378 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
or Hythe, the harbour to which garlic, and other such seasonings 
were brought. Hard by was the church of St. James, who was 
often represented as a Pilgrim, and whose device in that capacity, 
a scallop-shell, appears above the church porch. Hence the 
adoption of this scallop-shell as a trade-mark of the Keen firm. 
Actual scallop-shells, or metallic imitations of them, were 
formerly used as scoops by retail dealers in Mustard and spices ; 
it is even said that some specimens of these articles are still to 
be found in old-fashioned shops kept in out-of-the-way places. 
Mustard flour is an infallible antiseptic, and sterilizing agent, 
besides being a capital deodorizer. Black Mustard seed, when 
bruised, develops a very active pungent principle, with a 
powerful penetrating odour which makes the eyes water; this 
principle contains sulphur abundantly. Mustard flour being such 
a Teady deodorizer, if moistened with a little water into a paste 
has the remarkable property of dispelling the odours of musk, 
camphor, and the foetid gum resins — turpentine, creosote, 
asafetida, and such like. “ Mustard—the roguish Mustard, 
dangerous to the nose ”—as John Swan has taught in Speculum 
Mundi (1645) “is marvellous good for the voice of she who 
would sing clear; but it hath, moreover, another good propertie 
which must not be forgotten :— ; 
“She that hath hap a husband had to burie, 
And is therefore in heart no sad but merrie : 
Yet if in shew good manners she would keep, 
Onyons and mustard seed will make her weep.” 
** Flamingoes, and Mustard both bite,” said the Duchess (Alice 
in Wonderland), and the moral is, “ Birds of a feather flock 
together.” “Only, Mustard isn’t a bird,” Alice remarked ; 
“it’s a mineral, I think,” said Alice. “ Of course it is,” said the 
Duchess; ‘“ there’s a large Mustard mine near here, and the 
moral of it is ‘the more there is of mine, the less there is of 
yours.’” Although Mustard at table invariably flanks the 
“roast beef of old England” which gives national strength, 
and sinew, yet according to a familiar nursery rhyme it is 
credited with opposite effects by children, who taunt a craven 
playmate as :— 
“ Cowardy, cowardy custard, 
Who ate his mother’s mustard.” 
The white Mustard is best known to us as produced for its young 
