AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



31 



cakes of mucilage, or it might be dispersed from the manufactory as 

 " dreg " is from distilleries. 



A second proposal is, that the mucilage should be converted into gum- 

 arabic, and applied to the purposes for which this substance is employed. 

 To procure the mucilage in a perfectly pure unmixed condition, the fol- 

 lowing formula will be found adequate : Bleach some of the fuci by ex- 

 posure to the sun — bruise them — macerate a day or two in often-changed 

 acidulated water — boil half an hour in an extremely attenuated aqueous 

 solution of sulphuric acid — agitate the decoction with animal charcoal, a 

 little carbonate of baryta, and a little litharge. Filter and evaporate over 

 a warm bath. After powdering the mass obtained in this way, and wash- 

 ing it with alcohol, fine mucilage is procured ; and this, when boiled long 

 with sulphuric acid, becomes similar to, or rather identical with, gum- 

 arabic. 



Gum procured in this way would serve all the purposes of foreign 

 gum-arabic, and, from its cheapness, might be applied to a host of others. 

 This substance would then, probably, not be so little used as an article 

 of diet in this country, seeing its nutritious qualities are so well attested 

 by the fact that the Moors of the deserts subsist upon six ounces a day 

 for weeks together. Why then should so many of our countrymen bear 

 the signs of famine in their eyes, and be continually exposed to the temp- 

 tation of moral and political defection, while treasures of such wholesome 

 food lie scattered in such kind profusion on our shores ? We can per- 

 ceive no reason why advantage should not be taken of this mucilaginous 

 matter growing indigenously and so abundantly in our island ; we might thus 

 save another of its native products from the obloquy of uselessness, create 

 another object of industry for some of its unwilling idlers, and erect an- 

 other defence against the melancholy invasion of scarcity and famine. 



METEOROLOGY. 



SHOOTING OR FALLING STABS. 



A large share of attention has within these few years been directing to 

 the occurrence ofshooting or falling stars, as they are called, which has 

 been much augmented by M. Arago having lately made the phenomenon 

 the subject of his contribution to the Annuaire du Bureau ties Longitudes, 

 the authoritative nautical almanac of the French government. The dis- 

 tinguished philosopher states, that these stars have most frequently at- 

 tracted attention in the months of April and November ; and particularly 

 requests that all observers throughout the world, on sea and land, would 

 particularly watch the celestial phenomena on the nights between the 10th 

 and 15th of November, signalizing this period, if we remember right, from 

 the supposition that at that time our globe, in her annual circuit, ap- 

 proximates a region where these singular luminaries are especially rife. 

 A time intermediate between the two just specified, namely, the 10th of 

 August, has long been signalized in Germany, as remarkable for this ap- 

 pearance, and to some of the particulars observed at that date, in the 

 current year, we shall now shortly advert. 



On the 14th of August last, M. von Boguslowski, of Breslaw, supplied 

 the following particulars to the Prussian State Gazette. The night of 

 the 10th of August was particularly propitious for observing the falling 

 stars. An extraordinary fall was noticed as soon as the dark permitted. 

 Fifteen individuals, who assembled in the observatory, and occupied six win- 

 dows, began their observations at 6" past nine o'clock. Till 14" past 

 three, when the dawn put a stop to their labours, they noticed 1008 falling 

 stars, not including numbers which must have been overlooked on account of 

 the insufficient numbers of observers. The courses of 977 of these were 

 marked upon the star maps, with all the circumstances relating to them. 

 Five stars appeared as bright as Venus, 14 as Jupiter, 238 as stars of the 

 first magnitude, 354 of the second, 257 of the third, and 101 still smaller, 

 were reckoned. Next night three individuals engaged in the same task, 

 and, though the sky was partly clouded, saw 323 falling stars ; and in the 

 night of the 12th, one gentleman counted 103 from ten p.m. to 45" past 

 one. The following paragraph, copied from a recent Brussels Paper, throws 

 additional light upon the phenomenon. During the night of the 9th and 

 10th of August, the heavens were bestrewed with falling stars of extra- 

 ordinary brightness. Mr Forster counted above 600 of them. It is not 

 a little singular, that the peasants of Franconia and Saxony have believed 

 for ages past that St Lawrence weeps tears of fire, which fall from the sky 

 every year on his feast-day, the 10th of August. And, finally, we may 

 notice that Professor Powell, at the late meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science, at Birmingham, stated that, on the 

 10th of August, he saw at Tunbridge Wells, a very brilliant exhibition of 

 these meteors; they averaged from 15 to 20 in the quarter of an hour; 

 they all left trains of light after them ; and the motion of all was from 

 north to south. 



