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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



before it is quite dead, the Gamasi will leave it, and 

 run about in all directions ; as soon as they are 

 stupified, examine them one by one under the 

 microscope, when the hypopi if present, will be 

 found attached to some portion of the Gamasus, and 

 may be removed, with care and some trouble, by using 

 a dissecting needle. On placing one or more on a 

 glass slip, and waiting a little while, it will be found 

 that they are not dead (unless they have been exposed 

 to the vapour of the acid for too long a time) and 

 when they come round, they will walk with tolerable 

 ease on the glass, although the front pair of legs are 

 of very little use to them under such circumstances ; 

 and this is the most favourable time for observing 

 the large claw, for in walking on glass it is protruded 

 a little way beyond the shield. When alive on the 

 Gamasus they cling to it by means of these large claws, 

 and in this state, the claw or fc leg will often be torn off 

 in trying to remove them with the needle. 



I have not the works of Dujardin or Claparede 

 on this subject ; but if any reader of Science-Gossip 

 possesses them, and would kindly lend them to me 

 for a short time, I would take great care of them, 

 and gladly pay the carriage of them both ways. 



Kirtoti Lindsey. C. F. George. 



THE HISTORY OF RHUBARB {RHEUM). 

 By H. G. Glasspoole. 



RHUBARB is a plant belonging to the Poly- 

 gonacese, the same order as the common dock 

 and buckwheat, to the latter family of which it belongs. 

 The use of the roots of this plant for medicinal pur- 

 poses is of great antiquity, and it is uncertain to 

 whom mankind are indebted for the discoveries of 

 its virtues. Its valuable properties appear to have 

 -been known to the Chinese long before the Christian 

 era, as it is stated in the Pharmacographic that this 

 drug is treated of in the herbal called Pen King, 

 which is attributed to the Emperor Shen-mung, the 

 father of Chinese agriculture and medicine, who 

 reigned about 2700 B.C. Dioscorides, physician to 

 Antony and Cleopatra, wrote on its qualities, and 

 recommended it against weakness of the stomach, 

 diseases of the liver ; and as an external remedy, he 

 mentions it as a cure for ringworm, if it be mixed 

 with vinegar and the place be anointed with it. 

 Dioscorides says the rha, by some called rheon, grows 

 in those countries which are beyond the Bosphorus, 

 and from which it is brought. It is a root which is 

 black externally, like the great centaury, but smaller, 

 redder, odourless, loose or spongy, and somewhat 

 smooth internally. The Greek physicians of a later 

 date, as Alexander of Tralles, and Paulus, of ^Egina, 

 have written upon its virtues ; and Pliny gives a 

 similar account as that of Dioscorides to a plant 

 which he calls rhacoma. The ancient Arabs were 

 acquainted with this plant ; one of their authors, 



Mesne the younger, mentions three kinds — the Indian, 

 the Barbarian, and the Turkish. The recommenda- 

 tions of the medicinal virtues of this root by later 

 practitioners would fill many volumes ; as an article 

 of commerce it has been of considerable importance 

 for many centuries. All the species of rhubarb are 

 natives of Asia, and grow spontaneously on the 

 elevated lands of Tartary, Tibet, India, &c, and 

 also on the banks of the Volga. We have no account 

 of this plant being cultivated in England before 1629, 

 although it is stated in some of our old works on 

 gardening that the leaves of rhubarb were commonly 

 used as a pot-herb in the reign of Elizabeth, and 

 considered superior to spinach. Tusser also men- 

 tions it as a medicinal plant for the " Herbe garden ;" 

 this was no doubt monk's rhubarb, mentioned by 

 Gerard as grown in his garden and others in London and 

 elsewhere for the use of " phisick " and " chirurgerie." 

 He calls it " Rhubarbanim monachomm, Monks' 

 rhubarb. " f This plant did not belong to any species of 

 rheum, but appears to be Rumex alpinus, an Alpine 

 dock which grows in Switzerland and Germany, the 

 root being more astringent than purgative, is used by 

 the monks of the Alps to adulterate the true drug. 

 Although we have no account of the cultivation of 

 rhubarb before the date previously mentioned, the 

 seeds of the plant appear to have been sent to this 

 country as early as 1534, for in a postscript of a 

 letter of the above date, from that eccentric physician 

 Andrew Broide (or Brode) to Cromwell, secretary of 

 state to Henry VIII., he says, ' ' I have sent to your 

 Mastership the seeds of reuberbe, the which came out 

 of Barbary. In those parts it is considered a great 

 treasure." He also gives directions for sowing and 

 transplanting the roots, at least two hundred years 

 before the cultivation of it was known in England.* 



Rheum rhaponticum, the common garden rhubarb, 

 was first grown in this country in 1629 by Parkinson, 

 who informs us that the seeds were sent him from 

 beyond the seas by a worthy gentleman named Dr. 

 Matt Lister, one of the king's physicians, and first 

 grew with him before it was ever seen or known 

 elsewhere in England, f but it was only grown as a 

 curiosity or for medicinal purposes, and was not 

 generally cultivated : as we find Professor Bradley, in 

 his " Husbandry and Gardening," published in 1724, 

 saying, " I could wish that we could get some of the 

 true rhubarb, if possible, for this has not yet been 

 grown in Europe as I could ever find, though once I 

 remember the late ingenious Mr. Jacob Robart thought 

 he had got it." 



Rheum palmatum, another species grown in gardens, 

 was first introduced in 1763 by Dr. Mounsey, who 

 procured the seeds from Russia. The plants were 

 grown in the botanical gardens of Edinburgh and 

 Cambridge, from thence they were quickly dispersed 



* Ellis, "Original Letters," 3 ser. vol. ii. p. 300. 

 t "Parad." 4 S 4 . 



