748 



HOLLYHOCK 



HOLMES 



attacked the plant, and therefore spines were 

 not formed on these higher leaves because they 

 were unnecessary. A more recent view of the 

 origin of spines denies altogether the agency 

 of animals. According to this view the bitter 

 nature of holly leaves is sufficient to repel any 

 animal from making food of them. The pres- 

 ence or absence of spines on the leaves is the 

 result of the metabolism of the plant. Those 

 plants which have grown in rich soil under favour- 

 able climatic conditions are vigorous individuals 

 with large spineless leaves ; while hollies which 

 have grown in poor soil under unfavourable con- 

 ditions have shrubby stems and small curled spiny 

 leaves. The former plants are healthy and well 

 fed ; the latter half starved and ill conditioned. 

 The former are the highly anabolic, the latter the 

 katabolic individuals. 



Hollyhock (Althaea rosea), a plant of the 

 natural order Malvaceae, commonly referred to the 

 same genus with the Marsh Mallow (q.v.). It has 

 a tall, straight, hairy stem ; heart-shaped, crenate, 

 wrinkled, five- to seven-angled leaves, and large 



axillary flowers 

 almost without 

 stalks ; the leaves 

 diminishing into 

 bracts, and the 

 upper part of the 

 stem forming a 

 .spike ; the petals 

 hairy at the base. 

 The hollyhock is a 

 native of the Medi- 

 terranean, is to be 

 seen in almost every 

 garden in India, and 

 has been much cul- 

 tivated in gardens 

 in Britain from a 

 very early period. 

 At present it is a 

 favourite flower, 

 and varieties, the 

 result of cultiva- 

 tion, are very 

 numerous. It varies 

 much in the colour 

 Hollyhock (Althcea rosea\ of the flowers, and 

 double and semi- 

 double varieties are common. It is an autumnal 

 flower, continuing till the frost sets in. The 

 plant is a biennial or perennial, but in the latter 

 condition lasting only for three or four years in 

 a healthy state. The stem rises to a height of 

 8-15 feet, unbranching, or nearly so. Since 1870- 

 75 the plant has all but succumbed to what is 

 known as the hollyhock disease, caused by a 

 species of fungus (Puccinia) which attacks the 

 leaves and finally proves fatal, unless prompt 

 measures are adopted to arrest its progress. 

 Sulphur dusted on the affected leaves has proved the 

 most effectual cure. The fibres of the plant have 

 been made into yarn, but it is not yet certain if it 

 is really valuable for cultivation on this account, 

 or for the manufacture of paper. It is not improb- 

 able that it might be cultivated with advantage 

 to afford green fodder for cattle, which are very 

 fond of its leaves, and the leaves are produced in 

 great abundance if the plant is prevented from 

 flowering. The flowers are mucilaginous and 

 demulcent, and .are sometimes used like those of 

 mallows and marsh mallows. The leaves yield a 

 fine blue dye. The Chinese Hollyhock (A. chinen- 

 sis) is an allied species. 



Holmaii, JAMES, ' the Blind Traveller/wa born 

 15th October 1786, and, entering the navy in 1798, 



Copyright 1890, 1897, and 

 1900 in the U. S. by J. B. 

 Lipplncott Company. 



had risen to be a lieutenant when, in 1810, the loss 

 of sight compelled him to quit the service. Yet, 

 being of an active temperament, he in 1819-21 

 travelled through France, Italy, and the countries 

 touching on the Rhine. Encouraged by this, he 

 conceived the plan of travelling round the world, 

 and had penetrated to Irkutsk in Siberia, when he 

 was arrested as a spy by the Russian government 

 and carried back to the frontiers of Poland. 

 Nevertheless, undaunted by this failure, he again 

 set off in 1827, and this time effectively accom- 

 plished his purpose. Finally, he visited the 

 countries of south-east Europe. He died at Lon- 

 don, 29th July 1857. He published Journals of 

 his successive journeys, which contain much more 

 useful information than could be expected from the 

 circumstances under which it was gathered. 



llolnihv House, a fine Tudor mansion, 6i 

 miles N\V. of Northampton, was built by Sir 

 Christopher Hatton in the reign of Elizabeth. It 

 was sold to James I., and was for four months in 

 1647 the prison of Charles I. (q.v.). It was dis- 

 mantled in 1652. 



HoluieS, OLIVER WENDELL, physician and bril- 

 liant writer of poetry and prose, born in Cam- 

 bridge, Massachusetts, Aug. 29, 

 1809, was the son of Rev. Abiel 

 and Sarah (Wendell) Holmes. 

 His father was a Congregational minister, the au- 

 thor of Annals of America and other works ; his 

 mother, descended from a Dutch ancestor, was re- 

 lated to many well-known families in New England 

 and New York. He entered Harvard College at the 

 age of sixteen, and graduated, in what became a 

 famous class, in 1829. He began the study of law, 

 but after a year gave it up, and entered upon the 

 study of medicine. After the customary course at 

 the medical school of Harvard he spent over two 

 years in the hospitals and schools of Europe, chiefly 

 in Paris ; and on his return home took tne degree 

 of M.D. in 1836. Three years later he was pro- 

 fessor of Anatomy and Physiology at Dartmouth 

 College, but after two years' service he resigned 

 and engaged in general practice in Boston. He 

 married in 1840 Amelia Lee Jackson, daughter 

 of a justice of the Supreme Court of Massachu- 

 setts. ( Three children were born of the marriage, 

 of whom one, O. W. Holmes, jun., served as a 

 captain in the civil war, and is a judge and an 

 eminent writer upon legal subjects.) In 1847 he 

 was appointed professor of Anatomy at Harvard, 

 which place he held until 1882. He was highly 

 respected as a man of science, and beloved as an 

 instructor ; but as time went on his literary genius 

 quite overbore his professional zeal, and it is as a 

 poet and essayist that he will be remembered. 



He began writing verse while an undergraduate, 

 but his first efforts were not remarkable. While 

 in the law school he contributed to the Collegian a 

 few poems of a light and humorous character which 

 first gave indications of his future power ; among 

 these are ' Evening, by a Tailor ' and ' The Height 

 of the Ridiculous.' There is a reminiscence of his 

 life in Paris in the tender poem beginning 'Ah, 

 Clemence ! when I saw thee last.' A little later was 

 written ' The Last Leaf,' which contains one perfect 

 stanza, and which from the blending of quaintness 

 and pathos is perhaps the most fortunate and 

 characteristic of his minor poems. For some years 

 the muse visited him by stealth, the votary fearing 

 for his professional reputation in a town so noted 

 for propriety. A small volume of these early poems 

 was published in 1836. Twenty years passed with 

 desultory efforts and a slowly-growing power, when 

 by the publication of The Autocrat of the Breakfast 

 Table (1857-58) he became suddenly famous. No 

 literary event since the Noctes had more strongly 

 affected the reading world. The success was due 



