ACRIMONY OF THE ARUM. 81 



variety of the same Chrysanthemum has a 

 totally different and much stronger odour. 



There is, of course, still more analogy be- 

 tween the smell of plants in general and their 

 impression on the palate, insomuch that we 

 are frequently unable to discriminate between 

 the two. The taste is commonly more per- 

 manent than the smell, but now 7 and then 

 less so. The root of, the Arum maculatum, 

 Engl. Bot. t. 1298, for instance, has, when 

 fresh, a most acrid taste and irritating qua- 

 lity, totally lost by drying, when the root 

 becomes simply farinaceous, tasteless and 

 inert; so that well might learned physi- 

 cians contrive the " Compound Powder of 

 Arum," to excuse the continuance of its use 

 in medicine, unless they had always prescri- 

 bed the recent plant. — Many curious remarks 

 are to be found in Grew relative to the tastes 

 of plants, and their different modes of affecting 

 our organs. Anatomy of Plants, p. 279 — 

 292. 



To all the foregoing secretions of vegeta- 

 bles may be added those on which their vari- 

 ous colours depend. We can but imperfectly 

 account for the green so universal in their 



