Chapter IV: Part 4

In a discussion at one of the meetings (1876) of the London Medico-Psychological Society, the general opinion of the members was, that intemperance is the most fruitful source of the increase of insanity, even when no other etiological element could be found, and alcohol had to be looked upon as the sole cause of the mental disease. Maudsley laid especial stress upon the observation, that intemperance, without hereditary predisposition, was one of the most powerful agencies in the production of aberration of the mind. Even Beckwith, who could not coincide with others as to the great importance of intemperance as an etiological element, says distinctly, that intemperance was, by far, the most potent of all removable causes of mental disease.

In comparing the number of drinking saloons in the different provinces of the kingdom of Prussia with the number of insane, both in public institutions and in private families, as gleaned from the census report of 1871, I was enabled to show conclusively, that everywhere, where the number of drinking places, i.e., the consumption of alcohol, was greatest, the number of insane was also largest. Without doubt, to my mind it is in alcohol that we must look for and will find the most potent cause of the development and spread of mental diseases.

As is well known, alcohol acts as a disturbing element upon the nerve centers, even if it has only once been imbibed in excessive quantity. In consequence of the acute disturbance of circulation and nutrition an acute intoxication takes place, which may range from a slight excitation to a complete loss of consciousness. After habitual abuse of alcohol, the functional disturbances of the brain and spinal cord became constant and disappear the less, as in the central organs degenerative processes are more and more developed, processes which lead to congestions and hemorrhagic effusions in the meninges and in the brain itself, to softening or hardening, and finally to disappearance of the brain substance. These degenerations of the nervous system give rise to a progressive decay of all intellectual and also, more especially, of the ethical functions, a decay which presents the phenomena of feeble mindedness, complicated with a large number of sensational and motor disturbances, and gradually ends in complete idiocy.

The number of those mental disturbances which are caused by alcohol intoxication is a very considerable one. We do not err if we assert that from 20 to 25 per cent. of all mental diseases stand in a direct or indirect relation to the evil consequences of intemperance in the use of intoxicating liquors. This is the opinion of a large number of authorities on mental diseases in all countries. Habitual intemperance leads to severe (psychical?) lesions (of the nervous system) which may show themselves in the different forms of insanity, but express themselves chiefly as mental weakness, not only in persons whose nervous system was weakened through inherited or acquired defects, but also in those whose mental organization was intact. In many other cases we see less complete forms of insanity and more indistinct psychological disturbances and neuroses, and among the latter epilepsy demands particular attention.

An investigation among the patients in the insane department of the Berlin Charite Hospital, in charge of Prof. Westfahl, which was lately carried on by Dr. T. Galle (Uber die Beziehunger des Alcoholismus zur Epilepsie. Inaug. Dissert. 1881, Berlin), showed that among 607 patients who had entered the ward as epileptics or epileptic insane, 150 = 24.7 per cent. had been addicted to drink; 133 before, and 17 after the disease had shown itself; further, that of 1572 patients with delirium tremens, alcoholism, alcoholic dementia, and ebrietas, 243, or 15.4 per cent., were epileptic; and that in 221 intemperance was present before the outbreak of epilepsy; finally, that among 2679 patients which entered the department in six and a half years, 393, or 18 per cent., were inebriates and epileptics. Among 128 epileptics which I had occasion to note in the receiving institute, Plotseurie, 21 per cent. were drunkards and 20 per cent. were the offspring of intemperate parents.

If the list of injuries which intemperance, as we have seen, does directly to the mental life of man is a very considerable one, the baneful effect which is produced indirectly, by the intemperance of parents, upon the mental constitution of their progeny is surely just as great and disastrous. The children of intemperate parents frequently become drunkards themselves; they have inherited a degeneration of the vitiated constitution, and carry the stamp of this degeneration within themselves. The offspring of drunkards are not only weakly and sickly, and die early, especially of diseases of the brain, but, as Dahl, Morel, Howe, Beach, and others have shown, they are frequently born idiotic, or show early signs of insanity. Under the influence of alcohol, the individual constitution of the drinker becomes lowered and depraved, and, according to the law of inheritance, is transmitted through the progeny to the race.

