688 
Proceedings of the Boyal Society 
frequented between Craighall and Banff; and “ balloch ” is a 
Celtic word for “pass.” How high above the bottom of the glen 
the boulder stands, Mr Herdraan does not explain. The boulder, 
therefore, stands in rather a critical position; and considering 
its great weight, it does not seem likely that it could have been 
put into that position by human agency. 
Then its attitude is singular, because boulders having a longer 
and shorter axis are generally and naturally found lying with their 
longer axis parallel with the ground; but this boulder has its 
longer axis vertical, and stands on a basis of only 8 feet square. Tf 
the present position and attitude are those it received when it fell 
from the agent which transported it, what was the nature of the 
agent which allowed it to fall, so as to take that attitude ? 
The two theories for the transport of such boulders are land ice , 
as by a glacier, and floating ice , as by an iceberg or ice floe. 
Whether the country between Rattray parish and the mountains to 
the north is of such a nature as to have allowed the formation of a 
glacier may be a question, but supposing it were, which of these 
two ice agents, glacier or floating ice, would have been most likely 
to cause this pear-shaped block to fall into the position and attitude 
which it occupies ? This is a question as much for a mathe¬ 
matician as for a geologist to solve. 
5. On the Fruiting of the Ipecacuan Plant (Gephaelis 
Ipecacuanha, Eich.) in the Royal Botanic Garden. By 
Prof. Balfour. 
The cultivation of the Ipecacuan plant in this country has 
received an impetus from the demand on the part of His Grace the 
Duke of Argyll, for a large supply of fresh plants for India. The 
object of the India office is to cultivate the plant extensively, and 
thus prevent the evils which might arise from scarcity of a drug 
which is so important in the treatment of dysentery. The risk of 
such an occurrence is due to the mode in which the plant is 
gathered in Brazil, and the want of care in preserving it. A similar 
fate threatens Ipecacuan as that which has occurred in the case of 
Cinchona. 
