44 Theory of Propagation. 



rent, slightly soluble in cold water, very soluble in boiling ether 

 and alcohol, and of a bitter, somewhat austere taste. The root is 

 remarkably hot and acrid, and has long been a popular remedy 

 for the toothache. The recent bark, when applied to the skin, 

 will raise a blister, and even when dried will vesicate in twenty- 

 four hours. It has been used with success in chronic rheuma- 

 tism, scrofulous affections, and obstinate diseases of the skin. 

 Dr. Withering cured a case of difficult swallowing, arising 

 from paralysis, which had lasted three years, in a month, by 

 directing his patient to chew frequently small pieces of the root. 

 The dose of the powdered bark is ten grains; of the decoction, 

 from a gill to half a pint a day. To make this, boil two drachms 

 of the bark of Mezereon with four drachms of Liquorice root, 

 bruised, in three pints of water down to two, and strain. The 

 leaves sometimes poison children, who are attracted by their 

 shining appearance; the French authors say, fifteen of them 

 will kill a Frenchman; while Pallas, that it takes thirty of the 

 same kind even to physic a Russian. It is the emblem of a 

 Desire to Please, being compared to an imprudent and coquet- 

 tish nymph, who, in the midst of winter, arrays herself in the 

 robes of spring. 



Theory of Propagation. 



As we have been giving various directions in this number, 

 relative to the cultivation of plants, more especially to the modes 

 of propagation by slips and layers ; we will, consistently with 

 our original plan, which was to explain as we went along, 

 give the reasons for so doing. As we have admitted that plants 

 were living, and to some extent, sentient beings, it may strike 

 our readers with some surprise, when we speak so confidently 

 of making this abstruse and puzzling subject so plain, that all 

 can comprehend it with ease. The greatest bar to a true view 

 of it, is the fact of our ideas of living beings being generally as- 

 sociated with the higher orders of the animal kingdom ; and we 

 would suppose that cutting off a man's cr a dog's leg and plant- 

 ing them, was as likely a method of producing races of their 



