of deltoid muscle, that action or contraction of the muscle produces a determina- 

 tion of blood to its interior, and if a person think, the act of thought causes a flow 

 of blood to the brain ; but if a person think intently, this flow of blood is often very 

 perceptible, for the head becomes hot, and a sensation of throbbing about the 

 temples, or in the head itself, is experienced Now, when a man undergoes too 

 much brain- work, a constant and considerable flow of blood to the head occurs, 

 which may become chronic or permanent, and produces that condition which is 

 called determination of blood to the head, which not unfrequently ends in appo- 

 plexy or paralysis. Congestion of the brain is one of the most prevailing diseases 

 that torture humanity." 



We have thought it advisable to shew how great a number of 

 plants may be obtained with ease, almost at our very doors ; to give 

 an index of the more common Phamogamous or flowering plants 

 and ferns, with their habitats and dates of flowering, from speci- 

 mens in our own herbarium — referring our readers for more full 

 information, to the reports of our esteemed friend, Dr. Ferdinand 

 Mueller, the Government Botanist, on the Vegetation of the 

 Colony ; and, at the same time, notice such shells, insects, and 

 fossil remains, as may have come under our immediate notice, 

 trusting that those with more leisure than we have been able to 

 afford the subject, will, at some future time, improve considerably 

 on these few pages written currento calamo. 



We do not, in these " Jottings," intend to confine ourselves to 

 Botany ; but, whilst we introduce such plants as are common, and 

 easily recognisable by externals, we shall have a few words to say, 

 era passant, on such of our native birds and insects as may be 

 likely to interest the scientific and unscientific of our readers, and 

 pave the way for a more enlarged study of them. We much regret, 

 for the sake of the less scientific, our inability to give popular 

 names of plants, — in fact, there are none, either English or Native, 

 except in a very few instances, — but where practicable they will be 

 given ; and we will do all in our power to make them easily known, 

 even to the merest novice in Natural Science. 



