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Vegetables

In ancient Rome (as Cato records) the principal citizens had their large vegetable gardens near the city, the same being cultivated by the owners themselves, some among whom derived their family names in this way as successful specialists; such as Piso from the Pea, Cicero from the Vetch, Fabius from the Bean, and Lentulus from the Lentil. The chief value of vegetables as food lies in the mineral salts which they contain abundantly; these are combined with much water, but quite sparingly with proteid nourishment available for bodily repair; their framework consists altogether of cellulose. Greens, and Savoys afford most nitrogenous matter; whilst, together with Leeks, Cabbage, Turnips, Salsify, and Carrots, they are endowed with carbohydrates, and mineral salts. But the effect of cooking upon green vegetables, as it is generally practised, serves only to reduce their already poor stock of nutrients. As a whole such vegetables are not readily digested by the stomach, and when reaching the intestines their bulk makes them difficult to be assimilated; if they are at all stale, then discomfiting fermentation takes place, engendering noxious gases, and provoking troublesome flatulence, with distension. To be ✓ wholesome vegetables should always be eaten as fresh as possible; their main use is as a source of mineral salts, particularly those of potash, which keep the blood supplied with alkaline elements, and thus lower the acidity of the urine; so that vegetable foods are to be especially advised for persons liable to gravel, (except garden Rhubarb, Sorrel, and Tomatoes, because of their oxalic acid). Vegetable feeders require relatively more table salt with their food than mixed feeders, particularly with Potatoes, so as to neutralize chemically such excess of mineral salts as might otherwise be prejudicial; for this reason herbivorous animals crave for common salt, but not so the carnivorous animals. For gouty, or rheumatic persons the acidity of the urine can be certainly kept in check by a free use of green vegetables, and of such other foods as contain alkaline salts of potash; but at the same time the diet must not be too poor in proteids. As for the vegetables, they are not to be cooked in a deluge of water, else this, when thrown away before serving, will carry with it most of the soluble alkaline salts which should serve to neutralize the acids of digestive fermentation. Green fruits (uncooked), and raw vegetables disturb the stomach and bowels, because the starch which they contain cannot be acted upon by the saliva during mastication when these foods are unboiled; then, on their reaching the stomach, the gastric juice cannot gain access to their structure so as to digest the albuminoid constituents, therefore the substances remain ill-digested, and troublesome sour fermentation is the result.

That cooking increases the digestibility of things eaten at table is true only with respect to vegetable foods, whilst that of animal foods is diminished rather than increased by cooking. But the flatulence which so often occurs after taking a meal of cooked green vegetables, particularly of Cabbage, does not similarly happen if we eat practically the same green vegetables in the form of plain salads uncooked; therefore it must be the cooking process which then gives rise to this obnoxious difference, that is, through the splitting-up effect of the heat, and the fermentation of the carbohydrates (starch, sugar, and fat) induced by cooking, when a formation of fermentative acids, and gases occurs (chiefly carburetted, phosphuretted, and sulphuretted hydrogen) in the system. Vegetable foods, unless eaten in large quantities, will not afford a sufficiency of proteid nourishment to the body; and what proteid food is present in vegetables has its value lowered in many cases by the difficulty with which it is utilized therein. Furthermore, the nitrogenous essentials of bodily nourishment can be obtained in the needful concentrated state only from animal foods, these essentials making for nervous energy, and intellectual capacity, as well as for power to resist disease. Meat, fowl, and fish are concentrated forms of nitrogenous proteid nourishment. Then, again, a purely vegetable diet must of necessity be bulky, because so much water is included therein, particularly when cooked, and so much unassimilable cellulose is bound up therewith; whilst the limited amount of proteid sustenance present is diluted by a disproportionate quantity of starch. If boiling water is poured upon the starch grains they swell up, and burst, so that the true starch escapes from between the layers of cellulose. It is this rupture of the starch grains which is sought to be effected by the proper cooking of vegetable foods. The mineral constituents of most vegetables increase the solubility in the system of certain gouty salts (bi-urate), but the mineral constituents of meat tend to diminish this solubility. Dr. Luff, a practised experimentalist, gives the first place in this direction to Spinach against a gouty habit of body; Brussels Sprouts, and French Beans come next on his list, being followed by Cabbage, Turnip-tops, Turnips, and Celery. It is now understood that vegetables and plants obtain the mineral salts, and earth salts on which they depend for their nourishment, through the agency of (microscopical) organisms known as nitro-bacteria ; these attack the surface of rocks wherein potash, and iron are contained, and disintegrate in a similar way all dead organic matters, dead animals, dung, etc., dissociating the compact atoms, and thus producing nitrates, whereby the foundation of all fertility is laid.

