contain a certain amount of nitrate of potash in their juices, and
it is this which gives them the peculiar taste which has gained for
them the name of "Oyster plants;" the common Borage has been used as a
remedy for coughs.
14. LINIACEÆ, or } (Salvia officinalis) Sage.
LABIATES } (Thymus vulgaris) Thyme.
(Mentha viridis) Spear Mint.
[Illustration: Sage.]
The name Labiates has been given from the form of their infloresence,
which is generally "Labiate" (having lips); they frequently possess
aromatic properties, and are mostly of a strong smell. Although not
commonly used as food, yet most of them are employed to flavour it, as
Mint, Thyme, Sage, and many more.
15. SOLANACEÆ (Atropa belladonna) Deadly Nightshade.
(Solanum tuberosum) Potato.
(Capsicum annuum) Capsicum.
(Hyoscyamus niger) Henbane.
(Nicotiana Tabacum) Tobacco.
[Illustration: Tobacco.]
A great many members of this order are poisonous, among which the
Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) is the most virulent, there are
also Henbane and Tobacco, both strong poisons; but, to compensate
for this bad character, the order contains one of the most useful
vegetables used in Europe--the Potato. This is the tuber of the
"Solanum tuberosum." The following account of the introduction of the
Potato into England is from the "Penny Cyclopædia":--
"Queen Elizabeth, in 1584, granted a patent 'for planting and
discovering in new countries, not possessed by Christians,' and,
under this sanction, some ships, principally equipped by Sir Walter
Raleigh, sailed with him to America. Thomas Harriott (afterwards
known as a mathematician) who accompanied the adventurous squadron,
transmitted to England the description of a plant, called Openawk by
the natives of that part of America, which the courtier-like gallantry
of Raleigh had named 'Virginia.' Harriott described the Openawk as
having the roots round, and 'hanging together as if fixed on ropes,
and good for food either boiled or roasted.' Girarde in his Herbal a
few years subsequently, distinguished the plant by a plate, and not
only confirmed the assertion that it was an indigenous production
of Virginia, whence he himself had obtained it, but supplied some
curious details of its qualities, and of the various modes in which
it might be dressed for the table. But the Potatoe had been known in
Spain and Portugal at an earlier period, and it is from the latter
country that we most directly derive the name by which we know it.
This is easily shown; although the natives of South America called the
plant by the name 'Openawk,' those of the South, more particularly the
inhabitants of the mountains of Quito, called it 'Papas,' which the
Spaniards corrupted into 'Battata,' this again their neighbours in
Portugal softened into 'Ba-ta-ta' (da terra), to which 'potato' is a
very close approximation."
This plant, the tubers of which for a long time were a luxury
obtainable by the rich only, now yields the support of the poor, and
furnishes the cheapest food known; the peasantry of Ireland almost
subsist upon Potatoes, and the poor of most parts of Europe find it
indispensable to their living.
16. SCROPHULARIACEÆ (Digitalis purpurea) Foxglove.
(Veronica officinalis) Speedwell.
[Illustration: Speedwell.]
Some of the members of this order were formerly considered useful in
scrofulous complaints, especially the Scrophularia nodosa, a common
plant growing by the sides of ditches, and whose tuberculated roots
were considered to resemble scrofulous tumours, and therefore to be
the natural remedy for them. The Foxglove is used as a medicine and is
highly poisonous.
17. LENTIBULARIACEÆ (Pinguicula vulgaris) Butterwort.
[Illustration: Butterwort.]
This order includes the Butterworts, which are herbaceous indigenous
plants, growing in ditches and wet places; they are divided into the
Pinguicula and the Urticularia. The example given is the most common
and characteristic of the order.
18. PLANTAGINACEÆ (Plantago lanceolata) Plantain.
[Illustration: Plantain.]
The common Plantain or Way-bred is found by roadsides, the leaves form
a sort of star on the ground, from the centre of which a tall stalk
arises, forming a "spike" of flowers. The seeds of plantain are much
in request by bird fanciers, cage-birds being fond of them. The leaves
were once in great repute as a styptic, or application for stopping
the bleeding of wounds.
19. PLUMBAGINACEÆ (Armeria maratima) Thrift.
(Ilex aquifolium) Holly.
[Illustration: Thrift.]
[Illustration: Holly.]
The most characteristic of this order are the two examples given,
especially the Holly, which is universally known and admired for the
decorative uses to which it is applied in our churches and houses at
Christmas time.
ORDERS OF MONOCHLAMYDEÆ.
