390 
MISCELLANY. 
difference between the structure of Man and the Oran Outan—as between Man 
and all other animals—is unquestionably the transcendently superior develop¬ 
ment of that part of the brain devoted, in the former, to the intellectual faculties. 
The striking flatness of the forehead in Monkeys, Apes, &c., must have arrested 
the attention of every one. A man who had a forehead like that of any Monkey 
in the Zoological Gardens, would be an idiot.— Ed.] 
BOTANY. 
Musheooms. —Mushrooms are exceedingly plentiful this year. On Thursday 
week eleven hundred-weight were sent by the boats from the neighbourhood" of 
Northwich and Nantwich to Manchester, to be there converted into ketchup. 
On the previous Tuesday six hundred-weight were sent from the same places.— 
Sept, 1. 
Extraordinary Fungus. —Mr. Smith, of Micklebring, on entering a field 
where some sheep were grazing, one morning last week, observed something white 
near the hedge, which he supposed to be a lamb ; but on a nearer approach he 
found it to be an enormous Fungus, which measures 44J inches in circumference, 
and is seven pounds in weight. It may now be seen at Mr. Mason’s, Braith- 
well.— Sept. 1. 
Large Fungus. —Last week was gathered in a field, in the possession of Mr. 
Robert Wearmouth, at Newbold, near Chesterfield, a Fungus measuring three 
feet round and two feet six across.— Sept. 1. 
Manure for Grapes and Asparagus.' —Dr. J. W. Smith, of Lockport, 
New York, says he found, from experience, that the coal-dust and scales of iron 
from the blacksmith’s forge, when properly mixed with fine garden mould, were 
incomparably the best manure for the Grape that can be used. For Asparagus 
he has also made use of finely pulverised Oyster-shells, well incorporated with 
the earth in which it is planted, or dug in about the roots of the old bed. The 
effects are said to be astonishing, especially on old beds. 
GEOLOGY. 
Edible Earth. —New facts are constantly brought forward by the learned 
men of the Continent, to shew that the earth eaten in Lapland, as described by 
Humboldt, is known to other nations as a species of food. M. Edouard Biot 
has laid before the French Academy of Sciences an account translated from the 
narratives of the Missionaries, in the Japanese Encyclopcedia. In China it is 
called chi-mien., or stone flour, and the description is as follows :—“ The stone 
flour is not an ordinary production, for it is a miraculous substance. Some say 
that it was born in seasons of scarcity; and in the time of the Emperor Hien 
Tsong (744 of the Christian era) a miraculous spring came out of the ground, 
