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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the Faculty of Sciences, etc. ; M. Prillier, 

 Professor at the Central School of Arts 

 and Manufactures and at the Agronomic 

 Institute ; M. Malinvaud, Secretary and Li- 

 brarian of the Society ; Dr. Edmond Bon- 

 net, of the Museum of Natural History ; 

 and M. Paul Petit. " These gentlemen, 

 after having examined the specimen sub- 

 mitted to them, with the most lively inter- 

 est, agreed, in explanation of the remark- 

 able phenomenon which it presents, that 

 there has been a gradual substitution of 

 ligneous fibers and cells for the constituent 

 elements of the snake. The reptile had in- 

 troduced itself into a fissure of the tree be- 

 tween the wood and the bark, and had died 

 there ; and as rapidly as its flesh decayed 

 the place which it had filled was occupied 

 by the cells produced by the generative zone 

 of the secondary wood, that zone becoming 

 hypertrophied on contact with the animal, as 

 is attested by the well-defined relief which 

 it still presents. No objection was opposed 

 to this interpretation of the facts ; but in 

 admitting the same explanation which I had 

 endeavored to give you before the meeting, 

 neither my colleagues nor myself intended 

 to depreciate the importance of the phe- 

 nomenon which is the object of it ; the wood 

 of the formation of the vegetable tissues 

 appears sufficient to give an account of it. 

 It is no less true that, in the opinion of the 

 most competent persons, the specimen which 

 you have made known to the scientific world 

 is the finest example that has so far been 

 brought forward in illustration of the theory 

 of the normal play and accidental hyper- 

 trophy of the generative tissues of plants." 

 The specimen was also shown to M. Van 

 Tieghen. He was very busy, and able to 

 give it only a cursory examination ; but 

 the opinion he expressed concerning its 

 nature was fully in accord with that of 

 his fellow-botanists. Dr. Edmond Bonnet 

 and D. Adanson had recollections of speci- 

 mens presenting similar characteristics to a 

 certain extent, but declared that no known 

 specimen offered nearly so complete an ex- 

 emplification of the wonderful phenomenon 

 of transformation as this one. The editors 

 of this journal have been permitted, by the 

 courtesy of Senhor Netto, to inspect the 

 specimen, and are glad to add to that of 

 the French botanists their testimony to its 

 remarkable character. 



Progress of Scientific Forestry. Sylvi- 

 culture, or the culture of forests, as it is 

 understood and applied in the countries of 

 Europe, where it has been studied as a 

 science, is the application to woodland prop- 

 erty of certain economical principles which, 

 in their spirit, contain nothing more than 

 what is held to be necessary for the well- 

 ordered management of landed property in 

 general ; and which may be summed up as 

 follows : 1. The obtaining, within approxi- 

 mate limits, of a regularly sustained revenue 

 from the land which the forest covers. 2. 

 The utilization, to the fullest extent possi- 

 ble, of the natural productive powers of the 

 soil. 3. Progressive improvement in the 

 value of the property. 4. Final realization 

 of the crop to the greatest advantage. " It 

 is in the development of these principles," 

 says Colonel G. F. Pearson, in a lecture be- 

 fore the British Society of Arts, " and in 

 their application to forests of different sorts, 

 that the true science of forestry consists." 

 The rapid disappearance of the forests first 

 attracted attention, in Europe, at about the 

 beginning of the seventeenth century. The 

 first measures to regulate the evil were not 

 very efficient, but the subject came under 

 the attention of the distinguished naturalists 

 of the succeeding generations, and a system 

 that of lire el aire was adopted. Under 

 this system a period called a revolution was 

 fixed, in which the forest was destined to be 

 cleared off entirely, and reproduced by nat- 

 ural seeding. To this end the wood was 

 divided into a number of compartments 

 equal to the number of years in the revolu- 

 tion, one of which was felled every year, or 

 at such regular intervals of time as were de- 

 termined in the working plan, a few stand- 

 ard trees only being left as seed-bearers. 

 This system was continued till within the 

 last half -century, but did not prove efficient ; 

 and any approach to sound forestry was un- 

 known in France till the forest-school was 

 established at Nancy, in 1 824. Considerable 

 progress had been made before this time, 

 even before the close of the last century, by 

 the German foresters, who were the first to 

 base the principles of the art on observa- 

 tion, and treat it in a scientific manner. 

 Schools of sylviculture now exist in all the 

 principal countries of Europe, except Great 

 Britain ; and Dr. Hough, of the United 

 States, last year visited all the forest-schools 



