Chapter the Twenty-ninth. THE NETTLES. THE nettles have been called the snakes of the vegetable world, because the stings with which they are covered resemble in their structure the venomous fangs of the rattle-snake. Each hair or sting consists of a single tube, ending at the top in a little knob, and expanding below into a small sac, which contains the irritating juice. When your finger touches by any chance this little knob, it breaks off, and the needle-like point of the sting pierces the skin. The slight pressure required to do this forces up the poison out of the sac, which enters the wound and occasions the sharp stinging pain. The sting of the nettle, in this country, is a mere trifle; but under the burning sun of the tropics, it is dangerous, and even deadly. A gentle touch causes the arm to swell with the most frightful pain, that often lasts many weeks; nay, sometimes the arm will have to be taken off as the only means of saving the unfortunate sufferer from death. These nettles have broad glossy leaves, and are often as much as fifteen feet high. The stings are too small to be perceived, and do not grow upon the leaves, but on the young shoots and flower stalks. Woe to the person who touches them, particularly in the autumn! for at this season they sting so violently, that the natives of the country regard the plant with great terror, and dare hardly venture to cut it down. A naturalist, who was travelling in India, was very anxious to get one of these nettles for a specimen, and he succeeded in gathering a branch without allowing any of the stings to touch him. But the effluvia, though it had no scent, was so powerful that it made his eyes and nose run down with water, and he was obliged to hold his head over a bason for upwards of an hour. When a child, in that part of the world, is naughty, his mother is apt to threaten him with the nettle sting, as the severest punishment she can inflict. But I can tell you another anecdote about * Urtica crenulata, stimulans, &c. this venomous plant. A traveller was once gathering a specimen for his herbarium, when he brushed against the stings, with the three first fingers of his left hand. As he felt nothing but a slight pricking pain, he took no notice, but carried home his nettle without thinking much of the matter. But by and bye the pain increased, and in the course of an hour, became quite intolerable. There was no appearance of swelling or blister, and yet his arm felt as if it were being rubbed with a hot iron. So severe were his sufferings that he was obliged to go to bed, and he continued in the greatest agony the whole of the day and night. On the following morning the pain became less violent, and he was able to get a little rest. But the effect of the sting lasted nine or ten days, and became as bad as ever whenever he happened to put his hand into water. In those parts of Tasmania, where the trees. have not been cut down, the nettles flourish in undisturbed luxuriance. Sometimes they rise quite above the head, and look like a row of trees, armed with a fierce array of poisoned spears. A colonist was once so foolish as to ride after some cattle into a mass of these nettles, that grew over a large space of ground. His horse became infuriated by the pain of the stings, and threw himself down to roll, which of course only increased his torture. His master could neither lead nor drive him out, and the poor animal became mad with pain, and died in convulsions in a very short time. Pill Nettle. |