cooked too long. Tapioca being hard, requires maceration previous to culinary treatment; but being more soluble than sago, it does not require to be kept at boiling-point so long.

Curiously enough, the root of the Jatropha contains hydrocyanic acid, and it is believed that the Indians poison their arrows from the juice, before they begin to prepare the wholesome and nutritive tapioca, which, as it is imported into this country, contains about three per cent. of gluten.

ARROWROOT is one of the most costly forms of starch consumed as diet. It is obtained from both hemispheres, and known as East Indian and West Indian Arrowroot. It is a very pure white and amylaceous powder, obtained from a plant called Maranta arundinacea in the West Indies, from Curcuma augustifolia in the East Indies, and from Tacca pinnati fida in the South Sea Islands. But that from Bermuda is most esteemed. There is another kind of arrowroot sold in shops, by the name of "Tous les Mois," and is the produce of a plant called Canna edulis, closely allied to the Maranta. It yields a stiffer jelly than common arrowroot; it is very soluble and extremely digestible; its starch granules exceed in size those of any other starch, giving root or seed. English arrowroot is obtained from potatoes by a simple process. Wash and pare potatoes, grate them into a sieve standing in a bowl of cold water, and the starch will sink through the sieve to the bottom of the water, squeezing out the fibre till all the starch is expelled. As soon as the starch has settled pour off the water and fill up with clean, and stir the whole so well that every portion of the starch may be thoroughly washed. Repeat the washing till the starch is white, and after pouring away the last water, dry the starch carefully before the fire, or in the sun, taking care that it is not exposed to too great a heat. This arrowroot, which is excellent for some cooking purposes, does not, however, yield so firm a jelly as that which is produced from the Canna, the Maranta, &c.; and it is not so good for infants, or for persons of delicate digestion, inasmuch as it is more apt to cause acidity than the foreign arrowroots.

As for the POTATO itself, it is the

most important root we cultivate, and extremely valuable as an article of daily human food. Potato-meal, in itself, is unfit for making into bread, but mixed in proper quantities with wheaten flour is generally held to improve the lightness and appearance of the bread. Professor Johnston tells us that the dried potato is "less nutritive, weight for weight, in the sense of supporting the strength, and enabling a man to undergo fatigue, than any other extensively-used vegetable food of which the composition is known, with the exception only of rice and of the plantain."

Though approaching very nearly to rice in its character, it is, however, superior to that grain; for it contains rather more of gluten. But there is

a remarkable similarity between these three kinds of food-potato, rice, and plantain, in so far "as they all differ from our cereal and other grains and roots, in containing a smaller proportion of the ingredient represented by the gluten of wheat." And it is observable that the tribes of people who live nearly exclusively, or even chiefly on any of these three vegetable productions, are distinguished by the size and prominence of their stomachs! The Hindoo, who lives on rice; the Negro who feeds on plantain; and the Irishman, who is altogether nourished on potatoes, are all what is commonly called pot-bellied." And this is partly ascribed to the large bulk of food eaten, in order to obtain a sufficient supply of nourishment; and the reason why the Irishman's deformity is less conspicuous than that of the Chinaman, the Hindoo, or the Negro, is probably because the potato contains a somewhat larger proportion of gluten than either the plantain or the rice.

:

Bear in mind we are censuring these productions as exclusive, or nearly exclusive means of sustenance. Potatoes especially, though containing less starch and less gluten than some cereals, contain potash and the exclusion of potash from one's general diet gives rise to very serious evils. Potatoes were introduced from America in the year 1584, but they were not generally cultivated in England till nearly a century and a half afterwards; and there are some writers who trace the departure of the plague, and other frightful epidemics from our shores to

the common use of the potato. There cannot, indeed, be a doubt but that the potash we obtain from potatoes, small as the quantity is, really accounts, in some measure, for its influence on the health of Europeans. Dr. Lankester believes that potash may sometimes save a man's life; if a man live on bread only, he will have scurvy ; and even in the potatofamine, though the people were supplied with rice and other substitutes, for the regular tuber, scurvy broke out with great intensity, and went on, proving that the potash is of incalculable service in keeping the blood, bones, and muscles in their normal state.

But salts of potash are found in other vegetables: in cabbage, turnips, carrots, parsnips, and water-cresses. If you would have your family in health, accustom them to variety in vegetables; have potatoes, if you like, daily, but let them not exclude other vegetables. Turnips and carrots are highly nutritious; the meal of both these roots containing gluten, associated with sugar and starch; that of the turnip being quite equal to Indiancorn mea!, only deficient in fat. Hence with turnips, some oily or fatty food should always be eaten; boiled neck of mutton is therefore a very proper accompaniment to this vegetable ; "boiled" I say from mere habit,steamed meat is infinitely preferable to boiled, as thereby the nutritive juices are retained, which otherwise are lost in the liquid used for cooking, unless, indeed, this liquid be converted into good and palatable soup or broth.

