THE a
%e)

AMERICAN JOURNAL

OF

SCIENCE AND ARTS.

coxperres il
PROFESSORS B. SILLIMAN, B. SILLIMAN, Jr,
sais
JAMES D. DANA,

IN CONNECTION WITH

PROF. ASA GRAY, or CAMBRIDGE,
PROF. LOUIS AGASSIZ, or CAMBRIDGE,
DR. WOLCOTT GIBBS, or NEW YORK.

SECOND SERIES. —
VOL. XXVIII.—NOVEMBER, 1859.

WITH A PLATE AND MAP.

NEW HAVEN: EDITORS.
1859.

B. HAYES, PRINTER.

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CONTENTS OF VOLUME XXVIII.

NUMBER LXXKXII.

Art. I, On a new Sounding Apparatus for Deep-sea Sounding ;
by Prof. W. P. Trowsrince.—With a Plate, - -

II. Notice of New Localities, and interesting varieties of Mine-
rals, in the Lake Superior region; supplementary to the
chapter on this subject, in Part II. of the ape of Foster
and Whitney; by J.D. Wuirney, - . ¥

III. On some questions concerning the Coal Forthations of North
America; by L. Lesquerevx,

IV. Some Remarks upon the use of the Wile as scaly
improved, in the investigation of the minute sepa of
Living Bodies; by H. James Ciarx, .

V. On Brewsterite; by J. W. Matuzt, - - -

VI. On the importance of more frequent and more accurate
Deep-sea Soundings in connection with the successful estab-
lishment of a Submarine it = across the Atlantic ;

by Prof. W. P. Trowsripce, -
VII. Abstract of a paper on the Ophinrns a tribe of Starfishes ; ;
by Dr. Cur. F. Lirxen, * :

VIII. On a Visit to the Recent Eraptien 2 Mace Loa, Hawaii ;
by Prof. Ropert C. Haskett,

IX. On some points of Agricultural Scene 7s Prof. ok
W. Jounson, - - -

X. On Fossil Plants collected by Dr. ea Se at pees
Island and at Bellingham Bay, Washington i 2
a letter from L. Lesquereux to J.D. Dana, - 2

XI. Geographical Notices. No. VII], - -

XII. Alexander von Humboldt—Eulogy by Prof. ae holies
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, - ‘

=

Page-

21

eet

85
89

XIII. On the origin of Vibrio; H. James Cuarx,

xX

X

X

CONTENTS.

Page.

107

IV. Biographical sketch of Professor Denison Olenaibd j :

ev. C. S. Lyman, . 109

V. Correspondence of Prof. jonas: Riciahin-hesieeny of
Sciences—Distribution of Prizes: Astronomical Prize, 119.
—Statistical Prize: Prize for Experimental Physiology,
120.—The Bréant Prize: Discussion upon the nature of
simple bodies, 121.—Discussion on cellulose and ligneous
fibre, 123.—Incrusting matter ; Dead cotton, 125.,—Trans-
formation of woody fibre into Sugar: Manufacture of Alu-
minium, 126.

VI. Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy ; by the Author, 128

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Chemistry and Physics.—On the oxyd of ethylene: On the chemical constitution of lactic

acid, 1144—On the Compounds of Valeral with acids, 145—On the simple Acetate of
pr ha and the ea of Glycol: On Organic Compounds containing Metals, sis

n the Compounds of Organic Radicals with the Metals of the earths: Faraday
Pay ig in Chemistry and Physics, 147.

ee —Third Report on the Geological we of South Carolina, by Oscar M. Liz.

: Geological Survey of Canada, Sir W. E. Locan, Director: Geology of the Mex-
ican Boundary Survey, 148. cenndiiiens to the Palgontology of New York, by
James Hatt: The Geology of Pennsylvania, by Prof. Henry Darwin Rocers, 149.

— yosconcans? es = a — oe etc, by S. J. Dawson, Esq., C. E., 151.
n the Fussil £Ceiaite West, by E. Brnutnes, F.G.S.:
ne some new Genera and Species of pecnaies from the Silurian and Devonian
ocks of coun a, by E. Bruutnes: Reports on the Geology, Botany and Zovlogy of
vane Californie and Oregon, by Prof. Joun S. Newserry, M.D.: Geological Ex-

Astronomy.—Comets of 1853: First Comet of 1859: Numbering of the Planetoids or As-
teroidal Planets, 152.

iscellaneous Scientific Intelligence—Marcou’s Strictures on North American Geologists,
153.—Auroral Arch: On Apparent Equivocal Generation, by H. James Ciarx, 154.—
Note on the Polarization of x8 — of Comets, by Sir Davin Brewster, 153 —The
Tron Manufacturer's Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and Rolling Mills of ile United
States, by J. P. Lesuey, 156. epee of North America, by Prof. Spencer F. pai
Rational Cosmology, etc., by Prof. Laurens P. Hickox, D.D.: American Associat

for the Advancement of Science, 153.—Synopsis of Fre water Fishes from the soe

_ of Trinidad, W. L, SRS Grit: Notes on North American Crustacea, by
Bibliogra

Wrtttam Stimpson: Recent Publications: Bi phical Notices by Prof. Nicklés,
159.

CONTENTS. ¥

NUMBER LXXXIII.

F

Art. XVII. Obituary Notices of Brown and Humboldt, Members

of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, -
XVIII. On the power possessed by the Larves of various common

Flies of consuming, without apparent injury to themselves,

the flesh of animals which have died from the effects of

Arsenic; by Frank H. Storer, - - - - 166
XIX. On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and legates and

on the Formation of Gypsums and ae Rocks; by

T. Srerry Hont, F.R.S., - - - - - 170
XX. Extract from the concluding part of a Messe on the Bot-

any of Japan, in its Relations to that of North America,

and of other parts of the Northern hs ap aan Zone ; by

Asa Gray, - . - - - I87
XXI. Supplement to an ee of North Aileen Lichelis

continued ; by Prof. Epwarp Tuckerman, A.M.,-— - -
XXII. On the Phenomena of Gemmation; by Toomas H. Hvux-

Ley, F.R.S., -
XXHI. On farthasinkes in Souler aly ; by aed Putte

Lacaita, Esq., LL.D., - - 210
XXIV. Notes on some of the Chemical es sae of Siyehoin; :

by T. G. Wormtey,M.D., -—° - - 216
XXV. On the Consolidation of Lava on Steep Slopes, and on the

Origin of the Conical Form of cape! by Sir Cuartes

Lyset, M.A., D.C.L., F.RS., s
XXVI. Diluvial Strize on Fragment in sis by Prof 0. N.
STODDARD, - wad
XXVII. Vibrations in the Waterfall at Siolpobes was by Prof
E. 8. Sneti - - - - -
XXVIII. alii by Prof. C. Dewey, - - - 231.

XXIX. Description of Nine new speeies of Crinoidea fro rom the

Subcarboniferous Roeks of Indiana and sea : = Sip-

NEY Lyon and S. A. Cassepay, - - - 233
XXX. Contributions to Mineralogy; by Frepx. A. Gait - 246
XXXI. Notice of a Memoir by M. Jules Marcon, entitled “ Dyas

and Trias or the New Red Sandstone in Europe, North

America and India.” (In a letter from Sir Ropericx I.

MoscHison tothe Editors.) - -- - + - «. 256

vi CONTENTS.
Page.
XXXII. Examination of a supposed Meteoric Iron, found near
Rutherfordton, North Carolina; by Cuartes UpHam SHeparp, 259
XXXIII. On a Shooting Meteor, seen to fall at Charleston, South
Carolina, Nov. 16th, 1857, with notices of other ——
shooting meteors; by CuarLes Upnam Sueparp, -

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Chemistry es Physics —On Ammonia-Chromium bases, 276.—Ou the preparation of
Alizarin: On Wolfram-Steel : ci several new alcohols, 277.—On a new product of
the decom bates of trinitrophenic acid: Sir H. Davy’s Discovery of the ae
Metals—correction of a prevalent historical error in relation thereto, 278.—On
Electrolysis of sulphuric acid, by Dr. ANTON GENTHER,

a —Teeth and Bones of a primogenius, lately found near the western fork
White River, in Monroe County, Indiana, . T. A. Wyre, 283.—Eruption of
pabita Loa, Sandwich Islands, by Prof. R. C. HaskKELL: Observations on the Ossif-
erous Caves near Palermo, by Dr. Fatconer, 284.—On the Bone cave in Devon-
shire, by Mr. Presrwicn: Observations on a Flint-implement, by Joun WickHAM
FLower, Esq, 287.—On Professor C. Piazzi Smyth’s supposed proofs of the Subma-
rine origin of Teneriffe we = Volcanic Cones in the Canaries, by Sir C. LYELL,
i“ R.S., D.C.L., ete., 288.—The Old aiuaan of Switzerland and North Wales, by Prof.
A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S. an Toe. 289.
Botany. —Eulogy on Robert Brown, by Dr. Von Martius: Fragmenta Phytographie
ustralize, contulit Ferpinanpus Mveuuer, Ph.D., M.D., 290.—Journal of the Pro-

rodromus, auctore R. B. Van per Boecu, M.D.: The Botany of the Mexican Bound-
, 291.—Catalogue of the Phecegaanins and Acrogenous Plants in Gray’s Manual

of the Botany of the Northern United States, etc., 292.
Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence—Thirteenth Meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, 293.—Scientific versus Practical Instruction: Dr.
Newberry’s late Explorations in New Mexico—he shows Marcou’s so-called Jurassic

to be Cretaceous, 298.—Meteor of August 11, 1859, 300.—Bibliographical Announce-
ments, 303.—Books in press, 304.

NUMBER LXXXIV.

Art. XXXIV. The Correlation of Physical, Chemical and Vital
Force, and the Conservation of Force in Vital ee ;
by Prof. Joseph LeContE, + = 305
XXXV. Report on the Exploration of two Pasion; (the ssl
and Boundary Passes) of the Rocky Mountains in 1858 ; ae
Captain Buaxtstron, (With a Map.), -
Appendix—Extracts from Sir R. I. Nvetanibedi’ s donde: Ad-
dress Geog. Soc., __- - > 341.

CONTENTS.

XXXVI. On Nitride of Zirconium; by Prof. J. W. Matter, = -
XXXVII. On the Atomic oe of Lithium; by Prof. J. W.
XXXVIIL ‘Notes on certain Asset and rr Chatiies along
the Coast of South Carolina; by Oscar M. Lizzser, - -
XXXIX. On the Sudden Disappearance of the Ice of our North-
ern Lakes in the Spring; by Gen, J.G. Torren, -
XL. On some Reactions of the salts of Lime and Magnesia, ite
on the Formation of bg pected and bess aed Rocks ; y
T. Sterry Hunt, F.R.S.,
XLI. On Gallic and Gallhumic (etagli) ps aly Dr. B.
Manta, Ph.D., - - .
XLII. The Great Auroral Exhibition of Aiieiil 28th to Septal
ber 4th, 1859, 385.—Observations made at Lewiston, Maine;
by Prof. Ex1as Loomis, 386,—Observations at Toronto,
Canada West; by Prof. G. P. Kineston, 388.—Observa-
tions at New Haven; by Prof. C. S. Lyman, 391,—Obser-
vations at West Point; by Prof. ALExanDER C. T'wINING,
394.—Letters from Prof. Danie Kirxwoop, Bloomington,
Ind., 396,'397.—On the Meteorological and Magnetic Phe-
nomona accompanying the Aurora Borealis, as observed at
Springhill, Ala.; by Prof. A. Cornetre, S. J., 398.—Ob-
servations at Jefferson Co., Miss., 402.—Description of two
Aurorz Boreales observed at Havana, Cuba; by M. Anpras
Pory, 403.—Observation at San Francisco, California ; by
Dr. Joun B. Trask: Height of the base of the Auroral
curtain, August 28th, 406.—Appeal to observers, - -
XLIII. Account of several Meteoric Stones which fell in Harri-
son Co., Indiana, March 28th, 1859 ; Hi Prof. J. LawRENcE
Smita, M.D., - -
XLIV. Geographical wage” No. Ix, : “ -
XLV. Correspondence of Prof. Jerome Paar ors a
Cagniard de Latour, 424,—Disinfection and dressing of
wounds, 425.—On the odors of perfumes, 427.—Humboldt
Foundation: Photography of Carbon. Concours for the
prize founded by the Duke of Luynes, 429.—Transforma-
tion of cellulose into sugar, 480.—Transformation of cellu-
lose into parchment or parchment-paper ; Acclimation. The

365

383

411

Dromedary imported into South America.—Bibliography, 431.

*

a

ss
me
os

CONTENTS.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Chemistry and Physics—On Torsion and its ae to Magnetism, 432.—On the densi-
ties of vapors at high temperatures, 435.—On organic compounds which contain cardia
456.—On the isomorphism of stannic, silicic, phe zirconic acids: On the equivalent of
manganese, 437.—On the equivalent of nickel: On an easy mode of preparing metallic
chromium, 438.

“Botany and Zoology.—Two new Genera of Dicecious Grasses of the United States, by
Georce Enceumann, M.D., 439.—Trichomanes Saga means 440.—Thesaurus
Capensis: or Illustrations of the South African Flora, ete., by Witt1am H. Harvey,

1.D.: Grisebach’s Outlines of Systematic Botany, for ‘eademical Instruction, ete.,
Struct wth

1858: Bidrag till Kiinnedomen om Skandinaviens Amphipoda Gammaridea af R. M.
Bruze ius, 445.

Astronomy. rite ga snc between Mercury and the Sun, 445.—Shooting Stars of
August 9-10, 1859: rvations at Boston, Mass., oy Prof. Twinine : Observations st
Chicago, IH, $y Mr. eet BRADLEY wail others, 4

one ae, ee Intelligence.—Earthquakes in California during 1858, by J. B.
sk, M.D., 447,—Eruption of nt Hood: Improved mode of preparing Diatoma-

TOPHER JoHNsTON, M.D,, 448.—Proposition fora Humboldt Fund for

cae iveiigaieen and Travels, 449.—The 29th meeting of the British Associa-
tion e Advancement of Science: Prof. Dana’s departure fur Europe: Prof.
ers return from Europe: Government Scientific Expedition in New Mexico:

Journal of the American Oriental ap 450.—Obituary.—Death of Prof. Carl Ritter: 4 |
Death of Dr. Grailich, 451.—Index, 4 4
ERRATA. 4
Page a. line 1 vos Bee 2 eg “slightly.” F
6, ", side is a,” between “ other and branch.” A
= po as ‘sais name, “ prada,” after “ Actinocrinus; iy
“ 240, line “ obscure,” read “
ge 3 hia rom bottom, for “ hea — = Pinot ¥

1 2
O44, .* 14, for “ armbones,” re

ae

“3”
853, “ 14 from Gane for “ % bod a aed tan boa read “ : 8904 x121807
253, “ 10 from bottom, for “ 4°6440-+121°80,” read “ 21:80.”
» 291, bottom, for cy eel read “ Hecker. os .
403, . rome copie) 8 lines ‘from bottom, for “ Anpreas,” read “ Anpras.”

PBRrResgee eB &
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AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS.

&

[SECOND SERIES.]

Arr. I.—On a new Sounding Apparatus for Deep-sea Sounding ;
by Prof. W. P. oe Assistant U.S. Coast Survey.—
With a Plate.

[Published in this Journal by permission of the Treasury Department. ]
a ee addressed to Prof. A. D. Bacug, Supt. U. S. Coast Survey, dated
S. Coast Survey Office, Washington, D. C., April 6, 1859.

Dear Sir,—In my report to you of May 31, 1858, I had the
honor of presenting the results of an investigation of the laws
of ae of heavy bodies in the ocean, under the conditions
re ae se noe de sea sounding.

: that investigate was to ascertain and develop
fully oo actin of failure and error in deep-soundin d to
devise a more certain and reliable mode of measuring the depth
of the ocean, in the off-shore hydrogra oy, of the Coast Survey,
and especially in the swift onion of t If Stream.

_L have now to present for your further consideration a sound-
ing apparatus based upon the developments given in my former

rt, and the result of further study and experiments on the
ubject.
distinguishing feature of the method herein described,
neat exceedingly simple in its eepeston, has never before
proposed, inasmuch as its necessity could hardly have been
fat, sadighot a careful analysis of the circumstances of descent of
the sounding lead and line.
method of sounding heretofore employed, the influence
of the friction of the water upon 2 ged line, or ‘‘endwise resis’
‘SECO No. &2—JULY, 1

2 W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus.

ance” as it is calléd by Prof. Airy, was known to exist, but the
amount of this endwise resistance in pounds, and its “ultimate
effects at great depths, had not been etermined, It was sup-
posed that by making use of a weight of thirty or forty pounds
and a small fishing line, this resistance would be deoaet to an»
inappreciable amount, or at least that its effect in retarding the
descent of the lead would not be sufficient to destroy confidence

- in the results

t appears, “however, from the investigations referred to, that
a weight, such as is ordinar ily used in sounding, will be practi- /

came held in suspension at no very great depth, even when the
used is the smallest that will nae the weight with safety
in Eihea air; and in confirmation of this conclusion, the fact is
well aaa that, notwithstan created experime
made by the ost skillfu 1 officers and with the utmost care, t
bottom of deed ocean has never been reached in its deepest parts;
and even where the bottom has been attained and specimens

brought to the surface, the uncertainties of the results have given

good grounds for controversy with regard to the depth.

These failures and oe do not arise from the magni-

of the distance to be measured, nor from the impenetra-

y of the fluid through hih the lead has to pass: distances

‘“ Samay great and infinitely small in the universe above and

around us, have been measured with precision; and the unex-

plored desis of the ocean are occupied by a medium freely and

equally gine at all depths. Ye t in this field, a field daily

traversed by the commerce of the world, a distance of a few
miles only has‘ baffled all attempts to measure it.

The difficulty hes in the simple cause stated above, viz. the
“ endwise resistance” or friction upon the sounding line, which
prevents the lead from going to the bottom where the depth is
great.

The apparatus which I have devised, is designed to avoid this
friction upon the line, M hile at the same time the line i 4 not dis-
pensed with, but is made use of, as in the ordinary m

~~ Before deseribing this apparatus I will briefly refer Re some of
the results given in my previous report on this subject.

The rate of descent of an iron globe or sphere, as the simplest
geometrical form, was first determined when falling ge in nthe
ocean, and it was found that a sphere will attain a certain ma
mum velocity, within twenty-five feet of the surface, which ve-
5 Sem be kept up without sensible increase or dimin: atic to

tto

E ae ioe shot this uniform. velocity is about aitees
. ic Bit when a small line is attached to the

=
i ”

a ied sie with at were then discussed, the line : :

=

en eR

al

—

Be

— ee

=

W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus. 3

being uncoiled from a reel on the deck of the vessel, and drawn
down by the weight of the sphere. The friction of this line in
the water causes a remarkable change in the rate of descent.
Nearly the same maximum velocity at starting is attained, but
the velocity becomes rapidly reduced, until the sphere becomes
suspended nearly motionless in the water.
aking the simple case of a 82 lb. shot attached to a small
fishing line, the shot attains its maximum velocity of sixteen feet
isa second within twenty-five feet of the surface, but before a
undred fathoms of the line is drawn into the water, this ve-

ne foot per . Whereas at this depth, af there is no line
attached, the shot will fall with its orijinal velocity of sixteen feet per
second undiminished. ow this depth we may determine, in

the same way, the circumstances in the two cases: the shot fall-
ing freely still retains its uniform velocity of sixteen feet
second at four, five, and six thousand fathoms depth, while with
the line attached, at five thousand fathoms the velocity is redu
to a few inches per second, and at six thousand fathoms the de-

friction alone; the amount of which in pounds, was determined
for different cases, in which different forms of weight and differ-
ent sizes of lines were used; and the entire inapplicability of
the ordinary mode of sounding for great depths, and even for
ordinary depths, where the object is to obtain a correct knowl-
edge of the depths, was demonstrated.

Methods have been proposed in which a line is dispensed
with, by detaching a float at the bottom, when the plummet
strikes, and watching for the return of the float to the surface;”
but this is impracticable, as there is no material applicable,
within our knowledge, that will float to the surface from the

ttom of the sea, on account of the great pressure, which con-
denses the bulk, so us to render bodies specifically lighter than
= at the surface, heavier than water at even moderate

A line must therefore be used to bring back to the surface any:
machine by which the depth may be registered in the descent.

4 W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus.

And the motion of this line in an extended form in the water
must be avoided.

The apparatus which I have devised is designed to secure this
object,—by attaching to the sinker a tube or case in which the

sounding line is compactly coiled, and from which it will be dis-
charged freely, thus causing the plummet to carry down the coil,
while one end of the line is held fast at the surface; the line
being uncoiled from the descending sinker in the manner that a
spider falling from a height gives out a thread in his descent by
which he retains communication with the point above to which
the thread is attached. The motion of the line in an extended
form through the water being thus avoided, all the conditions of
free descent are secured, and the plummet will descend to the
greatest depths with a rapid and uniform velocity

The depth is ascertained in the manner faretolevs known. as.
Massey’s method, by a helix or curved blade, which is caused.

to revolve, b the motion of the apparatus through the water.

Instead of assey’s indicator however, which from its faulty
construction does not give accurate results, I have adapted Sax-
ton’s Current Metre, a much more delicate instrument, to this

specimen tube is also used differing somewhat from those
now in use, in construction but not in its essential points.

The lower end of the line is attached to the register and to the
specimen-box which weigh yaa: only two or three pounds,
and as the line is hauled in from the bottom it brings up the
register and spon DO leaving the plummet and attached
case at the botto

py details of construction are shown in the accompanying

and description of the apparatus.

as es overcoming the principal difficulty in sounding, there

re other important advantages secured by this arrangement
sik simplify rather than complicate, the problem. T are
as follows:

First, there is no strain upon the line, in the descent, except
from its own weight, no matter to what depth or with what
velocity, the plummet may descen

It is possible therefore to employ a very small line; a or a

thread of silk may in fact be extended to the bottom
ocean. This permits of the use of a line, which may be coiled
compactly within a small space, the a of the line being
made just sufficient to insure its being hauled in with safety,
inging up at the same time the spesimen:ox atl the register.
The strain incaght upon it, in hauling in, will depend upon the
Yer oe upward motion, which may be tegueete ac-

a.

W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus. 5

- Secondly, a rapid and uniform descent being secured, the indi-
cations of a revolving register will be reliable when attached to
this plummet; while in the present mode of sounding the slow’
motion of descent at great depths, renders such a mode of regis-
tering the depth uncertain and unreliable.

hirdly, there being no strain upon the line in the descent and
the motion being uniform, it is practicable to determine the
depth by the time of descent, making use of a small insulated
wire as a sounding line, and determining the instant that the
weight strikes the bottom by an —— signal transmitted
throu gh the line. An apparatus was devised as long since as
the year 1845, for ascertaining the apehetst when the weight
strikes the bottom, by electricity, but in the mode of soundin
heretofore employed, no particular advantage would result from
this, while the danger of breaking the electric continuity is very
great owing to the strain brought upon the line in the descent ;
and the plummet as now used descends with such a varying
velocity, oe even with the time of descent given, no calculation
will give the depth. e method has therefore never been put
in preictios: Whereas, in the method proposed, there is no
strain upon the line in its descent, and the plummet will fall
through each successive hundred fathoms in the same time ; the
time cof descent = thus furnish a simple means of calculating the

tn ‘this process it will not be n necessary to recover the line, and

the time required to sound the ocean at any point, need only. be

that required for the plummet to sink to the bottom, moving
with any velocity whith may be desired.

ave made many experiments on the best method of ae

the line so as to secure its uncoiling with certainty, and wi

the possibility of strain upon the line, or the occurrence of a ‘sede

ave also given much attention to the quality and size of

wim to be used: upon these _ the pe tical working of the

question has abiins e one sof great ‘public interest in connection
with the laying of submarine telegraphs; the risk of such enter-

ge being diminished in proportion to the accuracy with which

th of the sea is known at every point of any proposed

6 W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus.

line; and the _—— practicability of such operations across
the Atlantic being yet to be demonstrated by new and more
accurate soundings
DESCRIPTION.
The accompanying plate is a photographie copy of a drawing
peived from the first instrument constructed. Some slight modi-
ons have since been made in the mode of attaching the
repwet SP but without affecting the general design.

PLATE I.
Fig. 1. Represents the plummet as it appears in its descent.
T, the tube or case containing the coiled line. -
W, the leaden or iron weight inserted in the bottom of the tube.
C, the conical ¢
: R, the register in i Bee upon the cap.
ie the line.

r, the etter hod
oy Pe the locks for ova and ungearing the wheels.
ig. 2a, represents the plar or horizontal view of the register, it being con-
structed so as to offer the least resistance in passing through the water.
Fig. ae shows the detailed construction of the register wheels, and the

foe fig. 1, it will be seen that the form of the apparatus admits of
rapid motion through the water. The weight is conical and elongated
and the register presents the edges only, of brass plates to the water, and
the line being uncoiled and discharged from the fore there is no retar
ing force to “the descent, from the line itself. Any desired velocity of
desent may be given to the plummet by increasing or decreasing the
wei
Fig. la, shows the method of coiling the line. |
ere are various modes of doing this which are in eommon practice
in trios and cotton factories; that which is here exhibited is the method

und Coil, d he tube. ‘All these rivethods are now practised in
the factories on a med for winding twine and cotton.

The qtr siocid be about five hundredths of an inch in diameter
Le size. A braided line of Holland

W. P. Trowbridge on a new Sounding Apparatus. 7

flax, or silk of five hundredths of an inch in diameter, may be made to
bear a strain of 40 or 50 Ibs.; which is abundantly strong for the pur-
, as the weight and case are left at the bottom, the register and speci-
men tube only being brought up.
may be made of tin in sections of eighteen inches
length, with stove-pipe joints and bayonet fastenings. The object of this
is to adapt the length of the tube readily to the amount of line which it
,is to contain. A tube four inches in diameter will contain nearly a mile
of line to each foot of the tube.
Sinker and Specimen-tube——The sinker is made of cast iron or lead of
any desired weight, depending upon the desired velocity of descent. A
weight of 25 lbs. has been adopted. The sinker is conical and is inserted

tube by screws or by a bayonet joint and fastening. The weight has a
conical hole or cavity through its entire length, through which the small
specimen-tube passes in the manner shown in the drawing. e i-
men-tube is a tube of thin brass passing through the weight and attached
to the lower end of the line within the large tube. This specimen-tube
is fitted with a valve opening upwards in the bottom, which closes when
the tube is drawn up, thus retaining the mud which is forced into the
tube when the weight strikes bottom. The specimen-tube fits loosely in
the hollow of the weight, so that it may be easily drawn out as the line
is hauled in.

made to turn in opposite directions and will operate as checks upon each

8 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

In the register from which the drawings were made, the blades revolve
once in two feet; one hundred revolutions will therefore correspond to
two hundred feet, or one division of the scale of the register to thirty-
three fathoms.

When the register is hauled up, the arms at gg, fig. 2, drop, and the

springs cause the wheels to ungear and fly back, where they are held
motionless by a projecting point at 2, fig. 3. The arms are ert ~ drop

means of a small wire which is attached to the cap as s v7
fig. 1; this wire is frstenad to, or hooks over the ends of dons arms, and
when the register is drawn off, the arms fall.

Mode of attaching the line to the register and specimen-tube——Before
the line is put into the tube it is pier to the specimen-tube at a point
four or five feet from the end of the line, the spare end is passed through
the tube, and when the balls are all pee in the tube the extreme end of
the line coming out at top is attached to the register, after taking a few
turns round the top of the strap, the register being in its place.

The line is thus attached to the register and specimen-tube only, and
not to the large tube or weight. When the plummet strikes the bottom
a part of the line will remain in the tube coiled; by hauling in the line

-tube, and register; and by sai to haul in, the register
and orange will be brought to the su

The plummet on striking will, under most dibeumancal remain stick-
ing in the mud in an upright position.

a

Art. II.—WNotice of New Localities, and ee varieties of
Minerals, in the Lake Superior region: supplementary to the chap-
ter on this subject, in Part II. of the Report of Foster and W hit-
ney; by J. D. WHITNEY.

Since the publication of the second part of our “ Report on
the Geology of the Lake Superior Land ‘Sega in 1851, some
materials, illustrative of the mineralogy of this region, have accu-
mulated in my note-books, which, in the present communication,
I have put together in the alphabetical order of the minerals
noticed, for convenient reference. A few of the facts here stated
were communicated to J. D. Dana, for the Jast edition of his

“System of Mineralogy,” and are here re , with some ad- |

bags pikes on the general mode of occurrence or econom-
ort the ores and minerals mentioned.

Be ater This mineral is quite abundant on Keweenaw
Point, and i also been noticed by me on Michipicoten Island;
it does not appear to have been observed in the Ontonagon re-
gion. The finest locality, ‘however, by far, is at the Copper Falls

a

E

J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 9

and Northwestern mines; and, especially, at the last-named
place, where work is, for the present, suspended. Both these
mines are, in fact, on the same vein, the Copper Falls mine being
to the north, and the Northwestern to the south of the great
belt of crystalline, unproductive trap, which runs through the
middle of Keweenaw Point. In this vein, analcime occurs in
large and almost transparent crystals forming geodes in the
greenish magnesian silicate which is the principal gangue of the
vein. These crystals are all trapezohedrons, and sometimes
occur an inch in diameter; they occasionally have a thin in-
crustation of chrysocolla. The analcime, at this locality, is
almost always associated with the peculiar form of orthoclas
So common in the copper region, and which will be noticed
farther on.

At the Old Copper Falls vein analcime has been found in ra-
diated-fibrous as well as granular-massive forms, and of a bright
red color.

Apophyllite—The foliated variety, or ichthyophthalmite, was
found in great abundance in 18538 in the rubbish thrown out at
the workings on the Prince vein, on the north shore. A variety
in small, brilliant, deep-red crystalline scales or spangles, dis-
seminated through calcite, forms curious and elegant specimens. —
The most usual occurrence of apophyllite at this locality is in
large contorted plates, somewhat resembling the variety of cal-
cite known as argentine. Crystalline specimens are occasionally
met with at the Cliff mine, but none have been noticed in the
Ontonagon district.

Barytes—There are numerous veins of sulphate of baryta on
the north shore of the Lake, and especially along that portion
lying to the northwest of Isle Royale, as also on that island, and
the smaller ones which lie near the main land to the westwar
of Thunder Bay. These veins vary in width from a few inches
to several feet, and are usually made up of quite compact barytes
without crystallization, and destitute of accompanying metallif-

erous ores. oe
The famous “ Prince vein,” on Spar Island, is one of the most
conspicuous and interesting objects, at least in the eye of the

: ects, oa e.
ctnlcaias in this region. As it makes its appearance on the
ide of the island, on the precipitous face of the trap cliffs,

lake. At the southern edge of Spar Island it is fourteen: feet
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859.
2

10 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

and seven inches wide. Here the vein is made up of a of
calcite, crystalline ceils and barytes, as represented by the
nexed cross-section

bh ads — 6’ 1”
rap; ‘ 5, coarsely eo calcite; ¢, barytes; d, calcite with copper

pyri: ts quartz and calcit

At the point where this section was taken the ore is confined
' toa band of calcite in the centre of the vein and about six inches
in width. The metalliferous portion of the lode consists here of
chalcopyrite and erubescite,—in small quantity, however, -
compared with the amount of barren veinstone connected with
these ores.

On the main land, about two miles distant, the vein reappears
a little way back from the shore, where it is much split up;
iit boone Rat m ates rods farther to the northwest it con-

least, would be gat red, the vous "bein highly crystalline
in its texture. feat saotalliferoas contents, however, seem to

chiefly limited to blende. At the point in the level where a

winze has been sunk to the depth of 90 feet, and near the collar
of the winze, a considerable quantity of native silyer was ob-
tained in fine laminze between the joints of the blende. A large

Te no other vein in this ee eaheete were any interesting
eee nae minerals baeaegd ia although the exposures on the

e shore are usually g

Chalybite—This Tia has been observed by Dr. G. H.
Blaker 1 in the taleose slates near Marquette; it forms narrow

i igh the slates. The quantity is not suflicient to make it
economical | importance.

edna mineral occurs, associated xP chalcopyrite, in the
quartz veins at Echo Take, near Saut St. Marie. The geological
em of ‘these veins is the same as that of the Marne

s and bunches in the veins of milky quartz which ramify .

