458 THE UNIVERSE. 



heat these m water, when the precious essence condenses 

 on the hd of the retort. 



In other parts we find, instead of these stimulating 

 aromatics, beautiful mimosas, from the fissures in whose 

 bark flow emollient gums, and mallows swohen with de- 

 mulcent juices which medicine calls to its aid.^ 



Beneath the burning sun of India, where the naja dis- 

 tils its dreadful venom, the nettles secrete a mortal poison. 

 This analogy to the reptile is doubly exact, so that we 

 are not at all astonished to see a German botanist call the 

 Urticffi "the serpents of the vegetable kingdom." It is in 

 fact by the same kind of organ that the plants introduce 

 the venom into a wound; and if we look at the minute 

 quantity with which one of their hairs inocidates us, not 

 perhaps the hundred and fifty thousandth part of a grain! 

 — at the rapidity and intensity of the symptoms — it is clear 

 that the poison of the nettle is the deadliest known. 



Our indigenous species only produce a burning sensa- 

 tion, which is soon dissipated, but those of tropical coun- 

 tries give rise to very serious results. Leschenault says 

 that he has seen the sting of the indented nettle (Urtica 

 cremdatri, Linn.) bring on the most horrible sufl^ering for a 

 whole week. Another sj^ecies, Avhich grows at Timor, 

 and which the natives call the Devil's Leaf {Urtica uren- 

 tissima), produces such serious wounds, that, according to 

 Schleiden, amputation is the sole means of saving life. 



' The seeds of some Leguminosfe are used by tlie C'hiuese as soap. They are of 

 two species. In tlie first aud best known, belonging to the genus Dyalhtm, we 

 find a suijstance analogous to sayionine. Sowerby lias suggested that the leaves 

 of the soapwort {Saponaria officinalis) might be used for the ijurpose, as they 

 nndoubtedly were in by-gone times, especially it is said by the mendicant friars. 

 The lather formed by boiling or bruising the seeds in water has all the eiFect of 

 soap, aud readily removes grease, so that we here find nature spontaneously 

 developing a great manufacturing product, which under man's hands has taken 

 two thousaud years to bring to its present perfection. — Tn. 



