656 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
(and their abundant oil,) such as are now imported into England, 
bottled when green, and unripe, and before the oil has become 
at all fully produced; the ripe fruit is of a dark colour, and 
forms a capital addition to the bread eaten by husbandmen in 
the Holy Land. Olive Oil was almost as important as honey in 
ancient cookery. The tree which produces it will live for a 
thousand years, bearing fruit all the time ; one such tree, with 
gnarled trunk, twisted, and contorted into a most venerable 
appearance, growing near Mentone, is said to have been planted 
by Julius Cesar. Spanish Olives are imported in small barrels. 
The Oil (see “* Oils”’) is an essential ingredient for salads, and 
admirable for cooking purposes. In Portugal they refuse to 
gather the Olives till just beginning to turn purple, when they 
are bitter, and less digestible. French Olives are tasteless for 
cooking uses, though piquant of themselves when gathered 
young, and small. Spanish Olives, being soft, pulpy, free from 
sugar, and rich in vegetable oil, are good for diabetic persons. 
This oil is used in some parts of Europe for preventing the 
poisonous effects of vipers’ bites, both locally, and internally. 
The ancient treatment of scorpions’ stings was to anoint the 
wounds with the oil got from these creatures, as extracted by 
frying. A teaspoonful of Olive Oil is sufficient for an infant 
as an easy laxative. 
SPINACH. 
THE Lapathum hortense, or Spinach, (of the Goosefoot tribe), as 
grown in our kitchen gardens, is actually a Persian plant which 
was brought to England during the sixteenth century ; its spiny 
leaves have given it the name it bears, “‘ Spinage,” being the more 
correct spelling. The plant contains salts of potash abundantly. 
It is a light vegetable, of which the thick, succulent leaves are 
cooked, and eaten, being readily digested, and somewhat 
Jaxative. It is richer in iron than the yolk of egg, which in its 
turn contains more thereof than lean beef does. ‘‘ Spinach,” 
says Evelyn, “if crude, the oft’ner kept out of sallets the 
better; but its juice, when produced by boiling the leaves 
without adding any water, is a wholesome drink, and improves 
the complexion. What is known as the pigment (“ Spinage 
Green”’), as used for colouring, is the freshly expressed juice 
of this plant, or its precipitate. An excellent way of cooking 
