July 29, 1875] 



NATURE 



253 



midst of heavy rain, N.E. wind, high barometric pressure, and 

 an abnormal sky-spectrum, you may be interested in hearing how 

 matters quieted down until this Monday, when we have a delight- 

 ful drj'ing west wind, high floating clouds, and a normal sky- 

 spectrum showing fine lines only. 



On Tuesday the 20th then, there was a sensible alleviation of 

 Monday's abnormal spectrum bands, though they were still 

 there ; and the weather, though dark, began to clear. 



On the 2 1 St and 22nd, the abnormal bands had almost disap- 

 peared, leaving the lines proper of the spectrum easily visible, and 

 the weather was fine. 



Friday, the 23rd, however, was wet by day and very wet at 

 night; yet the sky-spectrum was good and nearly normal. 

 Note, however, from the Meteorological Journal below,* that 

 this rain came with a west wind, a low barometer, and a con- 

 siderable fall of temperature. And the wind has been westerly 

 ever since, and with a normal sky-spectrum. 



Hence the intensification of the band on the less refrangible 

 side of D would seem to be thus far identifiable both in London 

 and Edinburgh with warm rain in an easterly wind and under a 

 high barometer. 



While, that the said bahd really was intensified to a. very note- 

 worthy degree, and quite abnormally both with respect to the 

 broader band which appears on the more refrangible side of D 

 (or over W.L.L. 5830 — 5680), and to other telluric manifesta- 

 tions, at sunset— is demonstrated now most satisfactorily by my 

 having just heard irom my friend, Prof. P. G. Tait, M.A., whom 

 I had not seen for six weeks before, that he has been independ- 

 ently observing in Edinburgh the very same phenomenon, and 

 almost at the same times, and on the same days. He was much 

 struck too at obtaining the chief abnormal band on the most 

 marked days from all parts of the sky and at all hours, and had 

 considered what it might mean. 



He has further pointed out to me since then, that Angstrom's 

 map shows fine telluric lines in the place of the grand smoky 

 band we observed with small spectroscopic power in W.L.L. 

 6000-5880 ; but makes them much less, instead of very much 

 more, dark than the well-known 5830-5680 evening band ; so 

 that the question 'now is, what is it that intensifies the former 

 and not the latter under the meteorological conditions noted ? 



15 Royal Terrace, Edinburgh, PiAZZi Smyth 



July 26 Astronomer Royal for Scotland 



Sea-power 



I OBSERVE that a correspondent at Giessen asks (Nature, 

 vol. xii. p. 2it) for information as to Sea-power. If he will 

 consult Sir Robert Kane's " Industrial Resources of Ireland " he 

 will find what he wants, with a view to what have been termed 

 "tidal mills." A. C. 



I'.dinburgh, July 26 



OUR BOTANICAL COLUMN 

 The Adelaide Botanic Garden. — From Dr. Schom- 

 burgk's Report on the progress and condition of the Adelaide 

 Botanic Garden and Government Plantations during the year 

 1874, we gather some facts relating not only to the capabilities 

 of the Garden in an educational point of view, but also with 

 regard to the acclimatisation of new plants, many of which are 

 valuable for their economical products, and others as horticultural 

 novelties. In what is called the class ground 130 natural orders 

 are represented and 750 genera. The plan adopted seems to be 

 similar to that adopted in most botanic gardens, namely, by 

 dividing the orders by strips of turf ; the aquatic plants, such as 

 the Nymphaiaceae, Vallisnerise, Butomacese, Alismaceoe, &c.. 



