O R C II I S. 
705. 
make a bafon-full cf jelly, in the manner of the Turkifh 
falep. This jelly is an admirable medicine in all the 
cafes in which falep is prefcribed, and may be rendered 
agreeable by the addition of wine, fugar, fpice, See. and 
the powder may be given with great fuccefs in alfes’ milk, 
for difeafes of the bread. If the water, in which the roots 
have been boiled, be evaporated over a gentle fire in an 
earthen vefTel, there will remain an extraft of a vifeous 
texture, and a very agreeable fmell, refembling that of a 
meadow of flowers when the wind blows over it. 
Retzius, in the Swedifh Tranfaftions for .1764, has im¬ 
proved upon Geoffroy’s method ; but Mr. Moult of 
Rochdale, having publifhed a new procefs, which is re¬ 
commended by the ingenious Dr. Percival, from his own 
knowledge of its fuccefs, we fhall here add an account of 
it; firfl premifing, that the bed time for gathering roots is 
when the feed is formed, and the dalk ready to fall; be- 
enufe the new bulb, of which the falep is made, is then 
arrived to its full maturity, and may be didinguifhed 
from the old one by a white bud arifing from the top of 
it, which is the germen of the orchis of the fucceeding 
yeaThe new root is to be waffled in water, and the 
fine brown ficin which covers it is to be feparated by 
means of a fmall brufli, or by dipping the root in hot 
water, and rubbing it with a coarfe linen cloth. When 
a fuffleient number of roots have been thus cleaned, they 
are to be fpread on a tin plate, and placed in an oven 
heated to the ufual degree, where they are to remain 
eight or ten minutes, in which time they will have lod 
their milky whitenefs, and acquired a tranfparency like 
horn, without any diminution of bulk. In this date they 
are to be removed, to dry.and harden in the air, which 
will require feveral days ; or, by ufing a very gentle heat, 
this operation may befinifned in a few hours. Mr. Moult 
obferves, that his falep has a quality of thickening water, 
which is to that of fine flour nearly as two and a half to 
one ; with this difference, that the jelly of falep-powder 
is clear and tranfparent, whereas that of flour is turbid 
and white. Phil. Tranf. abr. vol. xii. p. 589. 
Dr. Percival informs us, that falep thus prepared may 
be afforded, in that part of England where labour bears a 
high value, at about ten-pence per pound ; and that it 
might be fold dill cheaper, if the orchis were cured with¬ 
out feparating from it the brown fkin which covers it; 
whereas the foreign falep is fold at five or fix drillings per 
pound. 
Salep is faid to contain the greated quantity of vege¬ 
table nourifnment in the fmalled bulk. The powder of 
it has been, therefore, lately propofed to conditute part 
of the provifions of a drip’s company at fea. This pow¬ 
der, and portable foup, of the dried gelatinous part of 
flefh, diflclved in boiling water, form a rich thick jelly ; 
and an ounce of each, with two quarts of boiling water, 
■will be fuffleient fubfldence for a man a-day; and, as 
portable foup is fold at haif-a-crown a-pound, and falep, 
cultivated in our own country, might be afforded at rod. 
per pound, the day’s fubfldence would amount only to 
two-pence halfpenny. And this food, it is faid, would 
prove more nourifhi'ng than double the quantity of rice- 
cakes, made by boiling rice in water. Befides, rice, as an 
aliment, is flow of fermentation, and a very weak cor- 
reftor of putrefaction, and much inferior, as a whole- 
fome nourifhment, to falep. Salep has alfo the Angular 
property of concealing the fade of falt-water ; and it has 
the property of retarding the acetous fermentation of 
milk. Dr. Percival propofes lalep as a very ufeful and 
profitable addition to bread. 
The redorative,mucilaginous, and demulcent, qualities 
of the orchis-root, render it of coniiderable ufe in various 
difeafes. In the fea-icurvy, it powerfully obtunds the 
acrimony of the fluids, and is eafily aifimilated into a mild 
and nutritious chyle. In diarrhoeas and the dyfentery, it 
is highly ferviceable, by flieathing the internal coat of the 
inteltines, by abating irritation, and gently correfting 
Vol. XVII. No, 1209. 
putrefaftion. In the fymptomatic fever, which arifes 
from the abforption of pus, from ulcers in tdie lungs,, 
from wounds, or from amputation, falep ufed plentifully 
is an admirable demulcent, and well adapted to refid the 
difiolution of the crafis of the blood incident to thefe 
cafes. By the fame mucilaginous quality, it is equally 
efficacious in thedrangury and dyfury. It has alfo been 
found an ufeful aliment for patients afflifted with the done 
or gravel. Per dual's Efjays, vol. ii. p. 39. 
