000 



slioulcl be compelled to not disbelieve the old nursery receipt for mak- 

 ing black roses, namely, by grafting white roses on black-currant 

 bushes. We practically reject this, not on trial, but because analo- 

 gies are against its probability, and because we see no intelligible re- 

 lation between the act and the pretended result. 



In the case of the alleged conversion of the oat into rye, there are 

 circumstances which appear to warrant disbelief. Similar experi- 

 ments are constaiitly performed by the natural agency of insects and 

 other animals, which gnaw down plants ; and yet no one has seen 

 any generic change in the character of the plants induced thereby. 



More closely resembling experiments are performed on a large scale 

 by farmers, in their twice-mown crops of clover and ryegrass, and 

 equally without any approximation to resembling results. The gar- 

 dener, too, cuts down his rows of mustard or parsley, without ever 

 seeing them change into cress or celery. The florist " stops " his 

 choice plants, to postpone their flowering ; and the only result is that 

 of increasing the number and size of the flowers, or the plant grown 

 larger and more vigorous in its roots and foliage. And lastly, besides 

 these more or less analogical facts, which make against the credibility 

 of Weissenborn's experimental results, there is absolutely nothing in 

 the kind of experiment, or the mode of performing it, which could 

 make us anticipate any other result than that obtained by Mr. Side- 

 botham and myself. 



Hewett C. Watson. 



Thames Ditton, August 2nd, 1846. 



Extract from a letter from the late Mr. Edynondston to the Rev. Mr. 

 Hove, hy whom it is communicated. 



" I WROTE you from Rio, and consequently need not say anything 

 more regarding that loveliest spot under heaven. We left it on the 

 25th August, and speedily began to fall in with more boisterous and 

 colder weather. After encountering the usual allowance of 'pamperos' 

 off" the Rio de la Plata, on the 19th September we reached the Falk- 

 land Islands, where we staid till the 30th. Alas ! alas ! what a mise- 

 rable change from the palm and Acacia groves of Brazil — a wretched 

 lot of long, low, bay-indented islands of quartz, covered with peat, 

 a species of Myrtus (M. nummularia), an Empetrum, and a small, 

 compound, Hippophae-leaved shrub covering the soil. There is 

 only one small settlement in the islands, consisting of a few misera- 



