father having also been its medical superintendent, Dr. Tuke has a hereditary claim to be heard in describing changes in which the York Retreat set an honourable example. Of this institution, and of others best known throughout the country, a full account is given, preceded by a historical statement of the treatment of the insane in the good old times." It is a very painful and humiliating record. Those who can take pleasure in reading it, without a strong sense of thankfulness that such abuses have passed away, must have a very morbid taste. Yet less than a century since it was a common holiday pleasure to go to see the mad folk, as in Paris, at a much later date, it was an amusement to see les fous. The history of the change of treatment and of the change in public sentiment forms the main subject in Dr. Tuke's volume, which contains many details of a special and professional rather than a general interest. It is not a book that many will care to read right through, although valuable for consultation and reference.

There are illustrations, among the most striking of which are two pictures, one showing a ward in Bethlem Hospital in the middle of last century, and on the opposite page a ward in the same hospital in the present day.

The chapter containing allusions to the subject in English literature will be to many readers the most interesting in the book. For instance, the famous hospital in London was one day visited by John Evelyn, who says in his Diary: "I stepped into Bedlam, where I saw several miserable creatures in chains. One of them was mad with making verses." Samuel Pepys does not record any visit, but on February 21, 1668, he enters in his Diary that "The young people went to Bedlam." The lines of Pope in the "Dunciad" are familiar to every one, where he spitefully connects Colley Cibber's name with two figures carved by

"Close to those walls where Folly holds her throne, And laughs to think Monro would take her down: Where o'er the gates, by his famed father's hand, Great Cibber's brazen brainless brothers stand." The figures-not of brass, but of Portland stone -are now, we believe, stored away somewhere on the premises of the South Kensington Museum. The classical allusions to Gay, Hogarth, and others, from Chaucer and Shakespeare downwards, relieve the doleful narrative of the former times, till we come to the better epoch beginning in this century.

To one name in the modern records sufficient justice is not given. Sir William C. Ellis, first at Wakefield and afterwards at Hanwell, introduced the moral as contrasted with the physical system of treatment, for which Dr. Conolly got the principal credit. The "Treatise on Insanity," by Sir W. C. Ellis, was published in 1838, a year before Dr. Conolly undertook the management of Hanwell. He only worked on lines that had been laid down by his predecessor, and gained the popular ear by his advocacy of the total abolition of mechanical restraint, a condition not always possible, although it had also before been maintained as desirable by Dr. Hill, of Lincoln. Sir William Ellis made no universal rule of the kind, but his whole system, in a long and successful career, tended to make moral influence supreme in the treatment, as William Tuke had also done in the York Retreat. At Hanwell, the use of cheerful social amusements was successfully introduced, as described in the book of Sir W. Ellis, but without the recent abuses of the plan, including the excitements of the stage and fancy balls, which seem as if intended for the recreation of the officials and their friends as much as for the benefit of the patients.

WITH

JITHOUT doubt, one of the most striking of flowering trees at present known is the Amherstia nóbilis, the exceeding beauty of which was first made known to us by the late Dr. Wallich, in his noble work, "Plantæ Asiaticæ Rariores." The publication by him of the wellexecuted plates of the plant made many who had collections of tropical plants and large plant-houses in this country anxious to possess it. Among these was the late Duke of Devonshire, who sent a collector* to India in pursuit of this great botanical treasure, and who had the honour of importing the first living plant. Though this became a noble and vigorously growing specimen in the princely

The late Mr. John Gibson, who introduced with so much success the sub-tropical style of gardening into the London parks and gardens.

stoves of Chatsworth, it was a much younger plant, in the rich collection of the late Mrs. Lawrence at Ealing Park, which first flowered in this country in April, 1849. This plant was presented to Mrs. Lawrence in 1847 by Lord Hardinge (then Governor-General of India), and it was only eleven feet high when it produced its blossoms. The first raceme was very fitly sent to her Majesty the Queen; the second was placed at the disposal of the late Sir William Hooker, and from it an atlas-folio drawing was made, which may be seen in the museum of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

In Dr. Wallich's history of the discovery of this

The flowering sprays, cut from the tree at Chatsworth, were sent to the meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, at South Kensington, held on the 12th of April, 1881, and were greatly admired by all who saw them.

prince of flowering trees, he says: "The first notice I had of the existence of this magnificent tree was at Rangoon, in August, 1826, when Mr. Crawfurd favoured me with some dried unopened flowers, and a leaf of it, with the information that he had gathered them in a garden, belonging to a monastery, around the hill at Kogun, on the Saluen river, in the province of Martaban, where they appeared too beautiful an object to be passed unobserved even by the uninitiated in botany. Handfuls of the flowers were found as offerings in the caves before the images of Buddha."

