AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 7 



BOTANY AND HORTICULTURE. GENERAL SCIENCE. 



„ . . ^, , r J -i 1 1, „ „i-.f„„f„..:i„ MILITARY MORTALITY IN THE BRITISH COLONIES. 



Ages of Trees.— From examining the layers of wood, it has been satisfactorily ,.,■,•<.. ja: , , 



ascertained, that ohve trees will live in favourable situations for 300, and oaks for 600 Man possesses a greater power of adapting his frame to different temperatures and 



vears Greuw in the year 1 400, cut his name on two Boababs, and Petiver did the ''l™^'^^ ">an any other animal But this power has its hmits ; and we find that a person, 



•> ' ' . ,Ti-T<rtAj i.1 i A «<■ 4-\,^t- who has Ions' been inured to the chill blasts of an arctic region, or to the milder airs 



same thinff 149 years afterwards. In 1749, Adanson saw these trees, and at that , ^y -. ■ ° ^ .^ ■ v.^ c ■ .■ .u v • u / * . - i r . 



^ , / , -•...■• c • i.1, i.-™ „f "D^frU.n.^ >^«,■«rT of Britain, is fi-equently incapable of resisting the burmng heats of a tropical chmate. 



period they had mcreased seven feet m circumference since the time of Petiver, bemg , , , ' -.- ^ *i * *i, .i, ■ ^ x. i j -.u *■ . i 



^ -' „^ TT^, ^ u i.-™ e J *^ „„„„;„« o A sudden transition from the one to the other IS often attended With fatal consequences. 



an interval of 200 years. These trees are, however, sometimes found to acquire a .^ _,.._, , ., . ,..«:. x. .1. , ,. j- ^ 



,. .«,- / . ^ ^t-- -i. - ■ r J i-i, * 4.U ™ t r ,„ . *-u^„ry^^A Individuals may escape its immediate ettects; but when laree bodies of men are consi- 



uerimeter of 435 feet; from this it is inferred that they must hve many thousand J *^ ,. . , , , . r„, ■ ,. , 



years The long period required to ascertain the age of trees, renders our knowledge ^ered, a greater mortality is absolutely certara to occur. This fact has been long 



on this subject very imperfect; and it will probably long remain so until records are ''"'i'^^'i, in pubhc and private records, by the frequent premature decease of many a 



. ..„ . ... ,. . 1 •„ *i,„ „„„ „f „,.„!,»„„„ „o „„ T,„win gallant officer or near relative; and the popular Views on this subject are fully confirmea 



established by scientific institutions, to ascertam the ages of such trees as are public o > r r j j 



by the following 



" " ^' OFFICIAL RETURNS 



r r\ r^ v ^^ *^® mortality among ofiBcers and soldiers in the several British colonies — chiefly 



MINERALOGY. for the seven years from 1820 to 1826— showing the annual deaths out of 10,000 



Platinum in Siberia..^ This valuable metal has been discovered in Siberia ; it is men : — 



found in fine sand. A piece was got at Nischde Tagil, in 1827, which weighed 8 , ,oo<=^ ,aa Excess per cent. 



pomids 13 ounces and 4 drachms, avoirdupois. In 1831-32, three pieces were ob- ^r^' Britain (1824 and 1826) . . 144 



tained, the two first weighing 17 pounds 11 ounces, and the third 11 pounds 1 ounce ^ j onq 



and 1 drachm. It is accompanied with gold, osmium, iridium, magnetic iron, chro- Hermu as 



mium, brown oxide of iron, oxide of titanium, epidote, garnet, rock crystal, and some- ^Iauntlus - ... . 



times diamonds. The sand in which it occurs is composed of jasper, green stone, and loman Islands 25b ... 1.12 



quartz ; and also small yellow crystals, of rhomboidal dodecahedrons, resembling chry- p^^' . . ,„,„ „„. ,' 



soberyl, the precise nature of which is not yet known. Among the class of rocks Cml Service m 1816 . . . 290 ... 1.46 



which accompany platinum in the Urahan chain of mountains, serpentine is the most ^'"° '° '° • • • '''*" ■■• *•"'' 



remarkable. Gold appears generaUy to exist in the same rock with platinum.-i?e- ^^^eldTof the SdU ™° ^'^''. '""' | ^''* - '-^^ 



cords of General Science, JpHl 1S35. 69trregiment, dJilg fourteen years, 834 ... 6.90 



■ ' '■ " ' ' Average of Civil Service , . 445 ... 3.01 



GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. I''"" of Mihtary Service . . 854 ... 7.10 



Ceylon. 



Large Fossil Oak Tree.— In February 1832, in the course of excavating the ^^^^ regiment, on the passage (1819), 440 ... 2.96 



basin of the harbour at Aberdeen, and within one hundred and fifty yards of the Ditto m the island . . 600 ... 3 56 



Trades' Hospital, there was found embedded within a few inches of the surface of jg^j^ regiment, twenty years, with one- ) „,, 



what was formerly the Green Inches, an oak tree of very large dimensions. It was half of the invaUds . . . C°*" ■•■ 6.96 



lying in a horizontal position, in a north-west and south-east direction. The trunk, 83^ regiment, three years, with one-half ) , , -„ 



from the root to where it separated into limbs, was 6 feet 6 inches long, and 20 feet of the invalids . . . ^H'O ... 10.26 



2 inches in circumference; one of the limbs measured 23 feet 6 inches in length, and 73d resiment, three years, with one-half) „„ 



