440 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



observatories ; but Dr. R. has given the result of such a trial. He 

 used the dedinations of Mr. Johnson (St. Helena Catalogue), and, 

 in many instances, those of Mr. Henderson at the Cape, and by 241 

 observations from 77° 53' to 84° 40' he found for ^ 57-586 ; but 

 conceives the result obtaiped from the northern stars decidedly pre- 

 ferable, and has used it alone in computing the tables which are 

 given at the end of the paper. 



His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin communicated some obser- 

 vations " On the Leafing of Plants." 



It is well known that there is a diversity in the times of leafing and 

 shedding in individual trees of the same species; e. g. hawthorn, syca- 

 more, horse-chestnut, beech, &c., sometimes as much as a fortnight ; 

 and the earliest in leaf are also the earliest shed, the same individuals 

 keeping their time every year. Hence the question, wliether this di- 

 versity arises from the " sej^arable accidents" of soil, situation, &c., 

 or whether from "inseparable accidents" which constitute what 

 phj'siologists call varieties} 



An experiment was tried by grafting an early hawthorn on a late, 

 and vice versa. The scions kept their times (about a fortnight's dif- 

 ference) as if on their own stocks ; thus proving that it was a case 

 of " seedling variety." 



Many other such varieties are known, not only of apples, peaches, 

 &c., but of wild trees also, differing in shape of leaf, form of growth, 

 colour and size of fniit, &c., and also time of ripening. It was there- 

 fore to be expected that there should be the like in respect of times 

 of leafing. 



This may throw some light on the question respecting " acclimat- 

 ing." It may be, that species may be brought to bear climates ori- 

 ginally iU-suited, — not by anj'^ especial virtue in the seeds ripened in 

 any particular climate, but — by multiplying seedlings, a few of which, 

 out of multitudes, may have qualities suited to this or that country, 

 e. g. some to cold, some to drought, some to wet, &c. 



In some cases, a plant's beginning to vegetate later may secure it 

 from spring frosts, which would destroy a precocious variety ; in 

 others, earlier flowering may enable a tree to ripen fruit in a climate 

 in which a later would be useless, &c. 



Further, the experiment shows that the common opinion respecting 

 the commencement of spring vegetation, — the rise of the sap from 

 the roots, through the trunk and branches to the twigs, — is ground- 

 less ; since a scion of an early variety, on a late stock, will be in leaf 

 while the stock is toi-pid. 



LXV, Intelligence arid Miscellaneous Articles. 



ON GISMONDINE. BY M. KOBELL. 



THIS mineral has been long known, but different opinions have 

 been entertained as to its nature. According to Monticelli, 

 the gismondine of Capo di Bove has the form of the octohcdrun and 

 the rhombic dodecahedron, which is frequently elongated into a 

 four-sided prism. Carpi found its composition to be — 



