198 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
had a curative reputation. “Take a good handful of Violet 
leaves, and as ‘much groundsel, of chickweed and mallows half 
a handful; cut all these with a knife, and so seeth them well in 
conduit water, and thicken it with barlie meal, being finely 
sifted, and so roule it sure, and lay it to the swelled place, and 
shift it twice a day.” It has been recently reported that a 
lady of title is grateful for cure from cancer through the applica- 
tion of Violet leaves; the disease was in her throat, and so 
advanced that the case seemed hopeless, there being complete 
inability to swallow food. A cold infusion of the green leaves 
was kept constantly applied outside her throat on a compress, 
this being frequently changed afresh. At least a hundred years 
ago Violet leaves were held to be curative of the same dire 
disease. 
Reverting to the Sweet Violet, its petals are kept candied by 
confectioners as a pleasant and attractive sweetmeat; also 
Violet jelly, and Violet fritters are made by the cook. In the 
fourteenth century Sweet Violets were among the ingredients 
commended for stuffing a roast hare. These perfumed flowers 
were formerly worn as amulets, or charms. The Violet was the 
symbolic flower of Athens; in old Pagan days it was dedicated 
to Venus, but in modern iolk-lore it is devoted to the Virgin 
Mary. A noted tamer of rattle-snakes died recently in America, 
having been accustomed to supply the zoological collections, 
and museums with “rattlers” throughout the world. He had 
been bitten scores of times, whilst his infallible cure was a poultice 
of Violet leaves. “I never saw anybody that looked stupider 
than you do,” said a Violet (to Alice, Through the Looking-glass), 
so suddenly that Alice quite jumped, for it hadn’t spoken before. 
“ Hold your tongue,” cried the Tiger Lily ; “as if you ever saw 
anybody : you keep your head under the leaves, and snore away 
there till you no more know what’s going on in the world than 
if you were a bud!” The leading chemists now manufacture 
a liquid extract of fresh wild Violets from the flowers, and the 
leaves 
COOKERY. 
Tue French ideal of a perfect cook is that he shall exactly 
understand the nature and properties of the substances which 
he employs, so that he may correct, or improve, such aliments 
_ 8 nature presents in a raw state. He must have a sound head, 
