LETTUCE. 31<) 



meate, it doth many times stir vp appetite : 

 and eaten after supper, it keepeth away 

 drunkenness which cometh by the wine; and 

 that is by reason that it staieth the vapors 

 from rising vp into the head." He says, 

 " Lettuce cooleth a hot stomake, called the 

 heart-burning," &c. &c. 



We now cultivate, in the neighbourhood 

 of London, thirty varieties of this plant, all 

 of which are esteemed in salads. Some of 

 them are natives of Egypt ; others have 

 been procured from Aleppo, Cos, Holland, 

 Marseilles, Silesia, Savoy, South America, 

 Sweden, Italy, Hungary, Germany, and the 

 East Indies ; the latter can only be grown 

 in a hot-house. 



It should be remarked, that none are so 

 good to boil or stew, or to thicken soup, hodge- 

 podge, &c, as the Roman or cabbage lettuce. 



The young leaves of garden lettuce are 

 emollient, cooling, and in some small degree 

 laxative and aperient, easy of digestion but of 

 little nourishment ; salubrious in hot bilious 

 indispositions, but less proper in cold phleg- 

 matic temperaments. In some cases they 

 tend to promote sleep, by virtue of their re- 

 frigerating and demulcient quality.* 



* Lewis. 