Se

J. D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 11

_ Chrysocolla.—Handsome specimens are found in the Copper
Falls vein, forming delicate stalactitic incrustations on the vein-
stone, and sometimes coating the crystals of analcime.

Chaleopyrite—V eins of quartz containing this ore are numer-
ous in the trappean rocks of the Azoic series, in the neighbor-
hood of Echo Lake, about 15 miles east of Saut St. Marie. Co
per pyrites is the predominating ore at the Bruce and Wellington
mines on Lake Huron: it has also been found in veins in the

uron Mts., on the south shore of Lake Superior, where no
mining has yet been carried on.
per.—The native metal is now the exclusive object of min-

phurets, however, are still mined on Lake Huron, in the Azoi¢
rocks, a formation which has not been proved as yet on either
shore of Lake Superior, to contain any workable vein of the
native metal.

The largest mass of copper yet discovered on Lake Superior
was in the 10-fathom level of the Minnesota mine, on the so-
called “conglomerate lode,” or the copper-bearing vein which

thirty months.* .
Almost all the specimens collected on Lake Superior as erys+
tallized copper, are, in reality, not actual crystals, but only imita-
tive forms produced by juxtaposition with the crystalline faces
of some mineral substance, and usually of caleareous spar. The
large masses which are seen in collections, and labelled “‘crys-
tallized copper from the Cliff mine,” usually exhibit only a few
indistinct planes which can be referred to the crystalline force
of the metal itself. vet
The finest groups of crystals ever obtained in the copper rée-
ion were from the Old Copper Falls mine, a locality which has
ong ceased to be worked; and no other has furnished any speci-
mens to compare with those found here.
ne form in these groups was the rhombic do-
decahedron; but the octahedron was not of unfrequent occur-
size of the pieces into which the great masses are cut for convenient hand-
ling under ground and shipment is now much greater than it was formerly: blocks
of copper weighing from 5ovo to 9000 pounds are not unfrequently brought to the
surface and sent off to the smelting works.

-

12 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

rence. The diameter of the perfectly formed crystals rarely ex-
ceeded one-fourth of an inch, although single crystals from this
locality, octahedrons, have been seen as large as an inch across
their bases. The finest single crystals, as far as ascertained, are
from the Cliff mine, and are tetrahexahedrons. One in my col-
lection, considered by many the most beautiful crystal ever found
in the Lake Superior region, is about three-fourths of an inch in
diameter, and nearly perfect.

the Toltec mine, was found on examination to be chemically
pure, with this exception, that it contained ;,3,,; of silver,
about seven ounces to the 2000 lbs,

olite—F ine crystals of this mineral have been found only
at the locality on Isle Royale, which has long since ceased to
worked, the island being now entirely deserted by all except a
few fishermen. There are several localities on Keweenaw Point,
however, where it occurs in great abundance, but not, so far as
I have observed, in handsome crystallizations. The gangue of
the Hill vein, on the Copper Falls location, consisted, in a portion
of its more northern extension, of a greenish magnesian silicate

metrated, in every direction and sometimes forming a sort 0
reccia, with branches and strings of datholite. It is usually
massive, translucent, highly vitreous in lustre, and of a light

* Pogg. Ann, civ, 339.
+ mann and Marchand’s Journal, xxvii, 194.

a

= PML

J.D, Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 13

flesh-red color, owing to the noone of a minute quantity of
suboxyd of copper diffused through it
The veinstone of the Ontonagon region had seemed to be
uite destitute of this mineral, and it was not until last summer

that it was discovered by me in that district. At the Minnesota

mine, among the vein-stuff thrown out, some singular nodules
were observed looking like rusty cannon balls. On breakin
one of these open and examining it, it was anad to ‘ datholite,
in a singular and hitherto unobserved form.

The mineral is quite compact, breaking with a conchoidal
fracture, porstey white, opaque, and resembling in its phys
cal character the purest and most close-grained marble.
hardness = 4:5; specific gravity 2°983.

An analysis of this mineral by Prof. C. F. Chandler, gave the
following results

Silica - - - - 3741
Oxyd of iron and Sa - - - "35
‘ ‘ : . 85:11
Bora acid (by loss), - - : - - 21:40
Wate siya . - - 573

100°00

hich:
17 miles west of Marquette, may be inferred from the followin;
analyses recently made of specimens from the three a

i he

? ? ?
ply of ore of the same quality could be obtained, without reject-
ing any considerable amount of the stuff which is quarried out,
were it desirable to ship a perfectly pure ore. The average
of the ore shipped would, in point of fact, fall _ little
low that given et e on analyses.
MIL.

%. ~ ae oe (eae
“a. .
Insoluble, 1:02 80 “4 792 796. 199 205

ems 69°41 7022 69°96 sees 6401 6881
XV traces of
en ‘Leos 28:98 2950 2766 28-03 29°20

I. is ore from the Jackson, 1. fom the Cleveland, and mu.
from the Burt or Lake Superior mountain. The fra ragments an-
bs sie were, in each case, roken from the different portions of

14 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

the same large specimen, one object being to ascertain what the
variations in the geen of oxygen were, in different portions

the same mass. is the mean of three losely- agreeing de-
pera oo

the above analyses, the iron having been precipitated from

the saileundigrisie acid solution by ammonia, the filtrate was
evaporated to dryness and ignited, and in no case did the re-
siduum amount to more than a few hundredths of one per cent.
In I.c, and 111.5. there was a weighable quantity of lime present,
amounting, in each case, to 0°05 per cent. It was not possible,
in any instance, to obtain a ia ——— of alumina. The
oxygen was therefore determined by the loss, as giving -
accurate results than could be obtained by the process of re
tion with hydrogen. It appears, therefore, that these ores re

—

mixtures of the peroxyd with a minute and varying portion of |

the magnetic oxyd.
Both the Burt and Cleveland Mountain ores show minute
ple = of = acpi scattered through their mass; in the Burt
re these are from ;'; to ;; of an inch in diameter ; in
he Cleveland, so small as to q, hardly visible without a magni-
ape glass. No sulphur or arsenic could be detected in any of
imens examined. ‘The insoluble portion consists of sili-
% vith only traces of lime, alumina and magnesia: this silica
is partly in combination with the iron in the form of a silicate
of iron, and partly present in the form of grains of quartz.
the whole, it may be said with truth that these ores surpass in
ity any known to exist elsewhere in the world in anything

e the same quantity.

Leonhardite.—This mineral has been observed only in the Old
Copper Falls vein, where it was very abundant; but a care careful
ee ee. would probably reveal its presence at other locali-

n examination was made of this mineral to ascertain at
what temperature it parts with a part or all of its water, with
reference to H. Rose’s investigations on Laumontite, which he
has shown to lose a portion of this Spnetiinent. at 100° C. The
results gave on the mineral in small fragments

Dried at Loss of weight:
-.: - + 1-46 per cent.
90° = 6. 3
BOS cm « : o.|hU
Ignition, - + - 1189 «
The 1-46 per cent is probably ne essential to the constitution
-of the mineral; the loss by ignition agrees well with the for-

ign
pene which takes the oxygen me of the bases and silica as
| .:

Lamonite..'This ore of iron has recently been discovered and
for the first ‘time on Lake Superior in any Diciaciai sai

J, D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 15

It oceurs at the Jackson iron mountain, where it forms beds of
several feet in thickness, occupying depressions in the anhydrous
ore, from the sae ae which it may have been formed.
The analysis gave the following results:

Silica, - - + 6°54

ron, - - - - - - 60°03
Water, . . - - . 9°31
Oxygen and traces of lime and magnesia, - 2412

10000

No sulphur or manganese could be detected; the original ore
appears to have been only partially converted into limonite, as
the quantity of water given by the analysis is considerably less
than that required to form a hydrous peroxyd of iron. It is
used at the Pioneer Furnace, near the Jackson Mountain, and

me by Dr. G. H. Blaker, of Marquette, as having been procured
in that vicinity; the exact locality is not known to me.
Nickel and Copper, arseniuret of.—This is the same mineral no-

Survey, 1853-6, p. The result of my analyses, made two
years ago, confirm entirely those already published by Mr. Hunt;
the mineral, which a \omogeneous in composition, being
in fact a mixture of the arseniurets of ~~ and nickel.
Two analyses of different specimens broken from the same
mass gave as follows:
i
Arsenic (by loss), - 47°01
opper, - - 14:56 20°94
Nickel, - . 33 35 31°24
Silver, - - - -
Gangue, - . a 57
100-00
Specific gravity 7°527.

In 1. the quantity of arsenic required to form with the cop-
per domeykite, and with the nickel copper-nickel, is 47-86 per
cent, which agrees pretty nearly with that given by the analysis,

The specimens obtained by me on Michipicoten island in 1853,
are in coarsely crystallized calcite, and form nodules having a
structure in concentric layers. The portions selected for se -

is appeared perfectly homogeneous and had almost exactly the
color and general appearance of copper-nickel. This ore was
obtained in mining for silver on the island, from the trappean
rocks; but on examining the excavations it did not appear that
there was any regular vein of this or any other metalliferous
mineral, the ore occurring in irregular nodules disseminated
through the trap. There is little reason to believe that either

1 J.D. — on Minerals of the Lake cong sgn

Orthoclase—In almost ave collection of Lake Superior speci-
mens ma i seen bunches and geodes of minute reddish crys-
tals, accompanied by native popper calcite and the zeolites, the
usual vein-minerals of that r region; these crystals are usually
labelled “stilbite,” but they are, in ‘reality, orthoclase, as is evi-
dent from their physical characters and chemical Soon cl on.

The mineral here referred to, which has, on casual inspection,
but little resemblance to feillecia is the same one noticed on
page 102 of our Report, where an imperfect analysis of it is
given. The peculiar interest attaching to this anomalous occur-

rence of the substance in question seemed a sufficient reason for.

completing its = and adding some further remarks on its
associations.
This mineral occurs in minute crystals which are rarely as
much as one-tenth of an inch in length; they are rhombic
but not very distinct, or brilliant enough to be measured
4 the reflecting goniometer. The angle of the prism is about
118°, or near that of Jon J, in soairind feldspar. The termina-
tions of these prisms are usually rough and indistinct, but formed
by a single plane, probably 17; more frequently the ‘erystals are
ageregated together into a confused crystalline mass, the indi-
viduals being too minute and ill-defined to be made out without
a magnifying glass. The mineral agrees in its physical charac-
ters with orthoclase, fusing before the blowpipe with some diffi-

culty to a blebby glass.
The analysis gave:
Silica, - - - - - - 65°45
Alumina, - - - - - - 18°26
Oxyd of iron, - - - - “67
Oxyd of manganese, - - - - - trace
Potash, : 4 : : 15°21

eee Wee ees Pk ee

J.D, Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 17

Orthoclase has been recognized and described as occurring in
the mineral viens of Schemnitz and Kongsberg,* although ”

ossibility of such an association has, until within a few year

een hardly allowed. The well- established fact of the eins
of feldspar as a pseudomorph, of the form of laumontite and of
analeime, in the trap of the Kilpatrick Hills, near Dumbarton,
Scotland, furnishes incontestible evidence of the pores of
the formation of this mineral in the moist way, and the phenom-
ena exhibited on Lake Superior in connection with the associa-
tion of feldspathic and zeolitic minerals, point as clearly to this
conclusion as they do to the necessity of rejecting the igneous
theory of the origin of the veins themselves.

The variety of orthoclase of which the analysis has been
given above is found in almost all the mines, from the extremity
of Keweenaw Point to the Ontonagon; but in the latter district
it is most abundant. At the Northwestern mine, the association
of orthoclase and analcime is almost constant, and there are aie}
geodes which do not exhibit delicate erystallizations of the
named mineral so situated with reference to the other as to lead
to the conclusion that their formation must have been going on
at the same time and under the same circumstances. The vt

eral, w
is nie sa ea but of which rhe never been able to
— enoug an analysis. This mineral seems to have
the last ea of all the vein-minerals of this: is a sia:

oan by it. The same may be said in siterenael to oe joint

~ occurrence of natrolite and orthoclase * this locality.

clear evidence here of the contemporaneous formation of t the
oe natrolite, calcite and orthoclase.
Ontonagon region, the minerals associated with ortho-

have been noticed ; in the same connection. At the Minnesota
mine, the large crystals of quartz, formerly obtained there in
abundanee, were frequently encrusted with a thin layer of crys-
tals “i orthoclase.

may be remarked, that the crystals of this mineral are,
iBiou gto the whole copper region, remarkably uniform in

* See Leonhard and Bronn’s Jahrbuch, 1850, goad 43; also Bischof’s Geology, ii, 330,
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 62.—JULY
3

18 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

their size, color, and general habit. They are rarely more than
a few hundredths of an inch in length, have the same crystalline
form, and are, with rare exceptions, of a light reddish color.

Feldspar, in no instance, so far as has yet been observed, forms
the bulk of the veinstone; it is only met with in comparatively
minute quantity, although occurring in numerous localities.
Only a single instance has been noticed where a crystal had a
length as great as one-tenth of an inch, and this was an imper-
fectly formed one.

Note.—Weissigite, described by Jenzsch, is undoubtedly or-
thoclase, as suggested in Dana’s Mineralogy, p. 513; this was
found in a porphyritic amygdaloid, with chalcedony and quartz,
and is spoken of by Jenzsch as the first known instance of the
occurrence of a feldspathic mineral in an amygdaloidal cavity
of a rock of this class.

Serpentine.—W ell-characterized serpentine has not yet been
found in the Lake Superior region; but a substance closely re-
lated to this mineral, and, in fact, differing from it chiefly by
the substitution of protoxyd of iron, in a large but varying
amount, for a portion of the magnesia, forms the head-land of
Presquw’ isle, near Marquette. An imperfect analysis of this rock

given in Foster and Whitney’s Report, Part II, page 92.
_ Since the publication of that analysis new specimens have been
collected, and a more thorough examination made of it, of which
the results here follow. :

The substance is of a deep green color, so deep as to appear
almost black; its powder is light greenish-gray. Its hardness
is a little above that of common serpentine. It is readily at-
tracted by the magnet, when broken into small fragments. In
some specimens minute octahedral crystals of magnetic iron ore
disseminated through the mass can be seen with the aid of the
magnifying glass. ‘The substance is readily attacked by chloro-

hydric acid, even in thé-cold, if finely pulverized; but a small —

~ of unattacked mineral remains behind when the insolu-
le residuum is treated with carbonate of soda in the usual way.

It amounts to from two to six per cent, and appears to be an in- —
soluble silicate mechanically mixed with the serpentine; it 18

probably hornblende, but has not been analyzed.

The analyses of three specimens collected at some distance
from each other, gave the following results, as the composition
of the soluble portion of the substance:

ia > 7
= Bilica, 86-95” 3125
- ‘Magnesia, 33-07 28°6 14°83
Soda, 97 116 a
_ Protoxyd of iron, 14-14 19:
_ Peroxyd of iron, t gio 6°15 12°90
Water, = Youo =. 10-89

eee

J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region. 19

In analysis 11, in which all the yeaa a are determined, as
well as the relative amount of the oxyds of iron, the calculation
ie for the ratio of the oxygen of water, protoxyd bases and
e silica, leaving out of consideration the peroxyd of iron as
belt a mechanical intermixture, the numbers 1:14
or, almost snes: i 14:2, which is the ratio given os ha
analyses of serpen
Stlver.—Native silves still continues to be found in considera-
be pee te in connection a - mag - A gees a mines
liff.

was really found, as the miners are well known rm appropriate
almost all the silver they discover. The metal has never been
noticed by me in distinct crystals, except in one instance, namely,
at the Copper Falls mine, where a few well formed cubes about
one-tenth of an inch in diameter were obtained.

Most of the fine specimens of silver from the Lake have been
associated with calcite, which is dissolved away by an acid, leav-
ing the metallic mass exhibiting the impressions of the planes of
this ae as is the case with the copper specimens, as before
remar.

Zeolites, —To close this article, a few remarks may be added on
the occurrence of the zeolitic minerals in the Lake Superior re-
gion, and especially as meme re

By far the most abundant zeo per-bearing veins
are eg and laitamotisite, (0% or ie sete species, leon-
ha he cases are rare, however, in which either of these
soniee crag ge the bulk of the gangue of a vein, except
in the case of narrow strings and bunches of limited extent,
Quartz andiealoite are the redominating vein-minerals, the zeo-
lites being decidedly subordinate to these, especially in n the great,
productive lodes. The zeolites, moreover, are chiefly confined
to transverse veins, or those crossing the formations at a high
angle: in the Ontonagon region, where the great lodes have the
same strike as the beds of rock, zeolitic minerals are of compara-
tively rare occurrence in mas vein-stone. In this class of veins

the vein-stone proper. Datholite may be noticed in a few in-
stances among the transverse veins, as forming the larger portion
of the gangue near the surface; but in no such case has mining
been carried to any moneidanene depth, so as to ascertain how

far this state of things conti
n the whole, the diminution of the zeolitic portion of the
vein-stone is marked as the mines are extended downwards: the
y crystalline mineral observed in a recent careful examination

20 J.D. Whitney on Minerals of the Lake Superior region.

of the Minnesota mine, at a depth of from 70 to 80 fathoms, was
calcite. Traces of what appeared to be laumontite were notic
along the selvages of the lode, which at this depth is quite as
rich in copper as anywhere above, but the lode seemed to be
very compact in its texture and no other zeolite was seen in it.
entire, or almost entire, absence of some of the more com-
mon Geclises ‘from the Lake Superior region is worthy of notice.
Those minerals which are most characteristic of the Nova Scotia
ean rocks are almost entirely wanting on the Lake. Neither
= seh or heulandite have ever been observed and me
r region, on the south shore of the Lake.* The
. of lithological character between the traps of Nova
Scotia and those of Lake Superior, which has frequently been
urged as a reason for considering them of the same geological
age, and which has not yet been made evident by an analysis of
the rocks themselves, fails entirely when considered with refer-
ence to the associa erals.

Of the zeolites occurring on Lake Superior, =. leonhard- —

ite and chlorastrolite appear, thus far, to be limited to a single
circumscribed locality, while harmotome is cana in only a
doubtful crystal. The only new zeolitic mineral noticed is
chlorastrolite, which is quite common along the beach of Isle
Royale, for a distance of two or three miles, - which has not
been discovered at any other point on the

The occurrence of the zeolites on Lake FR is not abso-
lutely, although chiefly, confined to veins. All the fine speci-
mens of crys stallized minerals of this class have been obtained
from the cupriferous veins, so that this may be considered as the
normal aes e of occurrence in this region. Where the trappean
rocks assume an amygdaloidal structure, we have, occasionally,
prehnite, ‘auipniakiag tel etc., in radiating fibrous masses, filling
the cavities; but quartz in the form “= ne Beh and chalcedony
and calcite are much more common. are occasional flat
tabular m; masses of laumontite mixed oor shaie found lying
in the direction of the lines of bedding of the trap, but these are
thin and of limited extent. Many of the trap amygdules are

filled with a mineral resembling chloropheite and others with _

saponite. Most of the substances thus occurring are only to be

recog wma Wes by panies! sa as they are generally finely
a :

pelleted ed by Messrs, Owen and Norwood as occurring on
nee a eck: west of Pigeon River, a region to which my ex-
hav

fein pr I have, however, examined numerous
tat pat of the Lake, Take witout ving dinoverd ether of thew sen

L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America, 21

Art. IIL. nae some questions concerning the Coal Formations of
North America; by L, LESQUEREUX.

Ir may perhaps be said that as everybody is now acquainted
with the coal, with its essential constituents and the general laws
of its formation, an attempt to offer to science something new
or even —— on the subject, must prove a fruitless task.
This assertion has a semblance of truth only, for it is certain
that nas of the various and most important phenomena con-
nected with the formation of coal are not satisfactorily, nor even
at all explained. And as they are continually brought forward
for discussion, either by lecturers or systematic geologists, the
subject of the formation of coal, considered as a whole, has been
obscured in such a manner that it is doubtful if the most essen-
tial facts on the subject, some of which may be considered as
demonstrable, are not still looked upon by many as hypothetical
and individual opinions. It is with these peculiar phenomena
of the coal formations, and consequently with the exposition and
the discussion of geological facts connected with them, that we
have to deal in the first part of this paper.

As we cannot expect to come to a right understanding of the
formation of oe without some acquaintance with the vegetation

of w ns it is made, our attention must necessarily to
some extent be: eines to the flora of the coal period. But it
is not enough to — the peculiar nature, the anatomical and

ts. stu

them also in their arti graphical distribution, in the different oa
basins of America and of other countries, and also in the suc-
cessive strata of the coal at different geological horizons. And
it would be desirable also to examine the vegetation of the coal
in conneetion with other external influences, in order to become
acquainted if possible with the climatic conditions that prevailed
at the time of the coal formation.

The plan _ we propose to follow may aecidentally direct
the diseussio some points which do not 4 to have a
close relation to re formation of the coal. But we must bear
in mind that geological eras are not very Sictinetly limited ; or

at least _ oe _— a true understanding of one ~! them it is

es to examine the causes that ep =

22 J. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

coal itself. It would be useless, again to show the groundless-
ness of an Pe to which nature does not give the slightest
apparent su

he pe Spa that the matter of the coal (the wood) was
heaped in some hollows or basins by the agency of water, as by

currents of the sea or of some river, or by some other external

cause, hurricanes, partial or general floods, sinking of the ground
covered with thick fores ts, &c., has been also generally aban-
doned as contradicted by general evidence. € reasons against
it may be briefly enumerated. They are found: 1. In tbe strati-
fication of the coal measures; and also of the coal itself, which

beds of al containing a quantity of matter far greater than
could be furnished by a buried for

The theory of the formation of ne. coal by the heaping of con-
secutive layers of plants and trees grown in place, preserved in

water and buried afterwards; or the peat-bog theory as it is
called by some, is then the only one admitted now as satisfacto-
rily explaining the process of formation of the coal.. The anal-
ogy of formation between the peat-bogs of our time and the
beds of coal of the old measures cannot be called a theory; it is
a demonstrable fact. We can now see the coal. growing up by
the heaping of woody matter in the bogs. After a while we see
it transformed into a dark combustible compound that we name
peat or lignite according to its age. We then see it hardening
either by compression, or by this slow burning J in tsp that has.

ocular examination or chemical analysis fail to distinguish from
true coal. We find besides in Holland, Denmark an = Sweden,

thick pa pecs of peat separated into distinet beds by strata of —

mud and sand, giving the best possible elueidation of the pro-
cess of stratification of the coal measures

It is not only in their general features that both formations
are so much alike. But in the minutest accidents and even
peculiarities, their agreement is clear and unquestionable to one
who has studied the formations of the peat boga:s as our time.
We quote a few sxamaples.

ae

? ae ee

a ae een li

eae pee eS a a ee ae

SNE Ee a ED ah eet ee ee LS

—

L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North Americas 23

An author, speaking lately of the formation of the coal, men-
tions the presence in the coal of wedge-shaped masses of vascular
tissues found imbedded in the midst of the more structureless bitumin-
ous matter of the coal. He accounts for this fact by supposing
that these tissues are the remains of floated logs, which have
finally become imbedded in the carbonaceous matter below. This
supposition is rather an extraordinary one. If the coal has been
formed like the peat bogs, there can not be any floated logs in the
compound. If there were floated logs in the coal, this would
take us back to the formation of the coal by transportation. In
every peat bog, the process of burying trees is in constant opera-
tion. e preservation of the logs which cannot be covered
with water when they fall on the ground, is due to the a sage?
of a moss, the sphagnum which extends its compact tufts -
ways saturated with water like a sponge, over every fragment
of wood, from the smallest to the largest. The Sphagna work
like the ants to bury their treasures; and as their growth is con-
tinuous and —— only by the frost, the heaping of their own
woody matter which forms the structureless peat added to the
wood which they have to preserve and the other plants of the
marshes gives an appreciable thickness for each year. In the
peat bogs of Switzerland, peat grows at the rate of two inches
per year, a thickness reduced to one half by compression. In
the same peat bogs, the poy is do not require more than th
years to cover the stem of a tree of moderate thickness.

The bogs then, even the largest, enter naturally and without
transportation into the composition of the coal as they become

art of the matter of the peat bogs. In the deep bogs of New
ersey, there is a class of woodmen whom I peo call log-fishers,
who sound the marshes with long poles, to find the sound }
which they dig out of the black and already combustible mould
or _ from a depth of from six to ten feet. Some old swamps
of Northern Europe contain as many as four or five generations
of trees of different kinds imbedded from twenty to fifty feet
deep and separated by thick beds of compact, entirely decom-
woody matter or peat. Some of those bogs are so abund-
antly filled with sound and large logs of oaks, pines and birches,
that their removal has gone on for more than'half a century
before there was any material diminution of the supply, and for
a long time it was supposed and even maintained that the trees
of those marshes were growing under ground.

The flattening of all the stems found in the coal and in its
shales, and also the layers of bark observed in the same forma-
tions, without any trace of internal woody structure, have also
attracted a great deal of attention and useless theoretical discus-
sion. In the oldest peat bogs of Germany, especially in the
large swamps or lignite-deposits of the Pliocene of Saxony, the

24 WL. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

trees are found all softened and already flattened to a greater or
less extent. Some of the buried forests of England show the

same appearance. from some clay banks exposed by a slide in —

the Jura mountains, large trees of recent species, still living in
the country around, have been exhumed, and though the wood
still preserves its natural a pearance and its tissues, it has lost
its hardness of texture ante has become as soft as the clay itself.
Henee, as Liebig has proved by direct experiments, in the pro-
cess of slow decomposition or rather slow combustion in water,
the woody matter is ashen 3 softened before its hardening and
eer transformation in co

enmark, there are immense meadows, extending for miles
mas the shores and covering old Peoreght of ae or =

pest can be es eae open all its details. First a thicket of alder
rout out, covering an overflowed surface of ground.
The thicket 1s (Aaepenmtrable, and soon presents a confusedness
of stems and interlaced —— Then, as the trees become
older, the whole mass begins to decay, especially at the level of
the water, and by and by it falls down by its own weight, be
comes submerged i in a few years, and from its own se upon
the mould of its half floating, half decomposed remains, a new
generation of trees appears again and the process of forination is
continued in the same way. “The internal woody matter of the
trees, the lignine, is decomposed at first and reduced to a paste,
while the bark, impregnated with resins, is preserved for an
indefinite period. In the coal basin of Trevorton, Pa., there is
a perpendicular wall presenting to the eye a beautiful picture ¢ of
prints of Lepidodendra and Sigillariz, crossing each other in
every possible direction, all thin layers of bark superposed —
without any woody or carbonized matter between. It is nothing
but the surface of an old coal-swamp, formed like the — —_
_ described above. The peat which it covered has form
coal, and the woody matter floating in water above it has ses
mixed with mud and formed the s
If it is true, as we said before, that all the peat soci |

subjected to continual and hypothetical meodGageesie which,

art its sim Sone: a See it a truly unsustainable. —

oe

L. oe on the Coal Formations of North America, 25

shila of the cena? seas; with sandstone Non without any
ossil remains: this alternation evidently shows that at the time
when the formation was progressing, the sea was continually
brought in contact with the coal and covered it most of the
time. Hence it follows; that if the coal has been formed in
marshes like our peat bogs, we ought necessarily to admit of a
submergence and therefore of a subsidence of the land after
each dep osit of woody matter, and of an upheaval of the same
land to bring it up again above the level of the sea for each
successive growth of a new peat bog. This appears to some

geologists an unaccountable and unnecessary use of nature’s
internal forces; a kind of lusus nature, resembling a miracle.
To meet this objection, they have supposed that the peat bogs of
the coal measures grew on the deltas of some large river, “and
neeneees exposed to periodical inundations: that as fast as the
peat grew, the river brought upon it mud and sand, the ma-
= toa which the shales and the strata of sandstone were
orme

course of time, built upon them. ition strata of limestone: that as
soon as these strata reached the surface of the sea (a fact which

probably supposes that the —— of pa re had stopped -

for a while) the land plants began to appear again, the peat to
grow, and the matter to be heaped up till anothes large periodical
— of the river brought new deposits of mud and sand;

thus by continuous subsidence and repeated inundations,
the coal, shales, sandstone and limestone strata were alternately
orme

Before tsa any reasons in support of the alternation of up-
pero an

nai extent of a basin, or in =a words, «that each sinetetties is
generally horizontally ectended over the whole coal-field in a continu-
ous sheet, so that each seam is accompanied by the same strata rr
and below.” This is only partly true. In the coal-fields of the
United States, it is true only of some beds of coal and of one
or two strata above the conglomerates. Every practical geolo-
gist knows well that it is impossible to gg the peaitiees of a
bed of coal by means of its. adjoining strata. If the same stra
SECOND SERIES, Vot. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1869.
4

.

26 L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

had been expanded without alteration through the whole extent
of a coal basin, nothing would be easier than to fix at once the
geological horizon of each bed of coal after the close study of a
single section. The shales above the coal give by their fossils
the only reliable data; but in many places they (the shales) are
entirely wanting and are replaced by sandstone or limestone.
In the western coal-fields of Kentucky, the first coal below the
Mahoning sandstone, or the fourth coal above the conglomerates
(the same as the Pomeroy coal of Ohio or the upper Freeport
coal of Pennsylvania) whose shales sometimes reach in the
a thickness of 10 feet, is immediately covered by the sandstone.
There is scarcely a vein of coal worked to any great extent, that
does not show a great diversity in the thickness, density and
color of its roof shales. Hence the necessity of roofing differ-
ently the tunnel of a mine in different places according to the
nature of the shales. The bottom clay is almost always present;
but its thickness, color and density are also variable. The lime-
stone of the coal is the most irregular of all the formations. It
is mostly local, sometimes only in boulders, and its numerous
variations in thickness, composition and even fossils, cannot be
accounted for by any satisfactory general rule. There is not in
the United States a single bed of coal that is unvariably covered
with limestone. The sandstone is generally extended with more
regularity; but it has also its diversities of thickness and local
disappearance. The only bed of sandstone which appears to be
continuous in the whole extent of the coal-fields above the con-
- glomerates, is the Mahoning sandstone. Though its thickness
is also somewhat variable, it is found topping the 4th coal (coal
E of Lesley’s Manual) from the anthracite basin of
Pennsylvania to the western extremity of the coal-fields of Lli-
nois and Western Kentucky. The Anvil-rock sandstone, top-
ping the 12th coal of Western Kentucky, though ean
great thickness, has not as yet been identified in the Hast. For
the coal itself, the assertion of its continuity could be admitted
as nearly true. ;
hough a coal bed cannot be called a continuous sheet in 118

(the. omeroy coal) is seen to have the same extent with scarcely
ange in its thickn The Pittsburg coal which from its

ore
ge

ee eee

ie clas vi

ee eee ee Ne ree

ee

L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America. 27

large surfaces, shows itself, along with the characteristic fossils of
its shales, in every part of the measures where the thickness is
sufficient to reach to its level. Thus we have some keds of coa

the identical distribution of the coal beds and of the coal flora in
both basins. it has been very courteously controverted in
this Journal,* and especially as the diseussion of this geological
point enters into our subject and may help to satisfy the min
upon the value of the so-called new theory mentioned above, it
is proper that I should briefly present the reasons in favor of my
opinion.

