554 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Darnel Grass. — M. Filliol has recently investigated the toxical pro- 
perties of the Solium temulentum. Numerous experiments have been at 
different times made on animals with this plant ; but they have not 
hitherto led to anything certain concerning the nature of the poison con- 
tained in it. M. Filhol has discovered that it contains a double poison — a 
poison of the strychnine class, and one of the narcotic kind. He has iso- 
lated these two poisons, and experiments on animals have shown their 
special actions, and explained their contradictory effects. M. Filhol adds, 
that the presence of Solium in corn may be shown by the shape of its 
starchy particles, which are different from that of wheat. 
Vascular Bundles in Ferns. — Mr. Church, in a paper published by the 
Linnsean Society, lays great stress upon the arrangement of these bundles, 
and from several hundred observations, deduces that there is no marked 
distinction between the genus Polystichum and the genus Loppodium 
( Lastrea 31.) in this particular. Foreign specimens bear out this result. Also 
that the genus Lastrea (of Moore) contains two British species, and many 
foreign ones, which possess a totally different arrangement of their vas- 
cular tissue, and that this fact, taken in connection with the previously 
recognized differences of these very same species, almost warrants their 
removal to another genus. And, lastly, that genera whose outward cha- 
racteristics are conspicuously distinct, exhibit marked differences in the 
arrangement of their vascular fasciculi, which closely allied genera do not. 
Parthenogenesis of Alheria Caffra. — Dr. Anderson, of the Calcutta Bo- 
tanical Gardens, mentions that this plant, a thorny bush, had been in the 
gardens some years without producing flowers. It contains pistils only, 
being dioecious. In March, J861, it bore a large crop of well- ripened 
fruit, which was sown, and gave rise to a vigorous stock of young plants. 
In February, 1862, it flowered again, and the most careful examination 
led to the detection of no trace of stamens. This tree was unfortunately 
destroyed a few months ago in a severe gale ; but a second specimen arti- 
ficially propagated from the first still exists in the gardens. It has never 
flowered. 
Sarracenia Purpurea. — This pitcher plant has of late been brought 
into prominent notice from its supposed virtues in cases of smallpox. Nu- 
merous experiments have been made upon its properties, with very various 
results ; some practitioners praising it highly, while others have been disap- 
pointed. No doubt that many important discoveries remain to be made in 
vegetable materia medica ; but the utmost caution is necessary, lest a hasty 
conclusion should retard, instead of advancing, the subject. 
CHEMISTRY. 
M R. MARKHAM, who a few years ago was appointed the superin- 
tendent of an expedition for the collection of cinchona plants and 
seeds, and for their introduction into India, has lately read a paper on this 
subject before the Society of Arts. Although the difficulties that presented 
themselves were very great, they have been so effectually met that there are 
