2665 “Graphium.” Properly a stylus or iron pen.
2666 “Glandia.” This analogy, Fée remarks, does not hold good.
2668 And at an angle with the grain or fibre of the wood.
2669 And at right angles. In the Dicotyledons, the disposition of the fibres is longitudinal and transversal.
2670 Guttum.
2671 For the simple reason, because the part near the root is of greater diameter.
2672 Soft ligneous layers.
2674 Hard wood—such as we know generally as “heart;” “heart of oak” for instance.
2675 Probably that of the ligneous layers near the pith or sap.
2676 “Limo:” the alburnum previously mentioned.
2677 This practice was formerly forbidden by the forest laws of France.
2678 In B. xviii.
2679 Pliny borrows this superstition from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. vi. c. 1.
2680 This was the name of mimic sea-fights, exhibited at Rome in the Circus or amphitheatres, or else in lakes dug expressly for the purpose. Hardouin says, there were five Naumachiæ at Rome, in the 14th region of the City.
2681 This practice is no longer followed.
2682 De Re Rust. c. 31; also cc. 17 and 37.
2683 This practice is observed in modern times.
2685 Pliny, no doubt, observes an analogy between the hair of the human head, and trees as forming the hair of the earth. The superstition here mentioned, Fée says, was, till very recently, observed in France to a considerable extent.
2686 De Re Rust. 1, 37.
2687 Terebinthine or turpentine.
2688 “Ad fabrorum intestina opera medulla sectilis.” This passage is probably corrupt.
2690 With reference to the fir, namely.
2691 B. iii. c. 5.
2692 B. iv. c. 3.
2693 An additional proof, perhaps, that the cedar of the ancients is only one of the junipers, and that, as Fée says, they were not acquainted with the real cedar.
2694 B. iii. c. 4.
2695 “Spiras.” It seems to have been the opinion of the ancients that the internal knots of the wood are formed spirally. Such is not the fact, as they consist of independent layers.
2696 Centra.
2697 He takes this account from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. v. c. 3.
2698 The greatest height, Fée says, of any tree known, is that of the palm, known as ceroxylon; it sometimes attains a height of 250 feet. Adanson speaks of the baobab as being 90 feet in circumference.
2700 See B. xix. c. 6.
2701 A spot enclosed in the Campus Martius, for the resort of the people during the Comitia, and when giving their votes.
2702 “Diribitorium.” This was the place, probably, where the diribitores distributed to the citizens the tabellæ, with which they voted in the Comitia, or else, as Wunder thinks, divided the votes, acting as “tellers,” in the modern phrase.
2703 Caligula.
2704 B. xxxvi. c. 14.
2705 See B. xxxvi. c. 14. This was a mortar made of volcanic ashes, which hardened under water. It is now known as Pozzuolane.
2706 The Pinus cedrus of Linnæus.
2707 The canoes were formed probably of the fir.
2708 The Celtis australis of Linnæus.
2710 This, Fée says, is not the case, if the Syrian terebinth is the same as the Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.
2711 This is not the case; a nail has a firm hold in all resinous woods.
2712 This is evidently a puerile absurdity: but it is borrowed from Theophrastus, Hist. Plant. B. v. c. 4.
2713 The savages of North America, and, indeed, of all parts of the globe, seem to have been acquainted with this method of kindling fire from the very earliest times.
2714 See B. xxiv. c. 49. The Viticella, belonging to the genus clematis.
2715 This unfounded notion is borrowed from Theophrastus, B. v. c. 4.
2716 In the modern botanical sense of the word, the male trees do not bear at all.
2717 Asia Minor, namely. See B. xxxv. c. 21.
2718 The junctures where the pieces of wood are united by glue. This is to be observed very easily in the greater part of the oaken statuary that is so plentiful in the churches of Belgium.
2719 Cypress is perhaps the most lasting of all woods.
2720 One of the earliest appellations, probably, of Jupiter among the Romans. See Ovid’s Fasti, B. iii. l. 445, et seq.
2721 This is correct. Their resin defends them from the action of the air, from damp, and the attacks of noxious insects.
2727 There is nothing very surprising in this, as most woods are preserved better when completely immersed in water, than when exposed to the variations of the atmosphere.
2728 He borrows this fable from Theophrastus, B. v. c. 5.
2729 This process, Fée says, would be attended with no success.
2730 It is not quite clear whether he intends this observation to apply to the poplar and the palm, or to the last only. It is true, however, in neither case, and is contrary, as Fée observes, to all physical laws.
2731 The resistance that woods offer when placed vertically is in the same ratio as that presented by them when employed horizontally. This paragraph is borrowed from Theophrastus, B. iii. c. 4, and B. v. cc. 6, 7, 8.
2732 Ferula.
2735 Fée thinks, from the context, that the meaning is, that the vine was employed in the construction of chariots; it depends entirely on the punctuation adopted.
2736 This could only have happened in the first year that they were so employed.
2737 De Re Rust. c. 31.
2738 It is singular, Fée says, to find the wood of the palm, and that of the poplar, which are destitute of veins, enumerated among those employed for veneering.
