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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
growing in such a manner that they could not be separated, having been 
removed together from a private garden about to be destroyed, the mass of 
roots and earth measuring 5 metres, or about 16 feet English in length. 
It has been discovered, that the bleeding of trees and the attacks of insects, 
after the cutting off of branches, may be effectually stopped by the very 
simple method of well brushing the part exposed with a paste made of 
wood-ashes and wetter ; the ash enters between the fibres of the wood and 
prevents exudation, while the alkaline property of the mixture keeps off 
the insects. 
Prizes of the French Academy of Sciences. — This branch of the 
Institute has recently announced its list of prizes granted in 1862, and 
offered for competition in the present and succeeding years. Amongst the 
former is Lalande’s Astronomical Prize, given to Mr. Clark for the con- 
struction of an achromatic lens 18| inches in diameter, and the discovery 
by its means of a small star in the neighbourhood of Sirius. The proposed 
prizes include some of great importance. An extraordinary prize of 
6,000 francs is offered in connection with the application of steam to naval 
purposes ; a grand prize of 20,000 francs is to be given, in 1866, for the 
best method of preserving limbs by the conservation of the periosteum. 
“ It has been proved by numerous physiological facts,” says the report, 
“ that the periosteum has the faculty of producing bone, and remarkable 
instances have been exhibited of very large portions of bone being replaced 
in the human body by means of the preservation of the periosteum. The 
time is therefore arrived to call the attention of surgeons to a new and most 
important study, which is equally interesting to science and important to 
humanity.” The Bordin Prize of 3,000 francs is offered, this year, for a 
“history, anatomical and physical, of coral and other zoophytes of the same 
family,” especial attention being drawn to the natural riches and com- 
mercial importance of Algeria in respect to these products. According to 
the report, the coral-fishery is carried on actively only in the French 
portion of the Mediterranean, which may be true ; but certainly it is 
hardly correct to say, as the same document does, that “ the production of 
coral is limited to this sea.” The grand Breant Prize of 100,000 francs is 
offered, this year, for the cure of Asiatic cholera ; the successful candidate 
must produce a medicine w T hich will cure the disease in the great majority 
of cases ; he must indicate in an unquestionable manner the causes of this 
so-called epidemic with a view to their removal; and, lastly, he must dis- 
cover a preventive as decided as is vaccination against the small-pox. 
Failing this, 4,000 francs will be given to the discoverer of the actual 
existence in the atmosphere of matters which act a part in the production 
or propagation of epidemic diseases ; or, for a radical cure for cutaneous 
eruptions, and an exposition of the causes which give rise to them. The 
Barbier Prize of 2,000 francs is offered, this year, for the best work on 
chemistry or medical botany. Several, if not all, of the above rewards are 
open to general competition, and the exact conditions in each instance may 
be obtained by application to the secretary of the Academy. 
Paris, March, 1863. 
Y. 
