Scientific Intelligence — Chemistry and Mineralogy. 205^ 



than ordinary size, and each containing either a very voluminous nucleus^ 

 or a multitude of very minute globules, resembling those which exist in 

 the cells of a degenerated inflammation ; 



2d^ Of hairs contained in their sheaths, and which, compared under the 

 microscope with those of an individual in health, had scarcely one-third 

 of the normal diameter ; they were irregularly articulated and variously 

 ramified ; their sheath Avas thick, and raised in some places by the my- 

 coderms, which were trying to pierce it in order to get to the outside. 



3(^, Of some cells of fat which dissolved rapidly in ether ; 



4<A, Of Mycoderms originating in the bulb of the hairs, and still remain- 

 ing attached to these hairs in the nearest part of the bulb. The cellules, 

 variable in number, of which the trunk of this mycoderm is composed, 

 are at first very distinct, and become less and less so, in proportion as 

 the growth proceeds. The trunks of many neighbouring mycoderms 

 are often united in a retiform manner. 



Oval, umbilical sporules, are united to the trunk either by the umbi- 

 licus itself, or by a very short thread ; they are most commonly double. \ 



Although these mycoderms are wholly contained in the sheath, and 

 covered with a thick layer of sporules, they usually pierce this sheath 

 towards the base of the hairs. Some are also found, which are wholly 

 on the outside of the sheath ; it is these, particularly, which are united 

 to each other ; the net- work they form is pretty considerable. 



M. Gunsbourg's note, which is merely the precursor of a more com- 

 plete work, was accompanied with drawings which shew the mycoderm 

 of the ■plica in its different states, along with specimens of the plicated 

 mass. These latter aiford the opportunity of repeating his observations. 



He also gives in his note a statistical view of the Plica in the duchy of 

 Posen, dividing the cases according to sex, age, races, and even religion.* 



CHEMISTRY AND MINERALOOY. 



^. ^Professor Connell on the Tagua Nut or Vegetable Ivory. ^ — At a 



meeting of the St Andrews Philosophical Society held on the 4th of 



December, Professor Connell exhibited specimens of the Tagua Nut or 



Vegetable Ivory, both in the natural condition and carved into orna- 



* Comptes Rendus, 1843, No. 6, p. 250. 



t There is an article now coming into general use, called vegetable ivory, con- 

 cerning which we have had so many inquiries, that we shall probably be grati- 

 fying our readers by a more particular account of it than we can give in the 

 notices to correspondents. The ivory-nut is the produce of a tree found on the 

 banks of the River Magdalena, in that part of South America formerly called 

 New Granada, but now constituting the Republic of Columbia. Humboldt and 

 Bonpland found it at places called Bai'ancas Vermejas and Ibague, at the foot 

 of Mount Quindiu, and also on the Rio Opon and Caho di Chucuri. The Span- 

 ish botanists Ruiz and Pavon also met with it in the groves of Peru in the hotter 

 parts of the Andes, and named it Pbytelephas macrocarpa ; the Prussian botanist 



