AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



155 



trreat porr'ion of the summLM-'s grass to remain unconsamed on fhi^ ground, until the 

 following winter, when the barer it is eaten before the' new growth of spring, the 

 finer will be the following summer's grass. But should the repetition of this treat- 

 ment fail to extirpate the masci, it will be more protitablc to put the grass lands un- 

 der a rotation of crops, and sow them out anev\ with a mixture of grass seeds suited 

 to the soil and climate. A little mure manure than would have sufficed for a top- 

 dressing will thus be repaid with a richer and much more enduring herbage." 



Botany of the Neighkourhood of the Lake of Thun. — In a communica- 

 tion from Col. P. J. Brown of Eichenbiihl, SwitZi.'rland, read to the Butanical So- 

 ciety of Edinburgh, it was stated that the Lake of Thun, having an elevation of about 

 1900 feet above the sea, and the eurrounding country being much intersected by hills 

 or long ridges, the vegetation assumes a subalpine character on the pastures about 

 1800 fet-t above the lake, comprising Troll'uts europanis^ Hieracimn aureum, Tas- 

 sihigo (ilpina^ &c. The foilowing was given as an approximation to the species 

 usually met with at different altitudes on the surrounding mountains. Between 2000 

 and 3000 feet, Arenaria vcrna and cilinta, Dryas octojjcialat Cotoiieaster vulgaris, 

 Hieracium viUoaum, Sec Between 3000 and 4000 feet, Siltite acaulis, Cerastium 

 afpinum, Phaca at,traqaUna Oxytropk uralensh; Saxifraga oppositifuUa., Hicra- 

 cium aurantiacum. Arbutus alpina, Ajvga ahnna^ Orchis pa/lens^ Carex atrata, 

 &c. Above 4000 feet, Gnaphallum alpinum and Leontopodlum^ Pelrocdliia 

 p7/retiaica, Draba tomento.^a and stdhda, Androsare hryoides, &c. 



GEOLOGY. 



Fossil Bones of Yealm Bridge Cave. — I\Ir Bellamy, to whom we are indi-bted 

 for an account of his discovery of this cayern, has recently favoured us with the 

 following additional remarks on the subject. 



Notwithstanding that the bones from the cave I was so fortunate to discover betray 

 no symptoms of altered character, so far as external aspect and superficial examination 

 go, being to appearance in no way diflffrent from bones which have been exhumed 

 after a few years' interment, it is natural to inquire whetlier, in their intimate compo- 

 sition, alterations cannot be detected whei-eby some information may be added to the 

 chemistry of bone, and to the inquiry concerning the operation of those circumstances 

 under which theSt bodies were pViced, as well as the period during which they have 

 lain entombed. So far as respects the hard earthy portion of bones, it seems that 

 when -excluded from the action of air, they will remain for ages unaltered; though 

 when 1 exposed some of my specimens for two or three days and nights to the action 

 of the weather, in a rainy season, they soon split ^and cracked, showing proofs of in- 

 cipient disintegration. Even without this exposure to the weather, the whole of my 

 specimens suffered so much from contact of the air, as to oblige rae to use a kind 

 of varnish for their protection. But this decomposition must be regarded as the effect 

 of unusually lengthened age ; for in general we see that bones of ancient date do not 

 suffer in this way on being brought' to light. Besides tbe durability of their external 

 figure, these bones had lost much of their moisture, and had imbibed in lieu the diop- 

 pings from the cavern, which convey much of the calcareous matter of the rock; this 

 latter circumstance in particular determining their absorbent quality noticed before. 

 With respect to the animal part of their composition, I shall have to offer a modified 

 opinion. That it is somewhat lessened in quantity in all bones of this class and date, I 

 have no doubt ; but I also think that there are differences dependent on the bone se- 

 lected for examination, on its being entire or fractured, on its situation in the cave, 

 and so forth. If you cx|)eriment on a small fragment, the result will seem to be very 

 different from what it is when experimenting on an entire bone, at least so far as re- 

 gards the ordinary method of employing muriatic acid to dissolve the earths, and ex- 

 hibit the remaining animal portion. Thus, when byexpetiment I endeavoured to de- 

 termine the comparative difference between these and bones ©f ordinary occurrence, 

