are at present, according to Hedin, employed by the Swedes among their bread-corn, and reduced to flour; nay, the inhabitants of Carelia convert them into bread, without any addition.—Its roots have an austere, bitterish, taste, and are chiefly valuable to tanners; and also for the red tinge which they yield, after having been dried and boiled. On adding alum to this decoction, painters prepare a fine red colour, but which is useless in dyeing.—Boerhaave obtained from the juice of the Sorrel-dock, an essential salt, resembling that of lemons.
SORREL, the Sheep's, or Dock, Rumex Acetosella, L. is also a native perennial, which grows in sandy meadows, pastures, and gravel-walks: it flowers in May and June.—The stalks of this plant, which affords a wholesome food for sheep, seldom exceed 12 inches in height: it deserves, however, to be mentioned, that cows partaking of the Sheep's Dock, yield a milk tinged with blood.
SORREL, the Common Wood, Sour Trefoil, or Cuckow-Bread. Oxalis Acetosella, L. another native perennial, which abounds in woods, shady hedges, and on heaths: it flowers in the month of April.—This vegetable is eaten by goats, hogs, and sheep; but is not relished by cows, and is refused by horses. Its purple leaves yield, on expression, a gratefully acid juice, which has been beneficially used in scorbutic eruptions: and, if such juice be properly clarified, evaporated, and deposited in a cool place, it will produce a considerable quantity of acid crystals, which may be employed for removing iron-moulds from linen-cloth; and which are sold under the name of Essential Salt of Lemons.—An infusion of the leaves makes a palatable diet-drink in ardent fevers; and, on being boiled in milk, they form an agreeable whey. They have also been successfully applied to scrophulous ulcers, when rolled in a cabbage leaf, and digested in warm ashes, till they were reduced to a pulp.—But the most easy and efficacious way of preserving these leaves, is that of converting them into a kind of conserve, with the addition of double their weight of sugar; in which form, they are an excellent substitute for lemons, and may be given with advantage in all putrid and other fevers, where antiseptics are indicated.
SOUP, a strong decoction of beef, veal, or other animal substances; and which is generally seasoned with aromatic vegetables, pepper, or similar heating spices.
Soups form a principal article at the tables of the luxurious; being generally served as a first course; though sometimes they constitute the whole dinner of those who are less opulent, under the mistaken notion, that such liquid is more wholesome, and easy of digestion, than solid meat. See vol. i. pp. 364-5. Such dishes ought, however, to be given with great caution to convalescents; as the large proportion of spices, wines, and other stimulating articles that enter into the composition of soups, cannot fail to oppress the stomach, to irritate the system, and not unfrequently to occasion a relapse.
Portable-soup is a kind of cake formed of concentrated broth; which, being divested of all fat, while the putrescent parts of the meat have been evaporated by boiling, is reduced to a gelatinous consistence, resembling that of glue. This composition may be preserved, in a dry place, for three
