366 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
medicines had failed to give him sleep ; as likewise for our present 
King, when Prince of Wales, at the time of his severe attack of 
typhoid fever (1871), it being then used in conjunction with a 
most grateful draught of ale which had been previously withheld. 
The young tops of the Hop plant, if gathered in the spring, and 
boiled, may be eaten as asparagus; they were formerly brought 
to market tied up in small bundles for table use. The Hop is 
tonic, and acts on the kidneys, besides having antiseptic 
properties. “ Les jets de houblon” (says T Art Culinaire) are 
the spring vegetable par excellence in Belgium ; the young sprouts 
are boiled in salted water, with a squeeze of lemon-juice, and 
served “aw beurre,” or “i la créme.” A poached egg is the 
unfailing accompaniment: you cannot realize the one without 
the other. Hops, and poached eggs, are the Orestes and 
Pylades of the Belgian cuisine. If boiled in water, with a little 
salt, pepper, and vinegar, Hop sprigs, tips, or points, make a 
nice, wholesome salad when cold. For the severe morning 
sickness of pregnant women, to drink freely of Hop tea (an ounce 
of the Hops to a pint of boiling water) will afford great relief ; 
or a glass of bitter ale will ward off the attacks. 
In Norfolk scarcely a cottage garden can be found without 
its Horehound corner, and Horehound beer is commonly drunk 
there by the natives. Again, Candied Horehound is a sweetmeat 
made by our confectioners from the fresh plant, by boiling it 
down until the juice is extracted, and then adding sugar before 
boiling this again till it has become thick enough of consistence 
to be poured into a paper case, and to be cut into squares when 
sufficiently cool. The plant White Horehound (Marrubium) 
is found growing in waste places, or is cultivated in the herb 
garden, being of popular use for coughs, and colds. It has a 
musky odour, and a bitter taste, affording chemically a fragrant 
volatile oil, a bitter extractive, “ marrubin,” and gallic acid. 
Its preparations are specially useful for coughs accompanied 
with copious thick phlegm; also for chronic bronchial asthma. 
Gerarde has said: “ Syrup made from the greene, fresh leaves, 
with sugar, is a most singular remedy against the cough, and 
wheezing of the lungs. It doth wonderfully, and above credit, 
ease such as have been long sicke of any consumption of the 
lungs, as hath been often proved by the learned physicians of 
our London College.” 
“Just within recent times,” according to Albert Broadbent, 
