old botanical writers. The down appears on the young unde¬ 
veloped leaves as well as on the rhizome, and in such quantities 
that the native docheans (female physicians) pick for years at such 
a stem without exhausting it. Sometimes these old stems are 
on sale, in Sumatra, at a Spanish matt (4s. 6d.) apiece. The se¬ 
cond kind is called Pakoe Kidang , and is stated to be derived 
from the Balantium chrysotriclium of Hasskarl, a species unknown 
to us, but of which a plantation exists on the sides of the Goe- 
nong Gedeh, a volcano in the interior of Java, between fifty and 
sixty miles from Batavia. The government of Java has exported 
the product of their plantation to Holland, where it has been sold 
at a public sale, but under the incorrect name of Penawar Jambie . 
Of the Club-Mosses {lycopodium) the Lycopodium clavatum , or 
Common Club-Moss , is used in Sweden in making door-mats, for 
which purpose its long wiry stems render it very suitable. Of 
the properties of the seeds or spores, Dr. Pereira has given a very 
interesting account in his ‘ Elements of Materia Medica/ They 
are used both medicinally and pharmaceutically, and in Poland 
commonly in the cure of that terrible disease, plica Polonica. 
But its principal use is at theatres, where it is employed in filling 
flash-boxes, and for producing artificial lightning. And lastly, we 
have only to mention that a very important use is made of one 
of the Horse-tails , Equisetum hyemale , L., of which the cuticle so 
much abounds in silex that the stems are extensively employed 
in polishing hard woods, brass, ivory, etc , and for these purposes 
are largely imported from the Continent (albeit common enough 
in England) under the name of Butch rushes. By these means 
the Dutch are said to keep their milk-pails beautifully clean. 
pose of stopping haemorrhages; and this is the very substance now under con¬ 
sideration. Nor can we affirm that this plant of Kunze is not that which gave 
rise to the tales of wonder, for, although the species was first botanically deter¬ 
mined by Kunze from Cuming’s Philippine Island specimens, and although it is 
shown to be a native also of Sumatra, yet we have lately (in e Kew Garden Mis¬ 
cellany/ vol. ix. p. 334) had occasion to record the fact of our having received spe¬ 
cimens of the same Pern from Hongkong, Chusan, and South China, of which 
country the Barometz is considered a native. It is true the words “ Tartarian ” 
and “ Scythian ” are applied to it, perhaps to make it the more wonderful, as 
Dr. Darwin has done by transferring the plant to the Polar regions, in his well- 
known lines,— 
“ Cradled in snow and fanned by arctic air 
Shines, gentle Barometz , thy golden hair ; 
Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends, 
An d round and round her flexile neck she bends ; 
Crops the grey coral moss and hoary thyme, 
Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime ; 
Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam, 
Or seems to bleat, a Vegetable Lamb” 
Botanic Garden {with a figure). 
Royal Gardens, Kew, January 1, 1861. 
