466 Canadian Ginseng. 



escape on one side of the distal extremity of the cells. We doubt,, 

 however, whether this last apparent aperture is destined for this 

 purpose. It is only observable in those cells from the extremities' 

 of which the second ramuli have not been developed \ and the 

 slight lateral proirusion which they exhibit is rather, we think, io 

 be regarded as the incipient state of future branchlets than chan- 

 nels for the passage of zoospores. That the zoospores escape by 

 bursting the walls of the cells is doubtless the normal form of this 

 stage of the reproductive process. Mo plants are more proliferous 

 than these. Young branches continue to spring from old stems 

 for years, so that in running water they sometimes stretch out t<s> 

 several feet in length. Very fine dark green fronds, of from 6 to 

 12 inches long,, may be obtained in autumn from the rapid currents 

 at the railway bridge St. Lambert, Montreal. Long and beauti- 

 fully green fronds clothe the edges of the xock over which the 

 Niagara rolls. It infests the bottom of ships and boats, and 

 assumes there a delicate and pretty appearance. It grows readily 

 in the aquarium, and is both a beautiful specimen and a valuable 

 aerating, plant. 



EEVIEWS. 



Canadian Ginseng : Memoire presente a S. A. R-. le Due d r Or~ 

 leans, Regent de France^ concernant la precieuse plant du 

 Gin-sing de Tartarie ; par le Pere Joseph-Francois Lafitau, 

 S.J. 

 The name of Ginseng, or Jinchen, is given by the Chinese to 

 the Aralia quinquefoliu {Panax quinquefolium, Linn.}, to which 

 they ascribe marvellous tonic and restorative powers, commemo- 

 rated in its name of panax 7 and also in the Chinese appellation 

 which is said to signify " dose for immortality " ; although the 

 experience of Europeans has not justified this high reputation. 

 It has been used for ages by the Chinese,, among whom it was 

 often sold for thrice its weight in silver. Their supply of this root 

 was obtained exclusively from Tartary ; but the pere Jartoux, a 

 Jesuit Missionary, having described and figured the plant, the 

 pere Lafitau, at that time missionary at Sault St. Louis (Caugh- 

 nawaga) in 1*716, discovered the Ginseng on the banks of the 

 St. Lawrence. This discovery led to an important commerce,, 

 and the Ginseng of Canada was exported in large quantities to 

 China; in 1752 its price at Quebec was twenty-five francs the 

 pound, and there was shipped of it to the value of 500,000 francs. 