It would be absurd to assert that the veins of coal or rather
that the peat bogs of the coal formations were formed on a per:
fectly horizontal surface, and that the woody matter was deposi-
ted in the same thickness over the entire area. The most even
plains have undulations on their surface; and the cross-section
given in my report of a part of the Dismal Swamp of Virginia,
should have explained my meaning. The peat bogs of our time
are more or less broken or crossed by small elevations of sand
or hills of some other deposit, which here and there break their
horizontality and also their uniformity of features. For, although
these irregularities may be scarcely elevated above the surface of
the bogs, they are without exception, covered with a vegetation
of entirely a different character from that of the peat bogs, and
therefore their outline is perfectly definite. Sometimes groups
of islands are thus seen rising in the middle of the bogs.
Sometimes,"also, as in the granitic country of the Hartz moun-
tains, or in the basaltic. region of the Rhoen mountains of Ger-
many, peaks of granite or columns of basalt protrude like towers
from some parts of the swamp. Noone will contend that these
irregularities break the continuity of a formation; or that the
peat bogs on both sides of a hill of sand or around a block of
granite are not a continuous formation. In a geological point of
view, accidents like these cannot be taken into consideration.

* This Journal, yol. xxvi, p. 78, July, 1853.

28 L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

But it is clear, at least to my mind, that the great ridge of

Devonian and Silurian by which the Appalachian and the Ih-
nois coal-fields are separated toa distance of from one to two

undred miles, cannot be regarded simply as one of those hills -

which separates two parts of a peat bog. We can discuss only
these two alternatives: either the Silurian axis was not upraised
at the epoch of the formation of the coal, and this formation,
being in active progress upon the whole surface occupied now
by the coal-fields and the Silurian and Devonian, was continu-
ous, and consequently presented the same general features; or,
the coal was formed on both sides of the ridge, and therefore
in two separate basins, and then both formations, though of the
same age, would have ‘been subjected to some peculiar influences,
and each of them would be characterized by — Espns
either in the relative position of their coal beds, o the com
position of the strata, and especially in the beirfoation of theig
flora. The of the Kentucky Survey shows on the con-

trary: that in both coal-fields, the coal beds are exactly in the
same relative position; that at the same geological level, their

shales contain the same species of plants; that fro m Eastern
Pennsylvania to Western Illinois, the thinning of some strata

reserves a perfectly regular progression, and does not show any
change on one or the other side of the great ridge.

But there are some other reasons which may appear more con-
clusive.

1. The conglomerates, as also some beds of sandstone, espe-
cially the great Mahoning sandstone, are developed near the
eastern limits of the coal-fields to a prodigious thickness. This
heaping of loose materials, sand or gravel, evidently shows the
prolonged action of the sea against its shores. Supposing that
the Silurian ridge had been elevated before the formation of the
coal, it would have necessarily served as a shore, and we should

nd somewhere a marked difference in the thickness of the
transported materials abutting against it. No geologist has ever
seen anything of the kind, and the conglomerates like some
of coal and of sandstone, go thinning to the west with a co
and uniform decrease

2. All the peat bogs are formed in basins, as also all the de-
posits of coal, and the outlines of these basins are of-course gen-

erally broken and irregular. This fact is observable in the of |

ern = pare borders of the er But on the sie

i Ae es ee

Te ee ee ee Ee a rage ee Se ee ee ee

L, Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America. 29

by the outward direction of the wall of a basin an upper bed
ought to be extended somewhat beyond the lower and cover its
margin. It is the case in the western borders of the Kentucky
coal-fields, viz. in Christian county and other places, where the
4th coal above the conglomerate or the next bed below it, abuts
against the older formation, when the lowest coal has to be
looked for farther back towards the centre of the basin. On both
the opposite sides of the Appalachian and the Illinois coual-fields,
the appearances are different. It is the lowest coal, then the
conglomerate, then the sub-carboniferous strata that appear one
after the other upon the surface, following a dip corresponding
to that of the sides. This undoubtedly shows that they a
pated in the movement which elevated the ridge that divides
them, and that they were formed before its upheaval.

he undulations of the surface of the coal-fields, so dis-

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5. The upheaval of the Alleghany mountains and the undu-
lating movement caused by it upon an immense surface of
country was very slow, and continued for a long period. The
bends or flexures of the eastern coal, especially of the anthracite
coal-fields are not jagged and angular, nor are they often broken

raised sides, as if the matter had slipped by its owm weight when
there was room for a displacement. nN it follows that if the
undulating movement was slow, and if the strata of the eoal
measures were still in a soft state and easily removable, the top
of the great ridge was necessarily and easily washed away as
fast as it was being raised near and above the surface of the sea.
No wonder therefore that the remains of the coal strata have not

mn preserved, and that we scarcely find any trace of them.
The total sek of the coal washed away by erosion, is,
I think, the only objection of any —— t that has been or may
be mad i ad i

i

30 L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

eoal-felds were united in one area, their surface would fairly b be
estimated at 300,000 nee miles. Now, in the new theory pre-
sented above, we find it asserted: that the shales and the sand-
stone of the coal have been deposited upon the surface of the
peat bogs of the coal formations by the inundations of some large
river! Would it be possible for a sound mind to admit that a
river can cover at once or even by repeated inundations, a surface
of three hundred thousand square miles with a deposit of sand
from six to one hong feet thick, which is the thickness of
the Mahoning sandston
Giving to the herdothindie the widest range of probability and
considering as a peculiar Delta the area (sixty thousand miles) of
the Appalachian coal-fields, still we find no geological phenomena
of our time to justify it. Let us compare a few data. The whole
lain of the Mississippi, comprising the Delta, from Cape Girar-
Per 50 miles above the junction of the Ohio to the sea, covers
an area of about 30,000 square miles. Would it be possible to
sup that an inundation would ever cover this whole surface
with only a few feet of sand or of mud? According to the ob
servations mentioned by Forshey, the mud transported in one
year by the Mississippi river would cover a surface of twelve
square miles with one foot of alluvium. At this rate it would
take five thousand years for a river as mighty as the Mississippi
to cover a single bed of the Appalachian coal-fields with one foot
of shales.
Moreover, it is well known that a river cannot spread any of
= transported material in a uniform manner, especially not in
e deltas which are exposed to: continual changes. For a delta
is never composed of compact materials. It is mostly cut by

variable and sometimes under currents covered only by a crust —

vegetation, sustained by drift wood or floating upon the deep

and muddy waters. These currents cause constant alterations: |
extensive marshes sink and are buried to-a great depth below a :

ge eneral level of the country; lakes appear in some places am

ry up in others; some bayous. are filled and others opened. —
ahere are few square miles around New Orleans and on the —

ere

L, Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North Ameria. 31

which leaves of every kind would have been mixed, not only in
every position, but without regard to the place of their growth.

It is impossible to account for the successive deposits of shales
and of sandstone by a river. When an inundation is at its
height, it bears with it the heavier materials and these are depos-
ited just as the current subsides. The sand would therefore be
deposited before the mud or the sandstone formed below the
shales and not above it.

But the deposits of all our great rivers, the Mississippi, the
Ganges, the Amazon, the Po, is mud only. Sand is occasionally
transported by a river or removed from one place to another by
some strong current, but then it constitutes a bank and is gener-
ally a local formation of small extent.

All the great deposits of sand in our time, which by their
thickness and extent, may give an idea of those which have cov-
ered the bogs of the period of the coal, are marine formations,
The drift of North America and Northern Europe, our Pine-
barrens of the south along the shores of the Atlantic; the
pampas of South America, the heaths of Luneburg or sand plains
along the southern shores of the Baltic Sea; the sand hills of
Eastern Germany and Holland along the shores of the North
Sea; the downs of the Gironde and of the Camargue in France;
the sandy deserts of Syria, &c. No one of these formations can
be referred to the direct agency of a river. :

That the sandstone of the coal generally contains no remains
of marine animals, does not prove that it is not of marine
origin. The sand of our drift scarcely contains any of them.
The hills of sand along the shores of the Baltic and the North
Sea are almost entirely destitute of shells and animal remains.
Sand is not only permeable to the all poem poring oxygen of the
atmosphere, but it is a grinding agent, and as it is put in con-
stant motion, either by the waves and currents of the sea, or by
the wind, it is not to be supposed that even the shells would be
long preserved in the loose 1 et in some places, the
istone of the coal, especially when it is fine and soft, has

32 L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

preserved the casts of marine shells, though not the remains.
have found them in many places, especially near Athens, Ohio,
where a bank of soft sandstone is full of large Producti and Tere-
bratule. But here, as in the sandstone of the lower measures,
the animal remains have disappeared, and the mould only is aos
served. It is the same with the prints of fossil wood foun
the sandstone, which only shows the casts of Tepidodendra,
Calamites , Sigillari riz, &c.; with only a thin lamina of car
ized bark, the whole substance of the wood having diaappesred,
except where silicification has taken place. This show

the fossil remains are so rare in the ge st since even a nore
can scarcely be made on loose oe

In the shales of some beds o 1, especially in oat south-
western part of our coal-fields, ae remains of marine shells
abound: some of the ies are supposed to have lived in : ink
ish water; but most of them like the fishes found in connection
with them, appear to be true marine species. And what at first
may look like = Semen ae h will be explained hereafter,
th ine times more or less mixed with
leaves of ferns oF Paid sees and scarcely if ever with true
marine plants or Ravel. Thus us, also, from paleontological
evidence, the shales cannot be considered as deposits of a river
any more than the sandstone.

The fact that the limestone of the coal measures cannot be
thus disposed of, is fatal to this new theory. Its marine origin
is evident and must be accounted for. And as the ocean cannot
be swollen, like a river, it is necessasy to admit of a subsidence
of the land for its submersion in the sea. But the supposition of
a continual subsidence of a vast country is truly as violent an
hypothesis as the supposition of an alternation of upheavals and
subsidences of the same country, and the difficulty to account
for the first proposition is far greater. Geological forces are not
acting forever in the same way. It is now generally acknowl-

that mountains have not been upraised in a single move-

ment, but by a succession of gradual efforts, or by epochs of

upheaval succeeded by epochs of rest, and eprint of sub-

sidence; since a diminution in the activity of the internal forces

cannot but cause a depression by the natural resistance or the
mass

oma - level at the present time; the movements of t
. bout the temple of Serapis, so clearly explained by
fall; the appearance and disappearance of some islands, &c.,
sially in the stratification of our recent formations. The
ports the Miocene epoch was also formed by pre bogs upon an
upraised land. shales contain leaves of different species of
trees of ° which the congeners are found in tropical regions. These
shales are covered by successive strata of conglomerate,

|

»

I, Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America. 33

stone, and limestone. The coal and the lignite of the Pliocene
epoch have been formed in the same way. Their shales contain
remains of land plants, and sometimes also they are alternately
covered by sandstone and limestone. The drift which is ex-
tended over the whole is as evident a marine formation as the
limestone itself, and now it is in some places more than seven
hundred feet above the level of the ocean. Is not this succession
of land, freshwater and marine formations, in perfect accordance
with the alternations of the strata-of the coal measures, and can
it be explained in any other manner than by the oscillation,
the upheaval and subsidence of the land which supports these
formations

Even if the theory of continual subsidence could find in re- °
cent phenomena anything favorable to its support, it would be
impossible to understand how a long protracted downward move-

~ ment, especially of a Delta, would effect the repeated formation —

of coal beds; how the land being completely covered by the sea
for the formation of the limestone, could be dried up again, so

_ that the formation of the peat could begin anew, upon its whole

surface. The river, says the theory, was still filling up again
the whole space, while the madrepores were’ building the lime-
stone. But this is pure speculation which is equally contrary to
reason and to geological facts. For, if it is true that from causes
which have not yet been clearly explained, tne delta of the Mis-
sissippi is slowly subsiding, it is probable that if the subsidence
was once active enough to permit the invasion of the sea over
its whole surface, the soft matter, sand, mud and peat, of which
it is composed, would be washed away by the marine currents,
the tides, the waves, &c.

In the Report of the Geological Survey of Kentucky, I ex-

_ pressed an opinion which does not now perfectly satisfy my

mind. I supposed that after the formation of extensive peat
bogs, the subsidence of the land being at first very slow, the
first result of the downward movement was a general inundation
either of marine or of freshwater or of both mixed together. A
depression of only a few feet of the great swamps of Southern
Virginia would bring — them by-and-by the waters of the
surrounding rivers and also some water from the sea, either per-
colating through the sand or finding its way by some friths be-
tween the hills of sand extended along the shores. This suppo-
sition fully explains the formation of shales covered in some
places with marine shells and remains of fishes mixed with land
plants of the peat bogs. For, these plants, especially the ferns,
mostly growing upon the thick and high rootstocks could still
live in the swamps invaded by marine water. It explains also
the local formation of the limestone in some depression of the
marshes or marine lakes, But I supposed that after this period
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No, $2 —JULY, 1859.
5

84 L. Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

of slow subsidence, the downward movement becoming more
rapid, the sea broke through its sandy barriers and swept at once
upon the whole plain, bringing with it the sand of its shores for
the formation of the sandstone. I do not find this last supposi-
tion necessary. For, even with a slow movement of subsidence,
continuous for a while, the sea ought to penetrate to the interior
of the land, and with its continuous encroachments, bring for-
ward with it the sand of its shores. This would better explain
why some strata of coal and sandstone are thicker westward,

where the bogs grew for a longer time and where the action of |

the sea was afterwards prolonged. It explains, also, why to the
westward some veins of coal are double and gene ¥ nore
' numerous than to the southeastern part of our coal-fields, this
multiplication being caused by partial retrocession and advance
of the marine element, which was felt only near the inside of
the coal-fields and did not reach the deeper outside borders of
the original basin. But theré is no material difference between
these explanations. In either case the repeated upheaval of the
sea-covered land is su ed as a necessary condition of the
formation of the peat; for this matter can grow only upon land
where the water of the sea cannot reach.

To this last assertion which has not been contradicted, we can —

add the following: that peat never grows on swamps that are

plained by his remark: that at the time of the inundations al

*

from reaching the peat bogs. This damming up was fully bes

Sas

ee

a TE ee ae ee ee ee ee eee a Eee

Ban

L, Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America, 35

when the water was most loaded with sediment, the heaviest
particles of muddy matter were deposited all along on both sides
of the river, just where the current began to lose its force; and
that by this process, continued for a long period of years, a natu-
ral dam being built along some rivers, the marshes on both sides
of it, and formerly inundated, were eventually put out of reach
of the inundations. I have myself ascertained that the thin
particles of sediment which were at first deposited upon the
marshes, formed an essential preparation for the growth of the

t, viz. an impermeable basin, and that it was only when this

in was entirely isolated and protected against inundation that
the plants of the peat bogs began to appear and the peat to grow.

__ This process explains the formation of the fire-clay which under-

lies every bed of coal.

The true peat bogs of the Mississippi delta are mostly located
on or near the old shores of some crooked bayou and surrounded
on all sides by a kind of embankment. Thus they are free from
the influence of river water which, though clear, would stop the
growth of the peat, by destroying the peculiar vegetation of the

‘he action of the water in building its own banks along the
principal bed of a river is beautifully exemplified in the United
States, especially along the Mississippi and some of its tributaries.
Both sides of the Minnesota river are thus bordered by exten-
sive marshes which cover the bottom land to the base of the
ridge of the prairies. In spring they are filled with water, while
the banks of both sides of the narrow channel are mostly dry
still high above water. It is then very difficult to cross those

- 86 L, Lesquereux on the Coal Formations of North America.

the top of the stems, or above water, these stems can not help
much in the process of purifying the muddy water. Yet it is
true that it becomes clear towards the interior of the marshes,
but only as fast as the current becomes insensible or the water

which he can scarcely be held phy or at least for the

assertion of the celebrated English author, an assertion that I do
not recollect to have read in any of Lyell’s works and which
would truly show too much of ignorance of the paleontology
and even of the strata of the coal measures. It is this: “In the
sandstone of the coal formations, it is customary to find trunks
_ of trees, but only trees, no small branches, leaves or tender parts.
And these trunks are observed to be mostly pines, highland trees,

ber Sretght by the river from the high lands. tie if the sea
could not and did not float timber as well as a riv
But it is not with the conclusion that we have a deal now,
but with the assertion, erroneous in every poi
1. The trunks of trees are by far more sonal found in the
sandstone of the coal than the small fragments of leaves, branches,
Some strata of sandstone, the Mahoning sandstone and oth-
ers of the low coal measures, are sometimes entirely blackened
by those small fragments of plants so bruised that it is scarcely
bur iti to identify any species. This is not a local appearance;
ut itis observable in the whole extent of the coal-fields gene-
rally on the same stratum of sandstone. This shows a rapid
fosratven of the sea, which sweeping with impetuosity upon the
peat bogs of the coal, washed away part of ee am ecomposed plants
and peat bogs and mixed them with the sa
2. Representative species of the Pine gad have scarcely
been found in the true coal measures. In the family of the Cu-
pressinee which ne more than sixty species of fossil plants dis-
tributed in twenty genera, there is not a single spécies belonging
to the coal epoch. In the family of the Pines which has at least

one hundred and fifty fossil species known, distributed in twelve —

genera, there are only thirteen species which have been referr

to the true coal measures. Two of these, Peuce Hugeliana Ung.
and Peuce australis Ung., belong to uncertain formations of coal

of Van anes and Vanguroé Islands. Of two other species,

um Beinertianum (Endl.) pelo to ae limestone —
ie 2

one, 4
as to the oe a of the transition Faye Dy th hee
lum Sternbergii Endl. was wrongly ascri

a i ag a

eR See A en en een PE Ree AN EEN. ir Oe eR SP
a bse

H, J. Clark on the Microscope. 37

longs to the Miocene of Haering in Tyrol. A fifth species, Pinus
anthracina Ll. and Hutt., is a cone which was found in the shales
of England. There are then only eight species of the pine family
which have been found in England, in a bed of sandstone refer-
red to the upper coal measures and described by Witham.

Admitting the position of this sandstone as true, though it is
most remarkable that the remains of the Pine family should
have been found in the coal measures of England only, there
has been found in the sandstone of the coal measures 4 species
of Stigmaria, 15 species of Sigillaria, 10 species of Lepidodendron,
3 of Knorria, 4 of Halonia, 6 of Calamites, 10 to 20 species of
Psaronius and other stems. This would make at least 60 species
outside of the Pine family for 8 init. The same proportion would
be true according to the number of specimens. In the state of
Ohio, near Athens, there is perhaps the most extensive deposit of
transported silicified trunks that it is possible to find anywhere.
Of some thousand specimens that I have examined, all belong to
the genera Sigillaria and Psaronius. A single specimen which
is not yet determined has concentric circles, and may belong to
the genus Araucaria.

From recent observations, it appears that the genus Sigillaria
is related to the Isoetes of our time, a water plant. All the
Psaronit are trunks of ferns and like the other genera quoted
above, they all belong to the flora of the true coal formations,
and are found in the shales also. Nevertheless, this does not
put aside that part of the assertion: that some trees of the sand-
stone might have been transported from a dry land. It is a
complicated question which may be examined at another time.

(Zo be continued.)

Art. IV.—Some Remarks upon the use of the Microscope, as re-
cently improved, in the investigation of the minute organization of
Living Bodies; by H. James Cuark, of Cambridge, Mass.

[From the Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Boston,

Mass., January 26, 1859.]
I was incited to om: together my thoughts and experiences
upon this subject, by discovering, hres
alled

common White Pine (Pinus , Linn.

A dot of this kind is usually oe aherg tate by a circle (fig. 1,
C, d@), in the centre of which is a single or double ring (a, b), which
has about one third the diameter of the first (d) e outer cir-
cle (d) is described as the boundary of a lenticular space (A, ¢
between two contiguous cells, and the inner double circle (C, a, 2
as the outskirts of a perforation (A, a4) in the deposit layer (/)

38 H. J. Clark on the Microscope.

of the cell. The double ~_ —— as is said, from the fact

cate cone, which, when Iioonushs
Fig. 1.
endwise, presents to the eye ‘
gd f echa
two circular ends concentrically ; are
the broader end, which i ays eae itt

§
jm}
=
0g
Touma
°
a. >
a>)
=]
(ar)
eo
oO
=
_—
~
Pet
S
o
po
=|

the narrower end to the inner cir- 4
cle (a). - Thus are these dots de- iti
scribed and illustrated, by Mohl, oe
Schleiden, and Schacht, as seen in
the common European Pin e (Pinus
sylvestris), and thus did they always
appear to me, not only in that spe-.
cies, but also whe bserved
them in Pinus Strobus, except with
this ditieaaeas that the perforation
was boun y an exceedingly
faint gl circle, (C, c,) whose re-
lations I could not comprehend,
nor was | able to eosoneite its pres-
ence with the theory in regard to
the nature of the perforation. I aR

therefore left it, doubtingly sup- 9% f¢9

posing it to be some optical illusion. The microscope which I
used, and which I have wenn in the habit of using up to within

io}

the last six months, is an O made for Prof. Agassiz
some years ago; and yet at this very day) I find it as good, with
perhaps a single exception, as any now made in Germany, an

therefore just as trustworth y in the Sah orc of the glandular
dots of the Pine.*

* Tt may not be Faventeasont to state here, that the first Pe ng ets 8 made
in Germany was ¢ sate peter 1839 by Fraunhofer, for ree iz. This

this mas i mae ss
ee ie pig work with rie SN gine the
has ae evident to Agassiz that his instrament
which the progress of his researches put 0 it;

was something beyond its eed of. aelt bere hig au get a
peste se Rey fo. waren him in the belief that pag asceite
Fab hardly

— sper as 1852 he opportunities to see the wor
the English he ba opp ; and although it oe lamn en ao rival of, t

H. J. Clark on the Microscope. 39

. For the last six months I have used one of the most ey
mproved microscopes, made by Mr. Charles A. Spencer of
Cannel N. Y.; and with this, between three and four ose
ago, I again attempted to solve the mystery of the glandular
dots is with the most complete success.

When the ous was brought to bear upon the inner surface
of the dot, the innermost ring (B, C, a) of the perforation ap-
peared first : a little deeper, ‘the next outer one (>) came into
view, whilst the innermost (a) disappeared ; — still deeper the
last (d) passed from my sight, and the faint ring (c) of my old
observations ont out sharply and alent, as an exterior circle
to the two othe

T also oni ad, when passing from the innermost circle (a) to
the outermost (c), that the widening was gradual; and so, too,
did it appear in the transit from the second ring () to the: outer-
most (c). This gave me the clew to the sage eR Ilsaw
that these rings were not the expression of a le perforation,
but of the outwardly curled edge of this caecin shaped in
such a way as to form a sort of trumpet mouth.

Although I would not trust to a transverse section alone, yet I
found that it confirmed me in my views as explained above.
_ The figures which I have given,—namely, a een section
z (®) with dotted lines projected upon a face view (C) of the dot,

I think will s aap e to illustrate what I betiose: to be the true
relations of these ri

difference between the objectives of the two microscopes,
compare the action of the —. of Oberhaeuser to the manner

Engli do: .

tinued rivalship and growing superiority, he determined to test his skill to the ut-

most. He therefore, in 1857, requested me to visit Canastota, in order to consult

8 , and advise him as to the nature of the work for which w es to

his instrumeuts, This eee resulted in the conelusion that we must have

three sets of objectives;—one with the ong wie flat field: a second. of the like
it together

third with a depthing focus extending as far as possibl that of the the ordinary
pur rel

. siioed of the yi hah Pires of
various imvestigation, but a ose convenienc
of clint one which the long use of that instrument has taught us, to facilitate tha
a rect pie inns be in its normal condition, and in ite element, that we
may be no longer com to represent the tortured figures of a crushed body ar
dismembered organism, ™

ae H. J. Clark on the Microscope.

~

°
second ring (6), the innermost one (2), being above the horizon —

of the field, was invisible; and, again, when the outermost and
lowest ring (¢) was reached, the middle one (6) also vanished. _

ere this outermost ring as distinct as the others, it might |

after day, plunged into the hitherto unknown depths o:
ife. I say this

life. after having tested from time to time some of: 4

ae ee fe eS

the best En lish microsco which have been made since the —
n,

“Great Exhi and therefore am not to be supposed to

H. J. Clark on the Microscope. 41

; have made so great a leap as if from an Oberhaeuser to a Spencer.
; Since that visit, and another one also, made last summer, when
. lobtained one of Mr. Spencer’s quarter-inch objectives, with an
, angular aperture of one hundred and forty-five degrees, I have
| from time to time made particular efforts to test the value of the
, flat field and wide angle in the study of organized bodies. The
7
be
[

results of my investigations at Canastota, and also since my
return, I have embodied in this

The relations of the rkas

If the Wagnerian vesicle was situated at the upper or lower side
of the Purkinjean vesicle, it has often been next to impossible

difficulty I have seen obviated by the decided, section-like pre-
cision of the flat field, which at once revealed to the eye the
_ exact and relative level of every vesicle or yolk-cell.
was most forcibly reminded, not long ago, of the value of
the wide angle of aperture, and the accompanying great amount

of light, upon trying Spencer’s objective upon the stem of a
_ well-known Hydroid, the Clava leptostyla, Ag. In the manu-
_ seript of the forthcoming volume of Professor Agassiz’s ‘‘Con-
_ tributions to the Natural History of the United States of Amer-
ica,” the outer wall of this Hydroid, and of several others, I
may say In passing, had been Soscribta as a structureless mem-
brane; but what was my surprise, in my last attempt, to find
that this wall was composed of a layer of polygonal cells, as
‘distinct as any in the other parts of the animal, and even readily
discernible in the more opaque parts, where the stem appeared
like a simple black surface under the ordinary microscope.

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859.

6

42 H. J. Clark on the Microscope.

In regard to the usually estimated worth of wide angles of

aperture, I would say, that, from numerous experiments upon
living tissues, objectives having this property are valuable, not
so much because they can admit extremely oblique one-sided
rays, but because they allow rays to enter from all sides at a
very wide angle to the axis. One-sided oblique rays throw the
shadow in a great measure, beyond any particular cell upon its
neighbor, and this produces distortion; whereas when the rays
converge at a wide angle, each cell becomes strongly marked at
its periphery by a dark, broad shade. A moderately oblique,
one-sided light, hardly twenty degrees from the axis of the ob-
jective, always appeared to be the most frequently serviceable.
I was surprised one day to find that the hitherto faintly visible —
circulation in the cells of Spirogyra was rendered, by such a ~
light, very distinct, and the granules borne along in the current
appeared like little specks with a very sharp, thick, black outline.

At first thought, there would appear to be an insuperable |
objection to the wide angle of such objectives, and that is the —
shortness of the working distance, which will not allow one to —

H. J. Clark on the = 43

do not mean to say that a certain amplification obtained by a
low objective and a high orthoscopic ocular is fully as good as
the same afforded by a higher objective; but in case the latter
cannot reach a certain internal structure, the former can be us
with very little appreciable ge and is by far better than
the usual methods employed in such cases, such as “eaelg or
dissections and the isolation of ihe. organ to be i investigated.

have not had an opportunity to make frequent use of the

‘‘orthoscopie eye-piece ;” but Mr. Spencer has furnished me with
another form of ocular, 7 ‘solid eye-piece,” invented by his
pupil, Mr. Tolls. This, ar SU tells me, so closely ap-
proaches the “orthoscopic eye- piece” wb rs that none but

ifference, and the for-

Ba SS ew BABB oy
aad
a
@
Er
Q
38
cS
Samed
S
a
pet]

so
S,
O°
for
a
5
ps)
oa
-@
So
"<2
et
—
7 oO
Qu
oO
ch
"2.5
S
Q
|
we,
Lear)
}
o
7]
a

objective I have run the nifying power up to two thousan
diameters, with wonderful Senate which fully justify me in say-
ing all that I have in regard to the study of thick tissues with
low powers having bers angles of aperture.

I will take a young fish as an example to illustrate the re-
_ markable efficiency of the flat field. In a view from above, one
_ may see no less than six or seven differe ge or sets

organs resting one over the other; first the Bs and the muscu-
Jar layer, next the vertebra, within these the spinal marrow, and
below the latter the chorda. dorsalis, and close to this the do
7 artery, then the intestines and their appanage 4 re yet every
_ one of these may be plunged through and totally ignored, on
4, account of the peculiar properties of the flat fell 5 the last,
~ the intestines, minutely inspected, not only cell by cell, but each
_ cell may be studied, in every particular of detail, as if it were
isolated. And so may any set of organs be treated, whether
q situated above or below in the animal. With such means at

4 itis utterly preposterous to trust what may be worked. out by
- separating these organs from the animal, piecemeal. When in-
~— a cell may be measured, not only transversely, but also
the greatest nicety in a perpendicular direction, by the

* In this connection I would urge upon students s the necessity of avoiding the

|

higher po im the commencement of their studies. When
they have learned to use the lower objectives, it will be a m ier matter to
he ones. Students usuall _that they can see everything

ge the higher powers, whereas they are greatly mistaken ; as much as would
who should make a minute inspection of the stones of some great architectural

5 tie a obtained a proper conception of its magnificent plan

a ome and then think |
and glorious proportions,

44 H. J. Clark on the Microscope.

micrometer screw, which works the fine adjustment of the ob-
jective; every cell, se wer may be treated as if it were a sepa-
rate out W would warrant to measure, for instance, the
size of the sins of | a nerve after it had been removed from its
natural position, and with more or less inevitable distortion?
Unfortunately, investigators have been compelled to do this too
often, up to this very ay but now I as for much better and

the eis dorsalis, intestines, vertebree, muscles, Xc., similar
and apparently gradual changes have been observed ; but each
step, in most instances, was investigated isolately from the pre-
vious one, and the intervening pas bridged over by the process
of inductive reasoning alon This is not enough; now we
know that every sec péond of thei life of a cell, or series of cells,
on be Danse most minutely, minute by minute, hour by hour,
day by day. Day and night, watches have been kept by |
lon Me in other departments of science, and why may not the
naturalist do so? In some cases a eae extensive series of

Wyman has observ m the segmenting of the yolk
to hatching in the space of about forty hours.. It is not possible,
in = way, to trace the grad «se vam of cells and

I have in ‘mind a remarkable instance of the evils of the eee
monomaniacal habit of using pressure whilst investigatin tis-
sues. A celebrated physiologist, i in_all probability, m the |
most fortunate chance of discovering the key to the whole
history of the mode of origin of the embryo from the tara

the segmentation of the y ytho full- —
reptiles, and

H, J. Clark on the Microscope. 45

sharks, are very thin-walled, hyaline, globular vesicles, each one
of which contains a more or less darkened mesoblast, and within
the latter are a certain number of entoblasts (nucleoli). Now
under the least pressure, the cell-wall bursts quickly, and the
mesoblast becomes fissured or wrinkled. In this condition the

no less careful an observer than Johannes Miiller. Now in the
turtle, at least, the mesoblast bade self-division until there
are innumerable mesoblasts in the parent cells; and after the
latter have congregated to ae the different layers of the incip-
ient organs of the embryo, and burst, the former unite side by
side, and thus become the original cells of the young tissues.

