"Media fert tristes succos, tardumque saporem
Felicis mali."
Fresh Lemon juice will not keep because of its mucilage, which
soon ferments.
Sidney Smith, in writing about Foston, his remote Country Cure in
Yorkshire, said it is "twelve miles from a Lemon."
[305] LENTIL.
Among the leguminous plants which supply food for the invalid,
and are endowed with certain qualifications for correcting the
health, may be justly placed the Lentil, though we have to import it
because our moist, cold climate is not favourable for its growth.
Nevertheless, it closely resembles the small purple vetch of our
summer hedgerows at home. In France its pulse is much eaten
during Lent--which season takes its name, as some authors suppose,
from this penitential plant. Men become under its subduing dietary
influence, "_lenti et lenes_." The plant is cultivated freely in Egypt
for the sake of the seeds, which are flat on both sides, growing in
numerous pods.
The botanical name is _Ervum lens_; and about the year 1840 a Mr.
Wharton sold the flour of Lentils under the name of Ervalenta, this
being then of a primrose colour. He failed in his enterprise, and Du
Barry took up the business, but substituting the red Arabian Lentil
for the yellow German pulse.
Joseph's mess of pottage which he sold to Esau for his birthright
was a preparation of the red Lentil: and the same food was the bread
of Ezekiel.
The legumin contained in this vegetable is very light and sustaining,
but it is apt to form unwholesome combinations with any earthy
salts taken in other articles of food, or in the water used in cooking;
therefore Lemon juice or vinegar is a desirable addition to Lentils at
table. This is because of the phosphates contained so abundantly,
and liable to become deposited in the urine. "Lentils," says Gerard,
"are singular good to stay the menses." They are traditionally
regarded as funeral plants, and formerly they were forbidden at
sacrifices and feasts.
[306] Parkinson said, "The country people sow it in the fields as
food for their cattle, and call it 'tills', leaving out the 'lent', as
thinking that word agreeth not with the matter." "_Ita sus
Minervam_." In Hampshire the plant is known as "tils," and in
Oxfordshire as "dills." The Romans supposed it made people
indolent and torpid, therefore they named the plant from _lentus_,
slow.
Allied to the Lentil as likewise a leguminous plant is the LUPINE,
grown now only as an ornament to our flower beds, but formerly
cultivated by the Romans as an article of food, and still capable of
usefulness in this capacity for the invalid. Pliny said, "No kind of
fodder is more wholesome and light of digestion than the white
Lupine when eaten dry." If taken commonly at meals it will
contribute a fresh colour and a cheerful countenance. When thus
formerly used neither trouble nor expense was needed in sowing the
seed, since it had merely to be scattered over the ground without
ploughing or digging. But Virgil designated it _tristis Lupinus_, "the
sad Lupine," probably because when the pulse of this plant was
eaten without being first cooked in any way so as to modify its bitter
taste, it had a tendency to contract the muscles of the face, and to
give a sorrowful appearance to the countenance. It was said the
Lupine was cursed by the Virgin Mary, because when she fled with
the child Christ from the assassins of Herod, plants of this species
by the noise they made attracted the attention of the soldiers.
The Lupine was originally named from _lupus_, a wolf, because of
its voracious nature. The seeds were used as pieces of money by
Roman actors in their plays and comedies, whence came the saying,
"_nummus lupinus_," "a spurious bit of money."
[307] LETTUCE.
Our garden Lettuce is a cultivated variety of the wild, or
strong-scented Lettuce (_Lactuca virosa_), which grows, with prickly
leaves, on banks and waysides in chalky districts throughout
England and Wales. It belongs to the Composite order of plants, and
contains the medicinal properties of the plant more actively than
does the Lettuce produced for the kitchen. An older form of the
name is _Lettouce_, which is still retained in Scotland.
Chemically the wild Lettuce contains lactucin, lactucopricin,
asparagin, mannite, albumen, gum, and resin, together with oxalic,
malic, and citric acids; thus possessing virtues for easing pain, and
inducing sleep. The cultivated Lettuce which comes to our tables
retains these same properties, but in a very modified degree, since
the formidable principles have become as completely toned down
and guileless in the garden product as were the child-like manners
and the pensive smile of Bret Harte's Heathen Chinee.
Each plant derives its name, _lactuca_, from its milky juice; in Latin
_lactis_; and in Greek, _galaktos_ (taking the genitive case). This
juice, when withdrawn from the cut or incised stalks and stems of
the wild Lettuce, is milky at first, and afterwards becomes brown,
like opium, being then known (when dried into a kind of gum) as
_lactucarium_. From three to eight grains of this gum, if taken at
bedtime, will allay the wakefulness which follows over-excitement
of brain. A similar _lactucarium_, got from the dried milk of the
cultivated garden Lettuce, is so mild a sedative as to be suitable for
restless infants; and two grains thereof may be safely given to a
young child for soothing it to sleep.