Prof. Bollinger, the latest writer on inheritance of disease (Stuttgart, 1882--Cotta--Uber Dererbung von Krankheiten), names alcoholism among the transient abnormal conditions which, during conception, exert their influence, so that children of intemperate parents acquire pathological, and especially neuro-pathological, dispositions. Intemperance, says this author, in its acute, as well as in its chronic form, causes frequently pathological changes in the nervous system, and thus may the pathological differences in children of the same parents be partially explained. On account of the inheritance of a depraved and pathological constitution, the children of intemperate parents frequently suffer from an abnormal psychical organization. As in the progeny of insane, epileptics, suicides, and criminals, so also among the children of drunkards, do we see cases of congenital idiocy and imbecility, of neurasthenia and inebriety, of psychical and somatic degeneracy, also of depraved morality, of vagrancy and crime.

Mr. President and Gentlemen: In the light of the enumerated facts, nobody will dispute that intemperance is a fruitful as well as inexhaustible source for the increase and development of insanity; and that every effort toward diminution of the frequency of insanity, toward the prevention of mental diseases, must be directed against this widespread evil, intemperance.

May your noble society succeed in confining this torrent of evil in a narrower growing bed, and to deliver mankind from a curse which cannot be too much contended with.

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PLANTAIN AS A STYPTIC.

[Footnote: Read at the meeting of the Amer. Pharm. Assoc.]

By J.W. COLCORD.

Several articles during the past few months, copied from English pharmaceutical journals, calling attention to the styptic properties of plantain leaves--Plantago major--having attracted my attention, I determined to try a few experiments when opportunity offered. Having a shiftless neighbor whose yard produced a bountiful crop of the article, I was easily able to secure an abundant supply for my experiments. Believing that better results would be obtained from fresh plants than from dried, I expressed the juice from them by means of an "Enterprise" mill, obtaining about 16 fluid ounces of juice from 3 pounds of leaves. The juice was of a light green color, very turbid, evidently caused by a large amount of chlorophyl. Setting aside 4 ounces of the filtered liquid for further experimenting, I packed the residue from the press into a conical glass percolator and exhausted with dilute alcohol, evaporating the percolate in a water-bath to two ounces, mixing with the 12 ounces of expressed juice and adding 2 ounces of alcohol. This preparation, which I call a fluid extract, represents virtually equal parts by weight of the dried plants. It is of a dark brown color with a marked odor of the recent plant, and so far, after standing three months undisturbed on my shelves, shows no sign of precipitation.

My next experiment was a mixture of equal quantities of the expressed juice with glycerin. At the present time, after standing three months, the mixture is clear and bright, with no sign of precipitation. This, I think, promises to be the most efficient preparation, and will prove valuable as an injection in the treatment of leucorrhoea, hemorrhages, and similar disorders.

Experiment number three was made with equal parts of the juice and alcohol, and number four with three parts of the juice with one part of alcohol.

In a short time a precipitate was observed in both samples in about equal proportions, and was removed about one month after making by filtering through paper, and neither has shown signs of precipitation since, and continue bright, clear, light-brown liquids.

Of their therapeutic value as styptics, I have not had sufficient trial to form an opinion, although, as far as I can judge, they have proved satisfactory. While writing this article, a cook from a neighboring restaurant, with a finger sliced off in a potato slicer, exposing the bone, came in for treatment. Having bandaged I applied the glycerate, which soon stopped the profuse bleeding, giving her a small bottle of it to apply subsequently. I asked her to report to me in two or three days, and, on reporting, I found a healthy granulation presenting. Its styptic properties are undoubtedly due to tannic acid, as all the tests I have been able to make prove this to be the case. The readiness with which it can be obtained in the summer renders it a valuable adjunct, undoubtedly, to the materia medica of the country practitioner or housewife for stopping hemorrhages in simple wounds.

The bruised leaves applied directly usually prove sufficient for the purpose; as to whether it will prove sufficiently valuable to add to our list of pharmaceutical preparations will require longer and more extended experiment.--_New Remedies_.

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DANGER FROM FLIES.

