TREES THAT MANUFACTURE 113 



delightful brilliancy. This brilliancy is often due 

 to the cold having condensed the aqueous vapour 

 in the atmosphere, but quite frequently it is pro- 

 duced by the exudation of water from leaf -pores. 

 The trees are washing their faces. 



Nor is Nature satisfied in giving us wonderful 

 things to eat; she is also quite as much interested 

 in toilet articles thus we have combs, soap, and 

 perfumes ; and lights for use indoors. The Chinese 

 long ago learned to use the seeds of the Ieguminosa3 

 for soap. Many of the mendicant friars of the 

 Middle Ages used the leaves of the soapwort for 

 cleansing purposes. There are numerous other 

 plants which are used for various cleansing and 

 scouring purposes. The fibre of certain tropical 

 gourds is used for wash-cloths. Certain of the 

 horsetails are used for polishing metal. 



Perhaps in the manufacture of perfumes Nature 

 is most successful. Rosemary is so common to 

 Spain that the mariner can smell it leagues out at 

 sea. France produces the finest perfumes ; immense 

 gardens of flowers are cultivated exclusively for 

 that purpose. Their sap is condensed and shipped 

 to all parts of the civilised world. In one establish- 

 ment at Cannes they use annually nearly 

 200,000 pounds avoirdupois of orange flowers, the 

 same amount of rose flowers, 13,000 pounds of black 