 1 found that after selecting a fragment of fossil bone and a piece that bad Iain exposed 

 on the high-road for some months, each weighing half a draclim, and putting ihem 

 in maceration in glass vessels, violent and rapid escape of carbonic acid gas, due no 

 doubt to the imbibed calcareous matter, proceeded directly on the fossil piece being 

 immersed ; gradual corrosion, or rather gradual removal of the earthy portions, was 

 soon evident, and in the space of seven hours nothing remained of the original frag- 

 ment but a small spongy, flocculent mass, or pellicle, weighing eleven grains. On 

 the contrary, the other fragment gave off slowly and deliberately gaseous matter ; the 

 process of removal of the earths was not finished for a very long time, and at the end. 

 the original form of the immersed piece was retained; i; was soft, fibrous, flexible, 

 and elastic, and weighed eighteen grains. But agaiu my brother finds that in exhi- 

 biting the animal form of bones, no external difference is observable between sneci- 

 mens of this kind derived on the one hand from- a phalangeal bone of the fossil Hyccna. 

 and on the other from any common bone. The first seems to exhibit the fact as well 

 as the other; but I decidedly think there is a dirainijhed quantity of the albuminous 

 substance, though it may not appear so. Mr Martyn, in his Treatise on Fossils, speaks 

 cautiously on the subject oi the chemistry of fossil bones by saying, through Professor 

 Playfair, that they eften contain a portion of gelatin (or rather, by recent examina- 

 tion, albumen) in their composition, particularly in their interior, the surface only hav- 

 ing undergone a change. In other instances, he adds, the gelatin (albumen) is wholly 

 displaced, while a greater proportion of carbonic acid than that which existed in it ori- 

 ginally is found united with the calcareous matter. Those in the Rock of Gibraltar 

 seem to have been so circumstanced. The question, therefore, respectino- the com- 

 position of fossil bones must be answered in a cautious and quaUfied manner, and with 

 reference to the conditions of each particular cjse. 



ihe occurrence of the boues of Mice' in the substance of some of the stalagmite, is 

 a circumstani-e to which too much attention cannot be directed in framh^g a theoretic 

 statement of the age of the contents of this cavern, because, as before mentioned, 

 they are not identically the same species with those now in existence, and from their 

 peculiar position seem not to have been contemporary with the other animals. Yet 

 in consideration that other spi-cimens of these remains were discovered in the diluvial 

 flay, it may not be unfair to suppose that those found in stalagmite were so impacted 

 previously to the catastrophe which cffact^.d the whole series of Antediluvian crea- 



tures, during indeed that period in which the Hyaenas and other predatory beast? 

 employed this cavern, or its comjiartraents, as their dens. There is the same analogy 

 or resemblance oi these Mice to the pnsent kind, as subsists between the other An- 

 tediluvian creatures, and their representatives of this day, — the same remarkable affi- 

 nity. Luoking also to the wise provisions of Nature in regard of food, we see that 

 these small creatures would hold a decided relation to the predaceous habits of the 

 animal I have ventured to designate Glutton, from its evident similarity to our Mus- 

 tela Gulo. 



I perceive that two animals named in my manuscript as having been idci.t'.fied 

 among the rest, have been omitted in the primed account. The reason of this 1 am 

 well aware of: it was thought that some mistake had arisen in naming the specimens, 

 particularly perhaps the Sheep, this animal seeming to be inconsistent with an undu- 

 mesticated or unreclaimed state. Of this I have been warned in a piivate letter from 

 Dr Buckland ; but what precludes our supposing the existence of a wild animal all'^fd 

 to our Oves Aries? and what shall forbid the cunclusiun, when by comparison it is 

 seen that ihe analogy is moii perfect ? Messrs Clift and Owen, of ihe College of 

 Surgeons, have through Colonel Madge, in his paper before ahudi-'d to, confirmed my 

 original statement made in 1835 by the test of comparison with recent teeth. With 

 regard to the Dirch, I can only say I have diligently compared the specimens with 

 recent skeletons in my museum, and feel fully justified In renewing the assertion. Dr 

 Buckland mentions '* a bind" in his list of the animals of the Kirkdale Cave, and 

 Colonel Mudge mentions in iiis account of the Yealm Bridge Cave (1836) ** a bud 

 of considerable size." 



I cannot avoid mentioning, in conclusion, that Colonel Madge's account of tlse strata 

 found in the cave is incorrect. The red clay was unquestionably tbe lowermost stra- 

 tum, not the argillaceous sand. From want of specimens, I presume, he has also 

 omitted to insert the names of the D^-er, Pig, Glutton, and Field Mouse. 