2740 According to Adanson, the baobab will live for more than six thousand years.
2741 The Celtis australis of Linnæus.
2742 In consequence of the disputes between the patricians and plebeians.
2743 Thus deriving Lucina from “lucus,” a grove.
2744 Capillos.
2745 An area before the temple of Vulcan.
2746 “Stationes municipiorum.” A sort of exchange, near the Forum, where the citizens met to discuss the topics of the day.
2747 See B. iv. c. 18. Of course, this story must be regarded as fabulous.
2748 Quercus.
2749 These are fables founded upon the known longevity of trees, which, as Fée remarks, Pliny relates with a truly “infantine simplicity.”
2750 See B. v. c. 43.
2751 See B. v. c. 29.
2752 The palm is by no means a long-lived tree.
2753 The pomegranate, on the contrary, has been known to live many centuries.
2754 He has elsewhere said that the vine is extremely long-lived.
2755 In the last Chapter he has spoken of a laurel having existed for many centuries.
2756 To its great detriment, probably.
2757 Fée says that no holm-oak is ever known to attain this size.
2759 Sprengel says that this is the parasitic plant, which he calls Cassyta filiformis. Fée says that this opinion, though perhaps not to be absolutely rejected, must be accepted with reserve.
2760 It does not seem to have been identified.
2761 See B. xviii. c. 33.
2762 Serpyllum. See B. xx. c. 90.
2763 A mistletoe, apparently, growing upon the wild olive. Fée says that no such viscus appears to be known.
2764 See B. xxvii. c. 66. The Calcitrapa stellata of Lamarck. Fée remarks that Pliny has committed a great error, in making it a parasite of the Spina fullonia. Dioscorides only says that the two plants grow in the same spots.
2765 The Viscum Europæum of modern naturalists.
2766 The Viscum album of Linnæus; but Sprengel takes it to be the Loranthus Europæus.
2767 Fée questions whether this may not be the Loranthus Europæus.
2768 The Viscum album of Linnæus; the oak mistletoe or real mistletoe.
2769 This is not the fact: it grows upon a vast multitude of other trees.
2770 It is no longer used for this purpose.
2771 The mistletoe never in any case loses its leaves, upon whatever tree it may grow.
2772 This is, of course, untrue; but the seeds, after being voided by birds, are more likely to adhere to the bark of trees, and so find a nidus for germination.
2773 The exact opposite is the case, the female being the fruitful plant.
2774 The method used in Italy for making bird-lime is very similar at the present day.
2775 Magos.
2776 Decandolle was of opinion, that the mistletoe of the Druids was not a viscum, but the Loranthus Europæus, which is much more commonly found on oaks.
2777 Δρῦς, an “oak.” It is much more probable that it was of Celtic origin.
2778 Omnia sanantem.
2779 “Sagum.” Properly, a “military cloak.”
2780 It was, in comparatively recent times, supposed to be efficacious for epilepsy.
2781 See end of B. ii.
2782 Author of a History or Annals of Rome. Nothing further is known of him.
2783 See end of B. vi.
2784 See end of B. ii.
2785 See end of B. iii.
2786 See end of B. vii.
2787 See end of B. iii.
2788 See end of B. ii.
2789 See end of B. ii.
2790 See end of B. vii.
2791 He is wholly unknown; but is conjectured to have lived in the reign of Caligula or Tiberius.
2792 See end of B. vii.
2794 He is unknown; but Solinus speaks of him as a valuable writer.
2795 M. Vitruvius Pollio, an eminent architect, employed by Augustus. His valuable work on architecture is still extant.
2797 See end of B. iii.
2798 See end of B. vii.
2799 See end of B. iii.
2800 See end of B. ii.
2801 See end of B. ii.
2802 He alludes to the various shrubs and trees, mentioned as growing in the sea, B. xiii. c. 48; but which there is little doubt, in reality belong to the class of fuci.
2803 “Fiunt verius quam nascuntur;” a distinction perpetuated in the adage, “Poeta nascitur, non fit.”
2805 Q. Luctatius Catulus, the colleague of Marius. Being afterwards condemned to die by Marius, he suffocated himself with the fumes of charcoal.
2806 A.U.C. 659.
2807 Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 1, relates this story somewhat differently.
2808 The Celtis Australis of Linnæus.
2809 See B. xxxvi. cc. 3 and 24.
2810 When, in his capacity of ædile, he gave theatrical representations for the benefit of the public.
2811 As Fée remarks, this usage has been reversed in modern times, and plants often receive their botanical names from men.
2812 See B. xviii. c. 4.
2813 Or north north-east, as Fée says. He adds that this aspect in reality is not favourable to vegetation. Pliny commits the error of copying exactly from Theophrastus, and thereby giving advice to Roman agriculturists, which was properly suited to the climate of Greece only.
2814 This is borrowed from Theophrastus; but, as Fée remarks, if suitable to the climate of Greece, it is not so to that of Italy or France, where vegetation is much more promoted by a south wind.