290 



seeds of Legurainosae retained their vitality longest. Tournefort had 

 recorded an instance of beans growing after having been kept a hun- 

 dred years, and Willdenow had observed a sensitive plant grow from 

 seed that had keen kept sixty years. The instances of plants growing 

 from seeds found in mummies were all erroneous. So also was the 

 case, related by Dr. Lindley, of a raspberry bush growing from seed 

 found in the inside of a man buried in an ancient barrow. 



Mr. Babington related a case in which M. Fries, of Upsala, suc- 

 ceeded in growing a species of Hieracium from seeds which had been 

 in his herbarium upwards of fifty years. Desmoulins recorded an 

 instance of the opening of some ancient tombs in which seeds were 

 found, and on being planted they produced species of Scabiosa and 

 Heliotropium. Recently some seeds from Egypt were sown in Cam- 

 bridge which were thought to have germinated, but on examining 

 them they were covered with a pitchy substance, which had evidently 

 been applied subsequent to their germination, and thus they had pre- 

 served the appearance of growth through a long period of time. 



Dr. Cleghorn stated that after the burning or clearing of a forest in 

 India, invariably there sprung up a new set of plants which were not 

 known in the spot before. 



* Report on the Physical and Economical Effects of the Destruc- 

 tion of Tropical Forests in British India ; by Dr. H. Cleghorn.' 

 Viewing the question in its physical relations, the author drew atten- 

 tion to the climatic influences of the denudation of the surface of the 

 country ; he adverted to the known phenomena of decrease of springs, 

 and the consequent diminution of river supplies, as results of the 

 entire removal of the woods which are collected on the highlands, 

 where such supplies usually originate ; and while distinctly admitting 

 that wherever the wants of an advancing population require the clear- 

 ance of forest lands, whether for food or the protection of health, such 

 clearance is to be encouraged, he at the same time insisted strongly 

 on the propriety of exercising a careful vigilance, under well-defined 

 regidations, in all cases in which the above-mentioned causes are not 

 in operation. In considering the economic relations of the question, 

 Dr. Cleghorn availed himself largely of the labours of various dis- 

 tinguished and intelligent observers to illustrate the effects of the 

 existing imperfect system of protection and superintendence. He 

 recorded evidence as to the state of the forests in Malabar, Canara, 

 Mysore, Travaucore, the Tenasserim provinces, the Indian Archipe- 

 lago, and the wooded tracts which skirt the base of the Himalayas. 

 From this evidence, it ajjpears that neither the Government nor the 