Dr. Grassi is said (_British Medical Journal_) to have made an important, and by no means pleasant, discovery in regard to flies. It was always recognized that these insects might carry the germs of infection on their wings or feet, but it was not known that they are capable of taking in at the mouth such objects as the ova of various worms, and of discharging them again unchanged in their fæces. This point has now been established, and several striking experiments illustrate it. Dr. Grassi exposed in his laboratory a plate containing a great number of the eggs of a human parasite, the _Tricocephalus dispar_. Some sheets of white paper were placed in the kitchen, which stands about ten meters from the laboratory. After some hours, the usual little spots produced by the fæces of flies were found on the paper. These spots, when examined by the microscope, were found to contain some of the eggs of the tricocephalus. Some of the flies themselves were then caught, and their intestines presented large numbers of the ova. Similar experiments with the ova of the _Oxyuris vermicularis_ and of the _Toenia solium_ afforded corresponding results. Shortly after the flies had some mouldy cream, the _Oidium lactis_ was found in their fæces. Dr. Grassi mentions an innocuous and yet conclusive experiment that every one can try. Sprinkle a little lycopodium on sweetened water, and afterward examine the fæces and intestines of the flies; numerous spores will be found. As flies are by no means particular in choosing either a place to feed or a place to defecate, often selecting meat or food for the purpose, a somewhat alarming vision of possible consequences is raised.

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THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY'S GARDENS.

The erection of the new house for the accommodation of the serpents, alligators, and other reptiles, which is shown in our illustration, must be commended as a valuable improvement of the Zoological Society's establishment in Regent's Park. This building, which has a rather stately aspect and is of imposing dimensions, constructed of brick and terracotta, with a roof of glass and iron, stands close to the south gate of the Gardens, entered from the Broad Walk of the Park. The visitor, on entering by that gate, should turn immediately to the left hand, along the narrow path beside the aviary of the Chinese golden pheasants, and will presently come to the Reptile House, which is too much concealed from view by some of the sheds for the deer. The spacious interior, represented in our view, is one of the most agreeable places in the whole precinct of these gardens, being well aired and lighted, very nicely paved, and tastefully decorated in pale color, with some fine tropical plants in tubs on the floor, or in the windows, and in baskets hanging from the roof. Three oval basins, with substantial margins of concrete, so formed as to prevent the reptiles crawling over them, while one basin is further protected by an iron grating, contain water in which the alligators, the infant crocodiles, and a number of tortoises, but none of the larger species, make themselves quite at home. One side of the house, with its windows looking into a pleasant airy vestibule, is occupied by many small glass cases for the smaller lizards, with boxes and pots of flowers set between them upon tables, which present a very attractive exhibition. The other three sides of the hall, which is nearly square, are entirely devoted to the large wall cages, with fronts of stout plate glass, in single sheets, rising about 14 feet to the roof, in which the serpents are confined--the huge pythons, anaconda, and boa constrictor, the poisonous cobras and rattlesnakes, and others well known to the visitors at these gardens. Each cage or compartment has a sliding door of iron behind, to which the keeper has access in a passage running along the back of the wall, and there are doors also from one compartment to another. The floor is of smooth slate, and the largest snake has ample space to uncoil itself, or to climb up the trunks and branches of trees placed there for its exercise and amusement.

THE BABIROUSSA.

We present, on the same page, a few sketches of the babiroussas, a male and two females, with a young one, recently presented to the society by Dr. F.H. Bauer. These animals, which are from Celebes, in the Malay Archipelago, have been placed temporarily in different stalls of the ostrich house, on the north side of the gardens. The babiroussa is a species of wild hog, peculiar to the islands of Eastern Asia, and remarkable, in the male animal, for the extraordinary growth and direction of the canine teeth. The upper pair of canine teeth, growing out through the upper jaw, curve backward and upward on the forehead, having somewhat the aspect of horns; while the lower canine teeth form a pair of crooked tusks in the under jaw. These teeth may be useful for defensive fighting, as a guard to the head, but could not serve for attack. The skull of a babiroussa, with the teeth fully developed, is in the possession of Mr. Bartlett, the able superintendent of the Zoological Society's collection.--_Illustrated London News_.

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Continued from SUPPLEMENT, No. 363, page 5797.

ON THE MINERALOGICAL LOCALITIES IN AND AROUND NEW YORK CITY.

