Scientific Intelligence.—Miscellaneous. 185 
Barth is such as is anticipated, a new era will also, it is hoped, 
dawn upon the regeneration of Tropical Africa, with its social ques- 
tions—the questions of slavery and the introduction of Christian 
religion, civilisation, and commerce. The results of the long inter- 
course of the travellers with the ruling nations of that part of 
Africa—as the Tuaricks, the Fellatas, the Bornuese, as well as va- 
rious pagan tribes—will enable the statesman and philanthropist to 
ascertain in what quarter and by what means this regeneration of 
Africa may be best wrought. 
ZOOLOGY. 
16. On the Identity of Structure of Plants and Animals, by T. H. 
Hualey.—Mr Huxley has ascertained that in all the animal tissues, 
the so-called nucleus (endoplast) is the homologue of the primordial 
utricle—with nucleus and contents—(endoplast)—of the plant, the 
other histological elements being invariably modifications of the peri- 
plastic substance. Upon this view, we find that all the discre- 
pancies which had appeared to exist between the animal and vege- 
_table structures disappear, and it becomes easy to trace the absolute 
identity of plan in the two,—the differences between them being 
produced merely by the nature and form of the deposits in, or modi- 
fications of, the periplastic substance. In both plants and animals 
there is but one histological element—the endoplast—which does 
nothing but grow and vegetatively repeat itself; the other element 
—the periplastic substance—being the subject of all the chemical 
_and morphological metamorphoses in consequence of which specific 
tissues arise. The differences between the two kingdoms are mainly 
—1, That in the plant the endoplast grows, and, as the primordial 
utricle, attains a large comparative size; while, in the animal, the 
endoplast remains small, the principal bulk of its tissues being formed 
by the periplastic substance ;—and, 2. In the nature of the chemical 
changes which take place in the periplastic substance in each case. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
17. On the Preservation of Buildings.—We gave a short notice, in 
the last number of our Journal, of a process likely to be found useful 
for protecting many of our finer buildings from falling into decay, if 
taken advantage of ; but how often do we find many of those highly 
important improvements in the arts entirely overlooked at the time 
they ought to be attended to, and only taken up when the process of 
destruction has gone so far as to be beyond reparation. We again 
call the attention of our readers to another important paper on 
this subject by the Rev. J. Barlow, M.A., F.R.S., Vice-President 
and Sec. R.I; and we hope that it will have some effect in rousing 
many of our dormant country gentlemen, military and civil autho- 
ca 
