The capsules and seeds of the opium plant are also used. The capsules are collected at maturity, but while yet green, usually during the month of July. They are broken and dried in a shaded, well-ventilated place, and finally in a moderately warm place; they are then broken in still smaller pieces, the seeds shaken out and the capsule fragments placed in well-sealed glass or tin receivers. The seeds, which are known as maw seeds, are collected at maturity and placed in wooden boxes. The seeds yield an oil which is used much like sweet oil; artists also use it in mixing colors. THE PRIMROSE. PROF. WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY, Secretary of The Chicago Academy of Sciences. What can the blessed spring restore More gladdening than your charms? Bringing the memory once more Of lovely fields and farms! Of thickets, breezes, birds, and flowers Of life's unfolding prime; Of thoughts as cloudless as the hours; Of souls without a crime. --_Mary Howitt._ Among the many beautiful blossoms to be found in the field, the forest, or the garden probably none have served to inspire the poet more than the primrose and its near relative, the English cowslip. Someone has said that "no flowers typify the beautiful more strongly than those of the primrose which, though showy, are delicate and seem inclined to retire to the shade of the plant's leaves." These plants belong to the Primrose family (_Primulaceæ_) which includes twenty-eight genera and over three-hundred and fifty species. Nearly all are natives of the Northern hemisphere, some being found as far north as Greenland (the Greenland primrose). Some of the species are Alpine, and a few are found in the southern portions of South America and Africa. One of the most interesting wild species of this family is the shooting star or American cowslip, which grows abundantly on the prairies of the Eastern portion of the United States. Dr. Erasmus Darwin tells us that "the uncommon beauty of this flower occasioned Linnæus to give it the name _Dodecatheon_, signifiying the twelve heathen gods." The family as a whole seems to have no economic value of importance and are of use to man simply to beautify his surroundings. Many of the species are very interesting to the scientific observer, for the structure of their flowers is such that they are peculiarly adapted for cross-fertilization. This character has made it possible for the floriculturist to produce many of the beautiful forms that are found in cultivation. The generic name of the primrose is _Primula_ from the diminutive of the Latin word _Primus_, meaning first. The blossoming of the plants in the early spring led Linnæus to give them this name. It is said that their name was also applied, during the middle ages, to the European daisy (_Bellis perennis_.)