308 
TOPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
gist at Madras, to investigate the properties of the indigenous medicinal 
plants of India. This is a most interesting and important branch of science 
— important to the people of India, whether regarded in a sanitary point of 
view, or as a means for developing the resources of the country — and we 
are very glad to see the Madras Government has given it the attention it 
merits. Mr. Broughton appears to have carte blanche given him in all 
arrangements connected with the observations, and the results are to be 
embodied in an annual report to the India Office. 
Von Martins 1 Herbarium . — It is reported that this valuable collec- 
tion has been obtained by the Belgian Government for 30,000 francs. It 
consists (1) of a collection of 60,000 species, including 300,000 specimens, 
nearly half of which are Brazilian ; (2) of the great collection of palms ; 
(3) a collection of fruits and seeds ; (4) a series of woods ; (5) a collection 
of drugs and economic specimens, in great part formed by his brother 
Theodore Martius, Professor of Pharmacy at Erlangen. 
Destruction of Mould. — At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences, March 
21, M. Dumas read a note by M. Paulin, describing some experiments on 
Aspergillus niger. These experiments tend to show that if this plant be 
placed in water in which are certain foreign substances, its vegetation be- 
comes suspended. Thus, to completely destroy the development of a mould, 
it suffices to introduce into the water which nourishes it 0-00016 part of 
nitrate of silver, 0.00006 of corrosive sublimate, 0-008 of chloride of pla- 
tinum, 0 02 of sulphate of copper. 
Fertilization of Plants. — Professor Hildebrand (says the American Naturalist ) 
states that plants intermediate between the Papaveraceae and the Fumarise 
gave the greatest quantity of seeds when impregnated with the pollen of 
another individual of the same species; less when the pollen was taken from 
another flower of the same individual, and least when the impregnation 
took place within the flower itself. For Fschsholtzia California, the pro- 
portion of seeds in these three cases was as twenty-four to nine to six. 
Professor Fewzl says that he obtained abundance of seeds from two species 
of Abutilon by fecundation with pollen from other individuals, and that 
these operations are best performed between eight and nine a.m. 
The Production of Neio Species among Plants. — In the Philosophical address 
delivered before the Linnean Society on May 24, Mr. G. Bentham, F.R.S., 
made the following highly-important and suggestive remarks relative to the 
formation of new species of plants : — Taking into consideration the new 
lights that have been thrown upon these subjects by the above investiga- 
tions, and ^y the numerous observations called forth by the development of 
the great Darwinian theories, amongst which I may include a few points 
adverted to in a paper on Cassia which I laid before you last year, it appears 
to me that in plants, at least, we may almost watch, as it were, the process 
of specific change actually going on, or at least we may observe different 
races now living in different stages of progress, from the slight local 
variation to the distinct species and genus. Asa first step we may take, 
for instance, those races which are regarded by the majority of botanists as 
very variable species, such as Pubus fniticosus , Rosa canina , Zornia diphylla f 
Cassia mimosoides, &c. ; we shall find in each some one form, which we call 
typical, generally prevalent over the [greater part of the area of the race, 