PART IV.

By NELSON H. DARTON.

Montville, Morris County, New Jersey.--This locality is an old one, and well known to mineralogists. It is outside of the limits prescribed in introducing this series of paper, but by only a few miles, and being such an interesting locality, I have included it in the granular limestone, which occurs in a small isolated ridge in the gneiss within a space of ten acres, about two miles north of the railroad station of Montville, on the Boonton Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and is reached by a road running north from about a mile east of the railroad station. This road branches into two at the limestone kilns, about a mile from the railroad track, and the left hand branch is taken, which leads more directly to the quarry, which is on the right hand, about a mile further on, and quite conspicuous by the loose rock lying in front of the quarry. It is on the property of a Mr. John J. Gordon, and produces a very fine limestone for use in the furnaces and forges in the vicinity, as well as lime for agricultural purposes, it being the only limestone in the vicinity for fifteen miles. Between it and its walk of gneiss occur veins of the minerals so characteristic of the locality, and for which it has become famous--serpentine, asbestos, phlozopite, gurhofite pyrites, biotite, aragonite, dolomite, tremolite, and possibly others in lesser quantity.

_Serpentine_.--All the varieties of this species, and of every color from nearly white to black, is profusely distributed through the limestone in the lower or main quarry in veins and pockets. It is generally soft, translucent, and to be found in masses from a pea to a cubic foot in size. Much of it is of a pure oil green color, rich and translucent, making a very fine and attractive looking mineral specimen. No difficulty need be experienced in producing all the varieties of this mineral, as much has been removed and may be found in the vicinity of the quarry, as it is always carefully separated from the limestone as being useless, and thrown aside, or in some instances, when of peculiar beauty, sold as specimens. The variety of serpentine known as marmolite, which is made up of numberless plates of the mineral packed together similar to mica, but of the green color of the serpentine picolite, or fibrous serpentine, also frequently occurs of a light grass green color, and is a very interesting variety.

In selecting specimens of serpentine, care should be taken to procure that which is the most translucent, and that holding miniature veins of asbestos. These are not so plentiful as those of the pure serpentine alone, but occur in the southern end of the main quarry. The width of these veins of asbestos is seldom over an inch, but those of even much less are highly prized as specimens. These veins of asbestos are, in places, several inches in length, but are generally much broken in removing them, as their fibrous structure, at right angles to their length, makes them very fragile, and pure specimens of asbestos can seldom be found. However, they make much finer specimens when with the serpentine. Frequently these specimens may be obtained with a layer of gurhofite above them, and separated by the serpentine; this assortment is very interesting, revealing to us the manner in which they were formed, which was by a process termed segregation.

This gurhofite, called bone by the quarrymen, occurs in white, dense looking masses, intermingled with the serpentine, especially in the upper end of the quarry, where veins six and eight inches in thickness are abundant, and from which specimens may be readily obtained showing the fibrous structure of the gurhofite and the association with the serpentine, to which it is found attached; it is quite different from the limestone in appearance, and need not be mistaken for it.

_Phlozopite_.--In a vein near the lower end of the quarry, near the asbestos locality, occurs large plates of this mineral, which is a variety of mica, and has all of the characteristics of a pure silvery white color, and from one by three inches in area to less. It is easily separable in folia, and cannot be confounded with any of the other minerals. A huge mass of the veinstone holding abundance of this mineral is exposed, whence it may be plentifully obtained in excellent crystals.

_Pyrites_.--White and yellow iron pyrites are abundant in the gneissic rock adjoining the limestone, and frequently very fine, perfect crystals may be found handsomely dressed upon the rock. There is no particular portion of the quarries in which they abound.

_Biotite_.--This is a variety of mica in small crystals, of a dark brown color, and quite plentiful in the gneiss inclosing the veins of limestone. Up in the older quarries it is more abundant; on the north wall of the vein it is often in very fine specimens, and there even in large number, in a locality, generally a pocket in the gneiss.

