134 
Miscellaneous Notices. 
[April 
a. outer lip of shell, — b. b. tentacula, — c. c. lobes of head, — d. respiratory canal, 
- — e. e. edge of operculum, — pedicellated eyes, — g. mouth , — h . fold of the con- 
tracted foot. 
Fig. 3 Paludina vivipara, A. 
Fig. 4. Bulimus, B. 
Fig. 5, Paludina, B. 
Fig. 6. Planorhis corneus, A. 
Fig. 7. Pupa, A. 
Fig. 8. Lymnaea, B. 
Fig. 9. Lymnsea, A. 
Fig. 10. Planorbis, B. 
Fig. 11. Bulimus, A. 
Fig. 12. Achatina A. magnified. 
Fig. 13. Paludina, C. 
Fig. 14. Cyclostoma, A. 
The capital letters refer to the species in the list published in our first volume, 
p. 264 . 
3. Missions subservient to the Progress of Scietice. 
Perhaps it has not always been sufficiently considered by men of science, how 
much even literature and general knowledge have been subserved by Missionary So- 
cieties. Many languages which existed only as oral and unwritten dialects have, by 
their agents, been reduced to a systematic form; and in grammars, and lexicons, and 
elementary works, have received a “ local habitation and a name,” a mould and 
pressure which has at once given them durability, rendered them attainable by 
other nations, and transmissable through all the generations of man. 
Numerous tribes of the great family of man, and even nations, the exist- 
ence of which was scarcely known, have been discovered by them ; and their cus- 
toms and manners, civil rights and religious ceremonies, have been minutely exa- 
mined and accurately delineated. For much of the authentic information con- 
cerning the vast empire of China, containing nearly one third of the human race, 
the world is indebted to missionaries ; first to those sent out by the Propaganda 
Society of the church of Rome, and since, by the missionaries of various Protestant 
Societies. The same may be said of the Bur man Empire ; for a knowledge of the cus- 
toms and habits, the religion and manners of that people, we are laid under obligations 
to a very large extent to the labours of those intelligent and indefatigable and de- 
voted men, the American Missionaries. 
Nor are geography and natural history wholly unindebted to those Societies. 
Some of the most captivating and instructive volumes, which on these subjects 
have issued ti om the press, have been the productions of men bearing the mission- 
ary character. The works more particularly alluded to, are Crantz’s Historv of 
Greenland, Henderson s 1 our through Iceland, Jowet’s Researches in the Mediterra- 
nean, and Ellis’s Narrative of Hawaiee. 
4. Chinese Rice Paper. 
This cuiious and beautiful substance has been recently determined to he a veue- 
table production of nature, as had been concluded from microscopic observation in 
England. Mr. Reeves, of Canton, has forwarded to the Society of Arts a piece oi 
a branch of the plant from which it is obtained. The pieces being cut into lengths 
equal to the breadth of the sheet requ.rcd, are placed upon a thick piece of copper, 
t ' co ra,sed ed / ea > as to keep them steady. They are then sliced spi- 
rally, by means of a large and sharp knife, which is held in the right hand while the 
piece being turned by the left, the cutting goes on continually from circumference 
bLdiir/f i o e ,a ho . le plecc I s th “ s ? s !t wero developed. They are then laid in 
for aiont ”e » p, eces e„, cl, wl Inch weigh about Mon. and are sold wholesale 
the Chinese jnnts * ‘ S Cl,,efly brou 8 Ut from tl,e Island ° f Formosa by 
thinks rud T ec !‘ n ?‘‘‘S i “‘‘ Repository, from whom the preceding is taken, 
t on that cy * * , ' 18 T- ,U I ly avada ble. We may add that there can be no noes- 
nse k the Chfnese na^er w , ,na " u . facl ™ng hats, might be applied to the same 
se as the Chinese paper. We doubt, however. If it could be got large enough. 
5. Rent of Land. 
S, R) To tlie Editor of Gleanings in Science. 
