720 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST. 
April  i,  1896. 
CORAL  AND  CORAL  RLEPS. 
D.  Audrew  Wilson  delivered  the  coiieludiiif;;  lecturo 
at  Cork,  under  the  Gilchrist  Educational  Trust,  and 
took  for  his  subject  “ Coral,  Coral  Makers  and  Coral 
Reefs.”  There  was  a very  large  attendance. 
Dr.  ilsou,  in  the  course  of  his  lecture,  said  llie 
subject  of  cor.il  involved  two  distinct  phases  of 
nature.  The  first  ijuestion  they  had  to  consider  was 
coral  anim  il  work,  and,  secondly,  they  had  to  study 
how  that  animal  had  been  able  to  rear  up  what 
had  been  well  called  the  iniperishable  masonry  of 
the  sea.  Coral  was  a kind  of  chalk.  The  scientific 
name  of  chalk  was  carbonate  of  lime,  and  coral  was 
a hard  description  of  carbonate  of  lime.  The  Ro- 
mans believed  the  coral  was  a plant,  that  it  was  soft 
in  its  native  waters,  and  became  hard  when 
exposed  to  the  air.  Curiously  that  belief  that 
coral  was  a plant  remained  as  a part  of 
science  till  about  150  or  200  years  ago.  About 
150  years  ago  a certain  Frenchman,  the  Count  de 
Marseille,  descanted  amongst  other  things  on  the 
history  of  the  sea,  and  the  coral  plant — that  was  the 
red  coral  found  in  the  Mediterranean  sea.  He  had 
a student,  Peysonnel’s,  who  went  to  the  North  Coast 
of  Africa  there  to  study  coral,  lie  wrote  home  that 
they  had  all  been  mistaken  in  thinking  that  coral 
was  the  work  of  the  plant,  for  he  discovered  it 
was  the  work  of  an  animal.  They  pigeon-holed 
his  reports,  and  one  who  took  pity  on  him  wrote  to 
him  saying  to  cease  sending  his  reports.  They  had 
decided  that  coral  was  a plant,  and  nothing  could 
change  the  course  of  nature  because  they  had  so 
decreed.  He  then  sent  his  report  to  the  Royal 
Society  of  London,  and  they  published  his  re- 
port, and  gave  forth  to  the  world  that  coral  was 
the  work  of  an  animal.  The  lecturer  then  gavo 
a lengthened  and  interesting  description  of  the 
coral  animal  audits  internal  structure,  which  he  likened 
unto  an  excise  ink  bottle.  The  difference  between 
coral  animals  and  sea  o.nemones  was  firstly  that 
coral  animals  made  a skeleton,  whereas  sea  anemones 
did  not ; secondly,  coral  animals  were  generally  single. 
The  fact  that  coral  animals  were  compound  gave  them 
great  power— the  power  of  budding  and  increasing  and 
making  a tree.  Illustrations  of  the  different  forms  and 
shapes  of  coral  were  depicted  on  the  screen.  Dealing 
with  the  conditions  of  coral  life,  he  said  that  corals 
required  a certain  heat  and  they  required  a certain 
depth.  They  would  not  get  coral  islands  in  any  place 
where  there  was  not  from  60  to  60  degrees  of  heat.  If 
they  drew  a line  1,800  miles  at  each  side  of  the 
equator,  between  those  two  lines  they  could  find  liv- 
ing coral.  They  had  plenty  of  fossil  corals  in  the 
rocks  in  the  British  seas  and  that  indicated  a time 
when  the  climate  was  very  different  from  what  it 
was  now.  There  was  only  one  coral  existing  in 
British  seas — off  the  Devonshire  coast  they  got  a 
single  cup  coral,  a remnant  of  a once  prolific  coral. 
Living  coral  could  only  exist  at  a depth  of  from 
160  to  200  feet.  He  questioned  very  much  whether 
any  living  coral  went  down  210  feet.  Coral  wanted 
light  and  air.  In  fact  corals  flourished  best  wdiero 
the  water  was  roughest  and  where  they  found  the 
sea  was  agitated,  and  where  the  coral  could  got 
plenty  of  oxygen  to  live  on.  Darwin’s  theory 
with  regard  to  coral  was  that  they  could  only 
explain  the  erection  of  coral  by  taking  into  ac- 
count one  circumstance,  the  sinking  of  land.  There 
were  three  kinds  of  reefs.  First  was  the  fringing 
reef.  The  island  of  Mauritius  was  surrounded 
bv  a fringing  reef,  which  practically  meant  that 
the  coral  animals  had  built  a reef  on  the  sides 
of  the  mountain.  Suppose  the  island  began  to 
sink  the  coral  reef  grew  upwards,  and  as  the 
island  went  do  vn  they  would  get  a barrier  reef.  The 
third  kind  of  reef  was  the  perfect  form  of  coral  island— 
what  was  called  lagoons  or  atolls.  Darwin's  theory 
was  that  one  reef  was  the  fermatiou  of  the  other. 
The  lecturer  expounded  and  supported  this  theory. 
In  concluding  he  said  the  wish  of  the  Gilchrist 
Trustees  was  that  some  educational  benefit  would 
accrue  to  them.  He  believed  they  were  in  w.ant  of 
extension  of  technical  edoation.  Ho  believed  it 
was  one  of  tho  most  important  things  they  could  have. 
