_Washing Salads, Cresses, &c._.
A countryman was seized with the most excruciating pain in his
stomach, and which continued for so long a period, that his case
became desperate, and his life was even despaired of. In this
predicament, the medical gentleman to whom he applied administered to
him a most violent emetic, and the result was the ejection of the
larva, and which remained alive for a quarter of an hour after its
expulsion. Upon questioning the man as to how it was likely that the
insect got into his stomach, he stated that he was exceedingly fond of
watercresses, and often gathered and eat them, and, possibly, without
taking due care, in freeing them from any aquatic insects they might
hold. He was also in the frequent habit of lying down and drinking the
water of any clear rivulet when he was thirsty; and thus, in any of
these ways, the insect, in its smaller state, might have been
swallowed, and remained gradually increasing in size until it was
ready for the change into the beetle state; at times, probably,
preying upon the inner coat of the stomach, and thus producing the
severe pains complained of by the sufferer.
We are surprised we do not hear more of the effects of swallowing the
eggs or larva of insects, along with raw salads of different kinds. We
would strongly recommend all families who can afford it, to keep in
their sculleries a cistern of salt water, or, if they will take the
trouble of renewing it frequently, of lime and water; and to have all
vegetables to be used raw, first plunged in this cistern for a minute,
and then washed in pure fresh water.--_Gardener's Magazine_.
_Insects on Trees_.
Mr. Johnson, of Great Totham, is of opinion that smearing trees with
oil, to destroy insects on them, injures the vegetation, and is not a
certain remedy. He recommends scrubbing the trunks and branches of the
trees every second year, with a hard brush dipped in strong brine of
common salt. This effectually destroys insects of all kinds, and moss;
and the stimulating influence of the application and friction is very
beneficial.
_Manna_.
The manna of the larch is thus procured:--About the month of June,
when the sap of the tree is most luxuriant, it produces small white
drops, of a sweet glutinous matter, like Calabrian manna, which are
collected by the peasants early in the morning before the sun
dissipates them.--_Med. Bot_.
_Electricity on Plants_.
It is very easy to kill plants by means of electricity. A very small
shock, according to Cavallo, sent through the stem of a balsam, is
sufficient to destroy it. A few minutes after the passage of the shock,
the plant droops, the leaves and branches become flaccid, and its life
ceases. A small Leyden phial, containing six or eight square inches of
coated surface, is generally sufficient for this purpose, which may even
be effected by means of strong sparks from the prime conductor of a
large electrical machine. The charge by which these destructive effects
are produced, is probably too inconsiderable to burst the vessels of the
plant, or to occasion any material derangement of its organization; and,
accordingly, it is not found, on minute examination of a plant thus
killed by electricity, that either the internal vessels or any other
parts have sustained perceptible injury.
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