and potato. The Hindu, the negro, and the Irishman are all
remarkable for being round-bellied, and this peculiarity is ascribed to
the necessity of consuming a large bulk of food in order to obtain the
requisite nourishment.

It is not, of course, the root of the plant which we consume. The tubers
known to the table are the swollen portions of the underground branches,
and the so-called 'eyes' are really leaf-buds. It is by cuttings from
these tubers, however, that the plant is mostly propagated. About
three-fourths of the weight of the potato is water, and this may
explain the injurious effect which excessive rainfall has on the crops.
The disease which attacks the plant, and has been the cause of Irish
famines, past and prospective, is a species of fungus, which first
attacks and discolours the straws, and then spreads downwards to the
tubers, increasing the quantity of water in them, reducing the quantity
of starch, and converting the albumen into casein.

When this disease once appears it is apt to spread over wide areas where
the same climatic influences prevail, and when the disease appears in
any strength the crops are rapidly rendered unfit for human food. The
trouble of the Irish peasantry of the West is that they have no
alternative crop to fall back on when the potato fails. Their plots are
too small for cereals, and they cannot be persuaded to cultivate
cabbages and other vegetables along with their tubers. It is thus that,
when the day of tribulation comes, the potato appears to be really a
curse rather than a blessing to agricultural Ireland.

There have been frequent projects for reverting to original types--that
is to say, for obtaining a fresh supply of the indigenous plant from
South America, and breeding a new stock, as it were. It is a possible
mode of extirpating the disease which may be resorted to.

The Irish famine of 1847 was due to the failure of the potato crops in
1846, preceded by two or three years of bad crops. This failure was due
to disease, and the eating of the diseased tuber brought on a
pestilence, so that altogether the deaths by starvation and epidemics in
that disastrous period amounted to nearly a million and a quarter
persons. To deal with the distress various sums were voted by Parliament
to the total amount of over ten millions sterling. This was supplemented
by private philanthropy in this country, and by generous aid from the
United States and some European countries. Wh