Scientific Intelligence — Miscellaneous. 209 



Bremen, samples of tea prepared from coffee leaves, which, in ap- 

 pearance, odour, and taste of the decoction, agreed entirely with that 

 from genuine Chinese tea. It has long been employed as such by 

 the lower classes in Java and Sumatra. — Chem, Gaz. July 16. 1845, 

 p. 299. From Buchner's Repertor. fiir Pharm., xxxvii., p. 34. 



13. Canal of the Isthmus of Panama, — A Dutch paper states, 

 that M. Marcoleta, envoy of the State of Central America, is en- 

 deavouring to negotiate a loan in Europe for the formation of a 

 canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The scheme announced for 

 the execution of this great enterprise, is the first we have seen 

 which contains a^ distinct plan. The distance from sea to sea by 

 tlie line proposed, is 76 kilometres, or 47 miles. The height of the 

 dividing ridge is 160 metres, or 520 feet, and it is proposed to 

 carry a canal through it by a tunnel or a deep cut. If a tunnel is 

 adopted, it will be 3^ miles long, 37 metres or 120 feet in height, 

 including 23 feet of water in the canal, and its bottom will be 320 

 feet beneath the exterior summit. Its breadth is proposed to be 

 65 feet, the number of locks 34, and the cost is estimated at 

 L. 1,760,000. If an open cut is preferred, its length will be 3f 

 miles, its depth from the summit 274 feet, and it will have 10 locks 

 additional. The passage of 47 miles will consist of three sections 

 — 34 miles of canal from Panama to the river Chagres, 5^ miles in 

 the bed of that river, and 7i miles of canal from the river to the 

 Atlantic. M. Gorella, the engineer, estimates the entire expense 

 at 130 millions of francs, or L. 5,200,000 sterling, and calculates 

 that a ship could pass from sea to sea in twenty-four hours. A toll 

 at the rate of 10 francs, or 8s. 4d. per ton, he thinks would suffice 

 to pay all expenses, and yield five per cent, to the capitalists. The 

 sclieme is gigantic. A tunnel 3^- miles long, 120 feet deep, and 

 65 feet wide, is an undertaking without a parallel in the history of 

 engineering ; but the work involves nothing impracticable, and the 

 question of expense is the only difficulty. If a civilised people like 

 the British, French, Dutch, or Americans, possessed the country, 

 the canal would soon be formed ; but no body of capitalists, we ima- 

 gine, will risk five millions on a scheme which is to be under the 

 control of any of the perpetually changing governments of Spanish 

 America. It should be executed under the sanction of all the great 

 commercial states, and is an enterprise well worthy of their joint 

 eftbrts. To prevent any power from perverting it to the purposes 

 of war or monopoly, the neighbouring territory should be declared 

 neutral ground ; the use of the canal should be interdicted to armed 

 vessels ; and the works might be put under the charge of a state 

 like Holland or Sweden, too weak to defy the others by abusing its 

 trust. — C. Maclaren, Esq. 



14. St Pierre as a Naturalist. — St Pierre, it must be confessed, 

 was, in many instances, a visionary ; but he was a beautiful writer : 

 and what his editor, Mens. Louis Aime-Martin, says of him is true 



VOL. XL. NO. LXXIX. — JAN. 1846. O 



