
Feb. 2, 1871] 

nations renders them impossible to be answered clearly by any 
student who has not been trained in the particular school of the 
examiner, though he may possess a competent knowledge of the 
subject. This is a great evil, and ought to be looked into. 
_ WE have received the first four numbers of what seems likely 
to be a very useful series of publications issued by authority of 
the University of New Haven, Connecticut, and termed ‘‘ The 
University Series.” Two of these are reprints of the well- 
known Fnglish treatises :—Prof. Huxley ‘‘ On the Physical Basis 
of Life,” and Dr. Jas. H. Stirling ‘‘As Regards Protoplasm, 
in reference to Prof. Huxley’s Essay.” The remaining two com- 
prise Prof. Cope’s essay ‘‘On the Hypothesis of Evolution, 
Physical and Metaphysical ;” and Prof. G. A. Barker of Yale 
College *‘ On the Correlation of Vital and Physical Forces.” 
A RECENT number of L’///ustration Horticole contains an 
interesting paper on the Botanic Gardens of Kew, by M. André, 
prefaced by some details regarding similar establishments in 
Europe. From this it appears that the first was established 
at Padua in 1545, followed by that of Pisa; those of Leyden 
and Leipzig date respectively 1577 and 1579. The Montpellier 
garden was founded in 1593, that of Giessen in 1605, of Stras- 
burg in 1620, of Altorf in 1625, and of Jena in 1629. The 
Jardin des Plantes was established in 1626, and the Upsal 
Garden in 1627; that of Madrid dates from 1763, and that of 
Coimbra from 1773. At the end of the eighteenth century, 
according to Gesner, more than 1,600 kindred establishments 
existed in Europe. England comes late in the list, the Oxford 
Garden not having been founded until 1632, and long remaining 
the only one in the kingdom. 
WE learn from the Scottish Naturalist that the work of fitting 
up cabinets for the reception of the Natural History collection 
in the Paisley Museum is rapidly approaching completion ; and 
that the opening is expected to take place shortly. The geological 
and botanical specimens are mostly, if not all, British, and will 
form a valuable reference collection for students. The large and 
valuable reference library will contain a choice selection of 
scientific works, 
THE revenue cruiser AM/cccasin, according to the Technologist, 
has been supplied with a new marine drag, that is, one of those 
substitutes for an anchor which will, it is said, effectually prevent 
a ship’s drifting even inthe heaviest weather. The success of 
experiments made and reported to the Treasury department has 
caused a contract to be made with a New York firm for the 
construction of several of these marine drags ; and it is the inten- 
tion to supply all vessels in the Revenue service with them. To 
vessels off a lee shore, in stormy weather, the marine drag must 
be a most desirable protection against shipwreck. 
Stnce the American publishers abandoned the reprinting of 
the Chemical News, our American friends, says the New York 
Technologist, ‘‘have no resource but to subscribe for the original 
London edition. Wedo not regret this. What they lose in 
cost they more than gain in neatness and accuracy, and also in 
the fact that they do not have to wait a month for their news.” 
Mr. ANDREW Murray has published in the Fie/d some re- 
marks upon eight samples of honey which have been forwarded 
by M. de Solsky, of the Agronomic Museum of St. Petersburg, 
to the South Kensington Museum. The honey was produced 
by bees fed in districts where there was a great preponderance of 
the following plants :—Aeseda odorata (mignonette), Tilia parvi- 
Jolia, Dracocephalum moldavicum, Carduus nutans, Fagopyrum es- 
culentum (buckwheat), Eprlobium angustijolium, Echium vulgare, 
each plant being represented by one of the samples. The eighth 
consisted of honey flavoured by the heibs of the Steppes of 
NATURE 


275 
that from the mignonette, then that of the lime-tree ; the buck- 
wheat honey being beyond question the worst. 


OnE of the most interesting and important trees of Sumatra is 
the Camphor-tree, Dryobalanops camphora. This camphor 
attractedl the attention of the earliest voyagers, and was then, as 
it is now, an important article of commerce with China and Japan, 
the people of those countries attributing to it extraordinary virtues 
and paying a high price for it. ‘The tree grows to a height of 
100 or 130 feet, and forms a trunk 7 to 10 feet in diameter. The 
quantity of camphor contained in the trunks is very unequal, the 
young trees appear to contain little or none. It is said that, on 
an average, about nine trees are required to produce 100 lbs. 
weight of crystallised camphor. It is obtained by cutting down 
the tree and dividing the wood into small pieces, in the divisions 
of which the camphor is found. It differs in the form of its 
crystals from the camphor of commerce, is harder, more brittle, 
and does not so readily condense. Great quantities are used by 
the Bataks for the preservation of the corpses of their chiefs. 
The trees are spread over a portion only of Sumatra and Borneo, 
and generally occur in localities into which commerce and civi- 
lisation have as yet but little penetrated. Notwithstanding the 
continued destruction of the trees, for the sake of procuring the 
camphor, no means are taken for the future preservation of the 
species. ‘This camphor is seldom seen in this country, except in 
museums. The Chinese eagerly buy it in preference to the 
ordinary camphor—their own produce—which they send in such 
large quantities into the Eurcpean markets. 
Tue habit of branching among palms, though constant only in 
the Doum palm (/7fiene thebaica) of Exypt, is not uncommon 
in other genera, and’ notably amongst Palmyras (Borassus flabelli- 
formis) and Cocoa Nuts, (Cocos nucifera), figures and descriptions 
of which have been published in the Linnean Society's Transac- 
tions. According to a eorrespondent in Ceylon, branching 
Cocoa Nuts, Palmyras, and Arecas, are to be seen there in 
plenty, besides other curious freaks of the Cocoa Nut, such, for 
instance, as the growth of two or three trees from one nut. In 
the Racket Court at Colombo, we are told that five trees are 
now flourishing (or at least were at the time the letter was 
written) which have proceeded from the same nut. Originally 
there were eight in all, but three have died, probably by the 
nourishment being drawn away from them for the sustenance of 
the other five. 
THE use of the fruits of Zaughinia venenifera in Madagascar 
as an ardent poison is of great antiquity, and is one of the 
still remaining superstitious customs ardently believed in by 
savage nations. The system of administering the poison has 
been often told, but the following account from a private letter 
of an eye-witness differs in so many points from those we have 
before read that we give it entire. The fruit was taken, 
bruised, and boiled whole. A fowl was boiled, and the broth 
set aside. Three pieces of the skin of the fowl were cut and put 
into the broth ; a cupfull of poison was first administered, fol- 
lowed by another of the broth containing the three pieces of skin, 
If vomiting did not speedily set in, the poison soon killed, but 
if it did, it was kept up by constant exhibition of the broth and 
warm water until the three pieces of skin were ejected. Should 
the skins obstinately remain, it was held as evidence of guilt, 
and another dose of the poison was administered. 
SoME discussion has taken place in Indian circles on the 
authenticated, but unprecedented, fact of a tigress having been 
shot near Octacamund, by Colonel Christie, while she was forty 
feet from the ground in a tree. Many observers state that a tiger 
when in danger, and at the foot of a tree, does not take toa tree, 
and in the inundations only gets on to the lower branches. A 
Central Russia, and this was the best of all in taste. Next came | leopard does take to a tree, 
