How difficult it is even for a philosojjher to find correct interpretations of historical literary data we can see, e.g., from the following passage of an essay on ‘ Eenaissance Cookery ’ by Sir H. Layard : ‘ Amongst vegetables the thistle (cardo) was esteemed a delicacy, and was generally served with fruit at the end of the dinner. The thorny thistles with well-grown white stalks are the best. The cardo includes the artichoke, but that the name usually applied to the common thistle is shown by the quaint remark of Eomoli,* in his “ Singolare Dottrina,” that it should not be eaten with milk, which it has the property of curdling, and consequently the process would take place in your stomach ; but it should be eaten with pepper, which does not generate wind, and clears the liver ; and such is the reason why donkeys, who eat largely of thistles, have better stomachs than men.’ Now, Cardo, or Cardo di Maria, or Cardo Mariano, is the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish name of the C-ardmis {Cnicus) marianus, L. Of this plant only the young tender Vide infra, the full title of his work. 14 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY leaves, deprived of their spiny borders, are edible in some parts of the South. But this plant is not referred to in the above quotation ; what is meant is the hind of artichoke termed cordon in French, and Cynara cardunc^dus by Linne. Of this plant, which is cultivated in gardens in the South, the leaves are artificially etiotated, and of these the large and thick petioles are eaten under the name of cordons ; they have to be cooked with broth, and constitute an agreeable vegetable dish of small nutritive value ; the edible variety is mostly free from spines, but the presence of spines does not prevent its becoming edible, as they are removed before cooking. There is, therefore, here no question of any thistle, and it is not likely that cooked cordons should have been served with fruit at the end of the dinner ; i.e., for dessert. The , very words white stalks show that the etiolated or (by exclusion of light) blanched stalks are meant, and by no means any part of the common thistle, whatever species of thistle may be hinted at by that ex- pression. From this it follows that the ‘ quaint ’ remark of Eomoli is the result of a complete misapprehension. The statement that the cardo had the property of cm'dling milk is transferred from the fiowers of the true artichoke, Cynara scolynus, L., of which we know from Aristotle, what is also known in Eastern and Southern Europe popularly, that it has the power of curdling milk and transforming it into yourt. The rest of Eomoli’s remark is certainly not only a singular doctrine, but a farrago of ignorant nonsense. All milk curdles in the stomach, consequently the exclusion of cardos from a meal of milk would be quite useless, and the statement that donkeys had better stomachs than men because they ate thistles, though without pepper, if it cannot be interpreted as an abortive attempt at humour, is such as to preclude all further discussion. OBJECTS AND RESULTS OF COOKERY 15 Illustration derived from the Case of Kumys.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

How difficult it is even for a philosopher to find correct interpretations of historical literary data we can see, e.g., from the following passage of an essay on ‘ Eenaissance Cookery ’ by Sir H. Layard : ‘ Amongst vegetables the thistle (cardo) was esteemed a delicacy, and was generally served with fruit at the end of the dinner. The thorny thistles with well-grown white stalks are the best. The cardo includes the artichoke, but that the name usually applied to the common thistle is shown by the quaint remark of Eomoli,* in his “ Singolare Dottrina,” that it should not be eaten with milk, which it has the property of curdling, and consequently the process would take place in your stomach ; but it should be eaten with pepper, which does not generate wind, and clears the liver ; and such is the reason why donkeys, who eat largely of thistles, have better stomachs than men.’ Now, Cardo, or Cardo di Maria, or Cardo Mariano, is the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish name of the Carduus {Cnicus) marianus, L. Of this plant only the young tender Vide infra, the full title of his work. leaves, deprived of their spiny borders, are edible in some parts of the South. But this plant is not referred to in the above quotation ; what is meant is the hind of artichoke termed cordon in French, and Cynara cardunc^dus by Linne. Of this plant, which is cultivated in gardens in the South, the leaves are artificially etiotated, and of these the large and thick petioles are eaten under the name of cardoons; they have to be cooked with broth, and constitute an agreeable vegetable dish of small nutritive value ; the edible variety is mostly free from spines, but the presence of spines does not prevent its becoming edible, as they are removed before cooking. There is, therefore, here no question of any thistle, and it is not likely that cooked cordons should have been served with fruit at the end of the dinner ; i.e., for dessert. The , very words white stalks show that the etiolated or (by exclusion of light) blanched stalks are meant, and by no means any part of the common thistle, whatever species of thistle may be hinted at by that expression. From this it follows that the ‘ quaint ’ remark of Eomoli is the result of a complete misapprehension. The statement that the cardo had the property of curdling milk is transferred from the fiowers of the true artichoke, Cynara scolynus, L., of which we know from Aristotle, what is also known in Eastern and Southern Europe popularly, that it has the power of curdling milk and transforming it into yourt. The rest of Eomoli’s remark is certainly not only a singular doctrine, but a farrago of ignorant nonsense. All milk curdles in the stomach, consequently the exclusion of cardos from a meal of milk would be quite useless, and the statement that donkeys had better stomachs than men because they ate thistles, though without pepper, if it cannot be interpreted as an abortive attempt at humour, is such as to preclude all further discussion. Illustration derived from the Case of Kumys.

The spirit of cookery