274 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Poi 



Perils from Pliability. 



The dunes form the extreme line of the Brittany coast for 

 nearly two hundred miles, from the Adour to the Garonne. 

 They are hills of white sand, as fine and soft as if it had been 

 sifted through an hour-glass. Their outline, therefore, changes 

 every hour. When the wind blows from the land, millions of 

 tons of sand are hourly driven into the sea, to be washed up 

 again on the beach and blown inland by the first Biscay gale. 

 A water hurricane from the west will fill up with sand square 

 miles of shallow lake, driving the displaced waters into the 

 interior, dispersing them in shining pools among the " mur- 

 murous pines," flooding and frequently destroying the scattered 

 hamlets of the people, and inundating their fields of rye and 

 millet. D. 



Poison as a Protection. 



One of the greatest trees of Southern Asia, and possibly one 

 of the greatest in the world, is the teak or Indian oak (Tectona 

 grandi8\ which covers vast areas in Hindustan, and flourishes 

 also in Pegu, Ava, Siam, Java, and the Burman Empire. This 

 most useful tree is handsome and stately, often attaining a 

 stature of one hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty feet, 

 with a trunk of proportionate diameter, upright, well shaped, 

 and surmounted by widespread branches. The poisonous pro- 

 perties of its wood preserve it from the attacks of vermin, but 

 render it dangerous to work, for men who are but lightly 

 wounded by its splinters die after a very brief interval. D. 



The Poison of One is the Food of Another. 



It is a wonderful fact that the food which may suit one per- 

 son may happen to be actually injurious to another, and the 

 medicine which will administer relief to one person will be 

 positively an aggravation of the same disease in another person. 

 Amongst birds, we find that reptiles which are to other existences 

 poisonous are used for food. The king vulture (SarcorJiamphus 

 papa) is an inhabitant of a great part of South America. It is 

 most abundant within the tropics, but extends its range beyond 