Thomas Tryon (Way to Health, 1650) wrote: "Raw herbs are a sublime kind of food, and are to be preferred to that which is boiled, for the pure volatile spirit in the herbs cannot endure the violence of the fire, but in boiling a great part of this is evaporated. For which cause boiled herbs lie heavier, and colder in the stomach than do raw herbs, which is scarcely believed by many persons. For, they that love boiled herbs do generally eat much flesh with them, and so cannot discern the operation these have." "The strength, and comforting quality of everything consists principally in the spirituous parts, which are lost by evaporation in the boiling, and therefore the substance becomes of quite another nature. That lively tincture, and spirituous part which it possessed whilst raw, can never be recovered by all the ingredients which nature, or art can afford. Do not all creatures eat their herbs raw? and are they not admirably sustained thereby ?" Anyhow, vegetables should be cooked only in their own juices, or at least in as little water as possible; most of the valuable salts will otherwise be assuredly washed out, and sacrificed. When deluged with water in boiling the substance of vegetables retains only as much food value as boiled shavings would possess ; and it is this worthless mass which must be then eaten, and its digestion attempted. It will in the case of Cabbage stay inert within the stomach and bowels, for five or six hours, giving rise to flatulence, distension, and discomfort. If the Cabbage were eaten without being cooked at all, it would be digested in less than three hours. For obtaining the maximum of benefit from cooked roots, and green vegetables, they should always be steamed over boiling water, and not boiled out of all their goodness.

Vegetables, and milk served together are likely to disagree, because the milk (which when taken by itself becomes quickly digested) is then retained in admixture with the more slowlydigesting vegetable food, and undergoes fermentation, with sour products. Milk, and meat, are likewise a bad combination for the same reason; milk alone is chiefly digested beyond the stomach in the small intestine, which it speedily reaches. Some salt should be put with vegetables when they are boiled; and a very little butter, if added just before they are served, gives improved flavour. The length of time for cooking them should be twice, sometimes three times as long as is generally allowed in this country. All green vegetables should be boiled in an open saucepan, and should be put on in a little boiling water to be cooked (unless special reasons can be given for the contrary); roots are to be boiled with the saucepan lid kept on, the preservation of a good colour being in either case the object in view. Purées of vegetables, with meat, are of great value for the sick, likewise to persons in health but with defective teeth, or soreness affecting the membranes of mouth, and throat; also as part of the diet of growing children. A purée is, as the name denotes, essentially a purifying process as to foods, whereby the edible parts are separated, and removed from the rough, hard, inedible parts by the mechanism of sifting. Thus from leguminous pods the indigestible shells are removed; from roots, and leaves, the stringy cellulose is separated. Tough meat, old fowls, and the remains of cold poultry can be turned to good account in a purée.

