CANTO IV.

Now the broad Sun his golden orb unshrouds,

Flames in the west, and paints the parted clouds;

O'er heaven's wide arch refracted lustres flow,

And bend in air the many-colour'd bow.--

5 --The tuneful Goddess on the glowing sky

Fix'd in mute extacy her glistening eye;

And then her lute to sweeter tones she strung,

And swell'd with softer chords the Paphian song.

Long ailes of Oaks return'd the silver sound,

10 And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground;

Pleas'd Lichfield listen'd from her sacred bowers,

Bow'd her tall groves, and shook her stately towers.

"Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns,

Nymph! not for thee the golden solstice burns,

15 Refulgent CEREA!--at the dusky hour

She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower,

[_Pleas'd Lichfield._ I. 11. The scenery described at the beginning of

the first part, or economy of vegetation, is taken from a botanic garden

about a mile from Lichfield.

_Cerea._ l. 15. Cactus grandiflorus, or Cereus. Twenty males, one female.

This flower is a native of Jamaica and Veracrux. It expands a most

exquisitely beautiful corol, and emits a most fragrant odour for a few

hours in the night, and then closes to open no more. The flower is nearly

a foot in diameter; the inside of the calyx of a splendid yellow, and the

numerous petals of a pure white: it begins to open about seven or eight

o'clock in the evening, and closes before sun-rise in the morning.

Martyn's Letters, p. 294. The Cistus labdiniferus, and many other

flowers, lose their petals after having been a few hours expanded in

the day-time; for in these plants the stigma is soon impregnated by the

numerous anthers: in many flowers of the Cistus lubdiniferus I observed

two or three of the stamens were perpetually bent into contact with the

pistil.

The Nyctanthes, called Arabian Jasmine, is another flower, which expands

a beautiful corol, and gives out a most delicate perfume during the

night, and not in the day, in its native country, whence its name;

botanical philosophers have not yet explained this wonderful property;

perhaps the plant sleeps during the day as some animals do; and its

odoriferous glands only emit their fragrance during the expansion of

the petals; that is, during its waking hours: the Geranium triste has

the same property of giving up its fragrance only in the night. The

flowers of the Cucurbita lagenaria are said to close when the sun

shines upon them. In our climate many flowers, as tragopogon, and

hibiscus, close their flowers before the hottest part of the day comes

on; and the flowers of some species of cucubalus, and Silene, viscous

campion, are closed all day; but when the sun leaves them they expand,

and emit a very agreeable scent; whence such plants are termed

noctiflora.]

Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms

The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms.

There to the skies she lifts her pencill'd brows,

20 Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows;

Eyes the white zenyth; counts the suns, that roll

Their distant fires, and blaze around the Pole;

Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car

O'er Heaven's blue vault,--Herself a brighter star.

25 --There as soft Zephyrs sweep with pausing airs

Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs,

Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia's sober beams

Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams.

_In crowds_ around thee gaze the admiring swains,

30 And guard in silence the enchanted plains;

Drop the still tear, or breathe the impassion'd sigh,

And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye.

Thus, when old Needwood's hoary scenes the Night

Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light;

35 Where MUNDY pour'd, the listening nymphs among,

Loud to the echoing vales his parting song;

With measured step the Fairy Sovereign treads,

Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads;

Round each green holly leads her sportive train,

40 And little footsteps mark the circled plain;

Each haunted rill with silver voices rings,

And Night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings.

Ere the bright star, which leads the morning sky,

Hangs o'er the blushing east his diamond eye,

45 The chaste TROPAEO leaves her secret bed;

A saint-like glory trembles round her head;

[_ Where Mundy._ l. 35. Alluding to an unpublished poem by F. N. Mundy,

Esq. on his leaving Needwood-Forest.

_Tropæolum._ l. 45. Majus. Garden Nasturtion, or greater Indian cress.

Eight males, one female. Miss E. C. Linneus first observed the Tropæolum

Majus to emit sparks or flashes in the mornings before sun-rise, during

the months of June or July, and also during the twilight in the evening,

but not after total darkness came on; these singular scintillations were

shewn to her father and other philosophers; and Mr. Wilcke, a celebrated

electrician, believed them to be electric. Lin. Spec. Plantar. p. 490.

Swedish Acts for the year 1762. Pulteney's View of Linneus, p. 220. Nor

is this more wonderful than that the electric eel and torpedo should give

voluntary shocks of electricity; and in this plant perhaps, as in those

animals, it may be a mode of defence, by which it harrasses or destroys

the night-flying insects which infest it; and probably it may emit the same

sparks during the day, which must be then invisible. This curious subject

deserves further investigation. See Dictamnus. The ceasing to shine of

this plant after twilight might induce one to conceive, that it

absorbed and emitted light, like the Bolognian Phosphorus, or calcined

oyster-shells, so well explained by Mr. B. Wilson, and by T. B. Beccari.

Exper. on Phosphori, by B. Wilson. Dodsley. The light of the evening,

at the same distance from noon, is much greater, as I have repeatedly

observed, than the light of the morning: this is owing, I suppose, to the

phosphorescent quality of almost all bodies, in a greater or less degree,

which thus absorb light during the sun-shine, and continue to emit it

again for some time afterwards, though not in such quantity as to produce

apparent scintillations. The nectary of this plant grows from what is

supposed to be the calyx; but this supposed calyx is coloured; and

perhaps, from this circumstance of its bearing the nectary, should rather

be esteemed a part of the coral. See an additional note at the end of the

poem.]

_Eight_ watchful swains along the lawns of night

With amorous steps pursue the virgin light;

O'er her fair form the electric lustre plays,

50 And cold she moves amid the lambent blaze.

So shines the glow-fly, when the sun retires,

And gems the night-air with phosphoric fires;

[_So shines the glow-fly._ l. 52. In Jamaica, in some seasons of the year,

the fire-flies are seen in the evenings in great abundance. When they

settle on the ground, the bull-frog greedily devours them; which seems to

have given origin to a curious, though cruel, method of destroying these

animals: if red-hot pieces of charcoal be thrown towards them in the dusk

of the evening, they leap at them, and, hastily swallowing them, are

burnt to death.]

Thus o'er the marsh aërial lights betray,

And charm the unwary wanderer from his way.

55 So when thy King, Assyria, fierce and proud,

Three human victims to his idol vow'd;

Rear'd a vast pyre before the golden shrine

Of sulphurous coal, and pitch-exsuding pine;--

--Loud roar the flames, the iron nostrils breathe,

60 And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath;

Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows,

And white with seven-fold heat the furnace glows.

And now the Monarch fix'd with dread surprize

Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes.

65 "Lo! Three unbound amid the frightful glare,

Unscorch'd their sandals, and unsing'd their hair!

And now a fourth with seraph-beauty bright

Descends, accosts them, and outshines the light!

Fierce flames innocuous, as they step, retire!

70 And slow they move amid a world of fire!"

He spoke,--to Heaven his arms repentant spread,

And kneeling bow'd his gem-incircled head.

_Two_ Sister-Nymphs, the fair AVENAS, lead

Their fleecy squadrons on the lawns of Tweed;

75 Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along,

And wake his Echoes with their silver tongue;

Or touch the reed, as gentle Love inspires,

In notes accordant to their chaste desires.

I.

"Sweet ECHO! sleeps thy vocal shell,

"Where this high arch o'erhangs the dell;

"While Tweed with sun-reflecting streams

"Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams?--

[_Ovena_. l. 73. Oat. The numerous families of grasses have all three

males, and two females, except Anthoxanthum, which gives the grateful

smell to hay, and has but two males. The herbs of this order of

vegetables support the countless tribes of graminivorous animals. The

seeds of the smaller kinds of grasses, as of aira, poa, briza, stipa,

&c. are the sustenance of many sorts of birds. The seeds of the large

grasses, as of wheat, barley, rye, oats, supply food to the human

species.

It seems to have required more ingenuity to think of feeding nations of

mankind with so small a seed, than with the potatoe of Mexico, or the

bread-fruit of the southern islands; hence Ceres in Egypt, which was the

birth-place of our European arts, was deservedly celebrated amongst their

divinities, as well as Osyris, who invented the Plough.

Mr. Wahlborn observes, that as wheat, rye, and many of the grasses, and

plantain, lift up their anthers on long filments, and thus expose the

enclosed fecundating dust to be washed away by the rains, a scarcity of

corn is produced by wet summers; hence the necessity of a careful choice

of seed wheat, as that, which had not received the dust of the anthers,

will not grow, though it may appear well to the eye. The straw of the

oat seems to have been the first musical instrument, invented during the

pastoral ages of the world, before the discovery of metals. See note on

Cistus.]

II.

"Here may no clamours harsh intrude,

No brawling hound or clarion rude;

85 Here no fell beast of midnight prowl,

And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl!

III.

"Be thine to pour these vales along

Some artless Shepherd's evening song;

While Night's sweet bird, from yon high spray

90 Responsive, listens to his lay.

IV.

"And if, like me, some love-lorn maid

"Should sing her sorrows to thy shade,

"Oh, sooth her breast, ye rocks around!

"With softest sympathy of sound."

95 From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep,

The Swans pursuing cleave the glassy deep,

On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play,

And silent Bitterns listen to the lay.--

_Three_ shepherd-swains beneath the beechen shades

100 Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids;

On each smooth bark the mystic love-knot frame,

Or on white sands inscribe the favour'd name.

From Time's remotest dawn where China brings

In proud succession all her Patriot-Kings;

105 O'er desert-sands, deep gulfs, and hills sublime,

Extends her massy wall from clime to clime;

With bells and dragons crests her Pagod-bowers,

Her silken palaces, and porcelain towers;

With long canals a thousand nations laves;

110 Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves;

Slow treads fair CANNABIS the breezy strand,

The distaff streams dishevell'd in her hand;

[_Cannabis_. l. 111. Chinese Hemp. Two houses. Five males. A new

species of hemp, of which an account is given by K. Fitzgerald, Esq. in a

letter to Sir Joseph Banks, and which is believed to be much superior

to the hemp of other countries. A few seeds of this plant were sown in

England on the 4th of June, and grew to fourteen feet seven inches

in height by the middle of October; they were nearly seven inches in

circumference, and bore many lateral branches, and produced very white

and tough fibres. At some parts of the time these plants grew nearly

eleven inches in a week. Philos. Trans. Vol. LXXII. p. 46.]

Now to the left her ivory neck inclines,

And leads in Paphian curves its azure lines;

115 Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows,

And the fair ear the parting locks disclose;

Now to the right with airy sweep she bends,

Quick join the threads, the dancing spole depends.

