489 



to perfectiou are Caryota urens and C. Cumingii, growing 15 feet bigli 

 and covered with fruit ; Oreodoxa regia, from Cuba ; several plants up- 

 ward of 25 feet in height, and a plant of Jiiboa spectahiUs 12 feet high. 

 There is a small forest of Anona cherimoya in full fruit, which is nearly 

 as good as that of the closely related species which yields the custard- 

 apple. Near this is an immense tree, some 30 feet in height, covered 

 with fruit of the Avocado x^ear, {Persea gratissima,) and at its feet a 

 quantity of guava-trees {Pisidium cattleyamis) crowded with its per- 

 fectly ripe, large, pear-shaped, golden fruit. In the New Holland dis- 

 trict of the garden are different species of acacia, many of them 20 to 

 25 feet in height, and magnificent trees of several genera of Proteacese, 

 Banlcsia, HoJcea, and Grevillea ; and trees oi Uucalyptus globulus planted 

 in 1862, and then only a few inches high, which are now about 40 feet 

 in height, and over 4^ feet in circumference. There is a specimen of 

 Arancaria excelsa about GO feet high, and measuring a little over 9 feet 

 in circumference at its base. 



Artificial preparation op milk. — One of the latest enterprises 

 in organic chemistry consists in the preparation of artificial milk, which 

 has been attempted by Dubrunfaut, and which he claims to have accom- 

 lilished by emulsifying fatty matters with an artificial serum. This is 

 done as follows: 40 or 50 grams of succharine matter (lactin, cane- 

 sugar, or glucose,) 20 or 30 grams of dried albumen, (the dried white 

 of egg as met with in Paris,) and 1 or 2 grams of crystals of soda 

 corbonate, are dissolved in a half liter of water, and the whole is emulsi- 

 fied with 50 or GO grams of olive-oil, or other comestible fatty matter. 

 The emulsitication takes place best at a moderate temperature, that of 

 50° or G0° being sufficient. The liquid thus prepared has the appear- 

 ance of cream, and requires to be mixed with twice its volume of water 

 to acquire the consistence and aspect of milk. To prepare a fluid ap- 

 proaching cream in its qualities, gelatin is substituted for albumen ; 100 

 grams of fat are emulsified in a liter of serum, containing 2 or 3 grams 

 of gelatin. Artificial creain j)repared in this way, shows no tendency 

 to separate into fat or serum. 



Gaudin, in discussing the preceding suggestion, gives his testimony 

 as to the depriving fats of all unpleasant odor by mere subjection to an 

 appropriate temperature. He also states that very good artificial milk 

 can be prepared from bones rich in fat, by purifying this fat by means of 

 superheated steam, and combining the fat thus obtained with gelatin. 

 This milk is, he says, almost like that of the cow; and, when kept, 

 acquires first the odor of sour milk, then that of cheese. The gelatin in 

 it represents the caseine ; the fat, tbe butter ; the sugar, the sugar of 

 milk. It serves for the preparation of coffee and chocolate, of soups 

 and creams of excellent flavor, and its cost is but trifling. 



