The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1878-10-01 00:00:00

Thnningical college, who two, his text from John niv., 51. Children ooai tboalmOlVOS to some measure of reffnaments
—" I go to prepare • place for you." The sermon was and if they prom the sineertty of their faith—m, indeed,
listened to with merited attention, At the cloys. n cam,. they do—l for nue casmot see why they should be hunted
tion was made in ai.l of the fund for building aa o n down or made the butt of cheap aneyra
chamber, the proceeibt of which, and the offertory at the
•At one tune it seemed likely that the New Forest
communion service, amounted to Lit Ita. M. Irnmedi• " faniiiy" would b• led into makin.: themselves • metro-
atelY after the service. be the kind invitation of Mr. F. politan Mow: hut Me danger, If report speaks truly, has
W. ,-;,,ndy, and twly &wham irnatanan, a lama any', pared. Km Carling haein4 been warned. Bets, the
partook 4 ten In • marquee erected on the lawn of Sinne open field in Mordle parish than anus quarters on King*
house, the beautiful residence of Mr. F. W. Gundry. b. ri rsns, "wres- it is may to respect, even while we
w hile tea .asin /dor., the Ray. yy. W. ye.t. and pity, toe occupsnts or the one—the residents In the other
the chundowardens, in the name of the donors of h. would deserve the contumely oerkun to be heaped noon
organ, presented the Rey. A. It. Spring-Rice with an than'
adtirea• which had been illuminated by Mrs. Gundry.

A NETTLE-STING.

Most parsons have made an unpleasant acquaintance
with one form of plant-hair through being stung by a
mettle, but comparatively few have paid any attention to
the exact nature of the offending nrean, nmeh less con-
siilered its relation to similar structures no other plants.
The stinging hairs of the nettle feting to the class of
" glandular hairs," and they consist of the glandular, or
secreting pert, at the base, and of the conical tube arising
from it, and most often ending in a very sharp point. A
simple plant-hair is an outgrowth front the epidermis, or
plant-skin; but those with glands at their base may. as
Sachs explains, be partly formeil by cells of this riridersitie,
and by a layer of the vegetable tissue below them. A
gland may consist of one or more 'elk In the nettle
there are several, The function of • gland is to seperate
some poruliar substance, such as oil, resin, camphor, ;
or a poison, as in the nettle and other stinging plaata
Many plants that have scent gland. (sweet herb. rented
geraniums, de.) easily yield • portion of their contents to
slight pressure; the nettle as part. with its poiaun,
which the sharp hair insert into the skin of the person
inadvertently touching it. If • vigorous leaf is examined
under the microecope, or with • hanil-lens of about an
inch focus, each tubular hair will be seen wholly or
partially tilled with a colourless flub!. If while under
examination one of these hairs is pressed with a needle,
the fluid will be seen to move. If a globe is placed on
the left band, • nettle•leal twisted round the forefinger
with Its upper ride outermost, and held up to the light,
the stinging hairs may he readily examine.) with • small
inunifyingiglass in the right hand ; and if any one of
them is toughed a ith the nail of the middle finger
movement of the fluid contents will he notired. A few
hairs may be picked out of the leaf with a needle, taking
also a little of the leaf tiuue, avoiding injury to any Pad
of the structure. The hairs may then he placed on
glass able, covered with thin glum, and put under a
microscope with an inch power. If the covering glass is
pressed with • needle while the objects are under view,
the fluid will be seen to run out, often without visible
injury to the hair, tine writer says that the well-known
plan of grasping the nettle to esrape it sting rimmed.
because the hairs are broken off below their sharp points,
and cannot pierce the kin' but a great many trials chow
that the hairs are very often by no means so brittle as
this notion suPlueee. —Frees "Sedan.: for All" for
tictober.