quently, meet in Philadelphia, on the first of next June. Before I close this address, justice requires an acknowledgment of our obligations to the Honourable Legislature, for the privileges which they have repeatedly conferred upon our profession, and particularly for their patronage of our medical schools. Io these nurseries of science we must look for those educated physicians, who will become the most useful members of this society, and whose general dispersion through the community, will excite in others a taste for literature, and an emulation to improve in useful knowledge. Good policy, therefore, dictates the propriety of granting liberal endow ments to our colleges of medicine, as the means of disseminating know. ledge, and thereby enabling the public duly to appreciate the medical character. Public opinion, thus enlightened, will repose more confidence in the scientific practitioner, and thence conspire to promote the utility and respectability of the profession. It was by similar means that it has long since attained a distinguished eminence in England. And it was thus that ancient Greece, which surpassed all the world in science, equally surpassed them in bestowing exalted, and even divine honours, upon her physicians. ART. 7. Letter to the Editor of the AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE, on the Date-Tree, or Palm. By C. S. RAFINESQUE. 1N MR. EDITOR, Na Letter of Mr. W. Darby, on the same subject, in your Number of last January, I observe several inaccuracies, which deserve correction. This gentleman, who, by despising the labours and works of the botanists, shows a degree of illiberality and ignorance, rather uncommon at present among topographical compilers, has been very unhappy in the selection of works which he has deemed proper to consult on the subject of the DateTree. If he had applied to these botanists, whom he blames undeservedly, many better and later sources of information might have been pointed out to him, and he would not have fallen into the error of asserting, that the Date-Tree does not grow in Europe, while it grows in Sicily, Calabria, Spain, and France! By consulting an old edition of Miller, and the Travels of VOL. IV.-No. vi. Shaw only, he has committed the same blunder that a geographer would, if he was to quote an old history or travels in the United States, printed 50 or 100 years ago, in order to tell us what they are now! The Gardener's Dictionary of Miller has had many editions; the last one, edited by Martyn, in 1807, 4 vols. fol. is the only one worth consulting now. And nobody ought to write on the Date-Tree, without knowing the two excellent dissertations on it, by the learned Spanish and French botanists, Cavanilles and Desfontaines. This last is inserted at the end of the Flora Atlantica of said author, and is in the possession of Dr. Eddy, of New-York. A variety of useful information on this Tree is to be found besides in numberless modern works of botanists and travellers. 59 The cultivation of the Date-Tree was carried from Africa to Spain and Sicily, by the Saracens, 1000 years ago, along with the sugarcane and orange-tree. Since the expulsion of the Moors from those countries, it has been greatly neglected, and confined to some peculiar spots, where they are yet cultivated on a large scale, for the sake of the leaves, rather than the fruits. Those leaves are bleached, by being tied together in a bundle in the fall, and cut in the spring, to be employed in the religious festival of Palm Sunday. We are told by Cavanilles, Swinburne, and in the Picture of Valentia, that immense orchards or foresis of date-trees are cultivated in Valencia and Andelusia in Spais, for that specific purpose, which yield a great income to their owners, those leaves being sent all over Spain for the above purpose. The highest degree of cold in those provinces is about 30 degrees of Fahrenheit. In Sicily I have seen those trees cultivated for the same purpose, in gardens and groves; they are not uncommon near Palermo, Trapani, Marsala, Agrigentum, Syracuse, &c. But they are contined to the littoral region, where the highest degree of cold Hardly ever exceeds 32 of Fabrerbeit. I have seen at Misilmeri, nie miles from Palermo, a tree 80 feet high, and more than 100 years old. Most of the trees are females, and their fruit being unfecundated, is not good, and has no stone: but a male tree having lately borne flowers, an artificial fecundation, similar to the process used by the Arabs (by tying a bunch of such flowers on the female tree), having been used, perfect fruits were the result, which I tasted there are many at Hyeres, but their fruits do not come to perfection, because the artificial (often indispen sable) fecundation is not used. It is, therefore, my decided opinion, notwithstanding Mr. Darby's hasty decision, that this tree may succeed in the United States, where the thermometer does not fall below 25° in winter, such as in Georgia, in Florida, and on the shores of the whole Gulf of Mexico: Wherever, in fact, the sugar-canes, orangetrees, palmettos, and pistachoe-trees do thrive. These productions, which are its associates in Europe, Africa, and Asia, cannot fail to be such in America likewise. The association of peculiar species of trees and plants, is one of the safest tokens of the practicability of their contemporaneous naturalization, which Mr. Darby has totally neglected. I do not mean to imply that the date-trees will bear as