V4 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Apbh, 1, 1898. 



odour and yields an equally aromatic oil. They are 

 imported in considerable quantities from China into 

 Europe, America, and India for flavouring liqueurs and 

 spirits. The tree grows to a height of about twenty feet. 

 The tulip tree or white wood, JArioihntlron tuiijiifeni, 

 grows in its native country of America to a height of over 

 one hundred feet. It grows well in England, and is a 

 favourite tree in consequence of its peculiar-shaped foliage 

 and tulip-like flowers. The wood is fine and even grained, 

 very white, and free from knots, so that it is in very great 

 demand both in America and in England for cabinet work, 

 door panels, etc. In some trunks, however, the wood is of 

 an even yellowish tint, and is known as canary wood. 



Most of the species of ^fnipiolin 3deld white and even- 

 grained wood, which is much used for various purposes in 

 the countries where the trees grow. 



Anonace.t.. — This is an important natural order of 

 tropical trees and shrubs, noted for the aromatic and even 

 pungent properties of some of its species. They are chiefly 

 natives of tropical countries, and are perhaps best known 

 for their edible fruits, such, for instance, as the sour-sop, 

 Anonii muricata, a West Indian tree producing a fruit 

 sometimes weighing upwards of two pounds. It is some- 

 what oval in shape, of a greenish colour externally, and 

 covered with prickles ; internally the pulp is white and 

 has an agreeable slightly acid flavour. The sweet-sop, A. 

 squamosa, is a native of the Malay Islands, but is cultivated 

 both in the East and West Indies. The fruit is nearly 

 globular, somewhat larger than a cricket ball, and is 

 covered with projecting scales, or mammilhe, over which 

 is a thick rind. The central portion is filled with whitish 

 pulp, in which are embedded the numerous black shining 

 seeds. The custard apple, or bullock's heart, Anona reticu- 

 lata, is smaller than the preceding, and is somewhat 

 irregularly heart shaped. It is a native of the West Indies, 

 but is cultivated also in the East. The yellowish pulp is 

 not generally so much liked as that of the preceding. The 

 cherimoyer [Anona cJierimolia) is said to be the most deli- 

 cious fruit of the order. It is a native of Peru, but is 

 cultivated in the West Indies and other countries exclu- 

 sively for the sake of its fruit. Like those of the other 

 species the fruit is somewhat heart shaped, the outside 

 covered with scales and the inside pulp of a yellowish pink 

 colour. The aromatic character of the order is well illus- 

 trated in the seeds of many of the species, as in Monodora 

 i/ii/ristica, the numerous seeds of which are borne in large 

 globular fruits. These seeds are remarkable for their 

 distinct rumination, which, indeed, is a character of the 

 order generally. What is known as negro or Ethiopian 

 pepper is the fruit of X;/lopia (Kthiopica, a large tree of 

 the West Coast of Africa. When ripe and dry, as they appear 

 in the West African markets, the fruits are black and quill- 

 like, arranged in bunches or clusters around a central axis. 

 They are aromatic and strongly pungent, and are used by 

 the natives for seasoning their food. Attempts have been 

 made to introduce them into English commerce, but as 

 they have no advantage over pepper or other condiments 

 they have not succeeded. 



Menispermace.f,. — This is a group of climbing tropical 

 shrubby plants, abundant in woods of Asia and America. 

 In cross section the stems and roots show a very large 

 development of the medullary rays, and the structure is so 

 open or porous that the more slender stems are often so 

 pliable as to be used for ropes. Another distinct character 

 is the bright yellow, or greenish yellow, colour shown 

 when the wood is freshly cut. Their properties are bitter 

 and narcotic, and, in some cases, poisonous. The order is 

 essentially a medicinal one, several of the species yielding 

 valuable remedies, such as the )mrnra brave (Chondvo- 



demhiin tomentosum), a woody climber of Brazil and Peru, 

 having a bitter taste but no smell, and it is used as a mild 

 tonic and diuretic. Calumba root is another bitter tonic. 

 It is the product of Jatecrrln'za laluwlia, a perennial 

 climber of the forests of Mozambique and Quillimane. 

 It appears in commerce in this country usually in dried, 

 yellow-coloured, transverse slices, which have been cut 

 when fresh, and are consequently shrivelled. Under 

 the name of Cocculw Induus the berry-like fruits of 

 Aniimirta jianiculata are sent in very large quantities 

 to this country from India. They are poisonous, and 

 the only use to which they are known to be put is in the 

 preparation of ointments, chiefly for killing pediculi ; but 

 it is said that they are also used in giving a bitter flavour 

 to beer. The plant is a large woody climber, and the 

 fruits are about the size of a large pea. 



Other medicinal plants in this order that may be men- 

 tioned as more or less useful are the spurious jiareira 

 bravd {Cisxiim/ii'lds pari'ira), a, slender woody climber found 

 in tropical regions of both hemispheres, which has bitter 

 and tonic properties ; and false calumba {Coscinium fenes- 

 tratum), also a climber of Ceylon, Southern India, and 

 Malacca, the wood of which is of a greenish yellow colour. 

 It is a bitter tonic. 



Pjerberidacek. — This order consists of shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants, mostly natives of temperate climates. 

 The common barberry (Berlnris vulgaris) is the only British 

 species of the order, the properties of which are acid and 

 astringent ; a yellow colouring matter is also found in the 

 woods. The most important economic plant is Po'loplnjUum 

 pAtatum, a perennial of the United States and Canada, the 

 rootstocks of which contain an active principle known as 

 podophyUin, and much valued in medicine. 



THE STRUCTURE OF IRELAND. 



By Grenville a. J. Cole, m.r.i.a., f.g.s., Professor or 

 Geolof/i/ in the Royal College of Science for Ireland. 



OWING to the isolation of Ireland, as compared with 

 Scotland, its geological features have remained 

 comparatively unknown, except to the oflicers of 

 Government Surveys and the authors of certain 

 careful and conscientious text-books. Headers of 

 the latter are still apt, however, to skip the pages dealing 

 with so remote an island, and to devote their earnest 

 attention to the minuter details of purely English strati- 

 graphy. 



Even now, when the finest line of channel steamers on 

 our coasts runs between Holyhead and Kingstown, the 

 visitors who throng these boats at certain seasons aim at 

 little more than Killarney or the Giant's Causeway. The 

 associations of the former place in summer are scarcely 

 suited for philosophic speculation ; while the speculation at 

 the latter place is mainly confined to the syndicate which 

 has recently enclosed it, and which, after the manner of 

 the enterprising Swiss, charges an entrance-fee for the 

 inspection of its natural beauties. 



But no one who approaches Ireland can fail to be struck 

 by certain of its physical features, notably the picturesque 

 and even mountainous character of its coast. Ofl' Dublin, 

 the clift's and the rugged little moor of Howth may remind 

 us of Holyhead or Cornwall ; but on the south side of the 

 bay the eye is caught by the still bolder promontory of 

 Bray Head, the graceful cones of the Little and Great 

 Sugarloaves, and the long range of the Dublin and Wicklow 

 mountains, stretching sixty miles into the south, and rising 

 two to three thousand feet above the sea. 



Or at Greenore we may enter on a sunny morning, to 