At this same meeting, Mr Addison mentioned, that having on one oc- 

 casion been surprised by observing, through a break in the clouds, some- 

 thing like a shower of stars, he ascended the neighbouring Malvern Hills, 

 to a height sufficient to raise him above the clouds, when a spectacle was 



unfolded to his view such as he never expected again to behold; the 

 number ofshooting stars or meteors was so great, that he could compare 

 it to nothing so well as to a shower of fire : each star as it fell seemed to 

 leave a long train of fire after it for some seconds. He had his seconds 

 watch, and was thus able to count 48 in a minute flitting about. This 

 was on the 15th of November 1832, a season more favourable than the 

 10th of August, and one which we know is watched by many observers. 

 In connection with this interesting but still very obscure subject, we 

 are solicitous to record a remarkable appearance lately noticed in London. 

 At two o'clock on Wednesday morning, September 4, the whole of London 

 was illuminated as bright as noon-day, and the atmosphere was remark- 

 ably clear. The southern hemisphere, although unclouded, was very 

 dark ; but the stars, which were innumerable, shone beautifully. The 

 opposite side of the heavens presented a singular but magnificent contrast. 

 It was clear to the extreme, and the light was very vivid ; and there was 

 a continual succession of meteors, which varied in splendour. They ap- 

 parently formed in the centre of the heavens, and spread till they seemed 

 to burst ; the effect was electrical : myriads of small stars shot out above 

 the horizon, and darted with that swiftness towards the earth that the 

 eye scarcely could follow the tract. They seemed to burst also, and throw 

 a dark crimson vapour over the entire hemisphere. Nothing could be 

 more magnificent than the colours which were seen. At half-past two o'clock 

 the spectacle changed to darkness, which, on dispersing, displayed a lu- 

 minous rainbow in the zenith, and round the ridge of darkness then over- 

 hanging the southern portion of the country. Soon afterwards, columns 

 of silvery light radiated from it, they wonderfully increased, intermingled 

 with crimson vapour, which formed at the same time, and which at full 

 height displayed a sublime spectacle. Stars were darting about in all di- 

 rections, and continued till four o'clock, when all died away. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



Principles of General and Comparative Physiology, intended as an Intro- 

 duction to the Study of Human Physiology, and as a Guide to the Philo- 

 sophical Pursuit of Natural History. By W. B. Carpenter, Memb. 

 Roy. Col. of Surgeons, Lond. &c. Lond. 1839. 

 We are solicitous to recommend this volume to the notice not only of 

 the professional student, but also to the general reader who is interested 

 in the subject; and especially to the intelligent youth of both sexes, who 

 delight in the fascinating science of physiology. The author was led to 

 undertake the Work from experiencing the want of one on a similar plan 

 during the course of his own studies, and he seems assiduously to have 

 mastered the subject, and, with peculiar tact, to have made it patent and 

 agreeable to others. It is now generally allowed that Physiology can 

 only be properly studied by a constant reference to the comparative struc- 

 ture and functions of many different classes of animals; and, in most of 

 the recent works on this science, an outline of the development and ac- 

 tions of each system in the inferior tribes is prefixed to the details relat- 

 ing to its condition in Man. This outline is filled up in the present vo- 

 lume, not only by amplifying the portion of it which relates to the Animal 

 Kingdom, but also by the introduction of a similar view of the compara- 

 tive structure and functions of vegetables, which is here shown to be go- 

 verned by the same laws. This constitutes the peculiar feature of the 

 work ; and we believe is the first attempt in this country to form any thing 

 like a systematic comparative Physiology of Vegetables. 



The treatise is accordingly divided into three parts. The first compre- 

 hends organized structute in general, and branches out into elementary 

 vegetable structure, and animal structure, and the transformation of tis- 

 sues, to which succeeds a general view of the vegetable and animal king- 

 doms. A Book then follows on General Physiology ; and another, the 

 last, and by much the longest, on Special and Comparative Anatomy. It 

 is quite beyond our power to convey within our limits any adequate con- 

 ception of the varied merits of this volume. With the studies akin to 

 Physiology, the author seems most familiar, more especially with Botany 

 and Chemistry, and he evidently has drunk deep at the streams of the in- 

 ductive philosophy. He is, moreover, a skilful draughtsman, and has il- 

 lustrated his statements with several hundred very elegant and expressive 

 engravings and wood-cuts. The tone and style of his writing also are ex- 

 cellent ; in proof of which, we must make room for one characteristic 

 extract. " There is another set of changes in which vital actions would 

 seem yet more intimately concerned, but which still appear to be immedi- 

 ately dependent upon the same laws which regulate inorganic matter. 

 These consist in the production, from the alimentary materials, of organic 

 compounds, either such as gum, sugar, albumen, gelatine, &c, which are 

 destined to be still further organised, or such as urea, cholesterine, &c., 

 which are to be thrown off from the system. This process must not be 

 confounded with that of organization, since it only prepares the materials 

 upon which that is concerned. It will be hereafter shown, that the nu- 

 tritious elements contained in the food do not serve for the support of the 

 structure, until they have been united into new combinations ; and there 

 appears good reason to believe that these preparatory changes are of a. 



