94 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



F.L.S., &c— Our position with regard to the author- 

 ship of this book forbids us doing more than an- 

 nouncing its recent publication. (Chatto & Windus, 

 Price 7-r. 6d.) It contains about 350 pp. and 331 

 illustrations. The thirteen chapters of the book 

 are headed as follows : I. Fossil Sponges, &c. ; 

 2. Fossil Corallines ; 3. Fossil Corals ; 4. Encrinites ; 

 5. Fossil Star-fishes and Sea-Urchins ; 6. Fossil 

 Worms ; 7. Trilobites, and other Fossil Crustacea ; 

 8. Fossil Sea-Mats ; 9. Fossil Lamp-Shells ; 10. Fossil 

 Mollusca (Primary) ; II. Fossil Mollusca (Secondary) ; 

 12. Fossil Mollusca (Tertiary) ; 13. Fossil Cephalopoda. 

 Perhaps the best outline of the author's intention with 

 regard to this Handbook will be conveyed by quoting 

 the preface : — "The following pages are intended as 

 a help to the young student of geology, who is usually 

 bewildered by the abundance of invertebrate fossils, 

 when he commences collecting them himself. There 

 are books of a much higher and more extensive character, 

 such as the treatises on Palaeontology by Owen and 

 Nicholson, to which I am hopeful this present volume 

 will prove introductory. I have not attempted to 

 introduce the student to other than invertebrate fossil 

 animals, not only because these are by far the most 

 numerous, but also because such an attempt would 

 have expanded the volume beyond due limits. I have 

 recollected the nature of the difficulties which begin- 

 ners in fossil-collecting feel, and have tried to meet 

 them. My hope has been rather to whet the appetite 

 than to satisfy it." 



Flint or Stone Implements. — In reply to query 

 by Mr. Hewitson, I may say that there have been 

 finds of pre-historic implements in Allendale and the 

 surrounding district. The implements were celts, 

 arrow-heads, flakes, drippings and cores. The 

 materials consisted of greenstone and flint. The 

 localities were Allendale Fell, Kilhope Fell, Ram- 

 shaw Fell, Tows Band, and Cowburn district. In 

 1878, the Rev. W. Howchin, F.G.S., contributed a 

 paper on this subject to the Natural History Society 

 of Newcastle-on-Tyne. — y. T. T. Rccd. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



Arum Maculatum. — On reading Mr. Williams' 

 article on this plant I referred to an old work 

 wherein I find the following account, which I quote 

 verbatim, thinking it may be of interest to him as 

 well as your readers. The book is titled " Pharmaco- 

 poeia Officinalis Extemporanca, or, a Complete 

 English Dispensatory," by John Quincy, M.D. 

 printed for Thomas Longman, at the Ship in Pater- 

 noster Row, London, 1739, Part ii. Sect. 4. Of 

 Balsamics. Radices, Roots of, Ari, Cuckow Pint ; 

 distinguished — vulgare by Gerhard, and — maculatum 

 cr- 5 non maculatum, by Parkinson. It grows in Hedges 

 and Shady Places. This Plant appears very early in 

 the Spring. It is most violently pungent and vola- 

 tile ; insomuch that the least Touch of its Juice upon 



the Tongue is scarce tolerable, and almost caustic. 

 This Quality makes it recommended in all Viscidities, 

 and in phlegmatic and scorbutic Cases ; because it 

 penetrates and rarefies tough Concretions and In- 

 fractions of the Glands and Capillary Vessels. It has 

 been prescribed in humoral Asthmas and Obstruc- 

 tions of the Bronchia ; and by the great Force and 

 Activity of its Parts it breakes thro' and wears 

 away those little Stoppages in the Extremities and 

 cutaneous Glands, which occasion Itchings and 

 Scabs ; and is therefore justly rank'd amongst the 

 most powerful Antiscorbutics. Van Helmont com- 

 mends it greatly, with Vinegar in Bruises or Falls ; 

 because it will prevent the Blood from stagnating 

 and falling into Grumes, upon the injured Parts. 

 And Etmuller, with a Mixture of Sallads, seems to 

 think it will form a Tertium Quid, very much of the 

 Nature of Nasturtium. Some have affirmed a Dram 

 of this Root fresh powder'd and taken in any proper 

 Vehicle, to be a most excellent and infallible Remedy 

 against Poison and the Plague. Mathiolus com- 

 mends, and with great reason, a Cataplasm made 

 with this fresh bruised and Cow-dung, to be applied 

 hot in arthritic Pains ; for such a Composition cannot 

 but do all that is expected from the most penetrating 

 Substances. Schroder reports, that the distilled 

 Water from its fresh Leaves, is a Specific in Melan- 

 choly and Distraction. Dr. Grew says that this 

 Root kept long dry, loses its efficacy ; which it 

 certainly does ; the volatile Parts, in which it con- 

 sists, flying away, and leaving it insipid. — yohn 

 Redding, Dubfai. 



Unrecognised Birds : waxwings ? — The birds 

 seen in Yorkshire by Mr. Birkdale (p. 69) were 

 probably specimens of the Bohemian chatterer or 

 waxwing {Ampclis garruhis, Linn.), an irregular 

 winter visitor to this country ; if so, they would have 

 a slight crest, a dark throat, and white bands on the 

 wings, besides the features he mentions, and the wax- 

 like appendages to wings and tail, of a bright scarlet, 

 but perhaps, not visible at a distance, from which they 

 are named ; in young birds some of these characteris- 

 tics would be wanting. The date seems unusual. 

 Stone-snatches would be wheatears, whinchats, or 

 stonechats. — y. E. Kclsall. 



Last Autumn's Aberrations. — I forward you 

 a cherry, gathered on November 6th, rather damaged 

 by birds, but rich in colour ; and also a cluster of 

 strawberry bloom and green fruit. Both were found 

 out of doors. The gardener, an old and observing 

 man, never before met with a cherry at this season. 

 The autumnal tints, too, were remarkable, and 

 surpassingly beautiful. Prior to the rougher nights 

 of early November, elms retained full luxuriance of 

 foliage, and a few days previously, showed each a 

 daily increasing single blotch of sharply defined and 

 unbroken orange colour, the rest of the leaves re- 

 maining unchanged in hue, and all of them as to 

 denseness. — S. S. 



Abnormal Orange. — This orange consists of an 

 inner and an outer one ; the inner being of the shape 

 of a miniature barrel, flat at the top, and, as it nears 

 its other extremity, rather abruptly terminates in a 

 blunt point. It is at this point that a pithy stem 

 joins it. The outer part of the orange discloses 

 nothing unusual to view, being of the ordinary shape. 

 It is also remarkable for its paucity of pips. — Arthur 

 Ayling. 



Illustrations of Pond Life. — Will any reader 

 of Science-Gossip kindly say how I can give illus- 

 trations of pond life with the lantern in a small hall. 



