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Sugar and Syrups

varieties of these organisms, both poisonous, and neutral, teem by myriads in the mouth; some thereof forming a source through which serious, and even fatal diseases occur. More than a hundred different species of such organisms have been isolated, and cultivated. Highly important, therefore, is it to keep the mouth (within its enclosure) pure, free from carious teeth, and suppurating gums, and disinfected as to its decomposing shreds, and fragments of food-matters. We are by no means certain that the use of artificial teeth by the old is an unmixed blessing. The fact is worthy of notice that almost all the old people who live to an advanced age in country villages, (and it is here the greatest age is reached,) rely on their toothless gums for sufficient mastication; and the absence of teeth in very old persons may possibly be an indication of the necessity to return then to the simple diet of childhood. Artificial teeth may do harm, too, by encouraging old folk to eat more food than is good for them, and of a kind unsuited to their years. Horace Walpole, writing from Strawberry Hill (July, 1871), says: "To-day the wind is again in the dolorous corner; for these four days I have been confined with pain, and swelling in my face. The apothecary says it is owing to the long drought; but as I should not eat grass were there ever such a plenty, and as my cows, though starving, have no swelled cheeks, I do not believe him. I humbly attribute my frequent disorders to my longevity, and to that Proteus, the gout, who is not the less himself for being incog." SUGAR and SYRUPS.

THERE are several sorts of Sugar, all belonging chemically to carbohydrate constituents of food, and which include Cane Sugar, Grape Sugar (or Starch Sugar, which is glucose), Sugar of Milk (or lactose), and a Sugar found in the juice of asparagus (as well as in some of the muscular bodily tissues), which is "inosite." Fruit Sugar (fructose) is discovered, together with some Grape Sugar, in almost all sweet fruits. The same can be made chemically from Cane Sugar when fermented, or if boiled with acids, and the Cane Sugar is then said to be "inverted." This Fruit Sugar is more slow to ferment (with yeast) than is Cane Sugar; it is also called "lævulose,” because having a lefthand rotary relation to polarized light under the microscope. On the contrary, Grape Sugar is "dextrose," because having a 66 right-hand rotary direction under similar conditions; such Sugar being found especially in grapes. Fruit Sugar (lævulose) forms a thick syrup, which will dry under heat to a gummy, deliquescent mass. It is prepared in both powder, and a honeyed form, this latter being known as Satrap" lævulose. If the same becomes firm by a cold temperature, its consistence like honey may be restored by placing its vessel in warm water. Then as such it can be spread on bread, and taken with tea, or coffee. Professor Worm-Muller, even after allowing large quantities of lævulose to diabetic patients, could find no trace of it in their urine. This kind of sugar, as fattening and highly nutrient, is further indicated for pulmonary consumption. It is, moreover, an excellent medium for promoting strength in the weakly and convalescent; also for giving physical energy to young persons of athletic pursuits. A lævulose Chocolate is made for the last-named purpose. The uses of Sugar generally for medicinal purposes are of modern date; they have been proved in two directions. Sugar has considerable influence on the separation of the gastric juices: Dextrose (Grape Sugar) reduces the secretion of the gastric juice to one-tenth part within the first three hours, and binds the acids; Fruit Sugar (lævulose), on the other hand, reduces the gastric juice only to one-half, and correspondingly affects the acids in only a minor degree. From the different actions of these two Sugars it becomes clear that in certain forms of disease of the stomach, in which it is important to reduce the acidity, as in ulcers of the stomach, then Grape Sugar (dextrose) is of great remedial value; while, on the other hand, in normal digestive conditions, or even in states when the gastric juices are insufficiently generated, and produced, the partaking of such Sugar should be very moderate, or digestion will be retarded. It has been also proved that by too free a use of Cane Sugar the digestive fluids are clogged, and find a difficulty in reaching the intestines. For these reasons Fruit Sugar is of more value when saccharine carbohydrates are needed for maintaining the bodily energies, and for building up the bodily structures; and inasmuch as it would seldom be possible to consume the quantity of fruit needed to supply the requisite quantity of Fruit Sugar for a cure, it may be taken as "lævulose,” to be had from the manufacturing chemist (Schering's Factory). Fruit jams may be made therewith instead of with Cane Sugar; which faculty would be quite an acquisition for persons with weak digestive powers, and faulty gastric juices. The lævulose is a nonperishable syrup, freely soluble in hot water. Mothers may wisely give it made as a sweetmeat to their children instead of acid drops, and other lollipops.

