ITS Scientific Intelligence . — Botany, 
the rocks around the Pool of Siloah are of limestone ; a beauti- 
ful granular, foliated limestone or marble occurs at the Grave of 
Lazarus ; on Mount Zion, the rocks are of a conchoidal greyish 
siliceous limestone ; Mount Lebanon appears principally com- 
posed of limestone ; Mount Carmel is interesting, on account of 
the large balls of quartz contained in the limestone, — these balls 
have been described as petrified melons, but are merely of 
quartz in the state of hornstone, and including layers of calce- 
dony, and crystals of quartz ; all the rocks around Jerusalem are 
of compact limestone, and the numerous tombs in the neighbour- 
hood of that city are hewn in hard, compact limestone ; Mount 
Tabor, Bethel, Capernaum, also afforded specimens of limestone 
to the American missionary, the Reverend Pliny Fisk, to whom 
Professor Hall was indebted for the collection from the Holy 
Land, which lie has described in the N umber of Siiliman’s Ame- 
rican Journal of Sciences and Arts for June 1825. 
BOTANY. 
28. Rhimmorphoiis plants in Mines, — It appears from ob- 
servations lately made in Germany, that rhizomorphous plants 
grow in the most delicate fissures in coal and rocks of the coal- 
formation, at a considerable distance from the walls of the sub- 
terranean galleries, some hundred feet below the surface, and 
in places where both water and air can occur only in the mi- 
nutest quantities. In these fissures the plants lose the round- 
ish form they have when encrusting the walls and pillars of the 
mine, becoming flat, and like the finest paper. The growing of 
these plants in situations almost without air, and without water, 
recalls to our attention the chronicled relations of toads, lizards, 
and other animals found in solid rocks. More of this on an- 
other occasion. 
29* Luminous appearance in Mines. — In a former Number 
of this Journal, we gave a short account of luminous plants, par- 
ticularly of the Rhizomorpha. The following notice on the 
luminosity of the Rhizomorpha, is recorded by the councillor of 
mines, Erdmann, in the 1st number of the 14th vol. of Schweig- 
ger’s Journal. The appearances mentioned were seen on visit- 
ing one of the coal-mines near Dresden. w I saw the luminous 
plants here in wonderful beauty; the impression produced by 
