No. 1.] 3IISCELLANE0US. 63 



The Color of Flowers — At a recent meeting of the Vau- 

 dois Society of Natural Sciences, Professor Schnetzler read an 

 interesting paper on the color of flowers. It has been generally 

 supposed that the various colors observed in plants were due to 

 so many different matters, each color being a different chemical 

 combination without relation to the others. Now Professor 

 Schnetzler shows by experiments that when the coloring matter 

 of a flower has been isolated, by means of spirits of wine, one may, 

 by adding an acid or alkaline substance, obtain all the colors 

 which plants present. Flowers of peony, give, when placed in 

 alcohol, a red-violet liquid. If some salt of sorrel be added, the 

 liquid becomes pure red ; while soda changes it, according to 

 the quantity, into violet, blue, or green. In this latter case the 

 green liquid appears red by transmitted light, just as does 

 chlorophyll (the green coloring matter of of leaves). The sepals 

 of peony, which are green with red border, become wholly red 

 when put in salt of sorrel. These changes of color, wiiich can 

 be had at will, may quite well be produced in the plant by the 

 same causes, for in all plants there are always acid or alkaline 

 substances. Further, it is certain that the transformation from 

 green into red, observed in the leaves of many plants in autumn, 

 is due to the action of tannin, which they contain, with chlorophyll. 

 Thus without wishing to affiirm it absolutely, Professor Schnetzler 

 supposes a priori that there is in plants only one coloring matter 

 — chlorophyll — which being modified by certain agents, furnishes 

 all the tints which flowers and leaves present. 



Niagara Falls Dry for a Day. — The Lord Bishop of 

 Niagara recently lectured in Hamilton, Ont. on '• Upper Canada 

 as it was fifty years ago, and Ontario as it now is," and in the 

 course of his remarks said : " The falls of Niagara were dry for 

 a -whole day. That day was the 31st of March 1848. I did not 

 witness it myself; but I was told of it the next day by my late 

 brother-in-law Thomas C. Street, Esq. Mr. Street's theory was 

 this : That the winds had been tlowirig down Lake Erie, which 

 is only about 30 feet deep, and rushing a gre tt deal of water from 

 it over the Falls, and suddenly changed and blew this little water 

 (comparatively speaking) up to the western portion of the lake 

 and that at this juncture the ice on Lake Erie, which had 

 been broken up by the high winds, got jammed in the river bet- 



