KIDNAPPING is not a legal term, but is frequently applied in popular language to the offense of stealing or forcibly carrying off a child or adult. The offense of forcibly carrying off a grown person, in general, now amounts only to an assault or false impris oninent, though formerly punishable with death. Child-stealing, where the child is 14 years of age, if done with intent to steal any article upon or about the person of the child, or to deprive the parent or guardian of the possession of the child, is in 'England and Ireland a felony, punishable with penal servitude for not less than three uor more than seven years, or with two years' imprisonment. See also ABDUCTION.
Phaseolus, a genus of plants of the natural order Leguminosr, sub-order rapilionacece, having nine stamens united filaments, and one separate stamen, a downy stigma, a two-lipped calyx, and the keel of the corolla with the stamens and style spirally twisted. The species are mostly annual herbaceous plants, natives of the warm parts both of the eastern and western hemispheres. The common kidney-bean (P. vulgaris) is the haricot of the French. In Britain it is sometimes called French .bean. In the south of Europe, and as far north as Germany, in the United States, and many other countries, the kidney-bean is a field-crop, and the ripe seeds are an important article of food. Within the tropics it is sown at all seasons; but in countries .subject to frost only in spring, after the danger of frost is over. The seeds are used for food in a boiled state. In Britain they are not regularly ripened, except in the most favorable situations in the south. Theplant is therefore cultivated chiefly for the sake.
-of the unripe pods, which, when boiled with the young seeds in.,them, form a well known and very delicate dish.—The SCARLET RUNNER (P. multillorus) has often been regarded as merely a larger variety of the kidney-bean, with long, twining stem. It is doubtful, however, if they are originally from the same native country, an American origin being assigned to the runner, which is also a pereunial—aithough in the climate of Britain usually destroyed by the winter's frost, and therefore treated as an annual— and has tuberous roots. The roots, -in common with those of some other species of Phaseolus, are narcotic and dangerous; serious consequences have ensued from the acci dental eating of them, The plant is cultivated for the same uses as the kidney-bean, and affords, even in Scotland, a very abundant crop of green pods in the latter part of autumn, although the seed is not sown till about the first of May. It is a very orna mental plant, particularly the common variety with scarlet flowers. It readily covers any trellis or paling, and requires stakes of 6 to 10 ft. in height.—Closely allied to the kidney-bean, if indeed more than varieties, and cultivated for the same uses, are the .Haricot de Soissons (P. c.ompressus), the Haricot Princesse (P. tumidus), etc. In some parts 'of India one of the most esteemed kinds of pulse is the MOOG, Mooxo, or MUNG0 (P. -mango); in others, the KALA Moon, or BLACK GRAIL (P. max).