CHAP. cv. coryla'ce^. que'ucus. 1725 



by Caesar {Bell. Oall., vi.) as requiring sixty days to traverse it; ami the re- 

 mains of it are supposed by some to constitute the forest on the mountains of 

 the Hartz ; and by others," to be the Black Forest of the Tyrol. 



The beautiful fiction of the Hamadryads is frequently referred to by the 

 Greek poets. The Hamadryads were nymphs, each of v.hom was 

 " Doom'd to a life coeval with her oak." Pi.vdar. 



Callimachus, in the Ht/mn to Delos (v. 80.), represents Melie as " sighing 

 deeply for her parent oak;" and adds, — 



" Joy fills her breast when showers refresh the spray : 

 S.idly she grieves when autumn's leaves decay." 



In Apollonius Rlmlius, book ii., we find one of the Hamadryads imploring a 

 woodman to spare the oak to which her existence was attached : — 



" Loud through the air resounds the woodman's stroke, 

 When, lo ! a voice breaks from the groaning oak. 

 ' Spare, spare my life ! a trembling virgin 8pare ! 

 Oh, listen to the Hamadryad's prayer! 

 No longer let that tearful axe resound ; 

 Treserve the tree to which my life is bound ! 

 See, from the bark my blood in torrents flows, 

 I faint, I sink, I perish from your blows.' " 



Among the Celtic nations, the god Teut was worshipped under the form 

 of an oak, or, according to others, Tarnawa, the god of thunder; but these 

 legends, together with the super.stitions of the druids, belong ratiier to the 

 British oak, than to the genus generally. 



Properties and Uses. The wood of most of the species of oaks is, compara- 

 tively with that of other trees, hard, compact, heavy, tough, and durable; and, in 

 most, the entire plant, and more especially the bark, leaves, and fruit, abound 

 in astringent matter, and in tannin. The wood of the larger-growing Eu- 

 ropean kinds, and more especially of the group i?6bur, is considered superior 

 to all other European or American woods for ship-building. The wood of Q. 

 alba, and that of Q.virens, are most esteemed for the same object in America. 

 The wood of the group Cerris is also employed in ship- building in Turkey and 

 Greece; more especially, as Olivier informs us, at Constantinople. The wood 

 of the group /Mex is very heavy, hard, compact, and durable, and fit for 

 various uses in mechanics and joinery. In America, the wood of Q. obtusiloba, 

 the post oak, is considered as one of the best kinds for most purposes of 

 construction. The wood of Q. riibra and Q. coccinea has a reddish tinge, but is 

 coarse-grained, porous, and not durable. In general, the evergreen oaks have 

 wood of the finest grain; and the deciduous kinds of the group Riibrse that 

 of the coarsest grain. There is no purpose in the arts to which the wood 

 of most of the species of oak is not applicable, when it can be obtained 

 of sufficient dimensions ; and the durability of the wood of the group ii'obur 

 is thought to exceed that of the wood of every other tree used in ship-build- 

 ing, the teak alone excepted. Throughout Europe, and more especially in 

 Britain, oak timber was used for every purpose, both of naval and civil 

 architecture, till the wood of the pine and fir tribe came to be generally 

 imported from the Baltic and North America, about the beginning of the 

 last century. Since that period, the use of oak timber has given way to that 

 of pine and fir in house-buikling ; but it still maintains its superiority in the 

 construction of ships, and various kinds of machines ; and eveii in house- 

 building, where great durability is required. Oak wood is also still employed 

 in joinery and cabinet-making. 



The bark of all the species of oak abounds in tannin and gallic acid, and is, 

 or may be, used in tanning ; but, in Europe, more especially that of the sec- 

 tion i?6bur, and, in America, the bark of Q. falcata, Q. riibra, Q. tinctoria, 

 and Q. Prinus monticola, are mo.st esteemed for this purpose. The bark of 

 Q. tinctoria also furnishes a yellow dye, much used in dyeing wool and silk, 

 and considered preferable to that of the woad. Medicinally, the bark of some 

 of the species aifords a substance which may be used instead of quinine. 