Weai-den Strata at Elgin. — At a meeting of the Geological Society, on the 

 25th April, a communication from Mr Malcolmson was read, giving an account of the 

 occurrence of Wealden Strata at LinksScld, near Elgin. The couniry around con- 

 sists principally of old red sandstone, but at Linksficld, about a mile south of the town, 

 that formation is overlaid by a series of beds, formeily considered to be lias, but as- 

 certained by their organic remains to belong to a fresh-water deposit of the age of the 

 Wealden of England. The succession of the strata in descending order is as follows : 

 —1. Blue clay with thin beds of compact shelly hmestonc. 2. Bands of limestone 

 and clay. 3, Blackish clay. 4. Compact grey limestone with shells. 5. Green 

 clay. 6. Red sandy marl, enclosin- rolK-d pebbles of granite, gneiss, &c., also an- 

 gular fragments of old red sandstone. Among the fossils are Cyvlas media, a com- 

 mon shell in the fresh-water strata of Etsex; an Avicula, which occurs in the lower 

 purbeck beds at Swanwich, also remains of fishes, and great abundance of a new 

 species of Cypris. Strata equivalent to the Wealden of England were discovered in 

 the Isle of Skye by Mr IMurchison, in 1827. The Rev. G. Gordon has recently 

 found the Linksfield fossils at Lbanbryde. three miles to the eas. ward of that localiiy ; 

 also a Pinna, considered by Blr James Sowerby as closely resembling a species belong- 

 ing to the Portland sand ; and, in making the canal by which a great part of ihe 

 Luch of Spynic was drained, fossils were found belonging to the coral rag and the lias 

 of England. Mr Malcolmson, therefore, hopes that many of the formations above the 

 old red sandstone, hitherto undetected in that part of tlie kingdom, will be discovered. 

 He ako announced, that Jlr IVIartin of Elgin has found in the old red satidstone of 

 that neighbourhood, among other remains of fishes, scales identified with those of the 

 old led sandstone of Clashbennie. 



CHEMISTRY. 



Da Traill's Indelible I.nk. — On the 19th February last, Dr Traill read to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh a paper on the composition of a new ink, which, by re- 

 sisting chemical deletion, promises to diminish the chances of the successful falsifica- 

 tion of bills, deeds, and other documents. The author was led to the investigation 

 of this subject by its connection wi:h that branch of medical jurisprudence which 

 treats of the prevention and detection of forgery. It is well known that common 

 writing ink may be totally effaced from paper by certain chemical agents, and that 

 several others so impair its colour, that the characters traced with it become illegible. 

 To the first class of chemical agents belong chlorine, and substances containing it, as 

 well as oxalic acid; to the second diluted solutions, or the vapours of the mineral 

 acids, and of the caustic alkalies. These agents were ajijdied to written specimens of 

 a ^reat number of diffL*rt*nt inks, am', the degree of resist^mce to their t-ff'.-cts was con- 

 sidered as the criterion of the durability of each. These views engaged the author 

 in an extensive seiies of experiments on coloured metallic preparations, suspended in 

 different vehicles, the results of which were not satisfactory. He then attempted the 

 composition of a caibuiiaceous liquid which should possess the qualities of good writ- 

 ing ink. Tbe inks used by the ancients were caibonacoous, and have admirably 

 resisted the offsets of time; but the author found that the specimens of writing 

 on the Hercuianeum and Egyptian papyri were effaced by washing with water; 

 and on forming inks after the descriptions of Vilruvias, Diuscorides, and Pliny, he 

 found ihat they did not flow freely from the pen, and did not resist water. The carbon- 

 aceous ink^ with resinous vehicles, rendered fluid by essential oils, though they resisted 

 water and chemical agents, had the disadvantages of not flowing fret-ly from the pen, 

 and of spreading on the paper, so as to produce unseemly lines. Solution of caout- 

 chouc in coal-naphtha, and in a fragrant essential oil, lately :mpoited from South 

 America, under the name of actite de saasafras (the natur.il produce of a supposjd 

 Laurus), were subject to the same objections. 



The author tried various animal and vegetable fluids as vehicles of the carbon, wiih- 

 out obtaining the desired rpsult, until he found, in a sohiti m of the gluten of wheat in 

 pyroliynous acid, a fluid capable of readily uniting with t-aibon into an ink possessing 

 the qualities of a good, durable writing ink. To prip:ir.' this ink, he directs gluten 

 of wheat to be separated from the starch as completely as jiossible, by the usual pro- 

 cess, and when lecent to be dissolved in pyrol'ignous acid with the aid of heat. 



