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1&\)Z €rea£tirj) of 2Sotan». 



466 



extensively cultivated throughout most 

 parts of the Bast, including Egypt, Nubia, 

 Syria, India, &c. ; and likewise in most of 

 the countries of Central and Southern Eu- 

 rope, but not to any extent in England. 

 There are several different kinds, the most 

 common being the French and Egyptian. 

 The former is of an ash-grey colour, large 

 and very flat, resembling a lens in shape : in 

 fact, the lens derives its name from the 

 resemblance it bears to the lentil seed ; 

 while the latter is much smaller and round- 

 er, with a dark skin, and of an orange-red 



Ervum Lens. 



colour inside. On the Continent, and also 

 in India and other eastern countries, Len- 

 tils are largely employed as an article of 

 human food, but in this country their use 

 is not so general, although considerable 

 quantities are annually imported. Thus, 

 in 1859, the imports into the United King- 

 dom amounted to 131,892 bushels, valued 

 at 26,3797., or 4s. per bushel, nearly the 

 whole of which came from Egypt. Their 

 principal use with us is for the preparation 

 of the so-called invalids' food, which under 

 the names Ervalenta and Revalenta have 

 attained no little celebrity. These articles 

 are nothing more than lentil meal, sweet- 

 ened with sugar or flavoured with salt ; but 

 under cover of their high-sounding names 

 they are palmed off upon a credulous public 

 at a price far above their real commercial 

 value. As an article of food lentils rank 

 first among the pulses, containing three 

 per cent more flesh-forming or nutritive 

 matter than the common pea, but like 

 many other eatable leguminous seeds, they 

 are very indigestible when not freed from 

 the outer skin. [A. S.] 



The generality of readers will wish to 

 know if there is any real foundation in the 

 widely extended belief that Lentil powder, 

 and combinatious of it with other vege- 

 table ingredients, have the medicinal pow- 

 ers attributed to them. To this question 

 the answer is in the affirmative, allow- 

 ing, however, for some degree of exagge- 

 ration. Lentil powder, and the prepared 

 foods alluded to, are reported to be a re- 



medy for almost every variety of indiges- 

 tion and bilious disorder, to relieve pains 

 in the stomach, and to be so far aperient, 

 as in most cases to obviate the necessity of 

 habitually taking aperient medicine ; and 

 there is, in truth, no doubt that they act 

 as a mild deobstruent on the entire of the 

 digestive organs, producing an increased 

 flow of gastric juice, bile, and other secre- 

 tions. But it should be distinctly under- 

 stood, that these beneficial effects can only 

 be secured by selecting lentils of the best 

 quality, and completely depriving them of 

 the various extraneous substances and de- 

 cayed and injured seeds which they always 

 contain, as well as of their outer skin. 



The proper mode of cooking Lentils as a 

 remedy for indigestion, &c, is boiling 

 them for twenty minutes, or till they are 

 quite soft (but never more than half an 

 hour), in soup or beef-tea, to which a small 

 quantity of salt has been previously added. 

 In this mode of cooking them, the peculiar 

 vegetable principles on which the remedial 

 powers depend, a great part of which are 

 extracted by the liquid during the boiling, 

 are eaten with the soup, beef -tea, or other 

 convenient vehicle ; and it is probable 

 that Lentil-powder owes part of its repu- 

 tation to its being taken entire, the direc- 

 tion given being to mix it with milk. 



Peas possess in some degree the same 

 qualities, and haricot beans in almost an 

 equal degree, but this is for the most part 

 destroyed by the length of time required 

 in boiling them. As an article of diet Len- 

 tils are extensively used in various parts 

 of the world, and are a favourite food in 

 the East, where the Hindoo adds them to 

 his rice, making doubtless a salubrious 

 mixture. Like other leguminous seeds, 

 they contain much caseine, and constitute 

 one of the most nutritious of vegetable 

 products, 100 parts by analysis yielding : 

 Water, 14'0; caseine, 26'0 ; starch, 35"0; su- 

 gar, 2-0; gum, 7 - 0; fat, 2 - 0; woody fibre, 

 12'5 ; mineral matter, 1/5. [B. C] 



The Lentil is easily cultivated in Eng- 

 land, and is worthy of attention, as being 

 capable of yielding a large supply of a 

 highly nutritious and wholesome food. 

 Half a pint of seed drilled in rows a foot 

 apart, would not badly occupy a portion of 

 the cottager's potato garden, and the seeds 

 ground into meal would make a pottage 

 which would be of great value in rearing 

 a family. 



"We have two native species, viz. E. Mr- 

 sutum, the Hairy Tare, and TZ.tetraspermum, 

 the Smooth Tare. These are readily dis- 

 tinguished by the hairy two-seeded pod of 

 the former, and the smooth four-seeded 

 pod of the latter. These plants are of fre- 

 quent occurrence about bushes, among 

 which their slender stems climb for sup- 

 port. They are also common as agrarian 

 weeds, especially in corn-fields, the hairy 

 form being the most general, as being 

 fond of all kinds of soil. Where it estab- 

 lishes itself amidst the wheat, it is a great 

 pest, as it sometimes climbs about it to 

 such an extent, as to bear it to the earth, 

 to the great danger of the crop. The smooth 



