246 



HABDWICKE'S SCIENCE- GOSSIP. 



[Nov. 1, 1867. 



white man black"; an unhealthy climate, and by this 

 I suppose is meant a climate unhealthy to white 

 men, for unhealthy is a comparative term, would 

 certainly produce disease, but the result of disease 

 would more likely be death than a dark skin. As 

 for isolation, it would help to perpetuate any 

 peculiarities which might arise amongst them, but 

 if neither heat nor an unhealthy climate produced 

 duskiness, of course it could not be perpetuated. 

 The influences and effects of the three combined 

 might be expressed shortly in a proposition. Given 

 a community of white men, and subject them to 

 great solar heat, an unhealthy climate, and complete 

 isolation. What would be the effect produced ? 

 Answer : Disease, Death, and 'Extermination. 



This is only one of the many arguments which 

 convinces me that man differs in species, and not 

 in variety only. Is it not more in accordance with 

 the idea of Divine justice to believe that several 

 races of men have been created admirably adapted 

 for the character and circumstance of their places 

 of abode, and calculated to fill their appropriate and 

 necessary place in the grand circle of creation, than 

 that, having created the world for the habitation of 

 mankind, He has so ordered it that a large share of 

 the globe could not be occupied by them till they 

 were reduced to a state of degradation so great as 

 in some cases to make them more resemble the 

 beasts of the fields than their fellow men ? I can 

 look upon a Negro not as a blackened and distorted 

 caricature of myself, but as a being created like me 

 to serve a given purpose upon earth, deficient, it 

 may be, in certain qualities, but equalling me in 

 others, and superior, at all events, in this — that he 

 is fitted to inhabit and bring under the sway of man 

 regions where it would be death to me to follow. 

 And 1 do not believe that any amount of education 

 and training will ever give the negro the intellect of 

 the European any more than it will deprive him of 

 the capability he possesses of withstanding the 

 malarious influences of his native climate. 



B. G. 



SKELETON LEAVES. 



IN a former number of Science-Gossip I en- 

 countered a paragraph relative to a question 

 asked by "I. S. S.," who was wishing to know 

 how skeleton leaves are prevented from sticking 

 to the paper by which they are lifted out of the 

 water after bleaching. To this question I can 

 answer with a few words. Skeleton leaves will not 

 stick to paper if they are washed thoroughly in 

 water after removing them from the bleaching 

 liquid ; or if oil-paper is used, it is impossible for 

 the leaves to stick to that. Perhaps a few remarks 

 on my simple scheme may be useful, or at least 

 interesting to " I. S. S.," as well as a few more 

 readers of Science-Gossip. Just before the leaves 



begin to fall is the season I take advantage of for 

 skeletonizing leaves, simply because at that time the 

 fibrous substance is become tougher and firmer, 

 consequently less liable to break during the process 

 of this tedious and delicate work. I do not use any 

 leaves for this purpose, such ones for instance as 

 the walnut, chestnut, oak, elm, and sycamore, as 

 they contain so much resin, and so would not decay 

 themselves. They also prevent other leaves that 

 are mixed with them from decaying, because the 

 resinous quality in them would effect the water. 

 Herewith I subjoin a list of my choice of leaves 

 and seed-vessels which I gather for skeletonizing. 

 The seed-vessels must be collected just before the 

 seed is ripe. The leaves are those of the orange, 

 lemon, lime, poplar, tulip-tree, magnolia, holly, 

 ivy, box, passion-flower, and moss, and all of the 

 figs. Then I add the calyxes of several plants, 

 as the Nicandra, poppy, Dictamnus, mallow, Cam- 

 panula, and several others, also a few stalks of flax, 

 hemp, cabbage, and stinging-nettles. I like to 

 procure a good quantity of each, as that helps the 

 decay. They are all then put into a pan, in which 

 I pour boiling soft water over them. The advan- 

 tage in using boiling water is that it destroys the 

 vitality and hastens the decay. The pan is then 

 placed in a situation exposed to the sun for about 

 six weeks, frequently stirring it and adding fresh 

 rain water as the other evaporates. By this time 

 the leaves will show some of their fibrous formation ; 

 the laxer tissues may be seen partly falling away 

 into the water. I then carefully take them indi- 

 vidually out of the water by their stalks, and hold 

 them under the tap of a butt. The stream of water 

 quickly washes away all the remaining fleshy de- 

 cayed green part, and leaves the leaf a skeleton. 

 They are then placed carefully in some clean water, 

 while the whole bulk is undergoing the same" pro- 

 cess. Now and then one gives more trouble, being 

 so tender, the force of the jtvater will burst the 

 fibrous substance and make them unsightly ; but in 

 the case of a more delicate leaf I generally employ 

 a little piece of board, and holding the two together 

 between my finger and thumb, the stream of water 

 then passes over and through the leaf without 

 breaking it. If there are any that will not yield to 

 this operation without much difficulty, I after care- 

 fully rubbing them with the fingers return them to 

 the pan to be soaked a few more days. Eor bleach- 

 ing them I procure a hat-box, and across the top I 

 fasten the skeleton leaves by means of strings. A 

 cup containing sulphur is placed at the bottom, 

 which is set on fire. The lid being then shut down, 

 I leave it closed for the sulphur to bleach the leaves, 

 which it will do gradually. I have tried various 

 ways, such as using chloride of lime, and also 

 chloride of soda, which I poured into separate 

 shallow vessels, and immersed the leaves in each for 

 a few minutes. In this way the skeleton leaves may 



