of Edinhiirgh, Scssioji TS80-81. xliii 



the fork, with its subsidiary branches and foliage, and a small 

 portion of the other principal branch adhering to it ; and (3) a 

 further remnant of the destroyed principal branch with a small 

 subsidiary branch springing from it. 



The trunk is split from top to bottom into two not very unequal 

 parts, the larger being that from which springs the apparently 

 uninjured main branch. There is one principal cleft with a num- 

 ber of smaller ones adjacent, the latter being more like what 

 carpenters call " shakes." The principal cleft is nearly continuous, 

 but has at intervals small breaks or digressions, usually opposite 

 those parts in the exterior of the trunk where fringes of small twigs 

 occur. A great portion of the bark is off the trunk, and at the 

 height of about 4 feet from the ground, where the circumference 

 is nearly 7 feet, only one-fifth of the bark is left. 



The surviving main stem appears in the meantime as healthy as 

 if nothing had happened, the leaves about the end of September 

 beginning to wither to about the same degree as other similar trees 

 in the vicinity. On the stricken branch, the remaining part of 

 which extends 10 or 12 feet above the fork, none of the bark 

 remains, and the leaves on the small subsidiary branch appeared 

 from the first to be quite dead. 



According to the information received from Colonel Aitchison's 

 gardener, the lightning struck the tree about 10.30 a.m., making a 

 sound Hke the report of a large cannon, the peal of thunder and the 

 shattering of the tree happening at the same moment. The storm 

 came from the north-east, and lasted an hour or so, being specially 

 severe for about twenty minutes. 



III. On Plant-Preservinxj. By Ft. C. A. riaui;, M.D. 



There is very little progress to be made in the knowledge of 

 plants without the means of preserving them for reference and com- 

 parison. The following is the German method, and I think the 

 best, and is the one by which I have myself dried tens of thousands 

 of them. 



Much of the apparatus here recommended may seem to be super- 

 lluous, to such at least as have only now and then dried a pretty 

 flower in a book; but if the botanical student -wishes to become 

 more than a mere dilettante, he will find the saving of time and 

 labour in making an extensive collection repay him amply for a 

 first rather heavy outlay. 



Take into the field a tin box made for the purpose and called a 



