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HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Plates of Birds' Eggs. —Could any reader of 

 Science-Gossip inform me whether there are any 

 tolerably cheap, but good coloured plates of British 

 birds and eggs, or eggs separately, and if so where 

 obtainable ? — T. J. IV. Oakley, Stoney Cross, Boitrnc- 

 mouth. 



A Strange Place for Marsh Plants. — Had 

 not Mr. A. Craig-Christie's remarks (p. 16) appeared 

 to require some comment, I would not have reverted 

 to this subject. But as he says all the plants in the 

 list " are to be found all along the coast from Bowness 

 to North Berwick (in damp and marshy places)," and 

 as this includes Leith and its neighbourhood, any one 

 who has not an opportunity of examining the place, 

 will naturally infer that they have sprung up from the 

 seeds of plants in the immediate vicinity, and that, 

 far from being unusual, their speedy appearance is 

 only a natural sequence of the exclusion of the salt 

 water. But this is not the case. The Leith and Porto- 

 bello branch of the North British Railway runs close 

 to the shore for about a mile east of the town, and is 

 bounded on the north by a sloping sea-wall, that was 

 formerly washed by every tide, and on the south by 

 the turnpike road between Leith and Portobello ; this 

 again being bounded by dwelling-houses, gardens, 

 and fields. So it will be seen that hardly any vegeta- 

 tion, other than marine, could or did grow there. 

 Again, Mr. Christie says : — " Most of them used to 

 grow at the Figgat Whins, between Leith and Porto- 

 bello." It may be so ; but both they and the Figgat 

 Whins have long disappeared, and of fifteen species 

 observed, only three, namely, Ranunculus sceleratus, 

 Veronica beccabunga, and Catabrosa aqualica are 

 now found between the two towns, a distance of 

 three miles ; so far as I can see, after a careful 

 examination of the coast ; while between Leith and 

 Granton, about an equal distance in the opposite 

 direction, none of them are found at all. As my 

 previous note was forwarded in July, a few additional 

 species were subsequently observed before their growth 

 was finally stopped by autumnal frost. And several 

 littoral species, not recently found near Leith, also 

 made their appearance. Among these I may men- 

 tion Aster tripolium, Salicornia herbacea, Triglochin 

 maritimum, Juncus Gcrardi, and Scirpus maritimus. 

 All these were probably at one time common here, 

 till their gradual extinction from alterations made on 

 the coast, through the exigencies of trade and com- 

 merce. In conclusion, I have recently received infor- 

 mation that appears to afford a satisfactory explanation 

 of the matter. A native of Leith tells me that the 

 overflow water from Lochend Loch at one time 

 entered the Firth at the place where the plants now 

 grow, but that several years ago it was drained away 

 in another direction, and now runs into the Firth 

 much farther eastward. — D. Douglas. 



Interesting Plants in the Royal Gardens, 

 Kew. — On the west-side of the Economic house is 

 Sckinus Molle, the Peruvian Mastic, introduced into 

 this country about 1597, and included in the natural 

 order Terebinthacere, tribe Anacardiese, of Hooker's 

 " Genera Plantarum." It is a small dioecious shrub 

 with unequally pinnate leaves, and white flowers in 

 panicles. The cells in the leaves contain a great 

 quantity of volatile oil or resinous matter, which is 

 violently expelled if the leaves be placed in water, the 

 recoil causing a motion that appears to be spontane- 

 ous. In Italy, where this plant succeeds well in the 

 open air, a shower of rain renders the air fragrant 

 with the discharged oil. The young leaves of several 

 species of Rhus exhibit the same phenomena when 

 immersed in water. The Peruvians employ the roots 



as an astringent medicine, and in Chili a kind of wine 

 is prepared from the fruits. Schinus is the Greek term 

 for Pistacia Lentiscus, and was applied to the present 

 plant from the similarity in their medicinal properties. 

 The specific name Molle is not the neuter form of 

 mollis, as might be supposed, but an adaptation of the 

 native term Mulli. On the same side is the notable 

 manchineel {Hippomane Mancinella) found on the sandy 

 shores of tropical South America and some islands in 

 the West Indies — a Euphorbiaceous tree, with ovate- 

 elliptical shining leaves, and inconspicuous unisexual 

 flowers. The milk-white juice of this plant has a 

 volatile poisonous principle ; which, however, is not 

 sufficiently virulent to render credible the innumerable 

 marvels related concerning its effects. The man- 

 chineel is said to rival the upas-tree of Java in the 

 number of wonderful tales with which it is connected. 

 We have reliable evidence of one property in the 

 works of Dr. Leeman, who states that he and some 

 sailors were affected by temporary blindness through 

 getting some of the juice in their eyes, when on shore 

 at Veraguas. The statement that persons have died 

 through sleeping under the tree, was doubted by 

 Jacquin, who judged from his own experience ; but 

 Ad. de Jussieu thought, very reasonably, that its effects 

 might vary on differently constituted persons. The 

 fruit is fleshy, and closely resembles an apple in shape 

 and colour, but as it contains the same noxious 

 principle as other parts of the plant, we can readily 

 imagine what an extremely disagreeable surprise 

 would greet the unfortunate individual who might 

 attempt to eat it. The name Hippomane, from hippos 

 and mania, was given by the Greeks to a plant that 

 grew in Arcadia, which had the reputation of render- 

 ing horses furious. At the other side of the house 

 we have Physostig/na venenosum, the "ordeal bean" 

 of Old Calabar ; a leguminous plant included in the 

 Phaseolese. It has a climbing stem with alternate, 

 pinnately trifoliate, stipulate leaves ; the leaflets 

 acuminate, and base of the common petiole swollen ; 

 the purplish flowers are borne on pendulous axillary 

 racemes. The style is very long, bearded, and taper- 

 ing, to near the apex, where it is broadly dilated into a 

 triangular hood above the stigma ; from this peculi- 

 arity the generic name and character are derived. 

 Although valuable nutritive qualities characterise 

 leguminous plants generally, yet a deleterious principle 

 occurs in several species, and in none is it more 

 strongly marked than in Physostigma, which is certainly 

 the most poisonous of this vast order. The active 

 properties are concentrated in the seeds, and are 

 found to be owing to the presence of the alkaloids 

 eserine and physostigmine. The seeds are used by 

 the natives of west tropical Africa as an ordeal, 

 similarly to the Tanghin described in the last paper. 

 The extract and alkaloids have a peculiar effect upon 

 the eye, causing contraction of the pupil ; hence, of 

 late years they have become valuable ophthalmic 

 medicines. — Leivis Castle, West Kensington Park. 



' "Stock-Frost," &c. — What are the phenomena 

 which go, in the Norfolk district at least, by the 

 name of "stock-frost," "stock-ice?" I have heard men 

 whose veracity is unimpeachable, and not unintelli- 

 gent men either, assert that in certain frosts the 

 bottoms of streams and "broads " will freeze, and at the 

 giving of the frost, a substance something like ice- 

 cream in appearance will come to the surface, this 

 substance having imbedded in it the weeds that grew 

 near the bottom of the water, and often the stones 

 and brickbats that might be resting on the mud. I 

 don't understand the phenomena, but if those who 

 know would kindly insert an answer to my query, 

 they would much oblige— Ignoramus. 



