540 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



life for a considerable length of 

 lime. An ounce of each of these 

 articles, with two quarts of boiling 

 water, will be sufficient subsistence 

 for a man a day ; and, as being a 

 mixture of animal and vegetable 

 food, must prove much more nou- 

 rishing than double the rjuantity of 

 rice cake, made by boiling rice in 

 water. This last, however, sailors 

 arc often obliged solely to subsist 

 upon for several months, especially 

 in voyages to Guinea, M'hen the 

 bread and flour arc exhausted, and 

 the beef and pork, having been 

 salted in hot countries, are become 

 unfit for use. But, as a wholesome 

 nourishment, rice is much inlerior 

 to salep. I digested several alimen- 

 tary mixtures prepared of mntton 

 and water, beat up with bread, sea 

 biscuit, salep, rice Hour, sago pow- 

 der, potatoc, old cheese, kc. in a 

 heat equal to that of the human 

 body. In forty-eight hours they 

 had all acquired a vinous smell, and 

 were in brisk fermentation, except 

 the mixture with rice, which did not 

 emit many air bubbles, and was but 

 little changed. The third day seve-. 

 ral of the mixtures were sweet, and 

 continued to ferment ; others had 

 lost their intestine motion, and were 

 sour ; but the one which contained 

 the rice was become putrid. From 

 this experiment it appears that rice, 

 as an aliment is slow of fermentation 

 and a very weak corrector of pu- 

 trefacSiion. It is therefore an im- 

 proper diet for hospital patients ; 

 but more particularly for sailors, 

 in long voyages, because it is inca- 

 pable of preventing, and will not 

 contribute much to check the pro- 

 gress of that fatal disease, the sea 

 scurvy. Under certain circum- 

 stances, rice seems disjjosed of it- 

 self, without mixture, to becorae 



putrid ; for by long keeping, it 

 sometimes acquires an otVensive 

 fceftor, nor can it be considered as a 

 very nutritive kind of food, on 

 account of its difficult solubility 

 in the stomach. Experience con- 

 firms the truth of this conclusion : 

 for it is observed by the planters in 

 the West Indies, that the negroes 

 grow thin, and are less able to 

 Avork whilst they subsist upon rice. 



Salep has the singular property 

 of concealing the taste of salt water ; 

 a circumstance of the highest im- 

 portance at sea, when there is a 

 scarcity of fresh water. I dissolved 

 a drachm and a half of common 

 salt in a piiit of the mucilage of sa- 

 lep, so liquid as to be potable, and 

 the same quantity in a pint of spring 

 water. The salep was by no means 

 disagreeable to the taste, .but the 

 water was rendered extremely un- 

 palatable. 



This experiment suggested to me 

 the trial of the orchis root as a cor- 

 rector of acidity ; a property which 

 would render it a very useful diet 

 for children. But the solution of 

 it, when mixed with vinegar, seem- 

 ed only to dilute like an equal pro- 

 portion of water, and not to cover , 

 its sharpness. 



Salep, however, appears by my 

 experiments, to retard the acetous 

 fermentation of milk, and conse- 

 qiicntly would be a good lithinr; for d 

 milk pottage, especially in large ■ 

 towns, where the cattle being fed 

 upon sour draff, must yield acescent 

 milk. 



Salep, in a certain proportion, 

 which I have not yet been able to 

 ascertain, would he a very useful 

 and profitable additiou to bread. I 

 directed one ounce of the powder 

 to be dissolved in a quart of water, 

 and the mucilage to be mixed with 



a sufS- 