In A Vindication of Sugar, dedicated to the Ladies (1715), "Nature," says the writer, "who has given you Ladies more accurate, and refined palates, has made you more competent judges of taste, as not being debauch'd by soure, and uncouth wines, or drams, or offensive smoak, or the more sordid juice of the Indian henbane, (which is tobacco,) or vitiated by salt, or soure pickles, too much the delight of our coarser sex! For these reasons the great Evelyn chose a young damsel of virgin unprejudic'd palate to judge of his curious, and fav'rite liquor, Cyder." Being, moreover, of a pleasant wit, he further allows that "the fair sex who love their beauty, or are of fine proportions, must be a trifle cautious about Sugar, which may dispose them to be fatter than they may desire to become, who are afraid for their fine shapes; yet for this there is a compensation, as it gives them a very wholesome, and goodly countenance, and sweetens peevish, and cross humours." Dr. Weber has found that, with a proper diet, by the use of Fruit Sugar even patients suffering from pulmonary consumption, with extensive lung mischief, have recovered. By such means the presence of carbonic acid in the blood is increased, and the bacilli of tubercular disease perish because meeting with this excess of carbonic acid over the oxygen necessary for their maintenance. Other Sugars will aid in a like method of cure, such as Malt Sugar, and Sugar mixed with diastase (the ferment of malt). Grape Sugar, and the carbohydrates related to it, are highly injurious to diabetic patients, because the oxidation of Sugar is with these sufferers deficient in the system, and thereby they become extraordinarily susceptible to tubercular disease; but the Fruit Sugar possesses directly opposite physiological properties, though closely related in chemical constituents. As much fruit as possible is to be advised for diabetic patients, but in an easily digestible form as to the vegetable cellulose, (by boiling). Carbohydrates (which possess twice as much hydrogen as oxygen) comprise fructose, Fruit Sugar (lævulose), Cane Sugar (glucose), starch (soluble, as dextrin), and cellulose. Early oranges contain only from 2 to 3 per cent of carbohydrates altogether, of which Fruit Sugar (lævulose) is the chief; and even sweet oranges have not more than from 5 to 7 per cent of the same, so that in most cases they may be allowed. Other fruits poor in carbohydrates are strawberries, gooseberries, apricots, and melons. Modern medical scientists doubt the necessity, or propriety, of excluding all starches, and forms of Sugar from the diet of diabetic patients. An exclusively animal diet produces what are chemically called acetones in the patient's urine, these being dangerously liable to absorption into the blood, and (as diacetones) to action as narcotics on the brain. Mr. Ireland, a Canadian gentleman, suffered incessantly for twenty-five years from diabetic troubles, and difficult digestion. Taking his case into his own hands, as regarding starches, and starchy foods, he discovered that if the starch of cereals was partially predigested he could eat such foods without subsequent discomfort, or injury. "I assert," he writes, "without fear of refutation, that starch-changed cereals are far superior to gluten in all cases where that article is considered necessary. I claim to change the starch to that stage which is almost identical with the same when effected by the ptyalin of healthy saliva." There is plenty of evidence that cataract in the eyes may be produced in animals when Sugar is taken by them to excess, even though their general health does not suffer therefrom. Experiments have proved that cataracts were caused in trout by sugaring the water in which they lived; and similarly in frogs with the same result. It has been justly inferred from these experiments that the progress of a cataract in the human eye can be retarded by restricting the use of Sugar in the food, and drinks. In advanced diabetes, when an excess of Sugar is detained in the blood, cataract is commonly induced, and the sight becomes thereby obstructed. Per contra, is it not admissible to suppose that in cases of spontaneous cataract when Sugar has been taken only sparingly, as a habit, with what was eaten, and drunk, the sagacious administration of Sugar as a medicine systematically pursued may be helpful? It is remarkable that persons affected with diabetes have a subtle characteristic odour: Sir Lauder Brunton has instanced a doctor who can diagnose the disease by their scent. The said doctor strolls down among the crowd of out-patients at a large hospital, and will select six diabetics by their smell. It is an allowed fact that antiseptics, such as boric acid, and the like, if given in limited quantities, help to correct the excessive output of Sugar in diabetes mellitus. Eichorst pronounces that the great secret of treating this diabetes successfully lies in the dietary, and chiefly as regards a plentiful supply of fats, whereof the physician should be able to suggest a large variety of forms in palatable dishes. The diabetic patient who passes 400 grains of Sugar in his urine daily will have to take 400 grains of albumin, or 180 grains of fat, to compensate for the loss. A New Zealand physician lately induced a patient suffering from advanced diabetes to nevertheless eat bread, and honey, (starch, and dextrose, in concentrated forms) at his morning and evening meals, throughout a week, doing this just to prove how mistaken the old notions about Sugar in the diet have been. The said patient (now steadily recovering) did not find any alteration in his urine as to its specific gravity, quantity, amount of sugar, or other morbid characteristics, from taking the week's bread, and honey.

