Natural History. — Botany. 41 ^ 1 - 
eggs fresh from one country to another, it has been proposed as 
the best mode of effecting this, to varnisli them with gum-ara- 
bic, and then imbed them in pounded charcoaf. The gum-arabic 
answers better than varnish, as it can be easily removed by 
washing in water, and the bed of charcoal, by maintaining around 
the eggs a pretty uniform temperature, prevents them from suf- 
fering from the great alternations of heat and cold, experienced 
in carrying them to different countries. 
BOTANY. 
34. Nature of Hard Woods . — We have already alluded to 
the remarkably abundant formation of calcareous earth in the 
genus Chara, and in that curious tribe of vegetables so often 
considered as of animal origin, and named Corallina. Other 
plants are particularly distinguished by the quantity of silica 
they secrete, and of these, the best known are the rush and the 
bamboo. Masses of silica of considerable magnitude have been 
cut out of the teak- wood ; this circumstance, conjoined with the 
hardness and weight of the wood, led Professor Jameson to 
conjecture, that the teak, and other similar woods, might con- 
tain silica, or even adamantine carbonaceous matter. This con- 
jecture has been confirmed in part by the experiments on teak 
made by Dr Wollaston, on the suggestion of Professor Jameson, 
who found that it contained a considerable portion of silica, and 
similar results have been since obtained by Mr Sivright of Meg- 
getland, of which an account was lately communicated ta the 
Wernerian Society. 
35. Uses of Iceland Moss . — The esculent properties of the 
Iceland lichen are well known in many districts on the Conti- 
nent of Europe. Of late years it has been proposed to use it 
either alone or mixed with flour in the composition of bread in 
those districts where flour is scarce. The Saxon Government 
lately published a Report on this subject, which is full of 
information interesting to those mountainous districts, where 
this plant abounds. In this report, we are informed, that 6^ 
pounds and 22 loth of lichen meal boiled with fourteen times 
its quantity of water, and baked in this state with 594 pounds 
of flour, produced 111 J pounds of good household-bread. With- 
out this addition, the flour w^ould not have produced more than 
VOL. III. NO. 6. OCTOBER 1820. 
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