POPULAR MISCELLANY 



717 



going on more actively than ever. Prof. G. 

 Kraus has well said that, if some giant hand 

 should remove at one stroke all the plants 

 which have not grown native among us from 

 time immemorial, our gardens and large 

 spots in our cultivated fields would be re- 

 duced to the condition of deserts. From the 

 annals of the botanical gardens, beginning 

 with the establishment of that of the Uni- 

 versity of Padua, in 1545, an important 

 chapter could be gathered in the history of 

 the migrations of plants. A few American 

 guests appeared there about the middle of 

 the sixteenth century, which were at first 

 called Indian or Spanish plants. Among 

 them was the Papas peruanorum, which 

 was cultivated as an ornamental plant with- 

 out a suspicion of its coming destiny the 

 potato. There were preferences among the 

 strangers, and the fashions changed ; Oriental 

 bulbs were succeeded by Canadian plants, 

 among which the Robinia, or locust, the 

 Virginia creeper, asters, and evening prim- 

 rose, were high in favor. Then came green- 

 house plants from the Cape of Good Hope 

 scarlet pelargoniums, dracsenas, charming 

 heaths, and others, which are still in favor. 

 American trees were then sought for park 

 plantations, with the crab-apples and flower- 

 ing shrubs of Siberia. After these improved 

 commercial facilities favored the introduction 

 of the curious eucalypti and other plants of 

 Australia; botanists are traveling every- 

 where with their Wardian cases, collecting 

 and bringing safely home the rarest and 

 most delicate orchids and palms of the tropi- 

 cal forests, and plants of every region where 

 vegetation flourishes. About 1,500 species 

 of plants grow wild in England. In 1891 

 there were cultivated in the botanical gar- 

 dens at Kew 19,800 species and varieties ; 

 in Berlin, in 1890, 19,000 sorts ; and in St. 

 Petersburg, 25,000 varieties with 71,850 

 specimens. 



Chinese Characters and Hieroglyphics. 



In a paper on the social and religious 

 ideas of the Chinese, as illustrated in the 

 ideographic characters of the language, 

 Prof. R. K. Douglas shows that the Chinese 

 ideographic characters are picture-writings, 

 and as such supply an interpretation of the 

 meaning of words as they were understood 

 by the inventors of the characters represent- 



ing them. These characters, developed from 

 the original hieroglyphic forms, were con- 

 sidered illustrative of the ideas of the people 

 on political, social, scientific, and religious 

 subjects. For example, the importance at- 

 tached to the qualities of the sovereign is 

 exemplified in the choice of the symbol em- 

 ployed to express a supreme ruler, the com- 

 ponent parts of which together signify 

 " ruler of himself." By means of the same 

 graphic system a kingdom is shown as " men 

 and arms within a frontier." The domestic 

 life is illustrated by ideograms descriptive 

 of household arrangements and relationships. 

 The speaker in succession traced in the writ- 

 ten characters the ideas associated with men 

 and women their virtues and failings ; the 

 notions associated with marriage ; and the 

 evidences of pastoral and agricultural habits 

 among the people. The discussion of the 

 popular religious faiths showed how promi- 

 nent is the belief in the god of the soil, 

 whose presence brings blessings, and whose 

 averted countenance is followed by misfor- 

 tunes. 



Death-week in Baral Rnssia. Some 

 very curious ceremonies are observed by the 

 peasants of rural Russia, on the breaking up 

 of the ice toward the end of March. The 

 breaking is supposed to be due to the water- 

 spirit, who, waking hungry and angry after 

 his winter's sleep, bursts the ice and sends 

 the floes drifting, drives the fish from their 

 haunts, and causes the streams to overflow. 

 Previous to this the peasants prepare a sac- 

 rifice as the beginning of their " death- 

 week" celebration, to be offered to the 

 spirit. They combine to buy a young horse, 

 which must be purchased, not given, each 

 contributing an equal amount. The horse 

 having been sumptuously fed for three days, 

 is taken on the fourth day at midnight, 

 decorated, conducted by all the villagers in a 

 body, tied, weighted, and plunged through a 

 hole in the ice. In some districts fat, in 

 others a horse's head, is thrown in instead of 

 a living horse. A sacrifice is then made to 

 the house spirit. A fat black pig is killed 

 and cut into as many pieces as there are 

 residents of the village, of which each resi- 

 dent receives one and buries it under the 

 doorstep at the entrance to his house. The 

 principal ceremony of the season is that of 



