202 



NATURE 



[June 28, 1883 



distance from their base, by a mass of less hardened 

 epithelium, secreted by the surface of the palatal mem- 

 brane or matrix of the whalebone in the intervals of the 

 lamellar processes. This is the "intermediate substance" 

 of Hunter, the "gum" of the whalers. 



The function of the whalebone is to strain the water 

 from the small marine mollusks, crustaceans, or fish upon 

 which the whales subsist. In feeding they fill the immense 

 mouth with water containing shoals of these small crea- 

 tures, and then, on their closing the jaws and raising the 

 tongue, so as to diminish the cavity of the mouth, the 

 water streams out through the narrow intervals between 

 the hairy fringe of the whalebone blades, and escapes 

 through the lips, leaving the living prey to be swallowed. 

 Almost all the other structures to which I am specially 

 directing your attention, are, as I have mentioned, in a 

 more or less rudimentary state in the Cetacea ; the baleen, 

 on the other hand, is an example of an exactly contrary 

 condition, but an equally instructive one, as illustrating 

 the mode in which nature works in producing the infinite 

 variety we see in animal structures. Although appearing 

 at first sight an entirely distinct and special formation, it 

 evidently consists of nothing more than the highly modified 

 papillae of the lining membrane of the mouth, with an ex- 

 cessive and cornified epithelial development. 



The bony palate of all mammals is covered with a 

 closely-adhering layer of fibrovascular tissue, the surface 

 of which is protected by a coating of non-vascular epi- 

 thelium, the former exactly corresponding to the derm or 

 true skin, and the latter to the epiderm of the external 

 surface of the body. Sometimes this membrane is per- 

 fectly smooth, but it is more often raised into ridges, 

 which run in a direction transverse to the axis of the 

 head, and are curved with the concavity backwards ; the 

 ridges moreover do not extend across the middle line, 

 being interrupted by a median depression or raplu 1 . Indi- 

 cations of these ridges are clearly seen in the human 

 palate, but they attain their greatest development in 

 the Ungulata. In oxen, and especially in the giraffe, they 

 form distinct laminae, and their free edges develope a row 

 of papillae, giving them a pectinated appearance. Their 

 epithelium is thick, hard, and white, though not horny. 

 Although the interval between the structure of the ridges 

 in the giraffe's palate and the most rudimentary form of 

 baleen at present known is great, there is no difficulty in 

 seeing that the latter is essentially a modification of the 

 former, just as the hoof of the horse, with its basis of highly 

 developed vascular laminae and papillae, and the resultant 

 complex arrangement of the epidermic cells, is a modifi- 

 cation of the simple nail or claw of other mammals, or as 

 the horn of the rhinoceros is only a modification of the 

 ordinary derm and epiderm covering the animal's body 

 differentiated by a local exuberance of growth. 

 (.To be continued?) 



THE PERAK TIN-MINES ' 



'"PHIS interesting memoir, which forms part of the 

 •*• Archives des Missions scientijiqucs et litleraires, se>ie 

 iii. vol. ix., gives the result of a seven months' exploration 

 of the Malay State of Perak, made by the author, who 

 was sent by the French Government upon a mission of 

 scientific inquiry into the Malay Archipelago in 1881. 

 Perak, although an insignificant unit among even the 

 smallest States of the world, its extreme dimensions being 

 only 95X50 miles, or an area of less than 5000 square 

 miles, has long been known as a tin-producing country, 

 being mentioned in the narratives of Tavernier, and the 

 Dutch and Portuguese navigators of the seventeenth 

 century ; but it is only since the large influx of Chinese 

 miners, consequent upon the suppression of the Taeping 

 rebellion, that it has become of first-rate importance. 



1 " Les Mines d'Etain de Perak." Par T. Errington de !a Croix. 8vo. 

 Paris, 1882.) 



The success attained by the first-comers led to a rapid 

 increase of the Chinese population, who arrived in such 

 numbers as to be soon beyond the control of the feeble 

 Malay Government, and the mining being carried on with- 

 out any regulations as to boundaries, the miners became 

 divided into two parties, who made war upon each other with 

 varying success, the Sultan looking on impartially during 

 the contest, but siding with the winners. The defeated 

 party in 1872 having taken to piracy at sea, was sup- 

 pressed by English gunboats, and a resident was appointed 

 for the purpose of keeping order ; but the Malays having 

 revolted in 1875, when the resident was murdered, the 

 country has since been placed under a British protecto- 

 rate, with a native rajah, under the title of Regent. This 

 has been attended with the happiest results, the country 

 having made great progress during the last six years, 

 under the vigorous and enlightened management of the 

 resident, Hugh Low, Esq., C.M.G., and now bids fair, 

 according to the author, to become the most considerable 

 producer of tin in the world. 



The mines worked up to the present arc entirely alluvial 

 or stream works, the watercourses being filled with sand 

 and gravel deposits to a depth of 20 or 30 feet, resting 

 upon a floor of pure china clay, apparently derived from 

 trie decomposition of the granitic rocks forming the 

 numerous parallel ridges which traverse the country from 

 north to south. The geological description is necessarily 

 imperfect owing to the dense tropical vegetation which 

 covers the entire county ; but the author has been able to 

 establish the presence of numerous quartz veins traversing 

 the granites which are coarsely porphyritic in the centre 

 and largely charged with tourmaline at the edges of the 

 masses, in fact reproducing the phenomena observed in 

 the north-western tin districts of Cornwall. No mines 

 have as yet been opened in any of these veins, but 

 the author speaks of blocks of tin ore weighing more 

 than 1 cwt. as having been found in the immediate 

 vicinity of the hills, which are evidently not far removed 

 from their original position. The bulk of the production is, 

 however, derived from smaller rounded crystalline masses 

 and grains contained in the lower part of the alluvial 

 gravel, the workable thickness ranging from 7 to 10 feet, 

 and the proportion of clean ore or " black tin " from about 

 1 to 44 per cent, by weight. This is remarkable for its 

 purity, being almost entirely free from wolfram, arsenic, 

 and other foreign substances, which are so troublesome 

 to the Cornish tin-miner. The methods of working, 

 mechanical preparations, and smelting of the ore are of 

 the simplest possible kind, the work, with the exception 

 of a few centrifugal steam-pumps, and of Chinese chain- 

 pumps driven by water-wheels, being entirely carried out 

 by manual labour, with furnaces and other appliances of 

 the most primitive types. This simplicity adds con- 

 siderably to the interest of the author's detailed and 

 carefully illustrated description, which enables the reader 

 to realise in imagination the conditions prevailing in 

 our western districts in the days when the Phrenicirn-; 

 traded with the Cornish miners for tin at St. Michael's 

 Mount. Under the new British rule, the country has 

 made rapid progress, the output of tin having risen 

 from 2059 tons in 1876 to 5994 tons in 1881, the 

 whole of which is exported through Penang. As at 

 the latter date the cost of production, including revenue 

 charges of about 17/., was estimated at about 61/. per 

 ton, while the local selling price was 88/., showing a 

 profit of 45 per cent., the popularity of the business is 

 sufficiently explained. It is not probable, however, that 

 such large profits will continue to be realised after the 

 more productive deposits have been exhausted. It does 

 not appear from the narrative that European labour of 

 any kind is employed, the workpeople belonging to 

 three races, namely, Malay aborigines, Klings or coolies 

 from Madras and the Malabar coast, and Chinese, 

 the latter supplying the whole of the miners, smelters 