The CABBAGE is eminently nutritious, and contains more gluten than any other vegetable food which is largely consumed: greens, also, should be eaten with fat and oily food; thus bacon and greens, pork and peasepudding, are not only popular as they are from force of habit, or from prevailing taste, but from being in reality

better fitted to the constitution of every healthy individual, than when eaten separately.

ONIONS, also, are worthy of notice, not only as a condiment, but as an article of food; Spanish Onions being delicate in flavour, and very much milder than our own. In Spain and Portugal, indeed, they form one of the common and universal supports of life; the onion being to the humble Spaniard that which cheese is to the English labourer.

Neither should peas and beans be neglected in the ordinary bill of fare; in their season, they should be seen at table as frequently as may be convenient. In fact, you cannot err in providing as great a variety of vegetable food as circumstances and prudence permit. I am convinced, that if food and cooking were more practically con. sidered, if a very little chemical knowledge were imbibed by heads of families, many forms of disease would be, under God's blessing, averted, and a doctor's bill would not be an annual draw upon the purse.

Some quantity of uncooked food it is good to eat every day; a small portion of raw ripe fruit; and salads are by some eminent chemists held to be "essential to the diet of those who would maintain their health in perfect integrity." Lettuce in its season, celery, garden-cress, but, above all, water-cress, contain, in their juices, certain active principles, which are beneficial to the ordinary human constitution. Take judiciously of that which God has given you,-" every herb bearing seed, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you it is for meat!" Eat, and be thankful.

Next month, if we are spared to meet as usual, through the medium of this magazine, we shall consider Animal Food; and, if possible, the common beverages in which we indulge.

HIS HEART ON HIS SLEEVE.

Ir may appear a blot on the pride of the Latymers to hint that if the plebeian little Dora Charley had been sufficiently gilded, she would have passed muster as a daughter-in-law. But there is distinguished precedent for such abasement. Did not my lord Bar-sinister himself, though boasting descent from "loins enthroned, and rulers of the earth," condescend to delay the progress of his house towards the famous sixteen quarterings of perfected aristocracy, by his marriage with the daughter and co-heiress of Cellaret Binns, Esq., the great wine merchant-a man who had to invent his own armorial bearings? The redeeming feature of the case was the lady's dowry of £100,000. Likewise he had arranged and carried out an alliance between his own daughter and her kinsman, the present head of that distinguished firm; and she was now the Lady Belgravia Binns. So the wine merchant's fortune had become absorbed into the vacancies of the house of Bar-sinister, lending that infusion of gold to the "sangre azul" which is essential to its proper sparkle in society.

FROM DARK TO DAWN IN ITALY," ETC.

Lancelot went home in a subdued state of mind, which his sister easily perceived was not altogether because he was yet rather invalided. He offered to read aloud for her the first evening of his return, a performance which had formerly been wrung out of him by coaxing and other feminine arts. He expressed a wish for self-improvement with a big blushing countenance. "I know I'm a stupid fellow, and I haven't been half educated, but still I might read something now and then, Berry, mightn't I? You don't think it's too late for me to begin to improve myself, do you? The fact is"-and here he used his handkerchief so as to conceal the greater part of his face"the Charleys made me quite ashamed of myself; I felt as ignorant as Leo-did, 'pon my honour."

The shaggy, slight-limbed deerhound which answered to this name raised himself, and gazed at his master with great grave eyes.

'No, old fellow, I don't want you." But the hound persisted in laying his damp nose in Lancelot's hand for a caress: had he not found his master again only the same afternoon? And he wanted to be reassured about that little black silk cap on Lancelot's head, covering close the

[Christian World Magazine, Aprīl, 1866

tonsure where his hair had been excised, which was edged with only a curling fringe of the olden tawny crop.

"I didn't understand half what they talked about when they got hold of books and papers. Ah, Berry, I've often thought lately what a great fool I've been in the way I've spent my life."

He leaned his head on his hand, and looked so profoundly pathetic that Beresford indeed compassionated him. They were alone in the drawing-room, with a decaying fire warning them that it was time to go to bed.

"Fit for nothing, is the result!" cried Lancelot, flinging out his arm energetically. "Twenty-two, and fit for nothing, unless, indeed, the noble occupation of a gamekeeper or a horse-breaker."

"I won't allow you to disparage yourself in this wholesale way," said Beresford. "You are a gentleman, when all's come and gone."

Now, she had often desired to awaken some such sentiments as the above in his breast in bygone days, and even made herself disagreeable to him by certain suggestions not far removed; and truly, he did idle his time most abominably. Yet now that the work was done without her, and his state of placid animal contentment quite broken up, she was disposed strongly to doubt the benefit for which she had striven.

"You are no worse than others, Lancie," she said, by way of comfort, while casting about in her mind for what could have caused this remarkable access of moral consciousness. You have not been trained to a profession, that's all; but when lord Bar-sinister's party come into power-"

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"I'll get a clerkship of £100 a year. Noble object of ambition, certainly!"

Papa seems to think they will have splendid appointments to give away," observed Beresford.

