The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-16
ALL KISS UNDER. PALM
WONDERFUL PLANT AT DE-
+ PARTMENT OF AaRIcUGTURE
Persons Who Come Within a Given
Radius Of It Have an Irresistible
Desire to Kiss Some One of
the Opposite Sex.
Washington Poet.

not to be found today anything more
remarkable than a specimen Of plant life
now in tine possession Of the Department
Of Agriculture ami baslSing in the grateful
warmth of one of the greenhouses of the
department i'll the Mall This rare and
almost priceless curiosity. is none other
than the famous kissing PALM" or. as
scientifically designated. the Palmetto
osculari." and heretofore believed by
many to exist only as a myth. That such
q belief should obtain, however, is not to
be wondered at when the marvellous ma
ture Of the botanical specimen Is consd-
cred and its extreme rarity taken into ae-
count.
The palm derives its name and its sci
entific value from its wonderful influence
over all persons who come within a given
radius of it. The influence. as powerful
as the strongest magnet insinuating as
a perfume, and as subtle as the very
ether, Is exerted upon any and all and
finds expression In an irresistible impulse
to indulge In kissing. and only by fleeing
the presence OF the plant can the influence
be thrown off. Young men and women,
sta.d middle-aged persons. prosaic mar
ried couples and aged people while in the
presence Of the palm, have found them
selves enthusiastically, rapturously, &C.
statically kissing their companions of the
opposite sex. and receiving in return lip
imprints none the less saccharinely bliss
| full
| Many of these persons, entirely una
| ware Of the influence exerted upon them,
have marveled greatly at their unaccus-
toner actions when once away from the
plant, but in many cases has the power OF
| the palm been such that they have found
themselves unkonsciously straying back
to its vicinity, only to find themselves
enjoying the osculatory delights with the
| same abandon as before
Some Kiss With 1mpartiality.
In a number of cases. where there have
been several In the party, a man or wo-
man Of especially ardent nature has been
| known to not confine the lip tribute to
any one member of the party. but to ia
vor all of the opposite sex One man, 1t Is
| said was so far carried away by the in
| fiuence as to kiss his mother-in-law, and
| she, stranger STILL returned the salute
with a wild ferver that fairly took his
breath This, however, Is said to be a most
unusual case and the only one so far re-
corded locally, and 1t Is only mentioned
| now to show the wonderful power of the
| Palmetto osculari."
Young couples who, because of timidity
| or diff1dence. have found 1t impossible to
crafty their wish to break away from the
| informal mfr" and Miss in their re-
marks addressed to each other, have sud
denly discovered themselves saying
| George and Jessie" or Mary and
| John, quite naturally, this during what
little time and what little breath they
found themselves possessed of between sa-
lutes of an osculatory nature. Among
those who have been found returning to
| the palm most frequently and whose Wis
| its are longest are couples of this class,
| nj 10 no hafOrR
| stood as a barrier between them and
| acted as O minimizing factor in their joys
| never returns. How many engagements
| and marriages have resulted because OF
| proximity to the plant will never be
known, but the number must be a good
/ ly one. =
| Age No Bar to Influence. $3.50
| Married people. who have come to look
at matters in a less sentimental and
more practical light than in their earlier
years, have had recalled the joys of
| courtship and the honeymoon, and,
through this reminder of that happy
| period, with the Iove-fiame alight once
again, have gone forth from the warmth
of the palm house. into the bright sun
/ shine Of better, happier marital exist
| ence Those with hair whitened by the
! frosts OF many winters, who have
| CHANGED near the plant, have found its
\ influence just as potent for them. and at
least one breach Of promise suit of the
May and December variety canNb be d.
rectly traced to the occult influence of
| the Kissing palm" Now that the facts
| are known, 1t Is quite possible that tes-
timony as to the plant will be introduced
as evidence and II such Is done 1t will
no doubt result in bringing out much that
| will be Of interest any of real scientific
| value concerning this remarkable and
| hitherto little known botanical specimen.
| The extraordinary character Of the
palm is only equaled by its scarcity. 1t
could almost be said to be extinct were
/ 1t not for the fact that at no time In
the worlds history has 1t been other than
very rare, and perhaps today the num-
| Der of kissing palms" in growth Is no
| smaller than for centuries The existence
! Of the plant has long been a matter of
| dispute among botanists. No less an au-
| thority than Humboldt declared 1t as his
belief that the kissing plant was IA
bilious. Bonpland also shared this belief,
| and INDUCED in a bitter controversy
| with Baudiern, who claimed to nave
seen a specimen Of the palm In the south
Sea islands, and there to have come un-
der its influence to the extent that he
was unable to refrain from embracing
| and kissing two anything but attractive
| native women standing near.
Kissing Originated in Island.
| The writer Giraldus Cambrensis. his
| torian, antIquary, philosopher, theologian.
| and poet Is said to have written a
| lengthy treatise on the plant, in which
| he traced the origin Of kissing to it. -Ac-
cording to Chambrensis, the custom pre-
vailed originally only in small island
| in midocean, due west from the coast
| of Peru. Here. 1t is said. under the in
| fuence of the palm. the intoxicating de-
lights Of kiss were learned by castaway
| Europeans, who. later. returning to their
country, carried the custom with them;
the spread thenceforth being rapid and
the custom soon becoming general.
Some authorities, notably De Monke and
Geyer, have even tried to prove that
from the kissing Of the hand came, as
compliment to the kissing PALM, the
styling of the inner side of the hand the
palm" However this may be. one thing
| is now certain, that this peculiar variety
| of palm is indigenous to the PACING ISL
and mentioned by Cambrensls. Outside
| of that of Baudiern. there Is no record
| of any specimen of the plant growing In
other parts of the world.
The number of palms in the island to
which it is native is very small, and, for
a number of reasons, there Is little like
| lihood of there ever being any material
increase. The questions of altitude and
| climatic conditions make 1t extremely Inn
| probable that the palm can ever be sue
| cessfully grown anywhere other than In
| its little island home. few feet higher
or lower in its relation to sea level de-
termines against its life. while con-
1 Il