CASIMIR III  ., called " THE

GREAT," king of Poland (1310-r370), the son of Wladislaus Lokietek, king of Poland, and Jadwiga, princess of Kalisch, was born at Kowal in Kujavia in 1310 . Casimir belongs to that remarkable group of late medieval sovereigns who may be called the fathers of modern diplomacy, inasmuch as they relegated warfare to its proper place as the instrument of politics, and preferred the council-chamber to the battle-field . He was educated at the court of Charles Robert of Hungary, who had married Casimir's beautiful sister Elizabeth, and who gave his brother-in-law an excellent education under Italian masters . In his youth Casimir was considered frivolous and licentious; while his sudden flight from the field of Plowce, the scene of his father's great victory over the Teutonic knights, argued but poorly for his personal courage . When, therefore, he ascended the Polish throne in 1333, the future of his country, which then consisted of little more than the lately reunited provinces of Great and Little Poland, seemed dark indeed; especially as she was still at war with the Teutonic Order and with John of Luxemburg, king of Bohemia, who claimed the crown of Poland also . Fortunately Casimir was a man of penetrating genius . His father had been a hero who Anacardium occidentale, Cashew Nut plant, belonging to the nat. ord . Anacardiaceae . i . Branch (reduced), bearing flowers and fruit . The fruit-stalks are enlarged in a pear-like form, bearing the nut (the true fruit) at their apex . Flower expanded .

Stamen and

pistil, with the calyx; one fertile stamen longer than the others . 4 . Stamen separated . 5 . Nut constituting the fruit . 6 . Nut opened longitudinally . 7 . Seed separated from the nut . 8 . Cotyledons opened to show the radicle a, and the plumule . 2 .

3 . the name of cashew

apple . By fermentation it yields an alcoholic beverage, from which a spirit for drinking is distilled in the West Indies and Brazil . The stem of the tree yields a gum analogous to gum arabic .