If  they  were  to  have  “ Made  in  Germany  ” not  quite 
so  frequently  on  products  in  that  country,  the  work- 
men had  it  in  their  own  hands.  If  they  could  give 
the  same  stuff  as  was  made  in  Germany,  only  a little 
better, it  would  be  meeting  Germans  on  their  own  ground. 
The  Germans  had  the  beuelit  of  technical  education,  and 
•they,  in  these  islands,  had  all  tliattime  been  nursing, 
in  t!io  hope  that  they  were  quite  equal  to 
Germans,  with  their  old  common  rule  of  tlie  thumb. 
If  these  lectures  had  tho  effect  of  impressing  on  tho 
largo  and  intelligent  body  of  workingmen  whom  he 
was  addressing — that  in  tliemselves  lay  tho  root  of 
maintaining  tlieir  future  success  and  superiority — 
then  ho  knew  that  the  Gilchrist  Trustees  would  con- 
sider their  money  had  been  well  spent  in  sending 
their  lecturers  to  Cork.  What  use  were  these  lectures 
to  be  to  the  man  in  the  street  ? They  devoted  so 
much  time  to  hammering  aw'ay  at  politics  that  they 
had  no  time  to  ask  themselves  something  about  the 
world  itself.  What  was  the  difference  between  one 
man  and  another  in  that  life?  The  difference  was 
not  in  wealth,  was  not  in  position.  The  difference 
was  in  the  opportunity  of  getting  out  of  the 
daily  rut  they  lived  in.  The  difference  between 
one  man  and  another  was  that  one  man  lay 
in  the  rut,  and  the  second  man,  with  a little  aspi- 
ration, perhaps  begotten  at  a Gilchrist  lecture,  got  his 
head  a little  above  the  rut,  aud  saw  something  of  the 
blue  sky  of  intellect  which  was  always  beneficiently 
shedding  its  rays  upon  them  if  they  turned  their 
faces  to  the  rising  sun.  He  wished  that  they  would 
cherish  something  that  they  heard  at  the  Gilchrist 
lectures  which  would  make  them  take  a little  study 
of  these  things,  not  to  put  money  in  their  pockets, 
it  would  not  do  that,  but  to  increase  their  enjoy- 
ment of  life  by  understanding  something  of  the 
world,  aud  when  they  had  climbed  through  the  hill  of 
difficulty  and  had  come  to  the  summit  of  the  moun- 
tain they  might  see  foot-steps  throughout  the  shining 
valley. — Cork  Constitution,  Feb.  18. 
DRUG  REPORT. 
(From  the  Chemist  and  Druijejist.) 
Lomlon,  March  12. 
Kssknti.m.  Oils.— Loniongrass  oil  is  ttrnily  held  at  2|d 
|)er  07.  for  fair  native  (iiuilitie.s.  Citroiiella  oil  is  still 
quoted  iioiuinally  at  2s  per  lb  on  the  spot,  but  it  would 
probably  be  possible  to  buy,  with  an  order,  at  least 
a couple  of  pence  below  that  figure.  For  arrival  Is  74d 
per  11)  c i f April-May,  would  now  probably  be  accepted. 
Arrivals  Iiave  been  very  heavy  lately,  the  “ Clan  Murray  ” 
whicli  came  into  port  today,  alone  bringing  03  7 to  8 cwt 
drums,  and  138  cases  and  kegs. 
Cafi'Kiml— Very  quiet ; 18s  per  lb,,  however,  is  still 
the  quotation. 
SriCES. — Nutmegs  are  very  quiet,  and  Mace  remains 
dull  of  .sale. 
Mr.  E.  K.  Guickn  ox  a Gkylon  Insfct.— At  u 
meeting  of  the  Entomolugiciil  .Society  on  Miireh  -1, 
Mr.  E.  E.  Green  exhibited  a.  larva  of  an  homopter, 
ous  insect — one  of  tlie  Gicadnoe — from  Cuylon, 
having  what  appeared  to  bo  a.  head  at  its  caudal 
extremity.  He  pointed  out  that  the  larva  had 
caudal  appendages  which  might  be  mistaken 
for  hairy  autemuu,  and  pigment  spots  resembling 
eyes  on  the  antepenultimate  segment  of  the  body. 
The  insect  walked  cither  backwards  or  forwards, 
and  when  first  seen  looked  like  a beetle  of  some  kind- 
tho  caudal  extremity  rcprescatiiig  tho  head. 
CiLUSETS,  Urinals,  Night  Coinmodos,  fStahles, 
/ Kennels,  Ac.  slionkl  he  lightly  dredgml 
(after  cleansing)  with  (lvi.\  Ki:  r'.s  1.5  per  eonl. 
( 'ahmoi.ic  Powoki:,  to  destroy  h.mi  odonr.s  and 
to  kill  or  keep  aw.ay  insects — 'I’he  most  cM'eelive 
pieinuMtion.  — In  A Ih.,  1 Ih.  and  2lh.  dredgers,  at 
(id.,-  Is.,  A Is.  Gd.  each,  from  Gheinists  and  Stores. 
F.  C.  CALVERT cV  Co.,  Mauchc.ster. 
