HERBS. 389 
and herbs only, but men themselves, and their conversations 
pleasant, and agreeable. But of this enough, and perhaps too 
much! lest while I write of salts and sallets, I appear myself 
insipid.” The sour taste of both Sorrel, and the garden Rhubarb, 
is due to oxalic acid, or rather to the acid oxalate of potash. 
In a gouty person who has lime in the blood, and humours, 
a combination between it and the Sorrel, or Rhubarb acid, takes 
place of an irritating character, leading to the formation of 
oxalate of lime (dumb-bell) crystals, which are voided by the 
kidneys in the urine. At the same time considerable disturbance 
of the general health takes place. Dr. Prout says he has 
seen well-marked instances in which an oxalate of lime kidney 
attack has followed the use of Garden Rhubarb in a tart, or 
pudding, likewise of Sorrel in a salad, particularly when at 
the same time the patient has been drinking hard water. But 
chemists explain that oxalates may be excreted in the urine 
without having necessarily been a constituent, as such, of 
vegetable or other foods taken at table; seeing that citric, 
malic, and other organic acids which are found distributed 
throughout the vegetable world are liable to chemical conver- 
sion into oxalic acid through a fermentation, or perverted 
digestion. The term “Sorrel Sops” was given to a fever-drink 
in the sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. In Ireland fresh 
Sorrel leaves are eaten with fish, and other alkalescent foods. 
Applied externally, the bruised leaves will purify foul ulcers. 
When dried the root has the singular property of 
imparting a fine red colour to boiling water; and it is therefore 
used in France for making barley-water look like red wine, 
when the object is to avoid giving anything of a vinous 
nature to the sick person. Sorrel leaves form by their acidity 
a capital resolvent dressing for taking with stewed lamb, veal, 
or sweetbread. The Purslane, related to the Portulaccas 
of Brazil, is used in equal proportion with Sorrel for making 
that excellent milk soup, bonne femme. For “Sorrel soup ” 
(Potage a [’Oiselle, Cordon Rouge), wash, and pick the Sorrel, 
and cut it into fine shreds ; melt the proper quantity of butter 
in a stewpan ; peel, and slice enough onions, and carrots; dry 
the vegetables, and put them into the stewpan as soon as the 
butter is hot ; stir over a brisk fire for about five minutes, taking 
care not to let the vegetables burn. Now add some flour, mix 
well, and moisten with the milk previously boiled, also a good 
