4-i 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[F£E. 1, 1SG5. 



who has never seen one. This is no difficult matter, 

 every plant in the world being: stamped, as already 

 said, with peculiarities which, if they do not render 

 it unique, serve at least to give it character and 

 physiognomy. All the parts of plants supply these 

 signs and tokens, though some more immediately 

 tli:in others. The Elower and Fruir, as the loveliest 

 and noblest, and the parts to which all the aims 

 and energies of the plant are directed from the 

 lirst moment, naturally stand foremost. Next in 

 importance comes the Leaves, then the Steni and 

 inferior members, the value of each part, as a witness 

 to identity, gradually diminishing in the degree that 

 it is coarser and less perishablp. Everywhere in 

 nature, that which most powerfully characterizes a 

 thing is its most fragile part, and however fre- 

 quently renewed is, like the sparkle of a diamond, 

 the quickest to come and go.^ G r in do ics Brithh 

 and Oardeii Botcnnj. 



British Species of Burdock. — In the last 

 number of the A/nuih of Natural History, Professor 

 Babington lias worked up the English species of 

 Arctiuni, which he considers to be certainly four, 

 witii a doubtful fifth. These are A. majus, inter- 

 medium, minus, and the Llanberris plant, which is 

 named A. nernorosum, Lej. ; the doubtful one is A. 

 tomentosum , Sclikr. It should be observed that these 

 arc not all the plants described under the same 

 names in his "Manual," of which A. tomentosum is 

 the present A. majus ; A. pubens is A. intermedium ; 

 and A. intermedium is A. nernorosum. Bcntluun in- 

 cludes all these forms under Arctium. Lappa. 



To5iB OF Van Biiede. — Under an imposing 

 monument, at Surat, lie the bones of Van Khede, 

 formerly chief of the Dutch possessions in Ceylon, 

 and afterwards of the Dutch Eactory at Surat. He 

 was an enlightened Protestant, according to the 

 ideas of enlightenment prevalent in the seventeenth 

 century, and really a man of science and learning. 

 His business at Ceylon was hunting Jesuits, aud 

 flogging their congregations; his amusement Avas 

 composing that noble work, the "Hortus JNlala- 

 baricus," with its magnificent plates, in tv.elve folio 

 volumes. He died in 1G91. 



Eeun Growing. — I have had IliimenopJiyllum 

 Tunbridgense growing in an earthenware dish in 

 company with a few connnon ferns, since the begin- 

 ning of 1861, covered with a common bell glass. 

 The taller ferns acted as a screen to their dwarfish 

 brother, and to them I attribute my success. I 

 have, however, seen it in great luxuriance at Tun- 

 bridge Wells, where it is the custoni to place it in 

 vessels by itself, and on a mound. I suppose this 

 latter assists drainage ? J\Iy roots were found by 

 myself, growing on a huge piece of granite on the 

 Dewer Stone, in Devonshire, the most beautiful spot, 

 by the by, which my eyes have ever rested upon. — 

 William Gibson. 



Green Spleenwort (Asplenium. viride). — Dr. 

 Hooker has lately received a specimen of this feru 

 from St. John's, New Brunswick, collected on sea- 

 cliffs, Taylor's Island. This discovery is a most 

 interesting one in connection with the glacial migra- 

 tion of Scandinavi;in plants over the North American 

 continent; the plant being common in the sub-alpine 

 regions of Europe, and also found in the Rocky 

 Mountains, but not occurring in Greenland, or in any 

 other part of North America. — Natural History 

 Review, 



GEOLOGY. 



BiGiiouN AT Belfast. —A few weeks ago, a very 

 beautiful and perfect specimen of the Irish bighorn 

 (Ilegaceros IHbernica) was found in the marl bed, 

 underlying a stratum of peat. It is a great mistake 

 to suppose that tlie bighorn is found in the bog or 

 peat ; it is always found in the marl below the peat, 

 as in this case. The locality of the bed in question 

 is the small peninsula to the north, as you go down 

 our Lough, called "Island Magee." — /. Hartley, 

 Belfast. 



Drift oe the East of _ England. — A very in- 

 teresting paper on this subject was read by Mr. S. 

 N. IVood, jun., at the meeting of the Geological 

 Society, on Dec. 21st. 



Glacier Phenoimena. — A very interesting and 

 instructive chapter on this subject appeared in the 

 Reader of the 21st Januai-y, tracing the history of 

 oi)iuion thereon, and indicating the changes wrought 

 during a quarter of a century. 



Gigantic Eossil Beaver.— At a recent meeting 

 of the Norwich Geological Society, Mr. J. 0. Harper 

 read a paper on the comparat i ve anatomy of Rodents, 

 illustrated by numerous specimens, among others 

 several of Trocjontherium Cuineri (a gigantic fossil 

 Ijeaver, found in the forest bed at Bacton, Norfolk), 

 from the Norwich Museum and the Rev. J. Gunn's 

 collection. 



Phosphor Stone.— Towards the close of the 

 eighteenth century, in a narrow winding street of 

 the old town of Bologna, a cobbler — Vineenzo 

 Cascariolo by name — might have been found more 

 intent on the pursuit of alchemy than in making or 

 repairing boots. While enjoying a walk one Sun- 

 day evening, near the JNIonte I'aterno, not far from 

 the city, he picked up a stone, whicli, from its great 

 weight,- struck him as peculiar, and from which he 

 fancied he could extract gold. This stone was 

 sulphate of Baryta, which Cascariolo, heating in his 

 crucible with charcoal, converted into a sulphuret of 

 Barium, and produced a body well known for its 

 strange property of giving out light after it has 

 been exposed for some time to the sun's rays. Since 

 then, other substances have been discovered endowed 

 witlj this strange propcrtj^, and from the most 

 remarkable of them, _ phosphorus, the name of 

 phosphorescence is derived. 



Geological Changes in_ Scotland. — At a 

 meeting of the Geological Society (Jan. 11th), Mr. 

 T. E. Jameson read a paper on the " History of the 

 last Geological Changes in Scotland," which he divi- 

 ded into three periods, — Pre-glacial, Glacial, and 

 Post-glacial. Tlie absence of later tertiary strata 

 leaves the first somewhat obscure. The author con- 

 sidered it in some degree represented by some thick 

 masses of sand and gravel on the coast of Aberdeen- 

 shire, and he stated there were indications of the 

 mammoth inhabiting Scotland at this period. The 

 Glacial period was sub-divided into the period of 

 Land-ice, the period of Depression, and the period 

 of Emergence of the land. To the Post-glacial pe- 

 riod Mr. Jameson referred the formation of subma- 

 rine forest beds, which he considered Avas succeeded 

 by a seeoiul period of Depression, and this again by 

 the elevation of the land to its present position. It 

 is in the old cstnnrv beds and beaches formed during 

 the second period of Depression that the author 



