HARD WICKE 'S SCIENCE - GOSSIP, 



103 



a reward for Ijringing "lettuze and chemes to 

 Hampton Court." In 1597 old Gerard gives us an 

 account of divers sorts of lactase or lettuse that 

 were then cultivated in England. He says : "Lectuces 

 maketh a pleasant sallade, being eaten rawe with 

 vinegar, oil, and a little salt ; but if it be boiled, it 

 is sooner digested and nourishetli more." He adds : 

 " It served in these dales and in these countries at 

 the beginning of supper, and eaten first before any 

 other meat ; but notwithstanding, it may now and 

 then be eaten at both these times to the health of 

 bodie ; for being taken before meate it doth many 

 times stir up appetite, and, eaten after supper, it 

 keepeth away drunkenness which'cometh by wine ; 

 and that it is by reason that it staieth the vapors 

 from rising up into the head." He also says : 

 *'Lecttuce cooleth a hot stomake called heartburn- 

 ing, &c. &c." 



The native country of the Lettuce is not known, 

 but the genus is spread over Southern Europe and 

 Central Asia. In England we are no doubt indebted 

 for some of its varieties to the Greek islands. The 

 Cos Lettuce, as its name indicates, is a native of the 

 island of Cos, and ^\•as most probably brought from 

 thence into this country. About the year 177 1 this 

 plant was first introduced into the modern phar- 

 macopoeia by the celebrated physician Collin, of 

 Vienna, who recommended the inspissated juice in 

 the treatment of dropsy. The Lettuce was largely 

 cultivated at one time at Brechin, in Forfar, and its 

 juice collected nearly in the same way as opium for 

 medical purposes ; and as far back as 1 799 there was 

 an article published in the "Transactions of the 

 American Philosophical Society" (vol. iv. p. 387), 

 on the "comparative effects of opium extracted from 

 the White Poppy and that from the cultivated 

 Lettuce. 



Our poet Pope notices the narcotic property of 

 this plant in one of his poems, for he says — 



If you wish to be at rest. 

 Lettuce and cowslip wine probatmn est. 



The Extrachim Lactiiccc, as it is called, is not pre- 

 pared from the garden lettuce (Z. saiiva), but from 

 the strong-scented lettuce (Z. virosa), which abounds 

 with a milky and narcotic juice, and is sometimes to 

 be found growing wild on banks and waysides in 

 England, especially in a chalky soil. 



Phillips tells us that the Latins gave this plant the 

 name of Lactuca from Lac, on account of the milky 

 juice with which it abounds. The French, for the 

 same reason, call it Lactue ; the English name. Let- 

 tuce, is a corruption of either the Latin or the French 

 word, and in all probability originated from the 

 former, as several of our old authors spell it Lectuce. 



Endive {Ciclwrium Eiidh'ia).\ 



The Cichorium mentioned by Theophrastus in use 

 among the ancients is supposed to be a kind of wild 



endive, and a species, if not the same, as our Suc- 

 cory (C. intyhis). Pliny informs us that this plant 

 was eaten both as a potherb and a salad by the 

 Romans. It also possesses, he tells us, medicinal pro- 

 perties ; the juice mixed with rose-oil and vinegar 

 was used to allay pains in the head, and when mixed 

 with wine it was thought good for complaints of 

 the liver. It is one of those plants with which the 

 magicians, in credulous ages, used to endeavour to 

 impose on their easily-seduced believers. They 

 affirmed that if persons anointed their bodies all over 

 with the juice of this herb mixed with oil it would 

 make them appear, not only so amiable that they 

 would win the goodwill and favour of all men, but 

 that they would easily obtain whatever they set their 

 hearts upon. — (See Phillips's " Hist, of Veg.") 



The common garden Endive now in use appears to 

 have been first cultivated in England in the reign of 

 Edward VI., 1548, and is said to be a native of China 

 and Japan. 



Gerard gives us an account of the manner by which 

 this plant was preserved for winter use in the days of 

 Queen Elizabeth : — "Endive being sown in July, it 

 remaineth till winter, at which time it is taken up by 

 the rootes, and laide in the sunne or aire for the space 

 of two houres ; then the leaues be tough, and easily 

 endure to be wrapped upon an heape, and buried in 

 the earth with the rootes itpwards, where no earth 

 can get within it, which if it did would cause rot- 

 tenness ; the which so couered may be taken up at 

 times convenient, and used as sallades all the winter, 

 as in London and other places is to be scene, and then 

 it is called white endiue. " 



Succory, Chicory {Cichormm intybns) is mentioned 

 by Gerard under the name of Hedypnois in his Cata- 

 logues. He says, " Thise wild herbes are boiled in 

 pottage or broths for sicke and feeble persons that 

 haue hot, weake, and feeble stomacks, to strengthen 

 the same. Thess plants growe wilde in sundry places 

 in Englande upon wilde and unfilled barren grounds, 

 especially in chalkie and stonie places." Miller and 

 other English authors on horticulture do not notice 

 this plant as an article for the garden, and it is very 

 little cultivated with us in the present day as a salad 

 herb, though it is in much repute on the Continent, 

 especially in France and Italy. Both in France and 

 England, Succoiy has been occasionally cultivated as 

 food for cattle ; the roots, when well grown, have 

 the appearance of large white carrots, and sometimes 

 produce a crop from three to five tons per acre. The 

 root, when dried and ground, has long been employed 

 both for mixing with, and as a substitute for, coffee. 

 Hampden G. Glasspoole. 



How TO Preserve Star-fish. — A very good 



I way to prepare a star-fish for the cabinet is as fol- 



1 lows : — Take the star-fish, and wash it thoroughly in 



fresh water ; then pin it to a board, and leave it to 



I dry in the sunshine till ready. - G. H. Rayner. 



