38 



THE EDINBURGH JOURNAL OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



familiarity with man that the traits of his genius and native disposition fully develop thera- 

 pelves. In this state he soon learns to distinguish all the members of the family ; 

 flies towards the gate, screaming at the approach of a stranger ; learns to open the 

 door by alighting on the latch; and attends regularly at the hours of dinner and 

 breakfast. 



Death Feigned ey a Corncrake. — Mr Ballard of Islington mentions a marked 

 instance of a Corncrake feigning death, an instinct which that bird possesses in com- 

 mon with several other animals, and more particularly with certain insects. A 

 gentleman had a Corncrake brought him by his dog, which was dead to all appearance. 

 As it lay on the ground he turned it round with his foot; it showed no symptoms of 

 life. Standing by, however, some time in silence, he suddenly saw it open one eye. 

 He took it up, its head fell, its logs hung down, it appeared again to be quite dead. 

 He attributed this to an involuntary muscular exertion, and put it into his pocket. 

 It was not long before he felt it struggling to escape; he took it out, when it ap- 

 peared as lifeless as before. He laid it on the ground, and retired to some distance 

 to watch its motions; in about five minutes xt warily raised its head, looked round, 

 and decamped at full speed. 



BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. 



Age op Plants. — Some of the minute Fungi, commonly termed mould, live only 

 a few hours, and seldom exist above a few days. The greater number of mosses 

 exist only one season, which is also the case with all plants caUed Annuals. These 

 die of old age immediately after their seeds have ripened. Those termed Biennials 

 survive but for two seasons ; although the lives of several of them are occasionally 

 prolonged to three years, if their flowering be prevented. 



On the other hand, some trees live for centuries. The Olive may live .three 

 hundred years ; the Oak six hundred ; a Chesnut is said to have existed nine hundred 

 and fifty; the Dragon's-blood tree of Teneriife two thousand; and we are informed 

 by Adanson that Banians are conjectured to be six thousand years old. 



When the wood of the interior of trees becomes so close in its texture that the 

 passage of sap or pulp is prevented, or the formation of new vessels cannot bo 

 admitted, then it dies ; and as all its moisture passes off into the younger wood, the 

 fibres shrink, and are ultimately reduced into dust. The centre of the tree loses its 

 vitality, while the outer parts continue to exist, and may thus live for many years 

 before a total dissolution takes place. 



On the Effects op Electricity in PtAyTS. — Colonel Capper observes, that 

 " many experiments in eloctrirying plants have been made by M. Nuneberg and the 

 Abbe Nollet; according to the former, most of them increased in height, and 

 flourished far beyond those not electrified." Some bulbous roots, he says, which had 

 been frequently electrified, grew 82 lines and a half; whilst others of the same 

 species, not electrified, grew only in the same period 52 lines and two-thirds. But 

 the report of Abbe Nollet is not so favorable; he found that the plants electrified by 

 him, at first, made vigorous shoots, but he thought their perspiration being, by these 

 means, too much increased, their juices might have been too quickly dissipated, in conse- 

 quence of which the plants became gradually weak, and at length prematurely perished. 

 "We do not hesitate to yield due credit to both of these reports, although they seem in 

 some measure incompatible with each other, Thoy may have been made on various 

 plants, at different seasons. M. Nuneberg, therefore, might have succeeded, although 

 those of the Abbe In some measure failed. Besides, when administered by art, either 

 to animal or vegetable bodies, the electricity may be given when the plants may 

 already have the proper natm-al quantity; and, therefore, in some instances, it may 

 be too strong; in others net strong enough, not sufficiently diffused; or it may not be 

 anplied to the proper part. The vai'lous modifications of electricity cannot well be 

 comprehended excepting by those who profess considerable knowledge of the theory, 

 and likewise the practice of it, so as to judge of its effects, not only in the atmosphere, 

 but likewise on all animal and vegetable bodies; some of thera may benefit by the 

 aura or mild state of the fluid, and yet be injui-ed by a spark, or even killed by a 

 severe shock. 



