NOTES. 



H3 



must throw salt on the fire, and then put an 

 egg in the hen-house in prayerful hope that 

 a considerate fowl may sit on it ; in Febru- 

 ary all the dogs must be thoroughly beaten 

 as a precaution against hydrophobia in- 

 deed, there is always some ceremony to the 

 fore, generally accompanied by songs and 

 ballads." To the Greek, too, every accident 

 has its interpretation. To drop oil is un- 

 lucky, but wine may be spilt with advan- 

 tage ; a rainbow over a cemetery means a 

 coming epidemic ; and the recipe concerning 

 " the hair of the dog that bit you " is prac- 

 tically enforced by inserting tufts of the 

 dog's hair in the wound made by his teeth. 



India-rubber Trees. India-rubber trees, 

 according to W. R. Fisher, in Nature, are 

 extensively cultivated in flourishing planta- 

 tions in the Charduar forest, at the foot of 

 the Himalaya Mountains, in Assam. The 

 climate of the place is essentially damp. 

 The forest contains a great number of woody 

 species, both evergreen and deciduous, with 

 a few enormous old rubber trees dissemi- 

 nated through it. Trees have been measured 

 here 129 feet high, with a girth around the 

 principal aerial roots of 138 feet, while the 

 girth of the crown was 611 feet. As rubber 

 trees can not stand shade, and the seeds 

 damp off unless fully exposed to light and well 

 drained, the natural reproduction of Ficus 

 elastica generally takes place in the forks of 

 stag-headed or lightly foliaged trees high up 

 in the crown, where the seeds are left by 

 birds ; and from such a site the aerial roots 

 in process of time descend to the ground 

 and develop into a vast hollow cylinder 

 around the foster-stem, and it is speedily in- 

 closed and killed by the vigorous crown of 

 the epiphyte, which eventually replaces it 

 in the forest. In its epiphytic growth the 

 aerial roots of Fiats elastica may take sev- 

 eral years to reach the ground, but, once 

 well rooted, nothing can probably surpass it 

 in its native habitat for rapidity of growth 

 and vigor. At first attempts were made to 

 propagate by cuttings, which struck easily ; 

 but it was soon discovered that rubber seed 

 germinates freely on well-drained beds cov- 

 ered with powdered charcoal or brick-dust, 

 and that the seedlings, though at first as 

 small as cress, grew rapidly, and became 

 about two feet high in twelve months, and 



were much hardier against drought than 

 plants produced from cuttings. The base 

 of the stem of the seedlings swells out like 

 a carrot, and this probably enables them to 

 tide through the dry season in safety. 



Tin Production of Cornwall. A review, 

 by Mr. J. H. Collins, of the tin production 

 of Cornwall during seven centuries shows 

 how rapidly it has grown. An extensive com- 

 merce in the metal was already carried on 

 in extremely ancient times. In the thirteenth 

 century of our era, 486 tons of tin were 

 taken annually from the mines ; in the four- 

 teenth century, 828 tons ; in the fifteenth 

 century, 732 tons ; in the sixteenth century, 

 802 tons ; in the seventeenth century, 1,300 

 tons ; in the eighteenth century, 3,93S tons ; 

 and in the nineteenth century (ninety years), 

 8,795 tons. The total quantity raised is not 

 less than 1,938,800 tons. The mean aver- 

 age for the fifty years ending in 1849 was 

 6,008 tons per year, and for the fifty years 

 ending in 18S9, 12,278 tons per year. This 

 remarkable increase during the last forty 

 years has been in the face of extensive pro- 

 duction in the Strait of Malacca and Aus- 

 tralia. Of sudden advances in production, 

 the most noticeable, in the latter part of 

 the fourteenth century, was probably occa- 

 sioned by the great demand for bell-metal. 

 The second period of rapid advance was in 

 the latter part of the eighteenth century, 

 when bronze was commonly used for can- 

 non. The third period is that of the general 

 use of tinned metals. 



NOTES. 



Involuntary Movements. The article 

 on Involuntary Movements, by Prof. Jas- 

 trow, published in the April number, will 

 appear in a more extended form in the forth- 

 coming issue of the American Journal of 

 Psychology. 



A promising account is given of the cop- 

 per mines of French Congo. They lie in the 

 district around the source of the Ludima- 

 Niadi, about two days south of Stephanie- 

 ville. The ore, a malachite, is brought to 

 the surface by about three hundred and fifty 

 negroes, whose methods of work are ex- 

 tremely simple. They reach the mineral by 

 digging out, with implements of hard wood, 

 holes or shafts three feet wide and twice 

 as deep. The malachite is broken on the 

 ground, and afterward when pulverized is 

 put into a furnace on a tray with charcoal, 



