200 



true! may pevcbance sit in judgment on that same starving urchin, 

 and condemn him ! " See how yon justice rails upon yon simple 

 thief. Hark in thine ear: — change places; and handy-dandy, which 

 is the justice, which is the thief?" ^. 



Extracts from the ' Proceedings of the Linnean Society' 

 (Continued from Vol. iii. p. 814). 



Observations on the Botany of Texas. By William Bollaert, Esq., 



F.R.G.S., &c. 



In this memoir Mr. Bollaert gives some account of the physical 

 geography of the State of Texas, with notes on its geological charac- 

 ter and mineral productions ; he describes the soil and climate of its 

 various regions ; and, lastly, enters into a detailed account of its vege- 

 table productions, describing successively the forests and forest-trees, 

 together with the fruits, and the herbaceous plants, including the 

 cereals, grasses and other plants useful to man, especially those cul- 

 tivated either for food or ornament. Among these he enters into par- 

 ticular details with respect to the Zea Mays or Indian corn, and a 

 species of Smilax which he believes to be new, but which appears to 

 be identical with Smilax lanceolata, L., and is known to the inhabi- 

 -tants by the name of Indian bread. Of maize he states the average 

 crop to be sixty bushels per acre ; and adds that a man and a young 

 boy have been known in Eastern Texas to raise and gather in one 

 year fifteen hundred bushels from two crops. He describes a great 

 variety of modes in which this valuable plant is turned to advantage, 

 and gives a rough analysis of the component parts of the grain. From 

 this it results that the starchy matter in malting takes on a saccharine 

 character, which by fermentation produces alcohol, and independently 

 of the carbonic acid evolved, another acid is formed, which may be 

 either a new acid or the acetic. When the fermented liquor is 

 allowed to stand for some days, a bright yellow oil floats to the sur- 

 face, and .appears to be composed of three proximate substances : 

 viz., 1. a body like elaine; 2. a small portion like stearine; and 3. a 

 substance which he calls maizaline, wliich last has a decided diuretic 

 quality, and is regarded by the author as the cause of the diuretic 

 effects produced by maize-bread upon persons unaccustomed to its 

 use. With regard to the Indian bread, called by the Carancahua In- 

 dians Toquif Mr. Bollaert states that he found it in great abundance 



