Oct. 1, 1864.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES. 143 



for subduing summer's heat — these, and many other ornaments too 

 numerous to mention, and all made of leather, so embossed, and stitched, 

 and pinked, and otherwise decorated as almost to lose its identity, yet 

 leather still, are additional evidence of the truth of the saying at the 

 head of our paragraph. 



The Nardoo Plant of Australia, noticed in our last number, is not, 

 it seems, " one and indivisible," for at a recent meeting of naturalists 

 at Stettin, Prof. Braun exhibited living specimens of four species of 

 Marsilea, two of which had been raised from nardoo seed received from 

 New Holland. These two were the M. hirsuta of R. Brown, and the 

 M. salvatriz of Hanstrin, the latter of which was figured recently in the 

 Journal of Botany, and identified by Mr. Currey with M. macropus of 

 Hooker. In this view, however, Braun does not agree ; but he considers 

 salvatriz to be probably the same as a plant he had previously named 

 Muelleri, and macropus as unquestionably one he had two years earlier 

 named Drummondi. The learned Professor of Berlin has, moreover, 

 reently published an interesting sketch of the genera Marsilea and 

 Piliilaria, thirty-seven species of the former and four of the latter genus 

 being recorded, together with their geographical range and various 

 other particulars respecting them. 



Baking- Powder. — "We have received a pamphlet by a lady, who> 

 however, withholds her name, " On the Practice of employing Certain 

 Substitutes for the Genuine Ingredients in some Articles of Daily Food, as 

 it affects the Health of the Community." She attacks, primarily, the 

 ordinary " baking powder," of which about a ton a day is said to be 

 sold, and which consists chiefly, we believe, of bicarbonate of soda and 

 tartaric acid. In the following remarks of the authoress we heartily 

 concur : — " It is a matter for serious consideration how far medical men 

 are justified in allowing their names to be published, as analysts or 

 otherwise, in connection with this or any other article of trade. It is 

 questionable whether they promote their own interests by such a course ; 

 but it is certain that the practice is not consistent with the dignity of the 

 profession to which they belong. Moreover, the name of ' Dr. This or 

 That ' tacked on to advertisements and circulars recommending some 

 particular article of food affords no security to the public as to its 

 genuineness ; the fact of a sample having been examined is no proof 

 that the whole stock is pure and unadulterated, excepting in the case of 

 business houses of undoubted respectablity ; therefore, in the interests of 

 the public and of the medical profession, as well as of legitimate trade, 

 the sooner the practice to which I have adverted is discountenanced and 

 put down, the better for all parties concerned." 



Oil from the Lawsonia Inermis. — The sample of essential oil of 

 " Mehudee " alluded to by Mr. Paul Madinier, in page 79, No. 38, 

 vol. iv., of the Technologist, was sent by me to the London Exhi- 

 bition of 1862, having been Secretary to the Lucknow Committee 

 on that occasion. The species of Lawsonia cultivated in Lucknow 



