OF ACCOMPANYING ANIMALS AND PLANTS. JJ 



Castanea vesca of Eastern Asia. Called in Britain chestnut, by Chaucer "chastein" (Prior), in 

 Celtic " castan " or " kistin " (Davies, and Legon.), in French " chataigne " or " mafron " (Nugent), in 

 Germany "kastanie" (Grieb), in Italy "castagno" and " marone " (Lenz), in Greece "kastania" 

 (Sibth.). Indigenous in Northern China, — relics of the original forest remaining throughout the 

 Tcheou dynasty to the Han "about B. C. 200," the fruit more esteemed than in later times, though 

 the tree continues to be cultivated (Cibot mem. Chin, iii.) ; was observed by Kaempfer, and Thunberg, 

 in Japan, as far South as Jedo and Miaco, and called " kuri " or " ruts." Westward, is not enumerated 

 among fruits known to the prashistorical Greeks, but was brought from Sardes (Plin. xv. 25), and 

 derived its name, according to Nicander alex. v. 271 and scholiasts, from the city of Kastanithi (in 

 Pontus or that in Thessaly) ; the " sarthiane valanos" is mentioned by Diphilus, and Dioscbrides ; 

 the " am6ta" by Agilochus (Athen. ii. 40 to 43) ; the " karuon to platu " by Xenophon anab. v. 4. 29; 

 the "thios valanos euvoike " by Theophrastus i. 18 to iii. 10, and the " kastanela " by Mnesitheus, 

 Heracleon of Ephesus, and Diodorus ii. 50 : C. vesca was observed by Sibthorp, and Fraas, seemingly 

 wild in Northern Greece and throughout the middle region of the mountains ; by Rabbi Schwarz, in 

 Palestine ; but the nuts known in Egypt in the time of Athenaeus, and observed there by Baumgarten 

 i. 14 were of course imported. Westward, the " castanea" is enumerated among cultivated trees by 

 Virgil, is mentioned also by Columella, Gargilius Martial, and Palladius ; C. vesca has become 

 naturalized on the mountains of Southern and middle Europe, and a tree near Tortworth in England, 

 noted for its great size in " 1135," continues standing (A. Dec). By European colonists, was carried 

 to the Canary Islands and Madeira (Buch p. 178, and Lemann) ; and nuts to Northeast America, 

 where they continue to be sparingly imported, but I am not aware of any attempts at cultivation. 



Cannabis sativa of Tartary. Called in Britain hemp, in Anglo-Saxon " henep" (Prior), in Germany 

 " hanf " (Grieb), in France "chanvre" (Nugent), in Celtic and Arabic "kanab" (Reyn., Legon., and 

 A. Dec), in Italy "canape" or "canapa" (Lenz), in Greece "kannavi" (Fraas), in Persian and 

 Hindustanee "bang," in Bengalee "ganga" (Roxb.), in Sanscrit " bhanga " or "gunjika" (Pidd.). 

 Furnishing the cloth originally worn together with furs by the Chinese ; — the sign for hemp occurring 

 in alphabetic characters older than the Tcheou dynasty (Hiu-chin, and Pauth. p. 48 to 54) ; the plant 

 mentioned repeatedly in the Chou-King ; observed by Bunoe around villages on the Northern border of 

 China ; by Kaempfer, and Thunberg, cultivated and springing up spontaneously in Japan, and called 

 "ba" or "ma" or usually "asa." Westward, hempen cloth is mentioned in the Institutes of Menu 

 (transl. Deslongch.), was worn by the Thracians in the clays of Herodotus iv. 74, fumigation with 

 hemp seed being at the same time practised by the Scythians : C. sativa was observed by Loureiro ii. 

 p. 116 in Cochinchina; by Mason v. p 487, "exotic" in Burmah and called "ben;" is known to 

 grow to all appearance wild in Siberia (Ledeb.) and Northern Hindustan (Roxb.), is besides culti- 

 vated throughout Hindustan "for the sake of the intoxicating liquor called 'bhang,' " and "the leaves 

 which are smoked to cause intoxication " (Rheede x. pi. 60, and Graham) ; was observed by Thunberg 

 iii. 4 in Austral Africa, under cultivation by the Caffre tribes, and in one instance by Hottentots, and 

 called "dakkan" (a name indicating introduction by Hindus); is cultivated even by the natives of 

 ' Western Equatorial Africa, where leaves prepared for smoking were procured by H. McMurtrie 

 (journ. Bost. nat. hist.). Northward, the "kannavis" is mentioned by Ephippus, and Dioscorides ; 

 was first made into cordage by king Hiero of Syracuse, who imported the material from the Rhone 

 (Athen. v. 40); "cannabis" cordage is distinctly mentioned by Varro xxv (Gell. xvii. 3), Columella, 

 and Pliny ; and the use of the "fibre is alluded to in the Mishna (Reyn p. 434) : C. sativa was 

 observed by Fraas frequent in Attica; by Lenz, in Italy ; and is known in at least the cultivated state 

 in Russia and middle Europe. " About six centuries" ago (Lane), its intoxicating properties became 

 known in Egypt, where the plant has since been cultivated under the name of " sjaranek " or 

 "hachych" (Forsk., Del., and Clot-Bey). By European colonists, was carried prior to 1639 (W. 

 Wood) to Northeast America, where it continues chiefly near dwellings, but on the Lower Ohio is 

 regularly cultivated. The stem according to Burnett, and Lindley, furnishes "the best of all 

 cordage," and the seed has the " singular property of changing the plumage of bullfinches and gold- 

 finche's 'from red and yellow to black if they are fed on it for too long a time or in too large a 



quantity." .,,,_,. , 



For " certain knots made in cords " (the quippus), by means of which the Chinese were governed, 

 Fou-hi substituted writing; employing for this purpose the " koua symbols" (Confuc. on the 

 Y-Kino- and Pauth. p. 25)'; eight in number, consisting of parallel lines variously-broken to signify 

 " heaven earth, thunder, mountains, fire, clouds, water, wind " — (according to their transmitted forms 

 figured by Pauthier). Evidence exists of the use of these symbols as early at least as the Hia 

 dynasty (Visdelou pantheon litt. p. 138). _ 



2449 Feb. 28th (F. Bailly), conjunction of the planets Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn . . 



; described in the Chinese 



annals as of "five planets in the constellation Ing-che." 



