409 
of Edinburgh , Session 1868 - 09 . 
bitter, tonic stomachic; and I believe the two may be used in- 
differently for all medicinal purposes. Mr Lindsay is not so fortu- 
nate in a notice he has given in the same paper of Cinchona 
hrachycarpa , a new Jesuits’-bark tree, and cure for intermittent 
fever. This is now known to be no true cinchona at all, and to 
be immeasurably behind the true cinchonas as a febrifuge. The 
tree is now the Exostemma hrachycarpa ; and, like all other species 
of Exostemma, its bark is more emetic than anything else in point 
of action — a property which, it is fair to say, had been recognised 
in it by Mr Lindsay himself. 
Dr Hutton described in 1778,* and endeavours to explain, a 
phenomenon of vegetation on Arthur’s Seat, which still remains open 
to further inquiry. It is well known to those who frequent the 
upper regions of the hill, that on various parts of the slope towards 
the east are to be generally seen grey zig-zag stripes on the grass, 
very conspicuous if the general herbage be fresh, almost always 
tending downwards, from a foot to two feet in width, continuous 
in some places, but interrupted in others, and stretching for many 
yards, occasionally for more than a hundred yards. On examining 
these marks, the grass is found to be completely withered to the 
roots ; the roots themselves are destroyed ; and many years elapse 
before the vegetation is restored. They are most frequent and 
well-marked in the hollow to the south of the basaltic summit, 
descending to Dunsappie Loch, but rather to the right towards 
Duddingston, and also on the subsidiary broad eminence north- 
east from the summit. Dr Hutton tries various theories for ex- 
plaining these “ Fairy footpaths,” but cannot satisfy himself with 
any of them. Among the rest, he rejects lightning; which, how- 
ever, I suspect is the only agent which will account for them. 
Many years ago, when wandering over the upper part of the hill at 
midsummer, I remarked that these marks were unusually scanty 
and imperfect. A thunder storm brewing in the south-west com- 
pelled me to effect a hasty retreat ; and was followed by a very 
severe storm which passed over the hill, the city, and all the sur- 
rounding country. A few days afterwards I found the east slopes 
of the hill presented many extensive, recent-looking marks of the 
nature now described. 
To the Philosophical Society. Published in Roy. Soc. Trans, vol. ii. 
