April 13, 1871 | 
NATURE 
473 

THERE is a plant in New Granada which, if our ink-makers 
could only grow in sufficient quantity in this country, would be a 
fortune to them. The plant in question (Coriaria thymifolia) is 
commonly known as the ink plant, and it is simply the juice 
that is used without any preparation. Its properties seem, 
according to a tradition in the country, to have been discovered 
during the Spanish administration. A number of written docu- 
ments destined for the mother country were embarked in a 
vessel, and transmitted round the Cape, the voyage was unusually 
tempestuous, and the documents got wetted with salt water, 
those written with common ink*became nearly illegible, whereas 
those written with ‘‘ chanchi” (the name of the juice) remained 
unaltered. A decree was therefore issued that all government 
communications should in future be written with the vegetable 
juice. The ink is of a reddish colour when freshly written, be- 
coming perfectly black after a few hours, and it has the recom- 
mendation of not corroding a steel pen so readily as ordinary ink. 
A NEW Wellingtonia gigantea, or ‘‘big tree,” forty feet and 
four inches in diameter, has been discovered lately near Visalia, 
in Southern California. This is thicker by seven feet than any 
other that has yet been found. A section ot one of the ‘‘big 
trees” is now exhibited in Cincinnati, which is seventy-six feet 
in circumference and fourteen feet hizh; and, standing on the 
floor of the hall, it gives one a perfectly clear idea of the 
enormous size of the tree from which it was taken. The section 
was cut last year in the Mariposa grove, about two hundred and 
fifty miles south-east of San Francisco, and far up the western 
slope of the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was divided and 
hauled a hundred and forty miles to Stockton, on three waggons 
by seventeen yoke of cattle. 
UNDER the title of ‘‘British Pharmacology” Mr. W. W. 
Stoddart is publishing in the Pharmaceutical Fournal some 
interesting papers upon some of the British plants which are 
employed in medicine. Speaking of the presence of allyl in the 
horseradish, he says, “It is a very singular fact that the cru- 
ciferous plants produce compounds of sulphur and allyl that are 
so well known in the genus Allium, plants so dissimilar in 
habit and construction as to be in both exogenous and endo- 
genous divisions of the vegetable kingdom. In every part of the 
world the garlic flavour seems to be a favourite. The Israelites 
of old regretted the loss of their leeks and onions. The English- 
man likes the addition of a shallot, mustard, or horse-radish to 
his beefsteak. The Spaniard selects the onion, and the Asiatic 
assafoetida. Eyen the Brazilian has chosen the petiveria and 
sequieria, both of which have an alliaceous flavour. The whole 
of these owe their smell and taste to allyl, which in the onion 
tribe exists as a sulphide.” 
A Deposit of alum of considerable magnitude has been found 
in the Kulhu Valley, in Madras. It was first found by shep- 
herds. Asa rule, the headmen of villages prefer even now not 
to disclose mineral discoveries. 
Mr. BLANFoRD, of the Indian Geological Department, has 
been specially appointed to proceed to Damagoodiam in the 
Central Provinces to examine and report on the coal discovered by 
Colonel Henry. 
FAVOURABLE reports of the Cinchona cultivation in the West 
Indies continue to be received. We learn that in the Jamaica 
plantations the trees are seeding plentifully, and that about 
100,000 seeds of C. calisaya are now ripening. ‘There are also 
40,000 seedling plants of C. succirubra raised from Jamaica 
seed. One hundred acres of land over and above the hundred 
acres already established, have lately been prepared for planting 
in the coming spring, and there appears every prospect of a few 
hundred more acres being soon prepared to be put under similar 
cultivation. 


From Asia Minor we get no scientific records of weather, 
but in their absence some information of a meteorological 
character is useful. The winter in Smyrna has been very mild, 
accompanied with heavy rains, but apricots had shown fruit. 
On the 29th the rainy season culminated in a flood of the river 
Metes, inundating the city of Smyrna in a way not known for 
more than half a century, while the great river Hermus also 
overflowed. Soon after the weather changed to a sharp frost, 
which will cause destruction among orange and fruit trees. It 
will be observed the weather is the reverse of ours. 
THE Government of Madras has appointed four scientific 
gentlemen to annalyse the water of that Presidency. 
Dr. HERMAN CREDNER, of Leipzig, ina forthcoming number 
of Petermann’s A/ittheilungen, presents a valuable report upon the 
geology and mineralogy of the Alleghany system of the United 
States, accompanied by a detailed map of the region. 
NeEwspaPers do indeed bring intelligence to men of Science, 
but they bring error to the vulgar. We had made a note from 
an Indian paper of a hen which had hatched a chicken perfectly 
resembling a young kid, and created consternation in a whole 
kingdom concerned to know what misfortunes are portended. 
We are the more inclined to notice this valuable contribution to 
natural science, because now we find in a Smyrna paper, Za 
Lorme, intelligence that the island of Crete is now busied with 
the fact, ‘‘ well authenticated,” that a woman in the village of 
Melikos has been brought to bed of two monsters having the 
form of serpents. Although they only lived two hours, so that 
the medical men of the island could not, if they had the requisite 
capacity, make any observations, the ‘‘fact” may cost the 
unlucky Turkish Government another insurrection. Cock-and- 
bull stories may sometimes be dismissed with contempt, but want 
of instruction in natural science may in this country and some 
others be of more serious moment ; for ignorance is seldom bliss, 
but one of the great promoters of evil. Knowledge of natural 
science may prevent national discouragement in some cases, and 
in others stifle the spread of conspiracy and rebellion. Th2 
Aurora Borealis has in the east been connected with the Menzi- 
koff note and been commented on by it. 
A HANDSOME consignment of silkworms’ eggs has arrived at 
Sydney with the appliances of a ‘‘magnanarie” from Japan, 
which may prove the foundation of a branch of Industry in New 
South Wales that shall vie with the production of wool and excel 
that of sugar. The Acclimatisation and Agricultural Societies 
have been directing their attention to the subject, and some of 
the best varieties of silkworm have been acclimatised by Mr. 
Charles Brady. In June last the Acclimatisation Society wrote 
to Sir Henry Parkes at Yokohama for specimens of the finest 
varieties of worms, with specimens of silk, cocoons, &c., and a 
complete set of sericultural implements. With kind alacrity he 
set to work at once to oblige the society, and so far interested the 
ex-Minister of the Interior, Prince Daté, on the subject as to re- 
ceive from him gratuitously nearly all that was wanted. 
A LonG and interesting letter by Mr. T. J. Monk, on the 
Breeding and Preservation of the Woodcock in East Sussex, 
appears in the /ve/d of Feb. 25. The writer gives an account 
of the occurrence of this bird in seven districts of East Sussex, 
comprising twenty-one parishes, in all of which woodcocks have 
nested, and are nesting in greater or less numbers every year. 
On an average, Mr. Monk considers that from a hundred and 
fifty to two hundred nests might be found in these districts in 
most years ; and states his opinion that, if never shot at after 
Feb. 1, and if the coverts were kept as quiet and undisturbed as 
possible during the breeding season, we might hope for a still 
further increase in the number of young birds. 
