ON SALEP. 
29 
It is employed in the form of powder, which is boiled in 
water or milk to the consistence of a thick jelly, which is 
then sweetened and aromatized to suit the palate. It is fre- 
quently incorporated with chocolate, which increases its nu- 
tritive powers. It is perfectly innocent of the aphrodisiac vir- 
tues which have been ascribed to it, but has been found highly 
serviceable in chronic diarrhoea. 
It is officinal in the French Codex, where a method is given 
for its pulverization. It directs the salep to be steeped in cold 
water for twenty-four hours, to be well wiped with a rough 
towel, to remove the cortical portion, then dried in a stove, 
and lastly, reduced to fine powder. 
It is very little known in the United States, and its use 
consequently very limited. Its high price may form some 
objection to its employment as an alimentary substance, but 
could some little attention be given to the production of 
salep from our North American Orchis, of which there are 
a number, it would well repay the time and labor bestowed 
upon it. 
