HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



175 



of volcanic dust, disturb not this simple theory, and 

 no miraculous "segregation" of siliceous molecules 

 is demanded to explain the abounding flints. 



The International Forestry Exhibition of Edinburgh 

 is much needed. To most Englishmen, Scotchmen, 

 and Irishmen, the idea of the existence of forestry as a 

 branch of science is quite novel, but in other countries 

 it is publicly acknowledged and accepted, with its 

 national schools receiving state endowment. The 

 abundance of our coal supplies is not an unmixed 

 blessing. It renders all our cities grimy and hideous, 

 and by averting the necessity of obtaining wood-fuel 

 has left vast tracts of country bare. With a humid 

 and equable climate like ours, every acre of ground 

 that is not available for pasture or tillage is (unless 

 absolutely bare rock) capable of being restored to 

 its ancient condition of woodland, and should be so 

 restored, for every reason. Everj' year of current 

 extravagance brings us nearer to the approaching 

 time when our easily obtainable coal will be exhausted ; 

 — note the italics — I do not say when all our coal shall 

 be exhausted, as that time will never arrive, but when 

 by the exhaustion of our best and most accessible seams 

 we shall be no better off. than our neighbours are. 

 Then the miserable poverty of our wood supplies will 

 press crushingly upon us, unless something is done at 

 once to anticipate the coming demand. In Scotland 

 and Wales there are five to six millions of acres now 

 lying waste which are available for timber growing, 

 and would yield enormous wealth if properly planted. 

 In Ireland, where the climate is especially favourable 

 to foliage, there are above two miljions of acres in 

 a similar condition. 



The configuration of Ireland affords further ad- 

 vantage. Speaking generally, it is a flat bottomed 

 basin, the flat bottom being an area of mountain 

 limestone, the rim of the basin an irregular ridge 

 or ridges of mountains, notched and furrowed on 

 the outside to form innumerable estuaries. The ship- 

 ment of timber from the slopes thus terminating 

 in these fjords or "loughs" is so very easy, that a 

 respectable degree of enterprise on the part of the 

 landlords would supply more prosperity to Ireland 

 than if all the coal seams that have been denuded 

 from above the inner plains of carboniferous limestone 

 were restored. 



Connemara, Mayo, and Donegal, or the whole of 

 the north-west mountain region would become one 

 of the most picturesque in the world if it were amply 

 wooded. That labyrinth of little lakes that com- 

 plicate the singular promontory projecting on the 

 north of Galway Bay would become a tourist's 

 paradise if it were but richly wooded. At present it 

 is practically unknown, beyond the drive from 

 Galway to Clifden and Leenane, which only skirts 

 the curious region, which, orientally speaking, I may 

 call the land of a thousand and one lakes. When I 

 have an afternoon to spare, I will count them as laid 



down on the ordnance map, I tried to count the 

 number I passed in the course of a drive from Round- 

 stone to Recess, but gave it up somewhere in the 

 thirties. Miserable barrenness prevails throughout, 

 where the loveliest of woodland should be. 



An example of the trustworthiness of the anti- 

 vivisection agitators is afforded by some expressions 

 of Mrs. A. Kingsford, M.D., quoted in last month's 

 number of the "Journal of Science." At an inter- 

 national congress of these peculiar people, she ex- 

 claimed that M. Pasteur was not justified in "tor- 

 turing thousands of animals," with the. object of 

 abolishing so "very rare" a disease as hydrophobia. 

 As the editor observes, " the thousands when trans- 

 lated into the language of sober reason shrunk to 

 forty ! " and ' ' as for the rarity, we must remember 

 that twenty-one persons died of hydrophobia in the 

 department of the Seine within twelve months." 



An observation made by Mr. J. B. Armstrong of 

 the botanic garden, Christchurch, New Zealand, is 

 very interesting, and suggestive of further research. 

 The red clover of that island is becoming modified in 

 structure, and he believes that this occurs in such 

 wise as to admit its fecundation by insects that differ 

 from those which visit it in England. If this is con- 

 firmed, and the progress of the change carefully 

 watched, we may have, within a reasonable period, 

 an interesting display of the full history of modifica- 

 tion by natural selection, by isolating specimens of 

 plants that show the first traces of favourable modi- 

 fication, and watching the development of their 

 offspring. 



The transplantation of sponges promises to become 

 a commercial enterprise of some magnitude, in the 

 course of which we may fairly hope that biological 

 science will be enriched. The French are already at 

 work ; the field selected for the first experiments is 

 the coast of Algiers, and the species to be acclima- 

 tised are the choicer kinds of " Turkey " sponges, 

 found in the Archipelago, and on the Syrian 

 coast. With modern diving appliances fine specimens 

 can be deliberately selected and carefully removed 

 with a sufficient amount of adherent rock to render 

 their transplantation a fairly hopeful enterprise. 

 Thus raised, they will be placed in perforated boxes 

 and towed through the water to their new homes, 

 where, if the experiment succeeds, they will multiply 

 in the course of the following year and yield a good 

 crop in the course of three years. If these sponges 

 increase with anything like the rapidity of our own 

 coast sponges, this crop will be very abundant. 

 When the Crystal Palace aquarium was newly 

 stocked some of the tanks became infested with a 

 growth of sponges which must have originated in 

 germs carried in the water that conveyed the fishes, 

 &c. They spread like cobwebs, destroying the 

 beauty of tanks, and demanding much trouble for 



