The Scottish Naturalist. 73 



appointments, t On the other hand, some of our Professors 

 of Natural History hold no position whatever in the ranks of real 

 science; the mention of their names merely creates a smile in the 

 genuine Naturalist : their opinions carry no " authority" : and 

 they pass quietly away without leaving a single scientific fact to 

 be identified hereafter with their personality ! They may have 

 done their work decently as schoolmasters : may have expended 

 a vast amount of toil in, and made a goodly sum of money by, 

 Literary hack-work — such as compilations in the form of Text- 

 Books, Encyclopaedia, and Review Articles : may have done, in 

 various ways, much real service of other kinds in their day and 

 generation : but they have not — according to my views—- pro- 

 perly discharged the duties of University Professoriates : have 

 added nothing to the eclat of their colleges : have made no 

 direct or noteworthy contributions to progress in any depart- 

 ment of the very wide domain of Natural Science ! 



.... "They never say 

 A single thing that's nnv, but all they do 

 Is to clothe old ideas in language new, 

 Turning the san.e things o'er and o'er again, 

 And upside down." .... 



+ 1 have here mentioned only a few of the names, which at present bulk most 

 conspicuously in the forefront of Natural Science in our own country. But there 

 are many other younger men, less known as yet to fame, of whom it is feeble 

 praise to say that, in all that constitutes genuine qualification or accomplish- 

 ment, they are the superiors of most of their more fortunate rivals, who now 

 occupy — though they cannot be said to adorn- our Professional chairs ! 



The Mistletoe in Scotland.— We understand that for some years at- 

 tempts have been made by Mr. Gowanlock, Gardener to the Murray Royal 

 Institution, Perth, to inocculate various fruit trees in the grounds of that Insti- 

 tution with the juice of the berries — including the seeds — of the common Mistle- 

 toe fViscum album L.J of Shropshire and Herefordshire. He has had various 

 foreshadowings of success, which has culminated in the growth of a handsome 

 vigorous plant, about a foot high, from the upper part of the stem of an apple 

 tree, in an exposed part of the said grounds. There is. however, nothing really 

 remarkable in the growth of the mistletoe in Scotland. The incident in question 

 only shews (as does also the record of the fact in Hooker & Arnott's " British 

 Flora," that mistletoe grows extensively — having originally been introduced in 

 some similar way — at Meikleour, in the neighbourhood of Perth,) that it is a 

 mistake to suppose that this plant does not flourish in Britain north of the mid- 

 land counties of England. 



