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HARD WI CKE 'S S CI EN CE-GO SSIP. 



qualities, as it was found a very useful ingredient in 

 the soups for seamen, because of its antiscorbutic 

 properties. Celery contains sugar, mucilage, starch, 

 and a substance resembling manna sugar, which acts 

 as a stimulant. A decoction made from the seed and 

 drunk as tea is often recommended in some diseases 

 by village herbalists. Celery is regarded as a lucky 

 plant by the modern Greeks, and is hung up in rooms, 

 placed on silkworm-frames, and given to children. 



The common name appears to have been derived 

 from Italy, — sellari, under which it was introduced in 

 the old seed-lists into this countiy, but it is found in 

 old works, spelt in various ways ; thus, Sellery, 

 Celeri, and Celery. 



The etymology of the botanical name, Apium, 

 appears uncertain. Some authors think it is derived 

 from the Celtic Apon, water, from the place where 

 the plant grows ; others state it is from Apis, a bee, 

 because these insects are fond of it. Celery has 

 quite supplanted our native Alexander's (Smyrnium 

 Olusatrum), which our forefathers used to eat as a 

 common salad. 



Among other herbs which are sometimes to be 

 found in the salad-bowl, are the various Valerianella, 

 or Lamb's lettuce. The French call them Salade de 

 pretre, from their being eaten in Lent. Evelyn says 

 they certainly deserve a place among the penitential 

 herbs, for the stomach that has admitted them is apt 

 to cry peccavi. The leaves of Burnet (Poterium 

 sanguisorba), when bruised, have the smell of cucum- 

 ber : in former time this plant was in great repute. A 

 small low thistle {Picridium vulgare), is often used in 

 France and Italy, both as a salad and greens. Bon 

 Jardinier says it tastes a little like mutton. The 

 flower of the Judas-tree (Cercis siliquastrum) and 

 leaves of the Wood-sorrel {Oxalis acelosella), when 

 mixed with other herbs, give an agreeable acid flavour 

 to the salad. 



Dr. Thomas K. Chambers, in the "Manual of Diet 

 in Health and Disease," says, " Salads ought to form 

 an important article of diet in every family. The 

 salad ought to be dressed by one of the daughters of 

 the house after she has dressed herself for dinner, 

 singing, with her clean cool fingers, sharp silver 

 knife, and wooden spoon — 



" Weaving spiders, come not here : 



Hence, you long-legged spinners, hence ; 

 Beetles black, approach not near ; 

 Worms nor snails, do no offence. " 



The purity of the salad-bowl is also of great im- 

 portance. In the days of the Tudors the cooks were 

 accustomed to mix their salads in a silver saladier, or 

 some other vessel of metal which was affected by the 

 chemical action of the acids so composing the mix- 

 ture, and must have proved deleterious to those who 

 partook of it. Evelyn, the great reformer in the art 

 of salad-making in those days, says, the proper 

 material for the salad-bowl should be porcelain, or of 

 Holland delf-ware. We find in the writings of our 



old poets and dramatists allusions to salads, as is 

 shown in the following conversation between Lafeu 

 and the Clown in " All's Well that Ends Well ":— 



"Lafeu. 'Twas a good lady, 'twas a good lady; 

 we may pick a thousand salads, ere we light on such 

 another herb. 



Clown. Indeed, sir, she was the sweet marjoram 

 of the salad, or rather herb of grace. 



Lafeu. They are not salad herbs, you know, they 

 are nose herbs. 



Clown. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir ; I 

 have not much skill in grass." 



The author of the " Book about the Table " states 

 that Poetry seized the dish to use it as an emblem of 

 vernal freshness and greenness. 



Shakespeare's Cleopatra says — 



" My salad days, 

 When I was green in judgment." 



Our forefathers were accustomed to introduce the 

 salad into some of their wise and pithy sayings, for 

 among our English proverbs we find the following : — 



"A fool can pick a sallet as well as a wise man." 

 "He would live for aye, must eat sallet in May." 



The following is a translation of a Spanish proverb r 

 " Four persons are wanted to make a good salad. 

 A spendthrift for oil, a miser for vinegar, a coun- 

 selor for salt, and a madman to stir all up." 



Dr. Doran, in his "Table Traits," tells us of a 

 certain Frenchman who made his fortune by making 

 salads for the aristocracy of England. Chevalier 

 d'Albignac, one of the refugees which the great 

 Revolution had cast on our hospitable shores, 

 where he, like many of his unfortunate countrymen, 

 contrived to subsist on a small pittance allowed him 

 by the English Government, was one day dining with 

 an affluent friend in the coffee-room of a fashionable 

 hotel ; he took upon himself to make a salad, and 

 the way he handled and mixed the preparation at- 

 tracted the attention of a young nobleman who was- 

 dining with another party in the same room. The 

 nobleman approached the foreigner, and politely 

 entreated him to mix a salad, French fashion, for 

 his table. M. d'Albignac consented, and made such 

 a one that put the four gentlemen into a state of un- 

 controllable ecstasy. His complaisance and com- 

 municativeness to the young nobleman and his 

 friends had agreeable results, as they did not let the 

 poor Frenchman depart without slipping into his 

 hand a golden fee. A few days after M. d'Albignac 

 received a letter from a certain lord, politely request- 

 ing him to repair to his house in Grosvenor-square 

 for the purpose of mixing a salad for a dinner-party 

 he was about to give. The Chevalier obeyed the 

 summons, and after performing his mission returned 

 home, richer by ^"5 than when he went out. His 

 marvellous salads were soon the talk of the town. 

 The "gentleman salad-maker" was the hero of the 

 hour, and ladies of the highest fashion, we are told, 



