Feb. 17, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



157 



in the caverns of North America. Nearly all of them 

 are white over the greater portion of their bodies. 



Habits of Crows. — According to the American 

 Naturalist the crow (Corvus Americanus) makes itself 

 troublesome in winter, pecking holes in the backs of 

 swine, and in some cases eating away their ears. The 

 magpie in Nebraska is guilty of similar conduct. 



Hybrids between the Dog and the Jackal. — 

 F.xperiments, carefully conducted in the Zoological 

 Garden of the Agricultural Institute of the University of 

 Halle, since the year 1881, have proved that hybrids 

 between the jackal and the domestic dog are capable of 

 reproduction, not merely with individuals of pure 

 blood, but among themselves. This is a fact of great im- 

 portance in support of the doctrine of organic evolution. 



THE KOLA-NUT. 



The preparations of the kola-nut are among the most 

 important of our recently discovered drugs. For ten 

 years Mr. T. Christy, F.L.S., of London, has been devoting 

 his attention to the properties of this West African plant. 

 According to Dr. Nachtigall the kola-nut has been for 

 generations looked upon as a sacred symbol in the 

 interior of Africa ; for some time it has been extensively 

 used there to make an excellent beverage ; but now its 

 preparations are expected to be of national as well as 

 social importance. Mr. Armstrong, when working with 

 kola, discovered that it was of great help in clarifying 

 and greatly improving beer. MM. Meckel and 

 Schlagdenhauffen have proved that it renders innocuous 

 the most foul waters, and makes tainted meat edible. 

 A Fellow of the Linnsean Society declared from his own 

 experience that the foreman of his estate was in the habit 

 of getting the worse for drink every Saturday, but that 

 shortly before his services were required on the Monday 

 mornings, his wife used to reduce a kola-nut into a paste, 

 which the man was made to swallow, and in half an hour 

 he was all right again. At some of the garrison towns 

 situated on the West Coast of Africa, a native sits at the 

 roadside and sells the nuts as the men pass ; these nuts 

 are chewed, and by the time they reach the barracks, 

 they are quite clearheaded, and the stupefaction caused 

 by drinking spirits is gone. Some who have used the 

 nut-paste as a " pick-me-up " assert that, while removing 

 the well-known nausea, it gives them a strong dislike to 

 the smell of spirits for some days. But it is in the paste 

 and chocolate forms that it will be found of greatest 

 advantage. If the paste is mixed with cocoa, it gives a 

 chocolate of a superior and finer quality. Chocolate 

 made with kola-paste is five times more nutritious than 

 chocolate made with cocoa. A working man can, on a 

 single cup of kola-chocolate taken at breakfast- time, go 

 on with his work through the day without feeling fatigued. 

 Though it may not directly feed the muscular system, it 

 has the property of preventing the rapid waste of the 

 tissues. So much have the manufacturers of chocolate, 

 both in this country and on the Continent, become alive 

 to the excellent properties of the new paste, that they 

 are making arrangements to procure it for mixing pur- 

 poses, as soon as its price becomes reasonable. The 

 British Government, too, have gone the length of under- 

 taking to test and experiment with it, so as to ascertain 

 the saving which would be made in the transit of provi- 



sions in time of war by giving this beverage to the 

 army. 



Professor E. Heckel, the discoverer of the process for 

 producing the paste from the nut, is quite sanguine about 

 its marvellous nutritious and strengthening qualities. 

 Dr. V. A. Stok, military doctor in the Netherlands army, 

 is convinced that it can produce a very good drink for 

 the army and navy hospitals. It has been used with 

 great service in dysentery and diarrhoea, and in all cases 

 of nervous depression. Dr. Hudson, medical inspector 

 of the United States navy, has successfully used it to 

 remove the severe headaches and dyspepsia in certain 

 forms of heart disease. Dr. A. L. Gihon, medical 

 director of the United States navy, found its properties 

 most valuable in an extreme case of neurasthenia. After 

 failing with quinine, arsenic, iron, bitter tonic, guarana, 

 and diffusible stimulants, the kola-paste quickly made a 

 change on the patient. The violent headaches did not 

 return, the appetite was recovered, muscular vigour 

 regained, and the mental dejection markedly relieved. 

 The medical profession in the United States has given it 

 a fair trial, and have acknowledged it to be a first- 

 class remedial food product. Several hospitals on the 

 Continent are using it ; and Dr. T. Oliver writes to the 

 Lancet that cases of mitral regurgitation treated by him 

 have received much benefit from it. As a food product 

 its sustaining and stimulating properties have earned for 

 it a large consumption by those who have been fortunate 

 enough to have tried it. Mr. A. E. Floyer, the superin- 

 tendent of the Government telegraphs of Egypt, con- 

 siders kola-chocolate excellent for expeditions. He and 

 his servant did ten hours' very severe climbing, slept on 

 the rocks, did ten miles more next day, and arrived at the 

 camp in capital spirits, though all their nourishment 

 during that period was (between them) four biscuits, 

 three oranges, and three tablets of kola-chocolate — prac- 

 tically nothing but kola. A cup of kolatina taken at 

 breakfast or at supper-time regularly, or a cupful 

 between meals, will produce a beneficial and stimu- 

 lating effect on the system, replacing the craving for 

 drink, and finally curing the patient of 'dipsomania. 

 The great advantage in its use for this purpose is the 

 fact of its being pleasant to the taste, and in the 

 patient taking it without suspecting why it is adminis- 

 tered. For frequently recurring headaches, whether of 

 the bilious, uraemic, nervous, or neuralgic type, kolatina 

 is invaluable. For weakened digestive organs it is 

 superior to anything else. Travellers, city men, re- 

 porters have found it to be an inestimable boon, a 

 cupful giving renewed vigour to the brain, and dis- 

 peUing any ill-effects of a continued strain on the 

 mind or body. That the excellent results obtained with 

 kola-nuts will create a large and increasing demand 

 has already been proved, as an order has been lately 

 received by Messrs. Christy and Co. for forward de- 

 livery of no less than twenty tons of the nuts. 



The native country of the kola tree {Cola acuminata) 

 is the western territory of Africa. It grows thirty feet 

 high, with broad leaves six inches long. In its fifth j'ear 

 it begins to yield a crop, but it reaches its maturity in 

 its tenth year, when it yields 120 lbs. of seed. The 

 flowering is nearly continuous, fruit and flowers being 

 on the tree at the same time, as there are two crops 

 every year. When ripe the fruit is of a brownish 

 yellow colour, and in this condition the capsule opens, 

 and discloses red and white seeds or nuts in the same 

 shell. The gathering of the seeds then commences. 



