BOTANY. 321 



tendency of the fluids, and when the solar action is in some measure 

 on the decline, that I should conduct with all rapidity the operations 

 of transplanting; and, if this is intended to be conducted extensively, 

 I should recommend the end of August as a good time to begin, Sep- 

 tember being the safest month in the year ; selecting such plants to 

 commence with as have matured their shoots. Another and very im- 

 portant reason remains to be stated, why autumn is to be preferred for 

 undertakings of this kind in preference to winter. The force of the 

 sun during summer, although now on the decline, has warmed the 

 earth to a considerable degree and depth, so that the mutilated roots 

 are comparatively situated on a gentle bottom-heat, which rapidly pro- 

 motes cicatrization, and frequently aids the emission of young sponge- 

 lets during the current autumn. That the season which I have here 

 ventured to urge for the performance of the work under consideration 

 is undeniably theoretically the right period, appears beyond all ques- 

 tion ; and I can attest also that it is practically the season to be preferred 

 beyond all others. I had occasion to superintend the removal of up- 

 wards of 2,000 trees and shrubs, all evergreen, and varying in size 

 from 6 to 40 feet high, during one autumn. The trees were prepared 

 as formerly described the previous spring, and as the undertaking was 

 rather gigantic, the work was begun in August and finished with the 

 year. The result was of course watched with some interest, and the 

 following summer, when an examination took place, I found that 

 those trees which were transplanted early in the season indicated little 

 change from their removal, but the contrary was the case with those 

 which had undergone a similar transplanting during December." 



WOORARA POISON. 



AT the meeting of the French Academy on Oct. 14, M. Bernard 

 presented a paper describing some experiments performed by M. Pe- 

 louze and himself on the woorara poison, prepared by the tribes inhab- 

 iting the districts of Upper Orinoco, Rio Negro, and the Amazon. 

 The woorara is a watery extract prepared from a plant of the Strych- 

 nos family, and acts instantaneously when introduced into the blood- 

 vessels. A weak solution injected into the jugular veins of dogs 

 caused sudden death, without producing- cries or convulsive move- 

 ments in the animal. When introduced into a wound beneath the 

 skin, the poison acts more slowly, varying with the dcse and the size 

 or species of animal. CtEteris paribus, birds die most speedily, then 

 Marnmiferce, then reptiles. In every case, the signs of poisoning are 

 similar ; the animal moves about as usual for a brief interval, and 

 then lies c!o\vn and dies without a struggle. Immediately after death 

 the nerves of the animals are as inert and insensible to stimulation as 

 if they had been long dead. The blood is black, and does not readily 

 coagulate nor redden on exposure to the air. The poisonous effects 

 of woorara present a close analogy with those of a viper's bite, and, 

 like that venom, it is innocuous when taken into the digestive tube. 

 That its properties are not then destroyed by digestion \vas sho\vn by 

 the experiment of inserting some gastric juice into a wound forty- 