I feel that I cannot urge too strongly the utmost necessity of
studying living beings as nearly in a state of nature as is possi-
ble; to attempt this by all available means and contrivances,
and, a ve all, patiently, not begrudging the time, because more
numerous observations might be obtained by making a piece-
meal and hurried show of dismembered Nat

It would certainly be more profitable as tr as living beings
are concerned, if the whole world of science should, for a while

which cae the dissecting-knife. The first ge been in-

ae een eT es

ded, because
ered as high authority both in England and in thi
have attempted to depreciate the value of the flat field ca om
angle of aperture in the study of living objects. This is a little
remarkable, since it comes from a country where, until recently,
the most finished microscopes of this kind were made, and where
they are now to be found in large numbers. I will Tead a cost
passages, which may be found on page 196 of Dr. Corpeidee
work on the microscope. He says:

fl
I
i
iD
at
t
a
.
7
Is
by
i

:

:

“The author feels it the more important that he should express himself
clearly ~e strongly on this subject, as there is a great tendency at
ese

at the attainment of that ‘resolving power’ which is given by angular
aperture, as the oy thing needful ; those other attributes which are of far
more importance in almost every kind of scientific investigation, being
comparatively little thought of ; and he therefore ventures here to repeat
the remarks he e made u upon this subject, in his recent Presidential address
to the Microscopical Society, of the correctness of which he has been

46 : Hed: Clark on the Microscope.

since assured, by the approval of many. of those who have nae success-
fully employed the microscope in physio sy investigation

periority in resolving power possessed by object-glasses of rene an
aperture is obtained at the expense of other advantages. For even grant-

adequ
Jens can only be secured by the greatest etnies in the adjus alison

of the mirror a r must be su to zi e to the object the

best possible illumination. If there be any failure in these conditions, the

performance of a lens of very wide angular aperture is very muc. or
art

pressly requ uire this condition, it is a source of great inconvenience and

loss of time to be obliged to be continually making these adjustments ;

and a lens, which, when adjusted for a thickness of glass of <3,” will
without much sensible deterioration with a petro either or

so or of +45”, is practically the best for all ordinary purpose

over, a lens of moderate aperture has this very great advantage ‘that tis

parts of the object which are less perfectly in focus can be much better

* seen; and therefore that the relation of that which is sae distinctly _

discerned, to all the rest of the object, is rendered far more apparent.

t me remind you, further, that almost all the great achievements of
orks eee have been made by the Re wgper seit of such ob-
jectives as I am mmending. There can. be no question about the
isa proportion of the results which pt | microscopists may claim,
in nearly all departments of minute anatomical, physiological, botanical,
or zoological investigations, since the introduction of this invaluable aux-
iliary ; and it is well known that the great majority of their instruments
are of extremely simple construction, and that their objectives are gener-
ally of very moderate angular aperture. Moreover, if we look at the

h

Owen, the ‘ Researches into the Structure of Shell’ earried out by Mr.
Bowerbank and myself, the ‘ Physiological Anatomy’ of Messrs. Todd
and Bowman, the first volume of the ‘ Histological Catologue’ by Prof.
Quekett, and "the ‘ British Desmide’ of Mr. Ralfs,—we find sure reason
to conclude that these researches must have been made with the instru-
mentality of lenses, which would in thd present day be regarded as of
ven limited cepa hope that, in these remarks, T shall not be
w

=

Ss Se OR ew PO Ae A SR, ee SN CER RRS cee | ks SR ees” aes er a) Sek toe Til 8) Se ee leche Se eee Le ve
oe "

H. J. Clark on the Microscope. 47

stimulate our instrument makers to go on from one range to another,
until they have conquered the difficulties which prev iously baffled them ;
and then apply themselves to find out some new tests, which shall offer a
fresh difficulty to Ky overcome, But it is = the only, nor can | regard
it as the chief work of the microscope, to resolve the markin
Diatomacee, or tests of the like difficulty ; aaa although 1 should consider
this as the highest object of ee to our makers, if the performances
of such lenses with test-objects were an fair measure of their general
utility, yet as I think that I have Hettitinatrated: that the very conditions —
of their construction render them inferior in this respect for the purposes
at th

at the lowest

Raigaseie: the approval of those, as Dr. Carpenter says,

‘‘who have most successfully employed the pucreneare in phys-
iological investigations,” I do not hesitate for a moment to de-
clare, that nothing could be more pernicious fe the best interests
of science than these remarks. It is unfortunate that such mis-
taken views should be displayed on this subject, where so great
confidence has been placed,—by one, too, whose elementary ~
works on physiology have raised the belief, among many, that
he is perfectly pongery with those very tissues —_ ch require
the nicest and m id microscopical investigatio

The illastrations which I have given of the iia value of

highly corrected lenses in the st = of minute structures, are
er pe T think, to refute Spay views; but I would like to say

words more in conclusion, especially in reference to the

fei relations * — investigations to other de epart-

ments of natural

a“ the help of better microscopes, in a is iikely to take
the lead in it

glimpses,

done, had we possessed one of these highly finished instruments,

I can confidently assert, that it is a grave error to tell opticians

they had better devote themselves more particularly to the im-

a of the ordi instruments, and let their transcen-
corrections of widely gaping sigh serve in the mean

while as playthings for curious amateurs

48 “dk W. Mallet on Brewsterite.

But it isa still more serious mistake to say to students, that
an instrument which performs under a variety of circumstances
‘without much sensible deterioration” is practically the best for
all ordinary purposes

So thought Ehrenberg, and yet we all now know what curious
mistakes he made. Embryology, too, comes under this pro-
scription; for any one who has attempted to trace the develop-
ment of animals, especially the lower forms of life, must know
that it is impossible to separate the andy, of their cellular struc-

». ture from the investigation of their or

cannot more fittingly conclude this communication, than by

quoting, by Mr. Spencer's leave, a portion of a recent letter of

his to me. He says: “It seems to me that there is mae. reason

to nase much from the earnest seth of high powers with
blin :

path before them. Every day’s thought convinces me more an

more deeply of the radical mistake that has been made in this
tion. y have recently been making some observations and

’ riments with low angles on certain well-known structures,
have in several instances been struck with a blank astonish-

subjects of your study, are precisely such as will lead to the
most frequent errors; and if you do not find that many a
blunder has been made in their study, heretofore, I shall be
greatly surprised.” |

Art. V.—On Brewsterite; by J. W. MALuer.

Two analyses of the mineral species Brewsterite are on record,
a of Vaso — Thomson,t both made many years ago.
e results

ell. Thomson.

Silica, - - : - - 63-666 53°045
Alumina, - : . : 17-492 16°540
Baryta, - - - - 6-749 6°050
St - - - 8°325 “00.
Lime, - - - - 1°346
Water, - - 12°584 14°735
Peroxyd of iron, i : < ee

100°454 100°175

* Edinb. N. Phil. Jour. No. XIX,
+ Outlines of Mineral, Geol ci to Alvi p48

pi al 3

J. W. Mallet on Brewsterite. 49

It is strange that in Thomson’s Outlines of Min., Geol., &c., the
analysis of Connell is given with altogether different figures—
thus: ;

52°400

Alumina, 15-918
Baryta, 5°827
Strontia, 7709
ime, - - - - 1007
Water, - - - - - 208
Peroxyd iron, - - : - 12°584
95°653

Dr. Thomson remarking at the bottom of the page that the spe-
cimen analyzed by himself consisted of fine erystals carefully
selected, while that examined by Mr. Connell was a mixture of
amorphous and crystallized mineral.

The method for the separation of baryta, strontia, and lime,
employed by Connell—probably by both analysts—namely, the
solution of nitrate of lime and afterwards of chlorid of strontium,
in aleohoi—has given place to more reliable processes, and on
this account a repetition of the analysis might be desirable; but
it becomes still more so when the close analogy of brewsterite
to heulandite is considered. The two species should in all prob-
ability have the same general formula, and this has in fact. been
assigned to them in Dana’s Mineralogy, but with the formula for

_ heulandite these older analyses of brewsterite do not very well

Sate =)

agree.

Thave recently analyzed some fine specimens, from the original
locality—Strontian in Argyleshire, Scotland—and the results
appear fully to establish the chemical as well as crystallographic

of gneiss: sometimes these crusts could be detached from the
rock by careful blows, but in general they adhered very firmly.
Some of the crystals were an eighth of an inch in length—most
of them were much smaller, The following measurements were
obtained—using the lettering of Dana.

O: 3-1 = 175° 49’—175° 53’—175° 55’
47: $4 =171° 43’—171° 40’.
a: i= 166° 1s",
O: 1-4 (2) = 157° 23’—157° 1'7’—157° 20’—157° 29’.
T: i-4 = 112° 13’—112° 17/—112° 12.
The spec. grav. was found = 2°453.

For analysis the crystals were carefully broken off, and picked
clean from any dust of the accompanying rock. In one case,
the mineral was fluxed with carbonate of soda, so as to ensure
perfect decomposition, and consequent purity of the silicic acid

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859.

‘

*

50 J. W. Mallet on Brewsterite.

weighed; the other specimens were treated directly with hydro-
chloric acid, which seems of ae to be capable of effecting
complete decomposition, The baryta was precipitated by hydro-
fluosilicic acid,* and the relative amounts of lime and —
were determined indirectly, by = ighing the mixed earths
as sulphates and then as carbona

The following are the results abiineds

qd) Q) (3) (4) ) Mean. Atoms.
- - 54°49 53°66 54°31 54°84 .... 65442 1°209 4°08
. 15°42: 36°29: 16°05 = tac - ei 1 te ee i:

Peroayd of _ trace 08 trees 255.25 SO eae

O16 - 684 (etétresd Ahi ORE
Strat - - 899; 990. “47-4. a ee Oe *304—1°'03
Lim - - “92 TG See a ce 042
Water, - - 18°89: vue Se SS eS IS 2. 2969 4°96

99°67 99°87

Analysis (4) was ed by an accident; and in (8) the deter-
mination oer e earths was abandoned on ascertaining the ne-
cessity for the removal of ammoniacal salts before precipitating

— vid. note), a precaution which had not been take

The a silicic acid, alumina, protoxyds and gg are clearly pres-
ent in the ratio 4:1:1:5, giving the form
(BaO, SrO, CaO), SiOs+4+Al20s, #6 3+5HO.
The atomic relation between the lime, baryta and strontia is near
4,

.
.

i
the cea of pee or lime, e found no notice taken in any work on pos
ical the — ernte seantoaiane! male upon silico-fluorid of barium.

Wrens states hat the latter dissolves in 3400 to 3800 parts of Paton and in
640 to 733 parts of saath acidified by hydrochloric acid, but does no tion salts
of ammonia.
I digested pure silico-fluorid of barium in the cold, with frequent stirring, “for
forty-eight hours—(a) with a saturated solution of chlorid of ammonium, (5) with
thie sai ion di ice i The fluid was in each

case filtered off perfectly clear, 1 ¢ centimetres were measured
was ined ‘5 a
(a) gave "1942 grm. ep: grm. of BaF, SiFs. Hence 1 part

of the latter salt eaves in eee parte of a saturated solution of sal-ammoniac.
(6) gave "1409 grm. of BaO, S "1697 grm. of BaF, SiF,, or 1 part in 589

ecessity of ng ammoniacal salts from a fluid in which baryta is to
a as silico-fluorid is sufficiently obvious.

°
W. P. Trowbridge on a Submarine Telegraph. 51

Art. VI. par the importance of more ane and more accurate
aes sea Soundings in connection with the successful establishment
a Submarine Telegraph across the Atlantic; by Prof.
Pacwenuor, Assistant U. S. Coast Survey.

In - year 1849, two citizens of Philadelphia, Horatio Hab-
bell, Esq., and Col. John H. Sherbourne, presented a lengthy
memorial to Congress promulgating a plan for establishing tele-
graphic communication across the Atlantic ocean; and asking
the Government to aid in carrying out the project. This memo-
rial contained the announcement of the probable existence of a
table-land or plateau between Newfoundland and Ireland, in the
following words.

“Your memorialists proceed to say that from many observa-
tions which have been made, there is incontestible evidence of
the existence of a submarine table land extending from the

of the British Channel.” “This is proved by the altered color
of the sea water, which has a different appearance, in unfatho
able places, from what it has in shallow s spots.” “This combined
with the volcanic construction of Iceland and the Azores, an
the situation of that portion of the ocean that. lies between these
‘oe groups, has led to the conclusion that there has been a

cut wear in man ey places, by deep-water cheater * The
appeara Medusz, Polypi, and other marine creation: seen
upon the ath of the discolored water, strengthens this opinion.”
“ Your memorialists propose that these suggestions should be
investigated,” &c.

The first experiments made to test the truth of these sugges:
tions were the soundings of Commander Berryman, made in the
summer of 1853. Previous to this time no cast of the deep:

Hubbell and Sherbourne. In a popular sense this announce-
ment conveyed the idea of a vast unbroken level at the bottom
of the sea, the existence of which has not been conclusively
established by the soundings referred to.
he question, however, is one of very little importance, pr

ded the irregularities of the bottom do not offer any serious ha
stacle to the safe descent of an electric cable, or cause its destruc-

tion subsequently. The question now presented is, taking the
bottom of the ir as it probably exists, with elevations and

©
52 W. P. Trowbridge on a Submarine Telegraph.

depressions corresponding to those found upon the face of the dry
land, what influence will these elevations have upon the practical
operation of depositing an electric cable, and in the preservation
of the electric continuity. Upon this point there has been very
little discussion, on account of the popular belief in the exist-
ence of a level bottom across the only part of the ocean where
a submarine telegraph has been supposed to be practicable.
But even upon the line of the Atlantic udlegréph, although there
may not exist remarkable submarine mountains and valleys, yet
it is not improbable that considerable elevations and depressions
ur. The profile of Capt. ssh peau = -— rect from
that of Commander Berryman; so m to give rise to
serious controversies with regard to ab Fatal correctness of
both, since to the probable uncertainties of the soundings, was
added the uncertainties in relation to the intermediate depths,
the soundings being made generally fifty to one hundred miles

Phe explorations of Dayman and Berryman ought therefore
to be rega as general reconnoissances only, from which the
true profile of the bottom can only be conjectured. In the
explorations of the Gulf Stream by the U.S. Coast Survey,
Lieutenants Craven and Maffitt discovered, off Charleston, a
series of submarine ridges and depressions several hundred
fathoms in height and depth in the horizontal distance of
twenty to thirty miles. Such ridges and allege would —
been passed unnoticed in the explorations between Newfoun
land and Ireland.

It may be taken for granted that a ‘submarine cable re
touch the bottom at every point; otherwise some parts of i

must remain s uspended across valleys, or chasms, © anknown
depth and extent; under these circumstances its continuity is
endangered by its ‘weight, its chafing at the points of suspension,
the action of currents, "and other causes. hether the Atlantic
cable 0 vealed, b ‘by such influences or not will probably
never be revealed, but it may be important to examine how
a more accurate and detailed section of the bottom may diminish
pe risks which must always attee an enterprise of this char-

Such ridges and elevations as were found in the Gulf Stream,
though moderate in height and depth when compared with the
Pik depths of the eae are yet of sufficient nt etch to

taken into accou

eat 2

sg aa ie oad

W. P. Trowbridge on a Submarine Telegraph. 53

is intended to adapt a line to these inequalities, it is their real
and not their comparative magnitudes which must be taken into .
account.

s) c an epe-
he catenary will produce a a tension upon the cable,
] e bottom be very deep, unless

2d or foreseen.
. It may therefore be safely asserted, that to avoid risk of break-

54 W. P. Trowbridge on a Submarine Telegraph.

will not only be an unnecessary waste of cable in some places,
but the surplus may fail to be sufficient in others, the result of
which might be a rupture.

On the other hand, provided an accurate and detailed profile
of the bottom be constructed, from which the exact length of
cable required between any two points, however near together,

be determined, there is no reason why an irregular form of
bottom should present any serious obstacle to the safe deposit of
a cable, provided the speed of the ship be so regulated as to de-
posit the proper amount in the proper place; and it is only by
following this rule that risk of breaking from the weight of the
cable can be avoided.

In conclusion, the following rules may be stated.

1. Soundings of unquestionable accuracy should be made at
intervals not greater than ten miles, and where there is a steep
slope of the bottom, at more frequent intervals.

2. From these soundings a profile of the bottom should be
- made, in sections, upon a large scale, from which the length of
the curve of the bottom may be calculated.

8. A chart should be constructed based upon the profile,
showing the rate of speed and delivery between the different
stations, in order that the cable paid out may adapt itself without
tension to the curve of the bottom:

the two continents notwithstanding the supposed rugged char-
acter of the bottom near them; while there is yet no proof that
the bottom between the Azores and the Banks of Newfoundland
is at all unfavorable to such a project.

&

C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 55
Art. VIL—Abstract of a paper on the Ophiurans, a tribe of Star-
fishes ; by Dr. Cur. F. LUTKEN.*

Terminology and Morphology.

isc generally
presents an unbroken edge, but below it is invaded by the arms,
which pass along its under surface, quite to the mouth-slits, In

_ describing Ophiure the mouth is placed downwards, the back of

the disc is therefore the upper surface, towards the periphery is
outward, towards the centre inward. The solid parts belong to

_ corresponding part of the hinge, namely, two edges overging
eis

pointe mentioned by Gaudry in Asterophyton, deserve notice.

e first is, that, when the arm divides in two equal branches,
* Additamenta ad historiam Ophiudarum. Af det danske Videnskabernes

Sels' Skrifter. 5te Pakke 6 bind. For this ta the Tousnsk is iidahaen

to THEoporE Lyman of

aa species of the genus Ophiactis (Litken) and in Ophiocoma pumella
} Annales des Sciences Naturelles, 3m* Serie Zodl, xvi, 339.

56 C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans.

the joint, just before the fork, has two discs, instead of one;

on either side; but the halve rmost joint of al are
ee sundered, and, inelinin to bith right and left, are
so 1 to the correspon fing pieces of the cee: eb arms on

oe ioe ( penile sily ” Mille, in the “System der
Aste

uses the ler” at random for mouth-
frames and jaws. These parts are pgp 4 visible on the out-
side, but, in Ophioderma and allied genera, they are covered

with grains. All the rest of the interior aksletes is hidden by
the skin-skeleton. Miiller and Troschel, in the same work, point
out the homology between the discs in the arms of the Ophiuree
and the joints in those of star-fishes; but as they started with
the idea that these joints constituted ‘a true internal cope
they came to the opinion that this was peculiar, and no

found in any other Kchinodermata. Gaudry, also, does a con-
sider the interior skeleton of Ophiurans as homologous with oe
bulacral plates, but looks on it as a special structure in serpent-
stars. It is in the side arm-plates that he finds the homologues
of the ambulacra.

The skin-skeleton proper is to be found in the scales on the
disc, spre genital plates and the four rows of plates on the arms
called upper, ander and side plates (seutella dorsalia, ventralia,
corres To the jointed structure of the interior arm-skeleton

corresponds, Sonsebnontly, a similar one in the skin-skeleton.

per, an ae and two side plates together form a joint,

an this eo ds to a joint of the interior skeleton, except

5 eee, beyond their proper joint to the next outer

jot a Ses ne lates sometimes lie side by side, but again the

Iternate Se the others, particularly when the
foot a As to their form, the upper p

Se en ee een ie MES LR Te Per me SU Ee

My Se ee aed ee ee ee ee

C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 57

as a general rule, occupy the whole upper surface of the arm,
but the under plates may be square or eight-sided, and are often
cut out on the sides to give room for the tentacle scales. The
innermost under plate varies in shape, and is often very small.
At the extremity of the arm the joints are proportionately longer
and are contracted at their bases; the upper and under plates
become smaller and are supplanted by the side plates, which
meet on the middle lines above and below, and at last constitute
almost the whole covering of the tip joints. Therefore, the
shape of the plates, exposed as it is to constant changes, shou

always be referred to the portions of the arm close to the disc.
These modifications appear sooner in species with short and
quickly tapering arms, than in those with longer and more slen-
der ones. There are, however, many serpent-stars, the inner

ng to Gaudry, the four rows of little bony
a of the arm and under the skin, among
uryalz, correspond to the arm-plates. Along each genital
opening, between it and the arm, and not visible from the outside,
runs a narrow, sloping piece, the genital plate (seuéwm genitale),
Its narrow end is turned inward and sometime touches a terminal
piece, running from the lateral mouth-shield upwards. The out-
side end of the genital plate is joined with a smaller supplement-
ary piece, which extends vertically upwards and unites again
with the radial shields, at a point near the edge of the di
These parts are never wanting: they are present, even when all
other portions of the skin-skeleton have disappeared. Ba

_ the various plates and shields covering the dise are reckon

first: the mouth-shields (seuta oralia), five in number, ranged in
a circle about the mouth and placed in the interbrachial spaces,
just outside the mouth-frames. One of these may bear the
madreporie body, and is then usually somewhat different from
its companions in shape. The madreporie body appears as a
slight depression or elevation on the surface and communicates
beneath with the “stone-canal.” Along the edge of the madre-

oric mouth-shield there are sometimes pores.* Secondly: the

ateral mouth-shields (scutella adoralia), which are just inside

* See J. Miller:

Uber die Gattungen der Seeigellarven, 1833, e 38, and
Le Conte, Proc. Phil. Acad. v, p. 317, 18. ee:
SECOND SERIES, Vot. XXVIH, No, 82—JULY, 1859.
8

58 C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans.

the mouth-shields and vary considerably in shape, position and
size. They are arranged in pairs, a pair to each mouth-shield.
Thirdly: on the back of the disc, and placed over the base of

scales, of a great variety of shapes and sizes, but usually small
and rounded. mong these scales may be pointed out two

even to ten. The teeth en are plates, arranged in a vertical
t
rep]
(compare Ophiocoma and Ophiothrix). It is in Asterophyton that
the perfect homology of these variable organs is distinctly shown;
in this genus all the chewing apparatus takes on the form of
sharp spines. Along the underside of the arm runs a double
row of pores, from which the tentacles protrude, and, on the
inner side of each pore, one, two, or even four scales or papille
(papillae ambulacrales) are placed, which serve to cover the ten-
tacle when it is drawn in. They may, however, be entirely
wanting (in Ophiomyxa and Ophiothrix). When there are more
than one on the basal pores of the arm, they decrease in num
towards the tip. At the outer end of each mouth-slit are two
tentacles (pedes orales) which are the last pair at the base of the
arm. These, according to Forbes, are used to remove the undi-
* For further remarks on the Ophiuran Skeleton, see J. Miller: Uber die Ophiv-
icigk it iteteches Moun: 1861, p-1,ani Ubec den Bok Sr Bid ond
men, 1858, p. 51 and 76.

Ses set |

ee es Oe ROPES Swi epee eT

ee ee a ee pS,

a

a ee Ee ee ee eee, ee ee ee ae ee ee ae a a SS. a. aes ere ee er
— . “ sigs e ee 6 ie i g :

C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 59

gested food from the mouth. The side plates of the arm carry
the arm-spines (spinae laterales vel brachiales). These are arranged
in sets, and, at the pleasure of the animal, may be raised from
the arm, depressed, with their points outward, and spread and
closed like a fan. They are placed either along the outside border

tooth-like papilla of Ophioderma to the long glossy, thorned
spine of Ophiothriz. As to their arrangement in the vertical

ju spines diminish in number but increase in proportionate
ength.

Growth of Ophiurans.

The variations which the Ophiuran is subject to, from the time
it leaves the egg till the gcd ce ot emerges from the larval con-
dition, are explained in Joh. Miiller’s most admirable investiga-
tions of the metamorphoses of the Echinodermata. In
to the variations it undergoes, after the metamorphosis has taken
place, we know little or nothing, except that these variations are
not unimportant. ‘The serpent-star does not appear completely
finished on emerging from its larval form; when newly born
and rambling about on the surface of the water, it is not more
like the full grown animal, than a young opossum is like its
parents. We may see perhaps, that they belong to one or the
other of the Ophiuran series, but, as to the species, we can only
ar at it from the locality or abundance of the specimens.

ven in the half grown animal there are still such variations
from the adult form that the identity might be doubted were not
the intermediate steps known. It is therefore plain, that the
description of a species is not full, until several ages of that
species have been properly illustrated. The following table will
show approximately some changes which take place during the
— of Ophiopholis aculeata (Ophiolepis scoiopendrica). The

iameter of the dise, the length of the arms, the number of joints

60 C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans.

in the arms, the number of joints with hooks on the under side
and the number of joints without a circle of grains round the
upper arm-plate are brought into immediate comparison.

Joints without
Diameter of disc. Length of arm. No, of joints. Joints with hooks. circle of grains.
2mm, 6 mm, 20 15 12

3 40 27
4 45-50 33 20
6 33

10 60 86

14 712 105 40-50 18

According to this table both the disc and the arms continue
to grow, but the latter the faster. During the growth of the
arms new joints are formed, and this increase of joints seems

greatest in the very | ey animal. The new joints appear at

the tip of the arm and not at the base, next the mouth.

Subdivisions of genus Ophiolepis (Mill. & Trosch.),

This genus is thus described by its authors: “ Naked scales, or
little shields, on the disc. Mouth-slits surrounded by a single
row of hard papillz, without an increase of their number over

tooth-columns.” It will presently appear, however, that

the species included under this definition represent several gen-

Following the suggestions of Forbes, it will be seen, that

Ophiolepis includes two series of scaly Ophiurans, one answering

in some sort to the type of Ophioderma, the other to that of
Ophiocoma, as expressed in the following table.

First Szrres—Type of Ophioderma.

arm-plates. :

Ophiura.—Disc covered with larger or smaller scales, smooth
and naked radial shields tolerably large, protruding, more or less
distinct. Incision in the disc limited by two arches curving out-
wards, and admitting three to four imperfect upper arm-plates;
on its edges a close crest of from ten to thirty papilla, which are
continued underneath, along the edge of the genital opening, to
the mouth-shield, Another more obscure crest of papilla lying
under the first and running only a short distance. Mouth-sbields
very large, generally longer than broad, shield-shaped, extending
into the interbrachial spaces, thus separating the inner ends of the
rape opening: ‘ the madreporic shields not differing in form.

narrow, lying inside the mouth-shields prop-

eee

C.F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 61

er; joined at apex; their outer ends separating the mnetuhiead
om the innermost arm -plate. Teeth narrow, pointed, shape
like a spear-head. Mouth-tentacles coming from slits which lie
just within the innermost arm-plate, and which open —
into the mouth-slits giving them the appearance of a Thes
slits for the tentacles are surrounded with from four to eight nti
pille. Arms conical and pointed; short or of moderate length.
Upper arm-plates somewhat broad. Lower arm- plates seldom
touching each other, by reason of the side arm- plates which lap
over and meet on the middle line of the arm. Tentacle-scales
one to four. Spines short and smooth, generally arranged in ©
three rows, on the outer edge of the side arm- plate, and pressed
close to the arm. a frames furnished with m mouth-papillee.
Species: O. affinis, O.carnea, O, Stuwitzii, O. nodosa, O. squamosa,
0. albida, O. Sarsii, O. Wetherelli (London clay), two species from
the chalk, and O. abyssicola, which may be an Ophiocien. This
genus is essentially of the cold sea-belt, sonth of 30° North Lat.
hiocten.—Dise invested with scales, which are covered with
flat grains and larger or smaller round spots. Incision, in dise
ve arms, slight, not deep enough to receive an_upper arm-
plate: on its edge a continuous comb of papilla. Openings for
the mouth-tentacles as in Ophiura, but not opening into the
a pec Outer edges of first two or three u arm-plates
pes apille. One tentacle-scale. Radial shields, mouth-
ields, rs ecnih daisies teeth, arms, lower arm- plates, arm
— aria and mouth-papille as in Ophiura. Species: Ophiccten

yess ee ores car ey: small and narrow. No
round the incision in the disc. Innermost tentacle-pores not

ciguely side bya side. As this group is put titeenk i in Sys-

m der Asteriden,” the name Ophiolepis should be reserved
is. It is limited to th e hot zone and embraces O. ann 0.
cincta, O. variegata (Liit.), O. pacifiea (Liit.), O. paucispina (Say),
an undescribed West-Indian species and two new species from len
the west coast of America.

Szconp Sertes—Type of Ophiocoma.*
Mouth-shields small and rounded, not extending ar wap into
the interbrachial spaces, so that the inner ends of —

* Dr. Li h of the bel
he seer to wagten «tenn ed ‘ Gnae veto tae came work, Sitirke he prt seat of ved the
at greater length. The sas; a new Ophiurans d
descri he tw ty Deki es on (Sar Oki ) Ophiura nar (Lito
pened z ; bac) Opitedaeen Li ‘Opiate inlepis v at ns ‘ ‘opt

zi Kriyeri ariegata (Lit
pacijica (Liit.), and another not yet : ara ie sp 0. “triloba a Ophiotpi

62 C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans.

opening appresele close to each other, on the outer side of the
mouth-shield. Arm-spines mounted on a raised keel, and stand-
ing boldly out from the arm. Upper edge of the disc, at the
base of the arms, entire and without incision.

Genus 1. Mouth-shields small, rounded, with a small, outward
projection, separating the inner ends of the genital opening. On
the back of the disc, traces of an incision at the base of each arm.
Disc covered with moderate scales. Radial shields not large.
Lateral mouth-shields within the mouth-shields proper. Below
the — — broad, er tooth-papille. Upper arm-plates divi-
ded in two. Two tentacle-scales. Three to four arm- spines.
Species 0. gi

Genus 2. Arms very see “ae thin. Disc with very small
scales, = which some, near the edge, a little larger. Radial
shields very small. Lateral — -shields on al: side of the
mouth-shields proper. Upper arm-plates divided in three. One

hree short a Species: O. reticulata,
O. triloba, O. ‘Nereis

Genus 3. Scales of the dise and radial shields rather small.
No larger scales near edge of disc. Lateral mouth-shields within
mouth-shields proper. ‘T'wo tentacle-scales. Upper arm-plates
covered with many small scales. Species O. imbricata.

Genus 4. Amphiura.—Disc with small, numerous scales, ar-
ranged like tiles. Radial shields very distinct. An inward
eurve of the disc, at the base of the arms, above. Mouth- shields
small, not extending into the interbrachial spaces. Side mvuth-
shields within the mouth-shields, eon broad, quadrangular.
Arms extremely long and slender. poe arm- plates oval. Lower

‘aed e, two, or no tentacle
scales. an feeble, on a slight keel. Dis small. Six mouth-

extending into esemnene “pene Side mouth-shields within
the mouth-shields. Teeth very broad. Arms long and thick.
Upper arm-plates surrounded by small scales. Lower arm-plates
square. One foot-papilla. Arm-spines close set, the lower ones,
at the tip of the arm, in form of double hooks. Mouth-papille
six to each jaw, but none under the teeth. Side arm-plates like
little ale Species O. aculeata.
Genus 6. Ophiactis.—Disc ee as in openeed but on some
of Sk Matic mee eteiceeeal! spin Arms five or six, rat
short and thick. Teeth broad. One or two aia pantie to

Bits

PN al a i gg aN an ac ca nm
: oe 3

- C.F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 63

each mouth-frame. Side mouth-shields wedged between first
and second lower arm-plate, so as to form almost a ring round
the mouth. One tentacle-scale. Three to six rough arm-spines.
Seven species
NEW OR LITTLE KNOWN SPECIES.
ae carnea (Sars, Ms.).—Liitken, p.41. Tab. I, fig. 6.

