On the Distribution of Manganese. 271 



Nightflowering Cereus {Cereus (jrandijlora) is another notable ex- 

 ample of the same prevalent odour. The long, trailing stems of this 

 cactus are very commonly seen in the lowlands, sprawling to a great 

 length over the stone fences, hanging in irregular festoons from the 

 forks and limbs of the trees, the great cotton tree in particular, and 

 intertwining its tough and prickly vines among the shrubs, helping 

 to give the woods that formidable, repellent, impenetrable character 

 which a tropic *' bush" is known to present. The magnificent 

 flowers are, however, rarely seen ; the plant seems to be a shy 

 Idoomer, and, when the blossoms do meet the eye, it is in nine cases 

 out of ten either as unexpanded buds, or in that miserable drenched 

 condition which the flowers of a cactus always assume when fading, 

 looking exactly as if they had been dragged through boiling water. 

 In order to see it in perfection one must make it open in the house, 

 or visit it at midnight, which is inconvenient. I have several times 

 marked a maturing bud, and, when it appeared nearly ready to 

 burst, cut a few inches of the stem on each side and brought it 

 within doors. Soon after dark it begins to open, and towards mid- 

 night expands in its noble beauty ; a disc, six inches in diameter, 

 very double, the exterior rows of petals of a yellowish-brown hue, 

 gradually paling in tint to the centre, where the petals are of the 

 purest white. Meanwhile the delicious clove-like perfume, is dif- 

 fused in such abundance that a delicate person can scarcely sit in the 

 room, and the very house is filled with it from one end to the other. 

 In the morning beauty and fragrance are both gone, and the 

 blossom, lately so gorgeous, possesses no more of either than may be 

 pretended to by a boiled cabbage. — (A Naturalises Sojourn in 

 Jamaica, by P. H. Gosse, p. 170.) 



On the Distribution of Manganese ; on the Existence of Organic 

 Matter in Stalactites formifig Orystallised and Amorphous 

 Crenate of Lime. By David A. Wells, Cambridge, 



Mass.* 



1 . On the Distribution of Manganese. 



The occurrence of pebbles and water-worn stones in many of the 

 streams and water-courses of New England, which have their origin 

 among, and run over, igneous and metamorphic rocks, is by no 

 means uncommon, and has doubtless attracted the attention of every 

 observer. When the bed of a stream in which they occur is ex- 

 amined, the coloured pebbles and stones will be found at intervals, 

 generally after or below a fall or rapid, and not immediately above. 



* Silliman's Journal, January 1852. 



