GARLIC. LEEKS. 89 
99. GARLIC (allium sativum) is a plant with bulbous 
root, of irregular form, composed of many smaller bulbs, 
called cloves, which are all included within a white skin. 
The stem leaves are flat and narrow ; the upper part of the 
stem bears small bulbs, and the stamens are three pointed. 
In warm climates, where garlic is produced having con- 
siderably less acrimony than in this country, it is much 
used, both as a seasoning and as food. The lower 
classes of French, Spaniards, and Portuguese, consume 
great quantities of it. The Jews also eat of it to excess. 
With us it is in considerable estimation for culinary and 
other domestic purposes. It has an acrid taste, and an 
highly offensive smell; and it differs from the onion 
only by being more powerful in its effects. When 
bruised and applied to the skin, it causes inflammation, 
and raises blisters. 
The medical properties of garlic are various. In 
dropsical complaints, asthmas, and agues, it is said to 
have been successfully used. Some.instances have oc- 
curred, in deafness, of the beneficial effects of wrapping 
a clove of garlic in muslin and putting it into the ear. 
As a medicine internally taken, garlic is administered 
as a bolus, or made into pills. Its smell is considered 
an infallible remedy against vapours, and to be useful in 
nearly all the nervous disorders to which females are 
subject. An oil is sometimes prepared from garlic, 
which is so heavy as to sink in water. But the virtues 
of this pungent vegetable are more perfectly and more 
readily extracted by spirit of wine than in any other 
way. A syrup is also made from it. 
The juice of garlic is said to be the best and strongest 
cement that can be adopted for broken glass and china, 
leaving little or no mark, if used with care. Snails, 
worms, and the grubs, or larvae of insects, as well as 
moles, and other vermin, may all be driven away by 
placing preparations of garlic in or near their haunts. 
This plant grows wild in the island of Sicily. 
100. LEEKS (Allium porrum) belong to the onion or gar- 
lic tribe, and are known by their leaves growing out on each 
side, somewhat in the shape of a fan. 