good fruit in our continent, as in the eastern. There are twenty varieties at least known in Barbary; our climate may produce new ones. Even there, it is often needful to dry them in part in the sun, in order to perfect them, and give them a sweet mellow taste: we may do the same, or use other means. But even if they could not bear good fruits, the Date-Tree is so useful in many other respects, that it will be, at all events, a very va-. luable acquisition. The gentlemen in the Southern States, who may wish to undertake its cultivation, need merely purchase a few pounds of the imported dates, and, after eating them, plant the stones in a light rich soil, or in pots; they will easily germinate in a few mouths, as I have myself made the experiment in Sicily, while studying the germination of monocotyle plants. They may be transplanted afterwards, taking care not to touch the root. This tree is of very slow The French botanists tell us, that the Date ree is also cultivated on the shores of frovence and Languedoc, where the thermometer falls sometimes as low as 25 degrees of Farenheit in winter. I remember to have seen a tree near Marseilles; growth; but lives 2 or 300 years. The leaves may be tied in a bundle every fall, to prevent the frost from injuring the tender central shoot. It may not be amiss to state some of the uses and properties of this valuable tree, besides the known use of the fruit as food. 1. The fruits have an excellent medical property by their sweet as tringency, in all the diseases of the lungs, the kidney, and the bladder. 2. A thick sirup is pressed from the ripe fruits, which has all the properties and uses of honey, molasses, and sugar. 3. The dried fruits may be ground into a sort of meal, from which bread and cakes may be made. 4. A wine and a spirit is drawn from the fruits, sirup and meal mixed with water. 5. The stones are ground sof tened in water, and given to cattle; cows, sheep, and camels, who all grow fat upon them. 6. The spathas and peduncles of the flowers are good to eat, raw or cooked; the female flowers are the best, but they are not much used, because by eating them, you lose the harvest of fruits. 7. The young leaves, although rather astringent, are good to eat in salad, or boiled like the cabbage of the cabbage-tree; but if, instead of the leaves, the whole sprout is used, you lose the tree. 8. The pith of the young trees is very good to eat in the same way. 9. Ropes are made with the dry spathas and the threads of the petiols. 10. The rib of the leaves is employed in many ways, the same as canes, reeds, walking-sticks, &c. 11. The folioles of the leaves, soaked in water or bleached, by coverings, or exposure to the smoke of brimstone, are used to make ornaments, palms, fans, brooms, hats, baskets, carpets, and furnitures. 12. The wood of old trees is hard and solid; it is used for the building of houses, ships, furnitures, and wharves; it lasts almost forever. 13. Its wood burns slowly, and without flame; but its charcoal is very hot and valuable. 14. A white liquor, called datemilk, flows in the heat of summer, from incisions made at the base of the leaves; it is sweet and agreeable, but must be drank within twentyfour hours, after which it becomes sour, and forms vinegar. These incisions are only made to the male trees, as they exhaust very much the trees. Such are the valuable uses of the Date-Tree, which botanists call Phoenix dactylifera. A tree which affords fruits, meal, wine, vinegar, spirits, milk, lumber, fuel, charcoal, canes, furnitures, carpets, baskets, ropes, sirup, sugar, bread, medicine, feed, greens, &c. is indeed one of the best gifts of the Almighty Being, and its introduction with us worth undertaking and attending to. I hope now that Mr. Darby, who wants to be any thing but a botanist, will allow that botanists are willing to convey useful information, whenever they are called upon by their duty, or by unmerited attacks, which display more prejudice than ingenuity. All the arts and sciences support one another, and rely upon each other for correct principles and results. This must never be forgotten. C. S. RAFINESque. P. S. It may be well to add, that the root of the Date-Tree is not horizontal, and will not, therefore, fear a slight frost in the ground. The trunk is very hardy; snow will not have the least effect upon it. Many other useful trees,shrubs, and plants, such as the pistachoe-tree, European shumack, jujuba-tree, esculent cyperus, &c. might be introduced to advantage in the southern states; but none so valuable as the Date-Tree: THIS ART. 8. CABINET OF VARIETIES. copper, and zinc and gold, operate much more powerfully than other metals, though any of them produce the effect. Galvani also ascertained that a combination of two metals acts with greater force than a simple metal. From all his experiments, which commenced in 1791, the Italian philosopher concluded, that the phenomena of galvanism were owing to electricity generated in the animal organs, and that metals served only as conductors to it. This theory, however, subsequent investigation has proved to be erroneous. Lapland Calendar. January. The most intense cold took place between the 3d and the 7th. The greatest depth of snow, 1 of a Swedish ell. February.-Snow falling, with violent wind, from the 9th to the 13th. March.