NOVEMBER 263 



hand from Nature without a prompter makes a firmer 

 impression than one gathered from books. It pleased 

 me to receive from high authority explanation of a 

 phenomenon which I had mooned for half a century 

 through the world without identifying till last week. 

 The explanation reveals in a flash the unsuspected 

 balance remaining at our debit after the coal-master's 

 bill is paid. Unsuspected only because our lungs and 

 nostrils have accommodated themselves to that odeur 

 anglaise which struck Lady Mary Wortley Montagu so 

 offensively on her return from travel. Edward i. march- 

 ing south from a Scottish campaign, was so deeply 

 disgusted with the evil-smelling vapour that hung over 

 his capital, that he issued an edict forbidding any citizen 

 to burn sea-coal in London on pain of death. Imagine 

 what a fair aspect the city would assume were it not for 

 its smoke. Westminster Palace would receive in course 

 of years a silvery veil of lichen on its sunny aspect, a 

 tapestry of green moss on its northern face. The Abbey 

 would lose its gloom, and glimmer instead with gray and 

 gold. Tree-trunks in park and street would part with 

 their grit and grime in exchange for a delicate vesture, 

 kindly to the touch and restful to the eye ; all but the 

 planes, which would continue to strip to their new buff 

 skins each year. And, mark, that neither to stone nor 

 tree is the slow growth of lichen other than beneficial. 

 It protects the stone surface from corrosion and waste 

 by carbonic acid, and aids the outer bark in shielding 

 the integument of the tree from frost and heat. It is 

 the birthright of trees to afford foothold for the ' corticole ' 

 section of lichens. 



Foothold, and no more. The lichen is no parasite. It 