--_Five_ Swains attracted guard the Nymph, by turns

120 Her grace inchants them, and her beauty burns;

To each She bows with sweet assuasive smile,

Hears his soft vows, and turns her spole the while.

So when with light and shade, concordant strife!

Stern CLOTHO weaves the chequer'd thread of life;

125 Hour after hour the growing line extends,

The cradle and the coffin bound its ends;

[_Paphian curves._ l. 114. In his ingenious work, entitled, The Analysis

of Beauty, Mr. Hogarth believes that the triangular glass, which was

dedicated to Venus in her temple at Paphos, contained in it a line

bending spirally round a cone with a certain degree of curviture;

and that this pyramidal outline and serpentine curve constitute the

principles of Grace and Beauty.]

Soft cords of silk the whirling spoles reveal,

If smiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel;

But if sweet Love with baby-fingers twines,

130 And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines,

Skein after skein celestial tints unfold,

And all the silken tissue shines with gold.

Warm with sweet blushes bright GALANTHA glows,

And prints with frolic step the melting snows;

[_Galanthus._ l. 133. Nivalis. Snowdrop. Six males, one female. The

first flower that appears after the winter solstice. See Stillingfleet's

Calendar of Flora.

Some snowdrop-roots taken up in winter, and boiled, had the insipid

mucilaginous taste of the Orchis, and, if cured in the same manner, would

probably make as good salep. The roots of the Hyacinth, I am informed,

are equally insipid, and might be used as an article of food. Gmelin, in

his History of Siberia, says the Martigon Lily makes a part of the food

of that country, which is of the same natural order as the snowdrop. Some

roots of Crocus, which I boiled, had a disagreeable flavour.

The difficulty of raising the Orchis from seed has, perhaps, been a

principal reason of its not being cultivated in this country as an

article of food. It is affirmed, by one of the Linnean school, in the

Amoenit. Academ. that the seeds of Orchis will ripen, if you destroy the

new bulb; and that Lily of the Valley, Convallaria, will produce many

more seeds, and ripen them, if the roots be crowded in a garden-pot, so

as to prevent them from producing many bulbs. Vol. VI. p. 120. It is

probable either of these methods may succeed with these and other

bulbous-rooted plants, as snowdrops, and might render their cultivation

profitable in this climate. The root of the asphodelus ramosus, branchy

asphodel, is used to feed swine in France; and starch is obtained from

the alstromeria licta. Memoires d'Agricult.]

135 O'er silent floods, white hills, and glittering meads

_Six_ rival swains the playful beauty leads,

Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring,

Bids slumbering Zephyr stretch his folded wing,

Wakes the hoarse Cuckoo in his gloomy cave,

140 And calls the wondering Dormouse from his grave,

Bids the mute Redbreast cheer the budding grove,

And plaintive Ringdove tune her notes to love.

Spring! with thy own sweet smile, and tuneful tongue,

Delighted BELLIS calls her infant throng.

145 Each on his reed astride, the Cherub-train

Watch her kind looks, and circle o'er the plain;

Now with young wonder touch the siding snail,

Admire his eye-tipp'd horns, and painted mail;

Chase with quick step, and eager arms outspread,

150 The pausing Butterfly from mead to mead;

[_Bellis prolifera_ l. 144. Hen and chicken Daisy; in this beautiful

monster not only the impletion or doubling of the petals takes place, as

described in the note on Alcea; but a numerous circlet of less flowers on

peduncles, or footstalks, rise from the sides of the calyx, and surround

the proliferous parent. The same occurs in Calendula, marigold; in

Heracium, hawk-weed; and in Scabiosa, Scabious. Phil. Botan. p. 82.]

Or twine green oziers with the fragrant gale,

The azure harebel, and the primrose pale,

Join hand in hand, and in procession gay

Adorn with votive wreaths the shrine of May.

155 --So moves the Goddess to the Idalian groves,

And leads her gold-hair'd family of Loves.

These, from the flaming furnace, strong and bold

Pour the red steel into the sandy mould;

On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art),

160 Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart;

The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind,

And dip the point in poison for the mind;

Each polish'd shaft with snow-white plumage wing,

Or strain the bow reluctant to its string.

165 Those on light pinion twine with busy hands,

Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands;

[_The fragrant Gale._ l. 151. The buds of the Myrica Gale possess an

agreeable aromatic fragrance, and might be worth attending to as an

article of the Materia Medica. Mr. Sparman suspects, that the green

wax-like substance, with which at certain times of the year the berries

of the Myrica cerifera, or candle-berry Myrtle, are covered, are

deposited there by insects. It is used by the inhabitants for making

candles, which he says burn rather better than those made of tallow.

_Voyage to the Cape,_ V. I. 345.]

Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high,

Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly;

Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers,

170 And stay with kisses sweet the Vernal Hours.

Where, as proud Maffon rises rude and bleak,

And with mishapen turrets crests the Peak,

Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath,

And o'er fear'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth;

175 Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil

Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil.

[_Deep in wide caves_. l. 175. The arguments which tend to shew

that the warm springs of this country are produced from steam raised by

deep subterraneous fires, and afterwards condensed between the strata of

the mountains, appear to me much more conclusive, than the idea of their

being warmed by chemical combinations near the surface of the earth: for,

1st, their heat has kept accurately the same perhaps for many centuries,

certainly as long as we have been possessed of good thermometers; which

cannot be well explained, without supposing that they are first in a

boiling state. For as the heat of boiling water is 212, and that of the

internal parts of the earth 48, it is easy to understand, that the steam

raised from boiling water, after being condensed in some mountain, and

passing from thence through a certain space of the cold earth, must be

cooled always to a given degree; and it is probable the distance from the

exit of the spring, to the place where the steam is condensed, might be

guessed by the degree of its warmth.

2. In the dry summer of 1780, when all other springs were either dry or

much diminished, those of Buxton and Matlock (as I was well informed on

the spot), had suffered no diminution; which proves that the sources of

these warm springs are at great depths below the surface of the earth.

3. There are numerous perpendicular fissures in the rocks of Derbyshire,

in which the ores of lead and copper are found, and which pass to

unknown depths; and might thence afford a passage to steam from great

subterraneous fires.

4. If these waters were heated by the decomposition of pyrites, there

would be some chalybeate taste or sulphureous smell in them. See note in

part 1. on the existence of central fires.]

Impetuous steams in spiral colums rise

Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies;

Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow,

180 As heave and toss the billowy fires below;

Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide

From Maffon's dome, and burst his sparry side;

Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls,

From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls;

185 In beds of stalactite, bright ores among,

O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along;

Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood,

And sparkling plunges to its parent flood.

--O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides,

190 Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides,

(The blooming FUCUS), in her sparry coves

To amorous Echo sings his _secret_ loves,

Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream,

And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam.

195 --So, erst, an Angel o'er Bethesda's springs,

Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings;

And as his bright translucent form He laves,

Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves.

[_Fucus_.l. 191. Clandestine marriage. A species of Fucus,

or of Conserva, soon appears in all basons which contain water. Dr.

Priestley found that great quantities of pure dephlogisticated air were

given up in water at the points of this vegetable, particularly in

the sunshine, and that hence it contributed to preserve the water in

reservoirs from becoming putrid. The minute divisions of the leaves of

subaquatic plants, as mentioned in the note on Trapa, and of the gills

of fish, seem to serve another purpose besides that of increasing their

surface, which has not, I believe, been attended to, and that is to

facilitate the separation of the air, which is mechanically mixed or

chemically dissolved in water by their points or edges; this appears

on immersing a dry hairy leaf in water fresh from a pump; innumerable

globules like quicksilver appear on almost every point; for the

extremities of these points attract the particles of water less forcibly

than those particles attract each other; hence the contained air,

whose elasticity was but just balanced by the attractive power of the

surrounding particles of water to each other, finds at the point of each

fibre a place where the resistance to its expansion is less; and in

consequence it there expands, and becomes a bubble of air. It is easy to

foresee that the rays of the sunshine, by being refracted and in part

relieved by the two surfaces of these minute air-bubbles, must impart to

them much more heat than to the transparent water; and thus facilitate

their ascent by further expanding them; that the points of vegetables

attract the particles of water less than they attract each other, is seen

by the spherical form of dew-drops on the points of grass. See note on

Vegetable Respiration in Part I.]

Amphibious Nymph, from Nile's prolific bed

200 Emerging TRAPA lifts her pearly head;

Fair glows her virgin cheek and modest breast,

A panoply of scales deforms the rest;

[_Trapa,_ l. 200. Four males, one female. The lower leaves

of this plant grow under water, and are divided into minute capillary

ramifications; while the upper leaves are broad and round, and have

air-bladders in their footstalks to support them above the surface of

the water. As the aerial leaves of vegetables do the office of lungs, by

exposing a large surface of vessels with their contained fluids to the

influence of the air; so these aquatic leaves answer a similar purpose

like the gills of fish; and perhaps gain from water or give to it a

similar material. As the material thus necessary to life seems to abound

more in air than in water, the subaquatic leaves of this plant, and of

sisymbrium, coenanthe, ranunculus aquatilis, water crowfoot, and some

others, are cut into fine divisions to increase the surface; whilst those

above water are undivided. So the plants on high mountains have their

upper leaves more divided, as pimpinella, petroselinum, and others,

because here the air is thinner, and thence a larger surface of contact

is required. The stream of water also passes but once along the gills of

fish, as it is sooner deprived of its virtue; whereas the air is both

received and ejected by the action of the lungs of land-animals. The

whale seems to be an exception to the above, as he receives water and

spouts it out again from an organ, which I suppose to be a respiratory

one. As spring-water is nearly of the same degree of heat in all

climates, the aquatic plants, which grow in rills or fountains, are found

equally in the torrid, temperate, and frigid zones, as water-cress,

water-parsnip, ranunculus, and many others.

In warmer climates the watery grounds are usefully cultivated, as with

rice; and the roots of some aquatic plants are said to have supplied

food, as the ancient Lotus in Egypt, which some have supposed to be the

Nymphæa.--In Siberia the roots of the Butemus, or flowering rush, are

eaten, which is well worth further enquiry, as they grow spontaneously in

our ditches and rivers, which at present produce no esculent vegetables;

and might thence become an article of useful cultivation. Herodotus

affirms, that the Egyptian Lotus grows in the Nile, and resembles a Lily.

That the natives dry it in the sun, and take the pulp out of it, which

grows like the head of a poppy, and bake it for bread. Enterpe. Many

grit-stones and coals, which I have seen, seem to bear an impression of

the roots of the Nymphæa, which are often three or four inches thick,

especially the white-flowered one.]

Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides

But spreads her silver arms upon the tides;

205 Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves,

And shakes her golden tresses o'er the waves.

Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide

_Four_ Nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide;

Now all as one they rise with frolic spring,

210 And beat the wondering air on humid wing;

Now all descending plunge beneath the main,

And lash the foam with undulating train;

Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance,

In air and ocean weave the mazy dance;

215 Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes,

And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes.

Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams,

Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams;

Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves,

220 And feeds and freights the immeasurable waves;

Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours

Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers;--

Love's rising ray, and Youth's seductive dye,

Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye;

225 Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced

Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste;---

[_Ocymum salinun_. l. 221. Saline Basil. Class Two Powers. The Abbè

Molina, in his History of Chili, translated from the Italian by the Abbè

Grewvel, mentions a species of Basil, which he calls Ocymum salinum: he

says it resembles the common basil, except that the stalk is round and

jointed; and that though it grows 60 miles from the sea, yet every

morning it is covered with saline globules, which are hard and splendid,

appearing at a distance like dew; and that each plant furnishes about

half an ounce of fine salt every day, which the peasants collect, and use

as common salt, but esteem it superior in flavour.

As an article of diet, salt seems to act simply as a stimulus, not

containing any nourishment, and is the only fossil substance which the

caprice of mankind has yet taken into their stomachs along with their

food; and, like all other unnatural stimuli, is not necessary to people

in health, and contributes to weaken our system; though it may be useful

as a medicine. It seems to be the immediate cause of the sea-scurvy, as

those patients quickly recover by the use of fresh provisions; and is

probably a remote cause of scrophula (which consists in the want of

irritability in the absorbent vessels), and is therefore serviceable to

these patients; as wine is necessary to those whose stomachs have been

weakened by its use. The universality of the use of salt with our food,

and in our cookery, has rendered it difficult to prove the truth of these

observations. I suspect that flesh-meat cut into thin slices, either raw

or boiled, might be preserved in coarse sugar or treacle; and thus a very

nourishing and salutary diet might be presented to our seamen. See note

on Salt-rocks, in Vol. I, Canto II. If a person unaccustomed to much salt

should eat a couple of red-herrings, his insensible perspiration will

be so much increased by the stimulus of the salt, that he will find it

necessary in about two hours to drink a quart of water: the effects of a

continued use of salt in weakening the action of the lymphatic system may

hence be deduced.]

By _four_ fond swains in playful circles drawn,

On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn,

Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms,

230 And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms.

Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air,

Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair,

Incrusts her beamy form with films saline,

And Beauty blazes through the crystal shrine.--

235 So with pellucid studs the ice-flower gems

Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems.

So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes,

The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes;

Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale,

240 And wheeling shines in adamantine mail.

Thus when loud thunders o'er Gomorrah burst,

And heaving earthquakes shook his realms accurst,

An Angel-guest led forth the trembling Fair

With shadowy hand, and warn'd the guiltless pair;

[_Ice-flower_. l. 235. Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.]

245 "Haste from these lands of sin, ye Righteous! fly,

Speed the quick step, nor turn the lingering eye!"--

--Such the command, as fabling Bards indite,

When Orpheus charm'd the grisly King of Night;

Sooth'd the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay,

250 And led the fair Assurgent into day.--

Wide yawn'd the earth, the fiery tempest flash'd,

And towns and towers in one vast ruin crash'd;--

Onward they move,---loud horror roars behind,

And shrieks of Anguish bellow in the wind.

255 With many a sob, amid a thousand fears,

The beauteous wanderer pours her gushing tears;

Each soft connection rends her troubled breast,

--She turns, unconscious of the stern behest!--

"I faint!--I fall!--ah, me!--sensations chill

260 Shoot through my bones, my shuddering bosom thrill!

I freeze! I freeze! just Heaven regards my fault,

Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into salt!--

Not yet, not yet, your dying Love resign!--

This last, last kiss receive!--no longer thine!"--

265 She said, and ceased,--her stiffen'd form He press'd,

And strain'd the briny column to his breast;

Printed with quivering lips the lifeless snow,

And wept, and gazed the monument of woe.--

So when Aeneas through the flames of Troy

270 Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy;

With loitering step the fair Creusa stay'd,

And Death involved her in eternal shade.--

Oft the lone Pilgrim that his road forsakes,

Marks the wide ruins, and the sulphur'd lakes;

275 On mouldering piles amid asphaltic mud

Hears the hoarse bittern, where Gomorrah stood;

Recalls the unhappy Pair with lifted eye,

Leans on the crystal tomb, and breathes the silent sigh..

With net-wove sash and glittering gorget dress'd,

280 And scarlet robe lapell'd upon her breast,

Stern ARA frowns, the measured march assumes,

Trails her long lance, and nods her shadowy plumes;

[_Arum_. I. 281. Cuckow-pint, of the class Gynandria, or masculine ladies.

The pistil, or female part of the flower, rises like a club, is covered

above or clothed, as it were, by the anthers or males; and some of the

species have a large scarlet blotch in the middle of every leaf.

The singular and wonderful structure of this flower has occasioned many

disputes amongst botanists. See Tourniff. Malpig. Dillen. Rivin. &c. The

receptacle is enlarged into a naked club, with the germs at its base;

the stamens are affixed to the receptacle amidst the germs (a natural

prodigy), and thus do not need the assistance of elevating filaments:

hence the flower may be said to be inverted. _Families of Plants_

translated from Linneus, p. 618.

The spadix of this plant is frequently quite white, or coloured, and the

leaves liable to be streaked with white, and to have black or scarlet

blotches on them. As the plant has no corol or blossom, it is probable

the coloured juices in these parts of the sheath or leaves may serve the

same purpose as the coloured juices in the petals of other flowers; from

which I suppose the honey to be prepared. See note on Helleborus. I am

informed that those tulip-roots which have a red cuticle produce red

flowers. See Rubia.

When the petals of the tulip become striped with many colours, the plant

loses almost half of its height; and the method of making them thus break

into colours is by transplanting them into a meagre or sandy soil, _after

they have previously enjoyed a richer soil: hence it appears, that

the plant is weakened when the flower becomes variegated. See note on

Anemone. For the acquired habits of vegetables, see Tulipa, Orchis.

The roots of the Arum are scratched up and eaten by thrushes in severe

snowy seasons. White's Hist. of Selbourn, p. 43.]

While Love's soft beams illume her treacherous eyes,

And Beauty lightens through the thin disguise.

285 So erst, when HERCULES, untamed by toil,

Own'd the soft power of DEJANIRA'S smile;--

His lion-spoils the laughing Fair demands,

And gives the distaff to his awkward hands;

O'er her white neck the bristly mane she throws,

290 And binds the gaping whiskers on her brows; 290

Plaits round her slender waist the shaggy vest,

And clasps the velvet paws across her breast.

Next with soft hands the knotted club she rears,

Heaves up from earth, and on her shoulder bears.

295 Onward with loftier step the Beauty treads, 295

And trails the brinded ermine o'er the meads;

Wolves, bears, and bards, forsake the affrighted groves,

And grinning Satyrs tremble, as she moves.

CARYO'S sweet smile DIANTHUS proud admires,

300 And gazing burns with unallow'd desires; 300

[_Dianthus_. l. 299. Superbus. Proud Pink. There is a kind of pink

called Fairchild's mule, which is here supposed to be produced between

a Dianthus superbus, and the Garyophyllus, Clove. The Dianthus superbus

emits a most fragrant odour, particularly at night. Vegetable mules

supply an irrefragable argument in favour of the sexual system of botany.

They are said to be numerous; and, like the mules of the animal kingdom,

not always to continue their species by seed. There is an account of a

curious mule from the Antirrbinum linaria, Toad-flax, in the Amoenit.

Academ. V. I. No. 3. and many hybrid plants described in No. 32. The

Urtica alienata is an evergreen plant, which appears to be a nettle from

the male flowers, and a Pellitory (Parietaria) from the female ones and

the fruit; and is hence between both. Murray, Syft. Veg. Amongst the

English indigenous plants, the veronica hybrida mule Speedwel is supposed

to have originated from the officinal one; and the spiked one, and the

Sibthorpia Europæa to have for its parents the golden saxifrage and marsh

pennywort. Pulteney's View of Linneus, p. 250. Mr. Graberg, Mr. Schreber,

and Mr. Ramstrom, seem of opinion, that the internal structure or parts

of fructification in mule-plants resemble the female parent; but that

the habit or external structure resembles the male parent. See treatises

under the above names in V. VI. Amænit. Academic. The mule produced from

a horse and the ass resembles the horse externally with his ears, main,

and tail; but with the nature or manners of an ass: but the Hinnus, or

creature produced from a male ass, and a mare, resembles the father

externally in stature, ash-colour, and the black cross, but with the

nature or manners of a horse. The breed from Spanish rams and Swedish

ewes resembled the Spanish sheep in wool, stature, and external form; but

was as hardy as the Swedish sheep; and the contrary of those which were

produced from Swedish rams and Spanish ewes. The offspring from the male

goat of Angora and the Swedish female goat had long soft camel's hair;

but that from the male Swedish goat, and the female one of Angora, had no

improvement of their wool. An English ram without horns, and a Swedish

horned ewe, produced sheep without horns. Amoen. Academ. V. VI. p. 13.]

With sighs and sorrows her compassion moves,

And wins the damsel to illicit loves.

The Monster-offspring heirs the father's pride,

Mask'd in the damask beauties of the bride.

305 So, when the Nightingale in eastern bowers

On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers;

Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air,

And melts with melody the blushing fair;

Half-rose, half-bird, a beauteous Monster springs,

310 Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glossy wings;

Long horrent thorns his mossy legs surround,

And tendril-talons root him to the ground;

Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o'espread,

And crimson petals crest his curled head;

315 Soft-warbling beaks in each bright blossom move,

And vocal Rosebuds thrill the enchanted grove!--

Admiring Evening stays her beamy star,

And still Night listens from his ebon ear;

While on white wings descending Houries throng,

320 And drink the floods of odour and of song.

When from his golden urn the Solstice pours

O'er Afric's sable sons the sultry hours;

When not a gale flits o'er her tawny hills,

Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills;

[_The dry Harmattan_. l. 324. The Harmattan is a singular wind blowing

from the interior parts of Africa to the Atlantic ocean, sometimes for

a few hours, sometimes for several days without regular periods. It is

always attended with a fog or haze, so dense as to render those objects

invisible which are at the distance of a quarter of a mile; the sun

appears through it only about noon, and then of a dilute red, and very

minute particles subside from the misty air so as to make the grass, and

the skins of negroes appear whitish. The extreme dryness which attends

this wind or fog, without dews, withers and quite dries the leaves of

vegetables; and is said of Dr. Lind at some seasons to be fatal and

malignant to mankind; probably after much preceding wet, when it may

become loaded with the exhalations from putrid marshes; at other

seasons it is said to check epidemic diseases, to cure fluxes, and

to heal ulcers and cutaneous eruptions; which is probably effected by its

yielding no moisture to the mouths of the external absorbent vessels,

by which the action of the other branches of the absorbent system is

increased to supply the deficiency. _Account of the Harmattan. Phil.

