up with warm water were commended for the
cure of coughs. Gipsies are great Snail eaters, but they first starve
the creatures, which are given to devour the deadly Night Shade,
and other poisonous plants. It is certain, that Snails retain the
flavour and odour of the vegetables which they consume.

The chalky downs of the South of England are literally covered with
small snails, and many persons suppose that the superior flavour of
South Down mutton is due to the thousands of these snails which
the sheep consume together with the pasture on which they feed. In
1854 a medical writer set forth the curative virtues of _Helicin_, a
glutinous constituent principle derived from the Snail, and to be
given in broth as a remedy for pulmonary consumption. In France
the Apple Snail is known as the "great Escargot"; and the Snail
gardens in which the gasteropods are fattened, and reared, go by the
name of "Escargotoires." Throughout the winter the creatures
hybernate, shutting themselves up by their operculum whilst lying
among dead leaves, or having fixed themselves by their glutinous
secretion to a wall or tree. They are only taken for use whilst in this
state. According to a gipsy, the common English Snail is quite as
good to be eaten, and quite as beneficial as an Apple Snail, but there
is less of him. In Wiltshire, when collected whilst hybernating,
snails are soaked in salted water, and then grilled on the bars of the
grate. About France the Escargots are dried, and prepared as a
lozenge [411] for coughs. Our common garden Snail is the Helix
aspersa. On the Continent for many years past the large Apple Snail,
together with a reddish-brown slug, the Arion Rufus, has been
employed in medicine for colds, sore throats, and a tendency to
consumption of the lungs. These contain "limacine," and eight per
cent. of emollient mucilage, together with "helicin," and uric acid
just under the shell. Many quarts of cooked garden snails are sold
every week to the labouring classes in Bristol; and an annual Feast
of Snails is held in the neighbourhood of Newcastle. Mrs. Delaney
in 1708, recommended that "two or three snails should be boiled in
the barley-water which Mary takes who coughs at night. She must
know nothing of it; they give no manner of taste. Six or eight boiled
in water, and strained off, and put in a bottle would be a good way
of adding a spoonful of the same to every liquid thing she takes.
They must be fresh done every two