128 



RECREATION. 



wounds of Adonis with lettuce. Pliny men- 

 tions a family who were not ashamed of 

 their name in fact, a branch of the gens 

 Valeria lactucini. Pumpkin (cucurbita) 

 and cucumber (cucumis) may both have been 

 cultivated in quite early times. The Emperor 

 Tiberius, probably a temperate man, at one 

 time is said to have eaten cucumber daily. 

 Endive and wild asparagus were greatly es- 

 teemed, though the latter was thought in- 

 ferior to a kind grown at Ravenna, and to 

 that brought from Germany. 



"Let us turn from these vegetables, how- 

 ever, to the fruit trees, which in early days 

 must perforce have been rare, perhaps in- 

 cluding only apples, pears, certain nuts, to- 

 gether with the almond and the fig, and 

 even those came to Rome chiefly from other 

 districts in Italy, such as Picenum, Nola and 

 Taranto. The pomegranate, which has 

 always thriven in Roman soil, was no doubt 

 an early introduction from Carthage, per- 

 haps by way of Sicily ; and, of course, the 

 olive was regarded almost as native, though 

 brought up from Campania by one of the 

 Licinian gens. So much during the later 

 Republic did the Romans apply themselves 

 to fructiculture that some ancient writers 

 even go so far as to describe Italy,' as some 

 have called England, one great orchard." 



FOOD ADULTERATION IN EUROPE. 



Consul-General Guenther, of Frankfort, is 

 authority for the following : "An article on 

 the adulteration of food products which is 

 going the rounds of the German press states 

 that an ordinary liver patty is made into 

 fine 'Strassburger' pate de foie gras, or goose 

 liver patty, by means of borax or salicylic 

 acid and of finely chopped and cleverly dis- 

 tributed pieces of black silk, representing 

 truffles. 



"Cosmos, a German paper, guarantees the 

 fact that under the label of canned lobsters 

 the soft parts of cuttlefish and crabs are 

 sold. 



"In Paris, snails are of late popular, and 

 the adulterators mix them with lungs of 

 cattle and horses. Even entirely artificial 

 snails are manufactured. The shells, re- 

 coated with fat and slime, are filled with 

 lungs and then sold as Bergundy" snails. 



"Lovers of fresh rooster combs are im- 

 posed on by a substitute cut out of hogs' 

 intestines. 



"Chopped artificial truffles are made of 

 black rubber, silk or softenea leather, and 

 even whole truffles are made out of roasted 

 potatoes, which are given a peculiar flavor 

 by adding ether. They are said to sell well 4 . 



"Fish spoiled in spite of ice and borax is 

 treated with salts of zinc, aluminum and 

 other metals. Rubbing the fish with vase- 

 line to give it a fresh look and coloring the 

 gills with fresh blood or eosin — a coal tar 

 color — are resorted to. The latter is also 



used to intensify the red color of inferior 

 crabs. 



"Imparting a greenish color to oysters is 

 another adulteration. An oyster requires 

 about one month in the beds to acquire the 

 greenish color. As this is too long a time, 

 the dealers help them along with an artificial 

 color. 



"The chemists in the Paris municipal la- 

 boratories have shown that tomato jelly is 

 adulterated with turnips, and powdered pep- 

 per contains a large admixture of hard tack." 



VEGETARIANISM AND ITS EFFECTS ON 

 HEALTH. 



Vegetarianism, in the opinion of a writer 

 on the subject, can be called neither scien- 

 tific nor practical. Man's digestive organs 

 demand both vegetable and animal food, 

 though existence, without regard to> perfect 

 development, physical or mental, can be 

 maintained for long periods on food that is 

 unsuitable. All food compounds that are 

 found in the animal kingdom are also found 

 in the vegetable kingdom ; but the human 

 organs can not assimilate the vegetable 

 compounds with so much ease or thor- 

 oughly as they can the animal compounds ; 

 and if these be restricted to vegetable com- 

 pounds, malnutrition follows. While the 

 general health of some vegetarians may ap- 

 pear good, bodily powers can' not be sus- 

 tained for any length of time on a purely 

 vegetable diet. To change from a mixed 

 to a one sided diet necessitates years of 

 gradual adaptation of digestive ferments 

 and organs to the new diet. This gradual 

 adaptation of system to diet could be se- 

 cured, in time, more completely by some 

 than by others ; but, at best, it would take 

 • many generations to bring about such a 

 change in the human system. Without 

 doubt many of us eat too much animal food, 

 but vegetarianism is not the remedy. 



FRUITLESS. 

 I know a maid, she is a peach. 



With her I made a date ; 

 She is the apple of mine eye, 



But here I sadly state 

 She does not care a fig for me ; 



Alas, my cruel fate. 



The dainty maid has cherry lips 



And lemon-colored hair ; 

 She wears a bright burnt-orange gown, 



But, ah, to my despair 

 She will not answer yes to me, 



So we may be a "pear." 



— Chicago Chronicle. 



Mary had a little lamb, 



But that is nothing new. 

 She's gone and bought another lamb 



And now she's got lamb stew. 



— New York Times. 



