106 CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



greatly resembling that of putrid animal sub- 

 stance. They are now out of use as medi- 

 cine, although so much recommended by 

 ancient writers. Etmuller says, they have 

 much nitre in their composition, which makes 

 them diuretic. The authors of the Schola 

 Salernitana make them of very different qua- 

 lities ; and will have them both to astringe 

 and relax the bowels ; and say also, they 

 prevent the intoxication occasioned by spi- 

 ritous liquors. 



Bartholine extols cabbage in these words : 

 " The common cabbage of the country peo- 

 ple is justly preferable to other pot-herbs, 

 since, both raw and boiled, it is possessed of 

 such salutary qualities, as to prevent occasion 

 for the medicines used in the shops. For 

 this reason, when a certain foreign physician 

 came into Denmark with a design to settle, 

 and saw the gardens of the country people 

 so well stocked with cabbage, he, with good 

 reason, prognosticated small encouragement 

 for himself in that part of the world. It 

 keeps the stomach in an easy and soluble 

 state ; and a decoction of the tops of its ten- 

 der shoots discharges such an incredible 

 quantity of bile and phlegm, that no medi- 

 cine proves a quicker, a safer, or a more effi- 