Transact. V. LXXI._

The Rev. Mr. Sterling gives an account of a darkness for six or eight

hours at Detroit in America, on the 19th of October, 1762, in which

the sun appeared as red as blood, and thrice its usual size: some rain

falling, covered white paper with dark drops, like sulphur or dirt, which

burnt like wet gunpowder, and the air had a very sulphureous smell.

He supposes this to have been emitted from some distant earthquake or

volcano. Philos. Trans. V. LIII. p. 63.

In many circumstances this wind seems much to resemble the dry fog which

covered most parts of Europe for many weeks in the summer of 1780, which

has been supposed to have had a volcanic origin, as it succeeded the

violent eruption of Mount Hecla, and its neighbourhood. From the

subsidence of a white powder, it seems probable that the Harmattan has

a similar origin, from the unexplored mountains of Africa. Nor is it

improbable, that the epidemic coughs, which occasionally traverse immense

tracts of country, may be the products of volcanic eruptions; nor

impossible, that at some future time contagious miasmata may be thus

emitted from subterraneous furnaces, in such abundance as to contaminate

the whole atmosphere, and depopulate the earth!]

325 When stretch'd in dust her gasping panthers lie,

And writh'd in foamy folds her serpents die;

Indignant Atlas mourns his leafless woods,

And Gambia trembles for his sinking floods;

Contagion stalks along the briny sand,

330 And Ocean rolls his sickening shoals to land.

[_His sickening shoals_. 330. Mr. Marsden relates, that in the island of

Sumatra, during the November of 1775, the dry monsoons, or S.E. winds,

continued so much longer than usual, that the large rivers became dry;

and prodigious quantities of sea-fish, dead and dying, were seen floating

for leagues on the sea, and driven on the beach by the tides. This was

supposed to have been caused by the great evaporation, and the deficiency

of fresh water rivers having rendered the sea too fast for its inhabitants.

The season then became so sickly as to destroy great numbers of people,

both foreigners and natives. Phil. Trans. V. LXXI. p. 384.]

--Fair CHUNDA smiles amid the burning waste,

Her brow unturban'd, and her zone unbrac'd;

_Ten_ brother-youths with light umbrella's shade,

Or fan with busy hands the panting maid;

335 Loose wave her locks, disclosing, as they break,

The rising bosom and averted cheek;

[_Chunda_. l. 331. _Chundali Borrum_ is the name which the natives give

to this plant; it is the Hedylarum gyrans, or moving plant; its class is

two brotherhoods, ten males. Its leaves are continually in spontaneous

motion; some rising and others falling; and others whirling circularly by

twisting their stems; this spontaneous movement of the leaves, when the

air is quite still and very warm, seems to be necessary to the plant, at

perpetual respiration is to animal life. A more particular account, with

a good print of the Hedyfarum gyrans is given by M. Brouffonet in a paper

on vegetable motions in the Histoire de l'Academie des Sciences. Ann.

1784, p. 609.

There are many other instances of spontaneous movements of the parts of

vegetables. In the Marchantia polymorpha some yellow wool proceeds from

the flower-bearing anthers, which moves spontaneously in the anther,

while it drops its dust like atoms. Murray, Syst. Veg. See note on

Collinfonia for other instances of vegetable spontaneity. Add to this,

that as the sleep of animals consists in a suspension of voluntary

motion, and as vegetables are likewise subject to sleep, there is reason

to conclude, that the various actions of opening and closing their petals

and foliage may be justly ascribed to a voluntary power: for without

the faculty of volition, sleep would not have been, necessary to them.]

[Illustration: Hedysarum gyrans.]

Clasp'd round her ivory neck with studs of gold

Flows her thin vest in many a gauzy fold;

O'er her light limbs the dim transparence plays,

340 And the fair form, it seems to hide, betrays.

Where leads the northern Star his lucid train

High o'er the snow-clad earth, and icy main,

With milky light the white horizon streams,

And to the moon each sparkling mountain gleams.--

345 Slow o'er the printed snows with silent walk

Huge shaggy forms across the twilight stalk;

And ever and anon with hideous sound

Burst the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round.--

There, as old Winter slaps his hoary wing,

350 And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring,

Pierced with quick shafts of silver-shooting light

Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night--

[_Burst the thick rib of ice_. l. 348. The violent cracks of ice heard

from the Glaciers seem to be caused by some of the snow being melted in

the middle of the day; and the water thus produced running down into

vallies of ice, and congealing again in a few hours, forces off by its

expansion large precipices from the ice-mountains.]

"Awake, my Love!" enamour'd MUSCHUS cries,

"Stretch thy fair limbs, resulgent Maid! arise;

355 Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray,

And hail with ruby lips returning day.

Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour,

Green springs the turf, and purple blows the flower;

His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries,

360 Mounts the soft gale, and wantons in the skies;

Rise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd groves,

And 'mid the banks of roses _hide_ our loves."

[_Muschus_. l. 353. Corallinus, or lichen rangiferinus. Coral-moss.

Clandestine-marriage. This moss vegetates beneath the snow, where the

degree of heat is always about 40; that is, in the middle between the

freezing point, and the common heat of the earth; and is for many months

of the winter the sole food of the rain-deer, who digs furrows in the

snow to find it: and as the milk and flesh of this animal is almost the

only sustenance which can be procured during the long winters of the

higher latitudes, this moss may be said to support some millions of

mankind.

The quick vegetation that occurs on the solution of the snows in high

latitudes appears very astonishing; it seems to arise from two causes,

1. the long continuance of the approaching sun above the horizon; 2. the

increased irritability of plants which have been long exposed to the

cold. See note on Anemone.

All the water-fowl on the lakes of Siberia are said by Professor Gmelin

to retreat Southwards on the commencement of the frosts, except the Rail,

which sleeps buried in the snow. Account of Siberia.]

Night's tinsel beams on smooth Lock-lomond dance,

Impatient ÆGA views the bright expanse;--

365 In vain her eyes the parting floods explore,

Wave after wave rolls freightless to the shore.

--Now dim amid the distant foam she spies

A rising speck,--"'tis he! 'tis he!" She cries;

As with firm arms he beats the streams aside,

370 And cleaves with rising chest the tossing tide,

With bended knee she prints the humid sands,

Up-turns her glistening eyes, and spreads her hands;

--"'Tis he, 'tis he!--My Lord, my life, my love!--

Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, cease to move!

375 beneath his arms your buoyant plumage spread,

Ye Swans! ye Halcyons! hover round his head!"--

[_Æga_ l. 364. Conserva ægagropila. It is found loose in many lakes

in a globular form, from the size of a walnut to that of a melon, much

resembling the balls of hair found in the stomachs of cows; it adheres

to nothing, but rolls from one part of the lake to another. The Conserva

vagabunda dwells on the European seas, travelling along in the midst of

the waves; (Spec. Plant.) These may not improperly be called itinerant

vegetables. In a similar manner the Fucus natans (swimming) strikes no

roots into the earth, but floats on the sea in very extensive masses, and

may be said to be a plant of passage, as it is wafted by the winds from

one shore to another.]

--With eager step the boiling surf she braves,

And meets her refluent lover in the waves;

Loose o'er the flood her azure mantle swims,

380 And the clear stream betrays her snowy limbs.

So on her sea-girt tower fair HERO stood

At parting day, and mark'd the dashing flood;

While high in air, the glimmering rocks above,

Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-star of Love.

385 --With robe outspread the wavering flame behind

She kneels, and guards it from the shifting wind;

Breathes to her Goddess all her vows, and guides

Her bold LEANDER o'er the dusky tides;

Wrings his wet hair, his briny bosom warms,

390 And clasps her panting lover in her arms.

Deep, in wide caverns and their shadowy ailes,

Daughter of Earth, the chaste TRUFFELIA smiles;

[_Truffelia_. l. 392. (Lycoperdon Tuber) Truffle. Clandestine marriage.

This fungus never appears above ground, requiring little air, and perhaps

no light. It is found by dogs or swine, who hunt it by the smell. Other

plants, which have no buds or branches on their stems, as the grasses,

shoot out numerous stoles or scions underground; and this the more,

as their tops or herbs are eaten by cattle, and thus preserve

themselves,]

On silvery beds, of soft asbestus wove,

Meets her Gnome-husband, and avows her love.

395 --_High_ o'er her couch impending diamonds blaze,

And branching gold the crystal roof inlays;

With verdant light the modest emeralds glow,

Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush, _below_;

Light piers of lazuli the dome surround,

400 And pictured mochoes tesselate the ground;

In glittering threads along reflective walls

The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls;

Now sink the Eolian strings, and now they swell,

And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell;

405 While on white wings delighted Cupids play,

Shake their bright lamps, and shed celestial day.

Closed in an azure fig by fairy spells,

Bosom'd in down, fair CAPRI-FICA dwells;--

[_Caprificus_. l. 408 Wild fig. The fruit of the fig is not a

seed-vessel, but a receptacle inclosing the flower within it. As these

trees bear some male and others female flowers, immured on all sides by

the fruit, the manner of their fecundation was very unintelligible, till

Tournefort and Pontedera discovered, that a kind of gnat produced in the

male figs carried the fecundating dust on its wings, (Cynips Psenes

Syst. Nat. 919.), and, penetrating the female fig, thus impregnated

the flowers; for the evidence of this wonderful fact, see the word

Caprification, in Milne's Botanical Dictionary. The figs of this country

are all female, and their seeds not prolific; and therefore they can only

be propagated by layers and suckers.

Monsieur de la Hire has shewn in the Memoir, de l'Academ. de Science,

that the summer figs of Paris, in Provence, Italy, and Malta, have all

perfect stamina, and ripen not only their fruits, but their seed; from

which seed other fig-trees are raised; but that the stamina of the

autumnal figs are abortive, perhaps owing to the want of due warmth. Mr.

Milne, in his Botanical Dictionary (art. Caprification), says, that the

cultivated fig-trees have a few male flowers placed above the female

within the same covering or receptacle; which in warmer climates perform

their proper office, but in colder ones become abortive: And Linneus

observes, that some figs have the navel of the receptacle open; which

was one reason that induced him to remove this plant from the class

Clandestine Marriage to the class Polygamy. Lin. Spec. Plant.

