500 Mlspellaneous Intelligence. 



Vegetables. — This is called a proved method of reviving^ plants, &c., 

 when their leaves and buds are faded, and their bark and roots hard 

 and nearly dry, by M. de Droste of Hiilshof. The directions are to 

 dissolve camphor to saturation in alcohol, adding the former until 

 it remains solid at the bottom of the latter ; a sufficient quantity of 

 rain or river water is then to have the alcoholic solution added to it, 

 in the proportion of four drops to one ounce of water. As the 

 camphor comes in contact with the water, it will form a thin solid 

 film, which is to be well beaten up with the water : for a short time 

 the camphor will float in the water in small flocculi, but will ulti- 

 mately combine with the fluid and disappear. 



Plants which have been removed from the earth, and have suffered 

 by a journey or otherwise, should be plunged into this camphorated 

 water, so that they may be entirely covered : in about two, or at 

 most three hours, the contracted leaves will expand again; the 

 young faded and dependant shoots will erect themselves, and the 

 dried bark will become smooth and full. That being effected, the 

 plant is to be placed in good earth, copiously watered with rain or 

 river water, and protected from the too powerful action of the sun, 

 until the roots have taken good hold of the ground. 



When large plants, as trees, are to be revived, their roots are to 

 be plunged into the camphorated water for three hours ; the trunk 

 and even the head of the tree being frequently wetted with the same 

 water, so as to retain them in a properly moistened state. But it 

 is always best, if possible, to immerse the whole of the plant. Shoots, 

 sprigs, slips, and roots, are to be treated in a similar manner. 



If plants thus treated are hot restored in four hours, their death 

 may be considered as certain, for they cannot be recalled to life by 

 any artificial means. They should, consequently, never be left 

 more than four hours in the camphorated bath ; because the exciting 

 action of the camphor, when it is continued for a longer period, may 

 injiire the plants, instead of doing good to them. It is not neces- 

 sary to say that the final prosperity of the plants, thus re-animated 

 by the camphorated water, must depend upon the particular proper- 

 ties of the former, the state of their roots, and the pains that are 

 taken with them. The camphor produces no other effect than to 

 restore life to plants nearly dead : after that, all proceeds according 

 to the ordinary laws, and their ultimate state must be left to art and 

 nature. — Verhandl des Vereins, ^c. 



15. Aiitient Glass Bottles. — Amongst the curious and interesting 

 objects lately discovered in the excavations at Pompeii, are five 

 glass bottles, in some of which were olives, in an extraordinary 

 state of preservation. These olives were soft and pasty, but entire, 

 and had the same form with those called Spanish olives ; they had 

 a strong rancid odour, and a bitter taste, leaving a biting astringent 

 sensation upon the tongue. A part of these olives have been ana- 

 lysed, and the rest have been deposited at the museum, in the s^me 

 bottles in which they were found — Bui. Univ. G. vii. 142. 