Saccharin (benzoic sulphamide), which is often prescribed as a substitute for sugar to sweeten foods, and drinks, is a product of coal-tar, and does not possess any nutritive properties whatever, but rather the reverse, as it tends to paralyse the digestive energies. So likewise do other coal-tar products taken for a like purpose, as dulcin, saxin, and sucramin, though they contribute to the taste all the sweetness of sugar. Furthermore, Saccharin, when thus used instead of Sugar, is found to reappear in the saliva, giving it a mawkish sweet savour, and impairing the appetite. Dulcin has been given to a dog at the rate of one gram (fifteen grains) a day, and the animal died after three weeks of this practice.

It is the tendency of all the several Sugars to undergo fermentation in the stomach, according to three varieties : alcoholic (leading to the formation of acetic acid, or sour vinegar); butyric (with formation of butyric acid, such as follows often on taking hot melted butter); and lactic (the product being lactic acid, an element of rheumatic gout); in which latter case Grape Sugar (dextrose) should be avoided, whilst Cane Sugar, Maltose, and Sugar of Milk may be used in moderation. When butyric fermentation is disposed to occur, then Sugar of Milk is to be preferred for sweetening the food, and beverages; likewise when there is a tendency to sour alcoholic fermentation, with vinegar produced in the stomach. If Sugar is taken with other foods by a person in fair health, and is distributed uniformly over the day, considerable quantities can be allowed, and properly assimilated, without any subsequent discomfort. As a general rule one may assume that a quarter of a pound can be taken daily without any bad results at all; but the precise amount must depend mainly upon the muscular activity of the individual subject, for it is as a muscle-food that Sugar is of especial importance. Whilst a muscle is in active use, and a flow of blood is stimulated thereto by vigorous exercise, the Sugar in such blood is used up far more rapidly than when the muscle is at rest. On this principle depends the fact that in a person of active daily habits, if Sugar is taken early in the evening, it is capable of decreasing the fall of muscular power which ensues at that time, and of increasing the power of resistance to fatigue. Glycogen, or concentrated Sugar, stored in the liver from the blood, and transmitted therefrom to the different muscles of the body, becomes used up when these muscles are set to work, and it accumulates in them again when they resume an attitude of repose. Hence arises, as already explained, the constant love of active schoolboys for sweets, which is altogether a commendable instinct. Oribasius wrote (A.D. 370): nuper in lucem editus melle primum nutriatur!" Can this be the authority for a custom still followed by so many old nurses, of thrusting a piece of butter with Sugar into the mouth of a newly-born infant? "Puer Most remarkably, the flesh-eating animals who do not consume any starches, or carbohydrates in their natural food, nevertheless exhibit Sugar in their muscular structures; and this they must engender from the peptones of their flesh nutriment. It is, however, the omnivorous pig which produces by far the largest amount of Sugar, and on a lean, watery diet.

