MONKEY NUTS. 
205 
As anaemia is a condition in which there is a de- 
ficiency of the oxide of iron which the blood naturally 
contains. Dr. Moffat was led to make an examination of 
the relative composition of the wheat grown on the soil of 
Cheshire sandstone, carboniferous limestone, millstone, grit, 
and a transient soil between Cheshire sandstone and the 
grit. The result of the analysis shows that the wheat grown 
on the soil of Cheshire sandstone contains the largest quantity 
of ash, and that there is a larger quantity of phosphoric acid 
in it than in the soil of the carboniferous and millstone and 
grit system; also a much larger quantity of oxide of iron 
than in either of them. He has calculated that each in- 
habitant on the Cheshire sadstone, if he consumes 1 lb. of 
wheat daily, takes in nearly five grains per day of the sesqui- 
oxide of iron more than the inhabitants of the carboniferous 
system, and who seems, therefore, to be subject to this 
liability to anaemia, in consequence of the deficiency of iron 
and phosphoric acid he consumes. 
It is not only in the wheat grown upon the carboniferous 
system that there is a deficiency in the quantity of oxide of 
iron and the phosphates, says Dr. Moffat, but also in the blood 
of the animals reared upon it ; so that the inhabitants upon 
that system take in a minimum quantity of these constituents 
of the blood, compared with that taken in by the inhabitants 
of the Cheshire sandstone. He stated that sheep were liable 
to anaemia — a fact w r hich he attributed to sheep-walks being 
upon trap and limestone hills, in the soil of which there is 
but little if any iron . — Journal of the Society of Arts. 
MONKEY NUTS. 
The pods of the ground nut ( Arac/iis hypogaea), commonly 
known by the name of “ monkey nuts,” chiefly used for the 
expression from the seeds of a light-coloured bland oil, said 
to be extensively used for mixing w T ith olive oil, are now 
reported to be used in America for making so-called choco- 
late. For this purpose they are beaten up in a mortar and 
the mass compressed into cakes ; and it is said to form a most 
agreeable chocolate, without a particle of true cocoa. The 
Americans also prepare the seeds as a dessert sweetmeat 
by parching them and beating them up with sugar. — Nature . 
XLIV. 
15 
