2l8 



HA RD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSSIP. 



Appius, a member of the Claudian family, is said 

 to have grafted the Quince on the " Scandian apple " 

 (thought to be a winter pear), and the result was a 

 fruit known as the Appian Quince, which is described 

 as having the smell of a Quince, the size of the 

 Scandian apple, and as being of a ruddy colour. 



The uses to which the Quince has been put, 

 whether as a medicine, an article of food, or a toilet 

 requisite, are numerous and varied. As a medicine, 

 its astringency would appear to constitute its principal 

 virtue. Dioscorides recommends as an astringent 

 the oil of Quinces (which he calls Melinum), 

 obtained by boiling the fruit. For this use the fruit 

 must be used, he says, which has not been grown on 

 a moist soil; "hence it is that those which come 

 from Italy are so highly esteemed for this 

 purpose, while, on the other hand, the Struthium, 

 though a kindred sort, is not so good." Up to quite 

 recent times the Quince has been included amongst 

 medicinal fruits, the "decoction of Cydonia" being a 

 preparation found in a London Pharmacopoeia as 

 lately as 1830 ; the remark, however, is appended : 

 " We believe it is much better known, and more 

 frequently used, as an ingredient in pies." 



An oil made from the blossom of the Quince was 

 at one period in fashion as a perfume. 



The fruit, too, was to be boiled in wine and applied 



with wax "to restore the hair when it has been lost 



by alopecy." An old author writes with such 



gravity that one can but think he believed in the 



efficacy of the prescription, that "a circle is to be 



traced round the root of the tree, and the root itself 



then pulled up with the left hand, care being taken 



by the person who does so, to state at the same 



moment the object for which it is so pulled up and 



for whom ; this root, worn as an amulet, is a cure for 



scrofula." The same writer says, "Boiled quinces, 



preserved in honey, are beaten up with a decoction of 



rose-leaves, and are taken as food for the cure of 



affections of the stomach." "Quinces are more 



pleasant eating when cooked ; still, however, eaten 



raw, provided they are ripe, they are very useful," 



says another. 



Persian and Arabian physicians place the juice of 

 the fruit when acid, amongst their stomachics, and 

 they also use the apples when fried, for the like 

 purpose. Some Mahometan practitioners prescribe a 

 decoction of the seeds as a cure for certain forms of 

 disease. 



The Romans considered that Quinces ought to be 

 stored in a place "kept perfectly closed, so as to 

 exclude all draughts ; " or else, that they should be 

 boiled in honey or soaked in it; "persons are also 

 sometimes known to give quinces a coating of Pontic 

 wax, and then plunge them in honey." 



Old John Gerarde gives us some pleasant recipes, 

 albeit something quaint. "The marmalad or 

 cotiniat made of quinces," says he, " and sugar is 

 good and proiitable to strengthen the stomach, that it 



may retain and keep the meal therein until it be 

 perfectly digested. Which cotiniat is made in this 

 manner : Take faire quinces, pare them, cut them in 

 pieces, and cast away the core ; then put into every 

 pound of quinces a pound of sugar, and to eveiy 

 pound of sugar a pint of water ; these must be 

 boiled together over a still fire till they be very soft, 

 then let it be strained, or rather rubbed, through 

 an hairy sive, which is better, and then set over 

 the fire to boil again until it be stiffe, and so box 

 it up, and, as it cooleth, put thereto a little rose- 

 water and a few graines of muske mingled together, 

 which will give a goodly taste to the cotiniat. 

 This is the way to make marmalad : Take whole 

 quinces and boil them in water, till they be as soft 

 as a scalded codling or apple ; then pill off the skin, 

 and cut off the flesh, and stamp it in a stone mortar, 

 then strain it as you did the cotiniat ; afterward put 

 it in a pan to dry, but not to seeth at all, and unto 

 every pound of the flesh of quinces put three 

 quarters of a pound of sugar, and in the cooling you 

 may put in rosewater and a little muske, as was 

 said before. The seed of quinces, tempered with 

 water, doth make a muscilage, or a thing like jelly, 

 which, being held in the mouth, is marvellous good to 

 take away the roughness of the tongue in hot 

 burning Jfevers ; the same is good to be laid upon 

 burnings and scaldings, &c. Many other dainty and 

 wholesome confections are to be made of quinces, as 

 jelly of quinces, and suchlike conceits, which for 

 brevity's sake I do now let pass." 



The mucilage made of the Quince seed, unless 

 mixed with some other ingredient to preserve it, very 

 soon ferments and becomes useless ; but, in com- 

 bination with white wax, etc., was at one time much 

 used in the composition of bandoline fixateiir, a 

 French article for the toilet. A hint worth taking 

 with regard to the cooking of Quinces, be it in 

 " cotiniat," " marmalad," or " pies," is to use a silver 

 knife in cutting them, and a silver or wooden spoon 

 for stirring, and the vessel in which they are cooked 

 should be earthen, not metal; by this means the 

 flavour, like onion, so commonly to be detected in 

 the cooked fruit, is entirely avoided. 



THE CUCKOO'S SONG. 



T T 7"E often read or hear of the " well-known " 

 V V note of the cuckoo, the impression on the 

 minds of most people being that his song is at all 

 times one and the same. That is not so. Not only 

 does the same bird sing differently at different times, 

 but probably no two cuckoos sing exactly alike. 

 The following memoranda, therefore, may be of 

 some interest to the readers of Science-Gossip. 



I. May 5, 1888. — Watched the bird near a coppice, 

 and marked carefully the " interval " in the song. It 

 was, without doubt, a major third, but rendered 