To the Greeks and Romans of old, Sugar was only vaguely known: it seems to have been introduced into Europe during the times of the Crusaders. The Sugar Cane was grown in Cyprus about the middle of the twelfth century, from whence it was transplanted some time later into Madeira; and about the beginning of the sixteenth century it was carried from that island into the New World. Raw brown Sugar is Muscovado ; when clarified it is loaf Sugar, or lump Sugar. In the United States of America considerable quantities of Sugar are obtained from the sap of the Sugar Maple (Acer saccharinum). And, as Mr. Knickerbocker tells, "Among the first Dutch settlers a large lump of this Sugar was always suspended by a string over the kitchen table; then each person would sip his tea, chocolate, or coffee, and bite a bit off the dependent Sugar-lump which they swung from one to the other. The Sugar of acorns is Quercite. Barbery Sugar is the finest quality, it being formerly thought to come from Barbary, before the West Indian trade was fully established. Cane Sugar is an antiseptic; if heated sufficiently with water, or a dilute mineral acid, it breaks up into equal parts of dextrose, and lævulose. A certain Sugarmite (acarid) infests some of the unrefined commercial Sugars, and is said to be the cause of grocers' itch. Saccharose, or Cane Sugar, is chemically a solid crystalline body, soluble in water, but less so in alcohol; it does not directly undergo when in solution either lactic, or alcoholic fermentation, but in the presence of certain ferments it is resolved (as already said) into dextrose, and lævulose, each of which is readily fermentable, and apt to provoke gout. But that this infirmity will sometimes arise spontaneously, without being personally incurred, or immediately inherited, seems to be certain. An instance in point is that of the noted Horace Walpole, with whom, as he relates, "gout began before he had reached his fortieth year." His chief reason for objecting to this aldermanic distemper was that he could show no title to it. "If either my father, or my mother had suffered from it, I should not dislike it so much; but it is an absolute upstart with me, and, what is more provoking, I had trusted to my great abstinence for keeping me from it. If I had any gentleman-like virtue, as patriotism, or loyalty, I must have got something by them. I had nothing but that beggarly virtue-temperance, and she had not interest enough to keep me from a fit of the gout." Again, after rallying from an attack in December, 1784, he said: "My recoveries surprise me more than my fits; but I am quite persuaded now that I know exactly how I shall end; as I am a statue of chalk, I shall crumble to powder, and then my inside will be blown away from my terrace, and hoary-headed Margaret will tell the people who come to see my house, 'One morn we missed him from the 'customed hill." " 66 From the scarcity of Sugar on the Continent which was caused by Napoleon's system during the Peninsular War, came the discovery of its manufacture from beetroot, also the practice of adding chicory to coffee. It seems certain that the Romans were not acquainted with Sugar as an article of common, or daily use, nor as a crystallizable substance, though they had perhaps noticed a sweet extractive part in certain reeds. Lucian says:- "Quique bibunt tenerâ dulces ab arundine succos."

When Sugar was first introduced into England is a matter of uncertainty. It was evidently scarce, and doubtless dear, when in 1226 "Henry the Third asked the Mayor of Winchester to procure for him three pounds of Alexandria Sugar, 'if so much could be got;' also some rose-, and violet-coloured Sugar." The Pharmacopæia of the London Colleges first claimed Sugar for medicinal uses, and therein it must have played an important part, judging by the well-known proverb that a person standing in need of some essential possession which he lacks is "like an apothecary without Sugar." But because of its coming in as a medicament it was received with disfavour by some, who pronounced it to be heating; others declared it assails the lungs; and, again, others that it predisposes to apoplexy. But calumny has been compelled to recede before truth, and half a century ago it became told in a memorable apothegm that "Sugar does no harm except to the purse." Its present use gets daily more and more general; and now there is no alimentary substance which has undergone more processes of admixture, and transformation. The fact has become firmly established by experiments in the German Army, that a Sugar diet not only supplies men with greater energy than albuminous foods convey, but does this much more rapidly (which is very important when troops are on active service); so that in order to keep up a due effect the Sugar must be eaten frequently when on the march, which is not difficult to do, seeing the multiform preparations of portable Sugar. When Mr. Montagu Holbein practically succeeded in swimming across the English Channel from Dover to Calais (September, 1903) his food throughout the transit consisted chiefly of prepared milk, eggs, and brown Sugar sandwiches; which last he had always found very sustaining, either in long-distance cycling, such as when he made his twenty-four hours' record, or in his prolonged swims.

For preserving meat, as in making hams, Sugar is a better material to use than salt, seeing that it withdraws less of the nutritive constituents into the brine, and forms a crust round the meat which helps to keep in the juices; only, before the ham (when treated thus) is used for cooking, it must first be immersed for some short while in water. Syrups made with simple lumps of Sugar, and water, have proved efficient to dispel a severe headache occurring from want of food, or hunger; and experiments have therefore been tried with a view to ascertain the value of lump Sugar as a luncheon, when other nourishment cannot be immediately had. It would be an easy matter to carry half-a-dozen pieces of such lump Sugar in one's pocket, so as to be masticated with no other accompaniment than a small draught of water; preventing, or at any rate postponing, by such means the fulness of blood, passively turgid within such means the fulness of blood, passively turgid within the head, which would otherwise ensue. For a sweetmeat of Sugar with butter, Toffee, or Taffy, is of value as a concentrated form of carbohydrates, attractive to children, and essentially well adapted for giving increase of fat, as well as for furnishing bodily warmth. It has the advantage that much of its Sugar is in the easily-digested "invert" condition. For young children who dislike the fat of meat, and cannot take cod-liver oil, this Toffee is an admirable substitute; if given only at the end of meals it is not likely to disagree. Sir Walter Scott (in The Abbot) speaks of "the lump of Sugar which pothicaries put into their wholesome, but bitter medicaments to please a child." A capital sweetmeat "rock," is to be made with onecupful of brown sugar, three-quarters of a cupful of water , and a quarter teaspoonful of cream of tartar. slowly, without stirring, until the whole is of an amber colour. Split and toast some Turkey figs; lay them in a buttered tin dish, pour the candy over them, and cool off gradually. This is excellent against a costive habit. For compounding "Eau Sucrée," to be taken against nervous headache : "Use of boiling water, one pint; orange-flower water, one tablespoonful; lump Sugar, one ounce.

