/ 
THE OFFICE OF RESINOUS MATTERS IN PLANTS. 
It has been difficult to make even a plausible con¬ 
jecture of the uses of the “proper juices” of plants. 
In their production a large amount of nutritive material 
is consumed ; and for the most part they are stored up 
irretrievably in the plant, not being reconverted into 
nutritive material. This gave some color to the old idea 
that they are excrementitious. But, besides that under 
normal conditions they are not excreted, why should a 
pine tree convert such an amount of its assimilated 
ternary matters into turpentine, which is merely to be 
excreted ? Or, if it be a by-product, what useful pro¬ 
duction or beneficial end attends the production? If 
excrementitious, the tree should be benefited by draw¬ 
ing it off. But. as De Vries remarks, and as the owners 
of the trees verv well know, the process is injurious, 
and if followed up is destructive. It goes almost with¬ 
out saying now-a-days, that the turpentine is of real 
good to the tree, else turpentine bearing trees would 
not exist. De Vries has made out a real use, which he 
thinks is the true function of the resiniferous matters in 
Coniferce and in other resin-producing plants. Resinous 
juice is stored in the tree as a balm for icounds. It is 
stored up under tension, so that it is immediately poured 
out over an abraded or wounded surface; for theso 
wounds it makes the best of dressing, promptly oxidat¬ 
ing, as it does, into a resinous coating, which excludes 
the air and wet and other injurious influences, especial¬ 
ly the germs or spores which instigate decay ; and so 
the process of healing, where there is true healing or 
reparation, or of healthy separation of the dead from 
the living tissues, is favored in the highest degree. The 
saturation of the woody layers with resin, in the vicinity 
of wounds and fractures (as is seen in the light wood of 
our hard pines, is referred to as effectively arresting the 
decay which parasitic fungi set up, this “fat” wood 
being impervious to mycelium. 
Latex or milky juice is a more complex product, of 
which certain portions have been shown to be nutritive ; 
but as to the caoutchouc and the waxy matters they 
contain, De Vries insists that they subserve a similiar 
office, are, in fact, a remedy—a protection against 
decay, a natural provision for the dressing of wounds, 
under which healing may most favorably proceed. — 
American Journal of Science. 
HOME LIFE AMONG THE JAPANESE. 
(concluded) 
From frightful dreams, in the last of which I imagined 
my head resting on the block and the executioner’s axe 
about to fall, I awoke to find my neck aching from the 
unaccustomed position. I tossed and turned uneasily, 
and longed for daylight. At last, having discarded the 
lacquered pillow and substituted a thick shawl, 1 slept 
again, and was only aroused by the gentle voice of the 
little maid-servant announcing the breakfast hour. 
I rose hastily and made my toilet. On entering the 
breakfast-room I found the entire family assembled ; 
the honorable old lady receiving the morning saluta¬ 
tions of the retainers, who humbly bowed before her. 
All wished me a “good morning," and expressed the 
hope that I had rested well. Though I had by no 
means forgotten the hideous vision of the night, and 
my poor neck still ached horribly, yet I could not bear 
to give the discourteous but truthful “no,” and en¬ 
deavored to call up a smile and a polite affirmative. 
Matayemon had been observing me slyly, and coming 
near as I approached my “ zen” (individual table), 
muttered in English— 
“ I know by the way in which you carry your head 
that a wooden pillow is not to your lilting. Be frank 
now and confess! ” I smiled and said : 
“ Perhaps time will lead me to modify my opinion ; 
at present the article is not—well—exactly comfortable.” 
“Do you hear, O Moto? ” cried the young gentleman. 
“ Do not feel badly my friend. When my old play¬ 
mate Yezaburo returned to this country, he purchased a 
foreign bedstead, and actually had it set up on the 
‘ sleeping-mat ’ to the great discomfiture of his relations 
and friends. - ’ 
“ Well,” answered O Moto, “ each country has its own 
customs; my wooden pillow seems very good to me, 
and, as you know, does not cause the hair to become dis¬ 
arranged during the night.” 
I glanced at her glossy tresses in which a piece of 
scarlet crape was becomingly nestled, and said : 
“ But, certainly, you are just from the hair-dresser’s 
hands!” 
She gave a merry laugh. 
“Ah, there is your mistake ! The hair-dresser comes 
every other day.” 
Of course under such circumstances feather pillows 
would be entirely out of place. 
Our breakfast of soup, fish, pickles, boiled rice and 
preserves being at an end. we followed our hostess to 
the “ sitting-room.” 
During the meal the sliding screens had retreated into 
their recesses, the beds, pillows and quilts disappear into 
some mysterious press or cup-board, the mats had been 
newly cleansed and laid down again, and the sun 
streamed without let or hindrance through the length 
of the great hall. 
The “family room” had also received attention; a 
fresh blossom reposed in the porcelain vase, while the 
hi-ba-chi (fire-bowl), with ever present pipes and tobacco 
offered solace. 
The ladies produced their work ; my hostess amused 
herself in covering an oddly-shaped box with raised 
flowers; the material used was the finest crape. When 
the arrangement was to her satisfaction, she took brush 
and colors and with skilled fingers touched here and 
there. The flower when completed was a veritable rose 
lacking only perfume. I admired; she depreciated, 
but ended by begging me to accept the “ poor work of 
her hands, which I was so kind as to condescend to ad¬ 
mire ! ” 
