186 LETTER XV. 



former separate it from other orders you have still to 

 examine. 



The genus Solanum is known in its tribe by the 

 anthers opening by two holes or pores at their points 

 (fig. 1. a.)y besides Black Nightshade, it contains 

 the Bitter-sweet (S. Dulcamara), whose red and tempt- 

 ing berries present a dangerous decoy to children ; 

 the Love Apple (S. Lycopersicum), or Tomato^ the 

 pulp of which is so much esteemed in sauces ; the 

 Egg-plant i or Aubergine (S. Melongena), whose fruit, 

 when fried in slices, forms a delicacy in French cook- 

 ery ; and above all, the Potatoe (S. tuberosum). 

 Here, you will imagine, is a singular assortment of 

 eatable and poisonous plants in the same genus ; but 

 in truth, the fruit of these is in all cases deleterious 

 till it is cooked ; Tomatoes are stewed, Egg-plants 

 are washed and fried before they are eaten, and it is 

 not to be doubted that they would all prove inju- 

 rious, if used in a raw state. The fruit of the Potatoe 

 is notoriously unwholesome ; and if its roots are not 

 so, that circumstance is to be ascribed in part to their 

 being cooked, and in part to their being composed 

 almost entirely of a substance like flour, which in 

 no plant is poisonous, if it can be separated either 

 by heat or by washing, from the watery or pulpy 

 matter it may lie among. 



Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) belongs 

 to a genus resembling the last in its berries, but hav- 

 ing a bell-shaped flower, and anthers which open by 

 slits in the usual way. The fruit of this plant is the 

 most venomous of all our wild berries ; it is of a deep 



