sola] 



€f)e ^Lreatfurj) at SSatann. 



1070 



Prom potato-starch is also procured a 

 substance analogous to gum, called Dex- 

 trine, which is employed as a substitute for 

 gum, size, and paste. 



The pulp of the Potato, after the extrac- 

 tion of the starch, becomes hard and horny 

 when dried, and is used in the manufacture 

 of snuffboxes, &c. Raw potatos scraped 

 are used as a popular coolingapplication to 

 burns and scalds. Prom Potatos a coarse- 

 tasting brandy is prepared in large quanti- 

 ties on the Continent. The stem and leaves 

 have slightly narcotic properties, on which 

 account the extract from them has been 

 employed as a narcotic to allay pain, in 

 cough and rheumatism, &c. Potatos when 

 decaying have been stated to emit a phos- 

 phorescent light, but this requires confir- 

 mation. 



8. Dulcamara, the Woody Nightshade or 

 Bitter-sweet, is a well-known British plant 

 scrambling over hedges, with more or less 

 cordate leaves, the upper ones hastate ; and 

 the flowers in drooping cymes, of a purple 

 colour, With a yellow or green spot at the 

 base of each petal ; the fruits oval fleshy 

 and of a bright-red colour. The young 

 stems are collected in the autumn, for me- 

 dicinal purposes; they have at first a bitter 

 taste, which is succeeded by an agreeable 

 sweetness. A decoction of this plant has 

 been considered useful in rheumatic and 

 skin complaints, but its efficacy is very 

 doubtful. - In large doses it might act as an 

 acrid narcotic. The berries are poisonous, 

 and afe stated to furnish green and violet 

 dyes. 



Another common species, 8. nigrum, is 

 often met with as a weed in waste places. 

 It attains the height of a foot or more, has 

 ovate wavy leaves, white flowers, and black 

 berries— whence the name. Like most of 

 its congeners, this species possesses slight 

 narcotic properties, on which account in 

 Bohemia the leaves are placed in the 

 cradles of infants to promote sleep. The 

 leaves likewise are used as soothing poul- 

 tices. In the islands of Bourbon and 

 Mauritius, however, the leaves are eaten in 

 place of spinach ; and the fruit is said to be 

 eaten without inconvenience by the sol- 

 diers stationed in British Kaffraria. 



Besides the above-mentioned species, 

 others are used for medicinal, alimentary, 

 and other purposes. Some of them seem 

 to be employed, in most parts of the world, 

 as narcotics to allay pain, &c. ; others are 

 sudorific and purgative. The parts employ- 

 ed are the roots, leaves, seeds, and juices 

 of the fruits. S. toxicarium is used as a 

 poison by the natives of Cayenne. S.pseu- 

 do-quina is esteemed as a valuable febrifuge 

 in Brazil. 



Among those used for food, of which 

 mention has not hitherto been made, are 

 & album and S. cethiopicum, the fruits of 

 which are used in China and Japan. Those 

 of 8. Angaivi are eaten in Madagascar. S. 

 esculentum and its varieties furnish the 

 fruits known as Aubergines or Briujals, 

 which are highly esteemed in France, and 

 may occasionally be met with in Covent 

 Garden Market ; they are of the size and 



form of a goose's egg, and usually of a rich 

 purple colour. The Egg-plant, which has 

 white berries, is only a variety of this. The 

 Peruvians eat the fruits of S. muricatum 

 and 8. quitense ; those of & ramosum are 

 eaten as a vegetable in the West Indies. 

 The Tasmaniau Kangaroo Apple is the fruit 

 of 8. laciniatum ; unless fully ripe, this is 

 said to be acrid. In Gipps' Land, Australia, 

 the natives eat the fruits of S. vescum, 

 which like the preceding is not agreeable 

 till fully ripe, when it is said to resemble 

 in form and flavour the fruits of Physalis 

 peruviana. Of other species the leaves are 

 eaten : as those of & oleraceum in the West 

 Indies and Feejee Islands, of S. sessili- 

 florum in Brazil, &c. 



Other species are employed as dyes. Such 

 is S. indigoferum, cultivated in Brazil for 

 the sake of its indigo. The juice of the 

 fruit of S. gnaphalioides is said to be used 

 to tint the cheeks of the Peruvian ladies, 

 while their sisters of the Canary Isles 

 employ for a similar purpose the fruits of 

 S. Vespertilio. The fruits of S. saponaceum 

 are used in Peru to whiten linen in place 

 of soap. S. marginatum is employed in 

 Abyssinia for tanning leather. The Tomato, 

 once included here, is now referred to Ly- 

 copersicum : which see. [M. T. M.] 



The native country of the Potato, S. tu- 

 berosum, and the date of its introduction 

 into Britain, have been subjects of much 

 discussion. There can be no doubt of its 

 being indigenous in various parts of South 

 America— plants in a wild state having 

 been found on the Peruvian coast* as well 

 as on the sterile mountains of Ceptral Chili 

 and Buenos Ayres. The Spaniards are be- 

 lieved to have first brought it to Europe, 

 from Quito, in the early part of the six- 

 teenth century. It afterwards found its 

 way into Italy, and from thence it was 

 carried to Mons in Belgium by one of the 

 attendants of the Pope's legate. In 1598 it 

 was sent from Mons to the celebrated bo- 

 tanist Clusius at Vienna; who states that 

 in a short time it spread rapidly through- 

 out Germany. The first potatos that reach- 

 ed this country were brought from Vir- 

 ginia by the colonists sent out by Sir Wal- 

 ter Raleigh in a.d. 1584, and who returned 

 in 1586. They were planted on Sir Walter's 

 estate near Cork, and were used for food in 

 Ireland long before they were even known 

 or cultivated in England. Gerarde had a 

 plant in his garden in Holbom, and has 

 given a figure of it in his -ETertw?, published 

 in 1597, under the name of Batata virgini- 

 ana. He recommends the roots to be eaten 

 as a delicate dish, and not as common food. 

 In the time of James the First they were 

 so rare as to cost two shillings a pound, 

 and are mentioned in 1619 among the 

 articles provided for the royal household. 

 In 1633, when their valuable properties 

 had become more generally known, they 

 were deemed worthy of notice by the Royal 

 Society, which took measures to encourage 

 their cultivation with the view of prevent- 

 ing famine : but it was not until nearly a 

 century after the above date that they 

 were grown to any great extent in England. 