In March, 1827, Dr. Wallich accompanied the British Envoy to Ava, and in his "Official Report of a Journey on the River Saluen," in order to examine the site and capabilities of the Teak forests in that direction, he states: "In about an hour I came to a decayed kioum (a sort of monastery), close to the large hill of Kogun, distant about two miles from the right bank of the river, and twenty-seven from the town of Martaban. I had been prepared to find a tree growing here, of which an account had before been communicated' to me by Mr. Crawfurd, and which I had been fortunate enough to meet with for the first time a week ago at Martaban; nor was I disappointed. There were two individuals of this tree here: the largest about forty feet high, with a girth, at three feet above the base, of six feet, stood close to the cave; the other was smaller, and overhung an old square reservoir of water, lined with bricks and stones. They were profusely ornamented with pendulous racemes of large vermilion-coloured blossoms, forming superb objects, unequalled in the flora of the East Indies, and, I presume, not surpassed in magnificence and elegance in any part of the world. The Burmese name is Thoka. Neither the people here nor at Martaban could give me any distinct account of its native place of

growth, but there is little doubt that it belongs to the forests of this province. The ground was strewed, even at a distance, with its blossoms, which are carried daily as offerings to the images in the adjoining caves. Round the spot were numerous individuals of Jonèsia Asòca, in full blossom, inferior in beauty only to those trees; and it is not a little remarkable that the priests in these parts should have manifested so good a taste as to select two sorts of trees as ornaments to their objects of worship, belonging to a small but well-marked and extremely beautiful group in the extensive family of leguminous plants."

There can be no question that this tree, when in full foliage and blossom, is the most strikingly superb object which can possibly be imagined. The pinnate leaves are ample, and of a dark-green colour. While young they are of a glaucous purple, and hang down loosely, together with the tender shoots to which they are attached. The leaflets are large, oblong, tapering to a most slender point, very glaucous underneath, and furnished with a slender, prominent rib and nerves, the latter uniting towards the margin in a most elegant manner. The flowers are numerous and very large, scentless, and of a brilliant vermilion colour, diversified with three yellow spots. They are arranged in gigantic ovate bunches, pendulous on their long peduncle, and partially hidden beneath the profuse and elegant foliage. The seed-pod is sword-shaped, flattened, with one of the margins thick and ribbed, seven inches long, pointed, dark red, and containing five or six seeds.

Dr. Wallich had very great satisfaction in naming this magnificent tree after the Countess Amherst and her daughter, Lady Sarah Amherst, the zealous friends and constant promoters of all branches of natural history in India, especially botany.

D. W.

TH

'HE dangers to which we are exposed from fire have been illustrated recently on a scale which has caused some alarm. Theatres, hotels, warehouses, mansions, and poverty-haunted tenements, have fallen before the devouring element. We talk sometimes of the folly of "living over a volcano;" but it would seem that a quiet citizen in the midst of civilisation may be dwelling as dangerously near the flame. While lord chamberlains and architects are dealing with the more public aspects of this peril, we propose to touch upon its domestic side. It is a subject which demands the attention of every householder, and one in which both sexes are equally interested.

In the first place let us take a paragraph from a notice sent forth by one of the largest fire insurance companies in London, on the most frequent causes of fires.

Timber built into or near fireplaces and flues. Hot-air apparatus of every description. Stoves introduced into rooms previously unprovided with them, without professional advice.

Workmen allowed to carry out repairs and alterations without proper superintendence; fires being lit without fenders or guards, and candles used without candlesticks.

Plumbers lighting fires upon the roof to melt their lead have caused the destruction of many noble mansions.

Fires lit in grates not previously used, or disused for a long period, the flues not having been first examined.

Chimneys not being thoroughly swept. This should be done at fixed periods, and especially before the return of the family after a long absence.

Gas within the house; danger may be avoided if the service pipes are provided with taps, so that the gas may be turned off at night by some person specially appointed to that duty from those rooms where it is known to be not required.

Lucifer matches have caused immense loss of property and

of life. Lying about the house they are trodden upon, and by this and other means ignited. Only matches which can be ignited by friction upon the box should be permitted. Clothes hanging before the fire.

Overheated flues.

Wood left on the kitchen range to dry for lighting fires in the morning.

Reading in bed.

These and similar acts of carelessness and causes of mischief can only be guarded against by an inspection of the house by a trustworthy person after the family have retired to

rest.

