KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 
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187 

March last, and they came up freely without 
heat. Plants are at the present time growing 
in the Regent’s Park; but hitherto they have 
not given any indications of flowering.| 

Pleasing Optical Appearance.—Let a soap- 
bubble be blown up, and set under a glass, so that 
the motion of the air may not affect it. As the 
water glides down the sides, and the top grows 
thinner, several colors will successively appear at 
the top, and spread themselves from thence in 
rings down the sides of the bubble, till they 
vanish in the same order in which they appeared. 
At length a black spot appears at the top, and 
spreads till the bubble bursts. The thinnest 
substance ever observed, is the aqueous film of 
the soap-bubble previous to bursting; yet it is 
capable of reflecting a faint image of a candle 
or the sun. Hence its thickness must correspond 
with what Sir Isaac Newton calls the beginning 
of black, which appears in water at the thickness 
of the seven hundred and fifty thousandth part of 
an inch.— ANGELINA. 

Bees on Laurels.—In the last number of our 
JournaL, I observed some remarks by a ‘ Con- 
stant Reader” on the reason why bees frequent 
the leaves of the laurel. ‘The writer states that 
they fix on the glands at the base of the leaf, and 
extract from them something, but he is unable to 
tell what, or what is the purpose of the glands. 
My own attention, as well as that of some other 
persons, has been since drawn to the subject; and 
I think I am able to throw a very little light upon 
it. The product which exudes from the leaves, 
and which the bees frequent them to obtain, is 
honey, neither more nor less—at least, as far as 
can be ascertained by the taste. I have further 
noticed, too, that it is not always to be found, and 
I am inclined to think only on warm bright days. 
There still remains, however, much to be cleared 
up, in order to satisfy my own mind. In the first 
place, I would like to know, with your former 
correspondent, what is the use and end of these 
glands. (Has a ‘‘ Constant Reader” observed that 
they are generally, though not invariably, four in 
number?) ‘Then, are there any other leaves on 
which they are found, beside those of the laurel ? 
Lastly, is the product spoken of really honey? I 
have before mentioned that it is, so far as taste 
can determine; but is that sense alone a safe 
guide in the matter? If any one can further 
enlighten me on this subject, I shall be greatly 
obliged.—E. H. C. 

Fioses from Cuttings.—Propayation by cuttings 
may be performed with success all through the 
growing season. As soon as the forced plants 
have bloomed, the shoots taken off (when pruning 
for a second bloom) may be cut to a joint with two 
or three eyes, allowing the leaves to remain on all 
excepting the bottom eye intended to be inserted 
in the soil. About six of these cuttings placed 
round a four-inch pot, in equal parts of loam, leaf- 
mould, and sand, will be sufficient. They should 
be placed firmly in the pots, and afterwards well 
watered through a fine rose, then plunged where 
they will have a moderate bottom heat, and be 
shaded from the mid-day sun. Ina few weeks, 
when rooted, they may be potted separately into 

three-inch pots, and gradually hardened off. The 
same soil may be used as before, but broken up 
fine, or sifted, with the addition of a little sand. 
Cuttings will strike through the summer,and at any 
period when the young wood can be obtained well 
ripened. They may be taken as late as Septem- 
ber, but must then remain in the cutting-pots 
during winter, and be potted off early in spring.— 
Vioter, Worcester. 

Putrefaction—The question has been often 
mooted, whether putrefaction can take place in a 
living animal body. Liebig answers in the affir- 
mative :—‘‘It is a fact that the dead body often 
passes into such a state of decomposition, while 
in the anatomical theatre, that the blood of the 
living body is affected by it. The slightest 
puncture with a knife that has been used in dis- 
section, induces a dangerous or even fatal termi- 
nation.” The facts observed by Magendie, that 
vomiting, lassitude, and even, after a prolonged 
period, death, have been induced, by applying 
blood that is in a state of putrefaction, cerebral 
substance, bile, and putrefying pus to fresh wounds 
—have never yet been contradicted. It is a fact 
that the use of many articles of food, as ham, 
sausages, &c, in certain stages of their decom- 
position, induce the most dangerous conditions of 
disease in the healthy body, and not unfrequently 
are the cause of death.— W. T. 

The Toad-Fish—I have just been reading 
Mrs. Meredith’s “‘ New South Wales,” and finding 
in it some interesting particulars of the toad-fish, I 
have copied them for the Pusiic’s own JOURNAL. 
‘A disgusting tenant of most of the shores around 
Sydney, and of ours in particular, is the toad-fish 
—most admirably named. It looks precisely like 
a toad elongated into a fish, with a tough, leathery, 
scaleless skin, and a bloated body; dark, mottled 
brown above, and white beneath. It is usually 
about five mches long, and disproportionately 
broad ; but it swims very swiftly, and is, for its 
size, as bold and voracious as the shark. When I 
said that Mr. Meredith did not fish with a line and 
rod, I might have added that he cowld not; for the 
toad-fish, which swarm everywhere, no sooner see 
anything dropped in the water, than they dart to- 
wards it by dozens, and fight among themselves 
for the honor of swallowing your hook ; generally 
taking the precaution to bite off the line at the 
same time. This extreme anxiety to be caught 
might perhaps be pardoned, were the greedy 
little wretches fit to eat; but they are highly poi- 
sonous ; and although I should have thought their 
disgusting appearance sufficient to prevent their 
being tried, I know one instance, at least, of their 
fatal effects. A lady with whose family I am in- 
timate, died in consequence of eating them. As 
they thus effectually put a stop to our angling, by 
biting off every hook dropped in the water before 
any other fish had time to look at it, they especially 
enjoyed the benefit of the fishing spear. Upon 
this many hundreds, if not thousands, must have 
been impaled in succession. ‘This sounds very 
wantonly cruel, I doubt not; but let no one pro- 
nounce it so who is not well acquainted with toad- 
fish; from those who are, I fear no reproof. When 
speared, they directly inflate their leathery skins 
to the shape of a balloon, and eject a stream of 