Onions, and Cabbages, were not grown in England to any extent until Queen Elizabeth's time, when they began to be cultivated widely, together with Carrots, and Parsnips, throughout Suffolk, and at Fulham. It was half a century later before "Colle-flowers" became generally known; and at this period Turnips were never used in cookery, but were always boiled, and eaten separately with butter. Radishes were grown, also Beans, and Peas; likewise Melons, and Pumpkins. By the very poor a coarse kind of bread was made with Peas, and Acorns. The Medical Magazine teaches that nowadays raw market vegetables should be washed, and then soaked for at least half an hour in a weak solution of tartaric acid, which is a cheap, and powerful antiseptic, of quite a harmless character. The Vegetable Marrow, a wholesome production of the kitchen garden in early autumn, came at first from Persia, and grows best in warm regions. It is eaten mostly when half-ripe, the inner pith, and the numerous seeds being taken out; when fully grown it can be made into pies like the Pumpkin. A variety termed the Custard Marrow has the more delicate flavour; it resembles a costard apple, whence comes the name. Until 1830 the Vegetable Marrow went by the name of Gourd. It contains about 90 per cent of water, and is insipid when boiled. A tasty, and wholesome, yet withal doubly antiseptic, vegetable dish may be prepared as "baked Vegetable Marrow, with sage, and onions": "Cut the Marrow in halves lengthways, and take out the seeds; parboil three onions, and chop them into pieces with five, or six sage leaves; add one tablespoonful of breadcrumbs, with salt, and pepper to taste; mix all together, and place the mixture inside the Marrow, then close it, and tie it up; dredge with flour; put some dripping in a baking dish, then put in the Marrow, and bake for half an hour in a pretty hot oven. It may be served with brown sauce." A good nourishing dish for old persons, which is easily masticated, and readily digested, is to be contrived by making it of fresh, lean meat first boiled in a very little water, and then put inside a Vegetable Marrow which has been pared, and cleared of its seeds. This Marrow should be cut into two halves, either across the middle, or lengthways, and then tied up in muslin, being fitted together for boiling, from ten to fifteen minutes, according to size. Vegetable Marrow can be converted into a nice wholesome curry. For making jam of this garden product : "Peel the Marrows, and cut them into inch-sized dice; make a syrup with two pounds of brown sugar, and five pints of water; lay the Marrows in this, and let them steep for two days, and then strain the syrup off; make a second syrup with a pound of loaf sugar, the juice, and thinly-pared rind of two lemons, a few grains of Cayenne pepper, and one ounce of whole ginger (well bruised) for each pound of the Marrow. Lay the strained Marrow in this second syrup, and set it over a glowing fire; when it begins to clear add a liqueur-glassful of brandy, and cook until the jam is transparent; then it will be ready for putting into pots, and to be tied down." A very nourishing, and delicate soup may be concocted for an invalid from the Vegetable Marrow, boiled in white stock, with milk, an onion, pepper, salt, and one tablespoonful of cornflour.