Haumonies of Colour and For31 in Plants. — Dr Castles remarks that " Na- 

 ture, in the creation of the universe, has very beautifully modulated the influence of 

 colour. To the firmament she has given a beautiful azure tint; to the earth itself a 

 variety of shades, all more or less harmonizing with the blue on high, and the agree- 

 able green of plants. If she had given to plants a yellowish hue, they would have 

 been confounded with the sky and waters. In the first case, all would have appeared 

 earth; in the second, all would have been sea; but their verdure forms the most 

 delightful contrast between them and the grounds of the grand picture, as well as 

 consonances highly agreeable with the yellow colour of the earth, and with the azure 

 of the heavens." 



In giving to Vegetable productions a green shade, though only one single colour is 

 employed, there ai'e certain tints which appear to be given according to the situation 

 or circumstances under which a plant may grow. Those that are destined to gi-ow 

 immediately on the eai'th, on sti'ands, or on dusky rocks, are entirely green, leaves 

 and stem, as the greater part of reeds, grasses, mosses, taper-trees, and aloes. Such, 

 on the contrary, as are intended to issue from amidst herbage, have stems of a 

 brownish hue, like the trunks of most trees and shrubs. The elder, for example, 

 which thrives in the midst of green turf, has the stem of an ash-gray ; but the dwarf 

 elder, which otherwise resembles it in every respect, and grows immediately on the 

 ground, has the stem quite green. 



Nyt only the green of the plant is grown to hai'raonize with other objects, but even 

 the flower and fruit have their shades apparently proportioned accordingly. 



It seems correct that the blue colour is not to be found in the flowers, or in the 

 fruits of lofty trees, for, in that case, they would assimilate with the sky; but is very 

 common on the ground in the flowers of herbs, as in the ccrn-bottlo, the scabiosa, the 

 violet, the liver-wort, and others. On the contrary, the colour of the earth is very 

 common in the fruits of lofty trees, as in those of the walnut, the cocoa, the pine, and 

 many others 



In the form of flowers, the most perfect specimens of harmony might be selected 

 which would faithfully show that, even in pleasing the sight, the greater object of 

 utility is combined, if not increased. 



This is very sweetly shown in the structure of compound flowers, particularly 

 such as the sunflower and daisy. TVhat would these flowers be in appearance without 

 their radii? Yet are the radiated petals of the circumference, not only given to 

 complete a pleasing harmony of light, to the tubular florets of the centre, but they 

 answer an important purpose of moderating the influence of heat, kc. Thus is the 

 double object of utility and beauty combined. 



Another point, productive of some very pleasing deductions, is founded on the har- 

 monies from contrast. Plants opposite in Nature are almost always associated. 



Thus, round the faded trunks of trees, twines the creeping Ivy, or the great Con- 

 volvulus, compensating the apparent want of blossoms The Fir rises in the forests of 

 the north, like a lofty pyramid, of a dark green colour, and with motionless attitude. 

 Near this tree you almost always find the Birch, which grows to the same height in 

 the form of an inverted pyramid, of a lively green, and whose moveable foliage is 

 incessantly playing with every breath of wind. The Reed, on the banks of rivers, 

 raises erect into the air its radiated leaves and its embroidered stems, while the Nym- 

 pheea spreads at its feet its broad heart-shaped leaves, and its gold coloured flower; the 

 dark blue violet is contrasted, in the spring, with the yellow tints of the cowslip and 

 the primrose. On the herbiaged angles of the rock, the fungus, white and round, rises 

 from amidst beds of moss of the most beautiful green. 



MINERALOGY. 



Gold. — This is one of the few metals only found native, and in this state, is easily 

 recognized ty colour, malleability, &c. ; it is found crystallized, filamentous, and dis- 

 seminated in rounded lumps of vai'lous sizes in alluvial soils. 



