ervers in every
department of science, and the accumulation of facts is so rapid and so
great, that very many of the older theories are being set aside as not
in accord with the newly discovered facts. A student brought up in
institutions where the old theories are inculcated has afterward to
spend half his time in unlearning what he had been previously taught,
and the other half in studying the new facts brought to his notice and
testing the theories promulgated by men of science. Botanical science
does not wholly consist in the classification and nomenclature of
plants, but largely consists in a knowledge of vegetable anatomy and
physiology, and these require much study and some knowledge of other
sciences, such as chemistry, meteorology, geology, etc. Without such
general knowledge it is difficult to form a harmonious theory in regard
to any of the phenomena of plant life.

* * * * *

VANILLA, CINNAMON, COCOANUT.

The following interesting facts concerning the cultivation of the above
products in the island of Ceylon, were given in Mr. H. B. Brady's recent
address before the British Pharmaceutical Conference at Swansea:

The vanilla plant is trained on poles placed about twelve or eighteen
inches apart--one planter has a line of plants about three miles in
length. Like the cardamom, it yields fruit after three years, and then
continues producing its pods for an indefinite period.

The cinnamon (_Cinnamomum zeylanicum_) is, as its name indicates, a
native of Ceylon. It is cultivated on a light sandy soil about three
miles from the sea, on the southwest coast of the island, from Negumbo
to Matura. In its cultivated state it becomes really productive after
the sixth year, and continues from forty to sixty years. The
superintendent of the largest estate in this neighborhood stated that
there were not less than fifteen varieties of cinnamon, sufficiently
distinct in flavor to be easily recognized. The production of the best
so injures the plants that it does not pay to cut this at any price
under 4s. 6d. to 5s. per lb. The estate alluded to above yields from
30,000 to 40,000 lb. per annum; a uniform rate of 41/2 d. per lb. of
finished bark is paid for the labor. Cinnamon oil is produced from this
bark by distillation; the mode is very primitive and wasteful. About 40
lb. of bark, previously macerated in water, form one charge for the
still, which is heated over a fire made of th