1. SANGUISORBEÆ (Alchemilla vulgaris) Ladies' Mantle.
[Illustration: Ladies' Mantle.]
Some species of this order, especially the Greater Burnet (Sanguisorba
officinalis), were once much cultivated as food for cattle, but it is
now superseded by other plants, especially Sainfoin.
2. CHENOPODIACEÆ (Beta vulgaris) Beet.
(Spinacia oleracea) Spinach.
[Illustration: Beetroot]
The most important species of this order is the Beetroot, employed in
France for the production of sugar. Its variety, Mangold-wurzel (Beta
altissima), is also extensively used as food for cattle.
3. POLYGONACEÆ (Polygonum Fagopyrum) Buckwheat.
(Rumex obtusifolius) Dock.
[Illustration: Buckwheat].
Buckwheat is used as food in America and other places, and the root
of the "Rheum palmatum" furnishes the Rhubarb of commerce. It is
brought from Turkey; but is grown in China, and thence passes through
the hands of Russians to Turkey. Other species of Rhubarb, as "Rheum
compactum," are cultivated here for the sake of the leaf-stalk, which
has an agreeable acid taste, and is much used for making tarts and
puddings.
4. ELÆAGNACEÆ (Elæagnus angustifolia) Oleaster.
[Illustration: Oleaster.]
Some foreign species of the Oleaster are extremely fragrant, and
others, especially those of India, produce a fruit of a pleasant taste
and is there eaten. The Sea Buckthorn (Hippophæ Rhamnoides) is the
only English species.
5. THYMELACEÆ (Daphne pontica) Spurge Laurel.
[Illustration: Spurge-Laurel.]
Some species of this order are cultivated in gardens and are very
fragrant, others partake of a poisonous quality; the Daphne mezerium,
the bark of which is very acrid, is used in medicine, and forms one of
the ingredients in the celebrated compound decoction of Sarsaparilla.
6. CORYLACEÆ (Castanea vesca) Sweet Chestnut.
(Quercus pedunculata) Oak.
(Corylus avellana) Hazel Nut.
This order contains some of our finest trees; the Oak, that prince
of trees, is of this order. It attains a great age and size, and
there are some celebrated specimens existing which have stood many
centuries. Oaks constitute the greater part of the forest trees, both
on the Continent and in England; great numbers are cut in France for
fire-wood, and in both countries for ship-building. The roof-timbers
of our old churches and halls are nearly all oak. The bark of the oak
is largely used for tanning leather. About 30,000 tons are imported
into this country yearly for this purpose, besides the product of our
own trees. The bark of the Cork-oak (Quercus suber) is used for making
corks, some 2,000 tons of this are imported annually. Moreover, the
Gall-nut used in tanning, and also to make black dye, is the product
of an oak. The Chestnut is a fine tree, the nuts of which are commonly
eaten by the peasantry of Spain and Italy as food; the tree grows to a
great age and to an enormous size.
[Illustration: Sweet Chestnut.]
7. EUPHORBIACEÆ (Buxus sempervirens) Box.
[Illustration: Box.]
Many species of this order are acrid and poisonous, and have been used
for poisoning arrows. The Castor-oil plant (Ricinus palma-christi),
and the plant that yields that most violent purgative, Croton-oil
(Croton tiglium), are of this species; also the Box-tree, from which
that useful wood, known as box-wood, is obtained.
8. URTICACEÆ (Urtica urens) Stinging Nettle.
(Humulus lupulus) Hops.
[Illustration: Hop.]
The Nettle in Australia grows to the size of a tree; the Hop also
belongs to this order, and is largely cultivated in Kent and Sussex
for the use of brewers, as it communicates an agreeable bitter to beer
which no other plant seems to be able to substitute.
9. SALICACEÆ (Salix alba) White Willow.
(Populus nigra) Black Poplar.
[Illustration: White Willow.]
The most characteristic of this order are the examples given; the
Willows are well-known trees, growing by the margins of water and in
damp places. The Poplar is one of our tallest trees, specimens being
known 100 feet high; its peculiar tall form distinguishes it from all
other trees.
10. BETULACEÆ (Betula alba) Birch.
(Alnus glutinosa) Alder.
[Illustration: Birch.]
[Illustration: Alder.]
The Birch and Alder are both well known trees in our plantations,
the Alder is often confounded with the Elder. The bark of the Birch
tree contains tannin; it is used to tan skins in Russia, and gives to
Russian leather its peculiar qualities.
11. ULMACEÆ (Ulnus campestris) Elm.
[Illustration: Elm.]
