Nutrition Investigations. 257 



Besides such lichens and algae, and the bark of trees, various tubers 

 are used as food for man. In Japan, the tubers of Hydrosme rivieri 

 (Conophallus Konjaku) are extracted with lime water, and the result- 

 ing gelatinous mass is cut into small cakes. These, cooked with 

 "shoyu'' or Soy-bean sauce form a common article of diet. The 

 tubers of many species of Orchis and Eulophia, native to Turkey, the 

 Caucasus, Asia Minor and the greater part of Central and Southern 

 Europe, furnish a food material known as Salep. The small ovoid, 

 oblong or palmate tubers are decorticated, washed, heated till horny 

 and semi-transparent, and finally dried. An abundant mucilaginous 

 extract is obtained by macerating the bulbs in water. Frequently 

 the tubers are ground to powder, and the powder used like sago or 

 tapioca. Royal salep, said to be used as food in Afghanistan, is pre- 

 pared from Allium Macleanii. A former instructor in the American 

 College for Girls, in Constantinople, reports that salep is a very com- 

 mon article of diet in Turkey. It is sold in the markets in powdered 

 form, and is made into a sort of sweetened gruel with milk. Not only 

 is it used as a warm drink in the household, much as we use cocoa or 

 chocolate, but it is also sold in the streets by venders, who either 

 stand in booths along the way, or go about carrying huge brass urns 

 strapped to their shoulders, clinking their cups and calling " Taze- 

 Sahlep!"' It is especially popular in districts of the city where peo- 

 ple work late at night. In the month of Ramazon, the time of all-day 

 fasting, hot salep finds a ready sale at night. It is no uncommon 

 thing to see the workman standing with his salep cup in hand, waiting 

 for the firing of the sunset cannon. 



In spite of the fact that there have been almost no scientific inves- 

 tigations as to the digestibility of such mucilaginous plant substances 

 there seems to be a special virtue attached to mucilages in the popular 

 mind. The prevailing impression is shown in some of the following 

 remarkable statements. The United States Dispensatory, 1908, not 

 only says that the mucilaginous extract of slippery elm bark(L^/wM5 

 fulva, Michaux) is nutritious, but adds, "We are told that it has proved 

 srufficient for the support of life in the absence of other food." Of 

 salep Smith (25) says in his dictionary of economic plants: "It con- 

 tains a chemical substance called bassorin, which is said to contain 

 more nutritious matter than any other vegetable product, one ounce 

 per diem being sufficient to sustain a man"! The United States Dis- 

 pensatory also assures us that salep is "highly nutritious." Johnson 



ipresh salep. 