From the time of Pythagoras, the doctrine and practice of an entirely vegetable diet has been enjoined by many advocates, the same mode of living having been pursued for ages by numerous Hindus, and Buddhists. As to this food system known as vegetarianism, or living exclusively on vegetable sustenance, the question, to begin with, does not lie in the problem (as many persons argue) whether we are structurally, and physiologically constituted as herbivorous, or as carnivorous beings, for it is perfectly certain we are neither. Carnivorous animals feed on flesh alone, and eat that flesh raw, but nobody proposes that we should imitate them in this practice. Again, the herbivorous creatures eat raw grass, but nobody is rash enough to suggest that we should follow their example. From which source, then, can we best obtain the nutritive constituents of our main food supplies? We may not by any means suppose that merely because the chemical constituents of vegetables are equal in nutritive value to the corresponding constituents of animal food, that therefore as a whole, vegetable nourishment can replace meat, or that, vice versa, meat can altogether be substituted for vegetable diet. The form in which the nutritive ingredients are presented to the digestive organs materially affects their utility as foods. "A glass of whisky," as Dr. Hutchison forcibly argues, "is chemically the same whether it be taken neat, or diluted with a tumblerful of water; but the effects on the body are radically different." Moreover, man stands apart from all other creatures as a cooking animal; his teeth are not constructed for munching, and grinding, hard, raw grain; nor are his digestive organs naturally adapted for assimilating grain in such a condition, even if it were reduced to pulp by mastication at first. Vegetarianism has much to be said in its favour for persons of adequate digestive capabilities; but certain objections must be raised against its adoption unreservedly when the digestive powers are feeble, and the measure of food at meals limited of necessity by personal incapacities. There are fundamental principles connected with the system in question which closely underlie the main issue. One of these is embodied in the important fact that the cell walls which enclose the proteids, or nitrogenous nourishment, consist in vegetables of cellulose, a tough membrane which makes the extraction of such proteids more difficult from within the cells than it is from animal flesh; and this cellulose is characterized by an extraordinary insolubility. "The vegetarian question," writes Dr. R. Hutchison, "is really a question of nitrogen, and of that alone, which can be obtained in a concentrated form only from animal sources. Moreover, energy is not to be confused with muscular strength. A grass-fed carthorse is strong; a corn-fed hunter is energetic. Such energy is a property of the nervous system; strength is an endowment of the muscles, and these are chiefly nourished by the carbohydrates which vegetables can supply; but the brain needs nitrogenous proteids." Dr. Kuttner, of Berlin, having made an impartial investigation into the respective merits of vegetarianism, and mixed diet, has come to the conclusion that a mixed diet, including meat, is most suitable for man, because exclusive vegetable nourishment is too bulky, promoting discomforts of digestion, and being assimilable only to a certain extent; moreover, animal stuffs engender fuller bodily warmth. It is true that, given a judicious choice, and a proper preparation of vegetables, they will prove not only sufficient to maintain the bodily condition, but even to increase bodily weight. But the subjects who practice this dietary do not compare favourably with mixed eaters as to their powers of solid weight, endurance, and ability to resist disease. Nevertheless, a modified vegetarian diet, supplemented, that is, by such animal products as milk, butter, cheese, honey, and eggs, is admirably well suited for corpulent persons whose intestinal energies are sluggish, and who are disposed to costiveness; likewise such a diet is attended with brilliant results in nervous dyspepsia, especially for gouty persons. Seeing, too, that the pulse-rate is diminished under a diet mainly vegetable, this diet is quite to be commended for conditions of a troubled, excitable heart, or for muscular thickening of its walls; but not for states of heart enfeebled from weakness, or incompetency. Again, a marked addition of vegetables to the diet is very useful in various cases of skin disorder, and for scrofulous affections. At a Congress of the Berlin Medical Society (1902) where vegetarianism was discussed, as to whether, or not, it makes for general health, the opinion arrived at, after arguments had been fairly advanced on both sides, was that "exclusive vegetarianism is not good for mankind. For instance, albumin cannot be obtained of proper quality, and in sufficient amounts from such a regimen; and therefore, as one serious disadvantage, vegetarians are less able to resist infection than persons unrestricted in their dietary." Generally speaking, all foods abounding in cellulose, and which leave a considerable amount of its residue unnegotiated within the intestines, serve to stimulate the propelling peristaltic action thereof on this ballast, and to promote its passage onwards; in which way constipation is prevented, when the bowel energy has become torpid unless some aid of this kind is afforded. Such foods are wholesome green vegetables, oatmeal, wholemeal bread, and some fruits. Furthermore, these vegetable foods, which are rich in cellulose, possess certain laxative properties due to the organic acids which they contain, and to the fermentative processes they undergo within the bowels. It is an indisputable fact that vegetarians are remarkably free from such gouty disorders as arise through lithic acid in the blood, leading to gravel, and stone in the bladder; and numerous persons who suffered therefrom before becoming vegetarians, have subsequently altogether escaped. "I've found a sovereign cure for the gout, Sammy," said Mr. Weller, the elder (Pickwick). gout is a complaint as arises from too much ease, and comfort. If ever you're attacked with the gout, Sir" (to Mr. Pickwick), "jist you marry a widder as has got a good loud woice, with a decent notion of usin' it, and you'll never have the gout agin. It's a capital perscription, Sir; I takes it reg'lar, and I can warrant it to drive away any illness as is caused by too much jollity." "The A paramount advantage derived from vegetable foods is gained because of their constitution being altogether of a building-up character, as distinguished from animal life, (which involves excretions of the broken-down products as part of its being). With vegetables there is no throwing off effete matters as corrupt waste of their consumed substance from day to day; but in animal life, such ash (as it were of the stoking) is rejected by the skin, the kidneys, the lungs, the bowels, and other excretory channels. The most striking chemical feature of vegetable foods is the large proportion of carbohydrates which they contain, such as starch, and sugar, in abundance; potash as an essential mineral salt for healthy life being largely represented in vegetables, more so than soda. These carbohydrates of vegetable food undergoing digestion within the small intestines form acids, through their alliance with the bacteria present there, which acids diminish putrefaction; so that in order to prevent putrefactive changes within the bowels vegetables must be eaten for their carbohydrates (starch, and sugar, or oils). This necessity explains the very fetid character of the stools passed by patients who are being fed mainly, if not exclusively, on lean meat. Milk, again, is an intestinal antiseptic. Within the small intestine the contents remain fluid throughout its entire length. But the human nervous system seems to require a plentiful supply of proteid support if those occult influences which emanate from the brain and spinal marrow, are to be maintained in sufficient potency for enabling the tissues to ward off disease. As Dr. Hutchison goes on to say: "Everyone knows the feeling of satisfaction which follows a meal containing good meat; and that such feeling of benefit received is due to the proteid substance, and not to the meat extractives, is shown by the fact that whereas the addition of the meat extractives to such non-animal food as bread is not able to produce this feeling, yet such vegetable substances as (oatmeal, for instance) are rich in proteid are capable of exciting it to a considerable degree." The modified form of vegetarianism which supplements proteid by giving also eggs, and milk, has much to recommend it, and will often agree better with gouty subjects than a diet which includes meat in any amount. It must be concluded, then, that if the complement of proteid food is to be derived altogether from vegetable sources the diet will have to be bulky, one of the first results being distension of the stomach, and bowels; thus is produced the so-called potato-belly of the Irish peasant. Again, for the management by the stomach and bowels of so large a mass of material, there is implied a special expenditure of nervous energy, and of blood supply, so that correspondingly less of these outputs will be left for the purposes of the nervous system, and brain, for bodily exercise, and other physical demands. Similarly, the watery character of an exclusively vegetable diet is disadvantageous; this disproportion as to solids accounts for the soft flabby condition in flesh of persons who habitually consume large quantities of the more watery sorts of vegetable food; it also is an important factor in lowering the disease-resisting power which characterizes such persons. A somewhat parallel effect ensues with respect to drug action, for, as Sir Lauder Brunton has observed, "the vegetarian is only slightly affected by certain drugs which in the case of flesh-eaters would produce positively violent results."

