Ml 



MI PAS'S KAR. 



MILDEW. 



white, and the tail black above and white below. It inhabit* the 

 plain* bordering the eastern tlope of the CordilK-ra, and U rare. 



Silky Tamarin (J/irfii ftoialia^. 



MIDAffS EAR. [AURICULA.] 



MIDDLETONITE, a Carbonaceous Mineral, occurring in rounded 

 irmnnn seldom larger than a pea, or in layers a sixteenth of an inch 

 or less in thickness, between layers of coal. Colour reddish-brown by 

 reflected light, and deep red by transmitted light. Powder light 

 brown. Transparent in small fragments. Hard and brittle. Lustre 

 resinous. No taste or smell. Blackens on exposure. Specific gravity 

 1-6. Found about the middle of the main coal or Haigh Moor seam 

 at the Middleton collieries, near Leeds; also at Newcastle. The 

 following is an analysis by Johnston : 



Carbon 88-437 



Hydrogen 8-007 



Oxygen 6-566 



100 



MIKA'XIA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Compotitrr, to the sub-order TubnliJIora, to the tribe Eupatoriace, 

 and the subtribe Adenotlylter. It has a 4 flowered head, a naked 

 narrow receptacle, four involucral leaves, with a bractlet added at 

 the base or below it ; the tube of the corolla short, with the throat 

 dilate and somewhat campanulate ; the anthers somewhat protruded ; 

 the aohenium angular ; the pappus in one row, rough and hairy. 



if. oficinalit has an erect, smooth, nearly simple stem, with leaves 

 decimating somewhat triangular-ovate, cordate with a great sinus, 

 toothed at the sides, entire towards the point, drooping ; the panicles 

 corymbose and terminal. This plant i a native of Brazil, where it 

 is called Coracoa de Jesu. It is a handsome plant The leaves con- 

 tain a bitter principle and an aromatic oil, and are used in the same 

 way and for the same diseases as the Cascarilla and Cinchona barks. 

 They are said to bo an especially valuable remedy in remitting fevers 

 and in atonic dyspepsia. They are administered in the form of extract 

 or decoction. 



M, (iuaeo, Quaco Plant, has an herbaceous twining stem ; the 

 branches round, sulcate, hairy ; the leaves stalked, ovate, somewhat 

 acuminate, shortly narrowed at the base, remotely toothed, netted, 

 ruughish above, hairy beneath ; the corymbs axillary, stalked, opposite ; 

 the Deads somewhat ternate, sessile ; the bractlrts linear, shorter than 

 the involucre ; the involucral scales linear-oblong, obtuse, downy ; 

 the achenia smooth. This is one of the plant* called Uuaco in South 

 America, and is used both internally and externally as a remedy 

 against the bites of poisonous serpenU. This plant is cultivated by 

 the Indians for the purpose of being used. It is easily known from 

 other plants by the large indigo-blue spots that mark the under 

 surface of it* rough leaves. It U probable that the spotted character 

 of the leaves of this and plants similarly employed, as the Calladitun 

 h-ltthonfoliutn and a species of A riitolocMa, have led to their use in 

 the bites of poisonous snakes. " The mode of using this remedy," 

 says Piippig, " is very simple : the wound is somewhat distended, and 

 the fresh-pressed juice is dropped into it ; the surrounding parts 

 being repeatedly covered with the pressed leaves; and the juice is 

 also taken by the mouth. The tincture, made with common brandy, 

 U also much celeb'rated, and recommended to travellers as a secure 

 and portable means of cure. In Guayaquil little cakes are formed 

 out of the fresh-bruised plant*, which, when dric.l in the sun, r. tain 



their activity a long time. The effect of the Ouaco is not in all < 

 alike quick and decided ; but observations, both in Maranon and Kg, 

 prove that after 24 hours' use the swelling had ceased, the pain 

 vanished, and, with the exception of littla ulcers, the cure had been 

 effected. In Vurimaguas, and especially about Muniebea, every year 

 several persons are bitten by snakes; but the Ouaco had acted so 

 efficiently that in the memory of man only two children were known 

 to have died of such wounds." Although Poppig has given so 

 favourable an account of this remedy, he says in another place that 

 " the excision and cauterisation of the wound immediately after it U 

 received is undoubtedly the safrtt plan." Besides the Quaco there 

 are several other plant* used in South America, some of which are 

 called Quaco, as the Hcrpata colubrina, Jhrttenia tubicina, Aruto- 

 lockia ci/nanchifolia, Ac. The Quaco has been tried in this country 

 as a remedy in hydrophobia, but without success. The Urali, or 

 snake-poison of the Indians of British Quiana, is a compound, and 

 contains in it strychnia. (STRYcriNos.] 