It cannot be too strongly impressed upon the inmates of mansions, and indeed of all dwelling-houses, that in case of fire each person should immediately run for water, and continue to fetch it by any means, so long as there is hope of arresting the flames; but at the same time all doors and windows must be closely shut. When all hope of stopping the fire is at an end, excluding the air must be relied on. fire may thus be confined to one room, giving time for the arrival of the engines.

A

To these causes may be added the careless use and upsetting of petroleum or any other kind of oil or spirit lamp, and the kitchen fire being left burning at night. Both cats and rats have been known to convey lighted coals (which have fallen on them by accident, and adhered to their fur) to some inflammable material lying hard by, and thus have set fire to a house, and perhaps caused fatal injury to the peacefully-sleeping inmates. If the cat be left in the kitchen during the night, the chance visitor to that apartment will nearly always find her curled up in the warm ashes below the grate, or so close to them on the hearth that they may see at a glance what a source of danger she might be if there were coals still alight in the grate.

In

The one thing, above all others, which is most necessary for saving life and property in case of fire, is that which, alas! is generally wantingnamely, presence of mind. And assuredly it is never more needful than in dealing with cases of fire arising from the carelessness of others. reading the details of an inquest held on the unfortunate victim of a fire at a celebrated mansion the other day, one was forcibly struck with the entire absence of this presence of mind in every one concerned. If the fire were caused by the upset lamp, and the victim had had the knowledge, the self-possession, and quickness to draw the blankets from her bed in the same room, to throw them on the fire, and afterwards saturate them with water, the fire would never have spread, and she would not have lost her life. No one appears to have followed her to the burning room when she made her appeal for help, nor in any way endeavoured to extinguish what must, even at that moment, have been but a small blaze. Screaming "Fire!" from the open window in the adjoining room was not the wisest course to adopt in such an emergency.

This sad story reminds me of an instance in my own experience which proves how much one person can accomplish, in even more dangerous circumstances, when armed with courage and presence of mind. In a large private house, occupied by many inmates (in London), the two ladies who are the subjects of my story were

living. They occupied the bedroom behind the drawing-room, into which it opened by folding doors. One cold winter morning, two or three years ago, as they were dressing, they could hear the noise made by the housemaid in the adjoining room in rubbing and polishing the floor with turpentine and beeswax. It ceased for some little time, and one of the ladies opened a leaf of the folding-doors to see why it had ceased. No one was in the room; the maid had evidently been called off in a hurry, and in leaving had placed her earthen jar full of mixed turpentine and beeswax on the hob! It had just caught fire, and presented an awful blaze to the horrified view of the beholder. Her exclamation brought her friend to her side, and both looked aghast at the now roaring conflagration, which grew more violent every moment. The danger was, too apparent. Supposing the jar should burst, and the whole of that molten stuff should be poured out into the fire. "Draw the bath as near as you can to the door," said the younger lady; and as her friend turned back to execute her behest, she moved quickly to the fireplace, and with the aid of a thick towel, which she fortunately held in her hand, she took up the jar and carried it, all flaring as it was, slowly and steadily into the next room, where she quietly stood it, upright still, in the centre of the tin bath, which her friend had filled with water. The great danger was over; there still remained the dread that the boiling fluid might overflow upon the surface of the water; but a heavy wet towel soon smothered the flames and disposed of this fear. Now this is exactly one of the accidents which lead to great fires, in the lack of presence of mind in the beholders.

It is some years ago now that a girl-friend of mine, only lately married, was standing one hot summer's day in front of the mantel-piece sealing a letter at a lighted candle. She was dressed in a thin muslin gown widely distended by crinoline; and when, in the course of her sealing, she let fall a flaming drop of wax on the front of her dress, "the flames," as she afterwards described it, "blazed up in her face in a moment." retreated a step or two, fell on her knees, and gathered the thick hearthrug closely about her, thus smothering the fire completely. A short time after she was found by her horrified husband lying on the floor in the same place, with the hearthrug still wrapped round her, unhurt, but quite insensible.

She

In many of the newspapers, not very long ago, there appeared the story of a similar accident to a young girl; with a different ending, alas! The inflammable agent in this case was a lighted match. Frightened beyond measure, the unfortunate girl rushed from the room and down a long passage the flames becoming greater and fiercer every moment-and out into the open air through a garden door, in the hope of reaching a pond, which was in the orchard below. This place of refuge she managed to reach, but too late to be of any avail; for she was so severely burnt that no life was perceptible when, a short time afterwards, she was taken out of the shallow water.