From all these circumstances I should conjecture, that those female

fig-flowers, which are closed on all sides in the fruit or receptacle

without any male ones, are monsters, which have been propagated for their

fruit, like barberries, and grapes without seeds in them; and that the

Caprification is either an ancient process of imaginary use, and blindly

followed in some countries, or that it may contribute to ripen the fig

by decreasing its vigour, like cutting off a circle of the bark from the

branch of a pear-tree. Tournefort seems inclined to this opinion; who

says, that the figs in Provence and at Paris ripen sooner, if their buds

be pricked with a straw dipped in olive-oil. Plumbs and pears punctured

by some insects ripen sooner, and the part round the puncture is sweeter.

Is not the honey-dew produced by the puncture of insects? will not

wounding the branch of a pear-tree, which is too vigorous, prevent the

blossoms from falling off; as from some fig-trees the fruit is said to

fall off unless they are wounded by caprification? I had last spring six

young trees of the Ischia fig with fruit on them in pots in a stove; on

removing them into larger boxes, they protruded very vigorous shoots, and

the figs all fell off; which I ascribed to the increased vigour of the

plants.]

So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut

410 In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut,

Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell,

And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell.

So the pleased Linnet in the moss-wove nest,

Waked into life beneath its parent's breast,

415 Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong,

Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song.--

--And now the talisman she strikes, that charms

Her husband-Sylph,--and calls him to her arms.--

Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bestrides,

420 With cobweb reins the flying courser guides,

From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs,

Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings;

Darts like a sunbeam o'er the boundless wave,

And seeks the beauty in her _secret_ cave.

425 So with quick impulse through all nature's frame

Shoots the electric air its subtle flame.

So turns the impatient needle to the pole,

Tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll.

Where round the Orcades white torrents roar,

430 Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore,

Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends

Its marble arms, and high in air impends;

Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain,

And steep their massy sandals in the main;

435 Round the dim walls, and through the whispering ailes

Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils.

Here the charm'd BYSSUS with his blooming bride

Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide;

The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave,

440 And lights her votaries to the _secret_ cave;

Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed,

And each coy sea-maid hides her blushing head.

[_Basaltic piers_. l. 433. This description alludes to the cave of

Fingal in the island of Staffa. The basaltic columns, which compose the

Giants Causeway on the coast of Ireland, as well as those which support

the cave of Fingal, are evidently of volcanic origin, as is well

illustrated in an ingenious paper of Mr. Keir, in the Philos. Trans. who

observed in the glass, which had been long in a fusing heat at the bottom

of the pots in the glass-houses at Stourbridge, that crystals were

produced of a form similar to the parts of the basaltic columns of the

Giants Causeway.]

[_Byssus_. 437. Clandestine Marriage. It floats on the sea in the day,

and sinks a little during the night; it is found in caverns on the

northern shores, of a pale green colour, and as thin as paper.]

Where cool'd by rills, and curtain'd round by woods,

Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods,

445 The sparkling noon-beams trembling on the tide,

The PROTEUS-LOVER woos his playful bride,

To win the fair he tries a thousand forms,

Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms.

A Dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves,

450 And bears the sportive damsel on the waves;

She strikes the cymbal as he moves along,

And wondering Ocean listens to the song.

--And now a spotted Pard the lover stalks,

Plays round her steps, and guards her favour'd walks;

[_The Proteus-love_. l. 446. Conserva polymorpha. This vegetable is

put amongst the cryptogamia, or clandestine marriages, by Linneus; but,

according to Mr. Ellis, the males and females are on different plants.

Philos. Trans. Vol. LVII. It twice changes its colour, from red to brown,

and then to black; and changes its form by losing its lower leaves, and

elongating some of the upper ones, so as to be mistaken by the unskilful

for different plants. It grows on the shores of this country.

There is another plant, Medicago polymorpha, which may be said to assume

a great variety of shapes; as the seed-vessels resemble sometimes

snail-horns, at other times caterpillars with or without long hair upon

them; by which means it is probable they sometimes elude the depredations

of those insects. The seeds of Calendula, Marygold, bend up like a hairy

caterpillar, with their prickles bridling outwards, and may thus deter

some birds or insects from preying upon them. Salicornia also assumes

an animal similitude. Phil. Bot. p. 87. See note on Iris in additional

notes; and Cypripedia in Vol. I.]

455 As with white teeth he prints her hand, caress'd,

And lays his velvet paw upon her breast,

O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain

The silken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein.

--And now a Swan, he spreads his plumy sails,

460 And proudly glides before the fanning gales;

Pleas'd on the flowery brink with graceful hand

She waves her floating lover to the land;

Bright shines his sinuous neck, with crimson beak

He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek,

465 Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest,

And clasps the beauty to his downy breast.

A _hundred_ virgins join a _hundred_ swains,

And fond ADONIS leads the sprightly trains;

[_Adonis_. l. 468. Many males and many females live together in the

same flower. It may seem a solecism in language, to call a flower, which

contains many of both sexes, an individual; and the more so to call a

tree or shrub an individual, which consists of so many flowers. Every

tree, indeed, ought to be considered as a family or swarm of its

respective buds; but the buds themselves seem to be individual plants;

because each has leaves or lungs appropriated to it; and the bark of the

tree is only a congeries of the roots of all these individual buds. Thus

hollow oak-trees and willows are often seen with the whole wood

decayed and gone; and yet the few remaining branches flourish with

vigour; but in respect to the male and female parts of a flower, they do

not destroy its individuality any more than the number of paps of a sow,

or the number of her cotyledons, each of which includes one of her young.

The society, called the Areoi, in the island of Otaheite, consists of

about 100 males and 100 females, who form one promiscuous marriage.]

Pair after pair, along his sacred groves

470 To Hymen's fane the bright procession moves;

Each smiling youth a myrtle garland shades,

And wreaths of roses veil the blushing maids;

Light joys on twinkling feet attend the throng,

Weave the gay dance, or raise the frolic song;

475 --Thick, as they pass, exulting Cupids fling

Promiscuous arrows from the sounding string;

On wings of gossamer soft Whispers fly,

And the sly Glance steals side-long from the eye.

--As round his shrine the gaudy circles bow,

480 And seal with muttering lips the faithless vow,

Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands,

And loosely twines the meretricious bands.--

Thus where pleased VENUS, in the southern main,

Sheds all her smiles on Otaheite's plain,

485 Wide o'er the isle her silken net she draws,

And the Loves laugh at all, but Nature's laws."

Here ceased the Goddess,--o'er the silent strings

Applauding Zephyrs swept their fluttering wings;

Enraptur'd Sylphs arose in murmuring crowds

490 To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds;

Each Gnome reluctant sought his earthy cell,

And each bright Floret clos'd her velvet bell.

Then, on soft tiptoe, NIGHT approaching near

Hung o'er the tuneless lyre his sable ear;

495 Gem'd with bright stars the still etherial plain,

And bad his Nightingales repeat the strain.

[Illustration: Apocynum androsæmifolium.]

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

P. 7. _Additional note to Curcuma._ These anther-less filaments seem to

be an endeavour of the plant to produce more stamens, as would appear

from some experiments of M. Reynier, instituted for another purpose:

he cut away the stamens of many flowers, with design to prevent their

fecundity, and in many instances the flower threw out new filaments from

the wounded part of different lengths; but did not produce new anthers.

The experiments were made on the geum rivale, different kinds of mallows,

and the æchinops ritro. Critical Review for March, 1788.

P. 8. _Addition to the note on Iris._ In the Persian Iris the end of the

lower petal is purple, with white edges and orange streaks, creeping, as

it were, into the mouth of the flower like an insect; by which deception

in its native climate it probably prevents a similar insect from

plundering it of its honey: the edges of the lower petal lap over those

of the upper one, which prevents it from opening too wide on fine days,

and facilitates its return at night; whence the rain is excluded, and the

air admitted. See Polymorpha, Rubia, and Cypripedia in Vol. I.

P. 12. _Additional note on Chandrilla._ In the natural state of the

expanded flower of the barberry, the stamens lie on the petals; under

the concave summits of which the anthers shelter themselves, and in this

situation remain perfectly rigid; but on touching the inside of the

filament near its base with a fine bristle, or blunt needle, the stamen

instantly bends upwards, and the anther, embracing the stigma, sheds its

dust. Observations on the Irritation of Vegetables, by T. E. Smith, M. D.

P. 15. _Addition to the note on Silene._ I saw a plant of the Dionaea

Muscipula, Flytrap of Venus, this day, in the collection of Mr. Boothby

at Ashbourn-Hall, Derbyshire, Aug. 20th, 1788; and on drawing a straw

along the middle of the rib of the leaves as they lay upon the ground

round the stem, each of them, in about a second of time, closed and

doubled itself up, crossing the thorns over the opposite edge of the

leaf, like the teeth of a spring rap-trap: of this plant I was favoured

with an elegant coloured drawing, by Miss Maria Jackson of Tarporly, in

Cheshire, a Lady who adds much botanical knowledge to many other elegant

acquirements. In the Apocynum Androsaemifolium, one kind of Dog's bane,

the anthers converge over the nectaries, which consist of five glandular

oval corpuscles surrounding the germ; and at the same time admit air

to the nectaries at the interstice between each anther. But when a fly

inserts its proboscis between these anthers to plunder the honey, they

converge closer, and with such violence as to detain the fly, which thus

generally perishes. This account was related to me by R.W. Darwin, Esq;

of Elston, in Nottinghamshire, who showed me the plant in flower, July

2d, 1788, with a fly thus held fast by the end of its proboscis, and was

well seen by a magnifying lens, and which in vain repeatedly struggled to

disengage itself, till the converging anthers were separated by means

of a pin: on some days he had observed that almost every flower of this

elegant plant had a fly in it thus entangled; and a few weeks afterwards

favoured me with his further observations on this subject.

"My Apocynum is not yet out of flower. I have often visited it, and

have frequently found four or five flies, some alive, and some dead,

in its flowers; they are generally caught by the trunk or proboscis,

sometimes by the trunk and a leg; there is one at present only caught

by a leg: I don't know that this plant sleeps, as the flowers remain

open in the night; yet the flies frequently make their escape. In a

plant of Mr. Ordino's, an ingenious gardener at Newark, who is

possessed of a great collection of plants, I saw many flowers of an

Apocynum with three dead flies in each; they are a thin-bodied fly, and

rather less than the common house-fly; but I have seen two or three

other sorts of flies thus arrested by the plant. Aug. 12, 1788."

P. 18. _Additional note on Ilex_. The efficient cause which renders the

hollies prickly in Needwood Forest only as high as the animals can reach

them, may arise from the lower branches being constantly cropped by them,

and thus shoot forth more luxuriant foliage: it is probable the shears in

garden-hollies may produce the same effect, which is equally curious, as

prickles are not thus produced on other plants.

