304 HON. E. I. company's 



the phosphorescence, appeared to correspond with an inter- 

 ruption which sometimes took place in the vibration of the 

 cilia. The author would infer from this that the two actions 

 are concomitant, but he knows of no other proof that the one 

 is the cause of the other. * 



(To be continued.) 



Art. VIII. — Letter on the present state of the Hon. Company s 

 * Botanical ' Garden at Calcutta. 



Quousque tandem abutere patientia nostra ? 



Sir, 



Of the few scientific institutions in India, none 

 is better and more generally known than the H. E. I. Com- 

 pany's botanical garden at Calcutta, the store-house in which 

 the indefatigable industry of Dr. Roxburgh and Dr. Buchanan 

 Hamilton accumulated the rich treasures of the Indian Flora, 

 which, augmented by the present superintendent, w T ere, a few 

 years ago, through the liberality of the Hon. Court of Direc- 

 tors, distributed all over Europe. While this unequalled mu- 

 nificence has naturally attracted the interest of all botanists 

 towards the noble establishment, still kept up with the same 

 munificence in the East, — alas, few but actual visitors are 

 aware of the rapid decline into which this garden has sunk ! 



While the home and local governments evince the greatest 

 anxiety to promote science and spread the light of knowledge 

 over India, — while, through their fostering care several scien- 

 tific institutions have of late sprung up in India, — it remains 

 an enigma how one of the oldest and most useful institutions 

 should have been allowed to sink to its present state, which 

 hardly justifies the application of the epithet "botanical" to 

 the garden. 



The latter assertion may probably appear incredible, as it 

 indeed appeared to the writer, although repeated assertions to 



1 Borlase says, and the fishermen believe, that when this phosphorescence 

 is vivid, it presages a storm. On the luminousness of the Mollusca, see 

 Pliny, Hist. Nat.; Reaumur, Mem. Acad. Sci. Par. 1723; and Marsigli, 

 Act. Bon- vol. ii., &c. The observations of Beccaria <Scc. seem to prove that 

 the light is not owing to any chemical principle, and that it exists in ex- 

 actly such circumstances as the cilia would continue to vibrate under. 



When the cilia have their vibration stopped by any application, they are 

 no longer visible. From this circumstance, Raspail concludes that their 

 appearance is an occular deception, due to an emission or scintillation from 

 the branchia. 



