72 Miscellaneous, 



who showed that the labours of British naturalists are to a great 

 degree frustrated, so far as regards weights and measures, by the 

 intricacy and inconvenience of the English method, and its limitation 

 to the British Islands. If an English anatomist gives the weight of 

 the brain or lungs, for example, of some newly discovered animal in 

 the terms of the national method, it may not be known whether he 

 uses troy weight or avoirdupois ; or if he gives the length of a bone 

 or any other part in "lines," it is uncertain whether a "line" is the 

 tenth or the twelfth of an inch. On the other hand, the metre, the 

 litre, and the gramme, with their decimal multiples and subdivisions, 

 are not only accepted and understood by cultivated persons in almost 

 all foreign countries, but they are extensively used by British che- 

 mists and other men of science. They are learnt with the greatest 

 ease ; when once learnt, they cannot be forgotten, and their advan- 

 tages are found to be indisputable. Under present circumstances, 

 careful describers find themselves obliged to employ two systems, a 

 bad and a good one. Professor Owen has for some time used the 

 metric system in this way, appending the dimensions in decimal 

 parts of the metre to the denominations of the English method. 

 "Although," as he stated, "when the system of weight or measure 

 is noted by the observer, its reduction in a single instance may be a 

 small demand upon the time and attention of the reader, yet the 

 repetition of that act takes a serious amount from the working hours 

 of the individual ; and, when multiplied by the number of students, 

 who are obstructed by conflicting systems of weights and measures, 

 the impediment to the progress of the sciences of observation becomes 

 so great as to render the subject quite worthy of the consideration of 

 legislative authority." 



The Unicorn of the Ancients. 



To the Editors of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 



Gentlemen, — Dr. A.E. Brehm has favoured me with the following 

 communication on the subject of the " Unicorn." As the remarks are 

 those of an African traveller, I think they are quite worth publishing 

 in your Magazine. Enough now of the Unicorn ; requiescat in pace ! 



Your obedient Servant, 

 Preston Rectory, Wellington, Salop. W. HoUGHTON. 



Dec. 8, 1862. 



" Sir, — In reference to your interesting paper in No. 59 of the 

 * Annals of Natural History,' I take the liberty to inform you that 

 also in the interior of Africa, where I have travelled, the "Unicorn" 

 (^Anasa of the natives) is nothing more than the Rhinoceros. It will 

 be interesting to you to learn that, at the present day, in the interior 

 of Africa — for example, at Carthum (Cartoum) — drinking-vessels and 

 cups are still made from the horn of the Rhinoceros, as they attri- 

 bute to it the very same properties which Ctesias did (page 367 of 

 your communication). They also use the horn for the purpose of 

 making sword-handles. 



" I am, Sir, yours respectfully, 



"Leipzig, Dec. 2, 1862." "A. E. Brehm." 