M. opifera is a smooth climbing plant, with an angular stem ; it has 

 stalked, cordate, acuminate, repand-toothed or nearly entire leaves, 

 when full grown rather blunt ; the heads stalked in corymbose panicles ; 

 the involucral scales oblong, rather acute ; the bractlets lanceolate ; 

 involucre rather shorter. This plant is a nativo of Brazil, where it is 

 called ' Kroa da Cobia.' It is also eniployed against the bites of 

 snakes, and is said to effect a cure by its powerful diuretic action. 

 An account is given of this plant by Qomez in the Memoirs of the 

 Royal Academy of Lisbon for 1812, where it U described as the 

 i'upatorium crenatum. 



The genus Mikania is closely allied to Eupalorium, and they 

 belong to a group of plants in the order Compotita, the most remark- 

 able for their activity. Dr. Lindley states, in his ' Vegetable Kingdom,' 

 that the famous styptic ' Matico' is the produce of Enpalorium gluli- 

 notum, and not of Artanthe clongata, as has been usually supposed. 

 Of this plant Mr. Hartweg says, in a communication to Dr. Limlley, 

 " Miitico is the vernacular name applied by the inhabitants of Quito to 

 Eupatorium gliUinotum, or the Chuttalonga in the Quichua language. 

 It forms a shrub from 3 to 5 feet high, and is common in the higher 

 parts of the Quitinian Andes, where its properties were discovered 

 some years back by a soldier called Mateo, better known under his 

 nick-name Matico (little Matthew), who when wounded in action 

 applied accidentally the leaves of some shrub to his wound, which 

 had the immediate effect of stopping the bleeding. This shrub hap- 

 pened to be the Chuttalonga, which has since been called, in honour 

 of its discoverer, Matico. That it is the true Matico of the inhabitants 

 of Quito and Hiobomba I have not the slightest doubt ; both leave* 

 and specimens have been gathered by myself, and upon comparing the 

 latter with Kunth's description I found them to agree exactly with 

 his Eupalorium ylutinotum." The Matico has been used in Europe, 

 and is said to be an exceedingly efficient styptic, and of great value in 

 stopping the bleeding from small wounds. 



(Poppig, Reitc i* Chile, Pern, &c. ; Lindley, Vegetable Kingdom; 

 Lindley, flora Medico.) 



MILDEW is a disease which attacks both living and dead vegetable 

 matter, and is believed by the vulgar to be owing to fogs, dew, 

 meteors, and noxious exhalations, but in reality is caused by the 

 ravages of parasitical Fungi. This malady is often of little importance 

 to the subjects of its attack, as it appears towards the close of the 

 year, when the moat essential of the vital functions of plants are 

 fulfilled, or in such a small degree as to produce no appreciable effect 

 upon the general health of the plants infested. But it very often 

 becomes a most serious evil, destroying the straw of corn, and so 

 preventing the maturation of the grain, ravaging the fields of peas 

 an<l beans, destroying the hopes of the gardener by seizing upon his 

 peaches and nectarines, especially when forced, and not unfrequeutly 

 extending its evil influence to the orchards and every description of 

 kichcu-garden crop. 



The species of fungi which produce these effects are always very 

 minute, and often of microscopic smalluess. Some are int. 

 attacking plants internally, and only becoming visible when they 

 break through the surface of the plant for the purpose .of shedding 

 their spores ; others iu-<> superficial, rooting and fructifying upon the 

 outside of the epidermis. These two classes of tl'Mev-Fungi require 

 to be carefully distinguished. 



Of the Intestinal Fungi the following are the more common, 

 namely : 



1. i'rido fiftiila, called the Pepper-Brand. This plant attacks 

 wheat, filling the young seed with its jolly-like sp.iwn, and producing 

 myriads of foetid deep-brown spores, which end by occupying the 

 whole interior of the ripe grain. 



2. Srinr.um griteum, and other species of the same genus, which 

 overrun the leaves of the mountain ash, the sycamore, Ac., forming 

 broad-gray, orange, or brown blotch. 



3. Various kinds of Puccinia. The mildew of wheat-straw U caused 

 by P. gramintum, which is generated in cavities below the epidermis 

 of the stem, and protrudes when ripe in the form of dull grayish-brown 

 broken stria;. P. /feraclei occasionally attack* crops of celery and 

 endive, spreading over the field, and producing the appearance of 

 scorching. 



4. .fii-ulium canccllalum occasionally docs much barm to pear-trees 



