CURRY. 231 
In Manchester sandwiches made with these Currants, and 
known as Eccles Cakes, are very popular. When Alice (in 
Wonderland) had dwindled down alarmingly to a diminutive 
stature, she found a little glass box lying under the table of 
the Rabbits’ hole Hall, and containing a very small cake, on 
which the words “ Eat me ” were beautifully marked in Currants. 
She ate a little bit, and then said anxiously to herself, “‘ Which 
way ? which way?” ‘‘Curioser, and curioser,” cried Alice ; 
“now I’m opening out like the largest telescope that ever was.” 
The small Corinthian Raisins, or “‘ Currants,’ were formerly 
known as “‘ Passule Minores” ; they have a vinous odour, and 
a sweet, acidulous taste; the pulp is demulcent, but the skin 
is hard, wrinkled, and seldom completely digested. In a certain 
large lunatic asylum, where the patients partook commonly of 
Currant buns, the tough fruit skins, almost unchanged by any 
digestive process, were found by the bushel at the bottom of 
the washing-tub in which the dirty linen had been put to soak. 
“ Eleven million bacteria,” says a German scientist, “ inhabit 
the skins of every half pound of Currants. It would be no small 
job to remove the skin from each Currant in accordance with 
the latest recommendation of science, but much better to work 
half a day over a saucerful than be dead the rest of one’s life ! 
Similarly, too, by the time Tomatoes are peeled to get rid of the 
surface bacteria, and seeded to avoid the danger of appendicitis, 
there won’t be much left, to be sure; but then what remains 
will at least be healthful.’ From these Currants a sweet, oily 
kind of wine is made in Greece. 
CURRY. 
By Curry we understand a condimentary compound made of 
such spices (powdered) as Capsicum, Coriander, Ginger, Caraway, 
Cardamom seeds, Cassia, Chillies, Cloves, Cubebs, Cumin-fruit 
lobes, Fennel, Garlic, Mace, Mustard, Pepper, Nutmeg, Allspice, 
Fenugreek, and Turmeric resin in powder. Curry as a dish is 
of immemorial use in India. The word is derived from a native 
term ‘“ Kari,” used by the natives to denote the leaf of a plant 
belonging to the Orange tribe, Murraya exotica. This leaf always 
forms an integral part of the Tamil Curries. Other authorities 
declare that the word Kari signifies a relish, or sauce, or even the 
“‘ bazaar” where spices are bought. In India there are at least 
