"Daniel ate pulse by choice: example rare!
Heaven blest the youth, and made him fresh and fair."
Grey Peas were provided in the pits of the Greek and Roman theatres, as we supply oranges and a bill of the Play.
[417] "Hot Grey Pease and a suck of bacon" (tied to a string of which the stall-keeper held the other end), was a popular street cry in the London of James the First.
Peas and Beans contain sulphur, and are richer in mineral salts, such as potash and lime, than wheat, barley, or oats; but their const.i.tuents are apt to provoke indigestion, whilst engendering flatulence through sulphuretted hydrogen. They best suit persons who take plenty of out-door exercise, but not those of sedentary habits. The skins of parched Peas remain undigested when eaten cooked, and are found in the excrements. These leguminous plants are less easily a.s.similated than light animal food by persons who are not robust, or laboriously employed, though vegetarians a.s.sert to the contrary.
Lord Tennyson wrote to such effect as the result of his personal experience (in his dedication of _Tiresias_ to E. Fitzgerald):--
"Who live on meal, and milk, and gra.s.s:-- And once for ten long weeks I tried Your table of Pythagoras, And seem"d at first "a thing enskied"
(As Shakespeare has it)--airylight, To float above the ways of men: Then fell from that half spiritual height, Until I tasted flesh again.
One night when earth was winter black, And all the heavens were flashed in frost, And on me--half asleep--came back That wholesome heat the blood had lost."
But none the less does a simple diet foster spirituality of mind. "In milk"--says one of the oldest Vedas--"the finer part of the curds, when shaken, rises and becomes b.u.t.ter. Just so, my child, the finer part of food rises when it is eaten, and becomes mind."
Old Fuller relates "In a general dearth all over [418] England (1555), plenty of Pease did grow on the seash.o.r.e, near Dunwich (Suffolk), never set or sown by human industry; which being gathered in full ripeness much abated the high prices in the markets, and preserved many hungry families from famishing." "They do not grow", says he, "among the bare stones, neither did they owe their original to shipwrecks, or Pease cast out of ships." The Sea-side Pea (_pisum maritimum_) is a rare plant.
PEACH.
The Peach (_Amygdabus Persica_), the apple of Persia, began to be cultivated in England about 1562, or perhaps before then. Columella tells of this fatal gift conveyed treacherously to Egypt in the first century:--
"Apples, which most barbarous Persia sent, With native poison armed."
The Peach tree is so well known by its general characteristics as not to need any particular description. Its young branches, flowers, and seeds, after maceration in water, yield a volatile oil which is chemically identical with that of the bitter almond. The flowers are laxative, and have been used instead of manna. When distilled, they furnish a white liquor which communicates a flavour resembling the kernels of fruits. An infusion made from one drachm of the dried flowers, or from half an ounce of the fresh flowers, has a purgative effect. The fruit is wholesome, and seldom disagrees if eaten when ripe and sound. Its quant.i.ty of sugar is only small, but the skin is indigestible.
The leaves possess the power of expelling worms if applied outside a child"s belly as a poultice, but in any medicinal form they must be used with caution, as they contain some of the properties of prussic acid, as found [419] also in the leaves of the laurel. A syrup of Peach flowers was formerly a preparation recognised by apothecaries. The leaves infused in white brandy, sweetened with barley sugar, make a fine cordial similar to noyeau. Soyer says the old Romans gave as much for their peaches as eighteen or nineteen shillings each.
Peach pie, owing to the abundance of the fruit, is as common fare in an American farm-house, as apple pie in an English homestead. Our English King John died at Swinestead Abbey from a surfeit of peaches, and new ale.
A tincture made from the flowers will allay the pain of colic caused by gravel; but the kernels of the fruit, which yield an oil identical with that of bitter almonds, have produced poisonous effects with children.
Gerard teaches "that a syrup or strong infusion of Peach flowers doth singularly well purge the belly, and yet without grief or trouble." Two tablespoonfuls of the infusion for a dose.
In Sicily there is a belief that anyone afflicted with goitre, who eats a Peach on the night of St. John, or the Ascension, will be cured, provided only that the Peach tree dies at the same time. In Italy Peach leaves are applied to a wart, and then buried, so that they and the wart may perish simultaneously.
Thackeray one day at dessert was taken to task by his colleague on the _Punch_ staff, Angus B. Reach, whom he addressed as Mr.
