17 2  A  Note  on  Cardamoms.  {A%JPXi89h9arra* 
the  herbivora.  In  fact,  the  whole  subject  of  animal  chemistry  in- 
vites close  thought  and  study — its  operations  being  by  no  means, 
as  yet,  fully  comprehended. 
With  regard  to  the  utility  of  spent  drugs  as  a  basis  of  poultry  or 
other  food,  experimentally,  would  require  caution.  Starch,  gum- 
wood-fibre  are  undoubtedly  left  as  residuum,  and  any  adaptation 
might  rest  upon  the  fact  that  in  the  instinct  for  food,  nature  seems  in. 
clined  to  demand  bulk.  In  this  bulk  there  is  always,  as  we  know, 
a  very  large  proportion  which  is  useless  or  valueless.  But  nature, 
as  we  term  the  vital  processes,  seems  to  prefer  to  make  her  own 
selection,  and  there  must  be  enough  bulk  of  substance  for  the 
muscular  grasp  to  take  hold  of.  In  all  the  economies  of  practice, 
the  utilization  of  waste  constitutes  wealth — this  is  a  highly  im- 
portant consideration  in  every  department  of  industry. 
A  NOTE  ON  CARDAMOMS. 
By  Frederick  L.  Lewton. 
A  paper  by  Daniel  Hanbury  on  "  Some  Rare  Kinds  of  Carda- 
moms," appearing  in  the  Pharmaceutical  Journal  of  February  I, 
1855,  contained  careful  minute  descriptions  of  the  cardamoms  of 
Siam,  Cochin  China,  Tonquin  and  China,  illustrated  by  excellent 
wood-cuts ;  references  to  other  published  descriptions,  and  notes 
upon  the  properties,  uses  and  commerce  of  the  several  varieties. 
The  natural  order  to  which  the  cardamom  belongs  was  a  par- 
ticular favorite  of  this  great  man. 
Joseph  Ince,  in  his  memoir  of  Daniel  Hanbury,  says :  "  He  worked 
on  the  Zingiberaceae  as  though  he  loved  them ;  amusing  were  his 
private  comments  on  those  who  without  much  real  learning  had 
ventured  on  the  intricacies  of  the  theme,  and  had  longer  life  been 
granted,  Hanbury  would  have  amplified  and  extended  to  the  utmost 
a  linejof  investigation  which  possessed  for  him  a  peculiar  charm." 
In  addition  to  the  numerous  samples  of  cardamoms  procured 
directly  from  authentic  sources,  Hanbury  studied  the  specimens  of 
Loureiro,  Pareira  and  other  investigators,  which  had  been  deposited 
in  several  European  museums.  In  the  article  mentioned  above  he 
frequently  states,  after  giving  a  minute  description  of  some  rare 
variety,  that  the  specimen  in  question  may  be  found  in  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History  at  Paris,  or  the  British  Museum,  or  some  other 
such  institution. 
