Scientific Intelligence — Botany. 383 



neighbourhood of Lago Maggiore, eggs were found quite fresh, after 

 having been surrounded with mortar and enclosed in a wall for 300 

 years. — {Hand-Book of Chemistry, vol. vii. of the Cavendish So- 

 ciety, p. 116.) 



BOTANY. 



8. The Genus Nostoc. — Dr Joseph Hooker has read to the 

 Linnsean Society a paper on the genus Nostoc of botanists, more 

 especially on a species brought by Dr Sutherland from the North 

 Pole, during the late expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 

 under Captain Penny. The plant was found in great abundance in 

 the ocean, and resembled the Nostoc commune of botanists. It 

 was in sufficient quantities to be used as diet ; and Dr Sutherland 

 having eaten some of it, pronounced it more agreeable and nutritious 

 than the Tripe de Roche. Specimens of this plant had been sent 

 to Mr Berkeley ; and, from certain points in structure, he con- 

 sidered it a new plant, and referred it provisionally to the genus 

 Hormosiphon, under the name of H. arcticus. Dr Hooker also 

 gave an account of a species of Nostoc which he had discovered in 

 Thibet, and of another in China, which seemed identical with the 

 one brought from the North Pole. The Tripe de Roche has lately 

 been found in West Canada. — (Year Book of Facts, 1853, p. 223.) 



9. Preservation of Vegetables. — A cask provided with a door 

 is three-fourths filled with sorrel, lettuce* endive, chicory (even if 

 rancid), or asparagus ; and a piece of rag steeped in sulphur, and 

 attached to the end of a wire, is set on fire and introduced through 

 the door, the contamination of the vegetables, by the falling down of 

 the burnt matter, being prevented by laying a board upon them ; 

 the door is then closed, and the cask agitated to accelerate the 

 absorption of the sulphurous acid. The sulphuring is twice more 

 performed in the same manner, and the vegetables, together with 

 the liquid which has oozed from them, are put into stoneware jars, 

 which are then merely tied round with parchment and put into a 

 cellar. Vegetables thus treated keep well till the April of the fol- 

 lowing year. They do not, however, soften so quickly in water as 

 fresh vegetables, and must therefore, before boiling, be soaked in cold 

 water for some hours (asparagus in April for twenty-four hours). 

 During the boiling, which generally does not last longer than with 

 fresh vegetables, the sulphurous acid is given off. This method is 

 applicable only to tender vegetables, which easily soften in boiling. 

 — (Leopold Gmelin's Hand-Book of Chemistry, vol. iii. of the 

 Cavendish Society, p. 116.) 



