284 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



ter, acrid taste. The same derivation is also given for the 

 horse-radish. Another equally plausible derivation is that of 

 the term " horse" being applied to indicate some unusually 

 large and strong form, as the horse-clam, etc. 12 A, August 

 4,277. 



CARBOLIC ACID FROM ANDROMEDA PLANT. 



It is stated that carbolic acid has been obtained from a 

 species of Andromeda, occurring in the Neilgherry Hills of 

 India, and that, being less deliquescent and far more pure 

 than ordinary carbolic acid, it may be made to serve as a sub- 

 stitute in delicate medical cases. The discovery is considered 

 one of importance by the East Indian government, and meas- 

 ures are proposed for utilizing it on a large scale. We have 

 many species of this same genus in North America, but it is 

 questionable whether, in the abundance of cheaper sources of 

 supply, it would be a profitable business to go into the manu- 

 facture. 6 Z>, 3Iay 20, 622. 



DWARF RAGWEED. 



At a meeting of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila- 

 delphia, Mr. Thomas Meehan exhibited a small plant of the 

 common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisicefolia, which had grown 

 in a pot in his hot-house. The plant, little more than an inch 

 in height, was already provided with fertile flowers and also 

 bulblets. He remarked that it was a common impression 

 that when land was put down in grass the ragweed disap- 

 peared, but that after an unlimited number of years, when the 

 ground was broken up, the weed reappeared, as supposed 

 from the development of seeds which had long remained in a 

 dormant condition. If such pigmy plants as the one exhibit- 

 ed can perfect seeds, it is evident that a multitude of them 

 might perpetuate themselves among the grass unnoticed 

 from year to year, until, under favorable circumstances, a 

 crop is produced which becomes conspicuous from their size. 

 Thus their occurrence may be explained without the neces- 

 sity of an indefinite extent of vitality. 2 Z>, 1871, May 16. 



