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in Judea, there was not any Thorne so common, so pliant, or so fit
for to make a crown or garland of, nor any so full of cruell sharpe
prickles. It groweth throughout the whole countrey in such abundance,
that it is there common fuell to burn; yea, so common with
them there as our Gorse, Brakes, and Broome is here with us.
Josephus [lib. i,cap. 2 of his Antiquities) saith. That this Thorne
hath the most sharp prickles of any other; wherefore that Christ
might bee the more tormented, the Jews rather tooke this than
any other.” The shrub still abounds in Judea, and has pliable
branches armed with sharp spines. (See T h o r n .)
C H R Y S A N T H E M U M .—The leaf and flower of the Chrysanthemum
Indicum were long ago adopted as, and are still, the
special emblem and blazon of Mikados of Japan. One of the most
popular of the Japanese festivals is that held in honour of the golden
Chrysanthemum, or Kiku. The Japanese florists display their
Chrysanthemums built up into the forms of their gods or heroes;
thus, in their exhibitions, are to be seen effigies of Benkei, the
Hercules of Japan, gorgeously apparelled in white, purple, and
yellow Pompons ; the Sun Goddess, decked in golden blooms ;
Jimmu Tenno, a popular hero, and endless groups of gods and
goddesses, and mjdhological heroes and heroines. The Chrysanthemum
was first introduced into England in 1764 by Miller,
who received a Kok fa, or Chrysanthemum Indicum from Nimpu, and
cultivated it at the botanical garden at Chelsea. In the seventeenth
century a Chrysanthemum was grown in Dantsic. Three
Chrysanthemums (the Corn Marigold, the Ox-eyed Daisy, and the
Fever-few) are natives of England, but as they bloom in summer
when flowers are plentiful, and not in November, as our garden
varieties do, it has not been so well worth while to bestow care in
raising and improving them. The Autumn Chrysanthemums are descended
from either the Chinese or the Indian varieties, the former
of which have white flowers and the latter yellow. The Pompon
varieties are derived from the Chusan Daisy, introduced into England
from China by Mr. Fortune in 1 846. In their wild state they are
all, indeed, even the Japanese forms of the Chinese flowers, much
like Daisies, with a yellow disc surrounded by rays of florets, but by
cultivation the disc-florets are assimilated to those of the ray, and
the flower assumes a homogeneous appearance only faintly suffused
with yellow towards the centre.
C IN C H O N A .—The Cinchona, or Jesuit’s Bark-tree (Cinchona
officinalis), is a native of Peru. The famous bark was introduced
into Europe through the medium of Ana de Osorio, Countess
Cmchon, and Vice-Queen of Peru, after whom the powdered bark
was called “ Countess’s Powder.” The use of the bark was first
learned from the following circumstances :—Some Cinchona-trees
being thrown by the winds into a pool, lay there until the water
became so bitter that everyone refused to drink it, till one of the
inhabitants of the distridl being seized with violent fever, and
finding no water wherewith to quench his thirst, was forced to
drink of this, by which means he became perfeffily cured; and
afterwards, relating his cure to others, they made use of the same
remedy.
C IN N A M O N .—Bacon, in,his ‘ Natural History,’ speaks thus
of the Cinnamon {Laurus Cinnamomum):—“ The ancient Cinnamon
was of all other plants, while it grew, the dryest; and those things
which are knowne to comfort other plants did make that more
sterill: for, in showers, it prospered worst: it grew also amongst
bushes of other kindes, where commonly plants doe not thrive;
neither did it love the Sunne.” Solomon, in his Canticles, mentions
Cinnamon among the precious spices; and Moses was commanded
to use “ sweet Cinnamon” in the preparation of the holy oil used
to anoint the Tabernacle and the sacred vessels, and to consecrate
Aaron and his sons to the priesthood. The Emperor Vespasian
was the first to take chaplets of Cinnamon to Rome, wherewith to
decorate the temples of the Capitol and of Peace. It is related,
that Alexander the Great, whilst at sea, perceived he was near the
coast of Arabia, from the scent of Cinnamon wafted from the still
distant shore. The Mahometans of India used to have a curious
belief that the Cinnamon-tree is the bark, the Clove the flower, and
the Nutmeg the fruit, of one and the same tree; and most of the
writers of the Middle Ages thought that Cinnamon, Ginger, Cloves,
and Nutmegs were the produce of one tree. Gerarde tells
us, that there was formerly much controversy concerning the true
Cinnamon and Cassia of the ancients, but he considered the tree
whose bark is Cassia to be a bastard kind of Cinnamon. The
Cinnamon, he says, has pleasant leaves and fair white flowers,
which turn into round black berries, the size of an Olive, “ out of
which is pressed an oile that hath no smell at all untill it be
rubbed and chafed between the hands: the trunk or body, with
the greater arms or boughs of the tree, are covered with a double
or twofold barke, like that of the Corke-tree, the innermost whereof
is the true and pleasant Cinnamon, which is taken from this tree and
cast upon the ground in the heate of the sun, through whose heate
it turneth and foldeth itselfe round together.” The tree thus
peeled, recovered itself in three years, and was then ready to be
disbarked again. Tradition states that the ancient Arabian priests
alone possessed the right of collecting the Cinnamon. The most
patriarchal of them would then divide the precious bark, reserving
the first bundle for the Sun. After the division had taken place,
the priests left to the Sun itself the task of lighting the sacred
fire on the altar where the high priest was to offer a sacrifice.------
Theophrastus narrates that the Cinnamon flourished in the valleys
frequented by venomous serpents; and that those who repaired
thither to colleCt it were compelled to wear bandages on their
hands and feet. After the Cinnamon was collected, it was divided
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