78 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[ApRin, 1865. 



trees. The allusions to Palms in sacred and profane 

 writers of all nations and ages, wlierever these plants 

 flourish, are numerous ; and he can have but little 

 poetic feeling in whom the meution of the name 

 excites no emotion. It is not, however, in their 

 artistic relations, or poetical associations, that Palms 

 claim our attention. Bound, as chroniclers of 

 science, to the rigid zone of fact, it may not be per- 

 mitted us to dUate on the romance of Palm history, 

 or relate " the loves of Palms," but rather to confine 

 ourselves to a matter-of-fact sketch of the " Princes 

 of the Vegetable World." Those who may never 

 have gazed upon a Palm, even under the artificial 

 conditions in which they are placed in this country, 

 can scarcely realize a true mental picture of their 

 grandeur. Rising erect, with a simple unbranched 

 trunk, to a height of from ten to nearly two hundred 

 feet, according to the species, and with the summit 

 crowned with a magnificent tuft of feathery or fan- 

 like leaves spreading on each side for forty or fifty 

 feet, the appearance is one which finds no parallel 

 in our temperate climes. Beneath a tropical sky, 

 within an equatorial belt of some twenty degrees, 

 IS the great region of Palms, and here amid — 



The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes, 

 The lightning flash of insect and of bird. 

 The lustre of the long convolvuluses 

 That coil around the stately stems, the glows 

 And glories of the broad belt of tlie world — 



subject to the reeking heat of a broiling sun, the 

 wearied traveller rejoices to rest for a few melting 

 moments " under a Palm Tree," 



Only one species, the Dwarf Palm {ChawKerops 

 humilis), is found in Europe, and that is only to be 

 met with on the most southern points. Our con- 

 tinent is not the land of Palms. Dr. Martins, 

 author of the most magnificent book on this tribe 

 yet published, thinks that there are not less than 

 from one thousand to twelve hundred species ; and 

 more than half this number are known. Remote as 

 we are from Palm groves, and little as we know of 

 the trees themselves, their products are amongst 

 our most familiar things. To intimate that the 

 rattan-cane is the stem of a Palm may not suggest 

 pleasant reflections to the school-boy ; but, as fifty 

 or sixty years bring him nearer to childhood again, 

 he will not despise the rest afforded by a cane-bot- 

 tomed chair. A large portion of our sugar is de- 

 rived from an East Indian Palm {Mate sylvestris). 

 From the Oil Palm of Western Africa, and the Cocoa 

 Palm of Ceylon, commerce derives its best of 

 "stearine candles," and the microscopist liis gly- 

 cerine. Coir and cocoa-nut matting are their own 

 advertisement ; but how many brushes, for a hundred 

 different uses, arc entirely innocent of the fibres of 

 Palm-trees, the makers alone can tell. One of the 

 sources of the substance known as " vegetable 

 hair," illustrates our paper. 



It is time we turn from such generalizations as 

 we have hitherto indulged in, to a few particulars of 

 the Ejoo or Gomuti Palm {Aretiga saccharifera). It 

 is of importance, second only to that of the cocoa- 

 nut, writes Mr. Crawfurd, in the rural economy of 

 the Asiatic archipelago, from one extremity of it to 

 the other. Its chief and most valuable product is 

 its sap, obtamed by bruising and cutting the in- 

 florescence. Erom this liquid, and not from the 

 juice of the cane, is made nearly all the sugar con- 

 sumed by the natives, while the sap itself, which 

 runs rapidly to the vinous fermentation, is their 

 chief intoxicating beverage. The sap, however, is 

 not the only product which is put to use. Between 

 the trunk and the fronds there are found three 

 different useful materials : — a black horsehair-like 

 substance, which makes the best cordage of the 

 western islands of the archipelago ; a fine cottony 

 substance, which makes the best tinder, and is ex- 

 ported for this purpose; and strong stiff spines, 

 from M'hicli are made the pens of all the nations 

 that write on paper, with the arrows for the blow- 

 pipe of the rude tribes that still use this weapon. 

 The pith furnishes a sago. The seeds have been 

 made into a confection, while their pulpy envelopes 

 abound in a poisonous juice, a strong infusion of 

 them being used in the barbarian wars of the 

 natives. The young leaves are boiled and eaten, as 

 a kind of Palm-cabbage ; and the Palm-wine is used 

 by the Chinese residents in fabricating the cele- 

 brated Bataviau arrack. When any accident pre- 

 vents the collected juice from being manufactured 

 into "jaggery," or coarse sugar, as it speedily fer- 

 ments, and becomes sour, the acidification is taken 

 advantage of to produce a vinegar equal in strength 

 to that obtained by vinous fermentation in Europe. 



Although a native of the Asiatic archipelago, this 

 Palm has been introduced into continental India, 

 and some other countries possessing a suitable 

 climate, where it flourishes as in its native home. 

 To follow it in its migrations, digress in its praise, 

 or become prolix in its history, is not our aim ; 

 therefore, to all who desire a better acquaintance 

 with it, or its companions in the order of Palms, 

 we commend Dr. Seemann's interesting little volume, 

 entitled, " The Popular History of Palms ;" and, in 

 its perusal, we doubt not, many will, ever and anon, 

 wish themselves seated, " Under a Palm Tree." 



M. c. a 



Pkizes roK Herbama. — The Horticultural So- 

 ciety prizes have been awarded. Twenty-six silver 

 medals are to be distributed. Gold medals have 

 been assigned to Dr. St. Brody, Mr. Joshua Clarke, 

 and Miss L. E. Becker. The gold medal for any new 

 species found wild has been awarded to Mr. Joshua 

 Clarke, for Erucastr-iim inodonm, collected near 

 Saffron Walden, from the moidd of a railway-cutting. 



