106 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



melons, and all other members of this tribe. They 

 have a habit of climbing by means of long curling 

 tendrils, and in the wild state several species are 

 poisonous. Thus the pulp of the bottle-gourd* 

 has produced symptoms of cholera, and it is 

 recorded that some sailors were poisoned by drink- 

 ing beer that had been left in a flask made of one 

 of these gourds. The spirting cucumber -f- is a 

 virulent poison, and from its pulp is prepared the 

 powerful drug called Materium, a few grains of 

 which sometimes bring on symptoms of poisoning. 

 Our common white BryonyJ belongs to this tribe, 

 and partakes in the same qualities." 



"Is it not dangerous to have anything to do 

 with such a tribe ?" asked Mary. 



"It is necessary to use the fruit cautiously," 

 said her father ; " but cultivation improves many 

 of the species so much, that they lose nearly all 

 their baneful properties. It would be a pity to 

 give up our acquaintance with melons, cucumbers, 

 and vegetable marrows because some of their un- 

 cultivated relatives are dangerous characters. In- 

 deed, we are not at liberty to despise even these 



* LagenaricL vulgaris. f Ecballum ogreste. 



J Hn/nnia dioie.n. 



