Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 436 | Page 6

'Queen of
Night,' from Zauberflöte; overture to William Tell; ballad, 'When
Slumber's Heart is torn by Vows;' duet, 'I know a Bank,' by the
Semiramide young ladies; fantasia pianoforte, from the Fille du
Régiment; 'Rode's air, with variations,' from the text; and the storm
movement of the Sinfonia Pastorale, by Beethoven!

Such may be taken as a fair specimen-slice of a Concert Monstre; and
in listening to this wild agglomeration of chaotic music, the day passes,
very likely from two o'clock until six. In a future paper, I may touch
upon the peculiarities of the artists performing.
A. B. R.

THE TALLOW-TREE OF CHINA.
It is one happy recommendation of the Natural system of botany, that
many of its orders form groups of plants distinguished not only by the
characteristics of general physiognomy, and the more accurate
differences of structure, but in an especial manner by the medicinal and
economical properties which they possess, and which are indeed
frequently peculiar to the order. Such is the case with the natural order
Euphorbiaceæ, or spurge family, to which the tallow-tree of China
belongs. The order includes 2500 species, all of which are more or less
acrid and poisonous, these properties being especially developed in the
milky juices which abound in the plants, and which are contained, not
in its ordinary tissues, but in certain special vessels. Many important
substances are derived from this order, notwithstanding its acrid and
poisonous character. Castor-oil is obtained from the seeds of Ricinus
communis; croton-oil, and several other oleaginous products of
importance in medicine and the arts, are obtained from plants
belonging to the order. The root of Janipha Manihot, or Manioc-plant,
contains a poisonous substance, supposed to be hydrocyanic acid, along
with which there is a considerable proportion of starch. The poisonous
matter is removed by roasting and washing, and the starch thus
obtained is formed into the cassava-bread of tropical countries, and is
also occasionally imported into Europe as Brazilian arrow-root.
Many of the important economical productions of China are little
known in this country; we are, however, daily gaining additions to our
knowledge of them; and within the last few years, much valuable
information has been obtained respecting the productive resources of
the Eastern Empire. The grass-cloth of China only became known in

Europe a few years ago, but it now ranks as one of the important fabrics
of British manufacture. Daily discoveries seem to shew that there are
Chinese products of equal importance, as yet unknown to us. On the
present occasion, we call the attention of our readers to a substance
which has been long known, as well as the plant which produces it, but
neither of which has hitherto been prominently brought into general
notice in Britain. For our information respecting the uses of the
tallow-tree, we express our chief obligations to a paper by Dr D. J.
Macgowan, published in the Journal of the Agricultural and
Horticultural Society of India.[1]
The tallow-tree of China is the Stillingia sebifera of botanists; a plant
originally indigenous to China, where it occurs in wet situations, but
which is now somewhat common in various parts of India and America,
chiefly as an ornamental tree. In Roxburgh's time, it was very common
about Calcutta, where, in the course of a few years, it became one of
the most common trees; and it has become almost naturalised in the
maritime parts of South Carolina. In China alone, however, is it as yet
appreciated as an economical plant, and there alone are its products
properly elaborated. It is chiefly prized for the fatty matter which it
yields, and from which it derives its appropriate name; but it affords
other products of value: 'its leaves are employed as a black dye; its
wood being hard and durable, may be easily used for printing-blocks
and various other articles; and, finally, the refuse of the nut is employed
as fuel and manure.... It grows alike on low alluvial plains and on
granite hills, on the rich mould at the margin of canals, and on the
sandy sea-beach. The sandy estuary of Hangchan yields little else;
some of the trees at this place are known to be several hundred years
old, and though prostrated, still send forth branches and bear fruit....
They are seldom planted where anything else can be conveniently
cultivated--but in detached places, in corners about houses, roads,
canals, and fields.'
The sebaceous matter, or vegetable tallow, is contained in the
seed-vessels of the Stillingia. The processes adopted for abstracting it
are of importance, and meet with due consideration in Dr Macgowan's
valuable paper. The following clear account is given of the whole

process, as practised in China:--'In midwinter, when the nuts are ripe,
they are cut off with their twigs by a sharp crescentric knife, attached to
the extremity