"My dear, you don't understand politics," Lancelot rejoined, with a trifle of masculine assumption which she rather liked to see. Girls never do. Ministers are always obliged to give their best places to

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political adherents-to people they expect will help them. And what's a clerkship to live on? Besides, I hate quill-driving and high stools; I don't wonder at Hugh Lake running away from it."

And, dear old fellow, what would you like?" asked his sister, pushing from his forehead some of the tawny curls.

"I-I don't know. Look here, Berry, I—I've a great mind to tell you all about it."

"About what?" inquired the young lady demurely; but suddenly she had seen "his heart upon his sleeve."

He looked straight at her. "I want to marry Dora Charley," he said. "O Berry, I never really cared for anybody before." And he closed his eyes as he leaned back in the arm-chair, to conceal some glittering moisture that had sprung to them.

Beresford kneeled down beside him, and laid her arms upon his knee. She had seen Lancelot épris once or twice, but nothing like this. "Tell me all about it," she said. A love-story was the richest treat to her, as to most young women, and she was really moved by her brother's

emotion.

"I haven't spoken to her," he went on in a husky voice; "but I think she knows it-I don't think she can help knowing it. And I don't think she dislikes it, Berry," he added, blushing furiously. We used to work in the flower-knots together, and put down seeds."

The reader may think he was hard up for a symptom of undeveloped affection, when this was his utmost to allege. But he had in his memory a certain unspoken and indescribable language of glances, as he scraped the soil with a hoe, and she shook out the dull dust that would germinate in flowers, or as he trimmed the purple tufts of odorous Russian violets, and she directed the exploit.

I'll bring you over to see her, Berry. You must know her, and then you'll be sure to love her-the darling! We'll pay a visit, just you and me alone. Bother!" in reply to

some doubt of Beresford's. My mother shan't interfere. We'll ride over after breakfast to-morrow and be sure to catch them at home,"

Then they fell to talking on the probable issue of such a piece of news at Kyle, as the probability of a Latymer becoming allied in any sense to trade. And Lancelot gave expression to some very just opinions (all formed within the last two months) concerning the natural superiority of a refined, well-educated young lady over all considerations of pedigree. Indeed, he scouted the prejudices of birth and blood with the ardour of a thorough democrat. Beresford almost laughed at the violent change wrought in his sentiments, since the time that he would not admit that the Rev. Oriel Chetwynd was a gentleman, because he was a schoolmaster, and the son of a schoolmaster.

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All moonshine," said he. "What do we gain by being the purest blood in the county? or that my father traces his estates straight from Strongbow? Perhaps its something for Hugh to brag about in his regiment, but the end of it all, so far as I am concerned, is that I can neither dig nor beg."

Likewise, he entertained his sister (till the small hours struck, and the fire was quite out) with warmlycoloured sketches of the perfections of his beloved, to much of which Beresford listened with an under-current of wonder as to whether anybody would ever discover from equally slender data, anything like equal perfections in her

self.

The result of the conference was that she went to bed with a loaded conscience, and rose with the same. It was some minutes before she could remember that the weight was Lancelot's confidence of the previous evening and she felt it to be quite a guilty secret, foreseeing domestic commotion. How they got away for the early ride she scarcely knew; her brother arranged it somehow with their father.

She enjoyed horse-exercise greatly, having ridden from childhood with the freedom of a country resident:

and now Lancelot had put her on the back of the best mount in the stables, a fine-drawn high-couraged Irish mare; while he himself rode the Bluebottle. Leo accompanied them, half-wild with delight, which he expressed in a series of yelps and ungainly gambols, and endeavoured his utmost to travel the distance twice over by insatiate runs to and fro. How delicious to Beresford was the rapid rushing through the cool clear morning air, with the spring sun shining brightly on all the hoarfrost and gossamer of the hedges! She could fully enjoy it, riding easily and firmly at a hard canter, never swerving or shaking in her saddle, scarcely with a quickened breath, but undoubtedly with richly heightened colour. Thus the Rev. Oriel Chetwynd beheld her as he picked his way through the village on his dainty little feet, with the slenderest of all possible umbrellas between his fingers; and thought within his little soul how well she looked, and how gracefully she rode.

"People love other than themselves, and the otherest," writes Emerson. It is that very clever but abstruse American's way of saying that dissimilar qualities from one's own excite admiration and affection. Thus are the world's discrepancies made up as by a law of compensation. Beresford thought she had never seen two people more opposite than Lancelot and this lady-love of his. We fear that she did not admire Miss Charley as greatly as her brother did, but very soon discovered the damaging fact that there was not much in her," as clever girls are apt to express themselves. Certainly some cloud hung over the little Dora this morning. Miss Latymer thought she noticed traces of past tears in her blue eyes; and she scarcely spoke a word in answer to Lancelot's endeavours at conversation. His handsome countenance lengthened as he regarded her; his heart made wild conjectures. She walked before them quite gravely to show Beresford her pet daphne (Dora was of a nature that could scarce exist without half a hundred pets). The botany books call it Daphne