GARLIC. 327 
The Romans diverted themselves with fights between the male 
birds pitted one against another; and it was with quails of the 
same species the Israelites were fed of old in the wilderness, 
and became plague-stricken for their greed. ‘ And there went 
forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, 
and let them fall by the camp, as it were two cubits high upon 
the face of the earth. And the people stood up all that day, 
and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the 
quails, and they spread them all abroad for themselves round 
about the camp. And while the flesh was yet between their 
teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled 
against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very 
great plague; and he called the name of that place Kibroth- 
hattaavah (the graves of the greedy), because there they buried 
the people that lusted.” The ancient Romans feared quails 
because supposed to cause epileptic fits; but these birds are 
said to have cured Hercules of epilepsy. 
GARLIC. 
ALLIUM sativum, or garlic, a bulb of strong oniony odour, and 
pungent taste, consists in fact of numerous bulblets known 
technically as “cloves,” and grouped together within one 
whitish integument, or capsule, which holds them as it were 
in a sac. An essential oil of garlic, as obtained by distillation 
with water, is a sulphide of the radical allyl, to which most of 
the special properties of garlic are due. This oil contains much 
sulphur, but no oxygen; all the volatile oils of the onion and 
cabbage tribe are sulphurised. Dumas has described the very 
air of Southern France, particularly of Provence, as pe 
with the refined essence of this mystically attractive bulb; but 
on the other hand Dr. King Chambers writes, “ Another article 
of cuisine that offends the bowels of unused Britons when abroad 
only procurable animal food without garlic in it. Flatulence 
re ae are the frequent results. Bouilli, with its 
accompaniments of mustard sauce, and water melon, is the 
safest resource, and not an unpleasant one aiter a little 
education.” Sydney Smith, writing to Lady Holland, his 
daughter, January, 1836, said, “ Mrs. Sydney and I have been 
