Part 5

Podophyllum peltatum is variously known as may-apple, Indian apple, hog apple, wild lemon and raccoon berry in reference to the fruit; duck's foot (German, Entenfuss) in reference to the form of the leaf; wild jalap in reference to its medicinal properties, which are similar to that of jalap. The generic name Podophyllum, meaning foot-leaf, is given in reference to the leaf. The plant is also quite generally known as mandrake or American mandrake, but the mandrake proper, so frequently referred to in the books of Moses and in the works of Shakespeare, is not the may-apple but Mandragora officinalis L. of the night-shade family (Solanaceae), a native of southern Europe. Earlier collectors supposed the two plants to be similar if not identical. There is only one other species of Podophyllum which is a native of Europe.

Apart from its beauty the may-apple is highly valued for its fruit, which is considered a delicacy by the American Indians. Whites apparently do not care much for the fruit, though it is occasionally collected and eaten. The taste of the fully ripe fruit is quite pleasant. Some state it is like that of a tomato, and it certainly is not very nutritious. It must only be sparingly eaten because of its decidedly laxative properties. The entire plant is quite poisonous and it is stated that the cooked leaves have been eaten for "greens" with fatal results. The Indians have employed the plant medicinally for centuries.

The principal use of the American mandrake is medicinal. It is a very efficient cathartic, due to the presence of a resinous principle known as podophyllin, which has been given the name "vegetable calomel." It is no doubt true that this drug is in no small measure responsible for the decrease in the use of the old-time mineral drug calomel. Both rhizomes and leaves may be employed, but the former contain more of the active principle. The drug is rarely given alone because of the griping it produces; it is combined with hyoscyamus and belladonna, also with aloes and colocynth. In large doses it usually acts as an emetic, which would tend to prevent poisoning from an overdose. Podophyllin has been used in dropsy, scrofula and rheumatic affections. Applied externally it acts as a powerful irritant, similar to capsicum and mustard plaster.

Albert Schneider.

* * * * *

I opened the eyes of my soul. And behold, A white river-lily: a lily awake, and aware-- For she set her face upward--aware how in scarlet and gold A long wrinkled cloud, left behind of the wandering air, Lay over with fold upon fold, With fold upon fold.

And the blushing sweet shame of the cloud made her also ashamed, The white river-lily, that suddenly knew she was fair; And over the far-away mountains that no man hath named, And that no foot hath trod, Flung down out of heavenly places, then fell, as it were, A rose-bloom, a token of love, that should make them endure, Withdrawn in snow silence forever, who keep themselves pure, And look up to God. --Jean Ingelow, "A Lily and a Lute."

INDEX.

Volume VIII--June, 1900, to December, 1900, inclusive.