Geologists consider gold as one of the most ancient of the metals, for it is invari- 

 ably found in primitive rocks. Its gangue is quartz, calcareous spar, felspar, car- 

 bonate of lime, and sulphate of barytes. Africa and America are the richest countries 

 in Gold. In Africa, it always occurs in the beds of rivers and in the alluvial soils of 

 the plains, either in small grains, or in masses of different sizes. The principal tracts, 

 rich in this precious metal, ai-e in the western parts of Africa, to the south of the 

 great desert of Zara, and between Darfur and Abyssinia; and the sands of the Gam- 

 bia, Niger, and Senegal, ai-e all auriferous; it is supposed that Ophlr, whence Solo- 

 mon obtained Gold, was a country on the south-east coast; and Herodotus relates, 

 that when the messengers of Cambyses waited upon the king of .^Ethiopia, they were 

 shown the prisoners bound in chains of gold. As this metal is found in a ductile, 

 tenacious, and workable state, it is almost the only one employed by savage nations, 

 and various ornaments and utensils are frequently made of it. These untutored tribes 

 have always regarded the eagerness of their European invaders to obtain it with the 

 utmost astonishment; of this the history of America furnishes us with many curious 

 instances. In one of the early incursions into the interior of that continent, the 

 Spaniards contested with such eagerness about the division of some Gold, that they 

 were on the point of proceeding to acts of mutual violence, when a young Casique, 

 who was present, tumbled it out of the balance with indignation, and tm-ning to the 

 invaders, " Why," said he, " do you quarrel about such a trifle — if it be for Gold that 

 you abandon the regions of your fathers, and disturb the peaceful tranquillity of these 

 distant nations, I will conduct you to a region abundant in this mean object of your 

 admiration and desire." The thirst for Gold was the principal incentive to the 

 almost more than human enterprises performed by the followers of Columbus. Ani- 

 mated by the certain prospect of gain, they pursued discovery with greater eagerness 

 than when excited only by cm'iosity and hope. The riches of Peru, Jlexico, and 

 Brazil, are well known, and the Gold is there principally found in the beds of rivers, 

 althcugh veins have been successfully woiked. 



Asia cannot at present be deemed rich in Gold, although it has been found in Cey- 

 lon, Borneo, Sumatra, and some of the Archipelago islands. Of the abundance of 

 Gold which once enriched the Pactolus we now know m;thing. 



Nor can Europe boast of Golden treasures. According to Diodorus Sleulus, 

 and Pliny, the Phoenicians and Romans procured considerable quantities of Gold from 

 Spain. The poets too found it in the sands of the Tagus. In France it has been 

 found in the department of the Isere; in the Rhone, at its junction with the Araw; 

 in the Rhine near Strasbourg and Germersheim, but neither above nor below it; and 

 in the Garonne neai' Toulouse. In Piedmont, in the vallies at the foot of Mount 

 Rosa, and of the Simplon; and also in the small streams that intersect the red allu- 

 vion, about Chivasso. The only important Gold mines of Europe are those of Hun- 

 gary. 



The metallurgic processes for obtaining Gold from its ores are suflieiently simple. 

 They are broken in the stamping mill and washed, by which the lighter and earthy 

 parts are separated; they ai-e then submitted to the action of mercury, which dissolves 

 the Gold, and this metal is afterwards obtained by distillation. — Brande. 



GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



Filling up of Lake Supeuior. — This mighty Lake is the largest body of fresh 

 water in the known world; its length is 480 miles, its breadth 161, its circumference 

 about 1100 miles, and its depth 900 fathoms. Its waters are remarkable for their 

 unrivalled transparency. About 1000 streams empty themselves into this lake, 

 sweeping in sand, primitive bouUer-stoncs, and di-ift timber, which sometimes accu- 

 mulate so as to form islands in the estuaries. A lignite formation, indeed, is said to be 

 now in progress similar to that of Bovey, in Devonshire. "Within a mile from the 

 shore the water is about 70 fathoms; within eight miles, 136 fathoms. From the 

 above causes the lake is gradually filling up. 



Lake Erie, from similar causes, is also filhng up. This sheet of water is 270 

 miles in length, 60 in breadth, and 200 fathoms in depth. It is gradually becoming 

 shallower. Long Point, for example, has, in three years, gained no less than three 

 miles OB the water. On its southern shore serious encroachments have been made in 



