14 



HAHDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Jan. 1, 1S69. 



Our holly is the Ilex aquifolium, a tree possessed of 

 many valuable properties, but far inferior, neverthe- 

 less, to its SouthAinerican cousin, the Mate, the native 

 tea-tree, I may call it, of the country. There are 

 three different sorts of tea made from this species 

 of holly, and brought into the markets in South 

 America : one called the Caa-cuys is prepared from 

 the half-opened leaf-buds, roasted and powdered ; the 

 other, Caa-mire, is the leaf in its green state, de- 

 prived of its midrif and veins ; whilst the Yerva de 

 Palos of the Spaniards is the entire leaf, petioles, 

 and small branches dried and beat up into a fine 

 dust. A teaspoonful will make a large cupful. Boil- 

 ing water is poured on it, and it is drunk when cold, 

 or I should say sucked through a tube, after the 

 fashion in which the Yankees imbibe cold drinks. 

 It contains the same principle as tea — theine. 



The unripe fruit of some of the holly genus abounds 

 in tannin, and Erench physicians are of opinion that 

 the Ilicine (medicinal principle) is a most efficient 

 substitute for Cinchona bark. 



There is little doubt but what the dressing up of 

 houses at Christmas-time was derived from a heathen 

 custom, for we read that the Romans ornamented 

 their dwellings with green boughs during the 

 Saturnalia ; but I do not see why this should afford 

 any just cause of objection to our introducing ever- 

 greens into our houses, for, if there is a Pagan pre- 

 cedent, there is also a Biblical sanction. The Jews 

 employed evergreens in their Feastof Tabernacles, and 

 Christ entered Jerusalem over strewn Palm branches. 

 Have you ever heard it said that if the evergreens 

 put up at Christmas-time are not taken down before 

 Caudlemas-day, there will be a death in the family 

 who occupy that house before the year is out ? 



Ivy-berries are smooth and black ; they hang on 

 all the winter, unless picked off by the birds. 

 Wood-pigeons, especially, are devoted to them ; and 

 I have heard it said that the resin which exudes 

 from old branches will attract fish. If this be true, 

 then fish do smell, which some writers in Land and 

 Water appear to doubt, and have lately been dis- 

 cussing with considerable facetiousness. By the 

 way, it is as well to observe that the Irish Ivy, 

 which is considered by some to be a variety of the 

 common, bears red berries. 



Ivy formed the poet's crown in days gone by. 

 Horace in his ode to Mecaenas, and Virgil in his 

 seventh Eclogue, both refer to this custom. In- 

 deed, the plant appears to have been a very great 

 favourite with all the poets — so many of our own 

 writers, ancient and modern, abound in beautiful 

 allusions to it. The wood of the Ivy being so soft 

 and porous, it obtained the reputation of being 

 able to separate water from wine when the two 

 were mixed together. Pliny mentions this, and 

 gravely says that the water filtered through its 

 pores, leaving the wine in the vessel. 

 Garlands of Ivy are decidedly very pretty, and 



the ancients displayed good taste when they deco- 

 rated the statues of their gods with it. There are 

 over fifty species of Ivy. 



The Laurel was first brought over to Constan- 

 tinople from the Caucasus by the name of Trabison 

 cumasi, or " date of Trebizond," in 1576 ; but it 

 was not cultivated in England before 1629. A 

 London merchant, a Mr. Cole, first cultivated it at 

 Highgate. He had a single plant of it, which he 

 used to cover in winter time with a blanket in order 

 to protect it from the frost. Who that has ever seen 

 our beautiful evergreen Laurel hedges and banks 

 at Christmas-time could possibly imagine this to 

 have been the case with their first English ancestor ? 



The fruit of the Laurel is an ovate, shining, 

 purple-black berry ; and, singular to relate, al- 

 though the leaves, inner bark, and seeds contain a 

 poisonous principle, the pulp of the fruit does not, 

 and a preserve is made of it. 



The Mistletoe (Viscum album) produces a smooth 

 white berry. The plant is a parasite, growing 

 chiefly on Apple-trees, and rarely on the Oak, 

 although persons generally imagine that most of 

 the Mistletoe-berries seen at Christmas-time are 

 found on Oak-trees ; but we must know, when we 

 reflect on the superstitious reverence with which 

 the Druids regarded the Mistletoe on the Oak, it 

 was even a rare thing in those days to find the plant 

 on that tree, for we are told that a search was made 

 for it even in an age when this island was covered 

 with forests of Oak. 



The berries were certainly, in the days of Shake- 

 speare, considered poisonous, for he writes of it as 

 the " baleful Mistletoe " ; but birds devour them 

 very readily, and it is mentioned in a natural 

 history of Prussia, by Boek, that the branches and 

 leaves of Mistletoe had been dried and pounded 

 in times of scarcity, and made into bread mixed 

 with rye-flour. 



There are some singular old superstitions con- 

 nected with this plant, originating, doubtless, in 

 the Druidical customs before alluded to ; and the 

 peasantry in some parts of England even now believe 

 that an amulet made of the wood and hung round 

 the neck would preserve the. wearer from witchcraft. 



My Christmas berries are described ; and, having 

 commenced with a line from Scott, I will e'en con- 

 clude with more : — 



And well our Christian sires of old 



Loved when the year its course had rolled, 



And brought blithe Christmas back again 



With all his hospitable train. 



Domestic and religious rite 



Gave honour to the holy night ; 



On Christmas-eve the bells were rung; 



Oa Christmas-eve the mass was sung ; 



That only night, in all the year, 



Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear. 



The damsel donned her kirtle sheen ; 



The hall was dres>ed with holly green; 



Forth to the wood did merry-men go, 



To gather in the mistletoe. 



Helen E. Watney. 



