Miscellaneous. 
73 
Broderip concludes his volume. How happ)’’ are we that we live in 
days when these monsters are doomed to lie petrified in oolitic 
rocks or extended, carved curiously “ by art and man’s device,” out 
of the solid stone, and gazed at, in and through glass cases, in the 
National Museum ! The work of Mr. Broderip is very readable, and 
it would prove instructive to many a scientific man, as well as amuse 
his leisure hour. We have no doubt that this work will “ cherish,” 
as well as “ awaken, a love for natural history.” — A.W. 
An Experimental Inquiry into the Cause of the Ascent and Descent of 
the Sap, 8^c. By G. Rainey, M.R.C.S.E. 
Whatever may be the value of these inquiries, it is certain that 
they have led the author to some conclusions which will appear rather 
curious to most botanical anatomists. For instance, he endeavours 
to show that the crude sap ascends in the substance of the cell- walls 
and intercellular matter without passing through the cavities of the 
cells or vessels, and his reasons are founded upon the experiment of 
causing plants to imbibe certain solutions and then decomposing these 
in sections placed beneath the microscope, when the solid walls alone 
exhibit the coloured product (!). If we were to strain a solution of 
bichloride of mercury through a piece of gauze, and then to decom- 
pose this by hydrosulphate of ammonia and to examine the gauze 
by a magnifier, it is probable that we should find the substance alone 
coloured, but we should hardly deduce from this that no bichloride 
of mercury had passed through the interstices. 
The author’s way of accounting for the formation of vessels is 
equally original ; he shows that “ the wall of a vessel is formed by 
the union of the external thickened wall of the surrounding cells.” 
The various experiments and details respecting the movement of 
the sap and the growth of plants offer nothing of value which is not 
already well known. 
In these days it is absolutely necessary that students of a science 
should make themselves clearly acquainted with the results of the 
labours of their predecessors : had the author of the present little 
volume done so, he would have saved much valuable time and ap- 
plication.— A. H. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
Extracts from a Letter to Thomas Bell^ Esq., F.R.S., from 
George Clark, Esq., of Mauritius. 
Port Louis, June 5th, 1847. 
* * * “ I venture to lay before you the following description of 
some bullocks, brought hither from the island of Lombach, near 
Java. One cargo only has been imported, and it does not appear 
likely that any more will be brought. Their characteristics are so 
novel to me that I determined to describe them to you. 