_Tremolite_ is quite abundant on a large mass of limestone in the extreme upper quarry, which is a short distance east of the main one, over a small hill. The tremolite occurs in white crystals, about a quarter inch in width and from a half to three inches in length. The crystals are opaque, but very smooth and glistening, lining cavities in this mass of limestone. It is a variety of hornblende, composed of silica, lime, and magnesia, with a little alumina. It probably occurs in places in the vicinity of this block, and in finer specimens, as these are frequently, when near the surface, much weathered and worn. This is a characteristic granular limestone mineral, and a very interesting one. We will again meet it when examining the New York city localities.

_Aragonite_ occurs in very small masses, of a light yellow color and fibrous structure, between layers of serpentine. When they are separated by a small interspace, as it frequently is, the fibers are very large, coarse, and brittle, and thus do not resemble asbestos, although in some instances they might be mistaken for picolite, but, distinguished from it by effervescing on contact with a drop of acid, as it is a carbonate of lime, and also containing a trace of iron. I have never seen any fine specimens of it from this locality, but deeper down in the rock it may occur in greater profusion.

Dolomite occurs to a limited extent as such; most of it, being in the form of gurhofite crystals, may be occasionally found with aragonite of a light pearly gray color and rhombohedral crystals. As before noticed, Staten Island is the best locality for this species.

_Calcite_.--In places the limestone is perfectly crystallized, and of a pure white or other color, when it forms an attractive mineral, and often worth removing. The limestone of the main quarry, carefully averaged, was found to have the following chemical composition.

Lime. 11.09
Magnesia. 37.94
Carbonic acid. 30.61
Silica. 10.22
Water and loss. 4.90
Iron and alumina. 5.24
------
100.00

In places it is spotted with the serpentine, and judging from its rough state resembles "_verde antique_," and at that of a beautiful color; samples of this should be obtained.

_Feldspar_.--This mineral occurs very plentfully in the space between the limestones and gneiss. It is generally of a flesh red color and often in very perfect crystals, in some instances an inch and a half in length; as its hardness is 6, it can be readily distinguished from calcite, which it much resembles, but which has only a hardness of 3, and dissolves with effervescence in acids.

A visit to this locality is a delightful manner in which to spend a holiday or other time of leisure; and as it affords so many interesting and valuable minerals, it forms a very profitable trip as well. In reaching it many interesting localities are passed, and if one has an early start these may all be visited. I will describe a few of these, which are alike possessors of beautiful scenery and instructing geological features and not far from the main line of travel.

Starting from the Erie depot, on the Greenwood Lake road, the first stop may be at Arlington, about seven miles west of Jersey City. Here a visit to the Schuyler copper mine may be profitably taken; and as I have written a full account of this locality in a previous portion of these articles,[1] I will not reiterate it here, but refer to that paper. The mine, I might add, is only a mile north of the railroad station, and on Schuyler Avenue, a short distance north from its junction with the Jersey City and Paterson turnpike. Coming back to Arlington depot, and walking on the track for about a quarter of a mile west through the deep cut, the manner in which the sandstones and shales which constitute so large a portion of New Jersey are laid and arranged can be seen to great advantage, this being one of the finest exposures in the formation. At a point about equidistant from either end is a fault in the layers of shales and sandstone; this fault is noticeable as a slight irregularity in the otherwise continuous sides of the cut, and is a point at which the layers of rock on the east have fallen vertically, the western side remaining in its original position. This fault has a thrust of only three feet, but is an instructive example of faults which occur on a tremendous scale in some of the other formations. It will be noticed that between the two edges of the separated layers there is a deposit of a talcky substance, which has been derived from infiltrating waters. Fissure veins are generally in positions of this kind, formed and filled in a similar manner, but with the various metallic ores. Passing further west a short distance we reach the Passaic River, and walk along its banks for a mile north to the Belleville bridge; at this point is the intake of the Jersey City water works, with their huge Worthington pumps and other accessories, which may be conveniently visited. The Passaic River is then crossed, and the train on the Newark and Paterson road may be taken for three miles to Avondale, from whence it is two miles east to the Belleville sandstone quarries, or the bank of the Passaic may be followed and the quarries reached in an hour from Belleville. Here again are met the sandstones and shales, besides another and larger fault, and many interesting features of the sandstone and its quarrying may be examined. The railroad station having been regained, Paterson is the next point of interest. The first thing noticeable in approaching the city are the quarries in the side of the hills to the south, and these may be visited the first; they are but a short distance southeast of the station. Here the sandstone will be found in contact with the trap above and the layers of basalt, trap, tufa, sandstone, shales and conglomerates are exposed. Regaining the nearest railroad track (the Boonton branch of the D., L. & W.R.R.), this is followed for some distance west, when the various strata can be examined in the cut of the railroad and a fault of nearly sixty feet in the trap; this is noticed as a depression in the face of the cliff, and it may be seen by the superposition of the layers of trap and basalt. Where the fault occurs a short distance further west, there is another smaller fault. A visit to the Great Falls of the Passaic is a very pleasurable diversion at this point, and these are about a half mile north of this locality. Here the arrangement of the trap and sandstones can be again profitably studied, and the mineralogical localities which I have described in a former one of these articles[2] examined, not omitting the one at West Paterson, wherein so much phrenite may be found. Taking the train from West Paterson to Little Falls, a walk of a few miles south brings us to the Little Falls, and here is another interesting locality wherein the contact of the sandstone and trap may be examined and the numerous additional phenomena studied. A quarry near the Falls is the best point in which to find these exposures, and from the viaduct crossing the river an excellent view of the surrounding country may be obtained. Regaining the train, Montville is soon reached and visited, and after this, if time sufficient Boonville, two miles west, may be taken in, or it may be necessary to go there to catch a return train, as but few stop at Montville. At Boonton there are many interesting features--iron works furnaces, localities in which fossil remains are found, footprints, conglomeritic beds, and many other things, of which I will endeavor to give a detailed account in some other of this series of articles.

