SAGO. 105 



small white oval grains, with a dark longitudinal furrow on one side. 

 Consists of starch, gum, sugar, and gluten ; — apt to become musty 

 by long keeping. Virtues yielded to boiling water. 



Barley Water— {decoctAirn hordei) — made by washing 3ij barley 

 in cold water ; then boil for ten minutes in a small quantity of 

 water ; throw away this water, and add Oij boiling water, and boil 

 down to Oj ; — an excellent drink in inflammatory and febrile affec- 

 tions ; — may be flavoured with lemon juice and sugar. 



Arrow Root. — (Maranta, U. S.) 



Product of the Maranta arunclinacea, growing in the West 

 Indies, and Central America ; also in Florida. The root is peren- 

 nial and tuberous, and is prepared for use by first washing, then 

 beating into a pulp, and thrown into water, and stirred, so as to 

 separate the fecula ; it is then strained through a sieve and allowed 

 to dry. The best is imported from Bermuda. It is a white, light 

 powder ; no odour nor taste ; chemically, a pure starch ; often 

 adulterated with potato starch ; can only be distinguished by the 

 microscope. — A nutritious demulcent, particularly adapted to chil- 

 dren as an article of diet, also in bowel affections. Given, by first 

 forming a paste with cold water, and then adding this to boiling 

 milk or water. 



The Canna root^ or Tous-les-mois, is very similar to the arrow 

 root : it comes also from the West Indies. 



Tapioca, (U. S.) 



Fecula prepared from the root of the Jatropha manihot, or cas- 

 sava jjlant^ — a native of the West Indies and tropical America. 

 The root is large, fleshy, and tuberous. There are two varieties, 

 the sweet and the bitter. The latter contains an acrid poisonous 

 principle ; still, it is the one most cultivated for tapioca, since its 

 poisonous principle, being volatile, is dissipated by heat. The juice 

 being expressed from the root, deposits its starch on standing, and 

 is then dried by exposing it to heat. It is in irregular, hard, white, 

 rough grains, with little or no odour and taste. Prepared for use 

 by boiling in water, which converts it into a sort of jelly. Used 

 exclusively as an article of diet ; may be flavoured to suit the 

 taste ; — brandy or wine may be added in cases of debility, or irri- 

 tability of stomach. 



Sago, (U. S.) , 



Product of the Sagus Rumphii, or sago palm, indigenous in the 

 East Indies, growing about 30 feet high. The sago resides in the 



