564 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
ingredient being Cassareep (with dried fish, or flesh, and veget- 
ables), which is chiefly the young green pods of the okra, and 
Chillies ; or the said dish is made of tripe shredded, and stewed, 
to the liquor of which small balls of dough are added, together 
with a high seasoning of Pepper. This Cassareep, growing 
abundantly in the West Indies, produces large tubers on its 
roots which are the source of our tapioca. The name given to 
such roots is Jatropha manthot, as derived from the Greek words 
Tatron-phago, ““I eat a cure,” expressing the healing, and 
nutritious properties of this genus. An extract of the “‘ Cassa- 
reep’’ root furnishes the Pepperpot now mentioned. The 
tubers yield a pulp, a starch, and a milky juice. When the 
starch, or flour, of the roots is dried on thin hot plates, it con- 
stitutes the tapioca of our culinary use. The milky juice is 
poisonous with prussic acid whilst fresh, but loses its harmful 
effects after it has been expressed for thirty-six hours, or if it 
is boiled. When this juice is condensed by heat to a treacle-like 
extract it becomes Cassareep, being a brown, slightly sweet, 
aromatic, thick liquid, which will communicate a remarkably 
savoury taste to meat gravies, particularly in the making of 
Pepperpot. It should be used in drops, and serves as a capital 
digestive addition to meat pies. With beef, veal, fowl, rabbit, 
kidneys, and their pies, the judicious use of Cassareep effects 
a decided improvement by employing from a teaspoonful to 
a tablespoonful. The extract must be kept cool, as it is liable 
to ferment. Cayenne in smaller quantities, whether by 
infusion in boiling water as a tea, or in the tincture, serves 
admirably to relieve dragging pains in the loins through a sluggish 
action of the kidneys. For incipient quinsy, before the tonsillar 
abscess breaks, a basin of hot gruel well seasoned with Cayenne 
Pepper, if taken soon enough, will often give ease, and resolve 
the swelling. In the early part of the last century a medicine 
oi Capsicum powder compounded with table salt was famous 
for curing a putrid sore throat. Two dessertspoonfuls of small 
red Chillies (powdered), or three of ordinary Cayenne Pepper | 
were beaten together with two dessertspoonfuls of fine salt 
into a paste, half a pint of boiling water being next added ; 
then the liquor was strained off when cold, and half a pint of 
very sharp vinegar was mixed with it; One tablespoonful of 
this mixture was the dose for an adult every half-hour, or every 
hour, being diluted with more water if found to be too strong. 
