A slice of the fresh root, if held between the teeth, will, it is said, almost instantly remove the sensibility, and thus alleviate the pain, of tooth-ache. The leaves of this plant are considered poisonous to all cattle except sheep. 26. _The PAPYRUS is a sedge-like plant_ (Cyperus papyrus), _which grows in watery places in Egypt, Syria, Sicily, and Madagascar._ _It has a three-sided stem, many feet in height, which is terminated by a bushy head, consisting of a large and compound clustre of flowers._ From this plant the ancients made their paper; and the process of manufacturing it is described by Pliny, the Roman naturalist, to have been very simple. The inner rind of the stem was merely cut into strips, and laid in parallel and transverse rows; and these, on being heavily pressed with weights, adhered together. The substance thus formed, though of rude texture, was capable of being written upon; and there are many manuscripts still extant on paper of this description. The ancients also sometimes employed the sword-shaped leaves of this plant for writing upon. With the former a kind of ink was used; but on the latter the letters were formed by a metallic, pointed instrument, called by the Romans a stylus. But the papyrus plant was not merely useful for writing upon. The inhabitants of the countries where it is found manufacture it, even to this day, into sail-cloth, mattresses, ropes, and sometimes even into wearing apparel. When the stems are compactly woven together, and plastered, externally, with a kind of resinous substance, so as to prevent the admission of water, they are made into boats. These, though they resemble great baskets in appearance, are of considerable use to the inhabitants. The "ark of bulrushes daubed with slime and pitch," in which the infant Moses was placed, is supposed, by the best commentators, to have been a boat made of this plant. The floral _thyrsus_ which was used to adorn the temples and statues of the gods, was a representation of the tuft of the papyrus. DIGYNIA. 27. _SUGAR is the concrete or crystallized juice of the_ sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum, Fig. 5), _a plant, much cultivated both in the East and West Indies, which has a jointed stem eight or nine feet high, long and flat leaves of greenish yellow colour, and flowers in bunches._ The cultivation of the sugar-cane is pursued to great extent in the islands of the West Indies, where, about three centuries ago, it was first introduced from China, or some other parts of the East, and where it flourishes with great luxuriance, particularly in moist and rich ground.