Bibliography. 369 



Accordingly we find the poisonous plants furnisliing the multifarious 

 ingredients of the apothecaiy's shop ; while the simple grasses, in their 

 sound and unsophisticated condition, yield nothing but the wholesome 

 materials for food and nourishment. It is true that human ingenuity 

 has extracted a potent medical agent, in the form of alcohol, from the 

 fermented seeds and juices of the Graminese ; and it is equally true, 

 that man has wickedly converted that extreme medicine into a daily 

 beverage. But this is only a signal instance of his depravity, in per- 

 verting the blessings bestowed upon him, and argues nothing against 

 the intrinsic value of the materials thus abused. It merely illustrates 

 the ancient truth — corruptio opti7ni pessima, that the prostitution of the 

 best things produces vilest results." i 



The remainder of this interesting popular lecture is chiefly occupied 

 with an account of the chief grasses which are cultivated for grain, 

 commencing with the least esteemed, such as oats and barley, and as- 

 cending in the scale of value to rye, Indian corn, to wheat, which in 

 point of intrinsic value may justly claim the highest place, and to rice, 

 which is believed to afford sustenance to a larger portion of the human 

 family than any other grain. Lastly, the sugar cane is noticed, the 

 value of which does not consist in its seeds, but in the saccharine juice 

 contained in its pithy stem. We have only space for the concluding 

 remarks : — " Thus are we furnished, by this magnificent grass, with 

 the purest, most nutritious, and universally palatable of all the ingre- 

 dients that enter into the composition of our food. The large portion 

 of our globe adapted to the growth of the plant, and the copious product 

 of its juices, render it probable that the cane will ever be our principal 

 resource for the supply of sugar. The maple may furnish a tolerable 

 substitute to foresters, who live remote from the channels of com- 

 merce ; and systems of policy, or other considerations, may induce 

 a partial resort to the heet, to obtain this delicious and indispensable 

 commodity ; but it may be doubted whether any, or even all the other 

 species of the vegetable kingdom can rival this single grass in the pro- 

 duction of sugar, either in the quality, the quantity, or the cheapness of 

 the supply. That the history of the plant and its products, is closely 

 interwoven with a melancholy tale of oppression and human misery, 

 is unhappily as true as it is reproachful to our race ; and it is no less 

 true that the choice product of the cane, like that of its grain-bearing 

 kindred, is often prostituted to the vilest and most mischievous uses ; 

 yet we must recollect, that these evils are the results of man's own 

 folly and wickedness, and are no more chargeable upon the blessings 

 thus perverted, than they are imputable to the designs of a bounteous 

 Providence." 



Vol. xLi, No. 2.— July-Sept. 1841. 47 



