The Republican journal., 1908-05-14
THE ATTRIBUTES OF ONIONS.

Onions are the foundation of all
cookery and an effective nervlne
strengthened. They are at once the
most democratic and most aristocratlc
of roots, "a radical of the radical"
The ancient Egyptians had a mltigated
veneration for the onion, which may or
NAV not have been inspired by their
gourmet priests.
Among the many quaint traditional
attributes of the onion is the old gar
deners belief that the Rose loves the
Onion, and puts forth its sweetest bios
SONS when planted in proq!nquity.
Alphonse Karr, in his Journey Round
My Garden" speaks of yellow garlic
1.-THE "moly" of HomerJ "It' is more
than it appears to be; it has the power
of keeping us safe from entertainments,
spells, and evil presages. A crow may
fly past you on your left hand, but you
need not entertain any fear if you only
have yellow garlic in your garden"
The leek, which is of the onion tribe,
was so esteemed by the Emperor Nero.
according to the historians, that his
subjects gave to him the name of Por-
lophagus from Album porrum, the
reek), for he ate them with oil for sew
eral days in every month to clear his
voice, abstaining from bread on these
leek eating days. There is Bible au-
thority, too, for their usefulness. The
Israelites in the desert pined for the
leeks and the onions and the garlic
which they had enjoyed SO abundantly
in Egypt.
No medicine, it is said, is so quick to
to restore and tone up the faded phy-
steal system as onions. The very
: bourgeois French SOupe a lOlgnon is a
truly wonderful nerve tonic, and,
properly made, one of the most dell
ciOus preparations in the world.
1T has been found that on more than
one occasion during cholera epldemlc
a string OF onions hanging III rouse
amid other houses which were all IN
fected became unlntelllSlbly diseased
and black, but proved thereby protec-
tive to the inmates of that particular
house.
The naturalist, Frank auckland, had
the highest opinion OF onions as a cure
for insomnia. 81 am sure the essential
oil of onions has specific powers; IN my
own case it never fails; if | am much
pressed with work and feel that L am
not disposed to sleep l eat two or three
D.
CAL"
1t is only by the experiment OF leav-
ing it out that it can be proved how
dull, fat and uninteresting are soups,
sauces, stews, GRAVES, salads ana sea-
sonings of all kinds without a sugges-
ton of onion, shallot, chlves, garlic or
leek. The flavor must "lurk, as Sydney
Smith says, and, of course, must not be
permitted to predominant Impairment
ly; it must merely hint, suggestion,
an innuendo, but without 1T there is the
certainty of lnSipidlty.
The famous Sauce la Soubise is COM
posed of onions, and, if compounded by
an artist, is of rare excellence and adap-
liability. Its origin is not quite certain.
Some gastronomic historians allege that
it was called after Prince Charles de
Soubise, field marshal of Louis NV,
and a famous epcure. But there are
other claimants, such as Benjamin de
Rohan. Seigneur de SoubiSe, who was
born in La Rochelle in 1888 and died in
London in 1641, after having been chief
of the Protestant party under Louis
MIL; or Francois de ROhan, Prince de
Soubise 1631-1712l son of Hercule de
Rohan, Due de Montbazon. Anyhow,
the sauce is wonderful.
The usefulness of the onion as a
means of divination must not be for.
gotten In Folkard's "Plant Lore and
Legends he quotes a verse common IN
his time in the countryside, and which,
in a modified form, may, it is SAID, yet
be met with:
In these same days young wanton gyrles
that meet for marriage be
Doe search to know the names OF them mat
shall their husbands be;
-Four unyons, five, or eight they take, ana
make in every one
Such names as they do fancie most, and
best to think upon;
Then near the chimney them they SET, ana
that same Onyon then
That first doth sproute doth surely bear the
lame of their good man.
Another and possibly more practical
use for onions is conveyed III TINS old
recipe: ''Onyon juice annoynted on the
bald head, in the sun, bringeth the hare
agine very speedelle.' This, surely,
must be one of the cheapest hair re-
storers on the market. Onion plaster
for bronchitis, onion broth for int1uen-
"a, and onion poultice for chilblalns are
all housewifely and oid-fashloned
remedies.
1t was Louis Eustache Ude, the great
cook, who originally dubbed the onion