If it happens that a man or a woman possesses a specially energetic and powerful digestive system, it does not then matter much what system of feeding is followed, because whatever is eaten provokes no difficulty of digestion afterwards, as to extracting sufficient carbon and nitrogen therefrom. But for persons with very limited digestive powers, it is beyond the compass of their physical capacity to become vegetarians. The disadvantages of a purely vegetable diet affect the outdoor labourer much less than the person engaged in more sedentary pursuits; the former stands in daily need of carbohydrates (such as vegetables afford) in large amount, so as to enable the performance of his muscular work; whilst with the latter the demand for proteid is more considerable. Vegetarians have sometimes asserted that the eating of flesh food is incompatible with the cultivation of a singing voice, this proposition being supported by the argument that the sweet-singing vocal birds are eaters of grain, fruit, and vegetables; that in fact no carnivorous bird could ever charm by a song, but only croak, having a sluggish liver, and being of a melancholy strain. Examples to this effect are quoted of the "croaking nightingale," the "bilious thrush," and the "generally melancholy robin." But the exact converse of this proposition really holds good, since the great majority of sweet singing birds are strictly carnivorous; even the canary will appreciate scraps of meat, and hard-boiled egg, when he can get the same, and will sing all the better for such additions to his dietary.. Furthermore, if vegetarians allow themselves milk, and eggs, they are in truth killing animal life indirectly; for 1 in order that the farmer may get a profit on his milk and eggs, he has to kill off the bulls, which give no milk, and a large number of cocks which yield no eggs. If he reared all these, and allowed them to die a natural death, not only would his farmyard be a perfect pandemonium, but his expenses would be such that in order to sell his milk and his eggs at a profit, he would have to demand a prohibitive price for them ; so that those persons who consume these articles, though they do not eat flesh, are yet accessory to the slaughter of animals. In fact, this cock-and-bull story is completely convincing. As a general conclusion, it must be said that for healthy persons meat and fish (also eggs, milk, and cheese) should be the proteid furnishers, together with vegetable foods; though for persons disposed to be gouty, perhaps milk and cheese are to be more highly commended than meat. It is to be noted that vegetable foods are less highly flavoured than some animal provisions, and meats, but they have the compensating advantage of not being liable to undergo putrefactive impairment, and of rarely inducing disease. The abundant cellulose which gives bulk to the intestinal contents during digestion, and size to the fæces, signifies vegetarianism more or less; and, (as is said somewhat coarsely in Tristram Shandy,) "there are persons who will draw a man's character from no other helps in the world but merely from his evacuations; but this often gives a very incorrect outline, unless indeed, you take a sketch of his repletions too. I should have no objection to this method, but that I think it must smell too strong of the lamp." Robert Louis Stevenson, in one of his fables, The Distinguished Stranger (1896), makes a covert thrust at vegetarians which is scarcely fair. It tells of a stranger coming to this earth from a neighbouring planet, and propounding questions to a philosopher about the objects now seen by him for the first time; the trees he admired for their heavenward stature, and their singing leaves; but men and women he disparaged, and as to the cows he thought them dirty, whilst never looking upwards like the noble trees of the forest. Then the philosopher explained that the cows were engaged in eating grass, and had to spend so much time in attending to this food of theirs that they were too busy therewith for thinking, or talking, or looking about, or keeping themselves clean. The intended moral is manifest. Edward Fitzgerald, writing (September, 1833) to his friend Donne (afterwards Licenser of Plays) from Geldestone, says, "I am at present rather liable to be overset by any weariness, (and where can any be found that can match the effect of two oratorios?) since living altogether on vegetables for the last three months; that is, I have given up meat. The truth is, mine is a wrong time of life to begin a change of that kind; it is either too early, or too late. But I have no doubt at all of the advantage of giving up meat. I find already much good from it in lightness, and airiness of head; whereas I was always before clouded, and more or less morbid after meat. The loss of strength is to be expected. I shall keep on, and see if that also will turn, and change into strength. I have almost Utopian notions about vegetable diet, -begging pardon for making use of such a vile, Cheltenhamic phrase. Why do you not bring your children up to it? To be sure, the chance is that after guarding their vegetable morals for years, they would be seduced by some roast partridge, with bread sauce, and become ungodly." Again, in a letter to John Allen, from Bedford (1842): “I occasionally read sentences about the Virtues from the collection of Stobœus, and look into Sartor Resartus, which has fine things in it, and a little Dante, and a little Shakespeare. But the great secret of all is the not eating of meat. To that the world must come, I am sure. Only it makes one grasshopper foolish." Again (October 1841), when writing to Tennyson from Naseby, Fitzgerald said, “Fits of exultation are not very common with me now, as-after leaving off beef-my life has become of an even grey paper character, needing no great excitement, and as pleased with Naseby as Naples."