Arms Dise thick, covered above with = rounded, angular scales
Radial shields inapel like a short, ae pear seed, inconspicuous, separated n early
by a round scale. Incision in the with margins almost perpendicular, with a
row of twelve broad and flat spite on each side, whi ie are continued ve fine ins
along the genital openings. Two small, perpendicular plates, side by side in each
incision of the disc, with a row of papille on either side. ngth of Bone ly ‘shields
eg ier breadth, and than distance from margin of dise. Under arm-plates
like a circle, separated from each other, without exception, by the

tes. i h

paiee Sarsii ee —Liitken, p. 42, Tab. I, figs. 3, 4.

peace — ? (Stim Sime f Grand Manan, Smithson. Coattily)
Ophiolepis cil: on Travels i in ‘tobias and gg gay
Ophiura wr eoriacea? em Preliminary Rev. m Scien. Com. Soc. Nat. Hist.).
Cphiiinn _— (Foun os a :
varyi what as in ped
like a se at 8 ein nd ines aps
Sorl 8 and to their breadth as 4:3. The rest of the scales unifi

ge.
af
Te
8
oi
Q
o
gq
=
a
S
3
4
>
3
DB
|
2

a

scales, radiating from it. Scales of under surface growing smaller towards mouth-

shields. Tncsons in nthe = ~ dise very deep, so as to receive four upper arm-
side uppe: ar

. sree in s and a similar one soe the Bon opening. Mouth-shields about as
n O. texturata ; their length to breadth as 7:5. Side mouth-shields narrow and of
0 :

elites bread th at the two ends. On each side of the innermost tentacle-pore:
from five to six papille, and between these and the mouth, four to six pi
il o broad

le. on arm-plates, at base of arms, four or five times as , but,
- i Se ong er arm-plate, at base of arms, twice as broad
er out, almost disappearing. Two tentacle-scales generally, but some-

imes , ree arm- of which the lo

t aga ly one.
is not so long as the side arm-plate ; the —— at the tip of the arm, are as long
as the side arm-plates; but, at the base of the arm, double that length, Color,

f 27mm.; and arms a length of 100™m. Is distinguished
from O. urata by the different number the different form
papille at disc, i t shape of lower y wanting
the pores at the base of the under surface of the arm. Young, with diame
4 to 6mm, have incisions of disc less deep, fewer and proportiona

es, radial-shields shorter and closer , up wer, and
often only one tentacle ove These young resemble, therefore, the full grown

. ‘ms,
— also at fb enchar ng at Florée and asaggreb in oe
Grand Manan Is, (Stimpson loc, cit. Ophiolepis cil

64 C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans. .

Ophiura afinis (Liitken).—Liitken, p. 45, Tab. II, fig. 10.
On the back of the disc a soni large scale and fifteen others, arranged i

centric circles round it; betw all these are smaller scales. Radial shields chek
broad, separated by a ca By of small ig Mouth-shields much as in O. Sarsit.
Disc incisions with seven to nine papille on each side, which are strongest above.
Behind. these are erg pepe a pee on the genital aioe gs. Upper
-~ plates, t the base of arm, touching each other; farther out, longer and nar-

ae thin arm-s rh the tied Jo ongest equa ‘i and as ns as side arm
plate Only one tentacle- scale, Even the innermost under arm-plates separated

Asgaar
est youre ed of North Eur ORs J e and, as its name sugges ait te mo ce attacks wi
Ophiocten than the other Ophiura:
Ophiura squamosa einen p. 46, Tab. I, fig. 7.
Be O. fasciculata [Forbes]? Sutherland’s Journal of pina &ec.)
grin ae Pate toga above rounded, below more o Radia aca
Incisions of disc bordered by a pe “ble TOW ner sto
So yb a papi, Genital openings bordered ty grains. Mouth shielde
Foe , as broad as, or broader than long. Side mouth-shields
ual ‘re th. On each side of the innermost tentacle e-pores four
or ve ire ren papill pig thin, wae fone 3 pper arm-plates broad

ems e. The upper arm
as long as a Joint, pars n large apesaabid from Greenland, often thickened and
somewhat ; under itth-opite only about hal long. In specimens from
Greenland iinotee of disc as great as 10™mm.; length of arms — mm.; jn those
from as ——. disc 7m™m., arms 21™m., (Color; ~~ above dark gr. ay, b elow, ash
gray; 8, green gray with darker bands. Sometimes the deel is reddish, or vi0-
let, or spotted red and gray. Generally the radial shields make two bright marks,

with a 34mm., have thin arms an upper arm-plates ve
ter: nodosa (Liitken).—Liitken, p. 48, Tab. II, fig. 9.

This species and O. Stuwitzii stand as a separate group under the genus Ophiura.
They are characterized by the short, stout, knotted arms, numerous tentacle-scales,
ve im:

brach
touching one another for some distance. Innermost tentacle-pores opening into the
outer end of the mouth-slits. All the ‘teutaelageloes oie, a in the preceding
species only the spa ae oa a s wap ee oe o five — scales,
according to distance fro rasta to be like
lize. Arms short, thick, pointed hentedy soos only twice as vor cae as diame ter
of the disc. Upper arm-plates, near disc, hexagonal. Under arm-plates very 1a
row, the innermost in contact wiih aaah om but the outermost eapeastee by the
side arm-plates. The diamet of the disc reaches 8}mm., the length of
the arms = Greenland, Newfo' iedtond:
‘Ophiura Stuwitzii (Liitken).—Liitken, p. 49, Tab, I, fig. 8.
wi ihe, Arms short, acute, conical. Upper surface of dis¢
scales, decreasing in size from centre to periphery ; under

sk Sek ahs lal ae

co

C. F. Liitken on Ophiurans. 65

surface with small scales, pada) picide short and peoed touching each other o
und sc dise

wards, but within separated b neisions in allow but oe
admitting two upper Gear piiten, The scales which cod the incisions run

with the arm-plates, so that their combs of look ermost rows of
arm-spines; on each side, eight of these flat papilla growing stronger above.
Traces of papillz along the genital openi Mouth-shields twice as long as broad,

, 8
narrow, rounded without, within pomted. Side mouth-shields narrow and placed
within mouth-shields proper. Mouth-papille small on side of mouth-frames, but at
inner d pointe

the inner end, larger and pointed. Under arm-plates, at ° long
tumid, distinctly separated from surroundi s; bunt, a little further out, not
, and havi pentagonal, or 0 pe le-pores u
Along the outer edge of each side arm-plate, and so e inner edge of each
aplacid Ragbe runs a close ro seven broad, flat papille, ae wh t is not
possible to distinguish paler from tentacle-scales. e innermost joints of the

arm have tentacle-scales also along fe outer edge of the ntact. ‘pores. In oute
as of arm, only one tentacle-scale and three arm-spines. Upper ts at
ase of arms, tra apezoidal ; further eae rudimentary and triangular. Diameter of
6mm. ; length of arms 10mm. Green land; Ne efoundlgad
Ophiocten Kréyeri (Liitken)—Liitken, p. 51, Tab, I, fig. 5.
(Syn. Ophiura sericea [Forbes]? Sutherland’s Journal of a Journey, cc.),
Upper = under gL pad a — separated by a distinct line. Below, nakec
rounded scales; above, with ten so ewhat oval r radial-shields, a rosette of plates in

Arms rather long and thin. U anna inand ae bounded by straight cross-
lines, Under gel sashes 8 t proportionately broad, entirely oo 63 ue
oveua ing si Three about as long as the joints.

side areepiee
cpt art cree ay pores, where there are are four. Mout
pei i Holbsti (Littken),—Liitken, p. 55, Tab. I, fig. 13.

Ophiolepis Sundevalli (Mill. & Trosch.)?]
Dise flat, with ae fine scales below ; those above — except some neal in

the centre. Radial shields small, o oblong, twice as | broad, narrower inwards,
separated by a w Bae of three e ave scales. Mouth-s ields small, angular, rounded,
a trifle longer than broa aeery! —- larger, and us on its €

Side mouth-shields sa enitabe aped and within the mouth-shields. Teeth
road, below them a pair of wi mouth-papille ; another at the
outer end of the n a and a third, lying above the second. Gout arm-
plates twice as tone as long, transversely oval. Under arm-plates in contact,
pen r. One tentacle-scale. Four to five te te Ir as long as
joints. Color whitish. Greenland (Jacobshayn, Godhayn, A ).
oms. Diameter of disc 5mm.; length of arms 35mm. ; but it grows larger.
Asterophyton euenemis (Mill, & Trosch.). Young.
ip on es Sn Sues are the arms only once divided aks gars
mm. the arms are divi tea ewecend the disc is uniformly covered with
City ines grains, but there is, as yet, no appearance of ribs,
OPHIURANS OF GREENLAND,

Ophiura a osa (Liitken),
Ophiura Stuwitzii Mt ri
Ophiura nodosa (Lit

Ophiocten Kréyerii (Littken
SECOND SERIES, Vou. XXVIII, No, 82—JULY, 1859.
9

66 R.C. Haskell on the recent Eruption of Maura Loa.

Amphiura Holbélli (Liitken)

Ophiopholis aculeata (Liitken), ( see 4 scolopendrica, Mill. & Trosch.).
pe ers spinulosa (Mill. & Trosch.),
ee 288 eucnemis (Mill. & Trosch, ).
mentioned, Amphiura athe may be Ophiolepis et eg of Johan
nes Maller; Aer Stimpson’s A sterophyton A agar is probably th e
eucnemis ; and his Rscmman oih ciliata’ is igre sd o the Smal list is to *e
added a naked Ophiuran with soft skin and tata ‘thin arms, probably an Ophio-
acolex; but no good specimens have yet been Uae If O. arctica turns out not

to bea
Finally, Ophiothriz fr jr pile has been reported rr Greenland, and oa ise |
1d localitj ij Scandi

Lofoten, on the northwest coast of phen oy. there are found nineteen species es of
jurans, On the shores of Finmarken (northwest coast of Norway) there are,
en species. geograph-

thus far, six species; and on those of Great pee aie
ical distribution of ihe Ophiurans of Greenland is llows :
cookery Hohn } Greenland and Spitsbergen, limited to the arctic zone.
a pm Only in the western Atlantic; at Greenland and
yeas ete jg, { Newfoundland.
Essentially arctic, though found in the northern t
enn ate, as ell as at ‘Spitsbergen and the En
Cphiacantha spinados,f PS and American coasts of the polar sea,
Ophiopholis acul encoun sett! sides of the Atlantic, gore = the whole arctic
and cold tem ate zones, 0, sguamosa has probably the sam
pe . eg Pp ly e range.

Art. VIIL—On a Visit to the Recent Eruption of Mauna Loa,
Hawai; by Prof Ropert C. Haske, of Oahu College,
Honolulu. "From a letter to one of the Edito rs).

OuR Spek consisted of Pres. Beckwith, Prof. Alexander, =
self and twenty students of the college. _Twelve of us wen
the source of the flow. Only two persons besides have ane fa
reached it, though many have visited the egg on the plain
between Hualulai, Mauna Kea and Mauna

The eruption. broke out on the 23d of J ancinty. No earth-
Sag e was felt in any part of the Islands at the time, but dead

h were noticed on the 2ist and for a few days afterwards, to

gave no evidence of disease, but seemed to have been parboiled.
At Honolulu, 200 miles from ie eruption, the atmosphere was
exceedingly hazy and thick. So much was this the case that it

— considerable excitement, before the news of the eruption

R. C. Haskell on the recent Eruption of Mauna Loa, 67

minutes, when at a point considerably farther below the top and
farther west, another jet spouted up.

Accounts from Hilo say, that on the night of the 23d it was so
light there that fine print could be read without difficulty. After
the 23d the light was much less.

At Lahaina, more than 100 miles distant, the whole heavens
in the direction of the eruption were Sage up.

Our party started from Honolulu Feb. 1st, and reached Kea-
lakekua on the 3d. Here we learned that the stream from the
eruption had reached the sea on the 31st of January, at Wai-
nanalii, about forty miles from the place of eruption. This makes
the average progress of the stream above five miles per day.
After procuring guides, natives, pack-oxen and mules we starte
for the source of the flow on the 5th. About noon we hada
view of the source distant probably 25 miles from us in an air
line. The crater was about 150 feet high and 250 feet in diame-
ter (as we afterwards estimated). From within this crater, liquid
lava was spouting up to the height of 300 or 400 feet above the
top. In shape and movement it resembled a mighty fountain or
jet of water, though more inconstant. At one moment it was
uncommonly high and quite narrow at the top, at the next not
as high but very broad. At night and from a good position
near, the view of the jet, according to Mr. Faudrey (the only
man who reached the crater while the jet was spouting) was
grand beyond all description.

Owing to an accident which befell one of our party, and the
failure of water where it was su d to be abundant, we were
delayed two days and induced to divide our party into two
divisions. One part returned to visit the flow at a point some
twenty miles below by another and easier route. The party
who went on, consisting of twelve white persons and thirty kan-
akas, reached the crater Wednesday evening, Feb. 9, and en-
camped about two miles from it. Here all fears about water
were at an end, for we found snow in abundance within half a

wi
ances of flame. This apparent flame, however, we afterwards
ascertained was only fine particles of scoria heated to redness.

rocket, very much increased of course, but quite irregular.
About half a mile below the lower of the two craters, the stream
first made its ap ce. For five or six miles its course was
well defined, and there were no side-streams. From this point

e main stream divided more or less, and on the plain, between

68 R.C. Haskell on the recent Eruption of Mauna Loa.

streams were ve cca ys sluggish and ey cooled, sone
were narrow an , as it seemed, at the rate
three miles per dann boning: the jungle and pont before shins
and vieing with each other in their work of deso
For the first few miles the stream appeared me a ries of
cataracts and rapids. As it approached the plain bakes the
two mountains, it gradually changed into a net-work of streams,
or a lake of fire, em embracing numerous islands and sending out
streams on all sides. The color of the stream upon its first ap-
a. was a light red approaching to white; on the plain a
oer blood-red. From the plain towards Wainanalii the stream
narrow, varying from half a mile to a mile in width, and
ps only a dull reddish light.
uch was the view spread out before us. ‘To say that it com-
bined the magnificence of a conflagration with the sublimity of
a mighty mountain torrent, may give some idea of it; yet such
was the extent and variety of the scene that no adequate com-
parison can be found. The next morning we moved our camp
down to the new lava, about half a mile from the lower crater.
Have we melted snow, cooked our food, and boiled our coffee

Geea sevilrate holes where gases and steam were issuing. The
sides of these holes and indeed the entire bottom of the craters

Seely vents for the escape of The craters were formed
ents of light scoria and lava aeatited: The lower of the
ae = e one in which the jet was thrown up for fifteen days)
was now open on the lower side. This was not the case while
the jet was thrown up, according to Mr. Faudrey. It would
seem that cn force of the jet broke down the lower side, and
that after this the jet ceased to play. The upper crater was
closed on all sides.

haven these two craters we visited a third not then in action,
but still hot. This was smaller and open on the lower side, and
broken down somewhat on the upper side. This was formed,
not so much of scoria as of old lava. Above this we could see
others still of the same kind, and it is probable that A
to the place where the lava first spouted out. From that place

|

Figen ee

. had now changed in part, and half or more of the lava passed

R. C. Haskell on the recent Eruption of Mauna Loa. 69

to the craters then in action, the stream appears to have flowed
under the surface mostly, but to have been forced up to the sur-
face where these craters now inactive appear, by hydraulic pres-
sure, or by the pressure of gases, or by both combined.

The next morning we visited the point where the stream first
made its appearance. Here we found the lava rushing out from
its subterranean passage, and dashing over cataracts and along
rapids at such a rate that the eye could scarcely follow it. The
lava was at a white heat and apparently as liquid as water.
Only a few feet from where the stream issued, small masses of
lava were thrown up from ten to fifty feet into the air, which
cooled in falling. The cause of this without doubt was the

escape of gas, and we then thought that the gas might come

from the stream itself. But about three hours afterwards we
returned to the same place, and found that the action had greatly
increased. Gases were escaping at two other points a few rods
below the point first seen. Pieces of lava were thrown as high
as 150 feet, and, at the lowest of the three points, there was a
fountain some twenty-five feet high. The bits of lava thrown
up cooled as they fell, and had already formed craters ten feet
high around two of the points where gases were escaping. It
was now evident that the escaping gases were not derived from
the stream simply, but issued from a vent, which reached to the
common reservoir within or under the mountain. We could not
remain to watch this incipient crater and fountain, but we were
obliged to commence our return. At night, however, from our
encampment, about twelve or fifteen miles below, we could see
that the crater had increased considerably and also could see the
fountain playing a few feet above, but the course of the stream
down by a new stream. This dashed all our hopes of seei
another large jet of 300 feet in height; and froma friend of
mine who visited the spot three or four days afterwards, I learn
that the fountain had ceased, and that the crater in only
a few feet after we left.

Descending by the stream, we were able to follow it on its

south side, as a strong wind was ete from that direction

Here we found good walking, and could with safety approach
within a few feet of the channel. The width of the stream was
from 20 to 100 feet, but its velocity almost incredible. Some of
our party thought it 100 miles hour. We could not caleu-
late it in any way, for pieces of cold lava thrown into it would
sink and melt almost instantly. The velocity certainly seemed

stream presented a continued succession of cascades, rapids,

curves, and eddi ‘ith an occasional ca Some of these
were formed by the nature of the ground over which it flowed,

70 ©R.C. Haskell on the recent Eruption of Mauna Loa.

some by the new lava itself. The stream had built up its own
banks on each side, and had added to the depth of its channel
by melting at the bottom. The stream flowed more gracefully
than water. In consequence of its immense velocity and imper-
fect mobility, its surface took the same shape as the ground over
which it flowed. It therefore presented not only hollows but
ridges. In several places for a few feet the course of the stream
was an ascent of five to ten degrees, in one instance of twenty-
five. Where the turns in the stream were abrupt, the outside of
the stream was much higher than the inside. So much was this
e case, that the outside sometimes curved over the inside,
forming a spiral. It is needless to add a8 we were filled with
wonder and admiration at the sights we sa
After arriving at the plain between the satlewiasns we had so
much fog and rain ee = could explore but little. We how
ever saw othor solid lava forming, ~ ~— “aa” or
clinkers. ‘‘ Pahoihoi” aa as formed mostly by small side streams
and always by shallow streams, which flowed freely but slowly.
They were derived generally from the overflowing of the main
stream. After flowing for some distance they became cooled at
the end, and as there was little pressure from behind, gradually
stopped. — little ridges which give the “pahowhoi” a ropy
appearance, were caused by the flowing on of the stream for a
little after *t had cooled forward. These are circular because the
sides of the stream cool first, while the centre moves on a little
farther. ‘These streams become solid in a short time, cooling
through, and not simply coating over. At a subsequent time
during the same flow, another layer of “‘pahothor” may be form
upon the first, as we saw in several instances
The clinkers are always formed by deep streams, and generally
by wide ones, which flow sluggishly, become dammed up in front
by the cooling of the lava and in some instances cooled over the
top, forming as it were a pond or lake. As the stream augments
beneath, the barriers in front and the crust on the surface are
broken up, and the pieces are rolled forward and coated over
with melted lava which cools and adheres to them more or less.
Then, cing the force of the melted lava behind and underneath,
the rolls over and over itself. In this way a bank of
clinkers ae to forty feet high, resembling the embankment of a
railroad, is formed. Often at the end of the stream no liquid
lava can be seen, and the pa ieee J motion is the rolling of
Be ecued rocks of all sizes down the front of the embankment.
Sometimes the stream breaks through this embankment and
Saxe on for a time until it gets clogged up again, and then the
proc mecmpenied. In this latte : ae
aan often carries as it were on its b Caria
clinkers, which look Tike hills ae We Ry Res no ciaket

oe

. ae

ee ee vf a al

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 71

until we reached the plain, and it would seem that none are
formed except where the descent is but little, or the lava but
imperfectly melted.

here is only one point more of which I will speak. I am
not quite satisfied that there is a fissure in the side of the moun-
tain, through which the lava made its exit to the surface. Those
of our party who had seen the flow of 1840 and who had no
doubt of a fissure in the side of the mountain then, think that
there is no fissure in this case. 1 do not of course believe in the
old theory of a perpendicular duct or pipe reaching down to the
reservoir of lava, but it seems to me that the lava by the pres-
sure of gases and steam works its way to the surface as the water
of springs by hydraulic pressure. draulic pressure also con-
stitutes a part of the force which impels lava. Mauna Loa is
full of caves, passages, &c., and very porous, and besides the
lava, in case of this flow at least, could melt its way more or
less, where it met obstructions. It may be, however, that there
is a rent in the side of the mountain.

Norse.—We have received from Prof. Alexander of Honolulu a map
giving the course of the lava, and enabling us to make a correction in the
map published in the last number of this Journal. The course there
given was copied from the “Commercial Advertiser” of Honolulu. It
requires only that the current should be made to flow west-north-west
from near its point of starting, and then on reaching the base of Hua-
lalai, bend northwestward into the course given in the map.—Eps,

Art. IX.—On some points of Agricultural Science; by SAMUEL
W. JoHNsON, Professor of Analytical and Agricultural Chem-
istry in the Yale Scientific School, and Chemist to the Connec-
ticut State Agricultural Society. ‘

The Absorptive properties of Soils—It has long been vaguely
known, that the soil possesses a remarkable power of absorbing
a great variety of bodies. How the soil absorbs odors (more

them in a state of comparative om from offensive odor.*
* It is well known that some surfaces have a r power of attaching
odors to them than others. Every has observed that woolen garmen

ich a cloth is dyed affects its rctentiyeness for some odors, It is a fact, as the

72 8S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

In the older treatises on agronomy we find allusion made to
the power of soils to absorb gases, yon ~ panes poi praily as
exercised toward carbonic acid an as

be of much agricultural A: Sn although the “tecle of
precise experimental knowledge as to its extent, has been con-
fessed and lamented.

The absorptive power of the soil not only for odors and gases,
but also for fixed matters carried into it in a state of solution, is
illustrated in certain commonly occurring instances. Thus the
wells in densely populated cities, or in the apo of barn-yards,
or filthy canals, remain sweet and pure for a greater or less
period of time, though they must be constantly x pe waters
that have been in contact with putrefying animal m The
filtration of the foullest water through a _ a vot ‘loamy
earth remoyes all unpleasant effluvium a

In the year 1850 it became known theopph two interesting

nces,
not toward hy drochloric, nitric and sulphuric aci
ute solutions of hydrochlorate, nitrate, or su hate of am-

quantity of soil, the salts are decomposed, the bases remain in
insoluble combination with the tr and the acids are found in
the solution united for the most part to lim

Previous to 1850, the i ir oie of the soil was ex-
“0 ained as a result ‘merely of the surface attraction of porous

dies. Thus Liebig i in his “Chemistry applied to Agriculture
Physiology,” referred the condensation of ammonia in soils,

o the surface attraction of oxyd of iron, alumina and humus,
and compared this power of soils to that aaa by charcoal,
which absorbs 90 times its volume of ammonia gas, and evolves

Th ing ters
foul water hy contact with earth, has been consi idered ss

a then

sate by oxydation in the same manner as operated by charcoal and platinum

ac On the absorbent Power of Soils.” By H. 8. Thomson. _Vol.-xi pp. 65-4; s=0

On ta Powered Bebe howe Maes” By J. Thomas Way, Consulting Chem
ist of the Roy. Ag. Society. Vol. xi, pp. 317-380; also, vol. xili, pp. 123-142.

PRE ety se aes ee eee

i) ee |

vam

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 78

and wine may be deprived of odor,* color and taste, and to that
of alumina which forms insoluble lakes with o organic pigments

in his comprehensive investigations before alluded to,
after studying separately as far as ton the absorptive effect
of each ingredient of the soil, was led as a last resort to investi-
gate the relations of the silicates to saline solutions. The simple
silicates he found ineffectual and had recourse therefore to the
complex silicates. He digested feldspar with solution of chlorid
of ammonium but detected no reaction, and thence concluded
that the fragments of granitic rocks could not perceptibly de-
compose saline solutions. In order to trace the action of such

ammonia meter a In the first place he procured an alu-
mina-potash- or alumina-soda-silicate, by precipitating: the solu-
ble alkali-silicates with a salt of alam mina; on digesting these
double silicates with solutions of lime and ammonia, he suc-
ceeded in replacing the potash and soda by lime and ammonia,
though but incompletely, for different preparations of his alu-
mina-ammonia-silicate contained but 4°51 to 5°64 per cent of
ammonia instead of the quantity equivalent to the partly dis-
— _— which, wip ei to him, in case of the alumina-
soda- should be 15°47 per an.

- vr a as characteristic of this class of double silicates,
that there is a chigndels order in which the commonest protoxyd
es replace each other. He arranges them in the following
series :

Soda—Potash—Lime—Magnesia— Ammonia:
and according to him, potash can replace soda but not the othe
bases; while ammonia replaces them all: or each base replaces
those ranged to its left in the aeee series, but none of those

veral years ago Stenhouse found that rag disinieation: ges fe f charcoal

co

The writer (after Stenhouse) has kept the carcass of a dead rat all sonnet

in the working room of the Yale Analytical Labora without ace erties an
disagreeable effluvium, simply by burying it an inch deep in

The only odor that is perceived, is a strong one of pure ammonia, and f in : time, all the

animal-matters envelo harcoal (or other highly porous of con-
densing oxygen, as platinum black or inum ; probably zo most oa
especially those rich in humus) are completely oxy: lized to water, carbonic arid and
ammonia (free ni ?), without the app and fetid

s that occur in a sweetening of meat by charcoal (or earth?

consists in the oxydation Srohess) of the putref “i dead surface. Stenhouse can

reoal ignited after moistening with chlorid of platisua)

makes an excellent escharotic and ‘disinfectant hr foul ulcers, and latterly the sur-

geon is employing permanganate of potash—an energetic sapling agent—for the
same pu

SECOND SERIES, Vou. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859,
10

74 §S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

on its right. Way remarks, ts ‘of yong the reverse of this
action cannot occur.” Prof. Li g (Ann. de Chem. u. Phar.

xciv, 380) has drawn attention “the fact that Way *denently
contradicts himself in describing the preparation of the potash-

alumina-silicate, which may be obtained by digesting either the
lime-alumina- or soda-alumina-silicate in nitrate or moephate of
potash, when the soda or lime is dissolved out and replaced by

tash.

Way was doubtless led into the error of assuming ‘a fixed
order of replacements by considering these exchanges of bases
_ as regulated after the ordinary manifestations of chemical affinity.
His own experiments abundantly show that among these silicates
there is no inflexible order of decomposition, nor any complete
replacements.

Liebig, in the paper just cited, was led from this contradic-
tion and from other considerations, to reject the conclusions of
Way, capouialiy as there was no direct proof that these double

silicates exist in soils.

he er ev of Eichhorn, “ Ueber die Einwirkung
verdiinnter Salzlésungen auf Ackererde,” _ Cancers
liches Centralblatt, 1858, ii, 169, and Po gg. A ., No. 9, 1858,)
have cleared ~ the discrepancies of Way’s heeuion (which
is itself one of “(pce interest), and have confirmed and ex-
plained his fa
As Way’s ‘artificial silicates contained about 12 per cent of
water, the happy thought occurred to Eichhorn to test the action
of saline solutions on native hydrous silicates. He accordingly
instituted some trials on chabazite and natrolite, an ieteons of
which is here given.

On digesting finely pulverized chabazite with dilute solutions
of chlorids of potassium, sodium, ammonium, lithium, barium,
strontium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc, sulphate te of magnesia,
carbonates of soda and ammonia, and nitrate of cadmium, he

a part of the silicate, while lime passed into the solution, The
rapidity of the repla acement varied exceedingly. The alkali-
chlorids reacted evidently i in two or three days, Chlorid of ba-

rids of zine and strontium at first, appeared not to react; but
after twelve days, lime was found in the solution. Chlorid of
magnesium was still tardier in replacing lime.

our pear! es powdered chabazite were digested with 4 grams
chlorid of m and 400 cubic centimeters water for 10 days.
The iron rae the original mineral (1), and of the same
ie, the action of chlorid of sodium (II), were as follows:

ee ee

Ye ee De eT eet ee ny ae al - eeu

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 75

L
Si0s, - - : 47°44 48°31
ee 21°04
CaO, - a ay 6°65

Po ee 0°64

NaO, - - . 0°42 5°40

HO, =o se Seogeyg 18°38

99° "99°75 100- 100:37
Nearly one-half the lime of the original mineral is toa
by soda. A loss of water also has occurre he solution sep-

arated from thé mineral, contained nothing but a lime and
chlorine, and the latter in precisely its original qua

y acting on mo with dilute chlorid pan re (10
grams to 500 c. ents for 10 days, the mineral was alte
and contained 3°33 per cent of ammonia. Digested 21 days,
the mineral, dried at 212°, yielded 6°94 per cent of ammonia,
and also had lost water.

ese ammonia-chabazites lost no ammonia at 212°, it escaped

ammonia.
As in the instances above cited, there occurred but a partial
acement of lime. Hichborn made correspondin — with
solutions of carbonates of soda and ammonia, in

soda for lime when digested in a solution of chlorid of calcium;
in solution of chlorid of potassium both soda and lime were
separated from it and replaced by poral So, the ammonia-
chabazite in solution of chlorid of ea rt exchanged ammonia
for lime, and in solutions of chlorids of — m_ and sodium,
both ammonia and lime passed into the re “The ammonia-
chabazite in solution of sulphate of magnesia, lost ammonia but
not lime, though doubtless the latter base would have been
found in the liquid had the digestion been continued longer.
It thus appears that in the case of chabazite all the protoxyd
bases* may mutually replace each other, time being the only
* Eichhorn’s observations indicate that the eoepinet (basic?) water of a silicate
is also liable to we of one as removed. May no . the sal — e water of
ee gee the loss by ignition in mineral, be due to Seeets thet hes tered i 2
combination in the same manner?

76 SS. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

element of difference in the reactions. Natrolite however was
not affected by digestion with chlorid of calcium. Kichhorn
suggests that its is more firmly combined than that of
chabazite.

si

a a not the — ora peters oetien.
lcker in some valuable Tescaraben on the abso . ower

the bases rie fs lime from soils. He found to the contrary, in
one ee that lime was fixed and potash displaced. This
resul well as the opposite behavior of ammonia-chabazite
— natrolite towards solution of chlorid of calcium in ach

cae eat number of experiments are wanted on the behavior
of other aiesates, native ad artificial, towards saline solutions
in various degrees of concentration, and at different temperatures,
as well as in mixed solutions, before we can decide many _
esting questions suggested by these results; but we hav
deniably an important new generalization with reference to the
reactions that may occur among minerals and in the soil.
Economy of the Ammonia naturally accumulated in the sotket
Since it has been proved that enormous quantities of ammonia
exist in soils ina state of such intimate combination that the
usual means (boiling with fixed caustic alkalies) fails to expel
it,* the important question has arisen—how may this ammonia
be seedaroa. more Fase. available to vegetation than it is, so as
in many cases to forestall the necessity for nitrogenous manures.

. Be

and magnesia, and silicate of potash, as well as carbonate and

pom of lime, depend, to some degree, on reactions analo-
to those above described! We know that very small

* In 1855 the writer found that seria mim to the evolution of ammonia,
hme estimate it in soils, and Dr. Mayer (Ergebnisse. . Ag. Chem. Ver-
suche in Minchen 1 Heft.) could not reeover by boiling with caustic potash nearly
all the ammonia he purposely added to a soil.

woe

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 7

numerous recent and carefully conducted experiments with ma-

being literally possible to show from the experience of the farm
that almost every fertilizer in use has in some instances proved
beneficial to every cultivated crop, and in other cases has been
indifferent or even detrimental.

We are therefore compelled more and more to regard the in-

_ direct action of manures, and the principle brought out by the

hes of Way and Eichhorn, appears adapted more than any

~ other yet discovered to generalize the phenomena of indirect

action, and enable us to foresee and explain them. Proofs are
not wanting of the actual operation of this principle in the soil.
Wolff @ age

ashes of th e part of that plant grown on the same soil
minus this addition, contained less chlorid of sodium but much
more chlori ving occurred an exchange

of bases in the soil.

78 S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

t

dences will be brought forward to the same effect. May not the
influence of lime and guano (or the carbonate of ammonia re-
sulting from its decomposition,) in some cases be partly due to
their fluxing the anhydrous or non-absorbent silicates of the soil,
thus giving origin to absorbent silicates, as well as to their dis-
placing effect on silicates already existin

But it is of little use in the absence - decisive investigations
to saa naane on these topics except for aeeith thie exciting

Way, Liebig and ees have ss eg observed that phos-
oric acid is absorbed by soils, the trials of Resleker
os referred to it “itn appear that among the acids there
Se nalogous to te established between the
bases. ‘T'hus in one experiment in which the drainings of a
manure heap were — through a soil, there were found in an
imperial gallon
Before After
filtration ee the soil.
“15

Silica, gag 2°3
Phosphates of ‘Time and i OR; Se es Ps eee 154
Sulphate o: wo ¥ 218 2.06 Caen eee
ar oa He - - - - 1746 - - 79°72
Carbonat te of magnesia, - - - 12°83 Pye eee I
‘ae tux bible iad x joa 4:29
Ohloria of BE on - - . - 22°85 - - - 1890
“ “ potassium, - - - - 85°25 - * ¢ 26°44
In another case were found
Before After
filtration pensehs the soil.
* . 15 15-08
Precptes of — 2 and Time, - s eees - ©. eee
phate of lim - « T44°< Mg re trace.
of te - “5S Se OE - - + 48°48
= 4.“ polasdiom, - <> ..*)) .oq@OOe bec ce.* -.500m
Carbonate of potash, - - - ~- 14869 - - = 85°93
The entire analyses have not been quoted as I do not now
intend to discuss these results fully, but merely wish to direct
attention to the fact that in both imstances silicic acid ——

only as the result of an excess of carbonate of » n the
dung-liquor to which the soil was subjected) has a eceodel
from the soil, and phosphoric acid has been fixed by it, while ia
ak acit has been retained and — lost by

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 79

_. Liebig in the paper before referred to remarks that “a clay or

_ lime-soil poor in organic matter, withdraws all the potash and all

the silicic acid from a solution of silicate of potash; whereas one

_ rich in so-called humus (humic acid), extracts the potash, but
_ leaves the silicic acid in solution,”

xyd of iron and alumina, or some of their compounds which

are present in all soils, are the most obvious means of fixing the

ae acid of soluble phosphates, and Thenard (Compt.

