664 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton inveighs in a similar fashion against 
such seeds. ‘‘ We should not dream,”’ he says, “‘ of heedlessly 
placing on a delicate part of our skin a poultice of Cayenne, or 
pickles, or other biting substances; we should not sand-paper 
it several times a day quite unnecessarily ; we should not wash 
it, if exquisitely tender, with strong vinegar; yet all these 
things we practically do to our hapless stomachs, which are far 
more sensitive than any external portion of our anatomy. 
Strawberry jam, for example, has a sand-papering effect inside 
us, nothing being less digestible than the seeds of this fruit ; 
and for that matter all seeds are the same ; such seeds, and pips, 
absolutely and positively refuse to be ground up, or to become 
dissolved in passing through the system.” ‘‘ What,” asked 
Sydney Smith, when writing to Mrs. Baring (1834) from 
Weymouth Street, London, “ What is real piety? What is 
true attachment to the Church? How are these fine feelings 
best evinced ? The answer is plain,—by sending Strawberries 
to a clergyman.” 
The wild Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is the pro- 
genitor of our large, juicy, delicious cultivated fruit. Its small 
berries are more acid than those of the garden plants, and their 
sharp juice is an excellent cleanser of the teeth, dissolving away 
any incrustations of tartar thereupon without injuring the 
enamel. A medicinal tincture is made from the berries of the 
Woodland Strawberry, which serves to relieve nettlerash, or 
erysipelas, being also of help for a suffocative swelling of the 
swallowing throat. Old Fuller styles these diminutive acid 
berries “ toothsome to the palate if with Claret wine, or sweet 
cream ; and so plentiful in the County of Devon that a traveller 
may gather them sitting on horseback in their hollow highways ; 
they delight to grow on the north side of a bank, and are great 
coolers.” 
“Ipsa tuis maribus sylvestri nata sub umbra 
Mollia fraga leges.” (Says Ovid). 
It should be thoughtfully noted that the human mouth is a 
very active germ incubator by its conditions, which are highly 
favourable for bacterial growth, viz., the temperature (about 
98° Fahrenheit), with free access of air, and abundance of culture 
media in fragments of food, cast-off skin cells, saliva, exudations 
from the gums, and decayed dentine. Thus it is that very many 
