CASTOR AND POLLUX 



1219 



CASTOR OIL 



town and to be the residence of the feudal 

 chief, who was paid by the town for protec- 

 tion. A village would perhaps spring up 

 around a castle already built, and its inhab- 

 itants would be more secure, feeling that they 

 had a stronghold to which to retire in time 

 of danger. In building a castle every advan- 

 tage was taken of position. Sometimes the 

 castle would be perched upon almost inacces- 

 sible crags. If placed on level ground the en- 

 tire building was surrounded by a moat a 

 deep ditch filled with water. Across the moat 

 was a drawbridge which could be raised or 

 lowered at will. The outer wall was of great 

 height and thickness, strengthened at intervals 

 with towers in which were loopholes through 

 which missiles could be discharged. The main 

 entrance was protected by a portcullis, an 

 armored gate or doot, which could be raised 

 to allow free passage or lowered to completely 

 bar the way. An inner wall surrounded the 

 main court in which was the donjon, or keep, 

 the strongest part of the castle, and the resi- 

 dence of the chief and his family. The keep 

 was usually fifty or sixty feet high, with thick 

 walls, sometimes honeycombed with passages 

 leading to all parts of the castle and, in many 

 cases, beyond the outer walls. 



The invention of gunpowder rendered the 

 most powerful castle useless as a protection, 

 and though many were built at a later date 

 they were no longer regarded as strongholds. 

 In many parts of Europe the ruins of castles 

 may still be seen, and some few have been 

 kept in a habitable state. For the most part, 

 however, they are now merely objects of curi- 

 osity to tourists, to be inspected on payment 

 of a small fee. 



A graphic description of an attack on a 

 castle is contained in Sir Walter Scott's 

 Ivanhoe. F.ST.A. 



CAS 'TOR AND POL 'LUX, the twin sons of 

 Zeus and Leda, and the heroes of some of the 

 most picturesque stories in Greek and Roman 

 mythology. They are often called the Dioscuri, 

 which means sons of Zeus. The "illustrious 

 twins," as Horace speaks of them, were cham- 

 pions of the manly sports, Castor favoring 

 especially the art of horsemanship and Pollux 

 that of boxing. Helen of Troy was their 

 sister. One of their exploits was their invasion 

 of Attica to rescue her from Theseus, who had 

 carried her off to Athens. This story is a varia- 

 tion of the Grecian myth concerning Helen (see 

 TROY) . They also shared in the dangers of the 

 Calydonian hunt, in which the greatest heroes 



of Greece engaged in order to rid the fields of 

 Calydon of a ravenous boar. They sailed on 

 the Argonautic expedition (see ARGONAUTS) and 

 were aftenvards honored as patrons of voyagers. 

 Castor, who was mortal, was slain in battle, 

 and Zeus, to comfort the grieving Pollux, per- 

 mitted him to share his immortality with his 

 brother. Thus the brothers lived one day in 

 Olympus, and the next in Hades. According to 

 another story, Zeus placed them among the 

 stars as Gemini, the Twins. 



In art the brothers are usually represented 

 with snow-white steeds. The Romans believed 

 that they rode on their horses at the front of 

 battle during the fight at Lake Regillus. 

 Macaulay, in his Lays of Ancient Rome, has a 

 famous description of them: 



So like they were, no mortal 



Might one from other know ; 

 White as snow their armor was, 



Their steeds were white as snow. 

 Never on earthly anvil 



Did such rare armor gleam. 



And never did such gallant steeds 



Drink of an earthly stream. 



CASTOR OIL, a well-known purgative, ob- 

 tained from the seeds of the castor oil plant. 

 This is a native of Africa, but is now cultivated 

 in all the warmer regions of the globe. The 

 oil is obtained from the seeds by bruising and 

 pressing. When 

 pure and fresh, it 

 should be clear, 

 colorless and 

 sticky. The dis- 

 agreeable taste, 

 so familiar to all, 

 can be partially 

 overcome by use 

 in capsules or 

 coffee, with or- 

 ange peel or as a 

 " sandwich " b e - 

 tween two layers 

 of fruit juice. 

 Castor oil is also 

 used to oil ma- 

 chinery, for mak- 

 ing sticky fly pa- 

 per, and in the 

 East Indies as 

 lamp oil. Castor oil plants are no longer con- 

 sidered a paying crop, other products having- 

 like uses now taking their place in the commer- 

 cial world. They are, however, cultivated in 

 gardens for ornament, even in temperate 

 regions. 



CASTOR OIL PLANT 



Showing, also, flower and 

 seeds. 



