Rapeseed

“ This plant is distinguished from others of the same tribe by its roots being a regular continuation of the stem.
In several parts of England rape and cole seed are sown intermixed, the plants being distinguishable in their growth by the cole exceeding the rape in height, being more soft and tender, and less branched and bushy. When sown separately the cole is usually, though not always, consumed as food for sheep and cattle; and the rape is allowed to stand for seed. For the cultivation of rape the soil ought to be rich and deep. ”

“ The smaller the seed the better it is in quality. There are three kinds of rape in all; the first is broad and flat, the second of a spherical shape, and the third, to which the name of “wild” rape275 has been given, throws out a long root, similar in appearance to a radish, with an angular, rough leaf, and an acrid juice, which, if extracted about harvest, and mixed with a woman’s milk, is good for cleansing the eyes and improving defective sight. The colder the weather the sweeter they are, and the larger, it is generally thought; heat makes them run to leaf. ”

“ The wild form Brassica campestris, the wild coleseed, colza or kohlsaat, of the fields of England and many parts of Europe, is sometimes cultivated on the European continent for its seed, which, however, is inferior in value to rape as an oil-yielding product. ”

“ When young, feed on a paste nude by bruising rape seed, blowing the chaff away, mixed with pieces of bread powdered. Give a teaspoonful with a little hard egg and a few drops of water, when turning sour, mix fresh. Add as they grow older, scalded rape seed without bruising, chopped almond and chickweed, in hot weather twice a day. ”

“ Seed should be examined to ascertain that it is not sterile by age, that it is clean, particularly that it is not adulterated with other varieties of similar appearances: for age has such effect upon seed as in some respects to change its very nature, thus it is said that rape will grow from old cabbage seed, and vice versa. ”

“ For this, yellow rape seed baked in bread is very good; also young, fat flesh, not too much salted; also saffron, the tails of stincus, and long pepper prepared in wine. But let such persons eschew all sour, sharp, doughy and slimy meats, long sleep after meat, surfeiting and drunkenness, and so much as they can, keep themselves from sorrow, grief, vexation and anxious care.
These things following increase the natural seed, stir up the venery and recover the seed again when it is lost, viz., eggs, milk, rice, boiled in milk, sparrows' brains, flesh, bones and all ”

“ Parsley recommended to Farmers to be sown with Rape-seed, as a preservative against the Resp in Sheep.—A correspondent of the "Chester Chronicle" recommends to all farmers who sow rape-seed, to sow with it a small portion of parsley at the same time; this he pronounces an infallible preservative against the malady well-known by the name of resp, in sheep: he also advises to sow parsley on turnip land at the time of hoeing turnips. ”

“ It should also have fresh water every day, both for drinking and bathing, the latter being in a shallow vessel; in the moulting season a small bit of iron may be put in the water for drinking, but no other medicine should be given. Its food should be as simple as possible, and should consist principally of summer rape seed, that is, those small brown rape seeds which are produced by plants sown in spring, and are ripe in summer; and not those sown in autumn and reaped in spring, which are large and black. ”

“ There is reason to believe, so sudden is the rape, that she makes use of her sting and her mandibles only during the flight, on her journey home. This fierce procedure, which is incompatible with scientific surgery, explains even better than the narrowness of the cells her preference for Spiders of small dimensions. A sturdy prey, armed with its two poison-fangs, would constitute a deadly peril to the ravisher disdainful of precautions. [96] The lack of artifice calls for a feeble victim. It also makes us suspect that the Spider so hastily set upon is killed. ”

“ It has been remarked that those which are fed entirely on rape seed soaked in water live much longer, and are more healthy. The hemp seed is too heating, sooner or later blinds them, and always brings on a decline. A little green food, such as lettuce, endive, chickweed, water-cresses, a little apple, particularly the kernels, the berries of the service tree, and the like, is agreeable and salutary to them. ”

“ The Greeks have distinguished two principal species of rape, the male and the female,274 and have discovered a method of obtaining them both from the same seed; for when it is sown thick, or in a hard, cloggy soil, the produce will be male. ”

“ In determining the truthfulness of the statements made as to an alleged rape, the character of the woman, and the obvious inconsistencies of her statements must be taken into consideration. Moreover, if, in addition to the injuries found on the external genitals, spermatozoa be detected in the vagina, a presumption in favour of the injuries being due to sexual intercourse will be clearly made out, but the presence of spermatozoa in the vagina of a woman is no evidence of rape. ”

“ The mustards bloom for four weeks, rape for three. These are all specially commendable, as they may be made to bloom during the honey dearth of July and August, and are valuable plants to raise for the seed. Rape seems to be very attractive to insects, as the flea beetles and the blister beetles are often quite too much for it, though they do not usually destroy the plants till after they have blossomed. ”

“ The egg-laying process may be repeated in a number of fruits and from each egg a larva hatches within a week and burrows to the stone, making a wormy fruit. Most of the infested fruits drop. Poisoning with an arsenate is the chief means of combating the pest. ”

“ Next to those of the48 grape and corn, this is the most profitable harvest of all for the countries that lie beyond the Padus. The rape is by no means difficult to please in soil, for it will grow almost anywhere, indeed where nothing else can be sown. It readily derives nutriment from fogs and hoar-frosts, and grows to a marvelous size; I have seen them weighing upwards of forty pounds.271 It is prepared for table among us in several ways, and is made to keep till the next crop, its fermentation272 being prevented by preserving it in mustard. ”

“ He asked, “And what showeth the man whose semen is thin?” And she answered, “He cannot get women with child, nor beget children.” Quoth he, “What thickeneth the seed? tell me and I will buy it: haply, it will thicken mine.” Quoth she, “Enquire for it of the druggists.” So he slept with her that night and arose on the morrow, repenting of having spoken angrily to her; and she also regretted her cross words. Then he went to the market and, finding a druggist, saluted him; and when his salutation was returned said to him, “Say, hast thou with thee a seed-thickener?” ”

