HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



129 



into rooms, attracted by the light of the lamps ; but 

 I never found them at their home, and until pointed 

 out to me by Dr. Jerdon, I did not know that they 

 belonged to this species at all. 



" The leaves are not injured by their joining opera- 

 tions, but continue their growth. They cannot, 

 however, fall when they dry up, because tightly 

 held together by the silk, which is woven so closely 

 in many cases, as to be almost air-tight, and in some 

 slight degree resembles the consistency of a silken 

 cocoon. I could see no sign of any insect food, 

 and the mode in which the larvae are fed would 

 not necessitate any being stored; and I am only 

 sorry that I was not able to collect more notes on 

 the economy of this interesting insect." 



C. Hoene, F.Z.S., late B.C.S. 



ELECAMPANE 



{Inula Helenium). 

 By Major Holland, R.M.L.I. 



THIS plant, a member of the sub-order Corym- 

 biferce, of the natural order Composite?, and a 

 relation of the Camomile, the Wormwood, the 

 Dahlia, the Gnaphalium or Everlasting-flower of 

 cottage mantelpieces, of the Sunflower, the Ground- 

 sel, the Jerusalem Artichoke, the cultivated Cine- 

 raria, and the Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), from 

 which our cough lozenges are prepared, seems 

 to be but little known or cared for nowadays : its 

 name, however, still figures in the catalogue of the 

 confectioner, and its aromatic juice is supposed to 

 be used to flavour " Elecampane rock," the sweetie 

 dear to charity-boys. The farriers and "beast- 

 leeches " of the middle ages had great faith in its 

 medicinal properties ; in the glorious Augustan age 

 the cooks and epicures of luxurious Rome esteemed 

 its pungency, and introduced it into their sauces, 

 and the bard of Venusium has sung its culinary 

 virtues, and has handed them down to posterity 

 enshrined for ever in immortal verse. 



On wild winter nights, when the fire burns cheer- 

 fully in the snug, warm room, while the driving 

 storm rages fiercely without ; when the heavy rain 

 lashes and dashes angrily against the invulnerable 

 shutters, and, even louder and more terrible than 

 the howling and shrieking of the sweeping blast, is 

 heard the heavy booming roar, the tremendous thun- 

 der of the mighty sea, an old traveller chuckles to 

 find himself well housed in, and an old wandering 

 campaigner nestling comfortably in his easy-chair, 

 realizes the unspeakable blessing of the peace and 

 security of brave old England, and feels deeply 

 grateful for the tender mercies of his safe and quiet 

 home ; his eyes turn upwards to the well-filled 

 shelves of his library, and rest lovingly, not upon 

 the ponderous tomes handsomely bound in calf and 

 morocco, but upon a certain upper row of old, worn, 



ragged, battered, tattered, thumbed and dog's-eared 

 volumes of all shapes and sizes, stowed away high up, 

 and as much as possible out of sight, because some- 

 body has pronounced them "not fit to be seen"; they 

 are his old school-books, the tools he worked with 

 thirty years ago ; the grubby old man at the rag- 

 shop would hardly give five shillings for the lot ; 

 they are a perpetual eyesore to the housemaid, and 

 are not in favour with the owner of the witching 

 fingers that are sweeping over the keys of the piano, 

 making sweet melody, as though to soothe the in- 

 harmonious furies of the bitter gale ; but they are 

 very dear to him who now regards them ; the old 

 companions of his boyhood, the deep old wells from 

 which his thirsting soul drew its first draughts of 



Fig-. 66. Elecampane {Inula Helenium), \ nat. size- 



the waters of life ; his old Homer, his old Virgil, 

 Livy with the appendix torn out, Terence with his 

 back broken, Cicero minus one flap of his cover, 

 Thucydides steeped in red ink, Herodotus up to 

 his eyes in grease, as if he had been a tallow-chan- 

 dler, and Ovid sadly metamorphosed by having been 

 used for a target in a match with penny cannons ; 

 Medea and Hecuba, Nepos, Xenophon, and Caesar, 

 all show honourable scars ; some of these have been 

 round the world with their master, his never-failing 



