142 SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 



" Travelling much, in the different parts of Jamaica, I found ac- 

 quaintances suffering from somewhat similar pains in the head, arising 

 from different causes. The bebeerine was usually unknown in such 

 country parts, and, in fact, not in general use anywhere ; I was there- 

 fore requested to procure and forward a sufficiency from Kingston, and in 

 three or four instances that came under my observation, it was a com- 

 plete ' success.' 



" Dr. M'Nab afterwards assured me that he had in one or two 

 instances found it very efficacious in delirium tremens, and that in one 

 case it was decidedly a temporary cure for tic doloreux. 



" I was cured of my disorder, and Dr. M'Nab left Kingston for the 

 country in Jamaica, and so I heard no more about it. Bebeerine was not 

 in vogue among other doctors. I only speak from my own experience, 

 and am certainly surprised that it is not more generally tried by the 

 profession in England in all cases of neuralgia. 



" Some constitutions cannot take Quinine, while on others it has no 

 effect (on my own, I might say, it has little effect, for I can take 10 or 12 

 grains a day without feeling it). Some can take 20 or 30 grains, while 

 others again are deafened and bewildered by four or five grains. There- 

 fore in some cases Bebeerine ought to prove a most valuable addition to 

 our Pharmacopcea, and I believe confidence in it will prove it of great 

 value." 



imntifit Jtow. 



English Ink Galls. — At a meeting of the Exeter Naturalists' Club, 

 held in Exmouth last month, Mr. D'Urban read a paper on these galls. 

 Most persons, he said, must have noticed the hard brown galls, about 

 the size of musket balls, so conspicuous in winter on the oaks about 

 Exeter. They are supposed to have made their first appearance in 

 Devonshire about the year 1847. They were first noticed by Mr. Parfitt, 

 who sent specimens of the insect causing them to Mr. Westwood, in 1848 

 or 1849. It has only lately, however, been determined to be Cynips 

 Kollari, of Hartig, a species well known in Germany. About three 

 years ago it suddenly appeared in the woods to the north of London in 

 vast numbers. It is closely allied to Cynips gallcetinctorice, producing 

 the ink gall of commerce on Quercus infectoria in the Levant. The 

 galls of the Devonshire species contain a considerable amount of tannin, 

 making excellent ink, and yielding a good and permanent dye. Like 

 all other insects which multiply rapidly, it is subject to the attacks of 

 a parasite, which contributes to keep its increase within certain limits . 

 This is a beautiful green chalcite, first bred from these galls by Mr. 

 Parfitt. and described by him in the 'Zoologist' for 1856, under the 



