HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



219 



Spaniards had this plant from the Saracens ; but by- 

 some it is considered to be indigenous to Spain, as 

 many of the old botanists— such, for example, as Bock 

 — call it Olus Hispanicum. Ruellius and others name 

 it Atriplex Ilispaniensis." 



According to Beckman, the first notice of its 

 being used as an edible substance in Europe occurs 

 in 1351, in a list of vegetables used by the monks on 

 fast days, and at that time it was called Spinargum 

 or Spinachum. Rather more than two centuries 

 later it seems to have been in cultivation in England, 

 as Turner, in his Herbal, which was published in 

 1568, mentions it as " a herb lately found, and not 

 long in use." Gerard observes, — " This herb of all 

 pot-herbs maketh the greatest diversities of meats 

 and salads." The young leaves of Spinach were 

 used in salads in the time of Elizabeth down to the 

 reign of Charles I. 



Parkinson, who wrote on plants in the reign of 

 the last-mentioned monarch, writes thus on this 

 plant : — " Spinach is an herb for sallet and for 

 divers other purposes for the table only, for it is 

 not known to be used physically at all. Many 

 English, that have learned it of the Dutch people, 

 do stew it in a pot or pipkin without any moisture 

 than its own. It is used likewise to be made into 

 tarts and many other varieties of dishes, as gentle- 

 women and their cooks can better tell than myself." 

 Spinach is still considered as a pot-herb of consider- 

 able importance, being in demand for the kitchen at 

 all seasons of the year, but more particularly in the 

 spring. Phillips (in his "History of Cultivated 

 Vegetables") says: "The juice of spinage being 

 nearly tasteless, and quite inoffensive, is the only 

 green colouring that cooks and confectioners should 

 be allowed to use in their ornamental eatables." 

 Spinach contains a considerable amount of nitre; 

 and it is said that paper soaked in the water in 

 which it has been boiled makes as good touch-paper 

 for fireworks as that made by a solution of nitre. 

 Boerhaave states that the fresh herb affords a 

 thick, but very wholesome juice, which mitigates the 

 asperity of the lungs, and is of service in inflam- 

 mation of the stomach. Phillips relates an anecdote 

 of Eontenella, who was a great epicure, and exces- 

 sively fond of this vegetable. An acquaintance, 

 who was equally fond of spinach, appointed to dine 

 with him, at a season of the year when but a small 

 portion of their favourite vegetable could be pro- 

 cured. Just as the dinner was to be dished up, the 

 cook inquired if his master would have the spinach 

 served up au gras, which was his favourite way, or 

 au maigre, as his friend preferred it, or if it should 

 be divided and sent up both ways. Eontenella 

 desired the cook to wait until the guest arrived 

 before he dished it up. At that moment a mes- 

 senger entered to announce the sudden death of his 

 expected friend. Fontenella, having received the 

 message, called out to the cook, " Send up all the 



spinage au gras" — showing that he thought more 

 of his appetite than of his departed friend. 



There is a wayside plant which was and is still 

 used, I believe, in some parts of the country as 

 spinach {Chenopodium Bonus Henricus), called by 

 various names, such as Good King Henry, Lamb's 

 Quarters, Eat Hen, &c. In Lincolnshire it was 

 cultivated and preferred to the garden spinach. 

 Galen, one of the most celebrated and valuable of 

 ancient writers on medicine, born A J). 131, recom- 

 mends, so it is said, the leaves of this plant for 

 poultices, to assuage swellings and inflammations. 

 Mathoh, a writer in the sixteenth century, says that 

 the seeds boiled with wormwood, and drunk, cure 

 the jaundice in a very speedy manner. Culpepper 

 says that the juice of this plant rubbed upon warts 

 takes them away. The young shoots of this plant 

 used to be peeled, and eaten as asparagus. The 

 seeds are used in the present day with others, in the 

 manufacture of shagreen. Miller, in his Dictionary, 

 thinks that this plant was not indigenous to our 

 soil, but an escape from cultivation. The etymology 

 of the name " Good Henry " is uncertain ; still the 

 name is prevalent over a great part of Europe. The 

 Germans call it Guter Heinrich, while in Erance it 

 is known as " Bon Henri." How the word king got 

 added to it in England was, perhaps, that this plant 

 was first brought into cultivation or introduced in 

 the reign of Henry VI., who was styled the "good," 

 and as he founded Eton College he was doubtless a 

 favourite with the monks, from whom many of our 

 plants received their names. 



The generic name Spinacia is derived from spina, 

 "a prickle," from the prickly integument of the 

 fruit or seed in some varieties. 



Some years since a plant belonging to the nat. 

 ord. Tetragoniacece, was much cultivated under the 

 name of New Zealand Spinach {Tetragonia expansia). 

 This plant was discovered by Sir Joseph Banks in 

 1770, at Queen Charlotte's Sound, New Zealand, 

 when with Captain Cook in his first voyage round 

 the world. Specimens and seeds were brought to 

 England, and its introduction by Sir J. Banks to 

 Kew Gardens is recorded to have taken place in 

 1772; but the value of the plant as an edible 

 vegetable was discovered in Captain Cook's second 

 voyage, when Foster, who went with that expedition 

 in 1773, found it in great abundance in the same 

 locality mentioned by Sir J. Banks, and during the 

 stay of the ships at that place the sailors were daily 

 supplied with it at their meals. It was also found 

 on the shores of Tonga-taboo, one of the Friendly 

 Islands. The inhabitants of these countries did not 

 appear to eat it, or know its good qualities. Thun- 

 berg found it growing wild in Japan, where it is 

 called Tsura Na, or creeping cabbage. The Count 

 D'Ourches, who had obtained seeds of it from the 

 "Jardin du Roi," at Paris, first published an 

 account of it as an esculent. It was at first treated 



