88 FLORA AND THALIA. 



" The root is to be washed hi water, and the fine 

 brown skin which covers it to be separated by means 

 of a small brush, dipping the roots in hot water, and 

 rubbing them with a coarse linen cloth ; when 

 cleansed, they are to be spread upon tin, and placed 

 in an oven heated as for bread ; there they are to 

 remain six or ten minutes, by which time they will 

 have lost their milky whiteness, and have acquired 

 a trasparency like horn, without any diminution of 

 bulk ; they are then to be removed, to dry and 

 harden in the air, which will require several days, 

 Saloop, considered as an article of diet, is extremely 

 nutritious, containing a great quantity of farinaceous 

 matter in a small bulk ; and hence it was thought 

 fit to constitute it a part of ships' provisions, to pre- 

 vent famine at sea; for it is asserted by Dr. Per- 

 cival that one ounce of this saloop, and the same 

 quantity of portable soup, dissolved in two quarts of 

 boiling water, will be sufficient sustenance for one 

 man a day. The Romans believed it to be the food 

 of the satyrs ; hence the name Orchis Satyrium. 



Class, Gy:vandria. Order, Diastdaia. 



