COMMON ARUM. 219 
time afterwards; and which no one, who has once 
tasted it, will be inclined to experience a second time. 
If bruised and applied to the skin, a blister will shortly 
afterwards be raised. 
It was from this property that the roots, which are 
whitish, and each about the size of a nutmeg, were 
formerly used internally in medicine, as a powerful 
stimulant, and externally for blisters. In some parts 
of France they are employed in bleaching, from an 
ODinion that, by their corrosive quality, they render the 
linen white. Their acrimony is wholly dissipated by 
drying ; and, in a dried state, they afford an almost 
tasteless farinaceous powder, which may even be made 
into bread. The powdered roots of the common arum 
are converted, by the French, into an harmless cosmetic, 
which is sold at a high price under the name of Cyprus 
powder. 
In consequence of a premium which was offered by 
the Society for Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, 
and Commerce, for discovering a method of preparing 
starch from materials not used as food for man, an ex- 
periment was made, by Mrs. Jane Gibbs, of Portland, 
in Dorsetshire, upon the roots of the common arum. 
A peck of the roots was found to produce about four 
pounds' weight of starch; and she prepared, in the 
whole, about two hundred weight. The process was to 
clean the roots, and pound them in a mortar with 
water : the pulp thus formed was strained, and after 
being allowed to settle, the water was poured off, and 
the starch remained at the bottom. 
Whilst speaking of the arum, it may be stated that 
the flowers of some of the foreign species (Arum cri- 
nitum and A. dracunculus) have so strong a smell, like 
carrion, that even flesh-flies are attracted to deposit 
their eggs in them : and that the structure of the 
flowers is such that, when the insects attempt to re- 
treat, they are prevented by the reversed hairs which 
are there found, and are destroyed. Some of the 
species are considered wholesome food ; one (Arum 
