STUDIES OF PLANT LIFE 
fine white starchy powder, similar to Arrowroot, which is 
prepared much in the same way as Potato starch. The 
pulp, after being ground or pounded, is thrown into clean 
water and stirred; after settling the water is poured olf 
and the white sediment is again submitted to the same 
process until it becomes quite pure and is then dried. A 
pound of this starch may be made from a peck of the 
roots. The roots should be dried in sand before using. 
Thus purified and divested of its poisonous qualities, the 
powder so procured becomes a pleasant and valuable 
article of food, and is sold under the name of Portland 
Sago or Portland Arrowroot. 
When deprived of the poisonous acrid juices that per- 
vade them, all our known species may be rendered valuable 
both as food and medicine; but they should not be 
employed without care and experience. 
There seems in the vegetable world, as well as in the 
moral, two opposite principles, the good and the evil. The 
gracious God has given to man the power, by the cultiva- 
tion of his intellect, to elect the good and useful, separating 
it from the vile and injurious, thus turning that into a 
blessing which would otherwise be a curse. 
“The Arum family possesses many valuable medicinal 
qualities,” says Dr. Charles Lee, “but would nevertheless 
become dangerous poisons in the hands of ignorant 
persons.” 
The useful Cassava, Jatropha manihot (Lin.), of the 
West Indies and tropical America, is another remarkable 
instance of Art overcoming Nature and obtaining a positive 
good from that which in its natural state is evil; the 
Cassava flour from which the bread made by the 
natives is manufactured, being the starchy parts of a 
poisonous plant of the Euphorbia family, the milky juice 
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