342 ANNUAL OP SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



lights and the vapor of locomotives, and think that such inventions 

 are infernal ; and many works are published with such absurd imputa- 

 tions, and recommending preventives and remedies just as wise. By 

 many it is asked, Is the Oidium the cause, or consequence, of the dis- 

 ease of the vine ? The vine, one party says, is over- cultivated and liable 

 to affections which the wild healthy plant resists, and it should be treated 

 as in a state of plethora ; tap it, lessen its sap, and it will invigorate so as 

 to resist the poison of the Oidium. This has been tried, and failed. If 

 this were the cause, it could not have so suddenly and widely extended 

 itself. 



ON THE ORIGIN AND FIRST CAUSES OF THE GRAPE AND POTATO 



DISEASES. 



At the German Association of Naturalists, Dr. Gfimpel, of Landau, 

 read a paper " on the Cells, with reference to the origin and first causes 

 of the Grape and Potato Diseases." The author considered it his duty to 

 lay before the meeting the result of his careful investigation respecting the 

 cause of these diseases. After tracing the progessive steps of scientific 

 discovery, three of which he specially alluded to, viz., the researches of 

 Aristotle, the discovery of painting, and the invention of the microscope, 

 he attributed to the latter our knowledge of the cells and cellular struc- 

 ture of plants'. The great element in the development of vegetable life is 

 the pollen, (Bliithestaub.) The pollen is the great cause of the disease or 

 death of plants ; the sound o: unsound condition of the pollen influences 

 the whole growth of the plant. The pollen is carried in every direction 

 by the winds ; it attaches itself to the leaves, or it falls on the ground. 

 There it bursts, and again distributes its mischievous effects, if unsound, 

 on all around. Thence the difference in the time when the disease shows 

 itself on the grape or the potato, as it can only appear after the flowering, 

 on which depends the healthy or unhealthy state of the plants. He did 

 not explain how the pollen first become diseased, but he thought it might 

 be first developed in the bud. At all events, he concluded, we have IIOAV 

 an open, well-known enemy to deal with, and need not fear the existence 

 of a mysterious, unseen, unknown foe in the air. 



THE WELLINGTONS GIGANTEA. 



This name has been given by the English botanists to the large conif- 

 erous tree recently discovered in California. It inhabits a solitary district 

 on the elevated slopes of the Sierra Nevada, near the head waters of the 

 Stanislaus and San Antonio Rivers, in lat. 38 N., long. 120 10 W., at an 

 elevation of 5,000 feet from the level of the sea. From 80 to 90 trees exist, 

 all within the circuit of a mile, and these varying from 250 to 320 feet 

 in height, and from 10 to 20 feet in diameter. Their manner of growth is 

 much like Sequoi (taxodium) so^ervirens ; some are solitary, some are in 