An old gentleman I once heard of used to

drill his children into how to act in case of fire. Each of them had a special office allotted to him. One to wake and count the household, and to give the alarm; a second to find the cause of the fire, and if possible put it out, to bring water and otherwise help in extinguishing it; a third to take charge of plate and valuables, and to convey everything possible to a * place of safety. Their father used to declare that so well were they drilled he had tested them by a false alarm in the middle of the night, and found them quite equal to the occasion. This example might sometimes be followed with advantage, especially in large households.

In case of either a chimney or a room catching fire, the first thing to be thought of is to exclude all draughts; for it is certain that the slightest current of air will increase the force of the fire. All the doors and windows should be shut at once, and if the chimney be on fire, a wet blanket should be immediately fastened to the top of the mantelpiece, so as to exclude all draughts from the opening of the chimney, and entirely cover the grate; shutting the trap first if possible. This will in most cases make the fire go out of itself. You may throw into the grate a few handfuls of salt. Water should never be thrown down from above, as it spoils the carpets and furniture unnecessarily. A very common cause of fires will be found in the careless sweeping of the chimneys, the sweep's neglect of putting the brush up out of the top of the chimney, thus leaving a cake or ceiling of soot, which either catches fire or comes down some night with disastrous consequences.

If the window or bed curtains catch fire, beat them with the thickest woollen garment you can lay your hands upon. Window curtains can in most cases be torn down with a violent jerk, and this will prevent the flames from extending to the woodwork of the windows. In escaping from a burning house or room, remember that the air nearest the floor is clearer than any, and go on your hands and knees at once. A wet cloth tied over the mouth and nose keeps out smoke, will help the breathing, and prevent suffocation if too much oppressed. A wet blanket, or even a dry one speedily used, will extinguish many a small conflagration, such, for instance, as of an upset lamp, by excluding the air; and will be far more efficacious than water thrown on for that purpose; its use also prevents damage to furniture. When an alarm of fire is given, if in bed, wrap yourself in a blanket, which will form the best protection for you from the chance of ignition; and endeavour to remember the different exits from the house; where they are, and how to reach them; if you cannot attain to any of them, try to get to a front room as near the ground as possible. Collect the household there, and close the door to lessen draughts. In many instances loss of life results from the wooden stairs, which are so often substituted for those of stone. Where you find

yourself in a house provided with the former, you should make yourself acquainted with the means of exit on to the roof, so as to save yourself in that way.

The practice of reading in bed cannot be too severely reprobated. I have known of several awful deaths from this habit. It is impossible to place a light at a safe distance from the bed so as to read print of any but the largest kind comfortably; and at any moment the reader may fall asleep.

A well-known authority on fires says that no house of three storeys high should be without a rope ladder with wooden cross pieces, to enable the inmates to escape by the roof or the upper windows in case of fire from below. This is a very wise suggestion, and it reminds me of a certain old gentleman, whom I remember long ago, who was much joked by his friends on his acquiring a rope ladder as a precaution in case of fire. He lived in one of those large wooden hotelspeculiar, I fancy, to America and to Switzerland -surrounded by verandahs and balconies also of wood; and had made up his mind that some day there would be a grand conflagration. Now, according to an ancient proverb, if you "keep a thing seven years, it will come in useful at last," but nearly fourteen years passed, and the rope ladder had never ceased to be a matter of joke to every visitor who spied it, hanging on its hook in the old gentleman's room. But one hot summer's day the great wooden hotel did really take fire; there was a high wind, and it was very dry, and burnt so rapidly that nothing hardly was saved, and the personal safety of the many inmates was for some time doubtful. And it ended by the old gentleman really owing his life to that same rope ladder; and not only this, but by its means he saved a magnificent collection of the skins of wild animals which, being a mighty hunter, he had gradually accumulated; acquired from all parts of the American continent.

Before concluding I must return to the subject of mineral-oil lamps. One of their chief and most dangerous faults is that they are all (both the expensive and the cheap) top-heavy, which renders them easily upset. This accident is made additionally perilous by the fact that the oil, already partially heated by the closeness of the flame, gives off a highly inflammable vapour, which catches fire instantly. The more the oil is refined the more dangerous it becomes.

Mr. Mitford says that a small quantity of water actually tends to spread burning oil. He therefore advises that in every household where these lamps are used, a bucket full of sand should be kept on each landing. If quickly applied, the sand disintegrates burning oil, and puts out the flames. It would also be a practical and more effectual precaution to avoid the use of lamps in bedrooms, and never to purchase one that is topheavy. DORA DE BLAQuière.