THE WILLOW. 
35 
though that certainly would have been a very appro- 
priate name for them. 
Weeping willows are large and beautiful trees that 
came from the eastern part of Asia. The twigs are 
very long and slender and hang down like a veil all 
about the tree. 
Weeping willows are favorites in parks and pleasure 
grounds, and it used to be the fashion to plant them in 
cemeteries, at the heads of gravestones. 
Everybody who has tried to preserve bird skins, or 
the skins of small animals, doubtless knows what sali- 
cylic acid is, but not everybody knows that this is 
obtained from the bark of willows and poplars. Some 
species of willow contain a great deal of the substance 
from which salicylic acid is made. 
Salicylic acid prevents animal tissue from decaying, 
