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pathology and the sanitation necessary in cattle-pens. 
The present state of cattte sheds and the treatment 
of cattle kept for milking purposes exhibit an amount 
of ignorance and carlessness which are dangerous and 
call for immediate action. The suggestion has been 
thrown out that a medical student should make a 
study of the subject of cattle-disease, and fulfil the 
duties of a veterinary inspector, or chief inspector, or 
superintendent of cattle. If necessary he might take 
a course of instruction in one of the Veterinary 
Colleges in England or Scotland for .special qualification. 
The chief point, however, is that there should be a 
man appointed, unhampered by other duties, to devote 
all his time to the study of comparative Pathology, and 
thus qualify himself for the important task of detecting 
those sources of contagion which give ingress to so 
much misery in the world. And are all these issues to 
depend merely on a point o false economy ? When it 
is thought necessary that every country district in 
most western lands should have this supervision, it is 
time that a not-insignificant Crown Colony should look 
to supplying the want ! 
INDIGENOUS FOOD PEODUCTS : 
CULTIVATED AND WILD. 
By W. Aethde de Silva. 
(Natural Order Nymphaacea.) 
1. Nelumbhim Speciosnm, Willd ; Sing. Nelun. — 
This plant commonly known as the lotus is fouud 
throughout the Island. It is an aquatic herb haviDg 
leaves and flowers growing from a rhizome below water. 
The petals and stamens are indefinite in number. 
The seeds are placed in a fleshy receptacle, and they 
attain the size of about J of an inch in length and 
the same circumference when mature. The outer 
covering of the seed blackens when ripe. The seeds 
are used as food in most parts of the Island, and they 
contain starch. The rhizome also contains a little 
starch, but is not known to be eaten though occassion- 
ally chewed by people for the starch it contains. It 
is used in native medicines, and is reputed to be 
efficacious in dysentry and intermittent fever. The 
seed is generally used as a food after being boiled 
and seasoned with salt. There is no peculiarity of taste 
or flavour about it, and tastes like any other boiled 
starchy seed. It is also eaten along with coconut 
when the flavour is very agreeable. 
The stamens of the flower of this plant are said 
to possess cooling and astringent properties, and are 
used in bleeding piles by native Medical Practitioners. 
2. Nymphea Lotus, L., Sing. Olu. 
This too like the Neluinbium is an aquatic 
plant, but met with more commonly. Its stem 
frhizoine) grows under water, and the leaves spring 
at high aa the ordinary level of the water in which 
it grows. The flowers are borne upon a stalk which 
is longer than the stalks of the leaves. They have a calyx 
of four separate parts and an indefinite number of petals 
and stamens placed upon and around the carpels. 
There are many carpels and the seeds are numerous- 
The flowers keep without fading for a number of 
days ; they open in the morning but close in the noon, 
and do not open again till sunrise the next day. 
The seeds are very small in size resembling mustird 
grains both in colour and form, and they contain a 
large quantity of starch. The seed is generallv used 
as food. When eaten raw it has a good flavour, but 
it is used thus in very small quantities only. AVhen 
the plants are abundant, and the seeds largely eol'ected, 
they are dried and pounded, and a flour is prepared 
which is used in making conjee and cakes. The dried 
seed is commonly known as olu sal meaning lotus 
rice, and is boiled and eaten in some parts of the Island, 
as they use ordinary rice. It is said that village 
Veddas use this as a food to some extent and a poem* 
current amongst them, describes the process of 
obtaining the seed. 
The rhizomes are starchy and are eaten af er re- 
moving the outer part which does not contain any such 
matter. They are generally eaten raw, but are said 
to be used boiled also in some places. The unboiled 
rhizomes have a milky taste. 
The porous and long stalks of the leaves and flowers 
are used in curries. They are chopped into pieces of 
about half an inch in length and boiled in water, 
after which the water is strained off to remove the 
peculiar leafy taste, which would otherwise sroil the 
flavour of the curry. After this process, onions, ( billies, 
pepper, salt, &c, are added as in an ordinary hot curry, 
and prepared in the same manner when it ti comes 
a relishable dish, and also possesses a healthy action 
on the system. 
The rhizomes are used amongst the Sinhalese in 
medicine for blood-shot eyes and also to reduce thirst 
in cases of intermittent fever. An excellent poultice 
is prepared by boiling olu rhizome, rice, and milk 
which is used in cases of ulcers and sores of a serious 
nature with good results. 
FENCES. 
By T. W. Goonewakdenb. 
Fences are in most situations indispensable in the 
profitable management of lan 1. They primarily pro- 
tect crops from animals, but are ustful in other ways. 
Often they are the means of preventing the soil from 
being washed away. They act also as boundaries to 
separate one piece of land from another. In England 
where cattle and sheep farming is systematically 
* The meaning of the verse which is said to be used 
amongst Veddas is as follows : — "There are good olu 
and nelun in Soraborawewa, and the women go and 
pluck them. They are cleaned and boiled, but no 
curry is used with them," 