Reach, instead of as Mr. (_Scottice_) Reach. With ready prompt.i.tude, Thackeray replied: "Be good enough Mr. Re-ack to pa.s.s me a pe-ack."
PEAR.
The Pear, also called Pyrrie, belongs to the same natural order of plants (the _Rosacoe_) as the Apple. It is [420] sometimes called the Pyerie, and when wild is so hard and austere as to bear the name of Choke-pear. It grows wild in Britain, and abundantly in France and Germany. The Barland Pear, which was chiefly cultivated in the seventeenth century, still retains its health and vigour, "the identical trees in Herefordshire which then supplied excellent liquor, continuing to do so in this, the nineteenth century."
This fruit caused the death of Drusus, a son of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who caught in his mouth a Pear thrown into the air, and by mischance attempted to swallow it, but the Pear was so extremely hard that it stuck in his throat, and choked him.
Pears gathered from gardens near old monasteries were formerly held in the highest repute for flavour, and it was noted that the trees which bore them continued fruitful for a great number of years. The secret cause seems to have been, not the holy water with which the trees were formally christened, but the fact that the sagacious monks had planted them upon a layer of stones so as to prevent the roots from penetrating deep into the ground, and so as thus to ensure their proper drainage.
The cellular tissue of which a Pear is composed differs from that of the apple in containing minute stony concretions which make it, in many varieties of the fruit, bite short and crisp; and its specific gravity is therefore greater than that of the apple, so much so that by taking a cube of each of equal size, that of the Pear will sink when thrown into a vessel of water, while that of the apple will float. The wood of the wild Pear is strong, and readily stained black, so as to look like ebony. It is much employed by wood-engravers. Gerard says "it serveth to be cut [421] up into many kinds of moulds; not only such fruits as those seen in my Herbal are made of, but also many sorts of pretty toies for coifes, breast plates, and such like; used among our English gentlewomen."
The good old black Pear of Worcester is represented in the civic arms, or rather in the second of the two shields belonging to the faithful city; Argent, a fesse between three Pears, sable. The date of this shield coincides with that of the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Worcester.
Virgil names three kinds of Pears which he received as a present from Cato:--
"Nec surculus idem, Crustaneis, Syriisque pyris, gravibusque volemis."
The two first of these were Bergamots and Pounder Pears, whilst the last-named was called _a volemus_, because large enough to fill the hollow of the hand, (_vola_).
Mural paintings which have been disclosed at Pompeii represent the Pear tree and its fruit. In Pliny"s time there were "proud" Pears, so called because they ripened early, and would not keep; and "winter"
pears for baking, etc. Again, in the time of Henry the Eighth, a "warden" Pear, so named (Anglo-Saxon "wearden") from its property of long keeping, was commonly cultivated.
"Her cheek was like the Catherine Pear, The side that"s next the sun,"
says one of our old poets concerning a small fruit seen often now-a-days in our London streets, handsome, but hard, and ill-flavoured.
The special taste of Pears is chemically due for the most part to their containing amylacetate; and a [422] solution of this substance in spirit is artificially prepared for making essence of Jargonelle Pears, as used for flavouring Pear drops and other sweetmeats. The acetate amyl is a compound ether got from vinegar and potato oil. Pears contain also malic acid, pectose, gum, sugar, and alb.u.men, with mineral matter, cellulose, and water. Gerard says wine made of the juice of Pears, called in English, Perry, "purgeth those that are not accustomed to drinke thereof, especially when it is new; notwithstanding, it is as wholesome a drink (being taken in small quant.i.ty) as wine; it comforteth and warmeth the stomacke, and causeth good digestion."
Perry contains about one per cent. alcohol over cider, and a slightly larger proportion of malic acid, so that it is rather more stimulating, and somewhat better calculated to produce the healthful effects of vegetable acids in the economy. How eminently beneficial fruits of such sort are when ripe and sound, even to persons out of health, is but little understood, though happily the British public is growing wiser to-day in this respect. For instance, it has been lately discovered that there is present in the juice of the Pine-apple a vegetable digestive ferment, which, in its action, imitates almost identically the gastric juices of the stomach; and a demand for Bananas is developing rapidly in London since their wholesome virtues have become generally recognised. It is a remarkable fact that the epidemics of yellow fever in New Orleans have declined in virulence almost incredibly since the Banana began to be eaten there in considerable quant.i.ties. If a paste of its ripe pulp dried in the sun be made with spice, and sugar, this will keep well for years.
