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Dee. 23, 1869 | 
NATURE 
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15 
gate mistletoe without their intervention. All that is 
necessary for success is to introduce very carefully a few 
seeds into a shallow notch made in the bark of an apple- 
tree, and bind it round delicately with bass or damp moss. 
The apple-tree is the surest stock, for, though it is found 
elsewhere, yet there is a certain constancy in the apparent 
caprice shown by the mistletoe in the selection of its vic- 
tims. It occurs frequently on the poplar, hawthorn, willow, 
and lime ; never on the beech, holly, cherry, and walnut ; 
rarely on the chestnut and pear, and only in some few 
known instances upon the oak. Probably the rarity of 
its occurrence on the oak contributed to the reverence 
with which, under those circumstances, it was regarded by 
our British ancestors. To them a mistletoe-oak was a 
tree beloved of heaven—a symbol of life and death—a 
promise of renewal of strength to the leafless monarch of 
the glade. When the New Year's festival came round, 
the Arch-Druid, clothed in white, mounted the tree, and 
cut the mistletoe with a golden sickle. As it fell into the 
white cloth held to receive it, two white bulls also fell to 
the ground as sacrificial victims; and the prayer went 
forth from the Druid’s lips that God would prosper his 
gift, and make it a charm potent against poison, anda 
certain cure for sterility. 
It is curious to notice how this traditional connection 
between the mistletoe and New Year’s Day, and a belief 
in its virtues, have survived among the natives of the 
Western Marches. In Herefordshire, at any rate, no 
mistletoe enters into the Christmas decorations of house 
and church; but on New Year’s Eve, many of the old 
farmers and cottagers still go forth to cut their bough, and 
hang it up with all solemnity as the clock strikes twelve. 
Nor are the medical properties of the mistletoe forgotten 
by them. Before turnips were extensively cultivated, old 
Tusser’s precept was regularly followed :— 
If snowe doe continue, sheepe hardly that fare 
Crave mistle and ivie for them for to spare. 
And even now faith in the virtues of the plant (which is in 
fact a gentle tonic) may here and there be found. “ What 
is mistletoe good for?” asked Dr. Bull of a Herefordshire 
rustic. “That do depend on what tree it comes from,” 
was the reply. “It be a very fine thing for fits. My 
father had the ‘leptic fits for many years, but nothing 
never did him no good like mistletoe from the haw, mixed 
with wood-laurel, and he took nothing else. They do 
tell me that mistletoe from the maiden ash be a fine thing 
for convulsives. I know when you get it from the maw- 
pell it’s good for animals. It’s capital for sheep as don’t 
go on well at lambing-time, and for cows too. That as 
comes from the apple-tree and poplins is the best to 
hang up in the house on New Year’s Day for good luck 
through the year ; but a many people use any that comes 
first. A piece of mistletoe from the haw—/rom the haw, 
sir—chopped in pieces and given to a cow after calving, 
will do her more good nor any drench you can give her.” 
Sir Thomas Browne mentions the practice of thus admi- 
nistering it among his “ Vulgar Errors,” but at least it is 
one not likely to be attended with evil consequences. 
The reason of the exclusion of mistletoe from church 
decoration may be gathered from what has already been 
said, and to this we must add, that its appearance there 
might be likely to suggest something more ardent than 
“the kiss of peace.” But in hall and cottage alike the 
mistletoe reigns supreme at this season, and in London 
and other great towns the artisan spends a small portion 
of his Christmas wages in the purchase of a few sprigs 
wherewith to decorate his house and bring good luck to 
its inmates. Irom Herefordshire and Worcestershire 
between 200 and 300 tons of mistletoe are annually ex- 
ported, and during the present week nearly every train 
from the West Midland district bears with it a truck-load 
of branches, fraught with we know not what romance, and 
bright with berries wherein is contained the destiny of the 
coming year, ’ 
THE MIDNIGHT SK Y* 
URELY if ever there were an Astronomy made easy, 
here it is: if ever there were a sensible Christmas 
present fora boy, here it is. In fact, it is impossible to 
commend Mr. Dunkin or the Religious Tract Society 
too highly for the work which they have jointly produced. 
It is an honest, scientifically sound, beautiful book, with 
appeals both to the eye and the mind: one in which the 
magnificence of the heavens and the deep teachings of 
modern science go hand in hand, until at last the un- 
scientific reader will certainly find himself deeply in- 
terested in the discussion of questions, and the following- 
out of reasonings, which but a few short years ago were 
generally supposed to furnish day-dreams to solitary 
astronomers, who dwelt in towers far removed from the 
ken of their fellows, and still further removed from their 
pursuits and interests. 
That such a state of things is past and gone, and that 
the glories of the firmament are now eagerly revelled in 
by thousands, ay, and even tens of thousands, is in the 
main owing to the publication of such books as the 
“ Midnight Sky,” and the many handy series of star-maps 
which Mr. Proctor and others have produced. 
The book contains carefully drawn views of the mid- 
night sky, at London, looking north and south, for every 
night in the year. These views are accompanied in each 
case by an index-map giving the names of the principal 
stars. In order that these maps may be utilised at any 
other hour than midnight, Mr. Dunkin has provided the 
observer with a tabular statement which gives at one view 
the hour and month when each diagram of the series is 
available for comparison with the sky. The descriptions 
appended to these maps are clearly written in a style 
which will not be found beyond the comprehension of the 
least scientific reader. Mr. Dunkin next gives a descrip- 
tion of the midnight sky of the southern hemisphere, in 
the months of February, May, August, and November. 
Following these articles and star-maps, we find an 
interesting account of the constellations, general notes on 
the milky way, the magnitudes, scintillation and colour of 
the stars, analysis of solar and stellar light, the observa- 
tories in the southern hemisphere, and remarks on nebulz 
and clusters. Notes on the sun, moon, and earth, the 
major and the minor planets, succeed, and the work is 
concluded bya full account of meteors and shooting stars, 
a copious index serving to give increased usefulness to 
the book. 
The Religious Tract Society has done wisely in 
entrusting the writing of these familiar notes to an astro- 
nomer of such high ability as Mr. Dunkin. Not only 
have we at once a guarantee of correctness in the facts 
themselves, but there is insured that freedom of style 
which only an intimate acquaintance with a subject can 
give, and, in the case of such a far-reaching and intricate 
science as astronomy, this consideration is of high im- 
portance—witness the flabby books written by incompetent 
men. 
In the latter part of the work, which forms a sort of trea- 
tise on astronomy, Mr. Dunkin dwells among other matters 
on solar eclipses, and gives several very interesting anecs 
dotes connected with them which we do not remember to 
have seen in print before. Inthe notes on the sun we detect 
a little hasty writing, which the author will do well to 
correct in subsequent editions. In the first place the 
hydrogen is the sun’s chromosphere, is not in a state of 
combustion but of zucandescence ; and M. Le Verrier gets 
credit for an assertion he made in 1860, which, had Mr. 
Dunkin printed the context, would be evidently absurd, 
according to our present knowledge. Father Secchi is 
credited too with having proved satisfactorily the hollow 
* “The Midnight Sky.” Familiar Notes on the Stars and Planets. By 
Edwin Dunkin, F.R.A.S , Royal Observatory, Greenwich. Thirty-two Star- 
maps and other Illustrations, pp. 326. Religious Tract Society. 
