XXVII 



and withstand the overturning of the brain, upon over- 

 drinking ; yea, the very smell thereof Avill disperse such 

 fumes and vapors, as would trouble and disquiet the 

 head." 



Gerard, alluding perhaps to the Pansy, then called Herb 

 Trinitie, says they "have a prerogative above others, not 

 only because the mind conceiveth a certain pleasure and 

 recreation by smelling and handling them, but they bring 

 to a liberal and gentle minde the remembrance of hones- 

 tie, comelinesse and all kind of virtues." An eastern poet 

 has said of this flower, 



"It is not a flower ; it is an 

 Emerald bearing a purple gem." 



Houstonia ccerulea, one of the most common of the 

 spring flowers, and a universal favorite, often called Vio- 

 lets, — a most delicate little biennial plant, its erect and 

 very slender stem topped off with starry white or pale 

 blue flowers with a yellow eye, and in masses often ap- 

 pearing like a thin sprinkling of snow over the fields. 



It does not appear to have been introduced into the 

 Kew gardens till 1785. It is figured in Curtis's Magazine 

 and elsewhere. 



Saxifraga virginiensis. One of Parkinson's seventeen 

 tribes of plants are the " Saxifrages, or Break-stone 

 Plants," so called from their habit of growing in the seams 

 or crevices of rocks, not inaptly described by Josselyn as 

 " The New England Dayzie or Primrose, the second kind 

 of Navelwort in Johnson upon Gerard; it flowers in May 

 and grows amongst moss upon hilly grounds and rocks 

 that are shady." It is an Alpine plant, this and a co- 

 species, the S. nivalis, were among the very last flowers 

 that greeted the eyes of Kane and his weary voyagers as 

 they pressed onward toward the pole, beyond all vegetable 

 life. 



