216 



CULTIVATED VEGETABLES. 



pid and phlegmatic constitutions, to excite a 

 brisker action of the vessels. 



A limpid red transparent oil, swimming 

 on water, is by simple distillation, got out of 

 these roots, agreeing in smell and taste with 

 ginger, only more mild. Dr. Wright says, 

 that ginger is good in baths and fomenta- 

 tions ; in complaints of the viscera, pleurisies, 

 and obstinate continued fevers. Infused in 

 rum or wine, with filings of steel, it is also 

 said to be useful in obstructions. 



Ginger tea has been recommended in 

 gouty cases. The mode of making it is by 

 pounding the dried roots in a mortar. Begin 

 with a heaped tea-spoonful, taken in boiled 

 milk, either for supper or breakfast ; the 

 quantity may be increased to two, or even 

 three drachms. These directions were given 

 by Dr. Wright, to whom Sir Joseph Banks 

 gave the following account of its effects 

 upon himself, in 1784 : "I have taken two 

 tea-spoonfuls heaped up of ginger powdered, 

 in a pint of milk, boiled with bread and 

 sweetened with sugar, for breakfast, for more 

 than a year past. The weight of the ginger 

 is between two and three drachms. At first, 

 this quantity is difficult to swallow, if the 

 ginger is good. I was guided in the quantity 



