active. Who does not like to hear
that Samphire comes from Saint-Pierre, and Tansy from Athanasie, and
that Jerusalem Artichokes are a kind of sunflower, whose baptismal name
is a corruption of _girasole_, and simply describes the flower's love
for the sun? Does this explain all the Jerusalems which are scattered
through our popular flora,--as Jerusalem Beans and Jerusalem Cherries?
The common theory has been that the sons of the Puritans, by a slight
theological reaction, called everything which was not quite genuine on
week-days by that name which sometimes wearied them on Sundays.

It is pleasant also to be reminded that our common Yarrow (_Achillea
millefolium_) dates back to Achilles, who used it to cure his wounded
friend, and that Mint is simply Menthe, transformed to a plant by the
jealous Proserpine. It is refreshing to know that Solomon's Seal was so
named by reason of the marks on its root; and that this root, according
to the old herbalists, "stamped while it is fresh and greene, and
applied, taketh away in one night, or two at the most, any bruse, black
or blew spots gotten by falls, or woman's wilfulness in stumbling upon
their hasty husband's fists, or such like." It was surely a generous
thing in Solomon, who set his seal of approbation upon the rod, to
furnish in that same signet a balm for injuries like these.

This pretty gift-book is the first really American contribution to the
language of flowers. It has many graceful and some showy illustrations;
its floral emblems are not all exotic; and though the editor's
appellation may at first seem so, a simple application of the laws of
anagram will reveal a name quite familiar, in America, to all lovers of
things horticultural.

_The American Annual Cyclopaedia and Register of Important
Events of the Year 1865._ New York: D. Appleton & Co.

Several articles in this volume give it an unusual interest and value.
The paper on Cholera is not the kind of reading to which one could have
turned with cheerfulness last July, from a repast of summer vegetables
and hurried fruits; nor can that on Trichinosis be pleasant to the
friend of pork; but they are both clearly and succinctly written, and
will contribute to the popular understanding of the dangers which they
discuss.

The Cyclopaedia, however, has its chief merit in those articles which
present _resumes_ of the past year's events in politics, literature,
science, and art. The one on the last-n