446 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
same time this vinegar would altogether prevent any salivary 
action on the bread taken with the salad. The difficulty may 
not be a matter of much moment to a person with strong digestive 
powers, who has abundant digestive resources: but others who 
are of weak digestive capabilities, must be sparing in their use 
of such vinegar in salads, and other sour dishes, when bread or 
potatoes accompany the same, or when a starchy pudding 
follows. One compensating result of Vinegar on the fibre of 
meat, and the tough cellulose of vegetables, is its softening action 
thereupon. From the Arcana Fairfariana, of three centuries 
back, as already quoted, we learn “ how to quench thirst when 
drink is improper.” “ Pour vinegar into the palm of the hand, 
and sniff it up into the nostrils, and wash the mouth with the 
same (though not swallowing any) ; "tis inconceivable how much 
it will allay thirst.” By a strange misprint, in an edition of the 
Bible, published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, in 1717, the 
heading of the “ Parable of the Vineyard,” in St. Luke’s gospel, 
chapter xx, is made to read, * Parable of the Vinegar.”’ 
Because of its being a product of acid fermentation outside the 
body, Vinegar will sometimes serve to correct the sour fermenta- 
tion which occurs from imperfect digestion of swallowed foods, 
such as sugars, starches, and melted fats, by giving a teaspoonful 
of the pure Malt product, by itself, or with an equal quantity 
of cold water. This praceeding may be said to be adopted on 
the principle of “ setting a thief to catch a thief.” Acetic acid, 
as sometimes substituted for the vinegar of fermentation, is 
obtained by the oxidization of alcohol, and the distillation of 
organic matters in hermetically-sealed vessels. This acid is 
inflammable, so that great caution is needed when adding it 
to boiling sugar; it is to be used only in small quantities. 
“ Before proceeding to the Legacy Duty Office about proving 
the will of his late wife, Mr. Weller, senior, and his fellow coach- 
men, as witnesses, bethought themselves of having a drop of 
beer, and a little bit of cold beef, or a oyster. These viands were 
promptly produced, and the luncheon was done ample justice 
to. If one individual evinced greater powers than another it 
was the coachman with the hoarse voice, who took an imperial 
pint of vinegar with his oysters, and did not betray the least 
emotion ” (Pickwick). Although the acetic acid which vinegat 
contains is ultimately oxidized in the body, with a production 
of alkaline compounds, yet still there is reason to believe, that 
