[624] Athen. Deipnos. at the end of the second book, p. 70. He gives everything to be found in Theophrastus; but either the author or some of his transcribers have so confused what he says, that it is almost unintelligible. [625] Herm. Barbar. ad Dioscor. iii. 15. [626] Manni de Florentinis inventis commentarium, p. 34. [627] Politiani Opera. Lugd. 1533, 8vo, p. 444. [628] Ruellius De Natura Stirpium. Bas. 1543, fol. p. 485. [629] Hakluyt, vol. ii. p. 164. Biographia Britannica, vol. iv. p. 2462; and Anderson’s History of Commerce. [630] Herm. Barbarus, in his Observations on Dioscorides. [631] Salmas. ad Solin. p. 160. [632] It is remarked in Golius’s Dictionary, p. 597, that this word signifies also the scales of a fish, and the strong scales of the calyx of the plant may have given rise to the name. [633] The Greek word is αρτυτική. [634] Glossarium Suiogothicum, i. p. 411. [635] Potatoes. [636] A variety of derivations may be found in Menage’s Dictionnaire Etymologique. [637] See Rozier, Cours Complet d’Agriculture, vol. ii. p. 14. [638] See his Travels. Geneva, 1681, fol. p. 164. SAW-MILLS. In early periods, the trunks of trees were split with wedges into as many and as thin pieces as possible[639]; and if it was necessary to have them still thinner, they were hewn on both sides to the proper size. This simple and wasteful manner of making boards has been still continued to the present time. Peter the Great of Russia endeavoured to put a stop to it by forbidding hewn deals to be transported on the river Neva. The saw, however, though so convenient and beneficial, has not been able to banish entirely the practice of splitting timber used in building, or in making furniture and utensils, for I do not speak here of fire-wood; and, indeed, it must be allowed that this method is attended with peculiar advantages, which that of sawing can never possess. The wood-splitters perform their work more expeditiously than sawyers, and split timber is much stronger than that which has been sawn; for the fissure follows the grain of the wood, and leaves it whole; whereas the saw, which proceeds in the line chalked out for it, divides the fibres, and by these means lessens its cohesion and solidity. Split timber, indeed, turns out often crooked and warped; but in many purposes to which it is applied this is not prejudicial; and such faults may sometimes be amended. As the fibres, however, retain their natural length and direction, thin boards, particularly, can be bent much better. This is a great advantage in making pipe-staves, or sieve-frames, which require still more art, and in forming various implements of the like kind.