MISCELLAXY. 



2 53 



cussion with inallets or other mechanical 

 contrivances worked either by manual or 

 other mechanical agency. 



Each bar is struck by a mallet or mal- 

 lets, and motion is communicated to the arms 

 of the mallets by cords or other suitable 

 attachments to the outer end of the arms, 

 and passing down the tower or other place 

 where the bars are fitted. The inventors 

 of the above not having perfected the pat- 

 ent, any one is now at liberty to carry out 

 the design. 



The Transmutation of Species. A friend 

 in Hamilton, N. Y., kindly sends us the fol- 

 lowing extract, translated from the German 

 of Carus Sterne ; the passage occurs in the 

 course of an interesting essay by that writer 

 on " The Radish : " " The more strict among 

 modern botanists," says Sterne, " refuse to 

 place the charlock {Hederich) in the same 

 species with the radish. In general char- 

 acter, there is a considerable resemblance 

 between the two ; but this proves little, 

 since most specimens of the Crucifera fami- 

 ly show a strong habitual resemblance. In 

 the fruit, which in this family furnishes 

 almost the only distinguishing feature, a 

 great difference exists. The charlock bears 

 fruit from one and a half to two inches long, 

 thin, necklace-like, with a decided beak, sep- 

 arating crosswise, at maturity, into joints, 

 each joint containing a shining seed. The 

 radish, on the contrary, bears a plump, coni- 

 form pod, almost without a beak ; and, at 

 maturity, it splits lengthwise. The seeds 

 are not shining, but wrinkled. So great is 

 this difference, that many modern botanists 

 have departed from Linnseus's classification 

 of these plants as two varieties of the same 

 species Raphanus raphanistrum and R. 

 sativus and have made of the former a 

 separate species, Raphanistrum. 



" But two summers ago, Prof. H. Hoff- 

 mann discovered that Linnaeus was right. 

 For four years he had cultivated charlock in 

 the Botanic Gardens at Giessen, and at last 

 had the joy of finding, amid many transition 

 forms, genuine radis"h-fruit, upon two char- 

 lock-plants. As hybridization with radish 

 was out of the question, this was held to be 

 a demonstration of the specific identity of 

 these two plants. This is a highly-impor- 

 tant and instructive discovery : it is a sort 



of ' leap ' which, morphologically consid- 

 ered, seems greater perhaps than that from 

 man to ape. 



" Those," continues the author, " who 

 wish to know nothing of the transmutation 

 of species, but who hold that all things 

 have continued from eternity as they were 

 created, will conclude that the devil him- 

 self has here stuck a pair of radish -pods in 

 Prof. Hoffmann's charlocks, simply to lead 

 men astray. Should the observation be 

 verified (of which we have no doubt), and 

 if we have not here to deal merely with a 

 mixture of pollens, as in the supposed trans- 

 formation of JEgilops into wheat, then will 

 the radish become one of the strongest ar- 

 guments for the Darwinian theory." 



The Corrosion of Glass. A correspond- 

 ent sends the following on the corrosion of 

 glass, by what would otherwise be consid- 

 ered a bland and harmless liquid : 



" My daughters sometimes make a man- 

 tel ornament by half filling a glass tumbler 

 with water, placing a little cotton on the 

 water, and then laying some grains of 

 wheat, oats, or flax-seed on the cotton. A 

 small field of grain is soon the result ; but 

 invariably the glass is corroded in such a 

 way as to look blurred and dim. In one or 

 two cases, a bouquet of flowers cut from 

 the stems in the yard, and placed in a glass 

 tumbler, and accidentally left standing a 

 few days, produced the same effect as the 

 growing grain. After spoiling quite a num- 

 ber of glasses in this way some of fine 

 cut glass the practice was abandoned as 

 unprofitable in general. In one of the cor- 

 roded tumblers there is now growing a fine 

 patch of wheat. Your article on the ac- 

 tion of mucilage brought this matter up in 

 conversation. Whether others have noticed 

 this fact is unknown to me ; and, if not, this 

 may be an item of news to them." 



A Hnntan Automaton. The following 

 particulars with regard to the case of the 

 French sergeant, quoted in Prof. Huxley's 

 Belfast letter, we find in the Lancet. 

 During the late war between France and 

 Germany, two and a half inches of the left 

 parietal bone of his skull was carried off by 

 a bullet, laying bare the brain on that side. 

 The resulting paralysis of the members of 



