65 
r 
pendent upon sunlight than in the arctic regions, owing to the con- 
stant high temperature. The author considers that the direct solar 
heat is the cause of the rich vegetation in some parts of the mountains 
of the temperate zone. The action of the sun's heat is most evident 
in the arctic regions, where Middendorff observed in full flower a 
Rhododendron^ of which the stem and roots were frozen hard in the 
soil. He also met with a fully developed willow c-atkin peeping out 
of the snow, although the branch on which it grew was solidly frozen 
two inches down from the flower. It is obvious, therefore, that the 
temperature in the shade is no criterion of the temperature by which 
the vegetation of plants is raised- 
A new Use for Eucalyptus Trees.- — The patenting of a process 
for the manufacture of a preparation of the gum of Eucalyptus glo- 
bulus, which has the effect of thoroughly removing the scales which 
form on steam-engine boilers, and of preventing rust and pitting, has 
created a largely increased demand for it both in this country and in 
Europe. The effect of this preparation in preventing the pitting and 
corrosion of boilers will, it is expected, extend the period of their 
usefulness loo or 150 per cent,, and, at the same time, effect a great 
saving in fuel, as scale is a non-conductor of heat. The company 
owning the patent, at Piedmont (Cal), has also embarked in the 
distillation of essential oils of the Eucalyptus globulus which have 
heretofore been supplied by Australia, it being found that they 
can be produced at profit. With this object in view, the company 
proposes to set out extensive forests of Eucalyptus-\.xtt%, in order to 
have at its command a sufficient supply of leaves, the portion of the 
tree consumed in the manufacture of the oils. 
The Egyptian Lotus.— %\x Gardner Wilkinson says of this plant : 
The NymphcBa Lotus grows in ponds and small channels in the Delta 
during the inundation, which are dry during the rest of the year; but 
it is not found in the Nile itself. It is nearly the same as our white 
water-lily. There are two varieties, the white, and that with a bluish 
tinge, or the Nvmphce.a ccerulea. Though the favorite flower of 
Egypt, there is no evidence of its having been sacred; but the god 
Nefer-Atum bore it on his head, and the name Nufar^ is probably 
related to nofar, "good,*' and connected with his title. It was 
thought to be a flower of Hades or Assiente, and on it also Harpo- 
«ates is often seated. He was the Egyptian Aurora, or day-spring ; 
not the god of silence, as the Greeks supposed, but figured with his 
finger in his mouth, to show one of the habits of childhood of which 
he was the emblem. Hence he represented the beginning of day, or 
the rise and infancy of the sun, which was typically portrayed rising 
^very morning from that flower, or from the water; and this may 
have given rise to the notion of Proclus that the lotus-flower was 
typical of the sun. The lotus-flower was always presented to guests 
at an Egyptian party. It is evident that the lotus was not borrowed 
from India, as it was the favorite plant of Egypt before the Hindoos 
had established their religion there. 
Change in bifoliar Spurs of Finus—ln a paper lately read at the 
Royal Botanical Society of Edinburgh, Professor Dickson exhibited 
specimens of Pinus sylv^stris, in which some of the ordinary bifoliar 
