SILVER FIR-TREE. 241 



and its use in medicines is as well kr\own to 

 the apothecary, as to the house-painter as a 

 drier. Nor is the rosin which oozes from 

 these trees better known to the scrapers of 

 catgut than to the manufacturers of salves 

 and ointments ; and as Orpheus set the trees 

 in motion by his melodious strains, so has 

 this tree in return assisted mankind to make 

 the merry movement " on light fantastic 

 toe." This favourite tree of Pan lends its aid 

 also in giving breath and tone to the solemn 

 sounds of the organ's harmonious voice. Thus 

 the gay and the grave are equally indebted to 

 this tree of the mountain, in whose branches, 

 says the Psalmist, " the heron loves to build 

 her nest." 



THE SILVER FIR-TREE. —Pirns Picea. 



This noble tree is surnamed Picea, or Pitch- 

 tree, from the quantity of tenacious juice or 

 gum which its trunk yields; and which, in 

 ship-building is so well known by the name of 

 pitch. We call it the Silver Fir, from the 

 colour of its leaves on the under side, which 

 have a white line running lengthwise on eacli 

 side of the midrib, and as these leaves are 



vol. I. R 