The Elm is one of our largest and noblest trees, growing to 80 or 90
feet high, it has often a girth of 10 to 11 feet, and forms a very
fine tree with a broad crown; the wood is much used for making coffins.
12. PINACEÆ (Taxus baccata) Yew.
(Abies larix) Larch.
(Laurus nobilis) Bay.
(Pinus sylvestris) Scotch Fir.
[Illustration: Larch.]
[Illustration: Yew.]
[Illustration: Bay.]
This order contains the various Pines and Firs, together with the Yew
and Bay trees, and is sometimes called the "Coniferæ," as they all
bear cones. In their general aspect many of these somewhat resemble
endogenous trees, growing perfectly straight in the stem, and giving
off branches in whorls at regular distances; some, as the Norfolk
Island Pine, form perfectly regular figures by the interlacement
of their branches. The Firs have their thin narrow leaves starting
off singly from the branch, and always on the upper side, like the
teeth of a comb, while the Pines have their leaves grouped together,
starting off in fours or fives from the same spot. The Conifera
furnish the longest and straightest timber of all trees, they commonly
grow to 100 feet high, and in New Zealand and California to more than
300. The Wellingtonia Gigantea is the tallest species known, and
the Araucaria Excelsa (Norfolk Island Pine), perhaps, the next. The
trees of this order are amongst the most useful to man, supplying a
number of useful articles, such as turpentine, resin, &c., besides
the most valuable timber. Pines, like the Palms, serve as a screen
against the severity of the weather, but, while the palms keep off
the burning rays of the sun, the pines defend us from the cold of the
mountain blasts; they are indeed used as _nurses_, and as such, in
our oak plantations, serve to screen the young saplings which are
planted among them from the effects of cold until strong enough to
bear exposure; when the pines are cut down, and what before appeared
to be a pine-wood, appears as a plantation of oaks. The pine-trees
furnish those straight stems largely used by builders under the name
of "scaffold poles." They also make the best wood for rending into
laths for building purposes, their straight and open grain allowing of
their being easily split.
It is from the vegetable kingdom that most of the medicines in use
are derived, but many of these, in improper doses, act as violent
poisons; indeed, the most rapidly fatal of all poisons, prussic acid,
was originally distilled from the Laurel-cherry, and strychnine, which
is hardly less rapid, is the produce of the Nux vomica (Strychnos nux
vomica).
The following is a list of the principal poisonous plants found growing
wild in England:--
* 1. MONK'S-HOOD (Aconitum Napellus).
WOLF'S-BANE (Aconitum lycactonum).
[Illustration: Monk's-hood.]
[Illustration: Horse-radish.]
[Illustration: Wolf's-bane.]
All parts of Monk's-hood and Wolf's-bane are extremely poisonous; the
root of Monk's-hood has often been mistaken for that of Horse-radish,
of which an example is therefore given, to show that it is impossible
for this mistake to be made, if the least attention be paid to the
leaves, as they are totally dissimilar.
* BRYONY (Bryonia dioica).
The whole of this plant is poisonous, and, as the berries are red and
tempting, it is dangerous to trust children with them. The root is
large and succulent, and is known by the name of Mandrake; it is very
purgative and acrid.
[Illustration: Bryony.]
* GREEN HELLEBORE (Heleborus viridus).
* STINKING HELLEBORE (Heleborus foetidus).
[Illustration: Green Hellebore.]
[Illustration: Stinking Hellebore.]
Both poisonous in every part of the plants.
* MEZERIUM (Daphne mezerium).
The bark of this plant is acrid and poisonous, producing a burning
sensation in the throat if chewed, and blistering the skin if applied,
for which purpose it was often formerly used medicinally.
[Illustration: Mezerium.]
* MEADOW SAFFRON (Colchicum autumnale).
The corm (root) and seeds of this plant are poisonous. Meadow Saffron
is also called Colchicum, it is much used in medicine, and although
a good and useful one in small doses for gouty affections, yet in
over-doses it produces violent purging and vomiting.
[Illustration: Meadow Saffron.]
FOXGLOVE (Digitalis purpurea).
This plant is very poisonous and dangerous, the leaves are the most
active part. It is frequently used medicinally, but requires great
care, as it lowers the action of the heart, the effect of many small
doses accumulating and at last acting like one large one.
[Illustration: Foxglove.]
* STAVES-ACRE (Delphinium Staphisagria).
