290 On a Medicinal Mineral Water at Helwdn. 



Carbonate of lime, . . 5*500 



Moisture (dried at 230° F.), . 12-423 



Organic matter, . . 1*205 



Silica, . . . 0-600 

 Alumina and iron in combination "| 



with sulphuric and carbonic acids > 0*506 

 and phosphates, J 



100*000 

 "J. S. Brazier." 



I was desirous that the quantity of sulphuretted hydrogen 

 in the water should be measured, which could only be pro- 

 perly done on the spot, but I suppose it was an experiment 

 difficult to get made in that country, especially at such a dis- 

 tance from Cairo. 



An eminent physician in London has compared this last 

 analysis, with reference to the probable medicinal virtues of 

 the water, with the published analyses of seventeen of the 

 principal mineral waters of Germany, by Berzelius, Struve, 

 Schweitzer, Steinmann, Bauer, and Bischof, but cannot com- 

 pare the Helwan springs with any one of these, in respect 

 either of similarity of saline ingredients or of the proportions 

 of those that co-exist. It may be described, he thinks, as a 

 strong water, and is of opinion, from the small amount of 

 purgative salts, that it is more likely to prove beneficial if 

 used as a bath, than if taken internally. 



The Transition from Animals to Plants. 



It has been long asserted by Bory de St Vincent and others, 

 that there exist in nature organized bodies which are animal 

 at one period of their lives, and vegetable at another ! This, 

 if true, would for ever put an end to the possibility of dis- 

 tinguishing the two kingdoms when they shall each have 

 arrived at their lowest forms. Its truth has, however, been 

 denied. On the contrary, Kutzing, in his recent magnificent 

 work on Algee, insists that it happens in his JJlotlirix zonata. 

 He asserts that in the cells of that plant there are found 



