(70 ORDER POLYGYNIA. 



sixty shillings a pound, and for many years its great price limited 

 its use to the most wealthy. 



The poppy (Papaver) is a fine example of this class and order. 

 Its numerous stamens standing upon the receptacle around the base 

 of the germ, and its large stigma, with the two sepals of a caducous 

 calyx, are conspicuous characters. Single poppies have but four 

 ])etals ; but the change of stamens to petals is very common in this 

 flower, and most of the cultivated poppies are double. From the 

 ■papaver somniferum is obtained the opium of commerce. The juice 

 which issues from incisions in the green capsules, is dried in the sun, 

 and usually made into cakes. Six hundred thousand pounds of this 

 drug are said to be annually exported from the banks of the Ganges. 

 The narcotic property of opium renders it highly valuable as a med- 

 icine. Why it is that certain substances, acting upon the human sys- 

 tem, have power to affect the mind, no physiologist has yet been 

 able to explain. But in the power of fermented liquors to produce 

 changes in the mind, or of opium to lull its faculties into temporary 

 oblivron, there is nothing more wonderful, than that the presence of 

 light should produce vision, or the vibrations of the air, sound. All 

 are equally beyond our knowledge ; we may trace a series of organic 

 changes, but the last Hnk of the chain, that which connects body and 

 soul, is concealed from our observation. Though narcotics can for 

 a time, 



" Rase out the written troubles of the brain, 



And, with a sweet oblivious antidote, 



Cleanse the full bosom of that perilous stuff 



Which weighs upon the heart," 



yet, they who attempt to drown sorrow by ai'tificial means, whether 

 of the intoxicating bowl or the stiipifying opium, find their sensi- 

 bilities return with aggravated terrors. When properly used to 

 allay bodily anguish, the product of the poppy may be considered 

 one of our greatest blessings ; but like all our blessings, it may, by its 

 abuse, be made a curse. 



The genus Citrus, which contains' the orange and lemon, is found 

 here. Jussieu places this in his order Aurantia, or golden fruits. 

 The fruit is a berry with a thick coat. It furnishes citric acid. 



Few valuable fruits, with the exception of this genus, are found in 

 the class Polyandria. 



Order Di-pentagynia. 



The four orders following Monogynia, are, as in the preceding 

 class, united into one, called as before, Di-pentagynia, having from 

 two to five styles. 



We find here some plants of a poisonous nature, as the Larkspur, 

 Monk's-hood, and the Columbine ; these belong to the natural order 

 RammculacecE, which contains also the Ranunculus or crow-foot, 

 the anemone and gold-thread, (Coptis.) 



In the same natural and artificial order we find the Peony, {Pceo- 

 nia,) a large and showy flower, which, in its native state, has a calyx 

 with 5 sepals, a corolla with 5 petals ; 2 or three germs, each crown- 

 ed by a stigma ; the capsules or carpels are the same in number as 

 the germs ; each contains several seeds ; this flower is remarkable 

 for becoming double by cultivation. 



Order Polygynia. 



This order is divided into two sections: 1st, flowers with no ca- 



Poppy— Opium— Power of opium and fermented liquors to affect the inind— Genus 

 Citrus— Order Di-pentagynia — Natural order Ranunculaceae— Peony— Order Poly- 

 gynia. 