-Extreme cold from the 8th to the 13th. (From the London Literary Panorama.) DISCOVERY OF GALVANISM. HIS extraordinary agent, from its effects on animals, was originally called animal electricity. It received its name from Professor Galvani, of Bologna, to whom we are indebted for this discovery, in which, however, as in many others, accident had no small share. His wife, who was in a declining state of health, was using a soup made of frogs as a restorative. Some of the animals, being skinned for the purpose, were lying on a table in the laboratory, when one of his assistants chanced to touch with a scalpel the crural nerve of a frog that lay near the conductor; upon which the muscles of the limb were strongly convulsed. This effect was noticed by the lady, a woman of superior understanding and science, and communicated to her husband on his return home. He repeated the experiment, which he varied in every possible way, first with artificial, and then with the atmos herical electricity. In the course of his experiments with the latter, he suspended some frogs by metallic hooks from iron palisades, and observed that the muscles were frequently and involuntarily contracted, when no electricity appeared in the atmosphere. Having duly considered the phenomenon, he found that it had no connexion with the changes in the state of the electricity in the atmosphere; but might be produced at pleasure, by applying two pieces of metal to differen parts of the animal, and bringing them into contact. This effect may be increased by arming the nerve with a metallic coating, by which means a larger portion of the nerve is brought into contact with the metal. Zinc and potatoes. April. The first rook seen on the 15th. Several rooks made their appearance on the 23d.he ways become passable; wild geese begin to appear. May. The partridge (Charadrius apricarius Linn.) and the Motacilla ananthe Linn. appeared on the 5th. The season for travelling in sledges ended on the 8th. The rivulets 'began to flow on the 9th. First rain appeared on the 11th; and at the same time the Lumme (Colymbus Lumme) made its appearance. The ice began to break up on the 14th. Swallows appeared on the 15th. The ice disappeared on the 17th. The spring floods in the rivers then at their height. Upon the 18th sowing began, the plains beginning to look green. The last snow fell on the 19th. Upon the 23d planted Cuckoo heard on the 25th; and perch began to spawn. Birch leaves began to appear on the 27th and the plains to exhibit an uniform green colour. The last spring frost happened on the night of the 30th. June. The earth white with snow on the 4th. Pasturage commenced in the forests on the 7th. Snow and heavy hail on the 13th. The first summer heat on the 15th First thunder on the 18th; at this time sowed the kitchen garden. Moschetoes in vast numbers on the 22d. Inundations from the highest mountains on the 26th; at this time the leaves of my potatoe-plants perished with cold. July-First ear of barley on the 26th. Haymaking began on the 30th The first star visible on the 31st, denoting the re-approach of night. August.-First frosty night towards the 17th. Harvest began on the 20th. Birch leaves began to turn yellow on the 23d. September.-Hard frost towards the 6th. Swallows disappear on theth. Ground frozen, and ice upon the banks, on the 12th. First snow fell on the 21st, and remained upon the mountains. Cattle housed on the 24th. Lakes frozen on the 26th. October.-Leaves of birch and osier not altogether fallen on the 3d. Lakes frozen on the 5th; the river, on the 6th. Upon the 9th not a rook to be seen. The earth again bare on the 22d; and the ice not firm on the 26th. Durable frost and snow on the 27th. November.-Upon the 19th, travelling in sledges commenced. December.-The greatest degree of cold from the 16th to the 22d inclusive. The depth of snow now equalled one Swedish ell, and 18 inches. (See Dr. Clarke's Travels.) Subterraneous Garden. A curious account of a subterraneous garden, formed at the bottom of Percy Main Pit, Newca tle, by the furnace-keeper, was communicated at the last quarterly meeting of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. The plants are formed in the bottom of the mine, by the light and radiant heat of an open stove, constantly maintained for the sake of ventilation. The same letter communicated an account of an extensive natural hot-bed, near Dudley, Staffordshire, which is heated by means of the slow combustion of coal at some depth below the surface. From this natural hot-bed a gardener raises annually crops of different kinds of culinary vegetables, which are earlier by some weeks than those in the surrounding gardens. The Festival of St. Rosalia, the tutelar saint of Palermo. From a Tour through Sicily, by George Russell. The voluptuous and perhaps monotonous life of the inhabitants of Palermo, is interrupted by the annual fête of Santa Rosalia, certainly the most brilliant and enthusiastic display of devotion which exists at the present day in Europe. But as we frequently find at the opera, that the splendour exhibited in the ballets and fêtes often obscures the general interest of the spectacle, so in these rejoicings, we equally lose sight of Santa Rosalia, if, at the end of the fifth day, after a most tumultuous procession, we did not behold the shrine of this holy saint. The car upon which this shrine is borne is decorated, or rather overloaded with ornaments of every species: it is drawn by forty mules, and filled by a considerable number of musicians. This enormous machine, certainly the richest and most magni |