers in Mustard and spices ; it is even said that some specimens of these articles are still to be found in old-fashioned shops kept in out-of-the-way places. Mustard flour is an infallible antiseptic, and sterilizing agent, besides being a capital deodorizer. Black Mustard seed, when bruised, develops a very active pungent principle, with a powerful penetrating odour which makes the eyes water; this principle contains sulphur abundantly. Mustard flour being such a Teady deodorizer, if moistened with a little water into a paste has the remarkable property of dispelling the odours of musk, camphor, and the foetid gum resins — turpentine, creosote, asafetida, and such like. “ Mustard—the roguish Mustard, dangerous to the nose ”—as John Swan has taught in Speculum Mundi (1645) “is marvellous good for the voice of she who would sing clear; but it hath, moreover, another good propertie which must not be forgotten :— ; “She that hath hap a husband had to burie, And is therefore in heart no sad but merrie : Yet if in shew good manners she would keep, Onyons and mustard seed will make her weep.” ** Flamingoes, and Mustard both bite,” said the Duchess (Alice in Wonderland), and the moral is, “ Birds of a feather flock together.” “Only, Mustard isn’t a bird,” Alice remarked ; “it’s a mineral, I think,” said Alice. “ Of course it is,” said the Duchess; ‘“ there’s a large Mustard mine near here, and the moral of it is ‘the more there is of mine, the less there is of yours.’” Although Mustard at table invariably flanks the “roast beef of old England” which gives national strength, and sinew, yet according to a familiar nursery rhyme it is credited with opposite effects by children, who taunt a craven playmate as :— “ Cowardy, cowardy custard, Who ate his mother’s mustard.” The white Mustard is best known to us as produced for its young HERBS. 379 leaves to be eaten in the combination of Mustard and Cress with a salad, or with bread and butter. This plant, which grows, when uncultivated, on waste ground with large yellow flowers, does not afford under any conditions a pungent oil like the black Mustard. ‘“ When in the leaf,” John Evelyn tells in his Acetaria, “Mustard in young seedling plants is of incomparable effect to quicken, and revive the spirits, strengthening the memory, expelling heaviness, preventing the vertiginous palsy, and a laudable cephalic, besides being an approved anti-scorbutic.” The active principle of this white Mustard is sinapin, and the seed germinates so rapidly that it has been said a salad of the herb may be grown therefrom whilst the joint of meat is being roasted for dinner. When swallowed whole in teaspoonful doses three or four times a day the seeds will exercise mechanically a laxative effect, being voided from the lower bowel without undergoing any perceptible change except that their outer skin has become a little softened, and mucilaginous. For a relaxed sore throat a gargle of bruised Mustard-seed tea proves serviceable. Chemically the Nettle (Urtica dioica, and urens), of familiar acquaintance all over the country, is so constituted as to provide a food available for helping to obviate several bodily ailments, and infirmities. It contains formic acid, mucilage, mineral salts, ammonia, carbonic acid, and water. A strong infusion of the fresh leaves is soothing, and healing as a lotion for burns ; the dried leaves, when burnt so as to give off their fumes to be inhaled, will relieve bronchial, and asthmatic troubles, ten grains, or more, being thus employed at a time. As far back as in the year 1400 an entry was made in the churchwarden’s account at St. Michael’s, Bath, “ pro urticis venditis ad Laurencium.” In 1890 a West End vegetable dealer in London recognized the wholesome, and nutritious properties of young Nettle tops when cooked for the table, and he arranged for a regular supply of the same on finding that a ready sale existed for these wares. If Nettle tops are taken as a fresh young vegetable in the spring. and early summer, they make a very salutary, and succulent dish of greens, which is slightly laxa- tive; but during autumn they are hurtful. The true Stinging Nettle, with a round, hairy stalk, and which bears only a dull, colourless bloom, must be secured, and not a labiate Nettle with a square stem. The stinging effect of the true Nettle is caused by an acrid secretion contained in minute vesicles at the base 380 MEALS MEDICINAL. of each of the stiff hairs; and wrtication, or flogging with Nettles, is an old external remedy which has been long practised for chronic rheumatism, and loss of muscular power. A tea made from young Nettle tops is a Devonshire cure for nettlerash. But such a decoction, when brewed too strong, and drunk too freely, has produced a severe burning over the whole body, with general redness of the skin, and a sense of being stung; the features became swollen, and minute vesicles broke out, which presently burst, and discharged a limpid fluid. Again, Nettle tea will promote the extrication from the body of gouty gravel through the kidneys; and fresh Nettle-juice, given in doses of from one to two tablespoonfuls, is a most serviceable remedy for losses of blood, whether from the nose, the lungs, or some other internal organ. If a leaf of the herb be put upon the tongue, and pressed against the roof of the mouth, it will stop a bleeding from the nose. For a bee-sting the immediate application of a Dock leaf tubbed-in is a familiar, and popular remedy, as antidotal to the formic acid of the bee venom. It is the same formic acid which causes smarting, and swelling from being stung by Nettles, with their lance-like leaves having at the base of each lance a diminutive sac which ejects a tiny drop of the formic acid into the wound inflicted. Such formic acid is, nevertheless, necessary to the well-being of our blood; it is found in the muscles of all flesh, and is believed to be an antidote against the uric acid of rheumatism, insomuch that to be stung purposely by bees is commended for uric acid rheumatic patients. Nettle-stinging will answer equally well on the same principle, whether by external application, or by eating young Nettles {of the stinging species) cooked in their own juices, or with only a lettuce leaf added for moisture. The cottage wife makes Nettle-beer, and considers it a cure for the gouty old folk: she does not know why, but only makes use of the knowledge handed