HARDWICKE'S SCI EK CE-GOS SIP. 



279 



family indigenous to New South Wales, wliicli tlie 

 colonists call gum-trees. They shoot up very 

 quickly, and to an enormous height, some of them 

 reaching one hundred and fifty feet, with a girth of 

 from twenty-five to forty. The sparse and strangely- 

 twisted foliage grows in a lhin crown at the top of 

 the pillar-like stem, but the characteristic of the 

 whole gemis is the rapid habit of increase, seen 

 equally in the "iron-bark," the "blue-gum," and 

 this particular specimen, the Eucalyptus globulus. 

 The tree in question absorbs an immense deal of 

 water from the earth, and at the same time emits 

 an aromatic odour ; which has perhaps something 

 to do with the beneficial influence attributed to it. 

 Where it is thickly planted in marshy tracts, the 

 subsoil is said to be drained in a Kttle while as 

 though by extensive piping. Miasma ceases, we 

 are told, wherever the Eucalyptus flourishes. It 

 has been tried for this purpose at the Cape, and 

 within two or three years has completely changed 

 the climatic condition of the unhealthy parts of that 

 colony. Somewhat later, its plantation was under- 

 taken on a large scale in various parts of Algeria. 

 At a farm twenty mUes from Algiers, situated on 

 the banks of a river, and noted for its extremely 

 pestilential air, about 13,000 eucalypti were planted. 

 In the same year, at the time when the fever season 

 used to set in, not a single case occurred ; yet the 

 trees were not more than nine feet high. Since 

 then, complete immunity from fever has been 

 maintained. In the neighbourhood of Constantina, 

 it is also stated, was another noted fever-spot, 

 covered with marsh-water both in winter and 

 summer : in five years the whole ground was dried 

 up by 14,000 of these trees, and farmers and chil- 

 dren enjoy excellent health. Throughout Cuba, 

 marsh diseases are fast disappearing from all the 

 unhealthy districts where this tree has been intro- 

 duced. (A station-house, again, at one end of a 

 railway viaduct in the department of the Var, was 

 so pestilential that the officials could not be kept 

 there longer than a year ; forty of the trees were 

 planted, and it is now as healthy as any other place 

 on the line. Such are some of the facts brought 

 forward by M. Gimbert. If they are well-estab- 

 Jished, it would be most desirable to try whether 

 the Eucalyptus would thrive on the West Coast of 

 Africa, and other malarious districts of the warmer 

 latitudes. It is affirmed that the Sun-flower pos- 

 sesses a similar capacity to dry up the subsoil and 

 neutralize miasma. Nor should botanists neglect 

 these suggestions. There are more wonders yet in 

 the vegetable world than are dreamed of in their 

 philosophy. How passing strange, for example, is 

 that property of the papaw-tree, to turn meat 

 tender ! A joint of mutton, steeped in a solution 

 of its juice, becomes instantly succulent, and the 

 flesh of animals fed upon its leaves " melts in the 

 mouth " upon cooking. 



GEOLOGY. 



Missing Links. — Some of the most interesting 

 discoveries made during the past summer by Dr. 

 Hayden's exploring party are due to the labours of 

 Professor Cope in paleontological researches among 

 the Bad Lands of Colorado, United States. The 

 remains are even more interesting than in the 

 similar regions of Wyoming. They have been 

 found to be a vast graveyard of animals belonging 

 to a long past period of the eartli's existence. Up 

 to the present time. Professor Cope has proved the 

 existence of more than 100 species, represented by 

 thousands of individuals. Of these, at least seventy 

 are new to science. They range from the size of 

 the mole to nearly that of the elephant. Sixteen 

 species are reptiles. Many forms of insectivorous 

 animals, related to the mole, and of very small size, 

 have been procured. The delicacy and minuteness 

 of these fossils is surprising. Gnawing animals, or 

 rodents, left numerous remains of eighteen species, 

 some no larger than the domestic mouse. Some 

 were the predecessors of the rabbits, some of the 

 squirrels, and some of the mice. Of cloven-hoofed 

 quadrupeds, a great many have been found. Some 

 were nearly intermediate in structure between the 

 deer and the hog. Like the latter, they had no 

 horns. They were about as large as sheep. Others 

 were about the size of grey squirrels, being the 

 smallest of this class of animals ever discovered. 

 Several species of horses were living during the 

 same period, as is proved by the bones and teeth 

 which have been obtained. Their relative, the 

 rhinoceros, abounded in Colorado in former days, 

 no less than seven species having been procured by 

 Professor Cope. One of the specimens is a perfect 

 skull, with teeth complete, and covered with the 

 moss-like crystallization seen in the moss-agate. 

 But the most remarkable monsters of the past 

 whose existence has been disclosed by this 

 summer's survey are a series of horned species 

 related to the rhinoceros, but possessing some 

 features in which, according to Professor Cope, 

 they resemble the elephant. They stood high on 

 the legs and had short feet, but possessed osseous 

 horns in pairs on different parts of the head. One 

 of the largest species had a large horn over each 

 eye, while one had another on each side of the 

 nose, more than a foot in length. A third one, of 

 a larger size than the last, had rudimental horns 

 on the nose .Another was as large as the elephant. 

 Its cheek-bones were enormously expanded, and 

 its horns were flat. A fifth species had triangular 

 horns, tui'ncd outwards. Their structure is regarded 

 as disposing of the statement that the presence of 

 horns in pairs is an indication of relationship to the 

 ruminating animals, for these beasts are allied to 

 the rhinoceros. Carnivorous species were not rare 

 in this ancient family, and served, as now, to check 