> 2fSnO ^(-\ Aii 



13 feet 10 inches in circumference; the other limb, 8 feet long and 9 feet 7 inches of the invahds . . , ^ *" 



in circumference; and from these two limbs various large branches appear to have Officers of 1st Ceylon regiment . 1230 ... 10.36 



struck off, some part of which still remained. The cubical contents of the trunk and 73d regiment, officers, . . . 1130 ... 9.86 



two Umbs are upwards of 380 feet. As it does not appear that the tree could have Average on the passage to Ceylon . 440 ... 2.96 



grown in the place in which it was embedded, and as the timber had not the marks of Ditto of the soldiers on the island 1328 ... 11.84 



decay which are frequently to be seen on very old trees, it could only ha^e been a Ditto of officers . , , 1180 ... 10.36 



flood of the river, equal if not greater than that of 1829, which could have brought West Indies. 



it from its native soil, while encumbered with its immense branches. Grenada ..... 391 ... 2.47 



Flood OF the Garonne — The city of Toulouse has lately been devastated in a Irmidad ...... 425 ... 2.81 



manner which has not been surpassed during the last fifty years. In the night of the Antigua ..... 457 ... 3.13 



29th May 1835, the waters of the Garonne increased so suddenly, that before any Barbadoes 563 ... 4.19 



measures of security could be taken, several depots of wood in the Port Garau, and ^^ Vincent ..... 5/4 ... 4.30 



the suspension bridge of Mourat, were washed away. The handsome stone bridge at St Kitts . . . . .617 ... 4,73 



Puisaquel lost two of its arches, and a third received considerable damage. On the Bahamas ..... 640 ... 4.96 



Ist June, the waters having partly subsided, the Garonne was confined to its natural ^^ Lucia .,,,.. 686 ... 5.42 



bed; but above Toulouse it broke its bank, and the inundation extended far and wide. Dominica ..... 987 ... 8.43 



We learn also, that throughout the whole department, the sudden swelUng of unnavi- Tobago . . . . . .1061 ... 9.17 



gable rivers had occasioned great disasters, and had carried away several mills. In Jamaica ..... 1306 ... 11.62 



Toulouse, fifty houses were destroyed. Average of West Indies .... 701 ... 5.67 



Ditto of smaller islands, excluding Jamaica, 640 ... 4.96 



Demerara 1208 ... 10.64 



METEOROLOGY Other chmates seem to exercise an opposite influence over the human frame ; and 



longevity is often promoted by exchanging the moist and ungenial air of Britain for 



Effects of Ligutning.— At the conclusion of the evening service on Sunday, the purer climates of the South and West. The following returns, procured from the 



21st June 1835, the church of Semur, in the Cote d'Or, in France, was struck by same source, and for a similar period with the preceding, point out the annual deaths 



lightning. The electric fluid was divided by the conductor, but entered the windows ;„ 10 000 men. For 



of the vestry, tore up the floor, and gave a violent shock to a person who was in it. Great Britain (1824 and 1826), . . 144 



The Abbe Bernard, who was kneeUng on a chair, had one of his shoes burnt. The Lower Canada . . . . ' ' 138 



people, who were in the square before the church, received the shock, being all aft'ected f^jp,, ^f Good Hope ' 133 



in the legs. The river was so much swollen, that the water rose in the houses near Nova Scotia ' ' 115 



the bridge up to the ceilings. A poor woman, while endeavouring to save some of her Uooer Canada, ' in? 



httle property, was crushed by a beam faUing upon her. q-, _,. ' ' ' ' ' 107 



Fire Ball. — On Wednesday the 24th June 1835, as some fishermen were pursu- New South Wales, ..... 68 



ing their occupation, about six miles off the shore at Stonehaven, they were much These returns generally include the whole regiments stationed at the several colo- 



alarmed at the sight of a large fire-ball, which spread abrilUant glare all around, and nies; and it has been thought probable, that if we could distinguish between officers 



appeared to fall on the bosom of the deep. There had been a considerable thunder and private sokUers, the mortality of the former would be found much less than that 



storm in that neighbourhood on the previous day. of the latter. Private soldiers are more exposed to severe fatigues, and to night 



Remarkable Meteor. — On the Chinese frontier, near Kiakha, while the weather guards; while their general habits are hkely to lead them to more frequent excesses, 



was very calm and extremely cold, on the Uth of March 1835, there was observed, a few and to neglect the first appearances of disease. For these reasons, it has been consi- 



minutes after 9 p.m., at an extraordinary elevation in the north-west, a fiery meteor, dered that the mortaUty among them should exceed that among officers alone, by about 



in a serpentine form, of a most dazzhng brightness. In an instant this meteor was one-third. 



converted into a brilliant cloud, resembling an immense blazing sheaf, which proceeded How far the above-mentioned difficulties may necessarily attach to the military life 



to precipitate itself obliquely, with extreme rapidity, towards the eai-th, assuming the in general, we shall not at present attempt to determine. But, we have no hesitation 



form of an enormous sheet of flame, which filled all the visible space of the horizon in asserting, that the degree in which the average duration of the hfe of the officer ex- 



with a hght as clear as day, and, separating into three portions, disappeared. The roar ceeds that of the private soldier in foreign climates, has been very greatly exaggerated, 



of distant thunder was then heard, and this occasioned a tremulous motion to be felt It is well kno^vn that, uidess a statement of the law of mortahty, in any place, is 



in the houses. Two other sounds were perceived, but these were reckoned merely founded upon a very wide induction of particulars, it is in an eminent degree calculated 



the echoes of the first reverberating from the neighbouring mountains. This pheno- to mislead. Sui-prising and unaccountable differences will be found to prevail in the 



raenon, which lasted but a few seconds, has not occasioned, as far as has yet been as- mortahty of small classes of men, in succeeding years, and in comparison to the rest of 



certained, the least damage. — Russian paper. " the community. It is only when the observations are extended over a large commu- 



