388 Scientific Intelligence. — Zoology. 



29. Brich Tea. — The Mongols, and most of the Nomadic 

 tribes of middle Asia, make use of this tea ; it serves them both 

 for food and drink. The Chinese carry on a great trade in 

 it, but nevfer drink it themselves. In the tea manufactories, 

 which are for the most part in the Chinese government of 

 Fokien, the dry, dirty, and damaged leaves and stalks of the tea 

 are thrown aside ; they are then mixed with a glutinous sub- 

 stance, pressed into moulds, and dried into ovens. These blocks 

 are called by the Russians, on account of the shape, hrich tea. 

 The Mongols, the Bouriats, the inhabitants of Siberia beyond 

 Lake Baikal, and the Kalmucks, take a piece of this tea, pound 

 it in a mortar made on purpose, and throw the powder into a 

 cast-iron vessel, full of boiling water, which they suffer to stand 

 a long time upon the fire ; adding a little salt and milk, and 

 sometimes mixing flour fried in oil. The tea, or broth, is known 

 by the name of Satouran. It is very nourishing. — Timkons¥Cs 

 Travels. 



ZOOLOGY 



30. Asiatic Elephant — Cuvier says the Asiatic elephant is 

 fifteen or sixteen feet high. This appears to be a mistake ; ele- 

 phants in India rarely, if ever, exceed eleven feet in height. 



31 . Organization of the Camelopard. — At a meeting of the 

 Academy of Sciences, Paris, 10th August, M. G. St Hilaire, 

 demonstrated from the skull of a young giraffe, that the horns 

 of this animal are not simple excrescences of the frontal bone, 

 as commonly supposed, but a superadded bone, which it is possi- 

 ble at a particular period to separate. This circumstance is 

 common to the cervi or deers, among which M. Geoffroy pro- 

 poses to class this animal. 



32. On the Gossamer-web. — ^A paper was lately read before 

 the Linnean Society, entitled, " Observations and Experiments 

 made with a view to ascertain the means by which the Spiders 

 that produce Gossamer effect their Aerial Excursions ; by John 

 Blackwall, Esq. F. L. S. of Crumpsall Hall, near Manchester."" 

 After noticing that, in the absence of accurate observation, 

 the ascent of gossamer-spiders through the atmosphere had been 

 conjecturally ascribed to several causes, such as the agency of 

 winds, evaporation, electricity, or some peculiar physical powers 



