6 t. VEGETABLES. 



the next day be poured off the fruit, and reboikd to the former 

 height, and then poured on the fruit again ; and this must be 

 repeated, if the fruit is very juicy, a third or fourth time, until 

 the syrup is no longer weakened by the juice of the fruit, when 

 it is left in it. 



To preserve fruits in su^ar. The fruit, if very succulent, is 

 first soaked for some hours in very hard water, or in weak alum 

 water, to harden it, and then drained. Upon the fruit, either 

 prepared or not, syrup boiled to a candy height, and half cold, is 

 to be poured: after some hours, the syrup, weakened by the juice 

 of the fruit, is poured off, reboiled, and poured on again, and this 

 repeated sometimes a third time. When the syrup is judged to 

 be no longer weakened, the fruit is taken out of it, and drained. 



Seeds and fruits may be preserved by being put into honei/ ; 

 and on being taken out, washed, and planted, they will vegetate. 



Fruits are also preserved in brandy^ or other spirits. Juicy 

 fruits, as plums, apricot, cherries, peaches, ought to be gathered 

 before they are perfectly ripe, and soaked for some hours in very 

 hard water, or in alum water to make them firm. As the moisture 

 of the fruit weakens the spirit, it ought to be strong, and five oz. 

 of sugar should be added to each quart of the spirit. 



A few vegetables, as truffles, are preserved in olive oil, the jars 

 being closely luted, to prevent the oil from turning rank by the 

 access of air, but this mode is more practised with animals. 



Bees^ wax has been used to preserve seeds for carriage to other 

 distant countries, without any injury to the future germination ; 

 but brown sugar offers a preferable mode, and this agent is only 

 used for animal substances, as caviar. 



The doses of such vegetables as exert a very powerful action 

 on the human frame are mentioned under each article ; or, if not 

 properly known, a caution is given, lest any unlucky accident 

 should occur. The generality, however, of plants, having no 

 very marked action, are taken in powder, in doses of a drachm 

 night and morning ; or a sufficient quantity to give a strong taste 

 or colour to water, is infused or boiled in it, usually an ounce to 

 a pint; and the doses are so regulated, that the soluble parts of 

 about a drachm of the vegetable are contained, in each ; and these 

 doses are exhibited three or four times in a day. 



The plants that are marked with an asterisk grow wild, or are 

 largely cultivated, in the British islands; and are described in my 

 Natural Arrangement of British Plants ; and the chemical history 

 of those contained in the London Pharmacopoeia is detailed in my 

 Elements of Pharmacy. 



