Scientific IntelU^'nce.* — Botany.- 



logy of the Himala, that its principal features are the' brilliancy 

 of plumage of the Gallinaj — the size and power of the Accipi- 

 tre&*-<ind the almost infinite number of the PieaibnodS ioabac 

 arli r#j ii'jJn'ja-Jiq JiiiodniulJ /iijijoii h;noUibbfl gnrwoilo*^ 9tii 8U 

 •Hgib yl'fn'vrif Ini'lfn Vf ,n j»lr .^Tfiftit'iTf./ "in «n vrfU'i'ifrj* ^unlip.nj 

 HdHw Crystals in Living Vegetables. — Various naturalists have^ 

 taken notice of the appearance of crystals in the internal parts 

 of vegetable tissues, but nothing very explicit and certain has 

 been stated respecting them. M. Turpin has discovered, in the 

 cellular tissue of an old trunk of the Cereus Peruvianus, in the 

 Garden of Plants at Paris, where it had been growing one hun- 

 dred and thirty years, an immense quantity of agglomerations 

 of crystals of oxalate of lime. They are found in the cellular 

 tissue of the pith and bark. They are white, transparent, four- 

 sided prisms, witli pyramidal termingtions, collected in radi^ 

 groups. 7 jfouiia *«iff ;;T9lfo7 ol awoasi a£*7T aioTiaag 'to ^d/oj 

 . 22. Native Country ofMaize^ or Indian Com, — This grain, 

 so important to the agricultural interests of the United States, 

 appears to be of uncertain origin. Fuchs very early maintained 

 that it came from the east ; and Mathioli affirmed that it was 

 from America. Regmir and Gregory have presented fresh ar- 

 guments in favour of its eastern origin. Among them is the 

 name by which it has been long known in Europe, BU de Tur^ 

 quie; and varieties, it is said, have been brought from the Isle 

 of France, or from China. Moreau de Jonnes, on the contrary, 

 has recently maintained, in a memoir read before the Academy 

 of Sciences, that its origin was in America. The name BU de 

 Turquifi no more proves it to be of Turkish origin, than the 

 name of the Italian Poplar proves that that tree grew wild in 

 Italy. It can only signify that it spread from Turkey into the 

 neighbouring countries. Its general cultivation in southern Eu- 

 rope, and the production of some new varieties, proves nothing 

 with regard to the country of the species. In favour of its 

 American origin, is the fact that it was found in a state of cul- 

 tivation, in every place where the first navigators landed. In 

 Mexico according to Hernandez, and in Brazil according id" 

 Zeri ; and that in the various countries it had proper names, 

 such as Maize, Flaolli, kc. ; while, in the Old World, its names 

 were either all of American origin, or names of the neighbour. 



