606 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
Both it, and the Tapioca, as culinary esculents confer animal 
warmth by their abundant starch, over 86 per cent being com- 
prised in the former grain; likewise Arrowroot consists chiefly 
of starch (about 82 per cent). These several foods supply in 
an agreeable form starch (not eatable by itself) which becomes 
completely absorbed within the intestines, so that on this account 
they are specially valuable. If required as a complete nutriment 
in health, they must be accompanied by such proteids as exist 
in light animal food, together with some fat. 
“‘ There was an old man of Iago, 
Whose food was restricted to Sago : 
Oh! how he did jump 
When the Doctor said plump, 
‘To a roast leg of mutton you may go.’ ” 
“Tamdudum senior quidam de rure Tobagus 
Invito madidas carpserat ore dapes : 
Sed medicus tandem—non injucunda locutus— 
* Asse, dixit, oves sunt tibi cena, senex.”’ 
Sago is of particular service as helping to nourish infirm 
old persons, and children. The Indians reserve their finest Sago 
for such cases, and for invalids. Its fecula, washed from the 
plentiful pith, is very demulcent, and more digestible than the 
starch of rice. Such fecula never ferments in the stomach, and 
is very suitable for patients liable to waste because of a feverish 
state of body. Portland Sago, an English variety, is a farina 
extracted from the corm, or tuber, of our hedgerow Arum 
maculatum (“lords, and ladies”), or Wake-robin, a familiar 
wayside plant. This fecula was formerly prepared largely 
therefrom in the Island of Portland. To make a light restorative 
soup which never disagrees, or ferments in the stomach: “ Boil 
half an ounce of small Sago in a pint of home-made beef-tea, 
(or of water in which a dessertspoonful of Liebig’s meat extract 
is dissolved), until it is clear, then add half a pint of milk, with 
a little seasoning ; boil up, and pour it over the beaten-up yolk 
of an egg in a bow1; stir, and serve.” The late Queen Victoria 
was particularly fond of Sago pudding, with which she took 
powdered cinnamon as a condiment. Similarly the late Lord 
Tennyson had a penchant for rice pudding. 
For a Sago soufilé: “Take one pint of new milk, two and a 
half ounces of butter, an ounce and a half of sugar, two ounces 
of pearl Sago, an ounce and a half of blanched almonds (chopped 
very fine); mix all these together, and put over the fire, cooking 
