592 



The Review ot Reviews. 



December I. 1906. 



DAINTY DISHES WE DESPISE. 



Mr. Percy Collins in the World's Work and Play 

 describes a variety of " dainty dishes ignored by 

 Englishmen." Snails stand first in his main. Paris 

 uses 200 million snails, weighing about ten tons, 

 every year. In most other European countries 

 also the edible snail is counted a luxury, and snail 

 eating has extended even to the United States. 

 Snails used to be a favourite dish in London res- 

 taurants during the eighteenth century. In France 

 snails are reared with as much care and forethought 

 as a farmer bestows on his cattle. 



Frogs' legs are regarded as a delicacy in nearly 

 all the countries of Europe and America. Canada 

 for a long time now has been exporting frogs into 

 the United States for table purposes. The hind- 

 quarters of the frog alone are eaten. " The flesh is 

 very ivhite and tender, nutritious and delicately 

 fla\"aured. and when nicely cooked is one of fhe 

 most dainty dishes that the epicure could desire, 

 surpassing in flavour all kinds of fish, flesh, or 

 fowl. • 



Hedgehogs are still eaten by gvpsies and certain 

 Continental rustics. But : — 



The ancient Greeks recognised tbe flesh of tlie hedgehog as 

 a delicacy, while the same dish not infrequently made its 

 appearance upon the tables of English farmers a century or 

 so ago. In fact, there are records which show that at this 

 time hedgehogs were actually bred and fattened for eating. 

 When in good condition the flesh is said to be sweet and 

 well-flavoured, with a reminiscence of quail. 



The grub of the May bug or cockchafer forms a 

 nutritious and palatable repast. Locusts have been 

 regarded as luxuries from the earliest times. Lo- 

 cust-eating tribes invariably grow fat. Trepang, or 

 sea -cucumbers, are very popular in China. The 

 edible birds' nests, which fetch as much as r5s. a 

 pound, carefully prepared and boiled down form a 

 practically tasteless jelly, but with sugar and lemon, 

 Juice become perfectly palatable. The chrysalids 

 of silkworms are regarded as a luxury by the poorer 

 Chinese, who also value the larva; of bluebottle 

 flies, which thev speciallv rear in heaps of putrid 

 fish. 



this law was threatened with a fine of fifty rupees, while its 

 requirements had to be fulfilled within fourteen days. Un- 

 happily, by this change an attractive feature in tbe life of 

 the city has disappeared, the lamentable hues enforced upon 

 the poor ladies by the .\mir'3 edict emphasising the dirt and 

 discomfort of the Kabul streets. 



The Amir and Women's Dress. 



Mr. Angus Hamilton, who has a short article in 

 the Lady's Realm for October on Life at the Amir s 

 Court, tells how the present Amir put a stop to 

 the picturesque dress of the Afghan women. 



Proud ot their prepossessing qualities, the women of Af- 

 ghanistan have exploited their charms so much that it was 

 left to Ilabib TJUah to impose a check upon the increasing 

 attractiveness of the street costume of the feminine portion 

 of his subjects. One day, in the spring of 1903. to the un- 

 speakable dismay of many pretty women and of all young 

 girls, he issued orders, changing the white burka, which, al- 

 though covering the head and figure, and leaving a latticed 

 ir.sertion before the face, was in a measure attractive. There- 

 after these white street robes were to be dyed kharki for 

 Jfahommedan women, red or mustard-yellow for Bindu 

 women, and slate-colour for other women. Disobedience cf 



The Jockey's Unhappy Lot. 



In Fry's Magazine Mr. Bernard Parsons describes 

 his day with Mr. Dillon, the jockey who rode Spear- 

 mint when he won the Grand Prix. Mr. Dillon pro- 

 tested against the idea held by most people about 

 the happenings of the jockey's profession. He is 

 reported as saying : — 



They ignore the many hardships tliat he is forced to pirt 

 up with, and seem to forget entirely that his whole life 

 must be moi*e or less one of the greatest self-denial: for it 

 isn't pleasant — especially when one has an appetite like a 

 hunter— to see other people feeding on the fat of the land, 

 while one has to breakfast off a couple of pieces of dry toast 

 and a cup of coffee, and Lunch otf half a dozen grapes or a 

 wineglassful of soda-water, to say nothing of spending a 

 morning sweltering in a Turkish bath to get weight otf, or 

 else tramping a good ten miles on a irot summer day in thick 

 sweaters. 



Certainly the obligation of having to sweat one- 

 self down to a stipulated weight is apt to create a 

 feeling of disgust. The jockey told of one case in 

 which he had to live in a Turkish bath for almost 

 a whole day. He had to ride a horse at Yarmouth 

 at yst. 4lbs., and as he weighed 7st. lolbs. he had 

 to melt off the 61bs. above what was required. This 

 perpetually starving or wasting oneself to a pre- 

 scribed weight seems scarcelv human. 



Can Plants Reason ? 



The possibility of an intelligence in the plant is 

 the subject of a study by S. Leonard Bastin in the 

 Monthly Review. He says it is now an established 

 fact that plants can feel. Do they not also posse.'-s 

 a discerning power? Manv verv interesting e\i- 

 dences of discrimination in plants are adduced. One 

 may be quoted : — 



The following instance of a Central American Acacia i- 

 quite romantic in its way. but it is vouched for by good 

 autliorities. This tree (A. gpherocephala) grows in districts 

 where leaf-cutter ants abound, and where the ravages of 

 these insects are so dreadful that whole areas of country 

 are at times denuded of foliage in a few hours. The Acacia 

 has, however, hit upon a unique way of protecting itself 

 against the assaults of these enemies. At the end of some 

 of its leaves it produces " small yellowish sausage-shaped 

 masses, known as ' food-bodies.' " Now these seem to be 

 prepared especially for the benefit of certain black ants, 

 wiiich eat the material greedily, and on this account it is 

 no matter for surprise tliat these insects 1 which are very 

 warlike in habit) should make their homes in the Acacia, 

 boring out holes in the thorns of the tree to live in. It is 

 not very difficult to see how this arrangement works out. 

 At the approach of an army of leaf-eating ants, the hordes 

 of black ants emerge, fired with the enthusiasm which the 

 defence of a home is bound to inspire, with the result that 

 the attacking enemy is repulsed, and the tree escapes un- 

 scathed. 



