TBE NATURAL SCIENCE JOURNAL. 
Then, if candy or sweet fruits are taken 
as a dessert, in small quantities daily, 
the temptation to gorge one’s self with 
this form of concentrated digested food 
will disappear and with it will disappear 
the dyspepsias and bowel troubles which 
now apparently justify the notion that 
candy and sugar are injurious. 
Thp: “Grotto of the Nymphs,” more 
generally known as the “ Blue Grotto,” 
in the Island of Capri, has . now, accord¬ 
ing to George Mariel, the French geolog¬ 
ist and explorer, a formidable rival in 
the “ Manavor,” or “ Dragon’s Grotto,” 
in Majorica, one of the Balearic Islands. 
A PARTY of western naturalists are 
soon to explore the Pacific coast of 
Mexico, as well as Arizona, Sonora and 
the Pacific Islands. The party will com¬ 
prise skillful taxidermists and collectors, 
and their whole time will be devoted 
strictly to scientific research. We hope, 
from time to time to give accounts of 
their explorations. 
Professor F. C. Porter, who has held 
the chair of botany, zoology and geology 
in Lafayette college for more than 30 
years, will retire at the end of the present 
collegiate year. The Philadelphia Tele¬ 
graph thus speaks of him : “ Dr. Porter’s 
eminence in botany has been widely rec¬ 
ognized. He worked over the Hayden 
collections, made in the Rocky Mountains 
in 1870-’74, and has been in constant 
correspondence with leading authorities 
in this department of science, such as Dr. 
Gray, Dr. Torrey, Dr. Engleman and Dr. 
Darlington. His name has been given to 
a genus of plants belonging to the rose 
family (Porteranthus), and there are 
about 80 species with which his name is 
scientifically associated. Dr. Porter’s 
herbarium became the property of Lafay¬ 
ette when he w'ent to Easton, and it has 
since been greatly enlarged. He has 
also made a flora of the state of Penn¬ 
sylvania which is by far the fullest and 
best in existence.” 
A NUMBER of ports on the north coast 
of Africa are developing quite an industry 
in the quarrying and shipping of mineral 
product. Prominent among these is 
Oran, a city of about 75,000 inhabitants 
which supplies a great variety of miner¬ 
als including marble, onyx, porphry and 
slate. Other important places in this 
line are Algiers, Bona, Philippeville, 
Trepoli and Tunis. 
It is currently reported that our friend, 
Mr. C. J. R. Carson, of Los Angeles, 
Calif., dealer in Curios and Antiquities 
olfers $5000 for the head of Gen Weyler, 
Captain-General of the Spanish Army in 
Cuba. 
An important change in the map of 
Central America is now in order. Presi¬ 
dent Cleveland having officially received 
the minister of the new Republic of Cen¬ 
tral America. 
The notable collection of firearms, cov¬ 
ering the period from the earliest inven¬ 
tion to the civil war, and the invaluable 
collection of revolutionary and Indian 
relics, which A. E. Brooks of Hartford, 
Conn., has been collecting for 25 years, 
is to be deposited in the Wadsworth 
Athenaeum. There is not an individual 
collection that can be compared with it. 
