POPULAR MISCELLANY 



861 



abundance iu deep-sea deposits at distances 

 from land tliat preclude the supposition of 

 their having originated in inhabited coun- 

 tries, and their form and character arc essen- 

 tially different from those of bodies collected 

 near manufacturing centers, with which the 

 attempt has been made to associate them. 

 After describing some of these spherules, 

 with graphic illustrations of their structure 

 and composition, the authors express the be- 

 lief that they have presented enough evi- 

 dence to show that in their essential charac- 

 ters the spherules are related to the chondres 

 of meteorites, and are formed in the same 

 manner. 



Manganese in Plants. — M. E. Maumen6 

 has found manganese in wines and in a con- 

 siderable number of vegetable and animal 

 products in which it had hardly been sup- 

 posed to be present ; and now announces, as 

 the result of his latest investigations, that 

 he has detected it in a great many plants. 

 "Wheat contains not less than from reuinj to 

 5 jfjij of metallic manganese, and rye, bar- 

 ley, rice, and buckwheat have also yielded 

 considerable quantities of it. A little of it 

 may be found in the potato, and more in 

 the beet, the carrot, beans, peas, asparagus 

 (principally in the green part), sorrel, wild 

 chicory, lettuce, parsley, and in many fruits. 

 It occurs in large proportions in cacao and 

 the coffees, and in tea there are five grains 

 of the metal to one kilogramme of the leaves. 

 Tobacco is quite rich in it, as are also a va- 

 riety of other plants, including some forage 

 and some medicinal plants. The human 

 system refuses to absorb it, and whatever 

 of it may be introduced with the vegetable 

 food in which it is present is eliminated with 

 the fecal matter. 



Gntta-Percha. — The earliest known men- 

 tion of gutta-percha is by John Tradescant, 

 who, in the catalogue of his " Rarities," 

 preserved at South Lambeth (1656), men- 

 tions " plyable mazer wood," which, " being 

 warmed in water, will work to any form." 

 The earliest introduction of the gum to the 

 commercial world is due to Dr. William 

 Montgomerie, of the East India Company's 

 service, who experimented upon it at Singa- 

 pore, in 1822, and recommended it to the 

 Medical Board of Calcutta in 1842 as a sub- 



stance u?eful in the making of surgical 

 splints. The name gutta is a Malay word, 

 signifying gum, or juice. The gum is de- 

 rived from the middle layer of the bark of 

 a number of trees of the order Sapotacea, 

 to which order also belong the sapodilla- 

 plum and the vegetable-butter trees. The 

 principal source is the Dichopaia gutta, a 

 plant which was described by Sir W. J. 

 Hooker, in lSi7, as Isonandra gutta. Dr. 

 De Voiese, of the Dutch Government service, 

 names eighteen species that yield the gum. 

 The Dicliopsis gutta is found in the Malay 

 Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and through- 

 out the Malayan Archipelago generally. It 

 grows to a height of from sixty to eighty 

 feet, with a diameter of from two to five 

 feet. The leaves are inversely egg-shaped 

 (oblong in one variety) and entire, pale- 

 green on the upper side, and covered be- 

 neath with a reddish, shining down. The 

 flowers are arranged in clusters of three or 

 four in the axils of the leaves. The fruit 

 is a small oval berry. The gutta, as it flows 

 from the tree, is of a grayish color, at times 

 somewhat roseate iu hue. When cast or 

 rolled it assumes a fibrous structure, and 

 acquires a tenacity in a determinate direc- 

 tion. At a temperature of from 32° to 77° 

 Fahr., it has as much tenacity as thick leath- 

 er, but is not at all elastic, and is less flex- 

 ible than leather. In water, toward 120° 

 Fahr., it softens and becomes doughy, al- 

 though still tough; at from 145° to 150° 

 Fahr. it becomes soft and pliant, assuming 

 the elasticity of caoutchouc, but becomes 

 again hard and rigid on cooling. It is highly 

 inflammable, burning with a bright flame, 

 and has marked electric properties. 



Courtesy and Sagacity of the Dnclc.— 



A correspondent of the London "Specta- 

 tor " extols the courtesy and sagacity of the 

 duck. In illustration of the former trait, 

 he tells of a " solitary, little, old bantam 

 hen" he had among some fifty or sixty head 

 of ducks and fowls, which became blind, or 

 nearly so, and had to " sulk " in the dark 

 to escape the persecutions of her mates. 

 " Here," he says, " she might, perhaps, have 

 starved, but for the constant and sympa- 

 thetic attentions of a duck. Twice daily, 

 every day so long as the poor bantam lived, 

 some three weeks, this good Samaritan, in 



