7o 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



" Flora Medica" (1S3S) omits them, though he gives 

 a very extended list of medical plants. The last 

 account I have seen of the dietetic properties of 

 water-cresses is by Mrs. Lankester, in the third 

 edition of " Sowerby's English Botany " (1863), who 

 says " that the fresh green leaves are a good anti- 

 scorbutic."—^. //. A. 



Can new Species originate by crossing ? — An 

 answer to E. A. Brunetti's letter would involve 

 an exact definition of the terms genus, species, race, 

 variety, which would, in effect, reopen the discussion 

 which you terminated at the close of last year ; and I 

 would not again have addressed you on the subject, 

 but that the evolutionists may assume that if Mr. 

 Brunetti's letter be unanswered, it is because it is un- 

 answerable. I quite agree with your answer to P. 

 and others in the current number, that there seems 

 no more likelihood of the opponents satisfying each 

 other than of two parallel lines meeting. As the 

 promoter of the discussion on "Intelligence in Man 

 and Animals," allow me, however, to express a hope 

 that it will not be fruitless, as many of the moot 

 points of the subject have been fairly ventilated. — 

 H. D. Barclay. 



Misconceptions of Darwinism. — Though the 

 views enunciated by Mr. Darwin are rapidly gaining 

 adherents, these last are so much more remarkable for 

 valour than for discretion, that the learned naturalist 

 might well cry, "save me from my friends." Your 

 February number contains several very un-Darwinian 

 statements on Darwinian topics, which I take in order, 

 using the word Darwinian to express that particular 

 view of evolution, in which natural selection is con- 

 sidered a most important mode of change. Not only 

 admitting, but being ready to maintain, that "The 

 Origin of Species " is the greatest scientific work of 

 the day by reason of its method, its array of facts, 

 and its universal influence, I submit that it is an 

 absurd misuse of terms, to call it a cyclopedia of 

 science. At the most it only professes to deal with 

 biology. It is equally absurd to say that Mr. Darwin 

 has in any degree reduced variation to a law or even 

 to a code. No one would be more ready to deny 

 having clone so than the great author himself, Indeed, 

 if my memory mislead me not, he clearly says that of 

 the causes of variation we know next to nothing, and 

 that they concern not his subject, that of the fixing of 

 variations into specific differences. No more unfor- 

 tunate instance could be advocated than Mr. Palmer's 

 of the cowslip and primrose. There are as many or 

 more primroses on one stalk as there are cowslips, the 

 difference between these two species being chiefly in 

 the leaves, the length of the flower-stalk (generally 

 very short in the primrose) or peduncle, and that of 

 the pedicels (generally long in the primrose) the 

 points of the sepals, the shape of the corolla, and the 

 folds at the mouth of the corolla-tube. There can 

 hardly be two more distinct species in one genus and 

 dl probability points to their having a common 

 ancestry rather than to one as the ancestor of the 

 other. Though Mr. E. A. Brunetti has read the 

 "Descent of Man," his scientific training does not seem 

 to have included any attempt at defining such all- 

 important terms as " variety " or "species," nor a clear 

 listory of our views of evolution. Hybridism is not 

 io\v considered an important mode of origin of 

 pecies, nor is there any evidence in Mr. Brunetti's 

 (iiotation that the Spikehorn-buck of the Adiron- 

 lacks is a species originating from hybridism rather 

 han from so-called casual variation. Domestic dogs, 

 lucks and pigeons, belong almost exclusively to 

 Jiree species ; so that the fertility of hybrids between 



their varieties proves little or nothing. A far more 

 important case as against Mr. Barclay, is that of the 

 Hybrid geese quoted from Mr. Darwin's letter to 

 " Nature " on p. 40. — G. S. Boulger. 



"Mealies" is merely the native name in Natal 

 for maize or Indian corn. I gave a definition of the 

 word twenty years ago in my " Commercial Dictionary 

 of Trade Products." — /-*. L. Simmonds, 61 Cheapside. 



Morbid Sensations. — I cannot agree with your 

 correspondent, "A Common Man," that the objec- 

 tion to seeing serpents fed at the Zoological Gardens 

 is necessarily a "morbid" feeling. I should rather 

 incline to think that if, as a naturalist, a humane person 

 wished to see the operation once or twice, he would 

 no more desire to witness it habitually than to watch 

 a cat playing with a live mouse. It is a " normal 

 working of nature " for carnivora to eat human beings 

 when they can get them ; but one would not care to 

 study a tiger's treatment of a "common man" in an 

 Indian jungle. While it is quite true that the mere 

 shrinking from the sight of pain is no proof at all of 

 humanity, yet needlessly to witness its infliction, does 

 not seem calculated to increase one's sensitiveness to 

 the sufferings of others, whether they belong to our 

 own race or to the dumb creation. Especially is this 

 true as regards children. They would see nothing 

 but cruelty in serpent feeding, and probably the same 

 would be true of many grown-up but ignorant persons. 

 — Another Common Man. 



Unripened Figs. — On p. 281 of the last volume, 

 the Rev. Z. J. Edwards requests information as to the 

 cause of figs not ripening in the open air ; perhaps 

 the following remarks may prove of service to him. 

 The fig is of extremely vigorous growth in ordinary 

 garden soils, too much so in fact, for the strength of 

 the plant is expended in the production of coarse 

 foliage and shoots, which are too full of sap to be 

 matured by our brief summer. The plant naturally 

 requires a light calcareous soil, which must be pre- 

 pared artificially if it cannot be otherwise obtained. 

 The old trees should be taken up, freely shortening 

 both roots and brandies, a quantity of lime rubbish 

 being mixed with the soil, and then replant the trees, 

 confining the roots within a space of three feet from 

 the main stem. The fig also requires all the sun-heat 

 to which it can be exposed, even in the south of 

 England, and if the tree mentioned by your corre- 

 spondent " has a high wall on the south and east," it 

 could not be in a worse position. If, however, it is 

 planted on the south side of a wall, or in a warm 

 sunny place, and the foregoing particulars as to soil 

 are observed, there will be no difficulty in obtaining 

 abundant supplies of ripe figs. Possibly the variety 

 may not be well adapted to outdoor cultivation. 

 Brown Turkey is the best for the purpose. — L. Castle. 



Woodcocks or Goatsuckers. — In reference to- 

 the blunder which your correspondent T. A. B. 

 supposes Chas. Kingsley to have made as to the 

 habits of the woodcock, I will describe some of the 

 habits of this bird which I have observed. In the 

 summer of 1877, while staying at Carrbridge in Inver- 

 ness-shire, I was in the habit of strolling along the 

 outskirts of a dense pine-wood in the vicinity. I here 

 noticed the following habits of the woodcock. The 

 pine-wood is situated on a hillside, so that, standing 

 on the moor below, one can see along the tree tops 

 for a long distance. About 150 yards to the north of 

 this hill on the low lying ground, there is a birch- 

 wood plantation, along the north skirt of which runs 

 the river Dulnain. After sunset, when the deepening 

 twilight was beginning to render distant objects in- 



