6 JULY 1901, Page 34

Poisonous Plants in Field and Garden. By the Rev. Professor

G. Henslow. (S.P.C.K. 2s. 6d.)—This book is full, as may be supposed, of curious and useful information. The practical upshot is, " Don't put anything into your mouth unless you know exactly what it is," and, as Professor Henslow tells us, this is a maxim which has to be impressed on adults as well as children. Water-hemlock, fool's parsley, aconite (for horse-radish), the poppy family, corn-cockle (which sometimes finds its way into bread), wood-sorrel (when the juice is sold as " essential salt of lemons "), laburnum (both flowers and seeds), the bitter almond (" an ounce of almond flavour is equal to 250 gr. of prussic acid "), and deadly nightshade are among the commoner "poisonous plants." And, of course, there is tobacco. But then, to quote the historic saying of the St. Albans elector when he was told that a candidate's gold was poison, " we likes poison."