576 MEALS MEDICINAL. 
flour,’ as old-fashioned housewives call it, “lying in the dish, 
perfectly steamed, diffusing the softest, subtlest aroma, ready 
to crumble, all but to melt, so soon as it is touched. Recall 
the gust, and its after-gust, blending so consummately with that 
of the joint, hot, or cold. Then think of this same Potato 
cooked in any other way, and what sadness will come upon you! 
As for ‘ pommes de terre sautés, ‘ pommes de terre Lyonnaise,’ 
‘pommes de terre frites, can any of these compare with the 
‘plain ball of flour’ for a moment?” ‘ The roots” (tubers), 
says Gerarde, “ were forbidden in Burgundy, for that they were 
persuaded the too frequent use of them causeth the leprosie.”’ 
But it is now believed that the Potato has had much to do with 
banishing leprosy from England. The said affliction has become 
restricted to countries where the Potato is not grown. The 
peel, or rind, of a Potato contains the poisonous substance known 
as “solanin,” which is dissipated, and rendered inert therein 
when the whole unpeeled Potato is boiled, baked, or steamed ; 
also dry heat serves to destroy it. Stupes of hot Potato-water 
obtained in this way are of external service in some forms of 
painful rheumatism. To make a decoction for such purpose, 
boil one pound of Potatoes in their coats, but each divided into 
four quarters, in two pints of water slowly down to one pint; 
then foment the swollen, and tender parts with this decoction 
as hot as it can be borne. Puerile as it may seem, the carriage 
of a small raw potato in the trouser’s pocket, or beneath the 
breast of a woman’s dress, has been often found to prevent 
rheumatism in a person predisposed thereto,—probably in a 
measure because of the sulphur which is present in the tuber, 
and of the narcotic principles present in the peel. Ladies in 
former times had their dresses supplied with special little bags, 
or pockets, in which to carry one, or more small, raw Potatoes 
about their person, for avoiding rheumatism. If peeled, and 
pounded in a mortar, uncooked Potatoes applied cold make a 
very soothing cataplasm to parts which have been scalded, or 
burnt. These tubers are composed mainly of starch, which 
as a food affords elements for fatness, and for maintaining the 
animal warmth of the body; but the proportion of muscle- 
forming nourishment is but small; so that in this respect as much 
as ten and a half pounds of the tubers are required to equal one 
pound of butcher’s meat as to proteid value. The Irish believe 
that an abundant Potato diet promotes fertility. 
