iliO 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOK. 



odour. All these species of composite-flowered plants owe their 

 properties to the presence of a bitter principle, a peculiar acid, 

 and a volatile oil. Perhaps the most valuable product of the 

 Composite family is a volatile oil, acrid in some species, only 

 bitter in others. Pre-eminent in the list stands chamomile, 

 useful in so many diseases. Arnica, montana, a plant which 

 grows in Germany, Switzerland, and France, also owes its 

 medicinal qualities to the presence of a volatile oil. 



The genus Helianthus, in which the common sunflower is 

 included, deserves especial notice for the products which it 

 yields. Helianthus tuberosus, the Jerusalem artichoke, is a 

 perennial plant, indigenous to Brazil, though now cultivated in 

 various European countries. Its subterraneous stem produces 

 enormous tubercles, charged with inuline, and therefore very 

 nutritive. Their odour is nauseous, but their taste agreeable ; 

 consequently, after being well seasoned, they may be eaten by 

 man. They resist the attack of frost, in which respect they 

 are different to most tubers, and consequently furnish good 

 winter fodder for cattle. The Helianthus annuus, or sunflower, 

 is familiar to most of us. Its seeds afford, by expression, large 

 quantities of a fixed oil admirably adapted for purposes of 

 illumination and the soap manufacture. We shall now con- 

 clude this notice of radiated Tubuliflorce by mentioning the 

 sonchodendron, a tree fifty feet in height, and the largest of the 

 Composite. It is a native of Madagascar, in the deep valleys 

 of which island it grows ; and although it does not furnish a 

 product useful to man, it aids him in another way. When the 

 sonchodendron flowers, the natives know the best season has 

 arrived for sowing their rice. 



The genus Cynara comprehends many species, of which one, 

 the common artichoke (Cynara Scolymus), is familiar to most 

 of us. The part which we eat in this vegetable is the bracteal 

 involucre, or rather the fleshy base of each bract, and the com- 

 mon receptacle. The Italians are more expert in turning the 

 artichoke to account. They tie all the petioles together into 

 one mass, curve the plant at right angles, and surround it with 

 earth. In this manner, not only the capitulum, but the whole 

 upper portion of the plant, becomes etiolated, or bleached, and 

 forms a sort of cabbage head, eaten as a salad by the Italians. 



Several individuals of the Carthamus tribe of Composites are 

 conspicuous on account of the colouring matter which they 

 yield. Of these the Carthamus tinctorius, or safflower plant, is 

 the most valuable. It is an annual, indigenous to India, but 

 now cultivated in various other parts of Asia, America, and 

 Europe. Its florets contain two colouring principles, one of 

 which is much more soluble in water than the other. It is this 

 latter, however, which the dyer seeks. Although rather insolu- 

 ble in water, it is easily extracted by alkaline leys, from which 

 it admits of ready precipitation by the addition of an acid. 

 The colouring principle thus obtained is denominated cartha- 

 mine. The carthamine of Egypt and of Persia are most 

 esteemed ; that of Spain follows next in order ; that of France, 

 Mexico, and Germany is of less value. Unfortunataly, the tint 

 communicated by safflower, although beautiful, is ve -y fleeting. 

 Carthamus florets are frequently mingled with those of true 

 saffron as an adulteration. 



The common marigold (Calendula officinalis) is cultivated in 

 gardens ; it contains a bitter mucilaginous substance, various 

 salts, and a small quantity of volatile oil. It was formerly 

 celebrated in medical practice, and is nojv again employed by 

 the homoeopathic practitioner (Fig. 174). 



_ The Liguliflorce, or Chicoracece, contain a milky juice in their 

 circulating vessels ; also bitter, saline, resinous, and narcotic 

 principles. Their properties vary according to the predominance 

 attained by one over the other of these substances. The herb 

 part-of several of the Chicoraceoe, if cooked whilst young, before 

 the milky fluid has become completely formed, is an agreeable 

 article of food ; but the Chicoracte are more celebrated in medi- 

 cine than in dietetics. . One of the most useful as well as the 

 most common of Chicoracece is the dandelion (Taraxacum 

 officinale, Fig. 175), a small perennial, having a wide distribution. 

 Not only is it found abundantly in the British Isles, but through- 

 out Europe, Asia, and Northern Africa. The chicory (Cichorium 

 Intybus), remarkable amongst indigenous Composite for its blue 

 flowers, is scarcely less common than the dandelion, and, perhaps, 

 equally _ valuable as regards the result its yields. The root of 

 wild chicory is employed in medicine ; that of garden chicory, 

 when dried and roasted, is the object of a considerable com- 



merce, being employed as a substitute for, or an adulteration of, 

 coffee. We should remark, however, that throughout Germany 

 and France the coffee-drinking public has become so accustomed 

 to the flavour of coffee mixed with a certain amount of chicory, 

 that simple coffee is never by preference employed. Endive 

 (Cichorium Endivia), so much employed as a salad, is also one 

 of the Chicoracece, etiolated, or bleached, by protecting it during 

 growth from the direct action of air and light. Two varieties of 

 endive are known to gardeners ; one with large oblong leaves, 

 very slightly charged with the bitter principle ; the other more 



j decidedly bitter, and having leaves which are very much sub- 



I divided and crisped. 



The genus Lactuca, or lettuce, is a very important one belong- 



I ing to the sub-tribe Chicoracece. All the members of this genus 



i are characterised by possessing a bitter acrid juice, and being 

 strongly odorous. All the lettuces contain wax, caoutchouc 



I or india-rubber, a resin, a bitter crystallisable matter, and a 

 peculiar volatile principle. Most of the lettuce genus are medi- 



1 cinal, the predominant medical quality of each being determined 

 by the preponderance of one principle. Even common garden 

 lettuce, in the condition in which we eat it as a salad, is known 



' popularly to be endowed with soporific properties ; but the 



! narcotic energy is most strongly developed in the Lactuca virosa, 



I a plant not uncommon in England. 



LESSONS IN LATIN. XX. 



PARADIGM OF THE VERB SUM COMPOUNDS OF SUM. 

 IT will be convenient here to present the verb Esse, to be, in 

 full. This verb is sometimes called an auxiliary verb, as by 

 its aid (auxilium) parts of other verbs are formed. It is also 

 called the substantive verb, as in its essence it denotes being or 

 substance. 



Present. Ens, being (not used in good Latin, but found in ttie compound 



prasens) . 

 Future. Futurus -a. -um, about to be. 



