346 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
“exquisite as the food was, did Heliogabalus” (as Smollett 
relates, in Peregrine Pickle) “regale his hounds.” Macaulay 
has said in his essay about Horace Walpole: “ His writings 
rank as high among the delicacies of intellectual epicures as the 
Strasburg pies among the dishes described in the Almanach des 
Gourmands. But as the Paté de foie gras owes its excellence 
to the diseases of the wretched animal which furnishes it, and 
would be good for nothing if it were not made of livers preeter- 
naturally swollen, so none but an unhealthy, and disorganized 
mind could have produced such literary luxuries as the works 
of Walpole.” 
The Truffle (Zuber cibarium) is an edible tuber, of subterranean 
growth, found in the earth, especially beneath beech trees, and 
uprooted by dogs trained for the purpose; “the tubers have a 
heavy, rank, hercline smell, are of a chestnut colour, and are dis- 
covered not seldom in England.” The most famous field for the 
production of Truffles is the old Province of Perigord in France, 
these having a dark skin, and smelling of violets. Piedmontese 
Truffles suggest garlic ; those of Burgundy are a little resinous; 
the Neapolitan specimens are redolent of sulphur; and in the 
Gard department (France) they have an odour of musk. When 
once dug up Truffles soon lose their perfume, and aroma: 
therefore they are imported bedded in the very earth which 
produced them. At the sight of Truffles, or even the hearing 
their name, a proper French gastronomer is expected to go into 
ecstasies of delight, and admiration; he knows them as the 
sacrum sacrorum of epicures, the diamonds of the kitchen, and 
by other hyperbolical names. According to Dumas, the Truffle 
says, “ Eat me, and adore God.” The author of the Physiology 
of Taste ascribes to these tubers such effects as that “ they 
awaken amatory recollections, and, without being positively 
sexual excitants, they will under certain conditions make women 
more loving, and men more amiable.” Besides the fragrant 
principles which distinguish its several kinds, the Truffle contains 
cellulose, glucose, pectose, gum, and water ; in its ash phosphoric 
acid, and potash prevail, whilst a very little sulphuric acid may 
also be detected. The name “ Truffle” is derived from the 
Italian “ Tartufolo,” signifying he who hides, or. disguises 
himself. Truffles are in season from November to March. 
They are found under oak trees, the range of their area for 
growth being strictly limited to the area covered by the branches. 
