Vol. LIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 589 



/. Anew Alanner of preparing Salep. By Mr. J. Moult. Fol. LIX. p. 1. 

 The roots, says Mr. M., which I have hitherto made use of, are those of the 

 orchis morio mas foliis maculatis of Parkinson, the cynosorC|his morio mas of 

 Grerard, and the cyiiosorchis major, vulgo dog-stones; though, from a specimen 

 of the orchis palmata major mas of Gerard, which you have among the salep, 

 that root likewise appears capable of being made to answer the same purposes as 

 the others. Tlie best time to gather the roots, is when the seed is formed, and 

 the stalk going to fall; for when the new bulb, of which the salep is made, is 

 arrived to its full size, and may be known from the old one, whose strength is 

 then spent by the preceding germination, by a white bud rising from the top of 

 it, which is the germ of the plant of the succeeding year. This new root, being 

 separated from the stalk, is to be washed in water, and a fine thin skin, that 

 covers it, to be taken off with a small brush ; or, by dipping in hot water, it will 

 come off with a coarse linen cloth. When a sufficient quantity is thus cleaned, 

 they are to be spread on a tin plate, and set into an oven, heated to the degree 

 of a bread oven, where they are to remain 6, 8, or 10 minutes; in which time 

 they will have lost their milky whiteness, and have acquired a transparency like 

 that of horn, but without being diminished in size. When they are arrived at 

 this state, they may be removed to another room to dry and liarden, which will 

 be done in a few days; or they may be finished in a very slow heat in a few hours. 

 I have tried both ways with success. inEsd '(Uoin 



The orchises above-mentioned grow spontaneously in this part of the country, 

 and throughout the whole kingdom. They flourish best in a dry, sandy, barren 

 soil. As the method of curing this root is so easy, I hope it will encourage the 

 cultivation of so nutritious a vegetablcj §Q,aS;to reduce it from its present high 

 price, which confines it to people of fortune, to one so moderate as would bring 

 it into common use, like other kinds of meal or flour; and so become a valuable 

 addition to our present list of eatables, its quality of thickening water being to 

 that of fine flour nearly as 2-l to 1, with this difference^ that the jelly of salep-^ 

 powder is clear and transparent, whereas that of floUr is turbi,d and white.* 



II. A Short Account of the Parabolic Burning ^Errors made by the late Mr. 

 Hoesen of Dresden, now by Mr. Ehrard. By f)r. Wolfe. From the Latin, p. 4. 

 This concave parabolic segment is composed of many pieces of solid wood, 

 and on the convex part are pieces both diverging from the vertex and transversely, 

 nicely fitted and strengthened ; the concavity is laid over with copper plates -f of 

 an inch in thickness, their length 4^ feet, and breadth 24- feet, so as to appear 



• Salep may be prepared from various other species of the orchis besides those mentioned in this 

 paper. 