Almond, The (Illustration) (Albert Schneider), 188

Ant, An Hour With An (Harriet Woodbridge), 156

Antelope, The Prong-Horned (Illustration), 179

Aster, The Late Purple (Illustration), 62

Aster, The New England (Illustration), 62

Asters, The (Charles S. Raddin), 62

Autumn [Poem] (Frederick William Faber), 149

Autumn [Poem] (William Cullen Bryant), 145

Autumn [Sonnet] (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow), 98

Banana, The [Illustration] (William Kerr Higley), 95

Bantams, The Ways of Some (May H. Prentice), 152

Bass, The Calico [Illustration], 82

Bee Balm or Oswego Tea [Illustration], 117

Bird Family, A Few of the [Poem] (James Whitcomb Riley), 125

Birds and Poets [Selection] (John Burroughs), 128

Birds, Natural Rights of (Lynds Jones), 8

Bird Study (Olive Thorne Miller), 78

Bird, To the Vesper [Poem] (Frank English), 73

Birds, What Do We Owe the? (Lynds Jones), 72

Black-Eyed Susan or Ox-Eye Daisy [Illustration], 111

Bob White [Poem] (Effie L. Hallett), 128

Bob White, A True Story of a Wayward (Charles Thompson), 113

Brittany [Illustration], 34

Buffle-Head, The [Illustration], 154

Carnivorous Plants (John Merle Coulter), 228

Castles in the Air (Charles Elmer Jenney), 175

Cattle, 32

Chat, Chatter of a (Elizabeth Nunemacher), 168

Christmas To-night [Poem] (Phillips Brooks), 226

Columbine, The [Illustration] (James Jensen), 100

Daisies, Sunflower and (Albert Schneider), 110

Day and Night [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich), 132

Debt, How We May Best Pay the (Lynds Jones), 122

December, [Sonnet] (Helen Hunt Jackson), 193

December, King [Poem] (Walter Thornbury), 193

Deep, The [Poem] (John G. C. Brainard), 139

Dog and Its Ancestors, The [Illustration], 224

Eagle Lore (Phebe Westcott Humphrey), 53

Editor's Note, 144

Fashion, Cruel Treatment of Birds Demanded by (Lynds Jones), 150

Favorite Haunt, A (Berton Mercer), 227

Fish, The Flying, 144

Fish, The Growth and Variation of (Seth E. Meek), 84

Fish, The Origin of the [A Bird-Fish Story] (Albert Schneider), 90

Fishes, The Geographical Distribution of (Seth E. Meek), 161

Fishes, The Geological Succession of (Seth E. Meek), 133

Fish's Place in Nature, The (David Starr Jordan), 14

Flicker's Mistake, The (Nell Kimberly McElhone), 66

Flower, A Pattern (John Merle Coulter), 2

Flower in the Crannied Wall [Poem] (Alfred Tennyson), 68

Flowers and Their Invited Guests (John Merle Coulter), 59

Flowers and Their Unbidden Guests (John Merle Coulter), 119

Fowl, The Domestic [Illustration], 125

"Frost Spirit," Selection From the [Poem] (John Greenleaf Whittier), 169

Garden, School, 65

Gentian, Closed or Blind [Illustration], 106

Gentian, Fringed [Illustration], 106

Gentian, To the Fringed [Poem] (William Cullen Bryant), 108

Gentians, The Blue (Charles S. Raddin), 107

God's Handiwork [Poem] (John Wesley Waite), 7

Grebe, The American Eared [Illustration], 159

Grouse, The Ruffed (Florence Holbrook), 102

Home, A Charming [Poem] (Anna R. Henderson), 48

How the Swifts Came to Build in Aunt Dorothy's Chimney (Mary Grant O'Sheridan), 207

Insect Music, 31

Insects, Some Water (Charles Christopher Adams), 25

Insects, Water [Illustrations], 26

Jay, The Long-crested [Illustration], 200

Junco, The Oregon (J. Mayne Baltimore), 80

Lady's Slipper [Illustration], 58

Lake, A Mountain [Illustration], 86

Legislative Protection, A Plea for (Lynds Jones), 221

Lily, Red or Wood [Illustration], 2

Lily, The Wild Yellow, 71

Lily, Wild Yellow or Canadian [Illustration], 70

Lions, The Baby, 109

Mallows, The [Illustration], 51

Maple Leaves [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich), 232

May-Apple [Illustration] (Albert Schneider), 234

Migrations, The Fall [Poem] (Mary Drummond), 151

Moon-Baby, The [Poem] (Pall Mall Gazette), 215

Moths, The Luna and Polyphemus [Illustration] (Charles Christopher Adams), 173

Moths, The Cecropia and Promethea [Illustration] (Charles Christopher Adams), 216

Nature, Alone With [Poem] (F. Alexander Lucas), 1

Nature, The Gladness of [Poem] (William Cullen Bryant), 56

Nature [Selections] (Chaucer, Pope, Emerson, Thompson), 192

Nature, The Worship of [Poem] (John Greenleaf Whittier), 77

Nest, The Two-Storied (Ethel Morton), 41

Night, Day and [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich), 132

November [Sonnet] (William Cullen Bryant), 145

October's Bright Blue Weather [Poem] (Helen Hunt Jackson), 97

October [Sonnet] (William Cullen Bryant), 98

Oswego Tea, The [Illustration], 117

Owl, The [Poem] (Alfred Tennyson), 198

Owl, The Western Horned [Illustration], 194

Ox-Eye Daisy or Black-Eyed Susan [Illustration], 111

Pigeon, Homing [Illustration], 41

Pitcher Plant [Illustration], 228

Plant Protection (John Merle Coulter), 182

Redstart, The American [Illustration] (Benjamin True Gault), 140

River, A Mountain [Illustration], 20

River-Lily, A [Poem] (Jean Ingelow), 236

Rivers, Some Interesting Things About (Jenkin Lloyd Jones), 20

Rose-Mallow, Swamp [Illustration], 51

Sapsucker, The Red-Breasted [Illustration], 212

"Seasons," Selection from the [Poem] (Hood), 176

Sea Birds, Home of the [Illustration], 134

Selection [Poem] (Milton), 83

Selection [Poem] (James Russell Lowell), 222

Sensitive Plant, The [Illustration], 182

September [Poem] (Helen Hunt Jackson), 49

Snowdrop's Philosophy, The [Poem] (Wildea Wood), 55

Song [Poem] (George Eliot), 157

Sparrow, The Vesper [Illustration], 74

Sunfish, The Common [Illustration], 14

Sunflower, Tall or Giant [Illustration], 111

Sunflowers and Daisies (Albert Schneider), 110

Sunrise Serenade, The [Poem] (Victor A. Hermann), 202

Tanager, The Louisiana [Illustration], 166

Thrush, Wilson's [Illustration], 8

Thrush, Wilson's, 13

Tiger-Lilies [Poem] (Thomas Bailey Aldrich), 68

Tree, The Birth of a [Poem] (Lucia Belle Cook), 187

Tree-Duck, The Fulvous [Illustration], 205

Trout, The Rainbow [Illustration] (Seth E. Meek), 130

Victim of Circumstances, A (Mary Morrison), 203

What Birds Eat [Selection] (Olive Thorne Miller), 80

Wheat Harvesting (J. F. Steward), 42

Wheat Harvesting in the Great Northwest [Illustration], 47

White Table in the Woods, A (Elizabeth Reed Brownell), 214

Willet, Some Facts About the Western [Illustration] (Frank M. Woodruff), 146

+----------------------------------------------------------------- + | Transcriber's Note: | | | | Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. | | | | Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant | | form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. | | | | Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. | | | | Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs | | and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that | | references them. The pagination of corresponding index entries | | was corrected. | | | | Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, | | _like this_. | | | | The Contents table was added by the transcriber. | | | | The index contains links to articles in other issues of _Birds | | and Nature_ magazine: Volume VIII Number 1, June, 1900, Volume | | VIII Number 2, September 1900, Volume VIII Number 3, October | | 1900, Volume VIII Number 4, November 1900. | +------------------------------------------------------------------+