25 
enchantment. ‘^It is a pity,” says an old writer, ^^that 
such remedies will not also protect us against death.” 
Parkinson sagely remarks The seed which this and the 
Female Pern do bear, and to be gathered only on Midsum- 
mer eve at night, with I know not what conjuring words, 
is superstitiously held by divers, not only mountebanks and 
quacksalvers, but by other learned men, (yet it cannot be 
said but by those that are too superstitiously a ddicted) to be 
of some secret hidden virtue, but I cannot find it exprest 
what it should be.” "Without dwelling on the imaginary 
virtues of this plant, which exist only in the minds of the 
credulous and superstitious, we may venture to state that 
God in His mercy has given us this excellent herb as one 
of the best remedies for tsenia or tapeworm. It appears to 
have been used by the ancient physicians Theophrastus, 
Dioscorides, and Galen. Professor Christison, in the Edin- 
burgh Monthly Journal for June, 1852, and July, 1853, has 
shown that it is almost uniformly successful in the form 
of an oleoresinous extract, obtained by percolation of the 
root with ether. He, indeed, commends it as a less dis- 
agreeable and more efficient anthelmintic than the Abyssin- 
ian Kousso, the continental pomegranate, or the American 
turpentine. 
There is no difficulty in the cultivation of this Pern. Sup- 
ply it with rich vegetable mould in a shady place, and keep 
it rather moist, and it will flourish. It needs not so much 
water as either the Eoyal Flowering or Mountain Pern. 
Newman places the three next species under a different 
genus^ which he calls Lophodium (plumed or feathered.) It 
seems letter and simpler to retain them among the Shield 
Ferns. (Lastrea) Let it however he remembered with regard 
to these, that the first upper hranchlet (pinnule) of the lowest 
pinnae is much shorter than the first under hranchlet, Vid, 
Flate I, fig, 8 and 9, and Flate If fig, 10. 
* * « Sweet to muse upon his skill displayed, 
Infinite skill in all that he has made, 
To trace in nature’s most minute design, 
The signature and stamp of power divine. 
Contrivance intricate, expressed with ease. 
Where unassisted sight no beauty sees.” — Cowper. 