[Footnote 1: See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 363.]

[Footnote 2: See SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, No. 363.]

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DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT CHURCH IN JERUSALEM.

An account of the newly discovered church, north of the Damascus Gate, Jerusalem, appears in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund. The author is Dr. Selah Merrill. The ruin has proved to be one of great extent, and of special interest. The way in which it was brought to light is worth recording. In an uneven field, which rose considerably above the land about it, parts of which appearing, indeed, like little hillocks, the owner of the soil tried to maintain a vegetable garden, but the ground was so dry that neither grain nor vegetables would flourish, and even irrigation did little or no good; besides, here and there large holes appeared in the ground which could not be accounted for. At last the owner determined to dig and see what there was below the surface of his field, and to his surprise he very soon came upon fine walls and a pavement. The excavations being followed up have laid bare a church with some of the surrounding buildings. The amount of _débris_ which had accumulated above the floor of these buildings was 10 to 20 feet in depth. To remove this mass of earth has required much time and labor, and the work is not yet completed. The piece of ground in question has about 60 yards of frontage on the main road, and extends, so far as the excavations go, about the same distance back from the road, that is, to the east.

The church itself is situated on the south side of this plot, and is very near the street. The ground in front of the church is paved with fine slabs of stone. The steps by which the church was entered were 5 feet wide, but the doorway itself was somewhat wider. From the entrance to the altar step, or platform, the distance is 55 feet, and from that point to the back of the apse 15 feet 6 inches; the width of the apse is 16 feet 6 inches. The width of the church is 24 feet 6 inches. Nine feet in front of the altar step a wall has been thrown across the church in a manner similar to that in the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem. This wall, also those of the church, of which several courses remain, and the interior of the apse, show that the building was originally painted, and some of the figures and designs can still be traced. At the southeast corner of the church, leading from the apse, there is a narrow but well built passageway to the buildings in the rear. The character of these buildings is not very evident; certainly they did not stand on a line with the church, but at an angle of 25° with that line. Between the church and what appears now to have been the main building in the rear, there was a passage not over 3 feet wide. The main building in the rear of the church is 47 feet 6 inches long, but to this must be added 20 feet more of a special room, which seems to have belonged to it, and which had a beautiful mosaic pavement. Thus the extreme length from the entrance of the church to the (present) east side of this mosaic floor is 140 feet.