P. 41. _Additional note on Ulva_. M. Hubert made some observations on the

air contained in the cavities of the bambou. The stems of these canes

were from 40 to 50 feet in height, and 4 or 5 inches in diameter, and

might contain about 30 pints of elastic air. He cut a bambou, and

introduced a lighted candle into the cavity, which was extinguished

immediately on its entrance. He tried this about 60 times in a cavity of

the bambou, containing about two pints. He introduced mice at different

times into these cavities, which seemed to be somewhat affected, but soon

recovered their agility. The stem of the bambou is not hollow till it

rises more than one foot from the earth; the divisions between the

cavities are convex downwards. Observ. sur la Physique par M. Rozier,

l. 33. p. 130.

P. 65. _Additional note on Gossypium_.

--------emerging Naïads cull

From leathery pods the vegetable wool.

----_eam circum Milesia vellera nymphæ

Carpebant, hyali saturo fucata colore_.

Virg. Georg. IV. 334.

P. 119. _Addition to Orchis_. The two following lines were by mistake

omitted; they were to have been inserted after l. 282, p. 119.

Saw on his helm, her virgin hands inwove,

Bright stars of gold, and mystic knots of love;

P. 136. _Addition to the note on Tropæolum_. In Sweden a very curious

phenomenon has been observed on certain flowers, by M. Haggren,

Lecturer in Natural History. One evening be perceived a faint flash of

light repeatedly dart from a Marigold; surprized at such an uncommon

appearance, he resolved to examine it with attention; and, to be assured

that it was no deception of the eye, he placed a man near him, with

orders to make a signal at the moment when he observed the light. They

both saw it constantly at the same moment.

The light was most brilliant on Marigolds, of an orange or flame colour;

but scarcely visible on pale ones.

The flash was frequently seen on the same flower two or three times in

quick succession, but more commonly at intervals of several minutes; and

when several flowers in the same place emitted their light together, it

could be observed at a considerable distance.

This phaenomenon was remarked in the months of July and August, at

sun-set, and for half an hour after, when the atmosphere was clear; but

after a rainy day, or when the air was loaded with vapours, nothing of it

was seen.

The following flowers emitted flashes, more or less vivid, in this

order:

1. The Marigold, _(Calendula Officinalis)_.

2. Garden Nasturtion, _(Tropæolum majus)_.

3. Orange Lily, _(Lilium bulbiferum)_.

4. The Indian Pink, _(Tagetes patula et erecta)_.

Sometimes it was also observed on the Sun-flowers, _(Helianthus annuus)_.

But bright yellow, or flame colour, seemed in general necessary for the

production of this light; for it was never seen on the flowers of any

other colour.

To discover whether some little insects, or phosphoric worms, might not

be the cause of it, the flowers were carefully examined even with a

microscope, without any such being found.

From the rapidity of the flash, and other circumstances, it might be

conjectured, that there is something of electricity in this phaenomenon.

It is well known, that when the _pistil_ of a flower is impregnated, the

_pollen_ bursts away by its elasticity, with which electricity may be

combined. But M. Haggren, after having observed the slash from the

Orange-lily, the _anthers_ of which are a considerable space distant from

the _petals,_ found that the light proceeded from the _petals_ only;

whence he concludes, that this electric light is caused by the _pollen_,

which in flying off is scattered upon the _petals._ Obser. Physìque par

M. Rozier, Vol. XXXIII. p. iii.

P. 153. _Addition to Avena._ The following lines were by mistake omitted;

they were designed to have been inserted after l. 102, p. 153.

Green swells the beech, the widening knots improve,

So spread the tender growths of culture'd love;

Wave follows wave, the letter'd lines decay,

So Love's soft forms neglected melt away.

P. 157. _Additional note to Bellis._ Du Halde gives an account of a white

wax made by small insects round the branches of a tree in China in great

quantity, which is there collected for economical and medical purposes:

the tree is called Tong-tsin. Description of China, Vol. I. p. 230.

_Description of the Poison-Tree in the Island of JAVA. Translated from

the original Dutch of_ N. P. Foerich.

This destructive tree is called in the Malayan language _Bohon-Upas,_

and has been described by naturalists; but their accounts have been

so tinctured with the _marvellous,_ that the whole narration has been

supposed to be an ingenious fiction by the generality of readers. Nor

is this in the least degree surprising, when the circumstances which we

shall faithfully relate in this description are considered.

I must acknowledge, that I long doubted the existence of this tree, until

a stricter enquiry convinced me of my error. I shall now only relate

simple unadorned facts, of which I have been an eye-witness. My readers

may depend upon the fidelity of this account. In the year 1774 I was

stationed at Batavia, as surgeon, in the service of the Dutch East-India

Company. During my residence there I received several different accounts

of the Bohon Upas, and the violent effects of its poison. They all then

seemed incredible to me, but raised my curiosity in so high a degree,

that I resolved to investigate this subject thoroughly, and to trust only

to _my own observations._ In consequence of this resolution, I applied to

the Governor-General, Mr. Petrus Albertus van der Parra, for a pass to

travel through the country: my request was granted; and, having procured

every information. I set out on my expedition. I had procured a

recommendation from an old Malayan priest to another priest, who lives

on the nearest inhabitable spot to the tree, which is about fifteen or

sixteen miles distant. The letter proved of great service to me in my

undertaking, as that priest is appointed by the Emperor to reside there,

in order to prepare for eternity the souls of those who for different

crimes are sentenced to approach the tree, and to procure the poison.

The _Bohon-Upas_ is situated in the island of _Java,_ about twenty-seven

leagues from _Batavia,_ fourteen from _Soura Charta,_ the seat of the

Emperor, and between eighteen and twenty leagues from _Tinksor,_ the

present residence of the Sultan of Java. It is surrounded on all sides by

a circle of high hills and mountains; and the country round it, to the

distance of ten or twelve miles from the tree, is entirely barren. Not

a tree, nor a shrub, nor even the least plant or grass is to be seen.

I have made the tour all around this dangerous spot, at about eighteen

miles distant from the centre, and I found the aspect of the country on

all sides equally dreary. The easiest ascent of the hills is from that

part where the old ecclesiastick dwells. From his house the criminals are

sent for the poison, into which the points of all warlike instruments are

dipped. It is of high value, and produces a considerable revenue to the

Emperor.

_Account of the manner in which the Poison it procured._

The poison which is procured from this tree is a gum that issues out

between the bark and the tree itself, like the _camphor._ Malefactors,

who for their crimes are sentenced to die, are the only persons who fetch

the poison; and this is the only chance they have of saving their lives.

After sentence is pronounced upon them by the judge, they are asked in

court, whether they will die by the hands of the executioner, or whether

they will go to the Upas tree for a box of poison? They commonly prefer

the latter proposal, as there is not only some chance of preserving

their lives, but also a certainty, in case of their safe return, that a

provision will be made for them in future by the Emperor. They are also

permitted to ask a favour from the Emperor, which is generally of a

trifling nature, and commonly granted. They are then provided with a

silver or tortoiseshell box, in which they are to put the poisonous gum,

and are properly instructed how to proceed while they are upon their

dangerous expedition. Among other particulars, they are always told to

attend to the direction of the winds; as they are to go towards the tree

before the wind, so that the effluvia from the tree are always blown from

them. They are told, likewise, to travel with the utmost dispatch, as

that is the only method of insuring a safe return. They are afterwards

sent to the house of the old priest, to which place they are commonly

attended by their friends and relations. Here they generally remain

some days, in expectation of a favourable breeze. During that time

the ecclesiastic prepares them for their future fate by prayers and

admonitions. When the hour of their departure arrives, the priest puts

them on a long leather-cap, with two glasses before their eyes, which

comes down as far as their breast; and also provides them with a pair of

leather-gloves. They are then conducted by the priest, and their friends

and relations, about two miles on their journey. Here the priest repeats

his instructions, and tells them where they are to look for the tree. He

shews them a hill, which they are told to ascend, and that on the other

side they will find a rivulet, which they are to follow, and which will

conduct them directly to the Upas. They now take leave of each other;

and, amidst prayers for their success, the delinquents hasten away. The

worthy old ecclesiastic has assured me, that during his residence there,

for upwards of thirty years, he had dismissed above seven hundred

criminals in the manner which I have described; and that scarcely two

out of twenty have returned. He shewed me a catalogue of all the unhappy

sufferers, with the date of their departure from his house annexed; and

a list of the offences for which they had been condemned: to which was

added, a list of those who had returned in safety. I afterwards saw

another list of these culprits, at the jail keeper's at _Soura-Charta,_

and found that they perfectly corresponded with each other, and with the

different informations which I afterwards obtained. I was present at some

of these melancholy ceremonies, and desired different delinquents to

bring with them some pieces of the wood, or a small branch, or some

leaves of this wonderful tree. I have also given them silk cords,

desiring them to measure its thickness. I never could procure move than

two dry leaves that were picked up by one of them on his return; and all

I could learn from him, concerning the tree itself, was, that it stood on

the border of a rivulet, as described by the old priest; that it was of a

middling size; that five or six young trees of the same kind stood close

by it; but that no other shrub or plant could be seen near it; and that

the ground was of a brownish sand, full of stones, almost impracticable

for travelling, and covered with dead bodies. After many conversations

with the old Malayan priest, I questioned him about the first discovery,

and asked his opinion of this dangerous tree; upon which he gave me the

following answer:

"We are told in our new Alcoran, that, above an hundred years ago, the

country around the tree was inhabited by a people strongly addicted to

the sins of Sodom and Gomorrha; when the great prophet Mahomet

determined not to suffer them to lead such detestable lives any longer,

he applied to God to punish them: upon which God caused this tree to

grow out of the earth, which destroyed them all, and rendered the

country for ever uninhabitable."

Such was the Malayan opinion. I shall not attempt a comment; but must

observe, that all the Malayans consider this tree as an holy instrument

of the great prophet to punish the sins of mankind; and, therefore, to

die of the poison of the Upas is generally considered among them as an

honourable death. For that reason I also observed, that the delinquents,

who were going to the tree, were generally dressed in their best apparel.

This however is certain, though it may appear incredible, that from

fifteen to eighteen miles round this tree, not only no human creature can

exist, but that, in that space of ground, no living animal of any kind

has ever been discovered. I have also been assured by several persons of

veracity, that there are no fish in the waters, nor has any rat, mouse,

or any other vermin, been seen there; and when any birds fly so near this

tree that the effluvia reaches them, they fall a sacrifice to the effects

of the poison. This circumstance has been ascertained by different

delinquents, who, in their return, have seen the birds drop down, and

have picked them up _dead,_ and brought them to the old ecclesiastick.

