302 
MISCELLANY. 
tity. The sugar is well granulated, very dry, free from smell, particularly white, 
and tastes like sugar-candy. 
Vegetable Origins. —Turnips and Carrots are thought indigenous to France. 
Our Cauliflowers came from Cyprus,—our Artichokes from Sicily,—Lettuce from 
Cos, a name corrupted into Gause,—Shallots, or Eschalots, from Ascalon. I had 
been reading on the subject, and was struck with the numerous ideas on com¬ 
merce and civilization which may arise from a dinner. Will you have a dessert 
from memory ? The Cherry and Filbert are from Pontus,—the Citron from 
Media, the Chesnut from Castana, in Asia-Minor,—the Peach and Walnut from 
Persia,—the Plum from Syria,—the Pomegranate from Cyprus,—the Quince from 
Cydon,—the Olive and Fig from Greece, as are the best Apples and Pears, though 
also found wild in France, and even here. The Apricot is from Armenia.— 
Horace Walpole. 
GEOLOGY. 
Effects of High Temperature. —In Dr. Mantell’s Wonders of Geology , we 
find the following observations on this interesting subject:— 
The phenomena presented to cur notice in the investigation of the geysers [[or 
hot springs] of Iceland, lead to the consideration of another agent in the trans¬ 
mutations that take place in the crust of the globe. It must be obvious to any 
intelligent mind, that beds of unconnected and porous materials have acquired 
hardness and solidity only by one cf the following processes 1st, by matter 
dissolved in a fluid, and consequently deposited among the porous mass in the 
manner just described; or, 2ndly, by their reduction by heat into a state of 
softness or fusion, and afterwards cooling into a solid mass.* Fire—or, to speak 
more correctly, high temperature, however induced, whether by electro-magnetic 
influence, or from a central cr medial source of heat—and water are therefore 
the great agents by which the condition of the surface of our planet is modified. 
We have already seen how vast are the changes which result from the effects of 
the latter; we must now take a rapid survey of the influence which the former 
]S capable of exerting; an influence far more universal, and varied, than we may 
at first be prepared to expect. The expansive power of heat on most substances, 
its conversion of the most solid and durable bodies, first into a fluid, and lastly 
into a gaseous state, are phenomena so familiar as tc require no lengthened com¬ 
ment. But the effects of heat are found to vary according to the circumstances 
under which bodies are submitted to its operation, and hence the changes induced 
by high temperature under great pressure, are totally different from those effected 
* Playfair. 
