THE POTATO. 195 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE POTATO (Solanum tuberosum.) 



Jbmme de terre, French; Kartoffel, German; Aardappel, Dutch; Tartvfi 

 bianchi or Rmo di terra, ital ; Papas, Spanish. 



The active principle, Solanin, characteristic of the 

 family Solanacece, to which the potato belongs, has been 

 found, but in much smaller proportions than in other 

 members, in the sap, in the berries, and also in tubers of 

 the potato after they had sprouted. For this reason 

 sprouted potatoes are less valuable for food than before 

 the development of sprouts, although in the process of 

 Booking a change is effected in the composition. 



The chief organic ingredient of the potato is starch, 

 which forms about one-tenth of its weight. It has gen- 

 erally been admitted, that the potato was first introduced 

 by the Spaniards into Europe from South America (it is 

 still found in its wild state in the mountains of Chili), 

 and that Sir Walter Raleigh introduced it into England 

 from Virginia. Whether this is strictly the history of 

 its appearance in Europe, or not, the potato has been 

 found indigenous in Mexico and Arizona. Johnson 

 wrote: " The potato is one of the greatest blessings be- 

 stowed upon mankind; for, next to rice, it affords sus- 

 tenance to more human beings than any other gift of 

 God." Unlike the latter (the continuous use of which 

 sometimes affects the eyes), it may be the exclusive food 

 of man for an extended period without injuring the 

 system. And it is owing to the absence of any distinct 

 peculiarity of taste, to its wholesomeness and to its con- 

 sisting largely of starch, in every particular resembling 

 the flour of grain, that it may be continuously used as 