I will here mention an instance, which proves them a fact beyond all

doubt, and which happened during my stay at Java.

In the year 1775 a rebellion broke out among the subjects of the Massay,

a sovereign prince, whose dignity is nearly equal to that of the Emperor.

They refused to pay a duty imposed upon them by their sovereign, whom

they openly opposed. The Massay sent a body of a thousand troops to

disperse the rebels, and to drive them, with their families, out of

his dominions. Thus four hundred families, consisting of above sixteen

hundred souls, were obliged to leave their native country. Neither the

Emperor nor the Sultan would give them protection, not only because they

were rebels, but also through fear of displeasing their neighbour, the

Massay. In this distressful situation, they had no other resource than to

repair to the uncultivated parts round the Upas, and requested permission

of the Emperor to settle there. Their request was granted, on condition

of their fixing their abode not more than twelve or fourteen miles from

the tree, in order not to deprive the inhabitants already settled there

at a greater distance of their cultivated lands. With this they were

obliged to comply; but the consequence was, that in less than two months

their number was reduced to about three hundred. The chiefs of those

who remained returned to the Massay, informed him of their losses,

and intreated his pardon, which induced him to receive them again as

subjects, thinking them sufficiently punished for their misconduct. I

have seen and conversed with several of those who survived soon after

their return. They all had the appearance of persons tainted with an

infectious disorder; they looked pale and weak, and from the account

which they gave of the loss of their comrades, of the symptoms and

circumstances which attended their dissolution, such as convulsions, and

other signs of a violent death, I was fully convinced that they fell

victims to the poison.

This violent effect of the poison at so great a distance from the tree,

certainly appears surprising, and almost incredible; and especially when

we consider that it is possible for delinquents who approach the tree to

return alive. My wonder, however, in a great measure, ceased, after I had

made the following observations:

I have said before, that malefactors are instructed to go to the tree

with the wind, and to return against the wind. When the wind continues to

blow from the same quarter while the delinquent travels thirty, or six

and thirty miles, if he be of a good constitution, he certainly survives.

But what proves the most destructive is, that there is no dependence on

the wind in that part of the world for any length of time.--There are no

regular land-winds; and the sea-wind is not perceived there at all, the

situation of the tree being at too great a distance, and surrounded by

high mountains and uncultivated forests. Besides, the wind there never

blows a fresh regular gale, but is commonly merely a current of light,

soft breezes, which pass through the different openings of the adjoining

mountains. It is also frequently difficult to determine from what part of

the globe the wind really comes, as it is divided by various obstructions

in its passage, which easily change the direction of the wind, and often

totally destroy its effects.

I, therefore, impute the distant effects of the poison, in a great

measure, to the constant gentle winds in those parts, which have not

power enough to disperse the poisonous particles. If high winds are more

frequent and durable there, they would certainly weaken very much, and

even destroy the obnoxious effluvia of the poison; but without them, the

air remains infested and pregnant with these poisonous vapours.

I am the more convinced of this, as the worthy ecclesiastick assured me,

that a dead calm is always attended with the greatest danger, as there is

a continual perspiration issuing from the tree, which is seen to rise and

spread in the air, like the putrid steam of a marshy cavern.

_Experiments made with the Gum of the UPAS TREE._

In the year 1776, in the month of February, I was present at the

execution of thirteen of the Emperor's concubines, at _Soura-Charta,_

who were convicted of infidelity to the Emperor's bed. It was in the

forenoon, about eleven o'clock, when the fair criminals were led into

an open space within the walls of the Emperor's palace. There the judge

passed sentence upon them, by which they are doomed to suffer death by a

lancet poisoned with Upas. After this the Alcoran was presented to them,

and they were, according to the law of their great prophet Mahomet, to

acknowledge and to affirm by oath, that the charges brought against them,

together with the sentence and their punishment, were fair and equitable.

This they did, by laying their right hand upon the Alcoran, their left

hands upon their breast, and their eyes lifted towards heaven; the judge

then held the Alcoran to their lips, and they kissed it.

These ceremonies over, the executioner proceeded on his business in the

following manner:--Thirteen posts, each about five feet high, had been

previously erected. To these the delinquents were fastened, and their

breasts stripped naked. In this situation they remained a short time in

continual prayers, attended by several priests, until a signal was

given by the judge to the executioner; on which the latter produced an

instrument, much like the spring lancet used by farriers for bleeding

horses. With this instrument, it being poisoned with the gum of the Upas,

the unhappy wretches were lanced in the middle of their breasts, and the

operation was performed upon them all in less than two minutes.

My astonishment was raised to the highest degree, when I beheld the

sudden effects of that poison, for in about five minutes after they were

lanced, they were taken with a _tremor,_ attended with a _subsultus

tendinum,_ after which they died in the greatest agonies, crying out to

God and Mahomet for mercy. In sixteen minutes by my watch, which I held

in my hand, all the criminals were no more. Some hours after their death,

I observed their bodies full of livid spots, much like those of the

_Petechiæ,_ their faces swelled, their colour changed to a kind of blue,

their eyes looked yellow, &c. &c.

About a fortnight after this, I had an opportunity of seeing such another

execution at Samarang. Seven Malayans were executed there with the same

instrument, and in the same manner; and I found the operation of the

poison, and the spots in their bodies exactly the same.

These circumstances made me desirous to try an experiment with some

animals, in order to be convinced of the real effects of this poison; and

as I had then two young puppies, I thought them the fittest objects for

my purpose. I accordingly procured with great difficulty some grains of

Upas. I dissolved half a grain of that gum in a small quantity of arrack,

and dipped a lancet into it. With this poisoned instrument I made an

incision in the lower muscular part of the belly in one of the puppies.

Three minutes after it received the wound the animal began to cry out

most piteously, and ran as fast as possible from one corner of the room

to the other. So it continued during six minutes, when all its strength

being exhausted, it fell upon the ground, was taken with convulsions, and

died in the eleventh minute. I repeated this experiment with two other

puppies, with a cat, and a fowl, and found the operation of the poison

in all of them the same: none of these animals survived above thirteen

minutes.

I thought it necessary to try also the effect of the poison given

inwardly, which I did in the following manner. I dissolved a quarter of

a grain of the gum in half an ounce of arrack, and made a dog of seven

months old drink it. In seven minutes a retching ensued, and I observed,

at the same time, that the animal was delirious, as it ran up and down

the room, fell on the ground, and tumbled about; then it rose again,

cried out very loud, and in about half an hour after was seized with

convulsions, and died. I opened the body, and found the stomach very much

inflamed, as the intestines were in some parts, but not so much as the

stomach. There was a small quantity of coagulated blood in the stomach;

but I could discover no orifice from which it could have issued; and

therefore supposed it to have been squeezed out of the lungs, by the

animal's straining while it was vomiting.

From these experiments I have been convinced that the gum of the Upas is

the most dangerous and most violent of all vegetable poisons; and I am

apt to believe that it greatly contributes to the unhealthiness of that

island. Nor is this the only evil attending it: hundreds of the natives

of Java, as well as Europeans, are yearly destroyed and treacherously

murdered by that poison, either internally or externally. Every man of

quality or fashion has his dagger or other arms poisoned with it; and in

times of war the Malayans poison the springs and other waters with it; by

this treacherous practice the Dutch suffered greatly during the last war,

as it occasioned the loss of half their army. For this reason, they have

ever since kept fish in the springs of which they drink the water; and

sentinels are placed near them, who inspect the waters every hour, to see

whether the fish are alive. If they march with an army or body of troops

into an enemy's country, they always carry live fish with them, which

they throw into the water some hours before they venture to drink it; by

which means they have been able to prevent their total destruction.

This account, I flatter myself, will satisfy the curiosity of my readers,

and the few facts which I have related will be considered as a certain

proof of the exigence of this pernicious tree, and its penetrating

effects.

If it be asked why we have not yet any more satisfactory accounts of this

tree, I can only answer, that the object to most travellers to that part

of the world consists more in commercial pursuits than in the study of

Natural History and the advancement of Sciences. Besides, Java is so

universally reputed an unhealthy island, that rich travellers seldom

make any long stay in it; and others want money, and generally are too

ignorant of the language to travel, in order to make enquiries. In

future, those who visit this island will probably now be induced to make

it an object of their researches, and will furnish us with a fuller

description of this tree.

I will therefore only add, that there exists also a sort of Cajoe-Upat on

the coast of Macassar, the poison of which operates nearly in the same

manner, but is not half so violent or malignant as that of Java, and

of which I shall likewise give a more circumstantial account in a

description of that island.--_London Magazine_.

CATALOGUE OF THE POETIC EXHIBITION.

CANTO I.

Group of insects--Tender husband--Self-admirer--Rival lovers--Coquet

--Platonic wife--Monster-husband--Rural happiness--Clandestine marriage

--Sympathetic lovers--Ninon d'Enclos--Harlots--Giants--Mr. Wright's

paintings--Thalestris Autumnal scene--Dervise procession--Lady in full

dress--Lady on a precipice--Palace in the sea--Vegetable lamb--Whale--

Sensibility--Mountain-scene by night--Lady drinking water--Lady and

cauldron--Medea and Æson--Forlorn nymph Galatea on the sea--Lady frozen

to a statue

CANTO II.

Air-balloon of Mongolfier--Arts of weaving and spinning--Arkwright's

cotton mills--Invention of letters, figures and crotchets--Mrs. Delany's

paper-garden--Mechanism of a watch, and design for its case--Time, hours,

moments--Transformation of Nebuchadnazer--St. Anthony preaching to fish

Sorceress--Miss Crew's drawing--Song to May--Frost scene--Discovery of the

bark--Moses striking the rock--Dropsy--Mr. Howard and prisons

CANTO III.

Witch and imps in a church--Inspired Priestess--Fusseli's night-mare--Cave

of Thor and subterranean Naïads--Medea and her children--Palmira weeping

Group of wild creatures drinking--Poison tree of Java--Time and hours--Lady

shot in battle--Wounded deer--Harlots--Laocoon and his sons--Drunkards and

diseases--Prometheus and the vulture--Lady burying her child in the plague

Moses concealed on the Nile--Slavery of the Africans--Weeping Muse

CANTO IV.

