20*4 Scientific Intelligence — Miscellaneous. 



for equal weights it contains much less nitrogen than a portion of th^ 

 same plant not subjected to the experiment. The facts shew that 

 in the act of growth in submerged plants, nitrogen proceeds from the 

 decomposition of the elements themselves of the plants ; that conse- 

 quently a re-supply is necessary and consequently nitrogen free is 

 combined is essential to the life of the plant. In the experiments 

 instituted by Cloes and Gratiolet, a tenth-thousandth of ammoniacal 

 salts dissolved in water always proved injurious. The decomposition 

 of carbonic acid diminished and ceased after some hours ; whence the- 

 conclusion that the plant assimilates directly nitrogen in solution in 

 water. They have also found that whatever may be the position of 

 the leaves of Potamogeton in the water, carbonate of lime is decom- 

 posed by the superior surface of the leaves and never by the inferior. 

 They have also ascertained that the oxygen produced by the decom- 

 position of the carbonic acid has a definite course — that it descends 

 invariably from the leaves towards the roots. Thus, when a stem of 

 a Potamogeton is placed horizontally in water, the emission of the 

 gas always takes place by the section nearest the root end of the 

 plant. — Vinstitut, No. 878. 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



26. Writing in a Native Negro Character. — Lieutenant Forbes, 

 R.N., while employed in suppressing the Slave Trade on the western 

 coast of Africa, found at Bohmar, a town eight miles east of Cape 

 Mount, near Liberia, inscriptions and writings in a native African 

 character, which he soon ascertained to be the invention of, and in 

 use among, the negroes called Vei, or Vahie, It is said to have been 

 adopted only about thirty years ago, but was soon, extensively taught 

 in their schools. It is syllabic^ or represents syllables, not letters ; 

 and the number of symbols is said to be about 200, which are 

 variously combined. The Vei language is spoken in the country 

 to 300 or 400 miles east of Sierra Leone. The written character 

 was in such general use, that at Bandakoro, their capital, there 

 was scarcely an adult male who could not read and write it. But of 

 late, the jealousy of the Spaniards at Gallinas had induced them to 

 try every means of prevailing on the natives to suppress its use. 

 Specimens of this character are given in vol. xx. of the Journal of 

 the Royal Geographical Society. 



27. Foreign Ice. — Importations of entire cargoes of ice continue 

 to take place from the north of Europe to an extraordinary extent. 

 Some idea may be formed of their amount when we state that the 

 importations from Norway, during the past month,, have exceeded 

 16,000 tons weight of the article, whereas the supplies of the last 

 and previous year each amounted in all to about 1000 tons only for a 

 corresponding period. 



28. Cochineal. — Within a comparatively few years, the culture and 