The wild Lettuce is rather laxative; with which view a decoction of
the leaves is sometimes taken as a drink [308] to remedy
constipation, and intestinal difficulties, as also to allay feverish
pains. The plant was mentioned as acting thus in an epigram by
Martial (_Libr. VI., Sq_.).
"Prima tibi dabitur ventro lactuca movendo
Utilis, et porris fila resecta suis."
Gerard said: "Being in some degree laxative and aperient, the
cultivated Lettuce is very proper for hot bilious dispositions;" and
Parkinson adds (1640): "Lettuce eaten raw or boyled, helpeth to
loosen the belly, and the boyled more than the raw." It was known
as the "Milk Plant" to Dioscorides and Theophrastus, and was much
esteemed by the Romans to be eaten after a debauch of wine, or as a
sedative for inducing sleep. But a prejudice against it was
entertained for a time as _venerem enervans_, and therefore
_mortuorum cibi_, "food for the dead."
Apuleius says, that when the eagle desires to fly to a great height,
and to get a clear view of the extensive prospect below him, he first
plucks a leaf of the wild Lettuce and touches his eyes with the juice
thereof, by which means he obtains the widest perspicuity of vision.
"Dicunt aquilam quum in altum volare voluerit ut prospiciat rerum
naturas lactucoe sylvaticoe folium evellere et succo ejus sibi oculos
tangere, et maximam inde claritudinem accipere."
After the death of Adonis, Venus is related to have thrown herself
on a bed of lettuces to assuage her grief. "In lactuca occultatum a
Venere Adonin--cecinit Callimachus--quod allegorice interpretatus
Athenoeus illuc referendum putat quod in venerem hebetiores fiunt
lactucas vescentes assidue."
The Pythagoreans called this plant "the Eunuch"; and there is a
saying in Surrey, "O'er much Lettuce in [309] the garden will stop a
young wife's bearing." During the middle ages it was thought an evil
spirit lurked among the Lettuces adverse to mothers, and causing
grievous ills to new-born infants.
The Romans, in the reign of Domitian, had the lettuce prepared with
eggs, and served with the last course at their tables, so as to
stimulate their appetites afresh. Martial wonders that it had since
then become customary to take it rather at the beginning of the
meal:--
"Claudere quae caenas lactuca solebat avorum
Dic mihi cur nostras inchoat illa dapes."
Antoninus Musa cured Caesar Augustus of hypochondriasis by
means of this plant.
The most common variety of the wild Lettuce, improved by
frequent cultivation, is the Cabbage Lettuce, or Roman, "which is
the best to boil, stew, or put into hodge-podge." Different sorts of
the Cos Lettuce follow next onwards. The _Lactuca sylvatica_ is a
variety of the wild Lettuce producing similar effects. From this a
medicinal tincture (H.) is prepared, and an extract from the
flowering herb is given in doses of from five to fifteen grains. No
attempt was made to cultivate the Lettuce in this country until the
fourth year of Elizabeth's reign.
When bleached by gardeners the lettuce becomes tender, sweet, and
succulent, being easily digested, even by dyspeptic persons, as to its
crisp, leafy parts, but not its hard stalk. It now contains but little
nutriment of any sort, but supplies some mineral salts, especially
nitre. In the stem there still lingers a small quantity of the
sleep-inducing principle, "lactucarin," particularly when the plant is
flowering. Galen, when sleepless from [310] advanced age and
infirmities, with hard study, took decoction of the Lettuce at night;
and Pope says, with reference to our garden sort:--
"If you want rest,
Lettuce, and cowslip wine:--'probatum est.'"
But if Lettuces are taken at supper with this view of promoting
sleep, they should be had without any vinegar, which neutralises
their soporific qualities. "Sleep," said Sir Thomas Brown, "is so like
death that I dare not trust it without my prayers."
Some persons suppose that when artificially blanched the plant is
less wholesome than if left to grow naturally in the garden,
especially if its ready digestibility by those of sensitive stomachs be
correctly attributed to the slightly narcotic principle. It was taken
uncooked by the Hebrews with the Paschal lamb.
John Evelyn writes enthusiastically about it in his _Book of
Sallets_: "So harmless is it that it may safely be eaten raw in fevers;
it allays heat, bridles choler, extinguishes thirst, excites appetite,
kindly nourishes, and, above all, represses vapours, conciliates
sleep, and mitigates pain, besides the effect it has upon the morals--
temperance and chastity."
