POISON OF PLANTS. 319 



spurges ; in follicles, with prickles on the bark, as 

 in the nettle tribe ; in the oil of the seeds, as in the 

 violen ; or in their substances, as in mix vomica it 

 is always found in one part of the plant when in the 

 embryo state. That part is the embryo itself, when 

 the habit of the plant is such that that is considerably 

 developed in the seed. When that is not the case, 

 the most virulent property is in the tunics or coats ; 

 and that is the case also with roots, and it is the 

 same whatever may be the nature of the poison. In 

 the pulp of the peach there is not a trace of that 

 prussic acid which scents the flower and flavours 

 the kernel ; the pulp of the yew-berry is harmless, 

 and probably so are the cotyledons, if the embryo 

 were removed, as tlrat is the case with many of the 

 seeds of the Euphorbiacea, and other tribes. In the 

 potato, the poisonous quality, which, though not 

 very strong, is still a poison, is chiefly in the tunic 

 or skin, or immediately under it ; and the same is, 

 in all probability, the case in jatropha. Even the 

 common turnip, which belongs to an order of 

 which probably none are poisonous, though some 

 are very acrid, has the rind of the bulb far more 

 pungent than the bulb itself. 



The uses of the plants classed under the fig tribe, 

 and those resembling it, are exceedingly varied. 

 Many of them, as has been stated, furnish food, and 

 many more, from their active nature, are medicinal, 

 and others form articles of clothing, either through 

 the medium of something else, or directly. The 

 white mulberry is the principal food of those silk- 

 worms which every year spin so great a quantity of 

 the most delicate and also the most beautiful sub- 

 stance which is employed in the loom. The paper 

 mulberry, which, if it does not agree with the order 

 in all particulars (and the agreement or disagree- 

 ment of plants with an order or a genus in any 

 system depends in a great measure upon that sys- 

 tem), agrees with it in many, is used, as the name 



