RHUBARB. it as a drug. Its propagation is greatly assisted by FAMILIAR as we may be with the name and proper- the peculiar habits of the marmot. This little animal, ties of this plant, we are yet ignorant of the source in making its burrow, throws up a quantity of loose from whence we derive true rhubarb. Many endea-earth around it, and in the light soil thus formed, and vours have been made to discover the precise species in a country where marmots abound, the seeds which yields this valuable medicine. The countries of the rhubarb are said to germinate almost exfrom which we receive it have been visited with exclusively.

press reference to this object, and much attention has The roots of this plant are gathered in spring and been bestowed on the culture of the different known autumn, and the natives, after removing the cortical species, and on the comparison of their roots with part, cut them into small pieces, to facilitate the the rhubarb of the shops; but these attempts have drying. A hole is cut through each piece, and they hitherto proved entirely unsuccessful, nor is it surpris- are then strung upon a small cord, and hung up in ing that such should have been the result, when we the air to dry, beneath a shed which protects them consider that the labour and difficulty of penetrating from the rays of the sun, and where they sometimes into the country where the true rhubarb is supposed remain a whole year, before they are fit for sale. to grow, must necessarily be great; while the jealousy of those who have hitherto found it a profitable article of commerce, is sure to lay many obstacles in the way of discovery.

Several kinds of Rhubarb are known in commerce. The most esteemed is Turkey or Russia rhubarb which was formerly brought to Europe through the Turkish provinces of Asia Minor, but is now received from Rhubarb has been in use, as a medicine, for centu- Russia. It is brought from the native country to the ries, and until the year 1732 it was believed to be frontier town of Kiachta in Siberia, where it is yielded by the species rheum raponticum, Linn., so gene-examined by a Russian government officer. The bad rally cultivated in our gardens for the sake of the leafstalks, the agreeable acidity of which, owing to their containing, in common with other plants of the same natural order, a portion of oxalic acid, has brought them into extensive requisition for making tarts and preserves. But the roots of this latter species are found to yield a product very little resembling the true rhubarb, and its cultivation for medicinal purposes has long been abandoned. This species is distinguished by the leaves being roundish ovate, obtuse, pale green, with a few hairs beneath on the nerves and margins, The roots are large and thick, and like those of most of the other species, reddish brown without, and yellow within.

In 1732 some seeds were planted at Paris and Chelsea, as those of the true Rhubarb, but they produced the species rheum undulatum, distinguished by its dark green, extremely wavy leaves, and by the redness of its footstalks, the roots of which also differ widely from those of the genuine drug.

pieces are rejected and burned, and those of good quality are transmitted to Moscow and St. Petersburg, where they undergo a second examination, and any inferior pieces are picked out. On account of this careful selection of the drug, Russian rhubarb is always of good quality, and bears a higher price in the market than any other kind.

Russian rhubarb is offered for sale in pieces, each from one and a half to two inches broad, and two or three inches long. The shape of these pieces is sometimes flat, but more frequently conical. They are always perforated at one end, and occasionally there are other small holes observable, not passing completely through them, but made for the purpose of examining the interior of the specimens. The colour externally is of a bright golden yellow, owing to the pieces being covered with a powder, formed by their friction upon each other. Under the teeth good rhubarb feels gritty, owing to the presence of small crystals of oxalate of lime.

The

Some seeds were obtained by Kaan Boërhaave, in There is a second variety of rhubarb, which is per1750, which produced both rheum undulatum and rheum haps obtained from the same source as the Russian, palmatum, the latter of which approaches more nearly but it is known in commerce by the name of East Into the true plant in the colour, taste, and smell of the dia or Chinese rhubarb, being imported chiefly from root, than any other. The leaves of this plant distin- Canton and Singapore. It is of inferior quality to guish it from all the other species: they are palmated, the Russian rhubarb, because it is not subjected to with acuminate segments; and though the Bucharian the same careful and rigid examination, and portions rhubarb merchants know nothing of such a leaf as of the root often come to us in a state of decay. that of rheum palmatum, and always describe the smell and taste of the Chinese rhubarb are also true rhubarb plant as having round leaves, with inferior to those of the Russian, though not in any waved edges, yet the idea that the plant raised by Boër-marked degree, and the price it brings in the market haave is the genuine one, has been, and is still, exten- is much lower. Thus while Russian rhubarb in bond sively entertained. is quoted in the official returns of the prices current at eight shillings and three pence per pound, the East India or Chinese is stated to bring only from two shillings and sixpence to four shillings.

In 1790 an apothecary, of the name of Sievers, was sent into Siberia by Catherine the Second of Russia, for the purpose of penetrating, if possible, into the rhubarb country, and of ascertaining the true plant; but after four years' ineffectual effort, he returned with no further information than had been before obtained on the subject. From that time to the present no further attempts seem to have been made to discover the source of true rhubarb, so that a subject of investigation is left open to the scientific botanist, which is well worthy his attention. Though this plant has not been seen by any scientific person, yet some interesting information has been gathered from the reports of other travellers, as to its growth and production. It is said to be a native of the central parts of Thibet, where it is not made the subject of special culture, but grows spontaneously in sufficient abundance to supply all the demands for

Another variety, not superior in value to the Chinese, is the Dutch-trimmed, or Batavian, which is also brought from Canton or Singapore, and is considered as a distinct commercial kind.

A third variety of rhubarb is the English, which appears to be chiefly the roots of rheum palmatum. It was first extensively grown at Banbury in Oxfordshire, by Mr. Hayward, in 1780, and it is still cultivated to a large extent there. About this time very sanguine expectations were formed as to the qualities and cultivation of English rhubarb, and attempts were made to raise it for medicinal purposes, in various quarters; but though it has continued to be cultivated to some extent, its inferiority to, the foreign varieties is universally admitted.

