^vembei^m!'}       A  Resume  of  Recurrent  Topics.  611 
enlargement  and  other  manifestations  of  strumous  diathesis.  Com- 
mercially considered,  sponge  is  one  of  the  apothecary's  chief  staples, 
an  exhaustless  object  of  display  by  pyramid  and  festoon.  In  those 
frequent  domestic  calamities  of  spilled  milk  and  ink,  sponge  is  the 
first  aid  and  hope  to  the  distracted.  The  preparation  of  curing  and 
bleaching  of  sponges  by  art  appears  to  be  chiefly  a  foreign  industry, 
and  the  finer  sorts  come  to  us  from  these  sources.  When  the  prop- 
agation and  growth  of  sponge  become  better  understood,  and 
they  become  an  applied  industry,  as  they  assuredly  will,  opportuni- 
ties of  studying  the  habitat  of  the  various  varieties  and  textures  of 
this  marine  vegetable  growth  will  be  sought,  and  the  means  to 
further  the  object  applied. 
Rattlesnake  Root  from  Senock. — This  was  the  title  and  derivation 
of  our  seneca  snake  root,  as  given  by  an  English  drug  merchant  to 
an  American  correspondent  as  early  as  1740.  The  value  of  the 
native  or  indigenous  materia  medica  of  America  began  very  early 
in  the  history  of  the  colonies  to  attract  the  attention  of  English  drug 
merchants,  and  they  became  very  eager  to  add  to  their  stores  those 
herbs,  barks  and  parts  of  plants  which  traced  their  properties  and 
uses  solely  to  the  domestic  practice  of  the  aborigines  of  America. 
England  then,  as  now,  produced  no  fruits,  or  even  natural  productions 
except  cereals ;  all  that  grew  was  the  result  of  artificial  cultivation. 
Many  foreign  drugs  were  sent  in  exchange  for  our  products,  rhu- 
bark,  seneca,  and  the  spices  figuring  largely  in  our  imports.  Our 
people  had  brought  some  knowledge  of  the  uses  of  these  from  the 
various  "  faderlands,"  but  those  of  our  soil  possessed  much  of  inter- 
est to  foreigners.  England  began  early  in  the  history  of  commerce 
to  take  a  conspicuous  position.  The  products  of  every  clime  were 
carried  to  her  stores  largely  in  her  own  ships,  and  her  chief  city 
soon  became  an  emporium  for  the  whole  earth,  and  the  mart  of  the 
world.  Among  the  beneficent  designs  which  are  seen  in  the  works 
of  Providence,  Nature  has  purposely  distributed  her  blessings 
among  the  different  regions  of  the  world,  that  inter-traffic  should  be 
promoted,  and  that  the  influences  of  civilization  should  flow  from 
the  intercourse  of  nations,  the  supplies  of  one  region  inviting  the 
productions  of  another.  Britain  extended  her  domain  and  empire 
through  the  avenues  of  trade,  and  her  merchants  impressed  a  char- 
acter upon  the  moral  integrity  of  business,  which  holds  to  this  day. 
In  the  drug  trade,  at  the  period  referred  to,  the  Quaker  element 
