310 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
being most varied in form, and character. When ripe they are 
cooling, and slightly laxative, especially the French fruit, which 
is dried, and bottled for dessert. The garden fruit contains less 
sugar than cherries, but a large quantity of gelatinizing pectose. 
Unripe Plums will provoke severe diarrhcea. 
From France has come the Green Gage, having been brought 
to England from the Monastery of La Grande Chartreuse about 
the middle of the eighteenth century by the Reverend John 
Gage, of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, and hence was derived its 
name. Culpeper said: “ All Plumbs are under Venus, and are 
like women—some better, some worse.” Mr. Walter Shandy, 
the father of Tristram (Sterne), ‘ when having to take his wife 
to London for her lying-in, was sadly vexed, more by the 
provoking time of the year than by everything else, this being 
towards the end of September, when his wall-fruit, and Green 
Gages especially, (in which he was very curious), were just ready 
for pulling! Had he been whistled up to London in any other 
month of the whole year, he should not have said three words 
about it.” There are also the Golden Gage, and the Transparent 
Gage, each of these being sweet, luscious, and preventive of 
gout by their fruit acids, which become alkaline presently in the 
blood. It should have been stated above that Red Currant 
jelly, being antiseptic, will, if applied externally immediately 
after a burn, ease the pain, and prevent inflammation, or the 
formation of blisters. 
Again, the Gooseberry (Ribes grossularia) contains citric acid, 
pectose, sugar, and mineral matters; the pectose under heat 
making a capital jelly of this fruit. The juice was said of old 
to “cure all inflammations”; it is sub-acid when the Goose- 
berries are green, and is corrective of putrescent foods, such as 
mackerel, or goose. The French name for Gooseberry sauce is 
“uu PAnglaise; aux groseilles «« Maquereux.”’ From the Red 
Gooseberry may be prepared an excellent light jelly, which is 
of service to sedentary, plethoric, and bilious subjects. The 
Yellow Gooseberry is richer, and more vinous of taste, suiting 
admirably for Gooseberry wine. ‘‘ Gooseberry fool’’ consists 
of the unripe green fruit fowlé (crushed, or beaten up), with 
cream, or milk. In Devon the rustics call Gooseberries 
“ Deberries,” and in Sussex they are familiarly known as 
“* Goosegogs.” The Scotch name this fruit when ripe “ Honey- 
blobs.” In Ramsay’s Scottish Life and Character, we read: 
