THE HOLLY. 



63 



in natural history^ he found in the neighbour- 

 hood of Tolfa great abundance of Holly, a tree 

 which he had also observed growing plentifully 

 in the aluminous districts of Asia ; from this he 

 conjectured that the earth of his native soil might 

 also contain the same salt ; and he was confirmed 

 in that opinion by its astringent taste. His 

 discovery being made known to Pope Pius II. 

 led to the establishment of the first alum-works 

 in modern Europe. The first alum-works in 

 England were erected at Gisborough, in York- 

 shire, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the exist- 

 ence of the mineral having been discovered by 

 Sir Thomas Chaloner, who, observing that the 

 leaves of trees were here of a lighter green than 

 in other places, suspected that the difierence was 

 owing to the presence of some peculiar mineral 

 substance, and found on examination that the soil 

 abounded in aluminous salt. The method of 

 extracting the mineral being unknown in Eng- 

 land, he induced some of the Pope's workmen to 

 lend their assistance, and finally enriched himself 

 at the expense of no very gentle imprecations 

 from the sovereign monopolist. Evelyn observes, 

 that the Holly often indicates where coals are to 

 be found. The truth is, that this tree being re- 

 markably indifferent to soil, equally indicates the 

 proximity of alum, coal, and most other minerals. 



The trunk of the Holly, like that of the 

 Beech, frequently has small round knots attached 

 to it ; these are composed of a smooth nodule of 

 solid wood embedded in bark ; they may readily be 

 separated from the tree by a smart blow. Hollies 

 are not unusual which, although they grow most 

 luxuriantly and produce abundance of flowers. 



