Cake saffron is generally made from the dried flowers of the safflowers--a thistle-like plant of the aster family--or the florets of the saffron plants made into a paste with gum-water; it is used for dying and making rouge. Turmeric Turmeric is an East Indian plant (curcuma longa) of the ginger family, with the same properties as ginger, only not so powerful. It is also grown in Zanzibar, China and the Malayan archipelago. It is a stemless plant with dark green leaves varying from 6 in. to 24 in. long and 3 in. to 6 in. wide, flowers of a dull yellow color and a tuberous root varying in thickness from that of a quill to ½ in. in diameter and often a foot long, with joints or ring-like swellings at short intervals; of, a yellowish to orange color outside and sometimes white and sometimes orange color inside. They are classed as long or round tubes according to their shape. From the root is made a kind of arrowroot much relished by the natives of India to color their faces. In medicine it is used as a cordial or stomachic; as an anti-scorbutic, and for stimulating the digestive organs. In a fresh state it is given to expel intestinal worms and in diarrhoea. It is used in varnishes and ointments and as a dye for silks and woolens, but it is now chiefly employed in making Indian curries or pickles, mustard, compounds, pudding spices, chow-chow pickles. A kind growing in Bengal, called “Mango ginger,” from its resemblance to the mango, is used for the same purpose as ginger. Turmeric paper is a bibulous paper, yellow from saturation with the extract of turmeric, used as a test for alkalies, by which it is turned brown or red. Turmeric is also made from the roots of the canna, a member of the same family of plants cultivated at Sierra Leone. Turmeric is adulterated with yellow ocher and carbonate of soda. Turmeric is insoluble in cold water, only partly soluble in boiling water, but is quite soluble in alcohol, forming beautiful yellow crystals. Nasturtium The flower buds and fruits of the common garden nasturtium are often used as a spice after being ground and dried; they are also pickled like capers and used on fish, meats, etc. The name is derived from nausa, nose, and tortus, twist, from the effects of its pungent smell or taste. * * * * * * Transcriber’s note: Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed. Simple typographical errors were corrected; unpaired quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unpaired. A Table of Contents was added by the Transcriber. Page 28: “the races of hands” probably should be “the races or hands”. Page 32: “musterial” probably should be “material” or “materials”.