NATURAL HISTORY. 



831 



from the bases of these stems, whilst 

 buds are generated at the opposite 

 extremities, as in the cases 1 have 

 mentioned respecting trees. 



Many naturalists* havesupposed 

 the fibrous roots of all plants to be 

 of annual duration only ; and those 

 of bulbous and tuberous rooted 

 plants certainly are so ; as in these 

 nature has provided a distinct re- 

 servoir for the sap which is to form 

 the first leaves and fibrous roots of 

 the succeeding season ; but the or- 

 ganization of trees is very different, 

 and the alburnum and bark of the 

 roots and stems of these are the re- 

 servoirs of their sap during the win- 

 ter.* When, however, the fibrous 

 roots of trees are crowed together in 

 a garden-pot, they are often found 

 lifeless in the succeeding spring ; 

 but I have not observed the same 

 mortality to occur, in any de- 

 gree, in the roots of trees when 

 growing, under favourable cir- 

 cumstances, in their natural situa- 

 tion. 



I am prepared to offer some 

 observations on the causes which 

 direct the roots of plants in 

 search of proper nutriment, and 

 which occasion the root of the 

 same plant to assume different 

 forms under different circum- 

 stances ; but I propose to make 

 those observations the subject of 

 a future communication. 



On the Effects of Westerly Wi7ids 

 in raising the Level of the Brit- 

 ish Channel. By James Rennel, 

 Esq. F. R. S. [^From the same.^ 



IN^the <' Observations on a Cur- 



• M. Mirbel's Traite d^ Anatomic, &C. &c. 

 t Phil. Trans, for 1805. 



rent that often prevails to the West- 

 ward of Sciliy, " which I had the 

 honour to lay before the Royal So- 

 ciety many years ago, I slightly 

 mentioned, as connected with the 

 same subject, the effect of strong 

 westerly winds, in raising the level 

 of the British channel ; and the es- 

 cape of thesuperincumbent waters, 

 through the Strait of Dover, into 

 the then lower level of the north 

 sea. 



The recent loss of the Britannia 

 East India ship, captain Birch, on 

 the Goodwin Sands, has impressed 

 this fact more strongly on my mind; 

 as I have no doubt that her loss was 

 occasioned by a current, produced 

 by the running off of the accu- 

 mulated waters ; a violent gale 

 from the westward then prevailing. 

 The circumstances under which she 

 was lost, were generally these : 



In January last she sailed from 

 her anchorage between Dover iand 

 the South Foreland (on her way to 

 Portsmouth), and was soon after 

 assailed by a violent gale between 

 thewest and south-west. The thick 

 weather preventing a view of the 

 lights, the pilot was left entirely to 

 the reckoning ana the lead ; and 

 when it was concluded that the 

 ship was quite clear of the Good- 

 win, she struck on the north-east- 

 ern extemity of the southernmost of 

 those sands. And this difference be- 

 tween the reckoning (after due al- 

 lowance being made for the tides, 

 and the actual position, I conclude 

 was owing to the northerly stream 

 of current, which caught the ship 

 when she drifted to the back, or 

 eastern side of the Goodwin. 



The fact of the high level of the 



channel 

 Dr. Smith's Introduction to Botanj. 



