Columbian Horticultural Soc, Washington. 327 



hundred years. They, as well as the Greeks, eat it raw, 

 to prevent the effects of wine, clear the brain, and remove 

 intoxication. An ancient writer says, that "the vine, by a 

 secret sympathy, especially avoids the cabbage, if it has 

 room to decline from it, but if it cannot shift away, it dies 

 from very grief" Pliny was of the same opinion. It was 

 employed by the ancients in a great number of diseases, 

 Avitli what they thought a salutary effect ; but later wri- 

 ters, especially Galen, condemned it, and Isaac says animoi 

 gravitatem facit. It is now said to be hard of digestion 

 and flatulent, and possesses but little nutrition. "They 

 tend," says PhilHps, "strongly to putrefaction, and run 

 into that state sooner than ahnost any other vegetable." 

 Their smell is also most offensive, when putrified, and 

 greatly resembles that of putrid animal substances. The 

 juice of the cabbage was said to be a laxative, and the sub- 

 stance an astringent, hence the proverb in Salemo, " Jus 

 caulis solvit, ciijus substantia strifigit,'" &:c. 



Mr. W. then proceeded to speak of the lettuce and 7nush- 

 i^ooni, the only two other esculent vegetables he described. 

 The former, he said, was highly esteemed by the ancients, and 

 derived its name oHactuca from lac, milk, on account of the 

 milky juice with which its abounds. The kings of Persia, 

 550 years before Christ, had the lettuce served on their tables 

 in its natural state. A black variety was used among the 

 Romans, which contained much milky juice, and caused 

 sleep, and was also highly esteemed as a medicine, the 

 Emperor Augustus having been thought to be cured of a 

 dangerous disease by the use of it. The ancients believed 

 that Venus, after the death of Adonis, reposed upon a bed 

 of lettuce, from which it was inferred that they understood 

 the soporific and tranquillizing effects of this plant. It 

 was also cultivated, says Phillips, by the disciples of Py- 

 thagoras, the Eunuch, because it was thought less favor- 

 able to Venus than other plants. The lettuce is said to 

 have been first cultivated in England in 1562, when it was 

 the practice to eat it at the beginning of supper and before 

 meat, because it was thought to sharpen the appetite. Dr. 

 Aston says that the milk of the lettuce is hypnotic, while 

 the root is cooling, diluent and nourishing; but it is thought 

 to be injurious to weak stomachs, and disagrees with hy- 

 pochondriac and hysterical persons. It has been asserted 

 that young lettuce may be raised in 48 hours, by first 



