PLAXTS l.\ 1 ii: LAT I ().\ To MAX nnn 



•JJO 



Of foods and drinks not used l).v ihc lower animals, are 

 arrowroot, tapioca, sa^^), sugar, wine, l.cer, i.-a, eolTee, :ind 

 cocoa, the last six, wlicn nscd in moderation, Indn-,^ among 

 the choicest gifts of nature. 



There remain a number of vegetaMc pn.diict-^ inv;duahle 

 for arts and manufaelures — cotton and tlax for (doihing, 

 hemp for cordage, rattan and bandjoo for tropical furniture, 

 boxwood for wood-engraving, gutta-percha for machine belts 

 and a great variety of economic uses, and lastly india-rubU.-r, 

 one of the greatest essentials of our chemieal and mechanical 

 arts, without which neither the electric telegraph, the bicycle, 

 nor the motor-car could have reached their present stage of 

 perfection, while no doubt many equally important uses re- 

 main to be discovered. 



It may be objected that so many of these varied products 

 have been shown to be of use to the plants themselves as 

 protections against injurious insects or from being devoured 

 in their young state by herbivorous mammals, that their utility 

 to man is only an accidental result, and of no real signiticancc. 

 But this objection can hardly be a valid one when we consider 

 the enormous number of beneficial drugs, highly agreeable 

 scents and spices, useful oils, and delicious foods or drinks, 

 that are among the commonest of vegetable bye-products. 

 There seems no direct connection between juices or volatile oils 

 which are distasteful to insects, and drugs which are valuable 

 medicines in the case of human diseases. The leaves or stems 

 of seedling plants needed only a temporary protection, while 

 the juices which effect it not only increase in (piantity dur- 

 ing the whole life of the plant, but are transfornuil into such 

 as are of unmistakeable value to civilised man. It is almost 

 inconceivable that the exquisite fragrance tleveloped only by 

 roasting the seed of the coifee shnd) should be a chance result 

 of the nature of the juices essential for the well-being of this 

 particular species; or that the strange mechanical properties 

 of india-rubber should be developed in a few otdy of the thou- 

 sands of species having a ])rotective milky sap. 