28. Orchis udulata, or dwarf-orchis : bulbs undivided ; 
lip of the neftary quadrafid, rugged, with dots; horn 
blunt, very fliort; petals didinct. Bulbs oval. Stem 
from four to fix or eight inches high, angular, almofl hid 
by the upper leaves. Leaves four, five, or fix, lanceolate, 
bright-green above, whitifli-green beneath, fhining, 
marked with numerous longitudinal veins or nerves. 
Flowers numerous (near forty), in a clofe, fliort, ovate 
fpike ; cafes of the anthers greenifii-white, clofe ; apthers 
pale-yellow. Dr. Withering remarks, that the middle 
fegnient of the lower lip of the nectarium has not always 
the intermediate or projecting point, and that he has not 
found the roughnefs on it mentioned by Linnaeus in the 
fpecific character. 
The characters of thefpecies, according to Scopoli, are, 
that the flowers are fmall,, becoming gradually fo pale, 
that the lip and f'pur at length turn white; that the 
braCte is almofl equal to the lip ; that the flamineous ma¬ 
chine is blunt, with white cells, and yellow ftamens; and 
that the beard or lower lip is variegated with blood-red 
fpots, one of which, next the throat, is larger than the 
red. 
Villars remarks, that this is one of the fmalled fpecies ; 
the leaves narrow, glaucous or dlvery ; fpike fliort, ovate, 
clofe, fmall, appearing blackifli at the top, as if burnt, 
whence its name of nflulata, and bright red or whitifh 
towards the bale ; this appearance is caufed by the up¬ 
per petals, which open lad, being of a very deep colour 
on the outfide, and of a bright-red within, contrary to 
the ufual cafe with flowers, which have commonly the 
colours lighter in the parts mod expofed to the air : the 
fpur or horn of the neCfary fo fliort, that it might be 
taken at firfl for a Satyrium: the lower lip has five lobes 
rather than three or four; for the middle divifion fubdi^ 
vides into two fhorter, which have a little blunt very- 
fhort appendix at their point of reparation ; the two late¬ 
ral ones are fhorter and oblong ; both are whitifli, mark¬ 
ed with faiient rugged fpots of a very bright and plealant 
red ; petals open, lanceolate, whitifli within, and of a 
very deep almod-black red on the outfide. 
This elegant little plant is didinguifhed at fil'd fight by 
its fmall dotted flowers. It is in great quantity on many 
of our downs, and ad efts a dry calcareous loll ; as about 
Harefield in Middlefex; on Gogmagog-hills, Devil’s- 
ditch, Chippenham, Cambridgefliire; Barneck-heath 
near Stamford, and between Stamford and Duddington 
in Northamptonfliire ; on Wick-cliffs, and on the Wilt- 
lhire Downs, as on Salifbury-plain, particularly on the 
barrows near Stonehenge; on Burford-down and Caver- 
fliam-warren in Oxfordfhire. It flowers in May and June. 
29. Orchis militaris, or man-orchis : bulbs undivided ; 
lip of the neftary five-cleft, rugged, with dots ; horn 
blunt; petals confluent. Bulbs foniewhat oval. Stem 
about afoot round, and fmooth. Spike from one to two 
inches long, with numerous flowers ; antherse yellow. In¬ 
habits meadows and paftures in a calcareous foil: as 
Cawfham-hills by the Thames-fide, not far from Reading, 
Berkfhire ; near the old chalk-pit by the paper-mill at 
Harefield; and Caverfham-warren, in Oxfordfhire. 
1 3 . O. fufea : bulbs oblong, large. Lower leaves ovate- 
oblong, a little blunt, from two to three inches broad, 
glofiy, feored, in fome fpecimenstranfverfely wrinkled, of 
a lively-green colour; the uppermod narrower, and fur- 
rounding the dalk. Stalk a foot, two feet, and fometimea 
more, in height; round, fmooth, green below, purple 
SR g.bovq. 
