AND OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 



55 



tivation of Tea in Assam, lately noticed in this Journal. If the British 

 Government, says that lively writer, does not take active measures to 

 put down the cultivation of Opium, and that quickly, the thousands 

 that are about to emigrate from the plains into Assam will soon be in- 

 fected with the Opium mania — that dreadful plague which has depopu- 

 lated this beautiful country, turned it into a land of wild beasts, with 

 which it is overrun, and has degenerated the Assamese, from a fine race 

 of people, to the most abject, servile, crafty, and demoralized race in 

 India. This vile drug has kept, and does now keep, down the popula- 

 tion ; the women have fewer children compared with those of other 

 countries, and the children seldom live to become old men, but in general 

 die at manhood, very few old men being seen in this unfortunate coun- 

 try, in comparison with others. Few but those who have resided in this 

 unhappy land know the dreadful and immoral effects which the use of 

 opium produces on the native. He will steal, sell his property, his 

 children, the mother of his children, and, finally, even commit murder 

 for it. Wonld it not be the highest of blessings, if our humane and en- 

 lightened Government would stop these evils by a single dash of the pen, 

 and save Assam from the dreadful results attendant on the habitual use 

 of opium ? We should, in the end, be richly rewarded, by a fine healthy 

 race of men growing up for our plantations, to fell our forests, to clear 

 the land from jungle and wild beasts, and to plant and cultivate the luxury 

 of the world. This can never be effected by the enfeebled Opium-eaters, 

 who are more effeminate than women. 



Dr Sigmond stated at a late meeting of the Medico-Botanical Society, 

 some curious statistical facts upon the subject of Opium consumption in 

 China. The principal inducement for the Chinese to smoke opium in- 

 stead of eating it, as usual among European and Asiatic nations, arose 

 from the facility and the rapidity with which the intoxication is produced 

 when imbibed by the lungs into the system — it was conveyed with incon- 

 ceivable quickness to every part of the body, and more especially to the 

 brain, upon which its singular effects were most visible. Dr S. had found 

 that calculations had been made as to the number of smokers, and the 

 increase from the year 1820 had been prodigious. The presumed num- 

 ber of smokers in three years at that period was 365,569, and they con- 

 sumed about 4287 chests ; these had increased in twelve years from 1822 

 to 1835 to 2,039,998 smokers, when about 12,339 chests were consumed ; 

 and it was now believed that the number was not less than twelve millions. 

 The average consumption of each person was about 17^ grains daily. 



Remarkable Appearance of the S^ake-Nut Mr Schomburgk 



of whom we have so often lately made honourable mention, sent 

 home from Guiana, some years ago, a description and drawing of 

 the Snake-nut, which was read to the Linnean Society. An indivi- 

 dual who was unacquainted with this communication has lately, in a 

 public paper, the Liverpool Mercury, expressed his feelings of surprise 

 on the examination of the nut in terms which convey an accurate 

 and vivid idea of its singular appearance. This extraordinary vegetable 

 curiosity, he remarks, is a nut about the size of an ordinary walnut, 

 nearly round, and of a fine brown hazel colour, and very light. When 

 broken, the kernel is found to bear so striking a resemblance to a snake, 

 that it is always called the Snake-nut. It grows in the marshes of Bri- 

 tish Guiana. Had we only examined one specimen, we should have 

 taken it for a lusus naturae, — a mere accidental resemblance to the snake, 

 assumed by the kernel in shrinking ; but the gentleman who favoured us 

 with a sight of it has several of the nuts, and they are all alike; which 

 circumstance, together with the name which has been given to it in the 

 country where it is produced, proves that it is not a mere freak of Na- 

 ture, but a regular natural production. The specimens of the nut we 

 have seen were brought home by the Palmyra, which arrived lately in 

 Liverpool from Demerara. 



METEOROLOGY. 



ON THE EFFECTS PRODUCED UPON ANIMAL LIFE BY THE SEVERE WINTER, 



1837, 1838 Continued from last Number. 



Early in March the frost abated in rigour, and a slow thaw began to 

 melt the vast accumulation of snow which had been drifted into the lanes, 

 hollows, and hedge banks, by the severe and oft-repeated gales that had 

 occurred during the two months' frost. Up to this period none of those 

 indications which we had been accustomed to hail as the harbingers of 

 spring had been observed, such as the song of the missel-thrush and the 

 mavis, the cooing of the ring-dove, or the pipe of the golden-plover, 

 which in usual seasons seldom fail to greet our ears with their welcome 

 Dotes before February has advanced into the second week. On refer- 

 ring to my notes, I find it was not till the 5th and 6th of March that the 

 peawit and golden-plover were first seen, or the carol of the lark heard ; 

