AES 
,ETH 
AESCULUS, in botany, a genus of the 
Heptandria Monogynia class and order, of 
the natural order of Trihilatae. There are 
three species : the first, or common horse- 
chestnut, was brought from the northern 
parts of Asia into Europe about the year 
1550, and sent to Vienna about the year 
1558. From Vienna it was conveyed to 
France and Italy ; but it came to us from 
the Levant. It is distinguished by the beau- 
tiful parabolic form of its branches, the dis- 
position and structure of its digitate leaves, 
and by the pyramidal bunches of its white 
flowers, variegated near the centre with yel- 
low or red. Although this tree is now less 
in esteem for avenues and walks than it for- 
merly was, on account of the early decay of 
its leaves, it affords an excellent shade ; and 
the spikes of flowers which appear in May, 
with the intermixture of large leaves, exhibit 
a noble appearance. The most eligible situa- 
tion for these trees is in lawns and parks, 
where they may be planted singly, and where 
their fruit will be serviceable to the deer, 
who are fond of it. This tree is of quick 
growth ; and in a few years it will afford a 
good shade in summer, and yield plenty of 
flowers. Trees, raised from nuts, have in 1 Si 
or II years become large enough to shade 
two or three chairs with their branches, 
which in the season are covered with flowers. 
But the trees are of short duration, and the 
wood is of little value. It serves, however, 
for water-pipes, turner’s ware, and fuel : and 
for these uses it is worth the charge of plant- 
ing, and should be felled in November or 
December. The horse-chesnut has been 
employed in France and Switzerland for the 
purpose of bleaching yarn; and it is recom- 
mended in the Memoirs of the Society of 
Berne, VoL II. part 2, as capable of exten- 
sive use in whitening not only flax and hemp, 
but silk and wool. It contains an astringent 
saponaceous juice, which is obtained by 
peeling the nuts, and grinding or rasping 
them. They are then mixed with hot rain 
or running water, in the proportion of 20 
nuts to 10 or 12 quarts of water. Wove 
caps and stockings were milled in this water, 
and took the dye extremely well ; and suc- 
cessful trials were made of it in fulling stuffs 
and cloths. Linen washed in this water 
takes a pleasing light sky-blue colour ; and 
the filaments of hemp, steeped in it some 
days, were easily separated. The author 
of the memoir, above referred to, imagines, 
that if the meal of the chestnuts could be 
made into cakes or balls, it would answer 
the purposes of soap, in washing and full- 
ing. The sediment, after infusion, loses its 
bitter taste,’ and becomes good food for 
fowls when mixed with bran. The Edin- 
burgh College have admitted the horse- 
chestnut into their Pharmacopceia of 1783, 
on the recommendation of Dr. Gardiner, 
who says, that three or four grains of tlie 
powder snuffed up the nostrils in the eve- 
ning, operate next morning as an excellent 
sternutatory, and thereby proves very be- 
neficial in obstinate inflammations of the 
eyes. A patent was granted, in 1796, to 
Lord W. Murray, for his discovery of a 
method of extracting starch from horse- 
chestnuts. 
The second species, or yellow-flowered 
horse-chestnut, is a native of North Caro- 
lina, was cultivated with us in 1764, and 
flowers in May and June. 
The third species, or scarlet horse-chest- 
nut, rises to the height of twenty feet, 
without much extending its branches; its 
bark is smooth, and the leaves, which are 
opposite, on long, red petioles, are of a 
light green. 
The common horse-chestnut is propa- 
gated by sowing the nuts, after preserving 
them in sand during the winter : but the 
scarlet is propagated by grafting it upon 
stocks of the common horse-chestnut. 
jETHUSA, in botany, a genus of the Pen- 
tandria Digynia class and order, and belong- 
ing to the natural order of Umbellatae or Urn- 
belliferae: the calyx is an universal spreading 
umbel, and the partial is also spreading, 
but small ; having no universal involucre, 
and the partial one placed on the outside, 
and consisting only of three very long, linear, 
pendulous leaflets, and the proper perian- 
thium scarcely observable: the universal 
corolla is nearly uniform, with all the flos- 
cules fertile, and the partial has the petals 
bent in, heart-shaped, and unequal : the 
stamina are simple filaments, with roundish 
anthers ; the pistillum is an inferior germ, and 
the styles are reflex, with obtuse stigmas : 
it has no periearpium, and the fruit is round- 
ish, streaked and bipartite : the seeds are 
two, roundish, streaked, except on a third 
part of the surfaee, which is plain. There 
are four species, the principal is IE. cyna- 
pium, common fool’s parsley, or lesser hem- 
lock, which is a common weed in fields and 
kitchen-gardens, and in a slight degree poi- 
sonous. It is easily distinguished when in 
flower, in July and August, from true par- 
sley and chervil, by the three narrow pen- 
dent leaflets of the involucre, placed on the 
outer part only of the umbel, and by its bs- 