“ The exhaustive and often fatal effects of the reproductive act are very manifest in insect life. Among the insects the reproductive act of the male seems to round out the purpose and complete the period of his life. The exhaustive act [Pg 78] is oftentimes speedily followed by death. This same fatal termination is also experienced by the female after she has completed the work of developing and depositing the germ in some place suited for its protection and adapted to its eventual development and growth. ”

“ They are said to discharge semen in sleep, whoever during slumber, ejaculate the genital seed of nature, because they possess it in the greatest degree of abundance either on account of the constituting material of the semen being vitiated or on account of the copiousness of this material, or else on account of the vigour of the seminal organs. ”

“ Hereto the abbess very austerely replying, Thou naughty wicked girl, why didst thou not cry, A rape, a rape! then should all of us have run to thy succour. Her answer was that the rape was committed in the dortour, where she durst not cry because it was a place of sempiternal silence. But, quoth the abbess, thou roguish wench, why didst not thou then make some sign to those that were in the next chamber beside thee? ”

“ The crime of rape appears to be most frequently perpetrated against children, probably due to the popular idea that an attack of gonorrhœa may be cured by connection being had with a virgin or healthy female. ”

“ The seed or leaves bruised, and put into the nostrils, stays the bleeding of them, and takes away the flesh growing in them called polypus. The juice of the leaves, or the decoction of them, or of the root, is singularly good to wash either old, rotten, or stinking sores or fistulous, and gangrenes, and such as fretting, eating, or corroding scabs, manginess, and itch, in any part of the body, as also green wounds, by washing them therewith, or applying the green herb bruised thereunto, yea, although the flesh were separated from the bones ”

“ A small quantity of this substance freshly gathered, or even dried, but in the latter case bruised and moistened at the time when it is to be used, vitiates the virile sperm or kills the foetus, bringing abortion on and provoking the menstruation when introduced in the woman's vagina. The same end may be obtained by means of a decoction of the same plant taken fasting by the woman, and used at the same time by an external application to moisten the vagina. ”

“ Columella, VII., IX. 5: “Sows are also castrated by incision in the vulva; the wounds cicatrics, and they cannot conceive any more.” This practice has by no means disappeared; Schneider notes it in the passage of Columella; sows, cows, mares, sheep, are still castrated by excising their ovarium. Why should we not believe that Adramytes wanted the same process to be applied to the fair sex, in order to make women sterile? ”

“ In like manner, certain indecent assaults, incests, &c., are largely the outcome of social environment, which, condemning a number of persons to live in

hovels without air or light, with a promiscuity of sex between parents and children such as obtains amongst the brutes, effaces or deadens all normal sense of modesty. On the other hand, there are cases of rape and the like which are mostly due to the biological condition of the individual, either in manifest forms of sexual disease or, less manifest though none the less actual, of biological anomaly. ”

“ For, as we see things suddenly set on fire and blasted by a spark struck from a flint, or the lightning flashing from a cloud, so equally does the seed of the male instantly affect the female which it has touched with a kind of contagion, and transfer to her its prolific quality, by which it renders fruitful in a moment, not only the eggs, but the uterus also, and the hen herself. For an inflammable material is not set on fire by the contact of flame more quickly, than is the hen made pregnant by intercourse with the cock. ”

“ These signs last longer in children than in adults; but as a rule—in the adult, at least—all signs of rape disappear in three or four days. Young and delicate children may suffer from a vaginal discharge, with swelling of the external genitals, simulating an attempt at rape. Infantile leucorrhœa is common, and many innocent people have been exposed to danger from false charges of rape on children, instituted as a means of levying blackmail. ”

“ The injuries thus occasioned, consist in rupture of the hymen, swelling, contusion, inflammation, or laceration of the parts, discharge of blood; and in persons of extreme youth, the laceration of the perineum is said to have sometimes occurred; and as Rape cannot be completed without considerable violence, we should also expect to find marks of force in other parts of the body, such as bruises about the arms and thighs ”

“ Piercing or biting forms may inject an irritating or poisonous saliva into the wound caused by their mouth-parts.
2. Stinging forms may inject a poison, from glands at the caudal end of the abdomen, into wounds produced by a specially modified ovipositer, the sting.
3. Nettling properties may be possessed by the hairs of the insect.
4. Vescicating, or poisonous blood plasma, or body fluids are known to exist in a large number of species and may, under exceptional circumstances, affect man. ”

“ The roots of rape plants may be eaten like turnips, but they have a stronger taste. The stalks, or haulm, if strong, may be advantageously employed in the formation of the enclosing fences of farm-yards. ”

“ False charges of rape are very often made. The motive may be to extort blackmail, revenge, or mere delusion. On examining such cases bruises are seldom found, but scratches which the woman has made on the front of her body may be discovered, and the local injuries to the generative organs are slight, if present at all. ”

“ The lateral pouches in the lower vagina of the breeding age female contain quantities of constantly forming cornifled excretion, which may be taken in a routine manner, as vaginal wipings, on small pieces of cotton about the size of a pea and placed in small capsules to be sold as, or used as or in preparation of, baits for foxes, mink and other animals. ”

“ As second factor then must be reckoned the belief in the harmfulness of the blood resulting from rupture of the hymen at defloration; and connected with this the actual injury that the man’s genital organs are occasionally exposed to in deflowering a maid with narrow vaginal orifice, or at any rate the effort necessarily called for to perforate the hymen, a motive not without actual weight amongst indolent Asiatics44. ”