LINSEED. 427 
‘‘ They could then make an honest meal, and dine upon a sallet, 
without so much as a grain of exotic spice.” 
“‘See now how pale they look, how wretchedly 
With yesterday’s witrolaidsas disturbed they be; 
Nor body only suff’ring, but the mind, 
That nobler part,—dull, and depress’d we find.” 
Lettuce, after wine, says Horace, swims in the soured 
stomach : 
** Nam lactuca innatat acri 
Post vinum stomacho.”’ 
That excellent Emperor, Tacitus, used to say of Lettuce that 
he did ‘‘ swmmum se mercari,’”? when he ate of them, and call’d 
it a sumptuous feast, with a sallet, and a single pullet; which 
was usually all the flesh-meat that sober prince ate of; whilst 
Maximinus (a professed enemy to salad), is reported to have 
“searce been satisfy’d with sixty pounds of flesh, and drink 
proportionable.” Boiled Lettuce (in its own water only) has 
a very delicate flavour, being considered by some persons superior 
even to asparagus. Take a large, well-grown Lettuce, and wash 
it thoroughly in strong salt and water to remove insects, then 
rinse it well out in fresh water, and gently stew it for ten or 
fifteen minutes. Serve on buttered toast, with a light sprinkling 
of pepper and salt. Sorrel soup (bonne femme) is to be made 
also with Lettuces. Leaves of Cabbage Lettuces are bruised 
with the sorrel in butter, treated with bouillon, and a liaison of 
egg-yolk, butter, sugar, and browned gelatinous gravy. The 
sorrel and lettuce must be present in about equal quantities ;. 
less than this of sorrel would be useless. 
LINSEED. 
A DEMULCENT drink made from Linseed, the seeds of flax, is 
most helpful against catarrhal soreness of the chest, with irrita- 
ting hard cough. These seeds are very rich in oil, containing 
nearly four ounces in every pound of the seed, together with 
gum, acetic acid, acetate of potash, and muriate of potash. A 
Linseed tea may be concocted from the ground seed with cold 
water, one ounce to the tumblerful, steeped all night, and then 
poured off (after being stirred) in the morning, and presently 
allowed to settle. This cold tea is sustaining for consumptive 
