APPENDIX. 20-' 



Grate, strain, and drj- slowly in the sun, and yon have a starch for 

 puddings or any other purpose for which starch has demand in the 

 market. Gluten being a nerve -food, indispensable to health and 

 vigour of both body and mind, the great abundance of it in the 

 Cassada — nearly three times as much as in wheat flour— the Cassada 

 is pre-eminentl}^ " the staff of life," since there is no way by which 

 its abundance of gluten can be wasted in preparation, as in wheat. 

 There is a Providence here wliich shapes ends, since this chief food 

 for tropical I'egions has so much nerve-supplying elements and so 

 little of the heating elements, as compared with food in colder 

 climates. 



But this abundant gluten, as compared with other foods for the 

 sick, pre-eminently fits it for the sick-room, and especiaUy so when 

 we wish to increase strength instead of heat, and where any 

 irritating and indigestible food-substances are forbidden. It requires 

 longer boiling than starchy foods in general, and may be usel in 

 the iomi of thin mucilage or demulcent, or in a more solid form with 

 sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg or other aromatics. I suspect that, as 

 physicians , we should make immense gain in I'estoring from prostrat- 

 ing sicknesses by using more of this eligible substance in place of so 

 much meat slops, and especially so in cases complicated with more or 

 less gastric irritation . Meat foods must be exclnded from the 

 stomach in gastric ulcer. Why not, then, fall back upon this highly 

 nitrogenous food for supporting the strength ? Having so large 

 a proportion of glnten over the starch, it offers immense advantages 

 over wheaten and other bread in cases of diabetes where any starch 

 at all is allowable. (By E. Chenenj, M.D,, of Boston, ''The Times 



and Hegister^'' April 5th, p. 318.) 



In the Cox's Bazar district, Bengal, the tuberous roots are used 

 by the Maghs in the preparation of a spirit. 



A false Kamala- 



sam 



Mr. Henry G. Greenish has examined a 

 Bombay, and found it to have been carelessly collected, and mixed 

 with badly preserved safflower and other extraneous matter, and 

 reduced to coarse powder. {Phann. Jonrn., Mnrrli 11th, 1.>D3.) 



