340 



■witliout previous preparatiou. Characters tracetl ^vitli this substance 

 have a reddish color at first, which turns to a deep black in a few hours. 

 This juice is said to be really less liable to thicken than ordinary ink, 

 and not to corrode steel pens. It resists the action of water, and is prac- 

 tically indelible. The plant is known as Goryaria tJiymifoUa. 



Murray ox elight in plants. — At a recent meeting of the scienti- 

 fic committee of the Horticultural Society of London, Mr. Andrew Mur- 

 ray read a paper on the blight of plants, in which he combated the 

 ordinary theory that the lower forms of vegetable organisms, which 

 constitute ordinary blight, are developed from germs existing in the 

 plant, or floating in the air. 



Action of electricity on the colored tissues on vegeta- 

 33LES. — In a recent memoir by M. Becqu^rel, the elder, upon the action 

 of electricity upon the colored tissues of vegetables, he remarks that 

 electrical discharges, whether strong or weak, produce three distinct ac- 

 tions upon the colors of the leaves of i)lants and the flower : First, that by 

 virtue of which the parts electrized allow the coloring matters, which 

 are in a state of solution in the cellules, to be absorbed, or rather filtered, 

 in cold water, in which they are plunged after electrization. This effect 

 takes place principally with red and blue colors ; while the yellow shades, 

 due to the solid granules situated in the cellules, do not appear to be 

 modified. Second, a direct decolorizing action ui)on red and blue color- 

 ing matters, which are found in a liquid state in the cellules whenever 

 the electrization of the plant is sufficiently prolonged, this effect being 

 sometimes very rapid. Third, infiltration, so to speak, or a transfer of 

 coloring matter sensible to the preceding influences, and that found in 

 the interior of the electrized organs. An example is seen in the effect 

 produced in the red, found in the under surface of leaves of the Begonia 

 discolor, its color, during the electrization of the leaf, becoming gradu- 

 ally infiltrated towards the upper green surface, so as to mask the color 

 of the chlorophyl. He further remarks, that the atmosphere and the 

 earth are constantly in two dissimilar electrical conditions ; the first pos- 

 sessing an excess of positive electricity ; the second, of negative ; these 

 two excesses becoming neutralized by means of the conducting sub- 

 stances found at the surface of the earth, plants especially. 



Oil from birds. — -Our readers may be surprised to learn that the 

 oil obtained from several distinct species of birds possesses a decided 

 economical value, and that various sorts are recognized as articles of 

 trade in different parts of the world. In our own domestic medicine 

 goose-grease is known as an emollient, and for other purijoses. The 

 penguins, petrels, mutton-birds, frigate-birds. Mother Gary's chickens, 

 &c., all ocean forms, are sometimes killed, in immense numbers, for their 

 oil, and to such an extent is the destruction of penguins carried, in this 

 connection, that while the fat of eleven penguins is required to furnish 

 a gallon of oil, a single vessel has been known to bring back, after a six 

 weeks' campaign, twenty-five to thirty thousand gallons, representing, 

 of course, over ten times that number of birds. This is taken to London 

 and used almost exclusively in currying leather. Ostrich fat has much 

 reputation in Africa as a remedy for rheumatism, and is greatly sought 

 after by the Arabs for this puri)ose. The Emu, or Australian ostrich, 

 is hunted very much for a similar purpose. A single bird will i^roduce 

 six or seven quarts of a beautiful, bright yellow oil. 



In South America a species of goat-sucker, known as guacharo, {Stea- 

 tornis caripensis,) and remarkable for its excessive fatness, is hunted in 



