HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



6 9 



pretty little plant merely from its delicate appear- 

 ance, being, in fact, a miniature or fairy imitation of 

 the common flax in everything but the colour of the 

 flowers. Still there may be some legend connecting 

 it with the fairies, and, if so, I shall be much obliged 

 to any correspondent who can furnish me with any 

 folklore of Fairy Flax illustrative of its name or other- 

 wise. " E. L. S. "may be interested to know its other 

 English names, though, as far as I am aware, it has 

 fewer than most British plants. Gerard calls it 

 Mill Mountains, which Prior, in his " Popular Names 

 of British Plants," derives from the Lat. Cha-moel- 

 inum montanum, Gr. , xcrjuat-Xtvov, Ground-Flax. 

 In Cumberland, Shropshire, and Cheshire it is called 

 Mountain Flax, being frequent in hilly and moun- 

 tainous districts : and in the latter county it is also 

 known as Purging Flax, a translation of its scien- 

 tific name, or vice versa, and it is so called from its 

 reputed cathartic properties. In Cheshire, however, 

 I have found that herb-doctors are not very particular 

 what the effects of a herb may be, so long as it is a 

 herb, and they generally administer it as a stomachic 

 on account of its bitter taste. — Robert Holland. 



The Nebular Theory. — It has been discovered 

 by M. Cailletet, and M. Raoul Pictet that our air can 

 produce water; they have also converted oxygen and 

 nitrogen into liquids, and have produced a vapoury 

 cloud from hydrogen, under great pressure and ex- 

 cessive cold. Under the nebularh ypothesis of La- 

 place, the origin of water is nowhere satisfactorily 

 accounted for. Mr. Proctor has told us that it is to 

 all intents and purposes demonstrated that the nucleus 

 of this earth was formed from a nebulous condition. 

 The German astronomer, Gruithuisen, adopting the 

 same primary condition, formed this earth by the slow 

 aggregation of cold matter, leaving the water origin 

 unaccounted for. By this new discovery, it seems 

 that all the conditions for producing the water were 

 present under the latter system. The light and heat 

 had not penetrated the nebula ; there was therefore 

 intense cold, as there is now in the air above us and 

 at the sea-bottom. As the solids of the nebula slowly 

 condensed, they caused great pressure. As the gases 

 are expressed now in water from the earth, so we may 

 infer that they were at the beginning. In The Mail 

 of January 9th, 1878, I find, "It is only a question of 

 carrying these experiments further in order to reduce 

 these liquid gases to the solid form." We have then 

 a nebulous mass filling the whole space now occupied 

 by the atmosphere, the water, and the solid earth. 

 Under the universal law of gravitation, the heaviest 

 molecules of the mass subsided towards their centre — 

 as these molecules condensed, they produced pressure. 

 Hence we have the result in our quasi-solid earth, the 

 water resting on it, and the air enveloping the whole, 

 the entire system resulting naturally from the nebu- 

 lous mass, the sunlight and heat reducing or refining 

 the atmosphere to its present condition by causes well 

 known. — H. P. Malet, 8, Via Venezia, Florence. 



Harebell (No. 158, p. 47). — There are two good 

 reasons why this name should not be derived from the 

 hairlike stalks upon which the flowers hang. The 

 first is that the spelling " Hairbell " is of compara- 

 tively modern introduction, inasmuch as the older 

 writers, such as Gerard and Parkinson, spelled it 

 " Harebell," though it must be confessed that the 

 spelling of the older herbalists does not go for very 

 much. The second reason is that when those old 

 writers do make use of the name, they are not speak- 

 ing of Campanula rotundifolia, but of Scilla nutans. 

 When the name was transferred in books from Scilla 

 to Campanula I am not aware. Some choose to spell 



the word "Airbell," from the supposition that it 

 refers to the colour of the flowers being similar to the 

 air or sky ; but the same objections apply to this also 

 — the first does, at any rate. As a matter of fact, 

 however, the name Harebell or Hairbell is not the 

 name in most general use, except in books, for either 

 plant. In fourteen different stations in England and 

 Scotland I only have Hare — or Hairbell recorded for 

 Campanula in three, viz , Yorkshire, Cheshire, and 

 the West of England ; and in twenty-five counties I 

 have the name applied to Scilla in but one, Devon- 

 shire. Lyte is, I think, the oldest writer who gives 

 an English name to C. rotundifolia, and he calls it 

 "Blewbelles," which is still one of its commoner 

 names, but which is also as often given to Scilla. It 

 would seem, then, that Scilla nutans is the original 

 "Harebell"; that it was "hare," not "hair"; that 

 the name has been transferred to Campanula rotundi- 

 folia, and the spelling altered in some cases in order 

 to account for the name, because its stalks are delicate 

 and hairlike. I do not possess a copy of Gerard to 

 refer to, but it is possible he may say why Scilla is 

 called " Harebell."— Robert Holland. 



Pairing Instinct of Birds. — As to the question 

 of birds using the nests of other species, and why not 

 of the same species? It will invariably be found that 

 the selected nests are old ones, and belong to birds 

 who only once use them for their purpose. In the 

 case of the House Sparrow using the nest of the 

 Martin, the bird has utilized it for its purpose, in the 

 absence of the Martins, and, upon their return, keeps 

 possession of the nest by "force of arms," and 'con- 

 sequently compels the rightful owners to build else- 

 where. I may also mention that sparrows may be 

 found breeding the year throughout, and retain their 

 old nests in many, if not all cases. There is a stately 

 fir-tree in my neighbourhood containing several 

 sparrows' nests. They have been there for several 

 years, and I have not the least doubt but they have 

 been tenanted by the same pairs of birds, as the nests 

 are always equal in numbers, and should one of the 

 nests be destroyed, it will again be built in a more 

 inaccessible situation. Now, if birds used the nests 

 of their own species indiscriminately, their ranks 

 would be fraught with strife and discord, which I 

 have, as yet, failed to observe. All birds would con- 

 sequently strive to obtain an old nest, rather than be 

 at the trouble of constructing one for themselves ; 

 fierce combats would prevail, and then, no doubt, 

 the " survival of the fittest " would in one sense be 

 correct. Again, all birds work as influenced by their 

 respective instincts. The Martin, having once con- 

 structed its abode, remains, through the agency of 

 instinct, at rest, as far as nest-building is concerned, 

 until that structure is damaged, or forcibly taken from 

 it, as in the case of the sparrow, when it must repair 

 its handiwork, or make new quarters elsewhere, if 

 not able to repel the aggressor. How can we explain, 

 except through this peculiar instinct, the annual 

 return of the same number of birds, and the little 

 wanderers alighting upon their temporary homes 

 shortly after their arrival; or, if their nests have been 

 destroyed, clinging to the old sites, and, as the breed- 

 ing season arrives, constructing new nests on the ruins 

 of the old ones? A word as to the circumstance 

 mentioned by your correspondent, "G. T. B." Ihave 

 no doubt that he is quite correct in believing that 

 the pair of blackbirds laying in the same nest 

 three successive years is one and the same pair. 

 But did not the nest undergo repairs? I have 

 never known a nest of this bird, however com- 

 pactly built, be fit for its purpose again, even the 

 next season, let alone three successive seasons. 



