546 Foreign Notices : — France. 



fidcnce to be the most perfect of all the water-closets hitherto invented. 

 We are certain that no one who lias seen it will ever adopt any other. It 

 is the only form we have ever seen perfectly adapted for foreign countries, 

 and we would strongly recommend it to our friends and correspondents in 

 the north of Germany and Russia, ])rovided they will always keep the tem- 

 perature of the place where it is kept above 32° of Fahr. But another 

 excellence of this machine which fits it for cold countries is, that it will 

 operate in frosty weather without the use of water. We could not describe 

 it in such a way as to enable a foreign workman to construct a similar 

 one, without several engravings ujion a large scale ; but the price, com- 

 plete, is only seven pounds. — Cond. 



The Stachi/s 2]aliist7-is, as an Esculent Vegetable. — The Society of Arts 

 have lately voted the silver Ceres medal to Joseph Houlton, Esq. F.L.S. &c.. 

 Lecturer on Botany at the Western Hospital, and one of the Editors of the 

 London Medical and Surgical Journal, for the introduction to public notice 

 of this plant. " The .Stachys palustris, or Marsh All-heal, is a plant not 

 unfrequently occurring on the sides of ditches, or of moist rich corn fields: 

 it increases rapidly by creeping roots, and forms on these, during the sum- 

 mer, a number of thick, half-tuberous buds, from which the stems of the 

 next year are to arise. From the end of autumn to the close of winter, 

 these tuberous buds abound in a mild, somewhat sweetish, farinaceous mat- 

 ter, and are tiien fit for domestic use, being crisp, without fibre, and of a 

 peculiar but scarcely perceptible flavour. The plant and roots are figured in 

 Curtis's Flora Londinensis, but Mr. Houlton has the credit of having first 

 suggested its use as an esculent vegetable, and of having made some experi- 

 ments on the best way of cultivating it- In one respect the subject is 

 interesting to the philosophical botanist, as offering, perhaps, the only known 

 instance of a plant belonging to the natural order of the LabiatEe producing 

 farinaceous tubers, capable of being applied to human food. In general, 

 the only use derived from j^lants of this order is as condiments, like sage, 

 mint, thyme, &c. ; or as affording essential oil, like origanum, rosemary, 

 peppermint, and lavender." {Pre/, to Trans, of the Soc. of Arts, Manu- 

 factures, and Commerce, vol. xlvi. 8vo, 1818.) 



The Stalks and Roots of the common Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) are 

 very farinaceous : the stalks have been blanched and eaten like those of 

 Angelica, and we have no doubt of the tuberculated roots being at least as 

 good as those of the iStachys palustris. The shoots of 5'ymphytum asper- 

 rimum, as we have seen (p. 442.), are greedily eaten by cows. There are 

 very few plants, indeed, that are poisonous, and there can be no doubt that 

 a great many, by culture, n)igiit be increased in the whole, or in certain of 

 their parts, so as to be worth cultivating as esculents. It is good to know 

 every thing that can be done in this way, and Mr. Houlton has been very 

 deservedly honoured for his exertions. — Cond. 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 FRANCE. 



Botany amo?ig the common People in the Neighbourhood of Paris. — Tliere 

 are at Paris three courses o^ Botaniquc rurale, that is, three botanists make 

 weekly excursions with a number of i)upi!s. Jussieu is the public professor 

 of this branch, and his high reputation induced me to wish to join the party. 

 There is no difficulty in it, the lecture is perfectly open, and no introduc- 

 tion is necessary. On Wednesday, 29th of May, I repaired to the np|)ointed 

 place (of which pui)lic notice is always given), at the entrance of the avenue 

 of St. Cloud, 1 was told that the class sometimes amounted to (wo hun- 



