SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



as most characteristic of an oak at maturity or in 

 its decline. 



Tendency to flower. — As the tree increases in age 

 the tendency to a robust leafy growth gives way 

 to a disposition to bear flowers and fruit, and so to 

 provide for the reproduction of the species. The 

 shoots formed are less stiff and thick than in earlier 

 years, and consist of shorter internodes. The 

 greater number of their leaves form axillary buds, 

 which, in the next season, will put forth staminate 

 catkins ; the only leaf-buds formed by such shoots 

 are those in the axils of the terminal rosette of 

 leaves. When the staminate catkins, after fulfilling 

 their office, have withered and fallen, the branchlet 

 is left bare for the greater part of its length, and thus 

 originates that tufted interrupted character of foliage 

 which is commonly associated with the elbowed 

 branching of a veteran oak. 



Angle. — The angle which the branches make with 

 the stem, and the spray with the bran chiefs, is 

 variable. The lower main branches often spread 

 almost horizontally from the trunk ; those above 

 them take a more upward direction. In the case of 

 the younger growths, such of the sprays as originate 

 towards the middle of the previous year's shoot 

 make an angle with it of less than half a right angle. 

 Those which spring from near the tip make, as has 

 already been said, nearly a right angle, and become 

 the foundation of a tortuous gnarled growth as they 

 eventually become branches. 



Diameter of yearly shoot. — This is not great, 

 being about one-eighth of an inch ; a greater thick- 

 ness, indeed, than in the beech, but considerably 

 less than in the ash or horse-chestnut . The rigidity 

 of the spray of the oak seldom allows of any droop- 

 ing tendency. 



In examples where the terminal bud of the lead- 

 ing shoot has, season after season, been vigorous, 

 the original direction of the branch will, as already 

 observed, be followed for a long distance. All 

 varieties seem eventually, however, in their ultimate 

 branching, to take a zigzag direction, owing, as 

 already explained, to the greater vigour of the 

 lateral over the terminal buds. This tendency 

 shows itself much earlier in the life of some trees 

 than of others, and more notably in the pedunculate 

 than in the sessile-flowered oak. 



The oak, from its noble stature and the sturdy, 

 vigorous growth of its branches, has always been 

 regarded as the king of forest trees. In its main 

 outline and general features it shows consider- 

 able variation. Some individuals are lofty, others 

 spreading in outline. In the one case the height 

 greatly exceeds the diametric spread of the branches ; 

 in the other the extent of the branches measures 

 much more than the height of the tree. 



Gilpin happily remarks (p. 48) : " The limbs of 

 most trees spring from the trunk. In the oak they 

 may rather be said to divide from it ; for they, 



generally carry with them a great share of the 

 substance of the stem. You often scarcely know 

 which is stem and which is branch ; and towards 

 the top the stem is entirely lost in the branches." 



Again (p. 140) : " The oak divides his boughs from 

 the stem more horizontally than most other decidu- 

 ous trees. The spray makes exactly in miniature the 

 same appearance. It breaks out in right angles, or 

 in angles that are nearly so, forming its shoots 

 commonly in short lines, the second year's shoot 

 usually taking some direction contrary to that of 

 the first. Thus the rudiments are laid of that 

 abrupt mode of ramification for which the oak is 

 remarkable." 



Selby's (p. 284) words are well worth quoting as 

 they illustrate and carry out what has been said : 

 " The horizontal direction of the branches, their 

 strong tortuous and sinewy aspect, the angular 

 interwoven nature of the spray, are all suited to 

 the pencil, and give to the oak, even in its 

 denuded state, a richness of appearance possessed 

 by no other tree. Its foliage, also, is such as a 

 painter likes to delineate, being richly tufted and 

 clustered together, forming those masses which 

 produce the finest effect of light and shade, 

 and its colour is warm, rich and pleasing, from the 

 period that the leaves first burst their cerements to 

 the rich russet tints they acquire previously to their 

 fall in autumn. The tufting of the foliage, we may 

 remark, is much more conspicuous in the peduncled 

 oak than in the sessile-fruited variety, and on this 

 account the former surpasses its rival in picturesque 

 effect, for, as the Rev. W. T. Bree observes, ' the 

 leaves of the Q. pedunculata, though rather small, 

 are very numerous and grow close to the spray, 

 clustered in those dense masses which constitute one 

 ■ of the characteristic beauties of the oak.' Whereas 

 those of Q. sessiliflora, though larger in size, are 

 less thickly set, and from the length of the petioles, 

 hang loose and straggling, and give to the general 

 aspect of the foliage that want of depth and solidity 

 possessed by the other." 



Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, the eminent 

 physician, died of apoplexy, early on Saturday 

 morning, November 21st, after a very short illness. 

 He was a zealous advocate of teetotalism, and one 

 of the first medical men to recommend cycling as 

 conducive to health. In 1865 Dr. Richardson 

 devoted much time to research into the nature of 

 the poisons spreading contagious diseases which 

 resulted in the discovery of a special product 

 common to all these poisons, to which he gave the 

 name of septine. He also spent much time in 

 searching for an anaesthetic which would abolish 

 pain in surgical operations. He was one of the 

 first to use methylene bichloride for this purpose. 

 Dr. Richardson was the editor of the A sclepiad, a 

 quarterly journal which has occasionally been 

 referred to in the pages of Science-Gossip. He 

 was also the author of numerous works of medical 

 and general interest. 



