is 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 tha