172 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
quite unknown. A series of enquiries among the doctors of 
Normandy (which is a great apple country, where Cider is the 
chief, if not the sole, drink) has established the fact that not a 
single case of the nature in question had been met with there 
throughout forty years; so that it may fairly be credited that 
the habitual use of natural unsweetened Cider serves to keep 
held in solution materials which are otherwise liable to be 
separated, and deposited in a sedimentary form by the kidneys. 
Again, Cider drinkers during epidemics of cholera have been 
found to singularly escape the disease, Cider being powerfully 
antiseptic because of its methyl-aldehyde. 
Nowhere is the subtle, time-honoured, fragrant perfume of 
the apple more noticeable than when its expressed juice is being 
wooed into Cider. There is something peculiarly national in 
the sweet, rich, fascinating scent, the very same as was inhaled 
by our ancestors far remote, and ‘‘ under the influence of which 
we can see the misty forms of Bard and Druid as they gave their 
blessing to the sacred apple tree. Again we get a romantic 
vision of fighting kings, and dauntless chieftains; beneath the 
shade of hoar apple trees Harold of England stands, and falls ; 
in the calm of orchard lawns by Avalon, the Island of Apples, 
sleeps Arthur—‘ Rex quondam, et Rex futurus.’ It was 
customary of old for apples to be blest by priests on July 25th; 
and in the Manual of the Church of Sarum a special form of ser- 
vice for this purpose is preserved. Furthermore it is now stated 
as an incontrovertible fact that cancer is almost a thing unknown 
among regular Cider drinkers. In Normandy fermented apple- 
juice is the general beverage of the people ; it is locally known 
as “* piquette,” being quite pure, and unsweetened, as the simple 
juice of the fruit diluted. But the doctors there denounce this 
particular liquor for rheumatic, or gouty persons. In Devonshire 
the countryfolk distil a coarse kind of spirit from Cider-dregs, 
calling this “ Still-liquors,” as locally reputed to be “ rare giide 
physic vur asses and bullicks; ’t’ath abin knawed tii cure tha 
boneshave (sciatica) in man; ’tiz cabbical stiiff tii zettee up 
"pon a cold night.” 
* But,” writes Evelyn (1729), “ to give Cider its true estimation, 
besides that it costs no fuel to brew it, and that the labour is 
but once a year, it is good of a thousand kinds, proper for the 
cure of many diseases, a kind vehicle for any sanative vegetable, 
or other medical ingredients ; that of Pippins a specific for the 