_ Rend. Feb. 1, 1858,) has experimentally demonstrated that they

. do remove phosphoric acid perfectly from solutions of phosphate

of lime in water saturated with carbonic acid. Déhérain (quoted

in Landwirthschaftliches Centralblatt, 1859, i, 94,) has shown

on the other hand that carbonate of lime and ferric phosphate

. > . However complicated and obscure these reac-
_ tions may be, it is plain, that, henceforth, the effect of a solution of
_ one base in displacing other bases from native hydrated aluminous

F view.
' _ On the other hand Eichhorn in the paper already referred
| found that pure distilled water Seka! Gem a soil a suigs

* See also his “Letters on Modern Agriculture,” London, 1859,

80 S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

all the mineral matters required by vegetation than would be needful
to supply any average crop. Henneberg and Stohmann (iiber das
Verhalten der Ackerkrume gegen Ammoniak u. Ammoniaksal-
zen, Ann. der Chem. u. Pharm. evii, 170) found that when a soil
had been saturated with ammonia, pure water removed it again
to acertain extent. Thus 100 grams of soil were treated with
200 c. c. of a solution of chlorid of bie rb nh (containing 0°693
grams ammonia) and absorbed 0°112 grams of ammonia; on
removing one-half of the aah oe ro substituting as much pure
water the soil lost 0°009 s of ammonia as the result of the
dilution: by again replacing “Swit water 100 c. c. of the thus

diluted solution, 0-014 grams of ammonia were ice en gn from

s—‘If sulphate of ammonia in very dilute solution, is brought
in contact with soil saturated with, silicate of potash, and which
does not give up a trace (?) of its potash to water toad it in-
stantly dissolves a certain quantity of this alkali, which may
easily detected by the common reagents.”
iebig has not overlooked the case of aquatic plants whose
roots do not enter any soil, for which, he remarks—‘“ there must

ra
It must be borne in mind that the amount of mineral (fixed)
ingredients in a plant or crop is but a minute fraction esc
to Boussingault ;;1,,; on the average, according to Law
Gilbert 5755) of the quantity of water which a plant or crop
under usual circumstances transpires during its season of growth.
We are not surprised then, en einer eheita plants are sufficient-
ly fed when their roots are m mee fe a unded by ordinary well
water which is daily changed, or by distilled water mingled with
a little vegetable ash into whi hich carbonic acid is daily con-

aurey

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 81

grew luxuriantly, putting forth new roots, leaves and blossoms in
profusion, when transferred from the soil to pure water su
, with carbonic acid, to which was added 335th of clover ashes
, that had been neutralized with nitric aci

It is true that most river and spring waters yield by analysis
but the minutest traces of potash, ammonia and phosphoric acid,
but we cannot perhaps infer with safety that they are actually so
deficient in these ingredients, for it may easily happen, as all
chemists know, that in the evaporation of a large mass of water
, traces of salts are likewise carried off,* and in the oe of
) saline residues, as is customary in the poallyeie of a water, uch
_ more loss of potas ash may oceur from the ready volatility of chlo:
_ rid of potassiu
- But nalinitiinas that our Cal pats are sufficiently accurate to
_ base calculations upon, and that the soil-water never contains
_ more potash for example than river and well waters; viz., fret
2 to 10 parts in 1,000,000,+ it must be r emembered that the

_ mineral matter to that portion of water which it transpires,

The rokdeiia of a plant placed in a saline solution at once
establish osmotic currents, in virtue of the mutual but unbal-
anced attractions that exist between the iit the liquid of
# the cell, the surrounding liquid and the saline and o organic
_ tatters in solution in these liquids, e sesiinaheny

ree So rhino ret apple to anes oh and Physiology (5th German ed,

seq.,) ma! account of some of the more striking instances of
is velatiléantieas Se aa yo Robert A. ose permits me to mention the re-
t of some of his gn er ey para He found in “st ct that a
"quantity (very small indeed | but still sufficient to be estimated by volumetry) of
_ eaustic potash is oe in the vapor when oe aqueous solution is distilled.
+ Eichhorn found in rts of distilled water that had been in contact
with a soil for ten a, tr sans ea
SECOND SERIES, Vou. XXVIII, No. $2,—JULY, 1859,

ll

Pris

ie

82. S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

present in the soil, and thus the normal humidity of the struc-
ture is preserved. But if the plant be situated in a close hot-
house, or in a Ward’s case, the atmosphere of which is constant-
ly saturated with aqueous vapor, there can be-no evaporation of
water from the leaves, there can be no transpiration of water
through the plant and no absorption of it by the roots, except
to supply what becomes a solid constituent of the tissues or is
decomposed in the nutritive process, The same is true of potash
or any other substance held in solution in the soil-water. Asa
result of this principle the land plant collects the potash, phos-
phoric acid, silica, &c., needed for its organization, from the vastly
dilute solutions of these bodies which form the water of wells or
of the soil, just as the fucus gathers its iodine from the ocean,
although the marvellously delicate reagents which we possess for’
iodine scarcely enable us to detect this substance even in highly
concentrated sea-water.
_ Says Gmelin, (Handbook of Chemistry, Cavendish Soc’s, ed.,
vol. 1, p. 248,) “the quantity of iodine contained in sea-water is
so small that Tennant, Davy, Gaultier, Fyfe and Sarphati were
not able to find it. Balard, however, found it in the water of

soaaath part—Otto.
The selecting power which is possessed by plants is fully ex-
elias and defined y osmotic diffusion. Within certain easy
imits the plant imbibes only those kinds of matter and those
quantities, which it requires to develop its organism, and which
diffuse into it in consequence of assimilation in the cells. These
limits are not so narrow or inflexible as to make the finding of
the conditions of growth impossible, and within them, the plant
lives'and expands, but is itself influenced in its life and in the
direction of its enlargement, by the quantities, absolute and rela-
tive, of the nutritive or soluble matters, that happen to surroun
it. Could we grow two plants in precisely identical conditions,
we should find their composition alike in all their parts. Th
variations in the composition and amount of the ash of plants 18.
probably connected with the different relative development of
he separate organs, and this again (in part) with the-relative
quantities of food present in the soil water. Thus the ash of

DEE Eee A OR ee Re IG ONS Oe EE ee OO OP Nd pe
i vay

S. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science. 83

the plant is to a destaiti extent independent of the soil, but again
to a certain extent is affected by it. The absorption of poisons
by fr is entirely abnormal and does not affect our statement.
oes the grand Jaw of osmose (endosmose and exos-

ont feed the plant out of such attenuated solutions, but, in all
probability it aids the formation of these solutions. Graham has
wn in the case of alum and bisulphate of potash that the

unequal diffusive tendency of the members of a double salt is -

powerful enough to decompose it, and he observed that solutions
even of the neutral sulphates of pute and soda diffused their
basic ingredients into lime-water, more rapidly — the acic
these stable salts thus undergoing partial decomposition.

The investigations of Henneberg and Stohmann Given cited,
have proved that the absorbent power of a soil is not a purely
chemical process, in the ordinary restricted sense; but is in part
a physical phenomenon, i.e., it does not depe end —
upon the presence in the soil, ‘of a certain amount of some pecu

har kind of matter, but is also related to the eondition aa to the

oe amount of acting surface of the various materials which

> heirlooms oe Stohmann found that the dime of contuet be-
tween a solution of an ammonia-salt and a soil did not affect
the amount of eee mead es much adie natch taken up in

They found too, that a given soil absorbed out of an equal
@ of liquid very nearly the same amount of ammonia from

uiva exe ge

They observed however that the relative quantities of soil,
water and the saline substance, affected the results ; thus from a
stronger solution a greater absolute amount of ammonia was
absorbed, while from a weaker solution a relatively greater
quantity was taken up: and — isso more ‘was ab-

also operate in ‘the soil to eases the Sitinibalsa affinities which
are the prime cause of its absorptive properties. The chemical
aflinity of silicate of alumina for the bases, (probably too that of

oxyd of iron and alumina for some of the acids) is modified by
the mass of the reacting substances and by that of their solvent;

4 or in other words the cohesive force of the atoms of the com-

84 SS. W. Johnson on some points of Agricultural Science.

pound silicates, or the adhesive force of water, (solvent action)
for the saline bodies, may neutralize or limit the chemical affinity
which determines one compound and give origin to another.
Hence the chemical substitutions in the soil, and in the case of

rootlets of plants upon the mrs an action which thougt exceed-
ingly obscure and as Prof. Liebig remarks in enunciating his
Ww views hig esiecians to form a conception of,” we may

eiwit in some ¢
Liebig in his pavine on modern pate en p- 48, gives this
instance : ‘We frequently find in meadows smooth ‘lime-stones
8.

that the rootlets have acted upon the stone, but are not therefore
necessarily compelled to assume that the dissolved matters have
entered the plant or were dissolved as food, for in such lime-

soils the excess rather than the deficiency of carbonate of lime is
oftener a hindrance to — In the case of the Lycopodi-
acece, which contain alum mpare quantity combined with

or came from s a an a
x But it is evident from the facts that have been. adduced that
t is unnecessary to have urse to any new —s to explain

ecu that ik between se = silicates, sesquioxyds and
saline solutions may take place in the soil; but in addition to
these a number of other changes must go on there, as the soil is
so complex and variable a mixture. The organic matters (the
bodies of the humic acid group), which are often though not
abree pence in no erencereDie quantity in the water extract

e soils, can y fail to exert an influence to modify
the MOG Ei Ihave found that a peat (swamp-

ies in ee ea ae |

- & ete a

On Fossil Plants from Washington Territory. 85

muck) from the neighborhood of New Haven, (containing when
fully dry 68 per cent of organic matter) which is. highly pri

as a means of improving the porous hungry soils in this vicinity,
and which when drained grows excellent crops, is capable o

_ absorbing 1°3 per cent of ammonia, while ordinary soil absorbs

but 05 to ‘1 per cent.

The great beneficent law regulating these absorptions appears
to admit of the following expression: those bodies which are most.
rare and precious to the growing plant are by the soil converted into,
and retained in, a condition not of absolute, but of relative insolu-
bility, and are kept available to the plant by the continual circulation
tn the soil of the more abundant saline matters.

he soil (speaking in the widest sense) is then not only the
ultimate exhaustless source of mineral (fixed) food, to vegeta-
tion, but it is the storehouse and conservatory of this food, pro-
tecting its own resources from waste and from too rapid use, and
converting the highly soluble matters of animal exuvie as well
as of artificial refuse (manures) into permanent supplies.

Yale Analytical Laboratory, May 15th, 1859.

Art. X.—On Fossil Plants collected by Dr. John Evans at Van-
couver Island and at Bellingham Bay, Washington Territory.—In
from L. LesquerEvx to J. D. Dana, dated Columbus,

a letter
Ohio, May 12, 1859.

_ Dear Sir,—Supposing that Prof. Heer who is now engaged in
publishing a magnificent Fossil Flora of the Tertiary of rin
would be much interested in the examination of the plants of
Dr. John Evans’ survey, of which a short description is pub-
lished in the last number of your Journal, I sent him a sketch
of the drawings prepared for Dr. Evans’ report. I have just
received an answer to the communication, and as it fixes the
value of my species and gives some opinions which are of great
interest to American geology, I take the ery of translating
ication.

_ apart of his letter and sending it to you for pu

Prof. Heer says: “I have hailed with the greatest delight the

_ news which you give me in your letter of 2lst March. They are

_ the first rays of light penetrating the dark night which until now
__ has covered the tertiary flora of America, and the day is close at
_ hand, when the fog which still darkens the wonderful flora of
_ those times will be uplifted, and the New World open to us its
_ treasures. They will prove of the greatest interest for the natu-
_ ral philosophy of the earth, and give us most important infor-
_ mation as to the relation of climate at the tertiary epoch, and to
_ the secular progression or distribution of temperature over the
whole earth. But it is also of the greatest importance for the

86 On Fossil Plants from Washington Territory.

history of the American flora, to discover through the plants
of the tertiary the various elements of which it is composed ;
the time will surely come when we shall be acquainted with
the true characters of the different: floras and with the history of
their formation.”

“You very correctly remark that the examination of the
tertiary flora of Oregon and Vancouver shows — the a is
nearly related to the European flora of the same e

our species, we find some which are —— as “particularly

- characteristic of our costae _ er species of Cinnamomum.

. rp
which is broader just above its middle. What makes me doubt-

aa ea a ee EC

i i a a

Ste ae ee

ee ee ee CE ean, ig eee, eee EES

Trt

On Fossil Plants from Washington Territory. 87

as it seems so perfectly to agree with Oreodaphne Heerti, Gaud.,
that there is scarcely a doubt of the ey of the two spe-
cies. But your leaf does not show mall holes or de-
pressions marked in the axils of both the cater secondary
nerves, You probably did not remark them. I beg you will
again examine the specimen, and I feel confident that you will
find there a small depression; if so, the identity of species is
proved. The form and nervation of the leaves are truly pecu-
- and already suffcient for identification. Oreodaphne Heerii,
has been abundantly found in the upper Miocene and

se Pliocene of Italy, but never till now on this side of the
Alps. It much resembles Oreodaphne fetens of the Canary isl-
a

arched points. This is not marked in your drawing. These

secondary nerves are somewhat too straight to belong to Quercus

neriifolia.”

“From these few species, we can ours see a near aan
several

Rhamnus Rossmaesleri or aoe a Smilax. easel paar there
fore confirm our conclusion.”

“ Another important deduction may be drawn from your
plants, viz. that in the American tertiary flora, there are so
Asiatic types which no longer belong to the American ware
nent, namely Cinnamomum and Salisburi ; further an At-
lantic type, the Oreodaphne. There is still an Oreodaphne in
America; but the fossil species is related to O. feetens of the
Canary Islands. A third conclusion taken also from the same

_ plant is that fan-like Palm trees were growing at the same time

in the same latitude with Sequoia and Yaxodium, and that there-
fore we must admit of a warmer climate in North America at
pres tepoch. And now from this fact that a flora of the same

racter occurred at the tertiary epoch in Northern Europe and
North America, it follows that both parts of the argh had a

_ like warmer climate. It is a new and very important confirma.
_ tion of the Atlantis! the second that I have cated ‘this month,

88 On Fossil Plants from Washington Territory.

The first was given me by the collection of tertiary fossil plants
from Iceland in which I found a Liriodendron (leaves and fruit)
very like Z. tulipifera, L., with six species of Pines, of which one
much resembles Adzes alba. With this, there are leaves of Alnus,
Betula, Salix, Araucaria, Acer, Sparganium, Equisetum, &c., an

in truth, species which agree perfectly with those of the tertiary

q

agree perfectly with what we find in Europe. This led me to
believe that the plants of Nebraska belong to the tertiary and

: i
is very like Populus Leuce, Ung., of the lower Miocene, and the
Ettinghausiana seems hardly rightly determined. Besides it is a
mus badly founded, and which has as yet no value. All the

owe to the kindness of Dr. John Evans the privilege of still
having his specimens in my possession; I was therefore enabled
to again examine the only specimen of the leaf which according
to Prof. Heer is referable to Oreodaphne Heerii, Gaud. Though
the specimen is one of the best preserved of the collection, there
is no trace of the mentioned pimples or depressions at the axils
of the basilar secondary nerves as -marked in the figure of M.
Ganudin’s memoir. One leaf agrees in its general outline and by
its primary and secondary nervation with an Oreodaphne. But
the secondary intermediate nerves are large, deeply marked, and
perpendicular to the primary one; and the tertiary nervules are
also mostly perpendicular to the secondary ones, well marked
and mostly percurrent. This last character especially would
separate our leaf from the genus Oreodaphne and put it rather
with the oaks.—About Sahx Islandica which I referred with

rof. Heer had not seen, when he wrote this, the paper by Mesers. M

Hayden in our last volume (p. 219), in which it is shown that the beds con
tra ized b
other fossils of the Dr. pegs ype
from beneath the Cretaceous of New Jersey (collected by Prof, G. H. Cook), and

<< o ees cts leaves are pair: Poreor Ie

Geographical Notices. 89

doubt to Salix macrophylla, it is not ible to say any thing
definite. The leaf as pried on cai eat Pt ws fi . the -
secondary nerves are scarcely marked. It is from the general
outline of the leaf and its denticulation, that I had to take the
characters. The name IJslandica was accidentally given as in-
dicating a high latitude for a species of willow with such large
leaves. It is truly a curious coincidence that Prof. Heer re-

ted to or Biting identical with ours. Cinnamomum Heeri,
Lsqx., is a true Cinnamomum in aitety character; but Quercus

i

Art. XI.— Geographical Notices. No. VIII.

RESULTS OF THE RECENT EXPLORATIONS IN AUSTRALIA.—
hh translate from Petermann’s Mittheilungen, April, the follow-
g important survey of the results obtained in ine recent explo-
acd of Australia. It is principally based o coigial -n nd
authentic reports relating to the following section

Stephen Ha aes Researches in the Gawler Mts. and at
Lake Maer Wit
2. cr Warburton’ Journey to Lake Gairdner, June and
J aig, 18

3. BI Henschel Babbage’s expedition to the region between
Lake eae and Lake Torrens, 1858.

Stuart’s, Babbage’s and Warburton’s explorations north
ah Lake Conpks ell.

The article in Petermann is accompanied by a map of Aus-
tralia between 133° and 188° long. east from Greenwich, and be-
tween 30°°30’ and 33° S. lat

In order to obtain a clear insight into the advantages which
have been gained by the numerous expeditions, we shall sepa-
rately consider their scientific and practical results. In
to the first view, the question arises about the unknown interior
of the Continent. Although the newly explored area comprises
only four degrees of longitude and as many of latitude, not ex-
tending yet one third of the distance between Spencer’s Gulf and

of Carpentaria, there is new reason to assume, that

the interior formation and condition of a have a far

more yaried character, than has been generally supposed. It ig

shown, that there is no Sa Ns desert of stone and sand, but a
SECOND

Y, 1859.

90 Geographical Notices.

succession of tracts of lands useless and useful, part already inhab-
ited and part capable of being so. The lake district west of the
Torrens Basin is in itself a very interesting region which has
iven rise even in Australia to many hypotheses on the origin
of the continent. The salty ingredients of the soil, the salt
water lakes, and the sea-shore-like plains west of the Torrens
Basin described by Stuart, were used as arguments for the sup-
position that this part of Australia had been lifted out of the
sea in a comparatively recent period only; that in its place an
arm of the sea formerly existed, which perhaps connected Spen-
cer’s Gulf with the Gulf of Carpentaria, whereby Australia was
divided into two parts. These hypotheses, though pleasantly
drawn out, must however be considered useless and hasty, as by
a close scientific physical examination they are as likely soon to
be refuted as confirmed. Even Babbage’s calculations of his
barometrical observations are still wanting and with them the
is most necessary to a physical examination of the country.
However, in relation to height, we may assume as tolerably cer-
tain, that from Spencer’s Gulf in the direction from N. to N.W.,
plains extend into the interior elevated but little above the level
of the sea and separated from each other by plateaux. The
Torrens Basin with its lagoons and coast plains forms one of
these low tracts, a second one is represented by that series of
lakes, which commences with Lake Dutton and ends on t
other side of Lake Younghusband in several swamps and
sloughs; a third is formed by the great sinkings of Lake Gaird-
ner and its environs. Major Warburton believes that Lake
Gairdner is situated below the level of the sea. If this be true,
it must also be the case with the Great Salt Lake and the other
adjacent lakes,—as we find in Babbage’s Reports no intimation
of any difference in their height. Without expressing any defi-
nite opinion we will only mention, that Gregory, in his previous
expedition from Moreton Bay to Adelaide, ¢ the Torrens
Basin and found by barometrical means that this basin was situ-
ated decidedly above the level of the sea. But the Torrens
Basin has there, as the most recent travellers in Australia affirm,
its greatest depth. Warburton’s opinion therefore remains for
the present at least improbable.

The area of the discovered lakes is not inconsiderable, as 4
comparison with the Lake of Constance shows (Area 207 Eng.
or 9°75 Germ. sq. m.). By a calculation based on sketches of
charts we find

‘Lake Gairdner in the extent given on the chart 2807 E. or 182 G. M.
Great Salt Lake, - oo : - $55.4 et?
Lake Hart, = - - - ~ 40.4" = 6G F
Pernatty L - - : : 4...

‘Lake’ - - - ED, 5 Beatin: «ge
Lake Windabout, - ‘ é - 49% © 23 4
Lake Reynolds, - - - . “i ees OOS

rae Ete)

Pe ee

ow

Results of Explorations in Australia. 91

Besides the plateaus, which extend in a northerly direction
between the Torrens Basin and that row of lakes situated west,
and also between these and Lake Gairdner, elevated perhaps
only a few hundred feet above the lakes and their low shores,
we find frequently series of heights and isolated elevations.
With the exception of the Gawler Mountains, 3000 Engl. feet
high, iy do not seem to be of any consequence, for Stuart as-
serts in his description of Mount Finke, that this mountain,
though only equal to Mount Arden, was the highest he had seen
in his travels,

- Concerning the other physical conditions of the country, its
vegetation, fauna, etc., we shall speak when giving a more de-
tailed report of Stuart’s voyage and the further explorations of
Babbage and Warburton. We shall only add in this connec-
tion a few words on the practical results of the surveys. 2.
best impressions are undoubtedly made by Hack’s descriptions
of the Gawler Mountains and the region bordering them on
the north and east. There, without doubt, extensive tracts
of land are found with a sufficient quantity of fresh water
and fertile soil well adapted to stations for cattle and perhaps
even agricultural purposes, having the advantage of being easily
accessible from the coast, to which they lie near. uth an
west we find those fearful deserts which Eyre passed through,
and where Stuart and Foster suffered from hunger. Farther east
in the direction of Lake Torrens, the absence of permanent sweet
water springs is the greatest impediment to colonization, for
good pastures are neither cans the low lands along the
lakes, nor even on the plateaus, though we find them here in
more isolated tracts. the number of springs, however, and
fresh water basins seems to increase considerably the nearer you
approach the interior, as Stuart’s and Babbage’s accounts plainly
show. Even Major Warburton, one of the Australian pessimists,
could not but express his surprise at the great number of springs
on the pastures discovered by him north of Stuart’s Creek,
although he sees almost everything in a more unfavorable light
than the rest, and thinks a permanent settlement between ee
cer’s Gulf and Lake Campbell an impossibility. Several thou-
sand square miles of pasture in such a seclusion and separated
by wirdies of shrubs and ee might really seem to be
unworthy of notice, if the peculiar character of Australia were
not to be taken into consideration. With an increase of 100,000
souls in its population, with its rapid development in raising cat-
tle, the want of new land is felt more severely than almost
pe fad else upon the earth. d :

e shall but add in reference to this subject, that a week
after Stephen Hack’s return from the Gawler Mountains a price
was offered for some 2000 miles of the 4500 English sq. miles

_ of the new discovered pastures. Several cattle owners followed

92 Geographical Notices.

Babbage’s expedition almost upon his steps, and a Mr. Mac-
donald was about to make Wirrawirralu his permanent station.
Swinden and Stuart reserved for their own use considerable
tracts of land in those regions which they discovered.

session of fertile and useful lands is considered advantageous
even if hard of access, as on the west side of the Torrens Basin,
where a communication with the coast requires considerable ex-
ertion and expense. An attempt is made to overcome the want
of springs by artesian wells, for which, according to pepbaus
the conditions are favorable. Enterprising colonists had c
menced boring already last year at different pisces, as ne a
stance on the northern foot of the Baxter Mou

A particular account of Stuart’s bold feather ‘of discovery,
illustrating and confirming the results which have been stated

bove, is contained in the Berlin Zeitschrift fiir allgemeine Erd-
* kunde for J anuary, 1859.
REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE (UNITED ae:
fei SURVEY, SHOWING THE PROGRESS OF THE SURV
E YEAR 1857. Wash., 1858, pp. 18 and 448, re with
72} hae and charts.—This valuable volume, although bearing
date of last year, has been distributed only within a few months.
In the brief space at our command it is impossible to state in
any detail the great amount and variety of important matter
which Prof. Bache has in this report so clearly and ably exhib-
ited. The report shows most fully that the Survey is conducted
with eminent efficiency, and that the highest theoretical science
and the best a skill are brought to bear on this great na-
tional work. The astronomical, magnetic, and tidal observations
so extensively ones on by t the officers of the survey, are, 12
adilition to their direct importance, of great value to the general
interests of science.

The appendix, which comprises pages 121—445 of the vol-
ume, is rich in valuable notices and papers. Among these may
be specified those by the neers a Superintendent, on bes
Atlantic Coast Tides, and on the Winds of the West ern Coast
North America, the memoir by Teun E. B. Hunt on “a 0 Inder of
Scientific References, and the Report by Mr. J. G. Kohl on the

Numerous charts, diagrams, and other illustrations accompany

such a wor
eis 9 cg ha appy to know that these Reports are distributed: with
, 8o that probably every person in the country ae
rl <p Soe any use of it, can easily obtain acopy. It gives
pleasure to see also that our government supports the kad
with such enlightened liberality, for we are confident that the
outlay yields a full zebatn to the true interests of the nation.

|
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ha a a ae Be Gh

i dee
‘

Dr. Wagner's Visit to the Cordilleras. 93

Konu’s Rerort to THE U.S. Coast SurvEY ON THE His-
TORY OF MARITIME DISCOVERY ON THE PaciFic COAST OF THE
U. Srates.—The Report of the Superintendent of the U.S.
Coast Survey for 1857, just published, not only contains as
usual thi eo contributions to the hydrography and topogra-
phy of this country, but many discussions of general interest.

ing previously referred to Dr. Kohl’s investigations on
the scat of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, we here call at-
tention to an outline of his report on the Pacifie coast, which is
given in the appendix to the volume above referred to.. His
report begins with a general survey of the physical seubaiyes of
the western coast of the U. States, written from the point of
view of the navigator, not the naturalist. To this riplien a
history of discoveries on the Pacific, in groups corresponding
with the periods of Cortez, Drake, and Vancouver, whose mari-
time enterprise was particularly distinguished. By means of
notes, full references are made both to the original reports of
voyages and to the subsequent pipenione of them. <A special
hydrography of the coast has also been prepared, and two ap-
pendixes are added, the first sate reduced copies of maps and
charts, ancient and modern, the second a historical map showing
the additions to our knowledge made by successive explorers.

are confident that this work when given to the public
will bel received with great interest. Its plan is comprehensive
and its importance obvious.

ee M. bec as ven ‘TO THE CORDILLERAS, ON THE GULF

in the eaey Sir al Lrd-

sources ie =e Chepo and the eeu falling pe the Atlantic,
really as teau, and how high is the same? 4.

late
What is ‘the geological formation of the Isthmus? He con-

denses the results of his observations in the following ai
he The

rdilleras, between the Gulf of San Blas and the

ioe of Rio Bayano (Chepo), form one central chain passing

east to west through the Isthmus.
2. The av height of this chain is 920 to 1000 Paris feet
above the P Deahe Doan
point reached by Wagner is elevated 1141 feet. Farther north
the summits ascend higher, 1800 to 2000 feet. El Generale is
estimated not to exceed 2800 feet in height. '

94 Geographical Notices.

8. Another lower chain of mountains extends along the At-
lantic coast; behind it the Gulf of San Blas is situated. A
valley from three to four leagues in width is extended between
both chains, which are now and then connected by transversal
ridges. El Generale is such a transversal ridge; it stretches
from south to north and divides at the north. The northern
slope of the Cordilleras is everywhere steeper than the southern.
In the valley many roy prairies are found, being separated from
one another by low

4. The valley of a forms a considerable depression in
the Cordilleras, and cuts them, as it were, through. Our cam
in the centre of this pass was only 293 feet above Chepo an
374 feet above the level of the Pacific Ocean. Up to this point
of the peat the river has from its source a fall of about 120
feet. As to the Madrofio nothing reliable could be elicited from
the natives; it is however very robable that under this name
that river is meant, which on Codazzi’s chart is called Rio Man-
dingo, —_ — empties into the Gulf of San Blas. .

all the mountain crests and the northern slope a

the Gordilleras consist of granite, which is also found in the
beds of the rivers. A great portion of the top is coyered with
a kind of conglomerate, either of a yellow or red color, in pro-
portion as the ox yd of iron preponderates. Something similar
is seen at the summit of Cerro del Ancon near Panama.

It is very interesting to see how at the springs of | Rio Chagres
the Cordilleras suddenly cease to form a continuous chain, split-
ting, so to speak, in little me mountains, especially between
Panama an ‘Gatin, Here also - granite Koaspanin being
replaced by po payry y, dolerite or trap.

No part of the ordilleras diomesda the Gulf of San Blas and
the Rio Chepo gives any indication of the possibility of estab-
lishing an interoceanic canal. e most favorable situation for

this purpose is still, in Wagner's opinion, the valley of the rivers
Obispo and Rio Grande, viz. the present railroad route

AFRICAN EXPLORATIONS.—Petermann’s Mittheilungen, for
February 1859, contains brief intelligence in respect to seve
of the African " expedi tions. We make the following extracts.

Burton and Speke, who have reached the inner African sea,

report that there is not one sea only, but four. The one which
they have visited they call the Ugidsehi ; the others, Tschiwa,
Nyassa, and Ukerewa.
A pO aaa from the missionary Rebmann has the following in-
remarks, under the date of Sept. 19, 1858. “A new
Gavelles Dr. A. Roscher, has arrived here. I said to him that
I he would first visit Kilimandjaro, that it might be set-
tled whether I had taken white stone for snow, or not. This
matter is to me of the highest interest. It seems to me that if
it should prove stone the mountain would be so much the more

a a

Ondarza’s new Map of Bolivia. 95

remarkable. The peak is so white that I could think it nothing
but snow, and I was not a little surprised to hear from
learned men in Europe that it was thought to be anything else.”
Dr. Baikie’s Niger expedition has now been two years in pro-
gress without attaining any noteworthy results, The expedition
lost its first steamboat on the rocks not far from Rabba. Mean-
while all the world had learned through Dr. Barth’s fifth vol-
ume, that the great western branch of the Niger, raped to
Timbuktoo, offered great difficulties to navigation. to be
regretted that the other branch, the Benue, had not Sidhe (sia
chosen for exploration. It is now proposed to direct attention
to it. Baron Krafft, under the name of Hadj Skander, has set

; out to visit Timbuktoo, Extracts from his diars are promised

in Peterman

The rtoel director of Dr. Livingstone’s expedition, Cap-
tain Bedingfield, has unexpectedly se to England on ac-
count of a disagreement with Dr. Livin

A journey from Natal to the river oemas is pres by
two of the missionaries. The lower and middle parts of this
stream, which is probably after the Zambesi, the most sina
of East Africa, are as yet quite unknown.