"Galen (whose beloved sallet it was) says it breeds the most
laudable blood. No marvel, then, that Lettuces were by the ancients
called _sanoe_ by way of eminency, and were so highly valued by
the great Augustus that, attributing to them his recovery from a
dangerous sickness, it is reported he erected a statue and built an
altar to this noble plant." Likewise, "Tacitus, spending almost
nothing at his frugal table in other dainties, was yet so great a
friend to the Lettuce that he used to say of his prodigality in its
purchase, _Summi se mercari_ [311] _illas sumitus effusione_."
Probably the Lettuce of Greece was more active than our indigenous,
or cultivated plant.
By way of admonition as to care in preparing the Lettuce for table,
Dr. King Chambers has said (_Diet in Health and Disease_), "The
consumption of Lettuce by the working man with his tea is an
increasing habit worthy of all encouragement. But the said working
man must be warned of the importance of washing the material of
his meal. This hint is given in view of the frequent occurrence of the
large round worm in the labouring population of some agricultural
counties, Oxfordshire for instance, where unwashed Lettuce is
largely eaten." Young Lettuces may be raised in forty-eight-hours
by first steeping the seed in brandy and then sowing it in a
hot-house.
The seeds of the garden Lettuce are emollient, and when rubbed up
with water make a pleasant emulsion, which contains nothing of the
milky, laxative bitterness furnished by the leaves and stalk. This
emulsion resembles that of almonds, but is even more cooling, and
therefore a better medicine in disorders arising from acrimony and
irritation.
From the _Lactuca virosa_, or strong-scented wild Lettuce, a
medicinal tincture (H.) is prepared, using the whole plant. On the
principle of treating with this tincture, when diluted, such toxic
effects as too large doses of the juice would bring about, a slow
pulse, with a disposition to stupor, and sleepy weakness, are
successfully met by its use. Also a medicinal extract is made by
druggists from the wild Lettuce, and given in doses of from three to
ten grains for the medicinal purposes which have been particularised,
and to remove a dull, heavy headache.
"The garden Lettuce is good," as Pliny said, "for [312] burnings and
scaldings if the leaves be laid thereon, with salt (_sic_), before the
blisters do appear." "By reason," concludes Evelyn, "too, of its
soporiferous quality, the Lettuce ever was, and still continues, the
principal foundation of the universal tribe of Sallets, which cools
and refreshes, besides its other properties, and therefore was held in
such high esteem by the ancients, that divers of the Valerian family
dignified and ennobled their name with that of _Lactucinii_." It is
botanically distinguished as the _Lactuca sativa_, "from the plenty
of milk," says "Adam in Eden" (W. Coles), "that it hath, and
_causeth_."
Lambs' Lettuce, or Corn Salad, is a distinct plant, one of the
Valerian tribe, which was formerly classed as a Lettuce, by name,
_Lactuca agnina_, either because it appears about the time when
lambs (_agni_) are dropped, or because it is a favourite food of
lambs.
The French call this _salade de Pretre_, "monks' salad," and in
reference thereto an old writer has said: "It certainly deserves a
place among the _penitential_ herbs, for the stomach that admits it
is apt to cry _peccavi_."
The same plant is also known by the title of the White Pot Herb, in
contrast to the _Olus atrum_, or Black Pot Herb. It grows wild in the
banks of hedges and waste cornfields, and is cultivated in our
kitchen gardens as a salad herb, the Milk Grass, being called
botanically the _Valerianella olitoria_, and having been in request as
a spring medicine among country folk in former days. By genus it is
a _Fedia_, and bears diminutive white flowers resembling glass.
Gerard says: "We know the Lambs' Lettuce as _Loblollie_; and it
serves in winter as a salad herb, among others none of the worst." In
France it goes by the names _manche_ and _broussette_. A
medicinal tincture is made (H.) from the fresh root.
[313] The black pot-herb--so called from the dark colour of its
fruit--is an umbelliferous plant, (_Smyrnium olusatrum_) or Alexanders,
often found in the vicinity of abbeys, and probably therefore held in
former repute by the Monks. Its names are derived from _Smyrna_,
myrrh, in allusion to the odour of the plant; and from _Macedonicum_,
or the parsley of Macedon, Alexander's country. The herb
was also known as Stanmarch. It grows on waste places by
rivers near the sea, having been formerly cultivated like celery,
which has now supplanted it. When boiled it is eaten with avidity by
sailors returning from long voyages, who happen to land at the
South Western corner of Anglesea.