KNOW

HOTEL DE VILLE, BETHUNE.

THE TOWN OF BETHUNE,

IN FRANCE.

BETHUNE is a little town in the north of France, situated in the department of the Pas de Calais. Under the ancient division of the kingdom it was comprised within the Province or County of Artois, which formed a part of what was generally termed the French Netherlands, though not of the province which was specifically called Flandre; and it held the third place among the towns of that district. It is now the capital of an arrondissement containing eight cantons; and its rank among the towns of the department is but the sixth in point of population. It has between 7000 and 8000 inhabitants, a smaller number than either Arras, Boulogne, Saint Omer, Calais, or Aire. Bethune is a fortified town of some strength; its form is nearly triangular, and one of the angles is occupied by the castle, which was built by the celebrated Marshal Vauban.

made, and on the 28th of August following, the town surrendered. At the peace of Utrecht, in 1713, this conquest was restored, and Bethune has ever since remained annexed to the French crown.

Though Bethune is but a small town, its name sounds familiarly in our ears, from the circumstance of its having given a title to one of the most illustrious houses of France, among whose members not the least renowned is the famous Maximilien Bethune, Duc de Sully. The seigneurs, or lords, to whom it belonged before it was incorporated with the kingdom of France, were a noble race of high antiquity, and large possessions, connected by alliances with the principal families of that country and of the Netherlands.

Some of the Lords of Bethune engaged in the crusades, and died gloriously in the Holy Land; and there was one Conon, or Colon de Bethune, who assisted in conquering the Greek empire in the year 1203. He became Governor of Constantinople and Bethune is built upon the banks of the little river Lord of Adrianople, of which latter city his son Bietre, or Lave. Its general appearance is not very afterwards made himself king; and on the death of prepossessing, the streets being bad, and the houses the emperor Peter of Courtenay, he was named ill-built; it has, however, a fine place or square-regent of the empire. The sixth lord of Bethune, which is said to be of a considerable size, and to Robert the Fifth, came as ambassador to England from possess much beauty. The Hotel de Ville, or town- Count Philip of Flanders, with whom he had been house, which forms a portion of it, is among the best previously engaged in a crusade, and afterwards acpublic edifices of the town; it is represented in our companied the French king, Louis the Young, on a engraving. The ecclesiastical buildings possess no visit to the tomb of Thomas à Becket at Canterpeculiar attractions; the principal among them is bury; he then returned to Palestine and was killed somewhat remarkable for the elegance of its nave, at the siege of Ptolemais. which is supported by very slender columns. Before the Revolution there was, besides the two parishchurches of Saint Waast and Sainte Croix, a collegiate chapel of Bethune, dedicated to Saint Barthélémy; its chapter was composed of twenty-four canons and as many chaplains. There were also two priories, four convents for women, and religious houses of the order of Capuchins, and Recollets or Reformed Franciscans; until the suppression of the Jesuits in France, they also had an establishment in this town, with a revenue of 8000 livres.

The country around Bethune is fertile, producing. corn in abundance; it also affords excellent pasturage. Flax is grown to a considerable extent; "an arpent of good flax" is spoken of by Arthur Young, under the head of Bethune, as "worth more than one of wheat; yet good wheat is worth 200 livres." Coleseed is another article of its produce, and is cultivated largely, but chiefly for the sake of the oil, which is expressed by the aid of mills in the immediate neighbourhood of the town. The cheeses of Bethune are renowned as excellent; they are consumed to a great extent in the neighbouring departments, and thus the manufacture of them gives rise to a traffic of some importance to this little town. There is a navigable canal running from the river Lys to Bethune, where it forms a beautiful dock capable of admitting large barges.

Bethune first came under the dominion of the French crown in the middle of the seventeenth century; it was captured in 1645 by Gaston Duke of Orléans, in the war which France carried on against the King of Spain and the Emperor of Germany, during the minority of Louis the Fourteenth, and the possession of it was definitively secured by the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. The celebrated Vauban was afterwards employed to fortify it; and the skill and care which he bestowed upon it rendered it a strong place. Nevertheless, it was captured from the French by the Duke of Marlborough in the early part of the eighteenth century. The siege began on the 15th of July, 1710; two regular attacks were

A branch of this noble family was established in Scotland, about the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century, by the Count of Aumale, one of the sons of Robert of Bethune, the Fifth. One of his descendants married the heiress of a lord of Balfour, and having been thus united with the possessions of the family of Bethune, he took the title of Balfour, which his successors retained after him. "There is no family in Scotland," says the Dictionnaire, "which has arrived at greater honours either in church or state. It has given to the church one cardinal, three archbishops, and many other dignitaries; to the state, two high chancellors, one high treasurer, besides chamberlains, ambassadors, and other great officers." The cardinal here spoken of is the individual more commonly known by the slightly corrupted name of Beaton or Beton,-who was so remarkable for his Catholic zeal, in the persecution of the Protestants of Scotland, towards the middle of the sixteenth century, and especially for the share which he had in the burning of George Wishart, their famous preacher, a crime which hastened not a little the tragical termination of his career.

LIGHT.

It was a sublime idea of one of the ancient philosophers, that, if the Almighty were to become visible to mankind, he would choose truth for his body, and light for his shadow. Indeed, there are few subjects upon which the natural philosopher lingers with more instruction and admiration, than upon the laws which regulate the various and the splendid phenomena of optical science. The theories of the production and the propagation of light, have long engaged the masterminds of first rate mathematicians, to whom it presents subjects worthy of the most refined analytical skill. To trace the progress of a ray of light, through its various reflections and refractions, (whether as concerns the exquisite mechanism of the human eye, or that admirable specimen of human ingenuity, the