Onparza’s New Map or Borrvia.—Under the authority of
the government of Bolivia, a new map of that country. has re-
cently been engraved and printed at the office of Messrs. J. H.
Coes & Co., New York.

based upon the explorations and surveys of Col. Ondarza,

Commandant t Main, and Major Camacho, the former of whom
gaged in the work for seventeen years,

lately es supervising in our country this publication of hig

athe chart (which is issued in four sheets), is almost exclu-
sively limited to the territory of Bolivia itself, but the surveys
have extended toward the south into the Argentine confedera-
tion. Marginal maps are given of the La Plata and Amazon,
from the sci ae ener of Page and Herndon, and plans of
the cities La Paz and Sucre. The ng sl ag _pidit be of the
principal rivers are tated at numerous poi sy
in which are found gold, silver, copper, or Ns eer saitete
carefully indica
e are informed that in the course of the surveys the eleva-
tions of more than three thousand points have been barometri-
eally hgprrerccses —y of them by repeated observations. One
of the determ ns affords the means of a comparison be-
tween an jacardalentat leveling extending between 13,000 and

mountains are restored by these observations to the is °

inally ascribed to them but very much reduced by Sel og

96 ' Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

his map. This j is the case with Sorata and Illimani. The ele-
vations which have been ascertained, and further scientific ob-
servations will be given ina volume soon to be published on
the geography, statistics, &c. of the country.
A statistical table appended to the map gives the population
of Bolivia as follows for 1858:

Provinces, Tnhab,
La Paz, - - - - - - - 475,322
Cochabamba, - - . - - - 319,892

i SOR SS ee err
Chuquisaca, - - - - : - 223,668
ruro, . - - - - - - 110,931
Santa Cauz, - - - - - - 153,164
Tarija;.. <= - - - - - - 88,900
Veni, - - - - oa - 53,973
Atacama, - . - - . - - 5,273
Savage tribes, - - - - - - 245,000
Total, : - - - 1,987,352

The map appears to have been executed with great care in its
details, and isa oo important contribution to the orography
of South Ameri D.C. G

ArT. XII.— Alexander von Humboldt.

ALEXANDER VON HumsBoxpr died at Berlin on Friday the
sixth of May, having been ill with a severe catarrh accompanied
by fever since the 17th of April.

Eulogy by pais AGAssiz, before the American ore of Arts
d Sciences, delivered on the 24th of M

Gentlemen :—I have been requested to present on an occasion
some remarks upon the scientific career of HumBoxpr. So few
days have elapsed since the sad news reached our shore, that I
have had no time to prepare an elaborate account of that won-

erful career, and I am not myself in a condition in which I
could have done it, being deprived of the use of my eyes, so that
1 had to rely upon the hand of a friend to make a few memo
randa on a slip of paper, bare might enable me to present m
thoughts in a somewhat regular order. But I have, since the
day we heard of his death, recalled all my recollections of him;

, if you will permit me, I will present them to you as they

are novi ee. in my ees
LDT— ALEXANDER VON HumBoxor, ah he always called

hime though he was ohtagioned with the names of FREDERICK
tH ALEXANDER,—was born in 1769, on et 14th of Sep-

Peal Sal

gp lint

ae.

=

sy og aa a ci

Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt. 97

tember,—in that memorable year which gave to the world those
philosophers, warriors and statesmen who have changed the face
of science and the condition of affairs in our century. It was in
that year that Cuvier also and Schiller were born; and among
the warriors and statesmen, Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington
and Canning are children of 1769, and it is certainly a year of
which we can say that its children revolutionized the world.

Of the early life of Humboldt I know nothing, and I find no
records except that in his tenth year he lost his father, who had
been a Major in the army during the seven years’ war, and after-
wards a chamberlain to the King of Prussia. But his mother
took excellent care of him, and watched over his early educa-
tion. The influence she had upon his life is evident from the
fact that notwithstanding his yearning for the sight of foreign
lands he did not begin to make active preparations for his trav-
els during her life time. In the winter o ’88 he was sent
to the University of Frankfort on the Oder, to study finance.
He was to be a statesman; he was to enter high offices, for which
there was a fair chance, owing to his noble birth and the patron-
age he could expect at the Court. He remained, however, but
a short time there.

Not finding those studies to his taste, after a semestre’s resi-

_ dence in the University we find him again at Berlin, and there

in intimate friendship with Willdenow, then Professor of Botany,
and who at that time the erbarium in exist-

zoology
on a new foundation. For it is an unquestionable fact that in
first presenting a classification of the animal kingdom based u
a knowledge of its structure, Blumenbach in a measure antici-
ated Cuvier; though it is only by an exaggeration of what Blu-
menbach did that an unfair writer of later times has attempted

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859.
% 13

we

98 Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

who already venerable in years and eminent as promoters of
physical science not yet established in the popular favor, were
the early guides of Humboldt in his aspirations for scientific dis-
tinction. Yet Humboldt had a worldly career to accomplish.
He was to be a statesman, and this required that he shou

to the Academy of Commerce at Hamburg. He remained there
five months, but he could endure it no longer, and he ed so
hard that his mother allowed him to go to Freyberg and study
Geology with Werner, with a view of obtaining a situation in
the Administration of Mines. See what combinations of circum-

had as his fellow student no less a man than Leopold von Buch,
~~ a youth, to whom, at a later period, Humboldt himself

himself familiar; went to Italy and Switzerland, where he be-
came acquainted with the then celebrated Professors Jurine and

gereizte Muskel und Nerven-faser, mit Vermuthungen iiber den
tschen Process des Lebens, in Thieren und Pflanzen.” In these eX
planations of the phenomena we have the sources of the first

red from the title of the book published in 1797—“ Uber die

eee

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Prof, Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt. 99

impulses in a direction which has been so beneficial in advancing
the true explanation of the secondary phenomena of life; but
which, at the same time, in its exaggeration as it prevails now

as degenerated into the materialism of modern investigators.
In that period of all-embracing activity, he began to study As-
tronomy. His attention was called to it by Baron von Zach,
who was a prominent astronomer, and at that time was actively
engaged upon astronomical investigations in Germany. He
showed Humboldt to what extent astronomy would be useful for
him, in his travels, in determining the positions of places, the
altitude of mountains, &e.

So prepared Humboldt now broods over his plans of foreign
travel. He has published his work on the muscular and nerv-
ous fibre at the age of 28. He has lost his mother; and his
mind is now inflamed with an ungovernable passion for the sight
of foreign and especially tropical lands. He goes to Paris to
make preslatabiod by securing the best astronomical, meteoro-
logical and surveying instruments. Evidently he does not eare
where he shall go, for on a proposition of Lord Bristol to visit
Egypt he agrees to it. The war prevents the execution of this
plan, and he enters into negotiations to accompany the projected
expedition of Capt. Baudin to Australia; but when Bonaparte,
bent on the conquest of Egypt, started with a scientific fo
tion, Humboldt wishes to join it. He expects ie be one of the
scientific party, and to en pt by way Se a

the good impression he has made when there, with
no other recommendation than that = a friend who happened
to be at that _time Danis int ourt of oe

e Orinoco nad its connection Sicalielovith the Amazon.

a a" — and papier a work of scientific pa

&

100 Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

ance, establishing the fact that the two rivers were connected by
“s Sdendece abet course of water. He established for the first

tains and plains in a manner which has had the most extensive
influence upon the progress of physical prensa It may well
said that after this exploration of — Orinoco, physical geog-
raphy begins to appear as a part of science. From Cumana he
makes a short excursion to Havana, eet hearing there of the
probable arrival of Baudin on the sie coast of America, ae
with the intention of crossing at Panama. He arrives at

crossing the Isthmus, and changed his determination from want
of precise information respecting Baudin’s expedition. He de-
termines to ascen nd the Magdalena river and visit Santa Fé de

afterwards published by Bonpland himself, and by Kunth after
Bonpland had determined on an expedition to South America.
In the beginning of 1802 he reaches Quito, where, during four
months, he turns his attention to every thing worth investiga-
ting, ascends the Chimboraz azo, to a height to y which no human
foot had reached, anywhere; and, having completed this survey
and repeatedly crossed the An des, he descends the southern slope
of the continent to the shore of the Pacific at Truxillo, and fol-
lowing the arid coast of Peru, he visits finally Lima. I wil
lightly over all the details of” his journey, for they are only inci-
dents in that laborious exploration of the country which is best
appreciated by a consideration of the works which were pub-
hed in consequence of the immense accumulation of materials
seca during those explorations, From Lima, or rather from
lao, he sails in 1802 for rn and Acapulco, and reaches
Mexico in 1803, where he makes as extensive explorations as he
had made in Venezuela and the Andes, and after a stay of about
a year, having put all his collections and manuscripts in order,
— Cuba for a short time, comes to the United States, makes
hurried excursion to Philadelphia and Washington, where he
pa “sapere y Je — and finally es with his faithful
os neem land to France, accompanied by a young Span-
ildsinn, Ton. C Carlo de Montufar, es h I his trav-
cs sine visit to Quito. ~ ith
wi

ae Se ee

ie

" age ee

Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt. 101

together before. But here we meet with a singular circ ce.
The German nobleman, the friend of the Prussian and Spanish
Courts, chooses Paris for his residence, and remains there twenty-
two years to work out the result of his scientific labor; for since
his return, with the exception of short journeys to Italy, Eng-
land and Germany, sometimes accompanying the King of Prus-
sia, sometimes alone, or accompanied by scientific friends, he is
entirely occupied in scientific labors and studies. So passes the
time to the year 1827, and no doubt he was induced to make this
choice of a residence by the extraordinary concourse of distin-
guished men in all branches of science with whom he thought
he could best discuss the results of his own observations. I
shall presently have something to say about the works he com-
pleted during that most laborious period of his life. I will only
add now, that in 1827 he verre to Berlin permanently, hav-
ing been urged of late by the King of Prussia again and again
to return to his native land. And there he delivered a series of
lectures preparatory to the publication of Cosmos; for in sub-
stance, even in form and arrangement, these lectures, of which
the papers of the day gave short accounts, are a sort of prologue
to the Cosmos, and a preparation for its publication.
In 1829, when he was 60 years of age, he undertakes another

great journey. He accepts the invitation of the Emperor Nicho-
as to visit the Ural Mountains, with a view of examining the
gold mines and localities where platina and diamonds ha
found, to determine their geological relations. He accomplished
the journey with Ehrenberg and Gustavus Rose, who published
the result of their mineralogical and geological survey in a work
of which is the sole author; while boldt published
under the title of Asiatic Fragments of Geology and Climatolo-
gy, his observations of the physical and geographical features
made during that journey. But he had hardly returned to Ber-
lin, when in consequence of the revolution of 1830, he was sent
by the King of Prussia as extraordinary ambassador to France,
to honor the elevation of Louis Philippe to the throne. Hum-
boldt had long been a personal friend of the Orleans family, and
he was selected as ambassador on that occasion on account of
these personal relations. From 1830 to 1848 he lived alternate-
ly in Berlin and in Paris, spending nearly half the time in Paris
and half the time in Berlin, with occasional visits to England
and Denmark; publishing the results of his investigations in
Asia, making original investigations upon various things, an
especially pressing the establishment of magnetic observatories,
and connected observations all over the globe, for which he ob-

102 Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

China, were established which have led to such important results
in our knowledge of terrestrial magnetism. Since 1848 he has
lived uninterruptedly in Berlin, where he published on the
anniversary of his 80th year a new edition of those charming
first flowers of his pen, his Views of Nature, the first edition of
which was published in Germany in 1808. This third edition
appeared with a series of new and remodeled annotations and
explanations; and that book in which he first eRe his
views of nature, in which he drew those vivid pictures of the
physiognomy of plants and of their geographical distribution, is
now revived and brought to the present state of science. The
“Views of Nature” is a work which Humboldt has always cher-
ished, and to which in his Cosmos he refers more frequently aa
to any other work. It is no doubt because there he had e

pressed his deepest thoughts, bis most i serebesies views, sid
even foreshadowed those intimate convictions which he never

— _ which he desired to record in such a manner that
those that can read between the line might find them there;
and sabes cabeis we find them. His aspiration hasbeen to

t to the world a picture of the physical world from which
S would exclude everything that relates to the na of
human moma and to the ambitions of individual m
A life so full, so rich, is worth considering in ene respect,
and it is ohaly instructive to see with what devotion he pursues
s long as he is a student he is really a student and
learns faithfully, and learns everything he can reach. d he
continues so for twenty-three years. He is not one of those bee
is impatient to show that he has something in him, and with
mature eras utters his ideas, so that the become inatnods
able barriers to his independent progress in later life. Slowly
and vontidenbe of his sure progress, he advances, and while he
learns he studies also ‘eddpatintt ly of those who teach him.
He makes his experiments and to make them with more inde-
pendence he seeks for an official position. During five years he
is a business man, in a station which gives him leisure. He is
Superintendent of the Mines, but a Superintendent of the Mines
who can do much as he pleases; and while he is thus officially _
engaged journeying and ae he prepares himself for |
his independent researches. And yet it will be seen he is thirty
of age before he enters upon his American travels, those
travels i. will be said to have been the nen per eiag :

d the social soliton: of that land. “Heving re
prone travels to Paris, there begins in his life a gow te of
| : eritical studies. He works up his materials thea

Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt. oo

with an ardor - wes eats which is untiring; and he is not
anxious to ap o have done it all himself. Oltmanns is
called to his ai to aco his astronomical observations, and his
barometrical measurements by which he has determined the
geographical position of 700 different points and the altitude of
more than 450 of them.

The large collection of plants which Bonpland had begun to
illustrate, but of which his desire of seeing the sacs again has
prevented the completion he entrusts to Kunth. He has also
brought home animals of different “re and distributes them
among the most eminent zoologists of the day. To Cuvier he
entrusts the investigation of that remarkable Batrachian, the
Aceolotel,—the mode of development of which is still unknown,
but which remains in its adult state in a condition similar to
that of the tadpole of the frog during the earlier period of its
life. Latreille sete ibes the insects, and Valenciennes the shells
and the fish re an yet to show that he might have done the
work himself, ie a memoir on the anatomical structure

another upon the “topi a a of America, and another

climatology. The first work upon that hae is a dissertation

on the geographical distribution of plants, published in 1817.
Many botanists and travellers had obse: that in different
parts of the world there are plants not found in others, and that
there is a certain arrangement in that distribution; but Hum-
boldt was the first to see that this ees is connected with
the temperature of the air as well as with the altitudes of the
surface on which they grow, and he systematized his researches
into a general exposition of the laws by which the distribution
of plants is regulated. Connected wit a romero ~ made
those extensive investigations into the mean temperature of a
large number of places on the surface of the gett: eh I led to
the drawing of those isothermal lines so important in their, —
ence in shaping physical geography and givi feng altered

ode of representing natural phenomena.

we had no graphic <a of com — natural ser
ena which made them easily cotenesnet le, even to minds of
moderate cultivation. He has done that in a — Ww has
_ Circulated information more extensively, an and brought it to the
4 — more clearly than it could have been di a any
a er

+3
a4

104 Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

child in our schools has his mind fed from the labors of Hum-
boldt’s brain, wherever geography is no longer taught in the old
routine. Having completed his American labors, Humboldt
published three works partly connected with his investigations
in America, and partly with his further studies in Europe since
his return, and among others, a book, which first appeared as a
paper in the “Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles,” but of
which separate copies were printed under the title of ‘‘ Essai sur
la Constitution des Roches dans les deux Hemisphéres.” This
work has been noticed to the extent which it deserved by only
one geologist, Elie de Beaumont. No other seems to have seen
what there is in that paper, for there Humboldt shows, for the
first time, that while inorganic nature is the same all the world
over,—granite is granite, and basalt is basalt, and limestone and
sandstone, limestone and sandstone wherever found,—there is
r

in the old countries. The distinction which exists in the mate-
rial basis of scientific culture in different parts of the world is
first made evident by this work. By two happily chosen words
Humboldt has presented at once the results of our knowledge in
geology at the time, in a most remarkable manner. He speaks
there of “independent: formations.” Who, before Humboldt,
thought there were successive periods in the history of our globe
which were independent one from the other? There was in the
mind of geologists — a former and a present world. Those
words expressing the thought and expressing it in reference t0
the thing itself, for the first time occur in that memoir; thus
putting an end to those views mgt in geology, according
to which the age of all the rocks upon t

mined by the mineralogical character of the rocks appearing at
the surface. The different geological levels at which rocks be

longing to the same period have been deposited, but which have
been disturbed by subsequent revolutions, he happily designated

as ‘ ical horizons.

he

tinents above the sea. Thus far geographers and geologists

he earth can be deter-

geolo , , :
_ It was about the time he was tracing these investigations that —
made his attempt to determine the mean altitude of the —

oe Sis pea |

cht Mreghee eA se

ae

Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt. 105

a only the heights of mountain. chains, and the eleva-
the lower lands, while it was Humboldt ‘who first made
tans beat na between mountain chains and table lands. But
the idea of oe the average elevation of seat —
the sea had not yet been entertained; and it was again
boldt, who, from the data that he could command, detsteninedid it
to be at the utmost 900 feet, assuming all irregularities to be
brought to a uniform level. His Asiatic travels gave him addi-
tional data to consider these depressions and swellings of conti-
nents, when discussing the phenomena of the aneroens of the
Caspian Sea, which he does in a most complete ma
There isa fullness and richness of sed prey: aah substantial

end, but that is not a book; : it in a spiture sana frame.” Such
an expression of one scientific man Pa without giving
offense, could only come from a man so intimately associated as
Arago was with Humboldt. ree this Se me to a few addi-
tional remarks upon his character and social relations. Hum-
boldt was born near the Court. He was brotabe up in conneec-

no doubt imbued with the prejudices of his caste. He was a
nobleman of high descent. And yet the friend of kings was a
bosom friend of. Arago, and he was the man who could, after his
return cm America, refuse the highest position at the court of
» Berlin, that of the secretaryship of public instruction, —

F to live in a modest way in Paris, in the society of all those

as all pers escent 43 it were, for private distsibution: But
from eu intimate relations e ly to the court of Prussia,
some insinuations have been snp to c ter of Hum-
ldt. They are as unjust are gg in expression.
He Was never a flatterer of those: in ., has shown vis

pera: wis Race aes ona 1859,
14

tion with courtiers and men in high positions of life. He was

:

106 Prof. Agassiz’s Eulogy on Humboldt.

their last place of rest. But while he expressed his independ-
ence in such a manner, he had the kindliest feelings for all par-
He could not offend, even by an expression, those with
whom he has been associated in early life; and I have no doubt

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circumstance which is personal to me in that respect, and which

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seated at breakfast in front of the yard of the hotel where I lived,

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my hand. It said:
“My friend, I hear that you intend leaving Paris in conse-

accomplished. I enclose you a check for £50. It is a loan
which you may repay when you can.”

only say that his habits were very peculiar. He was anearly |
riser, and yet he was seen at late hours in the saloons in diffe

ent parts of Paris. From the year 1830 to 1848, while in Paris, —
he had been charged by the King of Prussia to send reports —
upon the condition of things there. He had before prepare® —
for the King of Prussia a report on the political condition of the —

H, J. Clark on the origin of Vibrio. 107

Spanish Colonies in America, which no doubt had its influence

afterwards upon the recognition of the mane of those
colonies. The importance of such reports to the government of
Prussia may be inferred from a perusal of his political and statis-
tical essays upon Mexico and Cuba. It is a circumstance worth
noticing that above all great powers Prussia has more distin-
guished, scientific and literary men among her diplomatists than
any other State. _And so was Humboldt actually a diplomatist
in Paris though he was placed in that position, not from choice,
but in consequence of the benevolence of the King, who wanted
pi abet an opportunity of being in Paris as often and as long

e chose

But from that time there were two men in him,—the diplo-
were, ie v in the Hotel des Princes, and the naturalist who
n the Rue de la Harpe, in a modest apartment in the
edo ame ; where his scientific friends had access to him
every day before seven. After that he was frequently seen work-
ing im the library of the Institute until the time when the Grand.
Pa made his appearance at the court or in the saloons of

i thi

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several editions. With him ends a great period in lane rein
of science, a riod to which Cuvier, Laplace, Arago, Gay-Lus-
sac, *, Decandolle and Robert Brown belonged, and of whom only

Art. XIII.—On the origin le Vibrio ; mien Chark of
Cambridge, Mass
(From the Proceedings of the American Academy, Boston, April 1 12, 1859.)

A FEW months ago a French physiologist, Pouchet, revived the
long-exploded doctrine of equivocal or spontaneous generation,

and asserted that he had been able to obtain certain living beings
iach substances which were entirely shut off from the outer
world, and in which, after having undergone certain prepara-
tions, there could not possibly be any germs of these animals,
A discovery, which I made on the 20th of March, may not be
~ uninteresting, as it has more or less relations in its nature to the
y theory so we po ae by Pouchet. There are certain

p We Silicones escribed as animals by Ehrenberg, under
- the name of. Vibrio, aa amd consists in that they are

108 H. J. Clark on the origin of Vibrio.

composed of a single row of globular bodies, resembling a string
ads, more or less curved, and move in a spiral path with
great velocity, even faster than the eye can follow in many
s. They exhibit, by their activity, more plausible signs of
animality than any of the Desmidezx or Diatomacez, and fully
as convincing indications of life as the spores of Algee, to which
they were first referred by the late lamented Dr. W. I. Burnet,
and after him by Rudolph Wagner and Leuckart. They have

and vegetable matter. I was very much surprised to discover
the manner in which they orginate from such substances. 1 was
studying the decomposing muscle of a Sagitta, a little crustacean,
as I consider it,—which, in passing, I would observe was foun
by me a year ago last Manch: for the first time in this country,
at Lynn Harbor,—when I noticed large numbers of Vibrio dart-
ing hither and thither, but most frequently swarming about the
muscular fibres. I was struck with the similarity of these bead-
like strings to the fibrillze of the muscle, and upon close com-
parison I found that the former were exactly of the same size,
and had the same optical properties as the latter. Some of these
ap red to be attached to the ends of the flat, ribbon-like
fibres, and others at times loosened themselves and swam away.
I was immediately impressed with the daring thought, that these
Vibrios were the fibrillz set loose from the fibres; but as this
was a thing unheard of, and so startling, I for the time persuaded
myself that they must have been accidentally atinobiett and sub-
sequently loosened. However, I continued my observation until
I found some fibres in which the fibrillee were in all stages of
decomposition. At one end of the fibre the ultimate cellules of
the fibrillae were so closely united, that only the longitudinal
and transverse striz were visible; further along, the cellules
were singly visible, and still further they had assumed a globu-
lar shape; next, the transverse rows were loosened from each
other excepting at one end; and finally, those at the extreme of

e fibre were agitated and waved to and fro as if to get loose,
which they did from time to time, and, assuming a curved form,
revolved each upon its axis and swam away with amazing ve
locity. There was no doubting, after this, the identity of the
Vibrios and the muscular fibrille; but I thought such a strange
phenomenon ought to second witness to vouch for it,
and therefore went for the best that could be wished for, Profes-
sor Agassiz. I simply placed the preparations before him, and,
without giving him the least hint of the origin of the muscle, J
was pleased to have him rediscover what I had seen but fifteen
minutes before

The number of ultimate cellules in a moving string varied
from two to fifty; the greatest number of strings were composed

os cee ae

ee oe ee)

Sacen tae i: na ae Sa

:
i

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted. 109

of only three or four, often six to eight, and rarely as high as
fifty. Very rarely the fibres split longitudinally, and in such
instances the fibrille were most frequently long, and moved
about with undulations rather than a wriggling motion. A sin-
gle ultimate ae when set loose, danced about in a zigzag
manner; but whenever two were combined, the motion had a
definite Fre stome merit corresponded to the longer diameter of
the duplicate combination; and if only three were combined,
the spiral motion was the result of their united action. What
it is that causes these cellules to move I do not profess to know,
but certainly it is not because they possess _ as oe
beings. This much is settled, however, that we may have
sented to us all the phenomena of life, as exhibited by the oe
tivity of the lowest forms of animals and plants, by huts nt
cellules of the decomposed and fetid striated m

Sagitta. Ido not pretend to say that Siete sae that prion
under the name of Vibrio or Spirillum is a decomposed muscle
or other tissue, although I believe such will turn out to be the
fact; but this much I will vouch for, and will call on Professor
Agassiz to witness, that what wo ould be declared, by competent
authority, to be a living being, and peers a certain species
of Vibrio, is nothing but absolutely dead muse

Art. XIV.—Biographical Sketch of Professor Denison Olmsted;
by Rev. C. S. LYMAN.

Ir is with deep sadness that we record the death of Pudoaiee
DENISON OLMSTED, for thirty-four years the honored incumbent
of the chair of Natural Philosophy and a in Yale
College. He died at his residence in New Haven, after a few
weeks illness, on the 13th of May, 1859, in the ispaialte year
of his

Bes seas this brief record, it is fitting that this Journal, to
which Professor Olmsted has been a contributor from its com-
peer should preserve, as a further tribute to his memory,

a sketch as our limits will rmit = his career as a man.

* New Englander for August, 1859.

110 Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted.

labors, but, more fully, of his successful career as an instructor,
and of his well-balanced and exemplary character as a man an
a christian in all the relations of life. It will be our purpose,
— in this sketch, to contemplate Prof. Olmsted, chiefly,
tea cher and cultivater of science.
be born in East Hartford on the 18th of June, 1791,—
the fourth child of Nathaniel Olmsted, a respectable farmer, who
was a descendant of James Olmsted, one of the first settlers of
_the colony of Connecticut. His mother, a daughter of Denison
Kingsbury of Andover, Ct., was a woman of most exemplary
christian character, and to her (his father having died when he
was about a year old) he was indebted for that excellent religious

training, the fruits of which were exhibited in all his subsequent ©

life, and for which she found herself rewarded, even to extreme
old age, by a depth of affection and veneration on his part such
as few mothers can inspire.

In Farmington, to which town his mother removed, on her
second marriage, when he was about nine years old, he attended
a district school for several winters, having his home for that
ourpose in the family of Gov. Treadwell. ‘This excellent man,
‘becoming interested in the boy for his amiability, intelligence,
and other promising traits, took pains to instruct him privately
during the long evenings, especially in arithmetic, which was
not then.taught in the common schools; and so befriended him,
in this and other ways, that in after life Prof. Olmsted ever cher-
ished his memory with the deepest affection and gratitude, and
at a later period, embodied his estimate of his benefactor in an
elaborate memoir, published in the American Quarterly Reg-
ister for 18438.

At the age = sixteen, when he had been for some time em-
ployed in a country store, in which a son of Gov. Treadwell
was one of the partners, he made up his mind to obtain a liberal
education; and after pursuing his hemmed studies, first at
- excellent school kept by James Morris at Litchfield South

arms, an

Imsted
London, talag charge of the “ Union School,” so allel
private institution for boys. In 1815 he was a — ~ <a tu-
torship in Yale College, and while filling this olen
the study of in a class instructed by Dr. Dwight os

.

—_ =f. ee lS Ue. UL Oe i I sh en i i ee ee ee
P 5 ¥ Se eat sia a See ——e sa capi

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted. 111

a view to entering the ministry. In about a year, however, his
revered instructor was removed by death, and Mr. Olm ‘sted
evinced his affection for his memory by an appreciative memoir,
which was published in the Port Folio for November, 1817.
Meanwhile his experience and observation as a teacher, not only
in college and in New London, but in Farmington also, where,
at the age of seventeen, he taught a district school, appear to
have awakened in his mind a deep interest in the subject of
education, and a desire to make some effort for the improvement
of the schools of his native state. In an oration “on the state
of education in Connecticut,” which he delivered in 1816 on
taking his Master’s degree, he sketched the outlines of a ~~
original with himself, of what he termed a “seminary for se
masters,” to be supported by the State ;—an idea since so hap-
pily realized in our Normal Schools.

But his aims in this direction were terminated, as well as his
theological studies, by his appointment in 1817 to the chair of
Chemistry in the University of North Carolina, upon the duties
of which he entered after a year spent at New Haven in special
prek eparation under the private instruction of Prof. Silliman. At

1 Hill he not aoe discharged successfully the duties ie -
professorship, (which, besides chemistry, then included, a
most other colleges, mineralogy and g geology.) but, rue ten iis
residence there, he was also employed by the State to make a
survey of its geology and mineral resources ;—a circumstance
the more worthy of notice, as this was the first enterprize of the
sort accomplished under the auspices and at ‘aie Prot Chaat of wd
of the States. The project 0 first laid b
1821, before the Board of Internal ieopivenentl Sideyhe a the offer
to perform the entire work himself ee and _ modest
suggestion of an appropriation by the Board o: e hundred
dollars, to be rien posta or not at the pc of the
” to o defray his necessary expenses in traveling. This
eres however, aes Board declined, and the survey was
made under the cee ‘of the State Board of mo
riculture, To this Board ms sted

in ihe coun t the time, must certainly be Goked upon as
—— in the > highest aes yor to the enterprise and the

112 Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted.

d referred
the strata correctly to the same age with that of the Richmond

While at Chapel Hill, Prof. Olmsted also began researches to
determine the practicability of obtaining illuminating gas from
tton-seed—a waste material so abundant in cotton-growing
districts as to be an important product of agriculture if capable
of being put to any valuable use.
. These researches, however, were broken off, as well as his fur-
ther cultivation of chemistry and geology, by his call, in 1825,
to the professorship of Mathematics and Natural a in
Yale College, left vacant by the death of Prof. Matthew R. Dut
ton, who himself, only three years before, had succeeded the la-
mented Fisher, Prof. Olmsted’s classmate and intimate friend,
whose brief but brilliant mathematical career was so sadly ter-
minated by shipwreck in 1822, when on his way to Europe for
the purpose of study.
Prof. Olmsted came to this new chair, it will be noticed, after
___ he had spent some of his best years in one requiring attainments
- and mental culture of a widely different cast. But though lack _
ing somewhat, as he was himself aware, in that special prepara
|

tion which a devotion of those years to the higher mathematics
and the more abstruse investigation of physics might have given
him, he nevertheless applied himself with such zeal to his new
duties as to overcome in great measure the difficulties he encoun-
tered, and approve himself a successful instructor in the branches
committed to his care. The department of mathematics, howeve!,

in accordance with his own wishes, was in 1835 made a separate
chair, and assigned to the able and promising, but short-lived
Prof. Anthony D. Stanley, while Prof. Olmsted retained his fa-
vorite branches of natural philosophy and astronomy. In these
he continued to give instruction down to his last illness, a period
in all of thirty-four years.

en he came to New Haven he discovered a sad want of

suitable text-books in his department. Enfield’s Philosophy,
which had held its place in our colleges for many years, was
of inaccuracies and far behind the existing state of science. And
the series of text-books then recently prepared by Prof. Farrar
of Cambridge, chiefly translations from abe authors, were, D
sides other objections, both too extensive and too difficult for
the majority of American students at that period. This recog.
nized want Prof. Olmsted successfully met by the preparation of |
his work on Natural Philosophy, which was first = :
i in 1831, in two volumes octavo. This work, though 1?
parts professedly a compilation or abridgment, asin mechanics,

ii i

sf bie oe

sa

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted. 113

from the treatise of Bridge, and though excluding the higher
mathematics, which were not then taught in our colleges, is yet
characterized by so many excellencies of form and arrangement,
and on the whole is so well adapted to the wants of the great
majority of students, that it has from the first been received

Prof. Newton of Yale College, and which, it is understood, these

gentlemen are now carrying forward, will be likely to render it as

acceptable hereafter as it proved to be when originally published.

n abridgment of this work, called the “School Philosophy,”

was published in 1832, for the use of high schools and acade-

mies, and has already, it is said, passed through more than a

hundred editions. A still smaller work, entitled ‘“‘ Rudiments of
Natural Philosophy and Astronomy,” was issued in 1842, and
is adapted to pupils in elementary schools. This little work has
gone through some fifty editions, and on account of its clearness:
and comprehensiveness, has been adopted as the text-book on
these subjects for use in institutions for the blind, an edition for
this purpose having been printed in raised letters, in large quarto
form, as early as 1845.

Prof. Olmsted’s text-book of Astronomy for colleges was pub-
lished in 1839 in one volume octavo. It is characterized, in the
main, by the same qualities as his other books, and has found
general favor, it is believed, among the teachers of that science,
An abridgment for schools was published soon after the original
work. Still another book on the same science, called “ Letters
on Astronomy,” Peps to have been written to a lady, was
prepared by Prof. Olmsted as a reading book at the request of
the Massachusetts Board of Education, and published in 1842.

sides instructing in astronomy by text-book, Prof. Olmsted
delivered annually to the two upper classes in college three
courses of lectures, one on natural philosophy and optics, one
on astronomy, and another on meteorology. These he prepared
with much labor, and by frequent revision, endeavored to adapt
to the rapid progress of scientific discovery. They were charac-
terized by fullness, clearness and method, and sometimes by elo-
quence. The course on meteorology was, perhaps, on the whole,

_ the most attractive and useful.