As a 66 palatable, and excellent "Vegetable Curry": Chop four onions, and four apples; put them in a pan with a quarter of a pound of butter, and fry them a light brown; then add a tablespoonful of genuine curry powder, a little stock, and some salt. Parboil six large potatoes whole, cut them up, and put them with the other ingredients; let all stew gently for an hour, whilst the pot is covered. Likewise, vegetable marrow can be prepared capitally in imitation of apples, as a digestive accompaniment of roast duck, or goose. Take a large vegetable marrow, choosing the white sort, with lumps over the outside; after having peeled it, and taken away the soft pulp and seeds, cut it in thin slices. Butter an enamelled pot, and put into it layers of the thinly sliced marrow, and of sugar (take for one good sized marrow a large breakfastcupful of sugar), a tablespoonful of flour, or of bread crumbs, ten cloves, a tumblerful of white wine and vinegar mixed; pour this wine over the uppermost layer of marrow and sugar, adding a pinch of salt. Then let the stewpan simmer for two hours, stirring carefully for fear of its burning. VINE. (See GRAPES.) VINEGAR. (See MALT).

A LITTLE Vinegar, when administered to animals about to be killed for eating, will render their flesh less tough than it otherwise would prove; and it is not unusual to give a spoonful of vinegar to poultry shortly before their slaughter for the table. VIOLET SWEETMEATS. (See CONFECTIONS.) By the Romans of old a favourite wine was made from Violet flowers. What is known familiarly as Violet powder, for nursery uses, and cosmetic purposes, is the pulverized rhizome, or root stalk of Iris florentina, the blue flag. This sweet-scented rhizome is peeled, and dried in the sun, its agreeable violet-like odour becoming thus more fully developed. Orris root contains a fragrant volatile oil, much starch, and some soft brownish resin, of an acrid taste: also some tannin, which turns iron salts green. About Norfolk, and elsewhere in England, a piece of the root is suspended by a tape around the neck of a child who is cutting his, or her teeth, so as to assist the process by munching, and mumbling the tender gums thereupon: when, it may be that the profuse flow of saliva which is thus stimulated mitigates soreness. But Dr. Pereira admonishes that such a practice is objectionable, since it is not unfrequently attended with irritation of the mouth, and disorder of the stomach and bowels. Furthermore, the risk of the rhizome getting into the gullet, or windpipe, is not to be overlooked. One fatal case of this kind is recorded. Crystals of oxalate of lime have been found in Orris root.

WALNUT. (See also NUTS).

THE Juglans regia, royal nut of Jupiter (see also page 503), and known to us as Walnut, is so named from the word Wal, as