218 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
be found only by persons of blameless life, and purity of heart ; 
when taken from the earth it is thought to utter a low musical 
cry. It is to be cooked ina special silver kettle, having a double 
interior, as an infusion, or with rice wine. The plant belongs 
to the order of Araliacee. From sixty to ninety grains of the 
dried root are a proper dose; it fills the heart with hilarity, 
- whilst its occasional use adds a decade of years to the ordinary 
span of human life.” 
CORN, INDIAN. 
(See Maize, Hominy, Samp, Osweco, Pop Corn, and CEREALINE.) 
Maize, or Indian Corn, which is produced over immense regions 
of the globe, though not grown in England, affords nutriment 
of a substantial kind more largely than wheat, our “ Staff of 
Life.” It also contains starch, sugar, fat, salts, and water. 
Maize has the additional advantage of being easily digested in 
the human body, so that altogether it makes a specially valuable 
food. ‘ With a diet of Indian Corn, bread, and pork,” says an 
American writer, “the workmen of this country are capable 
of enduring the greatest fatigue, and of performing the heaviest 
amount of physical labour.” But Maize is deficient in mineral 
salts, though richer in fat than any other cereal, except the oat. 
In Ireland, Maize is cooked as a porridge, or “ stir-about,’’ or, 
as the Americans call it, mush. 
Hominy, Samp, and Cerealine are starchy preparations of 
split maize, being of much nutritive value as such, and admirable 
for making puddings. Corn bread contains more nourishment 
than wheaten bread, and is a better diet for persons suffering 
from disease of the liver, or of the kidneys. Doctors will do 
well to advocate a more extensive use of Corn bread ; it is cheaper 
than wheaten bread, is readily prepared, and requires but little 
knowledge to make it. The starch of Maize (sold as corn-flour) 
is a manufactured article, and represents only the fat-forming, 
heat-producing constituents of the grain ; but because containing 
little, or no mineral matter it cannot sustain the solids of the 
body. Infants fed on this corn-flour grow up rickety ; it contains 
only about eighteen grains of proteid substance to the pound. 
The flour of Maize does not make good bread in the ordinary 
way: it has a harsh flavour, and the meal is heavy. A couple 
of teaspoonfuls of corn-flour mixed with two tablespoontuls of 