The Ranunculaceæ are, most of them, poisonous, and this order includes
the Larkspurs, of which the Staves-Acre is a species. The seeds are to
a certain extent poisonous, and when ground into meal and mixed with
flour have been often used by farmers to destroy vermin of various
kinds, such as rats, mice, beetles, &c.
[Illustration: Staves-Acre.]
DEADLY NIGHTSHADE (Atropa Belladonna).
The Deadly Nightshade is also called Belladonna. Both leaves and
berries are a deadly poison. The berries have been mistaken for black
currants by children, as they much resemble them. There are several
species, of which the Solanum nigrum, or Common Nightshade, very much
resembles the "Deadly."
[Illustration: Deadly Nightshade.]
WOODY NIGHTSHADE (Solanum Dulcamara).
This plant, also called Bitter-sweet, from its taste, produces the
bright red berries so often seen in hedges, and which from their
pretty appearance frequently tempt children to eat them. They are
poisonous, but not so much so as the twigs of the plant, which are
very acrid and narcotic.
[Illustration: Woody Nightshade.]
HEMLOCK (Conium maculatum).
The Hemlock is an umbelliferous plant growing by road-sides and
under hedges, and flowers in June and July; it has been mistaken for
Parsley, but may be known by the stems being spotted with black; the
leaves are of a dark green colour, the upper ones bi-pinnate and the
lower ones large and standing on long channelled foot-stalks.
[Illustration: Hemlock.]
THORN-APPLE (Datura strammonium).
The Thorn-Apple is a native of America, but has become almost
indigenous, and is frequently found growing in waste places. The whole
of the plant is poisonous, and is narcotic when smoked, like tobacco.
It is an annual, bearing a funnel-shaped white flower, the fruit is
a four-celled capsule covered with sharp spines or thorns, hence its
name.
[Illustration: Thorn-Apple.]
POPPY, Red (Papaver Rhoeas).
POPPY, White (Papaver somniferum).
[Illustration: White Poppy.]
[Illustration: Red Poppy.]
The unripe capsules of both of these species of Poppy are narcotic and
poisonous, but chiefly those of the White Poppy, from which, the opium
of commerce is procured. The leaves are but very slightly narcotic,
and the seeds not at all.
HENBANE (Hyoscyamus Niger).
[Illustration: Henbane.]
This plant is an indigenous annual growing in waste places, especially
in chalky soil, bearing flowers in July, which are of a yellowish
green colour and nauseous odour; the stalk, leaves, and indeed the
whole of the plant is covered with hairs. It is very narcotic, and is
much used medicine; in over-doses it is poisonous.
CAPER (Euphorbia Lathyris).
The Caper is a biennial often found in gardens; the seeds are very
purgative, and to some persons poisonous. This plant bearing the
name of Caper, many persons have erroneously thought the seeds to
be the ordinary "Capers" sold at shops for making "Caper-sauce."
These, however, are the flower-buds of quite another plant, known as
"Capparis spinosa."
[Illustration: Caper.]
WILD LETTUCE (Lactuca virosa).
The Wild Lettuce is a biennial plant flowering in July and August; it
is found growing on the banks of ditches, and is sufficiently narcotic
to be called poisonous. The dried juice has been used as a substitute
for opium, but by cultivation the narcotic property is nearly or
altogether lost.
[Illustration: Wild Lettuce.]
MUSHROOMS, TOADSTOOLS, AND OTHER FUNGI.
The only kinds of Mushroom which can be eaten with safety are the
common Mushroom (Agaricus campestris), the Champignon (Agaricus
oreades), and the Morell (Marchella esculenta). Those which are of
very bright colours, or have spots on the cap, those with thin caps,
or those which are moist--have a film like a cobweb about the stalk,
or have the stalk coming from one side of the cap--are poisonous.
[Illustration: Common Mushroom.]
[Illustration: Champignon.]
[Illustration: Morell.]
[Illustration: Poisonous Fungi.]
Those marked (*) in the foregoing list are _acrid_ poisons, and the
remainder are _narcotic_.
* * * * *
[Illustration: OAKS.]
