June 2, 1890.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
83! 
from a purely biological point of view, prepared the 
way for this ; Gardiner followed with a masterly de- 
monstration of the physical continuity of protoplasm in 
plant tissues. This has thrown a new light on the 
phenomena studied by Darwin, and we need not, there- 
fore, be surprised that his son, F. Darwin, has started 
what is virtually a new conception of the process of 
growth, by showing that its controlling element is to 
be sought in the living protoplasm of the oell, rather 
than in the investing cell-wall. On the whole, English 
botanists have shown a marked disposition to see in 
the study of protoplasm the real key to the interpre- 
tation of the phenomena of plant life. The complete 
analogy between the prooesses of secretion in animals 
and vegetables, established by Gardiner, and the es- 
sential part played by ferments in vegetable nutrition, 
illustrate i by Green, are examples of the results of this 
line of inquiry. To Germany we owe a flood of in- 
formation as to the function of the cell-nucleus, which 
it is singular has met witb general acceptance, but lit- 
tle detailed corroboration in this coantry. 
In morphology a review would be ineffective which 
did not go somewhat deeply into detail. The splendid 
hypothesis of Schwendener, of the composite nature of 
lichens asa commensal union of Algte and Fungi, has 
gradually won its way into acceptance. In England 
there is little of the first rank which oalls for note ex- 
cept the researches of Bower on the production of sexual 
organs on the leafy plant in ferns without the inter- 
vention of an intermediate generation. 
In vegetable physiology there seems a pause ; the 
purely physioal line of inquiry, as already suggested, 
seems to have yielded its utmost. The more biological 
line of inquiry has only yet begun to yield a foretaste 
of the results which will undoubtedly ultimately flow 
from it. 
Something must be added as to systematic and geo- 
graphical botany. The " Genera Plantarum" of Ben- 
tham and Hooker, the work of a quarter of a century at 
Kew, affords a complete review of the higher vegeta- 
tion of the world, and has been accepted generally as a 
standard authority. ToBentham also we owe the com- 
pletion of the " Flora Australiensis," the first com- 
plete account of the flora of any great continent. 
In geographical botany, perhaps the most interesting 
results have been the gradual elaboration of a theory 
as to the distribution of plants in Africa, and the bo- 
tanical exploration of China, of the vegetable produc- 
tions of which, twenty years ago, almost nothing was 
known. 
In the classification of the lower plants, perhaps the 
most interesting result has been the happy observations 
of Lankester upon a coloured Bacterium, which en- 
abled him to show that many forms previously believed 
to be distinot might be phases of the same life-history. 
In geology probably the greatest advance has been in 
the application of the microsoope to the investigation of 
rock structure, which has given rise to a really rational 
petrology. All except the coarser-grained rooks were 
only oapable of being described in vague terms; with 
modern methods tbeir crystalline constituents are de- 
terminable, however minute, and the conditions under 
which they were formed, can be inferred. — Nature. 
A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CEYLON. 
The recent successful searoh for coal in the 
South of England has led an old Colonist at home 
who has read our recent deliveranoes on the 
above topic, to write to us begging that we will not 
allow the subjeot to drop. " Here," he says, 
" have we been frightening ourselves beoause of 
the rapidity with which our coal fields are becom- 
ing exhausted, while all the time, as §now appears 
to be probable, we have under our feet in the 
Southern districts, and within practicable working 
depth, perhaps a further almost limitless supply. 
If this should prove to be the oase, Maoaulay'a 
New Zoalander may remain, at least for another 
deoade of centuries or so. He will not bo wanted 
to gasw upon the ruins ot deserted London for a 
pretty long spell yet I" 
Now we can, we think, with tolerable justifica- 
tion adopt our friend's view as to what may at 
least be future possibilities for Oeylon, We have 
never heard that it has been held by such geo- 
logical experts as have visited Ceylon that its 
formations are altogether opposed to the possible 
existence of coal beds within a workable depth; 
We may even be possessed of oil bearing strata 
sufficient, and even more than sufficient, for all 
local wants. But whether that be the case or 
not, we oan readily imagine many other sources 
from which our island wealth might be increased ; 
and it does not do to limit, after what has been 
accomplished elsewhere, the rewards to follow at- 
tempts at discovery. There is another matter 
besides which might be accepted as a strong 
inducement to undertake a systematic Geolo- 
gical Survey. We are at present wholly ignorant 
of how our water-bearing strata are situ- 
ated. We go to a vast expense to store thousands 
of acres of rain water, and lose a very large 
proportion of that water by evaporation under our 
burning sun. All the time that we are doing 
this, it is far from improbable that, deep down in 
the bowels of the earth, perhaps immediately 
under those giant tanks which are among the 
wonders of our Eastern world, there may exist 
vast reservoirs of pent-up waters which need but 
the touch of the magioian's wand — in other words, 
the diamond drill— to pour upwards their inex- 
haustible volume to refresh our thirsty soil at 
our will. Such considerations as these are not 
necessarily wide of the mark. Wholly unexpected 
resources may be lying beneath our feet, and some 
at least of these might be revealed to us by an 
expert Geological Survey based upon the use of 
effioient drilhng apparatus. 
Ceylon has too often been referred to as 
being a country possessed of little or no natural 
wealth. Her soil is generally described as poor, 
and as needing wealth to be "lugged" from it by 
sheer dexterity and the exarcise of almost super- 
human patienoe ; while as for minerals, except 
as regards a few miserable plumbago pits, such 
have no place in Ceylon 1 " It is a one-horse sort 
of place altogether, sir, I tell you," is too often 
the verdict. We do not admit the description to 
be deserved, but undoubtedly we should do all 
we can to render it so absurd in the minds 
of most men that no one, however prejudiced, 
would in the future attempt to repeat it. Now if 
mineral deposits were to be discovered in Ceylon, 
or subterranean waters obtained to irrigate our arid 
soil in the north and east, it is easy to see that 
every possible ground would be cut from under 
the feet of the London city gossip, who is often- 
times both ignorant himself and the cause of 
ignorance in others, A new era of development 
would set in for this oolony were it but onoe proved 
that it is possessed of extensive and varied mineral 
resources. Suoh proof we should say is never 
likely to precede systematic investigation, but we 
can readily oonceive its following upon suoh a 
course. We strongly counsel that the need, both 
of the men and of the maohinery for undertaking 
it, should be pressed upon Sir Arthur Havelock. 
The oost, relatively speaking, would bejbut small, 
and there could not be a better adviser for Gov- 
ernment in this matter than our reoent visitor, 
Mr. Barrington Brown. In the one item of plumbago 
alone— the monopoly in supplying which Ceylon 
has, of late years been rapidly assuming — there is 
ample encouragement to go the expense of a 
Survey; for there can be no doubt whatever of 
its leading to the discovery of new and extended 
deposits of this valuable mineral, apart from gem- 
bearing strata and the possibility ot doming on a 