Maid of night Fairies--Electric lady--Shadrec, Meshec, and Abednego, in

the fiery furnace--Shepherdesses--Song to Echo--Kingdom of China--Lady and

distaff--Cupid spinning--Lady walking in snow--Children at play--Venus and

Loves--Matlock Bath--Angel bathing--Mermaid and Nereids--Lady in salt--

Lot's wife--Lady in regimentals--Dejanira in a lion's skin--Offspring from

the marriage of the Rose and Nightingale--Parched deserts in Africa--

Turkish lady in an undress--Ice-scene in Lapland--Lock-lomond by moon

light--Hero and Leander--Gnome-husband and Palace under ground--Lady

inclosed in a fig--Sylph-husband--Marine cave--Proteus-lover--Lady on a

Dolphin--Lady bridling a Pard--Lady saluted by a Swan--Hymeneal procession

--Night

CONTENTS OF THE NOTES.

* * * * *

Seeds of Canna used for prayer-beads

Stems and leaves of Callitriche so matted together, as they float on the

water, as to bear a person walking on them

The female in Collinsonia approaches first to one of the males, and then

to the other

Females in Nigella and Epilobium bend towards the males for some days,

and then leave them

The stigma or head of the female in Spartium (common broom) is produced

amongst the higher set of males; but when the keal-leaf opens, the pistil

suddenly twists round like a French-horn, and places the stigma amidst

the lower set of males

The two lower males in Ballota become mature before the two higher; and,

when their dust is shed, turn outwards from the female

The plants of the class Two Powers with naked seeds are all aromatic

Of these Marum and Nepeta are delightful to cats

The filaments in Meadia, Borago, Cyclamen, Solanum, &c. shewn _by

reasoning_ to be the most unchangeable parts of those flowers

Rudiments of two hinder wings are seen in the class Diptera, or

two-winged insects

Teats of male animals

Filaments without anthers in Curcuma, Linum, &c. and styles without

stigmas in many plants, shew the advance of the works of nature towards

greater perfection

Double flowers, or vegetable monsters, how produced

The calyx and lower series of petals not changed in double flowers

Dispersion of the dust in nettles and other plants

Cedar and Cypress unperishable

Anthoxanthum gives the fragrant scent to hay

Viviparous plants: the Aphis is viviparous in summer, and oviparous in

autumn

Irritability of the stamen of the plants of the class Syngenesia, or

Confederate males

Some of the males in Lychnis, and other flowers arrive sooner at their

maturity

Males approach the female in Gloriosa, Fritillaria, and Kalmia

Contrivances to destroy insects in Silene, Dionæa muscipula, Arum

muscivorum, Dypsacus, &c.

Some bell-flowers close at night; others hang the mouths downwards;

others nod and turn from the wind; stamens bound down to the pistil in

Amaryllis formofissima; pistil is crooked in Hemerocallis flava, yellow

day-lily Thorns and prickles designed for the defence of the plant; tall

Hollies have no prickles above the reach of cattle

Bird-lime from the bark of Hollies like elastic gum

Adansonia the largest tree known, its dimensions

Bulbous roots contain the embryon flower, seen by dissecting a tulip-root

Flowers of Colchicum and Hamamelis appear in autumn, and ripen their seed

in the spring following

Sunflower turns to the sun by nutation, not by gyration

Dispersion of seeds

Drosera catches flies

Of the nectary, its structure to preserve the honey from insects

Curious proboscis of the Sphinx Convolvoli

Final cause of the resemblance of some flowers to insects, as the

Bee-orchis

In some plants of the class Tetradynamia, or Four Powers, the two shorter

stamens, when at maturity, rise as high as the others

Ice in the caves on Teneriff, which were formerly hollowed by volcanic

fires

Some parasites do not injure trees, as Tillandsia and Epidendrum

Mosses growing on trees injure them

Marriages of plants necessary to be celebrated in the air

Insects with legs on their backs

Scarcity of grain in wet seasons

Tartarian lamb; use of down on vegetables; air, glass, wax, and fat, are

bad conductors of heat; snow does not moisten the living animals buried

in it, illustrated by burning camphor in snow

Of the collapse of the sensitive plant

Birds of passage

The acquired habits of plants

Irritability of plants increased by previous exposure to cold

Lichen produces the first vegetation on rocks

Plants holding water

Madder colours the bones of young animals

Colours of animals serve to conceal them

Warm bathing retards old age

Male flowers of Vallisneria detach themselves from the plant, and float

to the female ones

Air in the cells of plants, its various uses

How Mr. Day probably lost his life in his diving-ship

Air-bladders of fish

Star-gelly is voided by Herons

Intoxicating mushrooms

Mushrooms grow without light, and approach to animal nature

Seeds of Tillandsia fly on long threads, like spiders on the gossamer

Account of cotton mills

Invention of letters, figures, crotchets

Mrs. Delany's and Mrs. North's paper-gardens

The horologe of Flora

The white petals of Helleborus niger become first red, and then change

into a green calyx

Berries of Menispernum intoxicate fish

Effects of opium

Frontispiece by Miss Crewe

Petals of Cistus and Oenanthe continue but a few hours

Method of collecting the gum from Cistus by leathern throngs

Discovery of the Bark

Foxglove how used in Dropsies

Bishop of Marseilles, and Lord Mayor of London

Superstitious uses of plants, the divining rod, animal magnetism

Intoxication of the Pythian Priestess, poison from Laurel-leaves, and

from cherry-kernels

Sleep consists in the abolition of voluntary power; nightmare explained

Indian fig emits slender cords from its summit

Cave of Thor in Derbyshire, and sub-terraneous rivers explained

The capsule of the Geranium makes a hygrometer; Barley creeps out of a

barn Mr. Edgeworth's creeping hygrometer

Flower of Fraxinella flashes on the approach of a candle

Essential oils narcotic, poisonous, deleterious to insects

Dew-drops from Mancinella blister the skin

Uses of poisonous juices in the vegetable economy

The fragrance of plants a part of their defence

The sting and poison of a nettle

Vapour from Lobelia suffocative; unwholesomness of perfumed hair-powder

Ruins of Palmira

The poison-tree of Java

Tulip roots die annually

Hyacinth and Ranunculus roots

Vegetable contest for air and light

Some voluble stems turn E.S.W. and others W.S.E.

Tops of white Bryony as grateful as asparagus

Fermentation converts sugar into spirit, food into poison

Fable of Prometheus applied to dram-drinkers

Cyclamen buries its seeds and trifolium subterraneum

Pits dug to receive the dead in the plague

Lakes of America consist of fresh water

The seeds of Cassia and some others are carried from America, and thrown

on the coasts of Norway and Scotland

Of the gulf-stream

Wonderful change predicted in the gulph of Mexico

In the flowers of Cactus grandiflorus and Cistus some of the stamens are

perpetually bent to the pistil

Nyctanthes and others are only fragrant in the night; Cucurbita lagenaria

closes when the sun shines on it

Tropeolum, nasturtian, emits sparks in the twilight

Nectary on its calyx

Phosphorescent lights in the evening

Hot embers eaten by bull-frogs

Long filaments of grasses, the cause of bad seed-wheat

Chinese hemp grew in England above 14 feet in five months

Roots of snow-drop and hyacinth insipid like orchis

Orchis will ripen its seeds if the new bulb be cut off

Proliferous flowers

The wax on the candle-berry myrtle said to be made by insects

The warm springs of matlock produced by the condensation of steam raised

from great depths by subterranean fires

Air separated from water by the attraction of points to water being less

than that of the particles of water to each other

Minute division of sub-aquatic leaves

Water-cress and other aquatic plants inhabit all climates

Butomus esculent; Lotus of Egypt; Nymphæa

Ocymum covered with salt every night

Salt a remote cause of scrophula, and immediate cause of sea-scurvy

Coloured spatha of Arum, and blotched leaves, if they serve the purpose

of a coloured petal

Tulip-roots with a red cuticle produce red flowers

Of vegetable mules the internal parts, at those of fructification,

resemble the female parent; and the external parts, the male one

The same occurs in animal mules, as the common mule and the hinnus, and

in sheep

The wind called Harmattan from volcanic eruptions; some epidemic coughs

or influenza have the same origin

Fish killed in the sea by dry summers in Asia

Hedysarum gyrans perpetually moves its leaves like the respiration of

animals

Plants possess a voluntary power of motion Loud cracks from ice-mountains

explained

Muschus corallinus vegetates below the snow, where the heat is always

about 40.

Quick growth of vegetables in northern latitudes after the solution of

the snows explained

The Rail sleeps in the snow

Conserva ægagropila rolls about the bottom of lakes

Lycoperdon tuber, truffle, requires no light

Account of caprification

Figs wounded with a straw, and pears and plumbs wounded by insects ripen

sooner, and become sweeter

Female figs closed on all sides, supposed to be monsters

Basaltic columns produced by volcanoes shewn by their form

Byssus floats on the sea in the day, and sinks in the night

Conserva polymorpha twice changes its colour and its form

Some seed-vessels and seeds resemble insects

Individuality of flowers not destroyed by the number of males or females

which they contain

Trees are swarms of buds, which are individuals

INDEX OF THE NAMES OF THE PLANTS

Adonis

Aegragrópila

Álcea

Amarýllis

Anemóne

Anthoxánthum

Arum

Avéna

Bárometz

Béllis

Byssus

Cáctus

Caléndula

Callítriche

Cánna

Cánnabis

Cápri-fícus

Carlína

Caryophýllus

Cáffia

Céreus

Chondrílla

Chunda

Cinchóna

Circæa

Cistus

Cócculus

Cólchicum

Collinsónia

Consérva

Cupréssus

Curcúma

Cuscúta

Cýclamen

Cypérus

Diánthus

Dictámnus

Digitális

Dodecátheon

Drába

Drósera

Dýpsacus

Fícus

Fúcus

Fraxinélla

Galánthus

Genísta

Gloriósa

Gossýpium

Hedýsarum

Heliánthus

Helléborus

Hippómane

Ilex

Impátiens

Iris

Kleinhóvia

Lápsana

Láuro-cérasus

Líchen

Línum

Lobélia

Lonicéra

Lychnis

Lycopérdon

Mancinélla

Méadia

Melíssa

Menispérmum

Mimósa

Múschus

Nymphæa

Ócymum

Orchis

Osmúnda

Osýris

Papáver

Papýrus

Plantágo

Polymórpha

Polypódium

Prúnus

Rúbia

Siléne

Trápa

Tremélla

Tropáeolum

Truffélia

Túlipa

Ulva

Upas

Urtíca

Vallisnéria

Víscum

Vítis

Zostéra

* * * * *

FINIS

DIRECTIONS to the BINDER.

Please to place the print of Flora and Cupid opposite to the Title-page.

The two prints of flowers in small compartments both facing the last page

of the Preface.

The print of Meadia opposite to p. 6.

Gloriosa opposite p. 14.

Dionaea p. 16.

Amaryllis p. 17.

Vallisneria p. 40.

Hedysarum p. 172.

Apocynum p. 185.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Botanic Garden. Part II., by Erasmus Darwin