Put the sugar in a jug, pour over it the boiling water; stir well until the Sugar is dissolved; when cold add the orange-flower water." Syrup of Lemons mixed with water makes a delicious drink for fevered patients, or in hot weather.

Squeeze the juice of five lemons into and a half pounds of loaf Sugar; dissolve these together in an earthen jar placed in a saucepan of boiling water; simmer in this way until the Sugar is melted into a thick syrup ; bottle it when cold, and cork well. The lemon-juice should be strained before it is blended with the Sugar." Mr.

Banting, when adopting a systematic regimen to reduce his 66 Boil one bulk, found Sugar to be the most fattening of all foods; five ounces of it in a week caused his weight to rise one pound. He called milk, "Sugar"; butter, and beer, "human beans," because these matters of diet have the same effect on the human subject which beans exercise in the case of the horse; and he regarded such items as constituting the most insidious dietary which an elderly man with the tendency to become fat can adopt (though it would be " eminently friendly to youth"). He adds: "I can conscientiously assert that I never lived so well as under my reformed plan of feeding." His obesity had been such as to render him unable to tie his own shoes, and to compel his going downstairs backwards. On a regimen of abstinence, chiefly from bread, milk, butter, Sugar, and potatoes, he lost thirty-five pounds of weight in thirty-eight weeks. In 1598 Hentzer, a German traveller, described Queen Elizabeth of England, then sixty-five years of age, in the following terms: "Her nose is a little hooked, her lips narrow, and her teeth black,-a defect the English seem subject to from their great use of Sugar."

Most probably, if Sugar really impairs the teeth, it does so indirectly by lingering in the crevices of the mouth, and leading to the production of acids which are destructive to the enamel .

In clarifying Sugar the first boiling proceeds to the thread degree only; the second boiling to the small pearl degree; the third to the great pearl degree, (when the bubbles forming on the surface of the boiling liquor lie close together like round pearls ) ; the fourth, and fifth, to degrees of “cracking"; and in the sixth , boiling caramel is produced, with the Sugar slightly burnt, and of a dark-brown colour.

Sydney Smith, when writing to Lady Holland (1807), from Bath, informed her that "a dreadful controversy has broken out in this city as to whether tea is more effectually sweetened by lump, or by powdered Sugar, and the worst passions of the human mind are called into action by the pulverists, and the lumpists. I have been pressed by ladies of both sides to speak in favour of their respective theories, at the Royal Institution , which I have promised to do." Quite recently, however, a much more important issue concerning Sugar is engaging the attention of scientists at that Institution. The discovery has been lately made that this substance can be chemically produced by passing an electric current through water impregnated with carbonic acid gas; this ready manipulation promising to bring about one of the greatest revolutions in the history of the world, viz., converting simple substances into complex food-stuffs, such as we have hitherto had to provide from far countries at considerable cost. Elia relates in his delightful Essay, My First Play, concerning his wonderment at the decorations of Drury Lane Theatre, particularly the crystal pilasters, "reaching down from the boxes to the pit, how they were adorned with a glittering substance (I know not what) under glass, as it seemed, resembling a homely fancy, but I judged it to be Sugar Candy; yet to my raised imagination, divested of its homelier qualities it appeared a glorified Candy." 66 Treacle is the spume of Sugar in the refineries, and is so called because resembling, either in appearance, or in its supposed medicinal properties, the ancient theriacal compounds. Theriac was of old a reputed classic antidote against venomous bites from wild beasts, serpents, etc. Evelyn records in his Diary (1646) after this fashion :

