234 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOE. 



and which in the herbaceous ones may be found in the pellucid 

 glands with which the leaves are studded. The tutsan 

 (Androscemum officinale) is a native plant formerly employed in 

 medicine, but now fallen into desuetude. Tho Hypericum per- 

 foratum (Fig. 235) is so called in consequence of the sieve-like 

 appearance of its leaves, dependent on the number of trans- 

 parent glandular points scattered over their surfaces. 

 SECTION LXXXI. TERNSTR03MIACE.3: OE CAMELLIACEJE. 



Characteristics : Leaves alternate, generally ex-stipulate ; 

 sepals and petals of flowers for the most part imbricated in 

 isstivation; stamens hypogynous, many often combined with 

 adnate or versatile anthers ; ovary superior ; styles filiform ; 

 seeds dicotyledonous, exalbumiaous, few in number, or solitary, 

 attached to axile placentas. 



The most important member of this family is the tea shrub 

 (Then). The virtues of tea depend on a combination of an 

 astringent with a peculiar nitrogenised principle termed theine, 

 also in part to a volatile oil. 



Two centuries have not yet elapsed since tea was first intro- 

 duced to Europe as an article of drink. Everybody is aware 

 that two kinds of tea exist black and green tea. Both are 

 produced by the same plant, and the difference between the 

 two results from peculiarities of manufacture. Several attempts 

 have been made to naturalise the tea shrub in Europe, but 

 invariably without success. 



The beautiful camellia (Camellia Japonica), with its white 

 and rose-coloured blossoms and dark, glossy green leaves, is a 

 member of this family. It was originally brought from Japan, 

 and takes its name from a Moravian Jesuit, Camellus. 



SECTION LXXXIL TILIACEJE, OR LINDEN-BLOOMS. 



Characteristics: Sepals five, caducous ; valvate in aestivation; 

 petals inserted upon a hypogynous disc, four or five or sometimes 

 absent ; imbricate in aestivation, often supplied at their base 

 with a scaly appendage ; stamens double in number or a mul- 

 tiple of that of the petals, all fertile, or the external ones 

 sterile, free or polyadelphous at the base ; ovary two to ten- 

 celled; ovules reflexod ; fruit capsular or indehiscent, coriaceous 

 or fleshy ; often only one-celled ; seed dicotyledonous ; embryo 

 straight in the axis of a fleshy albumen ; stem ligneous ; leaves 

 ordinarily alternate, stipulate ; flowers regular, solitary, or ia 

 cymes or corymbs. 



The Tiliacea} for the most part are inhabitants of the tropical 

 zone ; they contain an abundant mucilage mingled with astrin- 

 gent and resinous matters. The flower of certain species con- 

 tains a volatile oil ; others possess a fleshy sapid fruit and 

 edible stems. The seeds of most species are oily. The lindens 

 are generally diffused, and in much estimation on account of 

 the beauty of their foliage and the sweet aromatic odour of 

 their flowers. The bark is fibrous, and sometimes turned to 

 account in the manufacture of cordage. The wood, .easily 

 Worked, is in repute amongst turners and sculptors. The 

 flowers, much sought after by bees, contain an abundance of 

 volatile oil, sugar, mucilage, gum, and tannic acid ; their 

 infusion is anti-spasmodic and diuretic. The oily seeds are 

 occasionally employed as a substitute for cocoa. For an 

 example of the leaves and blossoms of the common lime or 

 linden-tree (Tilia europcea), see Lessons in Drawing, Vol. II., 

 page 9. 



SECTION LXXXIII. BttTTNEKIACE^, OR BtiTTNERIADS. 



Characteristics : Calyx four or five-partite ; petals five, 

 hypogynous or absent; aestivation valvate or contorted; stamens 

 in some species equal in number to the petals and opposite to 

 them, in other species double or multiple this number ; filaments 

 ordinarily joined in the form of a cupola, tube, or column, 

 anthers two-celled ; ovary four to ten-celled, uni-, bi-, or pluri- 

 ovulate ; ovules ordinarily ascendant, reflexed ; fruit generally 

 a capsule ; seed albuminous or exalbuminous ; stem ordinarily 

 woody, covered with radiating or bifurcated hairs ; leaves 

 alternate, simple, stipulate ; flowers regular, arranged in pani- 

 cles, spikes, or glomerules. 



