Natural History in London, '59 



by the fellows and botanists present to be the same as the doiim palm of 

 Thibet (Hyphae'ne coriacea of Gaertner), and is remarkable as being almost 

 the only species of palm with a branched stem. It was probably intro- 

 duced by the Arabs into Madras. The stems are slender ; and the fruit is 

 a hard solid substance, which, after being steeped in water for a few days, 

 is well beaten, and used by the natives as brushes to white-wash their 

 houses. The leaves are very small and narrow, and the stalk is denticu- 

 lated with many sharp curved thorns j from which circumstance the natives 

 say it resembles the backbone of a shark, and on this account the people 

 of the adjacent villages carry it in their hands when travelling through the 

 jungles as a weapon of defence, and also during some of their festivals. 



The inhabitants look upon this tree as the guardian of their jungle, and 

 hold it in some degree of veneration, conceiving it has, as its Sanscrit name 

 (^Kulpa vroochaiii) implies, the power of fulfilling the desires and wishes of 

 mankind, at least such as, fi'oih f)ilr6hess of h^art ahd morals, have faith in 

 its supposed yirtpes. {Lit. Gaz., Nov. 20. 1830.) 



The Geographical Society held their first ordinary Meeting ^t the H(^rti- 

 cultural So|ciety*s house in Regent Street, December 6th,- when the presi- 

 dent. Lord Goderich, delivered an appropriate ext^lillibre 'address. " He 

 observed, " that the pursuits which the Society was' institluted to proihote 

 W6re at once useful, interesting;, and ennobling. They wer6 useful ; for all 

 classes of society would necessarily 'benefit by that enlatged acqnaintahcfe 

 with the resources of our own and dther countries, which the iinnrovemeht 

 and diffusion of geographical knowledge in facfconStitutM; Tliey \vere in- 

 teresting ; for scarcely any but had friends or relations, who, as' sgaiiien, mer- 

 chants, or travellers, woiild still more directly profit from the information 

 thus acquired. And they were ennobling; because they roused atid exer- 

 cised the noblest faculties of the human mind : the love of entei'prise ; the 

 promptitude which meets and overcomes its attendant difficulties; the 

 powers of observation, which make the opportunities thus afforded valuable ; 

 jand though last, not least, the attachment to strict veracity in narration, 

 without which all other advantages are worse than useless ; but for which, 

 he was proud and happy to think and say, that English travellers were, for 

 the most part, pre-eminently distinguished. The Society met, then, with 

 a conscious feeling of the worthiness ol"its objects ; but these objects had, 

 moreover, already received, and were still receiving, the sanction of all that 

 was most eminent for rank and talent in the cduntl-y." {Lit. Gaz , lltov. 13. 



1830.)^ ' ' "■ ; ' ' ' ' ' V - ' ' '■ ^ ^ ■"■" 



William IV. approves of this Society, and has promised fifty guineas an- 

 nually for its encouragement. The minutes of previous meetings of council 

 were read, by which it appears that the canons of Hereford Cathedral have 

 promised to send to Londoh fof the Society's inspection a very old ^ftiap 

 of the world, which was said by IVTr. Britton, the historian of cathedral 

 antiquities, to be the earliest specimen of British map-making. Among the 

 list of presents of books and maps made to the Society, was the notice of 

 an offer made by Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street, characteristic of that 

 gentleman's well known liberality, viz., to present the Society with what- 

 ever it might choose to select from his catalogue of publicktions.' This 

 generous offer was received with the greatest applause. 



The Geological Society have met and held their Meetings' aS usual, and 

 when abstracts of the papers read are printed (according to the custom of 

 this Society), we shall give the essence of them. 



King's College. — Kov. This building is advancing rapidly ; and we have 

 great pleasure in announcing that our excellent friend and coadjutor, Mr. 

 Rennie, the author of Insect Architecturey so ably reviewed in our present 

 Number, has been appointed to the chair of Natural Philosophy. 



Rectory Grove Academy ^ Clapham. — We are happy to find that Mr. 

 Cornfield, who conducts this establishment, gives popular lectures on every 



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