 on the 7th the thrush and missel-thrush were in song, being a period later 

 by nearly a month than any I can find in a register kept for many years 

 past, and it was not till the 20th that the congregated flocks of the ring- 



dove began to disperse, or that they were heard cooing and exhibiting 

 that peculiar flight which distinguishes the species at the time of pairing, 

 and which in ordinary years seldom fails to occur before the 8th and 10th 

 of February. It was now that the effects of this long-continued storm, 

 so remarkable for the great degree of cold that accompanied it, became 

 fully apparent ; for instead of the host of birds that were wont to resort to 

 our groves and plantations at this season, and whose " wood-notes wild" 

 used to greet us in every direction, a few individuals or a solitary pair 

 alone were to be seen, and where, a season or two before, a united con- 

 cert o.f a multitude of thrushes might have been listened to on a calm 

 mild spring evening, not more than two or three at far distant stations 

 could now be heard ; of our familiar attendant, the red-breast, few surviv- 

 ed to pour forth their impassioned lay, as the diminished numbers of this 

 favourite bird, even after the increase of the year, clearly demonstrates. 

 The same may be said of the blackbird, whose mellow whistle was scarce- 

 ly recognised during the spring and summer; and a like falling off was 

 observed in regard to the wagtails, wrens, and indeed all the indigenous 

 insectivorous species, which suffered to a much greater extent than the 

 Conirostrse or Finch tribe, which, subsisting upon seeds and grains, found, 

 if not ample, at least a sufficient quantity of food to support life in the 

 stack and fold yards, where the others were perishing from the effects of 

 hunger and cold. But the deficiency of the feathered tribe this year, I 

 afterwards ascertained, was not confined to our indigenous or perma- 

 nent residents ; it extended to all those species which we call summer 

 visitants, or which make our island their breeding resort and habitat 

 during their Polar migration ; for as the time of the arrival of the va- 

 rious species successively occurred, I found that throughout this district 

 their numbers scarcely averaged a third of the usual supply, and this 

 falling off not confined to a few particular forms, but extending to all 

 the migratory species. The same was observed to prevail in the south 

 of England, as, in a communication from Mr Yarrell, he mentions that 

 the paucity of summer visitants had been generally remarked by those 

 who interest themselves in ornithology and observations connected with 

 it. The cause of this deficiency I attribute to the very cold and unge- 

 nial weather which prevailed not only throughout Britain, but over a 

 great portion of the European Continent, at the time these birds usually 

 undertake their periodical flights, and which, I imagine, stopped many 

 on their course, and prevented that extended movement which, in ordi- 

 nary years, permits their reaching our own and even higher latitudes. 

 That their, lessened numbeis arose from causes which affected them du- 

 ring their winter sojourn can scarcely be supposed, as that portion of the 

 year, it is now well ascertained, is passed by most of them in the warm 

 region of the African Continent, or in those parts of Southern Europe 

 where frost is scarcely known. Some few may undoubtedly have perish- 

 ed on the way, or from having advanced at too early a period into the 

 north of Europe, where, in consequence of the chilling cold that pre- 

 vailed, no appropriate food could be found, and thus died of hunger; 

 but the more probable reason is, I think, that already assigned, viz. that 

 they were stopped on their advance by the peculiarity of the season, and 

 were compelled to remain and nidificate in lower latitudes than they are 

 generally accustomed to do. Of the few which did arrive, it was ob- 

 served that their first appearance was nearly a fortnight later than has 

 generally been the case, upon an average taken from a register of some 

 twenty years past. Thus Ifindthat the Willow Wren, (Sylvia trochilus,) 

 instead of the 16th or 18th of April, was not seen or heard before the 3d 

 of May ; the same in regardto the Blackcap, (Curruca atricapilla,) the Tree 

 Pipit, (Anthus arboreus,) the Winchat, (Saxicola rubetus ;) and the 13th 

 of May had arrived before an individual of the Fly-catcher (Muscicapa gri- 

 sola) was observed. Of the species just enumerated, a deficiency, such as 

 I have already mentioned, was remarked ; but I think it was even more 

 striking in others, among which I may particularize the Sedge-warbler, (Sa- 

 licaria phragmitis,) Greater Petty-chaps, (Curruca montana,) White-throat, 

 (Curruca cinerea.) To this cold and long-retarded spring succeeded a 

 short, and, with the exception of a few days in July, a moist and chilly 

 summer, circumstances which affected not only the increase of animal 

 life, but produced the more serious calamity of a deficient harvest. Fruits 

 also did not ripen at all, or very imperfectly, and were devoid of their 

 proper taste and flavour. In conclusion, I may add, that a great defi- 

 ciency of the insect tribes was generally remarked, and, from having 

 given a considerable degree of attention to the entomology of this district 

 for some years past, I can confidently say, that in most of its great fami- 

 lies or divisions the remark is correct, more particularly as it applies to the 

 Coleopterous and Lepidopterous insects, upon a comparison with what 

 was observed in 1835 and 1836, as well as years previous to that date. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



Linnean Society. — At a meeting, December 17, the Secretary read a 

 communication from M. Schomburgk, giving a description of the Curata, 