These plants contain an abundant mucilage, to which is 

 generally added a bitter, astringent, extractive matter. Tha 

 fruit of many species is saccharine ; the seeds contain, a fixed 

 oil. The most celebrated plant of this natural order is the 

 cocoa-tree (Theolroma Cacao, Fig. 236), a South American tree, 

 the cultivation of which, however, has now extended to Africa 

 and Asia. 



In the midst of its bitter, pulpy fruit are found the seeds, 

 which, when roasted, constitute the cocoa of commerce. 



SECTION LXXXIV. STERCULIACE^E, OR STERCULIADS. 



Characteristics : Calyx four or five-partite ; petals hypogynous 

 five, imbricated in aestivation, often absent ; stamens indefinite, 

 monadelphous ; anthers two-celled, extrorse ; stem ligneous, 

 covered with radiating hairs ; leaves alternate, simple, or digi- 

 tate ; flowers solitary, or in cymes or panicles. 



Many species of Sterculiacece are cultivated in Europe. Pre- 

 eminent amongst these is the baobab, which remains a small 

 shrub in our greenhouses, but which, in its own country, grows 

 to an enormous size. The Pachira insignis, a tree of Central 

 America, has digitate leaves, elongated flowers of a bright-red 

 colour, the petals of which are spread out at their summits. 

 The Pachira aquatica, or Carolinea princeps (Fig. 237), is a 

 plant which bears very large and elegant flowers, the petals 

 of which are yellow on their upper surface, green below, the 

 stamens have red filaments and yellow anthers. The Bombax, or 

 silk cotton-tree, so called from the woolly haira which surround 

 the seed, as in the cotton-plant, is a member of this family. 



LESSONS IN ENGLISH. XXXII. 



LATIN STEMS (continued). 



LANGUAGE, in one point of view, is a silent record of human 

 errors. If we believed language, we should have still to believe 

 that the sun rises and sets ; that upwards and downwards 

 denote fixed relations, and that heaven is upwards alike at mid- 

 night and mid-day; that good humour and bad humour are the 

 offspring of certain liquids (Latin, humor, moisture) in the 

 material frame ; that temper and distemper were the results of 

 the due or undue mingling of these diverse liquids ; that a 

 jovial man was born under the planet Jupiter (genitive case, 

 Jovis), the emblem of a jolly god ; that a man of saturnine dis- 

 position owed his dull moroseness to his evil genius, Saturn ; 

 and that a mercurial fellow jumped about and frisked away 

 because he had in him too much of the pagan god Mercury, the 

 swift-footed messenger of Olympus. However, men suffer dis- 

 asters (from the Latin, dis, not, bad ; astrum, a star) without 

 imputing the blame to their stars ; though many are still under 

 the vulgar delusion that our lot here depends on good luck and 

 bad luck. Portents and prodigies in the skies and on the 

 earth are words which show how men were once alarmed by any 

 unusual phenomenon. Even so late as the reign of Charles II. 

 Englishmen had faith in portents. During the plague, the 

 vision of a flaming sword, reaching from Westminster to the 

 Tower of London, seemed nightly to be present to the excited 

 fancy of many of the residents in the metropolis, like the 

 meteor-sword that hung over Jerusalem during the siege. The 

 appearance of a comet some months before had caused super- 

 stitious feelings of alarm in the weak-minded, and by such 

 persons it was regarded with scarcely less terror than that with 

 which the Anglo-Saxons had beheld the comet which visited 

 our hemisphere in the year 1066, on the eve of the Norman 

 invasion. 



However, these false fears and vulgar errors are rapidly dis- 

 appearing. Lunacy is preserved amongst us in the close em- 

 brace of Westminster Hall, but we hence cease to believe that 

 mental alienation is caused by the moon (Latin, luna, moon) ; 

 and if we still in good Saxon speak of the moon-stricken, we do 

 so as- we speak of star-gazers, without ascribing any influence 

 to the heavenly bodies. 



One or two additional instances of the depravation of words 

 may be given. 



The term officious is used in a bad sense ; an officious man is 

 constantly interfering with what does not concern him. But in 

 the root of the word there is nothing questionable or offensive. 

 Officium, in Latin, signifies duty. According to its derivation, 

 an officious man is simply a man who attends to his duty. But 

 even so pure a virtue may be carried to excess. Excessive and 

 perverted the attention does become if it i3 outward rather 

 than inward, more apparent than real if duty is a pretext or 

 an excuse. A misunderstood sense of duty prompts even the 

 sincere to meddle, and in meddling they become officious. I 

 subjoin two instances : in the first, officious is used in a good 

 sense ; in the second, it is used in a bad sense : 