At G.o.dstone, as is related in Bray"s Survey, the water [423] from a well sunk close to a wild Pear tree (which bore fruit as hard as iron) proved so curative of gout, that large quant.i.ties of it were sent to London and sold there at the rate of sixpence a quart. Pears were deemed by the Romans an antidote to poisonous fungi; and for this reason, which subsequent experience has confirmed, Perry is still reckoned the best thing to be taken after eating freely of mushrooms, as also Pear stalks cooked therewith.
There is an old Continental saying: _Pome, pere, ed noce guastano la voce_--"Apples, pears, and nuts spoil the voice," And an ancient rhymed distich says:--
"For the cough take Judas eare, With the parynge of a pear; And drynke them without feare, If ye will have remedy."
All Pears are cold, and have a binding quality, with an earthy substance in their composition.
It should be noted that Pears dried in the oven, and kept without syrup, will remain quite good, and eatable for a year or more.
Most Pears depend on birds for the dispersion of their seeds, but one striking variety prefers to attract bees, and the larger insects for cross-fertilization, and it has therefore a.s.sumed brilliant crimson petals of a broadly expanded sort, instead of bearing a succulent edible fruit, This is the highly ornamental _Pyrus j.a.ponica_, which may so often be seen trained on the sunny walls of cottages.
PELLITORY.
A plant belonging to the order of Nettles, the Pellitory of the Wall, or Paritory--_Parietaria_, from the Latin _parietes_, walls--is a favourite Herbal Simple in many [424] rural districts. It grows commonly on dry walls, and is in flower all the summer. The leaves are narrow, hairy, and reddish; the stems are brittle, and the small blossoms hairy, in cl.u.s.ters. Their filaments are so elastic that if touched before the flower has expanded, they suddenly spring from their in curved position, and scatter the pollen broadcast.
An infusion of the plant is a popular medicine to stimulate the kidneys, and promote a large flow of watery urine. The juice of the herb acts in the same way when made into a thin syrup with sugar, and given in doses of two tablespoonfuls three times in the day.
Dropsical effusions caused by an obstructed liver, or by a weak dilated heart, may be thus carried off with marked relief. The decoction of _Parietaria_, says Gerard, "helpeth such as are troubled with an old cough." All parts of the plant contain nitre abundantly.
The leaves may be usefully applied as poultices.
But another Pellitory, which is more widely used because of its pungent efficacy in relieving toothache, and in provoking a free flow of saliva, is a distinct plant, the _Pyrethrum_, or Spanish Chamomile of the shops, and not a native of Great Britain, though sometimes cultivated in our gardens. The t.i.tle "Purethron" is from _pur_, fire, because of its burning ardent taste. Its root is scentless, but when chewed causes a p.r.i.c.king sensation (with heat, and some numbness) in the mouth and tongue. Then an abundant flow of saliva, and of mucus within the cheeks quickly ensues. These effects are due to "pyrethrin" contained in the plant, which is an acid fixed resin; also there are present a second resin, and a yellow, acrid oil, whilst the root contains inulin, tannin, and other substances. When sliced and applied to the skin it induces heat, [425] tingling, and redness. A patient seeking relief from rheumatic or neuralgic affections of the head and face, or for palsy of the tongue, should chew the root of this _Pyrethrum_ for several minutes.
The "Pelleter of Spain" (_Pyrethrum Anacyclus_), was so styled, not because of being brought from Spain; but because it is grown there.
A gargle of _Pyrethrum_ infusion is prescribed for relaxed uvula, and for a partial paralysis of the tongue and lips. The tincture made from the dried root may be most helpfully applied on cotton wool to the interior of a decayed tooth which is aching, or the milder tincture of the wall Pellitory may be employed for the same purpose. To make a gargle, two or three teaspoonfuls of the tincture of _Pyrethrum_, which can be had from any druggist, should be mixed with a pint of cold water, and sweetened with honey, if desired. The powdered root forms a good snuff to cure chronic catarrh of the head and nostrils, and to clear the brain by exciting a free flow of nasal mucus and tears--_Purgatur cerebrum mansa radice Pyrethri_.