634 ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
(Memo), a tendril, from the climbing nature of the species, 
and vitis alba, white vine. It is sometimes called vir¬ 
gins’ bower, which name was given to it by Gerarde in 
1957, * by reason of the goodly shadowe which they make 
with their thick bushing and climbing; as also for the 
beautie of the flowers, and the pleasant savour or scent of 
the same.’ This pretty plant is one of the greatest orna¬ 
ments of our country hedges, with its copious clusters of 
white blossoms and succeeding heaps of feather-tailed 
silky tufts. In some places it is used as fodder for cattle, 
an acrid juice, which the leaves contain whilst fresh, disap¬ 
pearing after drying. The branches are tough enough to 
make withes for faggots, for which purpose it is always 
used in woods where it can be procured. As a medicine, it 
has had some reputation internally as a remedy for dropsy, 
and in the form of an infusion for rheumatism. In France 
the irritating and vesicatory properties of its juice are 
sometimes turned to account by beggars, who apply it to 
their skin to produce ulcers and excite compassion. In the 
same country the twigs are used to make beehives, bas¬ 
kets, &c.; they probably grow stronger in a warm climate. 
A section of clematis wood forms a very interesting object 
under the microscope; the air vessels and cells are 
arranged in a radiate manner, allowing the air to circulate 
freely through them. This circumstance is turned to 
account by our village boys, who smoke pieces of the wood 
as they do of rattan cane : hence it is sometimes called 
smoke-wood and smoking-cane.” 
We learn from Sowerby’s f Useful Plants ’ that travellers’ 
joy was Formerly used by the herbalists in rheumatism 
and similar affections, in which they act as a rubefacient 
when applied for any time to the skin, producing small 
blisters. They were bruised before use, and were much 
recommended by our old writers. The stems have been 
employed in some parts of the country for the manufacture 
of baskets of a rough kind, a purpose for which their 
toughness well adapts them.”* 
The plant is still retained in some foreign pharmacopoeias, 
especially some exotic species, which possess very acrid 
qualities. However, with all of them this acridity is 
lessened on drying, and it is stated that preserved hedge 
clippings with clematis are perfectly innocuous. It is so 
with mos!; of the order ; drying seems at once to dissipate 
the strong narcotic principles more or less present in all 
the species. 
# ‘ The Useful Plants of Great Britain,’ p. 8. 