Having packed up my purchases of books, pictures, casts, and Treacle (the making, and extraordinary ceremony whereof I had been curious to observe), I departed for Venice." Formerly the Triacle, or Treacle, was believed to be capable of curing, or preventing, the effects of poisons. Our modern Treacle is of three kinds: Black, thick Treacle, with a flavour of burnt sugar, (which Treacle can be procured only at oil-shops); Golden Syrup (which is purer, sweeter, thinner, and lighter); and the plain, old-fashioned Treacle, which is of a reddish-brown colour, without tasting of caramel. Golden Syrup is the uncrystallizable liquid finally separated from crystallized Sugar in the refining process, either by the draining of Sugar in loaves, or as forcibly thrown off by the revolving centrifugal apparatus when preparing moist Sugar. This Golden Syrup should be made from pure Sugar alone, and from nothing else; it has sometimes a tendency to crystallize, and to become clouded, but not thereby undergoing any deterioration in quality, or flavour; indeed, the Syrup is rather improved by this slight turbidity; but the public will have none of it; and hence it comes about that glucose is added, which for a time checks the tendency to crystallize, and serves to keep the Syrup transparent; 70 per cent of glucose will answer this purpose. Provided the glucose, which may be added to Golden Syrup, is pure, there is nothing deleterious in this; 66 but much of what is imported as glucose is loaded with sulphites, and at the best such is not Cane Sugar, any more than the best manufactured margarine is dairy butter. The moral lesson to housewives is, "never to refuse a good Golden Syrup on the ground of its being clouded." When quite clear it lies also under the imputation of containing a minute quantity of arsenic. In the Western parts of England is made a concoction which goes by the name of Treacle-George." "Take a wide, shallow tin, a layer of short crust, a layer of plain Treacle, a layer of bread-crumb, and a sprinkling over of lemonjuice, repeating the series until the tin is filled; cover the top with paste, and bake in a quick oven." Molasses is the draining of crude Sugar, in distinction from the Treacle of refined Sugar; but the name Treacle is frequently given by misapprehension to molasses. The Government of Queensland, Australia, has lately announced two cures of alleged cancer by molasses. One was a cancer of the tongue, nearly choking the sufferer. He accidentally discovered that molasses eased his distress, and after his taking a teaspoonful five times a day the cancerous growth gradually disappeared. The other case was declared to be cancer of the stomach, and was cured by a similar mode of treatment pursued for three months. Again, by increasing the intestinal secretions Treacle is of frequent service for obviating constipation. Furthermore, it is very nourishing for young children towards making fat, and supplying bodily warmth. "Once on a time" (see Alice in Wonderland) "there were three little sisters, Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie, who lived at the bottom of a well; they lived there because it was a Treacle well; and these three little sisters were learning to draw, you know. 'What did they draw?' asked Alice. 'Treacle,' said the Dormouse. 'Where did they draw the Treacle from?' asked Alice. 'Why, you can draw water out of a water-well,' said the Hatter, 'so I should think you could draw Treacle out of a Treacle well! Eh? Stupid!' 'But they were in the well,' said Alice to the Dormouse. Of course they were,' said the Dormouse; 'well in.'” For "Treacle tarts": "Take a quarter of a pound of flour, two ounces of dripping, two tablespoonfuls of Treacle, and two tablespoonfuls of bread-crumbs; put the flour in a basin, with a pinch of salt, and rub the dripping lightly in; add sufficient water to make a stiff paste; roll it out on a floured board, and line a greased tin, or plate, with the paste; mix the Treacle and bread-crumbs together, and pour out on the paste; cover with strips of the paste, and bake for half an hour." When Alice, at the end of The Looking Glass, was made Queen at last by general consent, a shrill voice was heard singing from the Castle, and hundreds of other voices joined in the chorus :- "Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can, And sprinkle the tables with buttons, and bran; Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea, And welcome Queen Alice with thirty times three !

Then fill up the glasses with treacle, and ink, Or anything else that is pleasant to drink; Mix sand with the cider, and wool with the wine, And welcome Queen Alice with ninety times nine!"

The good old-fashioned "Treacle posset," taken hot at bedtime, when a catarrhal cold begins, has been told of explicitly in Kitchen Physic. It promotes free perspiration, whilst the lactic acid of the curdled milk induces sleep; furthermore, the Treacle acts as a gentle laxative. A posset is so named from the Welsh "posel," curdled milk. Sometimes cider is used instead of wine for making the steaming draught.