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Show 154 RED CURRANT. add fourteen ouncesof sifted sugar; boil quick, skim, and re. duce to a good thickness, which may be known by putting a little into a saucer andsetting it in cold water. Jelly is contained in the juices of several acid fruits, particu. larly currants. It.is deposited from them in the formofa soft tremulous mass, almost colourless, and agreeable to the taste. It is scarcely soluble in cold water, but very soluble in hot water; and when the solution cools, it again assumes a gelae tinous state. With sugar its combination is well known. By long boiling it loses this property of congealing. When dried, it becomes transparent, hard, and brittle, resembling gum. It combines with the alkalies, and is converted by the nitric acid into oxalic acid. In the-dry state of the fauces and tongue it-is excellent, and to give children after medicine, or to mix some powders withit, especially calomel. TT) TOM BLACK CURRANT. RIBES NIGRUM. ae A Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. Essent. Gen. Cuar. Petals five ; Stamens inserted into the calyx: Style two-cleft: Berry many-seeded beneath, Srec. Caan. Stem unarmed: Racemes hairy: Flowers oblong. a DESCRIPTION. Tus shrubrises fromfive to six feet in height. The leaves are commonly divided into three lobes,irregularly serrated. On the under side are small glands, which secrete a peculiarly smelling fluid. The flowers are on pendant bunches, upon slender foot- stalks, placed alternate on the raceme. The calyx is cut into five segments. The corolla consists of five roundish petals. The berries are black. MEDICAL VIRTUES. It is a wholesome fruit, and a gentle aperient. a] plied The leaf to a gouty limb is said greatly to assuage pain and inflammation of the part. The inner bark of this, and also of the ved currant and gooseberry, made into a decoction, is a popular |