ANCIENT IRISH MEDICINE 
people lacked them to a great extent, hence when 
the onions began to grow in the spring time they 
represented a very valuable source of these vitaliz- 
ing principles. No wonder that patients felt better 
after taking them and that onions secured such a 
reputation for the relief of all sorts of ills. The 
stimulus provided by such vegetables would mean 
a very great deal for making many of the physiolog- 
ical processes of the body do their work ever so 
much better than before. 
The Irish had habits of eating certain vegetables 
raw that undoubtedly proved beneficial for them. 
Turnips were often eaten raw and I have heard my 
father tell that when he was a boy and went out 
herding cows a piece of black bread and a turnip 
constituted his lunch. Anyone who has never eaten 
raw turnip has missed one of the interesting experi- 
ences of life. Cabbage was often eaten raw and 
the “cabbage stump,” that is the solid centre of 
the cabbage was looked upon as a great delicacy by 
the children. Even in this country we used to go 
down to the kitchen and plead with the cook to have 
the cabbage stump because it had a pleasant some- 
what nutty flavor. Carrots were also eaten raw, at 
least from time to time, and while we may think of a 
piece of bread and a raw turnip or some cabbage 
as a very inadequate meal, anyone who will watch 
the stenographers of the modern time go in to one 
of the luncheonettes and ask for a lettuce sandwich 
will be able to note that the young women of the 
modern time has gone back to that old-fashioned 
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