Miscellaneous. 427 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



HABITS OF THE " KAKAPO " AND " MACRO " OF NEW ZEALAND. 



In a note dated 2nd May 1846, which I have just received from 

 Governor Grey, he makes the following observations on the Kakapo, 

 Strigops habroptilus of my brother's ' Genera of Birds ' : — 



" I have been some time past engaged in instituting inquiries into 

 its natural history, and intended to have been the first to forward it 

 to Europe, at the same time transmitting you a full account of it. 

 I now send you a head of this bird ; its real name is not what you 

 state, but Kakapo, the word ' kaka' meaning Parrot, and ( po' night, 

 the compound signifying ' night Parrot ;' you thus see that you 

 have rightly divined its nocturnal habits. This bird, since rats and 

 cats have been introduced into the island, is rapidly becoming ex- 

 tinct, indeed so much so, that it is in some parts regarded as a 

 fabulous bird, and many Europeans regard it as such. The same 

 natives who first made me fully acquainted with the existence of 

 this bird and its habits, described to me another new animal which 

 they call a ■ Macro ;' they say it is like a man covered over with 

 hair, but smaller and with long claws ; it inhabits trees and lives on 

 birds ; they represent it as being strong and active, and state they are 

 afraid of them. I hope in a few weeks to be able to visit the country 

 (mountains covered with forests) which the animals live in, and as 

 I am not afraid of them, I hope I shall send you one before long." 

 The **. Macro " is most probably a Lemurideous animal by the de- 

 scription ; some, as the Indri, have a man-like appearance, and many 

 eat birds. — J. E. Gray. 



On the Medicinal Properties of our Geraniums. By Dr. Johnston. 



A few weeks ago my friend Dr. Edgar brought a plant to me to 

 have it named. It was a dried fragment of Geranium pratense. The 

 Doctor told me that a person resident in or about Ford had acquired 

 great local fame, for the cure of fluxes in general, and the only 

 remedy used was an infusion of this Geranium. One dozen stalks 

 are '* masked " in a pint of boiling water, and of this two ounces are 

 taken three times a-day. Dr. Edgar's interest had been raised by 

 the cure of a patient of his own, who had been greatly reduced by a 

 chronic diarrhoea that had resisted the ordinary medicinal treatment, 

 but yielded speedily to the geranium infusion. He felt relief from 

 the second dose, and continuing to take it for three or four days, he 

 was permanently cured. It was said to be a good medicine in the 

 diarrhoea of teething children, and is easily taken by them, for the 

 taste is " like tea without sugar, rather sweeter." 



It is very likely that this remedy is inferior, for general use, to 

 more powerful vegetable and mineral astringents of modern intro- 

 duction into practice, but I think it worth while to bring the subject 

 before the Club, since it relates to a matter of local interest ; and 

 there are cases in which it is well for a medical man to have a wide 



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