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NATURE 
[May 6, 1886 
dye-woods, fruits, and herbs, or intended to. In the his- 
tory “ Primer viage de Colon” (Navarette, cap. 1) is the 
passage,! “And besides there are trees of a thousand 
species, each having its particular fruit and all of mar- 
vellous flavour, so that I am in the greatest trouble in the 
world not to know them, for I am very certain they are 
each of great value. I shall bring some home as sfec- 
mens, and also some of the herbs.” Taking Washington 
Irving’s inspection of Navarette’s materials as reliable, 
Columbus knew the potato—the battata. 
‘Then it is also probable, for here we have to deal with 
probability only, that the Solanum [under the name 
papas] was known in Spain soon after the conquest by 
Pizzaro [1527], when Cieza de Leon wrote [1532-50]. 
Both of these are at present but assumptions in respect 
to dates. The exact dates may perhaps be known in 
Spain. Possibly some people in England may know what 
is known, but the writer has been unable to trace any- 
thing more through the published second-hand statements. 
We in England somehow knew the battata, pronounced 
and spelled potade or potate or potato, before the time of 
Hawkins’s voyage, and before Shakespeare wrote his 
“ Merry Wives of Windsor,” where he uses the word. 
That Shakespeare’s potato was the batata is clear from 
Gerard’s reference to the confectioners using the battata 
as a basis for their sugar work (p. 781 of his ‘‘ Herbal ”). 
It was Gerard who called the papus (papus, as he 
chose to spell it, instead of papas) the Virginian potato, 
or bastard potato. 
There in his work we have the word “batata,” or 
patata, or potato, transferred to the papas, to Bauhin’s 
Solanum tuberosum esculentum. Though Gerard does 
not use the word Solanum, his figure and description are 
sufficient identification. Somehow, though it does not 
seem possible to trace how, the word “ potato” or “taters” 
has, as an English word, stuck to the So/anum. The 
“battata” has now dropped out of cultivation as an 
English root, and this no doubt has been the main cause 
of the transference of the word “ battata” from the original 
battata to the “bastard” potato of Gerard—the Solanum. 
The establishment of batata as a botanical name, its 
recognised description, and its admission into generic 
nomenclature have a curious history, but that is some- 
what wide of the points more immediately under con- 
sideration. 
The whole question is by no means yet worked out, 
but the above suggestions may draw attention to the 
subject. W. S. M. 
THE COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION 
HIS Exhibition was opened on Tuesday by Her 
Majesty in state. Science in one form or 
another will be prominent in nearly all of the sec- 
tions. The Exhibition as a whole will be a geogra- 
phical education in its widest sense. Not many can 
follow the example of Mr. Froude and Baron Hubner, 
and spend the best part of a yearin visiting our scattered 
Empire. At South Kensington, in the course of a few 
days, however, we may learn even more of the products 
and people and geographical aspects of our colonies than 
we might do by an expensive voyage. Of course the 
main purpose of the Exhibition is to draw attention to 
the economical and commercial aspects of the colonies 
and India ; but in doing so, necessarily the introduction 
of a considerable amount of science is involved. In nearly 
all the sections, for example, we find excellent large maps 
of the various colonies on the walls, besides the gigantic 
map of the world in hemispheres beside the gateway of 
Old London. Again, several of the colonies have sent 
specimens of their natives, and from India especially 
there is a considerable number of individuals of all ages 
representing the various races which form the heteroge- 
Quoted second-hand through W. Irving’s “‘ Life of Columbus.” 
neous population of that vast territory. So, from South 
Africa, we find Kaffirs, Hottentots, Zulus, and Bechuanas ; 
Singhalese from Ceylon, and Malays from the Straits 
Settlements. In several of the sections, also, notably in 
India, do we find life-size models of natives ; some of 
the finest of them are in the British Guiana Court, 
prepared by Mr. Im Thurn. Several of the colonies, 
again, have had large reliefs either of the whole or part 
of their territory prepared. Among the exhibits of the 
Indian Survey is a relief-map of the Peninsula from the 
Tibetan table-land to Cape Comorin, on the scale of 
thirty-four miles to an inch. One of the finest of these 
models is that of New Zealand by Dr. Julius von Haast, 
under whose care this Court is markedly scientific. He 
has brought over with him the skeletons of three large 
moas ; mumerous specimens of flora, fauna, and geology, 
and the exquisitely beautiful skeleton of a ribbon-fish 
prepared after the method of Prof. Parker of Dunedin. 
Maori ethnology is also amply illustrated, though we 
believe no actual live specimen has been imported. One 
of the finest conservatories of native plants in the Exhibi- 
tion will be that attached to the New Zealand Court. 
But such conservatories will be a marked characteristic 
of this Exhibition, and will be found attached to the 
Courts of the Cape of Good Hope, Queensland, Natal, 
and other colonies. India, of course, has much to show 
of interest to science, besides its numerous groups of 
life-size models of natives taken from actual casts. 
Under the care of Dr. Watt the botany is very fully 
illustrated. The Geological Survey has sent a fine 
exhibit; while the Topographical Survey will have a 
Court to itself. In all the Australian colonies geology is a 
prominent feature, at least in its economic aspects, and 
so we may say of botany, at least so far as timber-trees are 
concerned. In the Australian and several other colonies, 
moreover, large collections of natural history have been 
arranged in cases, while of course the numerous game- 
trophies will interest the naturalist. The trophy of 
trophies, however, will be the great jungle scene 
prepared by Mr. Rowland Ward, into which it has 
been attempted to compress the whole of the fauna 
of India. It is a triumph of arrangement; and we 
may refer to it in detail in a future article. An al- 
most equally striking scene is the landscape in the 
South Australian Court, representing an actual piece of 
country near Lake Alexandrina. Of course, as in the 
jungle scene, we have wz2/tumm-in-parvo,—features which 
in reality are spread over a wide area compressed into a 
few square yards. But everything is on the scale of 
nature, and nothing introduced that is not actually met 
with. We have natives at various occupations, including 
a woman and child under a rude shelter of branches ; 
kangaroos, wallabies, eagles, and other animals deftly 
posed ; characteristic vegetation and rocks, with moun- 
tains away in the background. The model of Hong Kong 
and the neighbouring coast may also be mentioned. 
The West Indian Court contains much of interest. The 
woods of Honduras are conspicuous ; many curious land 
and water products from Trinidad ; and a fine collection 
of Columbian pictures and relics, and several fine paint- 
ings and photographs of West Indian scenery. Indeed, 
in all the sections, pictures, and especially photographs, 
are among the most conspicuous exhibits, and have much 
geographical value. 
Of course this Exhibition is one of many-sided interest, 
and we have mentioned here only a few of the points that 
will attract those interested in science. Its educa- 
tional value is evident, and we hope that teachers will 
take advantage of so exceptional an opportunity of giving 
their pupils a practical lesson in physical geography and 
its economical and “ political” developments. Most of 
the colonies will publish special hand-books, and in 
several of them we are glad to know that science will hold 
| a prominent place. 
