n THE YOUNG 



mandrake roots. It was said to be a 

 creature having iife, engendered under the 

 earth from the seed of some dead person put 

 to death for murder, Shakspeare was also 

 quoted where he says 



"And shrieks like mandrakes torn out of the earth, 

 That living mortals, hearing them, run mad." 



So these medicine men said that the man- 

 drake shrieked when its roots were pulled 

 out of the soil, and that any person who 

 heard this unearthly sound would certainly 

 lose their reason ; 50 they trained dogs to 

 this dangerous work by fastening them to 

 the plants, and when at a safe distance, 

 calling them, when they dragged the price- 

 less plant from its native resting place. 

 This and more to the same effect, delivered 

 with the well-known volubility of these 

 peripatetic practitioners, would doubtless 

 cause the roots to command a ready sale. 

 We can see and hear the same tactics 

 practised in our populous provincial towns 

 and villages any market day. 



Shakspeare also associates poppy with 

 mandragora 



" Give me to drink Mandragora » • * 

 That I might sleep out this great gap of time : 

 My Antony is away." 



An appropriate allusion to the potent nar- 

 cotic effects of certain of its congeners. In 

 oriental countries " He has eaten mandrake" 

 is used as a proverb, of an indolent, apathetic, 

 sleepy man, from the stupifying properties 

 of the plant. That they were once esteemed 

 as powerful sedatives is extremely probable, 

 for long prior to the discovery of more 

 potent anesthetics, such as chloroform.ampu- 

 tations and severe surgical operations were 

 said to be performed under the influence of 

 Mandmgora. But they are now wholly 

 obsolete as medicines. Another piece of 

 folk-lore connected with this plant is that a 

 small dose makes a person conceited and 

 vain of his beauty, whilst a large dose makes 

 him an idiot. Anciently the fruit of the 

 mandrake was called love-apples, because 

 they were considered to exite amorous 

 inclinations. The English name love-apple 



NATURALIST. 



is now bestowed upon the allied tomato 

 (Lycopersicum esculentum), a barbarous name 

 meaning the wolfish peach, and referring, to 

 the loveliness of the ripe fruit, rivalling the 

 peach in beauty of form and colour, but 

 wholly worthless as an edible fruit, although 

 used by cooks as an ingredient in sauces. 

 That the plant translated " mandrakes " in 

 the Bible is the same as that we are now con- 

 sidering is doubtful, but that its reputed 

 virtues were the same is evident. Those 

 interested may read the story in the 30th 

 chapter of Genesis, where the finding of 

 mandrakes in the field by Leah's son, and 

 the curious compact betwixt his mother 

 and Rachel as to their disposal, forms a 

 striking commentary on their reputed effi- 

 cacy. They are also referred to in the 

 same connection in the Song of Solomon, 

 vii. 13. 



OPTICAL PRINCIPLES OF 



THE MICROSCOPE. 



Abstact of a Lecture, delivered by George 

 Brook, F.L.S., before the Huddersfield 

 Literary and Scientific Society, Oct. 34, 1881. 



This was the first of a course of lectures 

 upon " Preparing and Mounting Microscopic 

 Objects," and the lecturer begun by stating 

 that at the outset he would explain some of 

 the optical principles upon which a micro- 

 scope is constructed. He should have even 

 to explain some of the common laws of 

 optics, known to most of those present, but 

 he hoped this would render his subject 

 more complete. 



To begin with then, a ray of light passing 

 through a lens is bent or refracted. This 

 is because the glass, of which the lens is 

 composed, is of a denser material than the 

 air; but it is only those rays which fall 

 obliquely upon the surface of the lens that 

 are refracted or bent. As an experiment, 

 cause a ray of light A to fall obliquely upon 

 the surface of water B and 