are arra.nged in a basin in the centre. Dr. Schomburgk point* 

 out what is apparent to all botanical students, that it is almost an 

 impossibility to lay out a systematic ground perfectly, as the 

 representatives of some orders are composed partly of natives of 

 cool and partly of tropical countries, while otiier orders are solely 

 tropical plants: the same difficulty also occurs in the lower orders 

 of plants, such as Cryptogams. As Dr. Schomburgk says, it is 

 to be hoped that this comparatively new feature in the plan of 

 the Adelaide Garden will be useful to the students at the Uni- 

 versity, the foundation of which we are told is now a fact, and 

 10 promote the study of botany in South Australia. In the 

 experimental garden great success seems to have been attained 

 in growing the Tussack grass {Dadylis ca:spitosa). As is well 

 known, this plant forms a most nutritious fodder ; a»d it is thought 

 that if it succeeds, it will prove a most valuable acquisition to the 

 scanty stock of good Australian fodder plants. The seed was 

 received in Adelaide in September last, and upon being at once 

 sown soon made its appearance above ground : the quickness of 

 growth is said to be surprising ; many of the plant.i in 4-inch 

 pots showed, at the time of writing the report at the latter end 

 of February, seventy to eighty shoots. About a dozen plants 

 were put out in 6-inch pots, and these in the same period had as 

 many as 123 shoots, the blades of which were remarkably sweet 

 and soft and of a good flavour. Dr. Schomburgk siys that he 

 is convinced, though the native countries of the Tussack are 

 much colder than Australia, it will do well in the hills ; he 

 has about 1,000 plants in pots, which are naturally sheltered 

 part of the day from the sun, and are also watered j many of the 

 plants are during the day more or less exposed to the sun, but 

 he has observed no difference in their growth. It is remarkable 

 that, notwithstanding all the pains that have been taken, both at 

 home and in Australia, to introduce many of these useful grasses, 

 little or no interest seems to be taken by the colonists themselves 

 in the matter for whose benefit they are specially undertaken. 



The Liberian Coffee, about which so much has been said and 

 so much more is expected, has likewise found its way to Adelaide, 

 four healthy plants having been received from Mr. Bull, of 

 Chelsea. Among other economic plants recommended by Dr. 

 Schomburgk for trial in South Australia may be mentioned the 

 Liquorice {Glycyrrhtza glabra). 



SuMBUL Root, the tincture of which is now so frequently 

 prescribed as a stimulating tonic, had, previous to the discovery 

 of the plant in 1869, a peculiar mystery attached to it regarding 

 its origin, and this mystery was all the more intense from the 

 fact that in commerce dealers distinguished Sumbul by two or 

 three different qualities, each of which was said to be derived 

 from different countries. Thus, the best kind was distinctly known 

 as Russian Sumbid, and the second quality as Indian Sumbul, a 

 variety or form of which was also known as China Sumbul, being 

 shipped to England viit China, while the Indian kind is brought 

 from Bombay. Of the plant furnishing this Indian or Chinese 

 product we know nothing. The root is described by Pereira in 

 his " Elements of Materia Medica " as being of a closer texture, 

 firmer, denser, and of a more reddish tint than the Russian sort, 

 and of a less powerful odour. The authors of the " Pharmaco- 

 graphia," however, consider it "to be a root different from 

 Sumbul," that is, the true or Russian Sumbul. The mystery 

 regarding the botanical origin of this latter has within the last few 

 years been cleared up by the discovery, in 1869, of living plants 

 in ♦he mountains near Pianjakent, a Russian town eastward of 

 Samarcand. The Botanic Garden at Moscow was fortunate 

 enough to receive a living plant which flowered in 1871, and 

 was thereupon named by KaufTmann Euryangium Sumbul. A 

 plant was introduced to the Royal Gardens, Kew, some two or 

 three years since, and planted in the open ground, where it has 

 flourished through; the summer, throwing up its strong, bright 

 green /vr«/(7-like leaves, and dying down to the earth in winter, 

 during which period it has received artificial protection. Up to 

 the present season the plant has never flowered, but recently 

 it has thrown Jup a strong and healthy umbel, some seven or 

 eight feet high. It is only in quite recent times (1867) that the 

 Sumbul has been admitted into the British Pharmacopoeia. In 

 the first edition, which was issued in 1864, it was not included. 

 It has now become largely used, and its application is still in- 

 creasing, being frequently administered in cases where quinine is 

 too powerful. The root is of a soft spongy nature, with nume- 

 rous interlacing fibres ; it has a bitter aromatic taste, and a strong 

 musk-like smell which it is capable of retaining for a great 

 length of time, the specimens contained in the Kew Museum, 

 where they have been for the last twenty-four years, retaining 

 gtill the odour in a marked degree. 



