Miscellanies. 379 
2. Longevity of trees. (Morgenblatt, May, 1831.)—In the district 
of Rossienie, in Samogitia, Poland, the principal town of which is of 
the same name, thirty le from Kowno, there was formerly seen at 
the country house of a citizen of the name of Degonisius Przkinwicz, 
an enormous oak, which the country people called Baublis. This 
tree, which had been an object of worship in pagan times, having 
suffered by a fire, which had injured its rocts, the proprietor had it 
cut down in March, 1812, and transported to his park. When 
sawed through, its age was clearly discoverable, and found to be al- 
most six hundred years. The trunk of this Nestor of the vegetable 
kingdom was 384 French feet in circumference and 14 Fr. feet in 
diameter. The owner.had it hollowed out into the form of a hall, 
264 Fr. feet in circumference, and ornamented with portraits of illus- 
“trious Poles and other great men. At the passage of the 10th corps 
of the French army, in 1812, under Gen. Macdonald, this trunk ex- 
cited the admiration of the French.—ib. Univ. Aout, 1831. 
3. Connection between civilization and mental aberration.—A 
work entitled ‘The political arithmetic of madness, or general con- . 
siderations on madness in its relations to ignorance, crime and popu- 
lation, in various parts of the globe,” by M. Pirrguin, contains nu- 
merous comparative tables, by which it appears evident that the pro- 
gress of knowledge and the arts is very favorable to the extinction of 
mental diseases, and to the extirpation of crime; while it is clearly 
shown by the criminal statistics, both of France and England, that 
immorality increases in proportion to the ignorance and misery of the 
people. F 
His tables show, 
1. The relation between the number of maniacs, and of those 
who are accused of crime, comprehending both sexes, the profess- 
ions of each, and in what proportion mental aberration is caused by 
each of them. 
2. The influence of education and the nature of the crimes com- 
mitted by individuals under arrest. 
3. Accidental deaths, suicides, duels arising from gaming, and lot- 
teries. 
4. Of the civil condition of Hanes wether single, married, 
widows, or persons divorced. 
From the facts thus exhibited, M. Pierquin draws the inference, 
that the number of insane, and of criminals, depends on the amount 