On the west side of this mosaic floor, where it joins the wall of the main building, there is a threshold of a single stone, 9 feet 6 inches long, with a step 6 feet 9 inches in the clear. This is considerably wider, it will be seen, than the steps, and even the entrance of the church. Several patches of mosaic pavement have been found, but in one place two or three square yards have been preserved, enough to show that the work was extremely beautiful. The colored tracings resemble those in the church on the Mount of Olives, and on one side are the large Greek letters [Theta][epsilon][omicron][nu]. North of this mosaic floor, and of the main building which joins it, and running alongside of both, there is a watercourse or channel cut in the solid rock, which has been leveled to accommodate the buildings above. This can be traced in an east and west line for a distance of 37 feet; it is 2 feet 3 inches deep, 20 inches wide at the top and 12 at the bottom. From about the middle of the mosaic floor this channel turns a right angle and runs 20 feet or more to the north; it is possible that it led _from_ the north, and at the point indicated turned a right angle and ran to the west. Piles of stones and _debris_ prevent us at present from deciding as to the length of the channel or where it comes from. In the bank of _debris_, which rises on the east side of the mosaic floor to a height of 20 feet, there is, about 6 feet above the floor, a watercourse formed of cement, running north and south at right angles to the line of the church and the other buildings, which must have belonged to a much later period. In fact--and this is an interesting circumstance--the mosaic pavement appears to extend under and beyond this canal and the mass of _debris_ which is yet to be removed.

In the northwest corner of the room, where the mosaic floor is found, very near the angle (already mentioned) of the rock-cut channel, there is a tomb about 6 feet below the surface or level of the floor. The tomb is 10 feet long and 9 feet wide, and is entered by a doorway 26 inches wide, which is well built, and in the sides of which are grooves for a door to slide up and down. On the wall of the tomb at the east end there is a raised Greek cross, 22 inches long and 13 inches wide. One cannot stand erect in its highest part, but it is to be considered that the loculi are two-thirds full of _debris_, composed chiefly of decayed bones and bits of glass. Those in charge of the excavations have not, up to the present time, allowed the tombs to be cleared out. The loculi are 2 feet in depth.

What Captain Conder speaks of as "vaults north of the church," turn out to be the tops of houses. They are four in number, each 75 feet long by 28 feet wide, and faced the street. They were divided (one or two of them at least) into apartments by means of arches. The lower courses of the walls, to the height of several feet, are of squared stones, while the upper portions and the roofs are of rubble work, which was covered with a heavy coating of plaster. The threshold of one has been exposed, which is 6 feet in the clear, and the sides of the doorway show excellent work.

Among the ruins there are two sections of marble columns, each 33 inches in diameter. Three large cisterns have been found, two of which were nearly full of water; the mouths of these, which were closed, were many feet below the surface of the ground before the excavations began, hence no one knows how old the water in them may be. Some of the slabs with which the church was paved were 6 feet long by 2½ feet wide. In the church two pieces of cornice were found, each 8 feet in length. One is entire and quite plain, while the other is broken in the middle. It is upon this that the figures of Christ and his twelve apostles were painted. They can still be traced, although exposure has nearly obliterated the colors. Pottery and a considerable quantity of broken glass have been found and some small articles in marble of no great value. The top of a certain block of marble has been formed into a basin, and a hole drilled the entire length of the block for the water to run off.

South of the mosaic floor and of the east end of the main building there is a large underground chamber with seven openings (each the size of a man's body) to the surface. The chamber is 12 feet wide and nearly 20 feet long, but the depth is not yet ascertained, owing to the accumulation of _debris_ on the bottom. On the west and north sides a wall of solid rock appears to a depth of 6 feet, showing that the chamber was excavated in part at least in the solid rock. The use of this chamber does not appear evident, unless it may have been a store room. The place within the city shown as "Peter's Prison" consists of a similar chamber (not dug in the solid rock, however), with similar openings in the ceiling or roof. The ruins extend underground some distance to the east of the mosaic floor, and efforts are being made to purchase the land in that direction, in order to allow of the excavations being extended there. It is almost equally certain that the buildings extended to the south and southeast of the present plat of ground. But the owners of the land are jealous, and everybody is superstitious; consequently, excavations must be abandoned, or move with aggravating slowness.

