A RAMBLE OVER THE LONDON CLAY. 21 



As a probable independent recognition of the 

 snail's use in medicine, we may mention that the 

 village dames in Sussex, even at the present day, 

 recommend " snail syrup " as a specific in all cases 

 of cough and cold. Their mode of preparing it is as 

 simple as it is said to be efficacious. A score or 

 so of snails are strung together by means of a needle 

 and 'stout thread, which is passed through the shell 

 and body of each. They are then suspended festoon- 

 like over a dish or pan of coarse brown sugar, on 

 which the mucilaginous fluid is allowed to drop. 

 The resulting compound is a syrup of snails, of 

 which two teaspoonfuls twice a day is said to be the 

 proper dose. 



This glutinous exudation was formerly used for 

 bleaching wax, and, in part, for making cement, 

 until other less troublesome methods came to be 

 employed. 



Few, perhaps, are aware that the snail is capable of 

 producing musical sounds ; but the fact has been 

 thus described to us by an observant friend. One 

 stormy evening in autumn, while engaged with his 

 books in a room, the windows of which were directly 

 exposed to the wind and rain, he was startled by a 



