CRUCIFER®. 133 
dietary, The ancients, without knowing their constituents, used them in medicine for 
a variety of diseases. Pliny recommends gouty people to eat Cabbages entirely, and 
drink only the water in which they are boiled—advice which might not be without 
benefit if followed in the present day. Lord Bacon says that raw Coleworts prevent 
intoxication, and accounts for this property by the fact that there is a natural enmity 
between the vine and the Cabbage; so much so, “that forthwith the vine perisheth and 
withereth away if it grow near unto it.” Bertolini states that he knew a physician about 
to settle in Denmark, but on seeing the gardens well stocked with Cabbages, returned, 
saying it was useless to hope for a lucrative practice among a people so well provided 
against disease. Our modern chemical researches put us in a better position to judge of 
the merits of this homely vegetable as an article of diet. We find that one pound of 
Cabbages contains of water 14 oz. 414 grs.; albumen, 126 gers. ; starch, 42 grs. ; dextrine, 
203 grs. ; woody fibre, 35 grs. ; mineral matter, 56 grs. In cooking, the latter constituent 
is ina great measure lost in the water, hence the reasonableness of the advice to drink the 
water, or else to eat the vegetable uncooked, as was the Roman custom. The table of 
virtues ascribed to the Colewort by our old and much-believing writer Gerarde includes 
innumerable diseases and imperfections more amusing than credible. The Cabbage is 
not so common and homely a vegetable as to have been altogether unheeded in the 
poet’s song. English Dryden says of a housewife,— 
“She took the Coleworts which her husband got 
From his own ground, a small well-watered spot ; 
She stripp’d the stalks of all their leaves; the best 
She cull’d, and then with handy care she dress’d.” 
The wild and cultivated varieties of the Cabbage are liable to the attacks of 
various insects. The larve of the Tipula oleracea feed on the roots, whilst those of the 
Cabbage Butterfly (Pontia Brassicz) feed on the leaves. The latter are very destructive 
to the cultivated varieties. 
SPECIES VI—BRASSICA POLYMORPHA. 
Puatrs LXXXVIII. LXXXIX. XC. 
Radical leaves stalked, regularly lyrate; uppermost stem leaves 
oval or oblong, acuminated, entire, dilated at the base, and amplexi- 
caul; all glaucous, and the upper ones at least glabrous. Inflore- 
scence corymbose or sub-corymbose, or a very compact raceme at 
the time the flowers expand. Sepals slightly spreading. Beak of 
the pod conical-subulate, not containing a seed; valves 1-nerved 
with anastomosing veins. 
Sus-Srecizrs I.—Brassica Napus. Zinn. 
Pirate LXXXVIII.* 
Reich. Ic. F). Germ. et Helv. Vol. Il. Tetr, Tab. XCIII. XCIV. Fig. 4435. 
Leaves all glaucous and glabrous. Flowers remaining till the 
corymb expands into a short raceme. 
* 'The Plate is E. B, 2146, with a ripe pod added by Mr. J. E. Sowerby. 