Dr. Selah Merrill, in a note describing a late visit, says that the west wall of what he called the "main building," toward the apse of the church, has been removed and the floor cleared, exposing a fine pavement. This pavement, the threshold before mentioned, and the mosaic floor all belong to one period, and to a structure very much older than the date of the "main building." It puzzled the doctor, because the threshold west of the mosaic floor was not square with the east wall of the "main buildings," but the reason is now clear. Captain Conder says of this church with such of the ruins about it as were exposed when he was there, that "the whole is evidently of the Crusading period." As regards the church itself, this is not clear, and the mosaic floor especially may belong to a time many centuries previous to that era. At the south side of the floor of the "main building" a new mouth to the largest cistern has been discovered; over the mouth there is a thick stone 5 feet in diameter. This was eight sided, and was built against the wall, so that five sides are exposed. The stone was cut in such a way as to leave on two of its sides small brackets shaped like the two halves of the utensil called a "tunnel." It may be of interest to state that this piece of land was offered for sale a few years since, and for a long time went a begging for a purchaser; at last it was sold for 40 Napoleons. During the present year it has passed into the hands of the French for 2,000 Napoleons.

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DAMMARA AUSTRALIS

One of the noblest evergreen trees in that noblest of collections of such plants contained in the Temperate House at Kew, is the subject of the present note. Some months since cones were observed to be forming on this tree, and a representation of which we are now enabled, through the courtesy of Mrs. Dyer, to lay before our readers. We are not aware whether the tree has previously produced cones at Kew, though we have the impression that such is the case; at any rate it has done so elsewhere, as recorded in the _Flore des Serres_, 1856, p. 75, but fertile seed was not yielded, owing to the absence of pollen.

In this country the tree is only valuable for its massive aspect and richly colored thick evergreen leaves, borne on successive tiers of branches, which render it specially suitable for the decoration of winter gardens, corridors, and such like situations, where no great amount of heat is required. In the northern island of New Zealand, however, it is quite another matter, for there, where it is known as the Kauri Pine, it furnishes the most valuable of timbers, as may be judged from the fact that the trunk of the tree attains a height of from 50 to 100 feet clear of the branches; moreover, it yields a gum resin like copal, which exudes from the trunk, and which is sometimes found below ground in the vicinity of the trees, thus giving the clew to the real nature of amber and other similar substances.

The timber is of slow growth, especially valuable for the construction of masts of ships, its durability, strength, and elasticity rendering it particularly suitable for this purpose, and Laslett speaks of it as one of the best woods for working that the carpenter can take in hand, and recommends its use for the decks of yachts, for cabin panels, for joiner's work generally, or for ornamental purposes. Owing to the difficulty and expense of working the forests, and the great distance, comparatively little of it comes to this country.--_The London Gardeners' Chronicle_.

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HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPLANT TREES.

Many think it cheaper and better to take up large trees from the woods, and transplant them to their grounds or to the road-side, than to buy nursery trees. As a rule, such trees die; they fail because proper precautions have not been taken. In digging up a tree, all the roots outside of a circle a few feet in diameter are cut off, and the tree is reset with its full head of branches. Whoever has seen trees in the forest that were upturned by a tornado, must have been struck by the manner in which the roots run very near to the surface, and to a great distance. When the roots of these trees are cut off at two or three feet from the trunk, few or no fibrous or feeding roots are left; and if the mass of tops is left, the expansion of the buds in the spring will not be responded to by a supply of sap from the roots, and death must follow. If such trees have the tops completely removed, leaving only a bare pole, they will usually grow when transplanted. The tree is little more than an immense cutting; but there are roots enough left to meet the demand of the few shoots that start from the top, and growth above and below ground is well balanced.

We have seen maples, elms, and basswood trees, fifteen feet or more high, transplanted in this manner, without failure. Some trees treated in this manner were planted in our neighborhood about ten years ago. They have now as fine heads as one would wish, and show no signs of former rough treatment. Trees in pastures, or on the edge of the woods, are better furnished with roots. These should be prepared for transplanting by digging down to the roots, and cutting off all that extended beyond the desired distance. This will cause the formation of fibrous roots near the tree. It will be safer to take two years for the operation, cutting half of the roots each year. Such trees may be removed in safety, especially if a good share of the top is removed at transplanting--_American Agriculturist_.

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