Out of these three great families of plants, in their almost endless
variety of size, form, and colour, it has pleased the Great Author of
Nature to form all the vegetation which beautifies this earth, from the
lofty Palm--which, from its grateful freshness and the beauty of its
structure, seems almost as if possessed of more than vegetative life,
to the Algæ, which form "the pool's green mantle"--from the gigantic
and "storm-defying" Oak, with its green foliage spreading out far
above, and throwing its welcome shade around, to defend from the sun's
rays the gentle deer who pasture on the herbage beneath--to the grass
and clover, and the sweet-smelling wild flowers at their feet--
"Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim
But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes,
Or Cytherea's breath,--pale primroses
That die unmarried, ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength"--
form inexhaustible themes on which to exercise our faculties of
admiration, and which serve admirably to minister to those wants
which, without doubt, were given to us that we might derive pleasure
from their being thus beautifully gratified--themes for the pencil of
the artist, who "holds, as it were, the mirror up to nature," and the
architect, when he designed his vistas of slender columns spreading out
into and supporting roofs of tracery, might well be supposed to have
had in his "mind's eye" some beautiful recollection of the arcades of
Nature's palaces in the sombre forests, where the twisted trunks of the
trees, the fretwork of their branches, and the leafy covering formed by
their leaves, supply all the requisites of a grand and lofty temple,
fit for the worship of that great First Cause who formed them.
[Illustration: FOREST SCENE.]
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--ANIMALCULÆ FOUND IN STAGNANT WATER.
A, Cyclops Quadracornis.
B, Anguillula. Fluviatilis.
C, Actinophrys. Sol.
D, Coleps Hirtus.
E, Vorticella.
F, Amboeba princeps.
G, Acineta mystacina.
H, Oxytrycha.
I, Triophthalamus dorsalis.
J, Polyarthra.
]
After considering the beautiful covering which a kind Providence has
given to the earth in the form of all sorts of vegetation, it will
be necessary now to consider for what kind of creatures this most
delightful garden was prepared, whether they seek their food in the
air, water, or earth, for all these places are abodes of the vegetable
tribes, and where there is vegetation there are animated beings; for
there is not an animal in existence, but directly or indirectly feeds
upon the vegetable kingdom, from the elephant and rhinoceros which
devour whole plantations, to the minute animalculæ which float in the
air or dwell in every drop of stagnant water, where food in the form
of equally minute algæ is found--each possessed of wonderful organs
and powers suitable to the kind of existence they lead, for God has
often placed life in the most simple as well as complicated forms. Dr.
Mantell says:--
"We have been accustomed to associate the presence of vitality with
bodies possessing various complicated organs for the elaboration and
maintenance of the energies of existence, but here we see perfect
and distinct creations in the condition of globules and cells, which
live and move and have their being, and increase in numbers with a
rapidity so prodigious, and in modes so peculiar, as to startle all our
preconceived notions of animal organisation."
And it is in these Protozoa, the lowest of the animal creation, that
a perfect similarity of condition exists to those of the vegetable
kingdom, they are here upon a level; but arising out of these simple
forms, God has created two sets of types or portraits, the members
of each resembling those below it in some particular, but having
organs which are superior to it; and above these are found members
whose organs are of a still higher order, and so on till the one set
comprises the highest orders of the vegetable, and the other those of
the animal kingdom, in its ranks. But these simple organisms are never
developed so as to resemble those placed above them; they each, whether
high or low, continue to produce their like, for each grade was a
creation of itself and a separate one from God's hands. There have been
writers, who would endeavour to make it appear that God only created
the lowest and most simple germs, and the circumstances which were
necessary to develop them, and then allowed these to act and re-act
until a man or an oak tree at last became the result! Were this the
case, geology would long before this have shown the "small beginnings"
of man; but no! as soon as traces of man's creation are perceived, he
is found as perfectly formed and organised as he is now, there are no
transition stages of man's existence, nor of any other animal. It is
true that the simpler forms of both animal and vegetable existence were
created first, but this was in accordance with the state of the earth's
surface, which was not at first suitable to the requirements of the
higher animals, which were only created when the earth was in a state
suitable to receive them.
But when the surface of the earth was still more developed God created
man. His last and greatest work; and there can be no doubt that God in
His wisdom caused all these changes to precede the creation of man,
that he might lack nothing to confer happiness on him, nor objects to
exercise his faculties upon.
* * * * *
Animals are divided into two great natural families, the Invertebrate
and the Vertebrate, the former having neither spine nor internal
skeleton, the latter having both.
The Invertebrate animals are divided into the following sub-families,
classes, and orders by Dr. William Carpenter.
Sub-family 1.--RADIATA, having Four classes.
1. Infusoria.
2. Entozoa.
{Hydroida }
3. Zoophyta. {Asteroida } 4 Orders.
{Helianthoida }
{Ascidioda }
4. Radiaria. {Acalephæ } 2 Orders.
{Echinodermata}
Sub-family 2.--ARTICULATA, having Five classes.