184 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Aug. 1, 1SGS. 



will take fire by holding a lighted caudle near it. 

 It will continue a whole day, and eggs and flesh 

 may be boiled therein ; but the water itself is cold. 

 It is but a few yards distant from a rich coal-mine, 

 which renders it probable that the inflammable 

 vapour is rock-oil." 



The composition of this short pithy paragraph is 

 rather misty, and I must leave it to some one more 

 enlightened than myself to discover whether it is the 

 vapour, or the water, or the spring itself that so 

 readily takes fire, and in which of the three eggs 

 and bacon can be boiled, while the water itself is 

 cold. A spring at King's Cliff, near Stamford, will 

 not act on a strong person, unless he drinks from 

 three to five quarts ! And from another a dose of 

 the same quantity is prescribed as restoring a con- 

 stitution weakened by hard drinking. 



I should be glad to kuow (and so ought the 

 public at large) if the Dog and Duck public-house 

 still stands anywhere in St. George's Fields, and 

 whether it still continues to supply those " pungent 

 brackish " waters which formerly saved so many 

 lives. 



Concerning coal we are told, — 



"It is plain that coals consist of a spungy earth, 

 impregnated plentifully with bituminous juice, and 

 if they are deprived of the bitumeu they can never 

 be made to flame or smoke. Hence it appears 

 that coals are so far from doing harm that they 

 are rather beneficial by drying up the too great 

 humidity of the blood, and preserving the body from 

 putrefaction. Where the atmosphere is very moist, 

 and full of watery vapours, so hurtful to human 

 bodies, the burning of coals is certainly very proper. 

 It is certain that in London, since the burning of 

 pit-coal has been almost universal, no plague has 

 ever affected that city, nor any disease of that kind, 

 and therefore there is no reason to be afraid of it, 

 unless it be brought from foreign countries." 



Every evil has its accompanying good, and we 

 have no right to find fault with the smoke of London 

 if it keeps away the plague. 



Concerning the origin of the stones called 

 belemnitcs, we have the opinions of a host of 

 naturalists, considering them respectively as a sea- 

 plant, a mineral production of the earth, the horn of 

 the fish called narwhal, a stalactite or fossil pipe, 

 formed by flowers, the teeth of a crocodile or some 

 sort of whale, the prickle of a sort of hedgehog, &c. 

 Dr. Brookes refrains from giving any opinion of his 

 own; but we may recollect for our comfort that 

 belemnitcs are "good against the nightmare." 

 Listen, O epicures ; here is a remedy for you — go 

 into a lias quarry and get a bag of thunderbolts, 

 alias belemnites, and take one every night after 

 supper. 



"There has been a great number of monstrous 

 teeth found iu different parts of England ; and in 

 Essex there were two met with in the reign of 



Richard I. which were large enough to make two 

 hundred each of the common size." 



There was found in London, among other remains, 

 a thigh-bone three feet two inches long, and these 

 a certain Dr. Plott opined belonged to men or 

 women; for there was a giant living in Erance 

 about two hundred years before his time so tall 

 that a man of common stature might go upright 

 between his legs. 



There are many cuts of stones curiously shaped 

 given in the book, with names awarded according to 

 fancied resemblances— e.g., the Kidney-stone, the 

 Owl-stone, the Horse-head-stone, the Olfactory- 

 nerve-stone, Worm-stones, &c. &c. 



Coral is said to be of a " stony nature, and is 

 placed in the animal kingdom because it produces 

 sea insects." So far good; but Dr. B. himself 

 believes it to be of a vegetable nature, and enters at 

 some length on the mode of reproduction. 



Folkestone. Henky Ullyett. 



Rhizosolenia. — In Science - Gossip, vol. iii., 

 page 35, is contained a reference to Mr. Brightwell's 

 notice of the genus Bhizosolenia, accompanied with 

 figures of two of the species, viz., R. styliformis 

 and R. imbricata. Concerning the members of this 

 genus, the writer says, that " besides the singularity 

 of their forms they are remarkable for being only 

 found in the interior of marine animals— chiefly 

 Ascidians." Of the five species indigenous to 

 Britain, Mr. Norman is reported to have found one, 

 and Mr. Brightwell the remaining four. It would 

 appear that both these gentlemen obtained their 

 specimens from the interior of Ascidians aud their 

 allies ; hence the reason for the statement quoted in 

 Science-Gossip, that they are " ouly found in the 

 interior of these lowly animals." On the 7th July 

 I took a gathering of Diatomaceae from the surface of 

 mud in Whitehaven harbour, which, on examination, 

 proved to contain a large proportion of R. styliformis. 

 To make sure that there was no mistake, I obtained 

 another from near the same place the following day, 

 with similar results. On the 9th I secured a third 

 collection which contained a still greater proportion 

 of this form. I have also found it in Chincha 

 Island guano, in a fossil state. The specimen pre- 

 served in the guano deposit might perhaps be 

 obtained by the sea birds from the source indicated 

 by Mr. Brightwell. Of course we cannot tell ; but 

 there can be no doubt that they are to be had in a 

 more natural condition, as is proved by the fact 

 I have stated above. They were associated with 

 P. angulation, P. astuarii, and a few other 

 species, which usually abound in the tidal harbours 

 of Cumberland at this season. I presume that 

 careful and combined observation would prove that 

 the other species of this genus are neither rare in 

 their occurrence, nor special in their habitat. — 

 B. Taylor. k 