In the subjects of storms, auroras, and shooting-stars, ——
ae eh

_ Special interest. A new theory of Hail-storms was pub

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 82.—JULY, 1859.
15

114 Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted.

by him, in 1830, inthe American Journal of Science,—ascrib-
ing their origin to the sudden mingling of large bodies of hot
and humid air with air extremely cold, by which the vapor of
the former would be rapidly condensed and congealed into hail;
which effect would be produced whenever, by means of oppos-
ing winds, whirlwinds, or other atmospheric disturbance, hot
air should be carried above the line of congelation or cold air
brought below it. This hypothesis, though it has never obtained
the celebrity of the ingenious, but improbable, electrical theory
of Volta, is yet, perhaps, as plausible as any, or at least is suffi-
ciently so to warrant its author in his steady adherence to it, es- |
pecially if we consider that such is the intrinsic difficulty of the
subject as to compel the acutest physicists to confess that no
satisfactory theory has yet been proposed,—hailstorms being
characterized by Pouillet as among the most formidable of
scourges to agriculture, and the most perplexing of phenomena
to meteorologists.
In respect to the great storms of our Atlantic coast, and simi-
lar ones elsewhere, he adopted in the main, the rotary theory of
Mr. Wm. C. eld, whom he early encouraged in the devel-
opment of his views on this subject, and for whom he cherished
a sincere attachment, which led him, after the death of his
friend, to prepare the eulogium which he delivered before the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its
meeting in Montreal. In this address Prof. Olmsted thus defines
is own position in respect to Mr. Redfield’s views. “ While
from the first I have heartily embraced Redfield’s doctrine that
ocean gales are progressive whirlwinds, and have further fully
believed that he had established their laws or modes of action
on an impregnable basis, a regard to truth and candor obliges
me to say, that I have never been a convert to his views respect-
ing the ultimate causes of storms, especially so far as he assigned
for these causes what he denominates the ‘diurnal and orbitual
motions of the earth,’ but his notions on this point have always
appeared to me unsatisfactory.” ‘
he phenomena of the northern lights, such remarkable exhi-

acelin ha

Eg a

assigning to the phenomena a secular period of about sixty oF
sixty-five years. This vi owledged,

}

ia

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted. 115

found, as yet, little favor among men of science. But, whether
it prove ultimately to have any foundation in truth or not,
Prof. Olmsted deserves very great credit for the unwearied dili-

_ gence with which he has collected and recorded the facts, and

or the earnestness with which he has called the attention of
philosophers to this most interesting problem in physics.

But Prof. Olmsted is most widely and favorably known to
the scientific world by his papers, published chiefly in the Jour-
nal of Science for 1834, on “meteoric showers,” or showers of
shooting stars. His interest in the subject was first awakened,
like that of many others, by the very remarkable phenomena of
the morning of November 13th, 1833, when, in all parts of the
United States, myriads of these meteors, especially between the
hours of two and five o'clock, were seen falling in a brilliant and
continuous shower through the heavens. Prof. Olmsted saw this
magnificent display, indeed, not in its maximum grandeur, but
only the portion of it which occurred after half past five o'clock,
when his attention was first called to it by a friend. Yet obsery-
ing’ it with the eye of a philosopher, he noted with care its most
important features, and collecting at once all the observations he
could obtain from various quarters, he made a careful classifica-
tion and analysis of the facts, which he presented in two suc-
cessive numbers of the American Journal of Science for 1834.*
While preparing this paper he was led to entertain the idea that
these meteors had a cosmical rather than a terrestria] or atmo-

of the meteors, though apparently with a less degree of confi-
dence, as appears from his own candid remark in his very able
article on the subject in the twenty-sixth volume of the Journal
of Science, “That he is not able, as yet, to adopt even his own
inferences respecting the cause, in any other way than as conjec-

tural and highly credible.” Both he and Prof. Olmsted, however,
_ Clearly recognized the leading fact, which was decisive of the
- question of cosmical origin, namely, the identity of the point of
apparent radiation of the meteors with the point in the heavens

towards which the earth was then moving in its orbit, and the

names of both must consequently be associated, in the minds of

.

those who read their articles, with the theory which both so essen-

tially contributed to establish.

* Vol, xxv, No, 2, and Vol. xxvi, No. 1.

116 Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted.

Prof. Olmsted, however, has from the first been chiefly associ-
ated in the public mind with this theory of meteors,—partly,
erhaps, from the greater confidence and fullness of explanation
with which he propounded it, and partly from his prominent
position before the public in an important chair of science. The
theory, indeed, in the precise form in which he originally stated
it, has never in all its details obtained general currency, and was
even for a time wholly rejected or regarded with much incredu-
lity by many distinguished men of science, yet in its leading
features of cosmical origin lee periodicity he had the satisfac
tion of seeing it remain unshaken, and receive the approbation
and support of the leading physicists of the day. A broader
generalization of facts, especially shone gathered by Mr. E. C.
Herrick, from the records of meteors in preceding ages, soon
brought to light Sher annual. peneds: of their return besides that
of November, particularly those of April, August and December.
one modification, however, did not affect the main point of the
thes
"Te has has est said, indeed, that Prof. Olmsted was anticipated
in this et by Chladni; and Humbo Idt, who in several pas-
the Cosmos, speaks s of the researches of Prof. Olmsted
in Sasplimentery terms, refers to them in one place, not as hav-

_ ing originated the hy pothesis, but as “a brilliant confirmation of —

@ cosmical origin of these phenomena,” ascribing to Chladni
the credit of the theory itself. But besides the fact that, so far
as appears, the cosmical hypothesis of Chladni pertained espe
cially to aerolites and their associated fireballs, and did not def-
nitely include showers of shooting stars, and the further fact,
that the idea of the cosmical origin of this whole class of meteors
had been suggested in general terms by many other philosophers
even including Anaxagoras, we may remark, without claiming
for Prof. Olmsted the merit of priority, that his conclusions were
unquestionably original with himself, and ay independent

f any results of preceding investigation s. Whatever form 1
respect to its details, the theory may assume in the light of future
researches, to Prof. ‘Olmsted clearly belongs the merit of having
discerned and demonstrated its leading truth, and he deserves for
what he has done, all the credit that has been accorded to him
by European savans. Humboldt, Biot, Olbers, Encke, and oth-
ers, adopting substantially the same views, have fully recogni
his a erits and spoken of his investigations in complimentary

1 Pol Olmsted gave much attention also to the subject of the
zodiacal yee ane and in papers published in the Journal of Scienc?
and in th of
November me The same idea has received the sanctio?

: oleae

e American Association, has endeav
to establish an han identity between its source and that of the —

SS NaS a ee ae TN EL eT
Pe

* <
: .

Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted. 117

and support, also, of M. Biot, who assigns to Prof. Olmsted the
credit of its authorship.

It will be seen, from the brief account we have given, that
Prof. Olmsted was inclined to adopt theories very similar to each
other, to explain the phenomena of shooting stars, of auroras,
and of the zodiacal light—if not, indeed, to ascribe them all to
one and the same origin. But if, in the case of auroras or the
zodiacal light, his speculations shall fail to be confirmed, it
mus

attractive and useful to all, by pointing out its practical appioe:
1 ouses

a
niary profit, at a time when his insufficient salary rendered an
increase of income particularly acceptable, but afterwards, from

-

118 Biographical Sketch of Prof. Olmsted.

causes not connected with its merits, ceased to be remunerative.
A useful preparation of lard and rosin for lubricating peer
was also invented by him some years ago, but never patented,
and it has since, it is said, become an article of successful man-
ufacture.

fitted. His uniform kindness and oaglagt of demeanor, and
i lent moral influence

fidelity with which he encouraged and assisted any who exhib-
ited special fondness for the studies of his department—will not
soot be:

closer friendship. Ebenezer Porter Mason was a pupil whose
brilliant and versatile talents, and especially his rare attainments
and promise in mathematics and astronomy, awakened in his
instructor at once the liveliest and most affectionate interest;
and on the death of this remarkable genius at the early age 0:
twenty-two, Prof. Olmsted paid a tribute not less to his own
kindness of heart than to the memory of his friend, in writing
the excellent memoir of his life which was published in a duo-
decimo volume in 1842.

Besides the writings which have been named, Prof. Olmsted
published, at different times, many elaborate articles of a scien-
tific or literary character, in the leading periodicals of the day,
particularly the American Journal of Science and the New Eng-
lander, He was especially fond of biographical composition, and
his memoirs of Dr. Dwight, Sir Hum beg Davy, Gov. Tread-
well, Eli Whitney and Wm. C. Redfield, may be mentioned as
favorable examples.

In the later years of his life, Prof. Olmsted saw-much affliction.
Besides his first wife, four sons, grown to manhood, uates of
college, and giving fine promise of usefulness and distinction
literature or science, were one after another taken from him,
—filling his home with grief yet not destroying his cheerfulness
or composure of mind. But he has now gone to his rest, am
not alone his remaining family, but the wide circle of his friends
and former pupils will cherish with deep affection his honor
memory.

|

:

oy ee vee

i

Academy of Sciences.—Distribution of Prizes. 119

Art. XV.—Correspondence of Prof. Jerome Nickles of Nancy,
France, dated April 17th, 1859.

Academy of Sciences. oP ectes tion of Prizes—On the 14th of last
March the Academy of Sciences held its annual public meeting.
have more than once onieall of these annual sessions and shuwn them to
be generally void of result, a fact for which the Academy itself, which
accomplishes so poorly its mission, is to blame. It has been this year as
in preceding years, and we are compelled to repeat the truth: if we were
to judge of the progress of science by the prizes awarded, we should infer
that nothing new had been accomplished in the departments of mathe-
matics, mechani ics, physics, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, botany, “sg
—we could almost say in all departments of we eae ae science. Ha
pily it is not so, and our readers have been able to ju dge by our corres-
pena for the years 1857 and 1858, that i in Europe e asin Am erica, Men

‘tween MM. Goldschmidt of Paris, Laurent of Nismes, Searle of the
Observatory at Albany, N. Y., Tuttle of Cambridge, Mass., Winnecke of
Bonn, and Donati of Florence. The following is an extract from the
report. :
The planet Nemausa was discovered on the 22d of January at Nismes
by Mr. Laurent, and the planet Pandora on the 10th of September by Mr.

of observers vate — a dozen years, have enriched astronomy by dis-
coveries of astero

The planet divas discovered on the 4th of April at the observatory
of Bilk by Mr. Luther, is the seventh the knowledge of which is due to
this skilful astronomer.

The two planets, Europa and Alexandra, were discovered at Paris the
4th of February, and the 10th of September by Mr. Goldschmidt, that
successful explorer of the skies, who, without having to meet the ordinar

! es,

that he had rediscovered, on the 9th of September, 1857, the planet
Daphne ; but Mr. Schubert of Berlin soon showed this to be a mistake,
proving that the planet was a new one. This planet, which by the date
of its discovery is the 47th of the group, increases to twelve the number
made known by Mr. Goldschmidt.

_ Among the Perignon ear 1858, there are two whose periodicity
4s well established, ce

iodici
presented during its long and brilliant

120 Correspondence of J. Nickles.
display phenomena of great interest bearing on the physical theory of
c

omets.

Of the three comets discovered at Cambridge in America by Mr. Tut-
tle, the first on the 4th of January, the third on the 2d of May, and the
sixth on the 5th of September, the first is of peculiar interest, as its ele-
ments are recognized as identical with those of the second comet of 1790
discovered by Méchain. Mr. Bruhns of Berlin, who discovered this

vations made up to the month of March in Europe and in America, and
has deduced from them an elliptical orbit of 13°66 years. The comet
discovered on the 4th of January by Mr. Tuttle has therefore returned
four times since 1790 without having been seen.

Statistical Prize—Of a number of prizes for statistics we notice an
“honorable mention” decreed to Mr. Bérigny of Versailles for a work

sun, the privilege of influencing the march of human generations.
7 mental Physiology.—The great prize for Experimental
ology was awarded to Mr. Jacubowitch for his treatise on the Znier-

the parts of the nervous system were not hardened by chromic acid, but
only by alcohol, and the slices were rendered transparent either by acetl¢
acid or some other convenient substance. 7

_ The labors of Mr. Lacaze-Duthiers have contributed largely to the
progress of most of the branches in the history of acephalous mollusks;

On the Nature of Simple bodies. 121

the commission has bestowed its attention principally on the experiments
and observations of this naturalist relating 1st, to the circulation of the

nourishing fluids in the Dentalia; 2d, to the developments of the respira-
tory apparatus in mussels (My tili) ; and 3d, to the structure of the urinary
glands and the organs of generation of a considerable number of other
mollusks

The Bréant Prize—We have already several times spoken of the
prize of 100,000 francs instituted by Mr. Bréant in favor of the person
who should discover a mode of medical treatment which would cure the
cholera in the majority of cases, or who should point out satisfactorily the
causes of Asiatic cholera so that by removing these causes, an end would
be put to the epidemic; or lastly, to the person who should discover a
ah io preventive of it, as evident, for example, as that of vaccination for
small-pox.

Foreseeing that this prize of 100,000 fr. would not be awarded very

n, Mr. Bréant grants the interest ‘of this sum to the person who shall
have promoted the progress of science as regards the cholera or any other
epidemic m alady.

patients during the last moments of life. Mr, Doyére has proved the fol-
lowing points: 1st, the more severe the attack of cholera, the larger the
amount of oxygen in the air expired; 2d, the proportion of carbonic
acid thrown out by cholera patients is very inconsiderable ; ; 3d, notwith-,
standing the diminution of the activity of the respiratory functions, the
temperature of the body increases till it reaches the point of 43° C,
(110° F.) in the region of the armpit.

It is but justice to state that of these three results, the first was an-
nounced in 1832 by Mr, Rayer; the last was proved in 1830 by the French

: lungs than in ns normal state of the body, and Pe late Mr. Doyd
sam

fever and ae pours pneumonia. As far as concerns the latter at

r tevak betacs ba age it has been eve with
the utmost interest by all who are engaged in the physical sciences,
Doubtless it has not changed the opinion of either Despretz or Dumas ;
and this is pa for the latter chemist at least, for all competent observers
_ Yegard Dumas as representing in this case the cause of progress.

__ While the discussion has been useless in this—that it has only brought
out ideas which hare been current in pee, and in the elaboration of

“SECOND

16

ee eT ee ee

No. 82.—JULY, 1859

122 Correspondence of J. Nickles.

which Dumas has had so large a share, it has had an important sci-
entific bearing, since it has contributed to the establishment of these very
ideas, and has compelled Dumas to put ina precise form his scientific
ity of matter and the intimate —— of simple bodies.
e give a brief notice of the virion as __ is one which will with-
out doubt leave its trace on the records of s
umas having declared that the be penstentt rvhisle Despretz had Just

the unity of matter. According to him there is not a sufficient analogy

between the radicals of organic chemistry and the simple bodies of mine-

vo chemistry. The ao are decomposed by heat, and converted by oxygen
¢ acid. i

. white heat, but no chemist to our knowledge has ignited these meta
a barometric vacuum for the purpose of ascertaining whether any ga
was seeneaged 5 and this is my ex eriment.”

volumes of hydrogen gas ‘condensed into only one volume.
we suppose that a condensed gas could resist the test to which iron aol
platinum are subject my experiment? Is there a single in

the disengagement of Ayth of a cubic centimetre of gas would

The reply of Dumas is briefly as follows : “I demand of Mr. Despretz
why he expects the metals to resolve themselves into gas? why is it nec
hou

as
ile the others have restated eR hak = is

iiiahaket este believes that the discovery of cyanogen not
himself, 00

suggest doubt to the minds of chemists, and to Gay Lussac
of chlorine.”

wee Sa et ia a

pt)
.

Discussion on Cellulose and Ligneous Fibre. 123

“Is not the same the case with ammonium and the eos of the
ethers? Do not these radicals furnish oxyds, chlorids, sulphuret
not their pin er cting the part of ne resemble potassa and a 80
mec as ev m to mislead? Have we not in the combinations of these
radical tem as in seoteanis chemistry? Who is the chemist
|
.

e to i pix dineeutils succeeding one mio oe have not sug-
gested doubts concerning the nature of the s?

“In a word, the efforts of modern semis for forty years, efforts with-
out parallel from the first beginning of chemistry as a science, in which
so much perseverance and so muc courage have been expended, have

as a

inorganic suey, ined subordinated to the same scheme thro cnt “all
its products.” was Lavoisier who, on tracing out the route for us to
follow, more than seventy years since, defined organic chemistry as the
chemistry of compound radicals, and mineral chemistry the chemistry of
undecomposable radicals.’

Dumas then refuted one after snother the facts brought forward by
his antagonist in proof of his view. “If Mr. Despretz ‘thinks that by
distilling: mercury, zine, or cadmium, these substances can be decomposed,
he forgets that alchemists and the arts long ago threw hi

est connection between the successive separations and the ecomposition
of simple bodies; that there is nothing in common between those fortu-
nate concentrations to which we owe the discovery of iodine, cadmium,
selenium and bromine, rote “* at ee discussion concerning the
principle of the unity of m

umas presented the following conclusions: “Ist. It appears to m
more and more probable that the equivalents of simple bodies are moalti-
ples of the same unit; 2d, that the radicals of mineral chem mistry behave
| inthe same way as the radicals of organic chemistry ; 3d, that it is im-
_ possible, to prove that bodies reputed simple are un decomposable ;_
_ that if, even at the present ee simply by employing forces forces and means.
4 already known, it is easy to contrive processes more powerful than th
_ which Mr. Despretz has aphid for the purpose of Seat this
4 decomposition, I regard it as my duty to affirm anew that in my opinion
4 os processes, though more rational, will not probably be more effec-
tual.”

pe iscussion on aires and ligneous fibre. bre—While this discussion on

was
Judging from thin peor i coutibactl upon a indie tissues by
» Sch reagent (see our Jast communication but one), domed admits
_ at least two species of cellulose, for he has seen paper and textile fibres
general dissolve in ammoniacal oxyd of copper, while elder- pith and
ligneous fibre i in general resist its action.

124 Correspondence of J. Nickles.

To Mr. Payen this difference seemed only an apparent one; he be-
lieved that in this latter case, the cellulose is incrusted with gum ‘and for-
eign matters which hinder the solubility ; also the pith of the elder which
is insoluble in Schweitzer’s reagent, becomes soluble in it when it has
been previously treated with a weak acid such as dilute chlorohipirt sk
Mr. Fremy supposed that the chlorohydric acid does not act as a solve
of foreign matters, but that it converts one variety of cellulose into ro
other variety, in the same way, for instance, as an acid converts cane
sugar into glucose.

We need not speak of the different phases of this discussion, for it is
not yet settled. According to to Fre — we must admit at least two kinds

into the same state s the most diverse reagents, such as mineral acids,
organic acids, potassa, ammonia, etc. In order to prove that the differ-
ences in the proper of cellulose are due to the state of the organi¢
substance f and not to the presence of mineral substances, Fremy
as had recourse to the action of heat. In exposing vegetable pith,
which is insoluble in the cupreous reagent, to the action of a tempera
ture not exceeding 30°, and maintaining it at that point - —— i
he has that substance become soluble in the above
rived at an analogous result by keeping the cellular ine of pith fot
twenty- four — in boiling water.
e, he has remarked that this change takes place only in the
organic sibetance of the tissue, for the proportion of mineral matter re
ch

mained the same in both cases, and the tissue which had become soluble
in the cupreous sige ray after its calcination a mineral network, re
producing exactly th e form of the vegetable cellules, which same thing

ous reage
directly without ge treatment. Cellulose is — in cotton, fibres

same effect to a certain point, in forming a protective envelop ; ius rding
i b

then placed a deilenttnd mixture, After con congea ling, the .

containing 15 per cent of m Faeetl substa . These a a su
according to Powe prevent the complete a solution of the cellul

le ee eh eee ee ee A ee ee ule

Dead Cotton. 125

same is the case with cortical fibres before their ee so also
hemp just obtained from the flax-plant resisted solution for more than
six hours, and the portions not dissolved preserved Hide aie form.
nerusting matter ; Dead cotton—All these questions have recalled
attention to an old paper by Mitscherlich on the composition of vegetable
cellules, cellules essentially formed of cellulose, and of a substance analo-
gous to cork, a suberic material capable of yielding rep “_ and also
succinic and nitric acids. e most delicate vegeta res are covered
over with this slender coating of suberic matter ; it is on this account
that fresh cotton is with difficulty moistened with wa ter, while it is at
once ew if this coating of suberic matter is removed by the ac-
tion of chlor
Such at feast is the opinion of Mitscherlich. It seems however that an
immersion in chlorine is not always sufficient to render this variety of
cotton — of receiving color,—the variety perfectly well known
among dyers, who have named it “dead cotton ;” it was first described
by Daniel Keechlin of plioane: and has since bean carefully studied by
Walter Crum of Glasgow, whose results are published in the = vol-
ume of the Proceedings of the Philosophical Society of Glasgo
In the opinion of Mr. Walter Crum the dyeing of cotton ph upon
a purely mechanical action; chemistry is completely — to the sub-

ject of fixing dyes upon stuffs; dead cotton the proof of this; the
fibres of this — of cotton are flattened, while cotton which admits
of being dyed is composed of cylindrical fibres; the coloring matter

hence can penetrate within these and fix itself
This is, as is seen, an opinion diametrically iptation to that of Runge,
who is so strong an advocate of the _ eal theory that he considers

r. Walter Crum faechates that the cabana’ of _— cotton has been
entinaly bleached before becoming flattened; it con ns therefore, he
ane neither fatty matter nor any impurity capable of hindering the fix-
ing of the coloring matter.

But let us return to the suberic matter whose presence Mitscherlich
iz

126 Corréspondence of J. Nickles.

Transformation of woody fibre into Sugar.—On the occasion of f the
above discussion Pelouze announced the important results which follow.
Cellulose precipitated from its solution in ammoniacal oxyd of copper by
a feeble acid, is soluble in dilute chlorohydric acid. Ordinary cellulose is
soluble in concentrated chlorohydric acid; water forms with this solution
a precipitate of dazzling whiteness; at t the end of two days the precipi-
tate ceases to form, and all the callose has ra transformed into sugar
affording the characteristics of gluco

The transformation of cellulose into glucose can be effected by a pro-

‘longed ebullition in water containing a small quantity of sulphuric or

chlorohydric mate ~~ hundredths); paper, old linen, sawdust, and any

cellulose more or less pure, can be thus turned into sugar at the end of
aul hours boilin

Pelouze thinks that this reaction will become the basis of a new branch
of industry—one which has often been attempted since Braconnot suc-
ceeded in 1819 in transforming lignine into glucose; he thinks that the
transformation would be rendered much more active by operating in a
close vessel at an elevated temperature

Lastly, Pelouze announces that, by treating cellulose with caustic po-
tassa in fusion at a temperature between 150° and 190° C. and dissolving
the prodnet in water, a substance can be separated from it by acids which
has the composition of cellulose, but differs ieee it in that it is soluble in

the cold in alkalies; it changes into sugar in the presence of chlorohydric

Manufacture of Aluminium.—tThis manufacture, which is becoming
more and more extended, has just taken two steps onward; one, through
the publication by H. St. Claire Deville, of a — expressly on the
subject; the other, by the ee of a pro of soldering. ~ yo
labors expended on aluminium up to the That of March, 1859, a
counted by Deville, and as the author and founder of this sndnashectsil

_With a slip of zine, the adhesion took place with great rapidity as if a
peculiar electric action gave it an impulse at the moment of contact; but
this solder also has failed to afford much strength.
At last it has been suggested that the difficulty might be surmounted
by previously coating the piece with copper, and then soldering together
urfaces. In order to effect this, the aluminium, or at least
the parts to be soldered, are plunged into a bath of acid sulphate of cop-
The positive pole of the battery is putin direct communication

per. 4
with the bath, and the pieces to be coppered are touched with the nega

tive pole ; the deposit of copper takes place very larly over the sur-
— of the aluminium. These surfaces thus Kini soldered in the
way.

Processes are.
only a a Bhtorieal interest, gee account of a new and perfect m

is seen, very imperfect, and they now pe
ry imperiect, ey see

Manufacture of Aluminium. ” . 2

soldering pon discovered. The inventor is a gilder and silverer of metals,
belonging to Paris, named Mourey; he has recently announced his pro-

I. 3 Ke Iv. v.
Zine, 80 85 88 .
Aluminium, 20 15

To prepare it, he melts the aluminium in a crucible of eee the

meta a having been reduced to fragments and added little by little; when

the mass is in fusion it is stirred with an iron rod while the zine is added

in aint quantities at a time; the alloy is still stirred while a little tallow

is added to prevent the oxydation of the zinc, and then it is cast in small in-

It is important to avoid too high a temperature lest the zine should

he volatilized. It is also important that the zine should be free from iron.

These five alloys have different points of fusion. Alloy No. 1 is the

hardest, the others are softer in regular succession

s for the manipulation of the solder, this comes under technology :

r. Mourey has described it in riggs: but it would be going too much

resins,

This flux is used for thoroughly impregnating the fragments of solder
shah are to be employed. It is important to use the blowpipe no longer
than is necessary, to prevent loss of zinc from volatilization.

tly, another novelty of this branch of manufacture is aluminium
bronze, en has the e proportion of ten ah rts of aluminium to ninety of
copper, has the tenacity of steel. This alloy is now applied ona
large sale, by J. M. Christoffle ; he has noticed that it is of great advan
to make all the surfaces of friction in machinery of aluminium-bronze. _
Thus a bearing which had been placed on a polishing lathe making 2200
revolutions a minute was found to last eighteen m months, while bearings
of other different metal, had, in the same circumstances, lasted at most
only three months, He has “employed this bronze with equal success in
the manufacture of cannon, howitzers, and all kinds of weapons of war.

| Pistol-barrels have been this made pees have done good service.

There is as yet nothing very conclusive with regard to this application
to artillery ; ; but Mr. Christofile, relying on the tenacity of aluminium-
resistance to . ras it mai ¢ applicable to

E the phere; of bronze for cannons. As in France large artillery-
pieces are constructed exclusively i in “the government workshops he has

_ asked for a permit to manufacture at his own oosaggas me pieces of ar-
tillery, especially ce as ave most exposed to i

128 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.
Art. XVI.—Seventh Su cggere e n Dana's Mineralogy ; by the
Aut

List of Works, ete.

Fr. von Kosett: Die Mineralogie, 248 pp. 12mo, with 4 plates. Leipzig, 1858.
An excellent ie lit ical manual.

De. T. : Léthrohrbuch—A manual on the blowpipe and blowpipe analy-
sis. en: _ 12s Braunschweig, 1857.

Dr. A. K : Uebersicht der Resultate mineralogischer a in den
Jahren 1856 ok 11 1857, 272 pp. 8vo. Leipzig, 185 potest Kenngott is ro
essor of mineralogy at Zurich, oa still finds time to continue his ae pang pele
of the progress of Mineralogy, ‘Ihis volume covers he § a ars 1856 and 1857.

Dr. A. Kenneorr: Tabellarischer Leitfaden der Mineralogie. 272 pp. 8vo. Zurich,
1859.

Dr. J. Scnasus: Anfangsgriinde der Mineralogie. 250 pp. 8vo. Vienna, 1859.

DELAFossE: eee — or PIN oe la soar de toutes

minérales a applications directes aux arts. Tome ae Ire et

2e livraisons. Paris, 1858. gu 550 pp., ae an aden ‘of 16 pages and 20 plates.

ene Mineralogy.—The 4th yolume of the new edition has just been issued —

at Paris.

Dr. Rirrer von Zersarovicu: Miner ic orang Lexicon fiir das Kaiserthum Oes-
terrei ag ag Lexicon for the Austria’ ee? This work is mentioned
in the Bulletin of the K. K, geol. Reichs, for 1858 ) pel

G. Suckow: Die Mineralogie in besonderer Bering ~— cinta
und oe he Verhiltnisse der Mineralien. 8yo.

Dr. : Album de ee in _ with 22 colored plates. Paris.
Fira Dido ‘iain 30 fr.—. ranslated in to English and republished i

L. Geuxer: Description géologique et minéralogique du département de la Loire.
xx and 779 p - 8vo, with 7 charts, Paris, 1858.
vi principii Mineralogici. 64 pp. 4to. Venice, 1857.—According to
a notice ie deat Min. 1858, 75, the work presents a new classification of minerals,
er ding them nip. &: omer are their subordinate groups. The classes are, 1. Exo
e gases and wa pee the sulphurets, ieee ar arseniurets, &c. ; “i
3. “Mriciens ¥ the fe phiiact and related silicates ; 4. Peric gnesia and oan
ous hydrosilicates; 5, Ericuns, pene concen sulphates, chlorids, Peotidis ce. ;
a Sen Se mica, tourmaline, spine nel, &e.
pER: Elemente der Sormeaes Krystallographie, with 73 figures and
5 Sihegenetie, plates. Clausthal, 18
J. W. ——— 118 Stiick Gypsa seas naturlichen sowohl einfachen Krys
tallen.—. i er ert ——— twins 00 the feldspars, by J. W.
Briicke. "Berlin, 1857. A pamphlet of 20 pages containing descriptions of the
models,

2 vols, 4to of 5b. and 1046 pages, with numerous maps, sections and wood-

plates,
euts,—Prof, Rogers has given in his great work a a mber of analyses of mineral cal
ides describing at length the mines of Pennsylvania.

FS det

ey gray Seton raha pS aca acpi wags cd oii al ie ial te Se Reais ROC AL, ace gee al ae ea
ve ” oe

On ee ae

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 129

J. Hatt and J. D. W : Report on the Geological Survey of the san of
Yowa, pean the rarer of iannlipanens made dur ring portions of the
1855, 56, 57. 725 ie a 8vo, with numerous plates.—Prof. Whitney has oes
lished analyses of various limestones, dolomites, iron ores, coals, and treated also
beiefly of the lead gids of the Upper Mississippi.
W. E. Logan: Geological Survey of Se meng Report of Progress, for the year
1857, 240 nor vo.—Contains oe - n the economical minerals of Canada,
and a paper on Dolomites by T. S
O. M. Lizper: pores IIT. on the Berio Survey of South Carolina, 224 PP.
8vo with maps. 1858,—Contai ns chapters on n the pay a other minerals and rocks
ofa Saag of South Carolina,
wre Ger Das Koénigliche mineralogische Museum in Dresden.
ions —A nae amici of the minerals of the Dresden Museum and a plan of
the Priding aad —ooneoryan
C. U. Suz se Frcs sth e Mount sg Copper Mine. 8 pp. 8vo. New
Haven, 1859,— se piper ¢ ore m og opyrite, It oceurs in gneissoid mica schist.
The other minera te of Mt. Pisg: vivianite in fine crystals, automolite, apatite,
hyalite, staurotide, tremolite, = aaa etc. An impure chlorite from the region
: named lepidochlore. There is no analysis given, and no other good foundation
me.

In the same pamphlet, Prof. Shepard proposes names for aaa pi substances naa
which hes promises foture descriptions) from Ducktown, a co ine in the
vicinity, in eastern Tennessee. ese names are Copperas ine bei a“ hydrated fr
rous cuprous and fe ferric sulphate ;” Leucanterite for an | eatlor rescence on the co

; n

ucktown. The mineral appears
mixture H.=5°5, G.=4'55—4°66 (Mr. R. A an Color blackish oreee?
with a shade of bronze. Said to contain 30°76 es 26°04 copper, with 4
Bw. termined, but set down as “ adeae by differen
rof. G. J. Brush has handed me the following ie of the Ducktownite and

pie ae re

“ Having recently visited the Ducktown mines, I have obtained —- of the
80-called new species ducktownite, and after saryew myself of their authenticity

tee
quantity of yellow copper pyrites.
88 possible gave the Bs ge characters, . Before the orev in ogra yie ielded

py i pen for sulphur and left a reddish ue.
Fused on charcoal the assay became etic. A specimen carefally roasted on
chareo ur ceased given off, was dissolved in salt of rus 5
it gave a reaction for iron only, no reaction for seppet wae was obtaiaed even on fusing
the bead with chlorid of pent , thus ithe the mineral to be entirely free from
pper base rage sufficient to ee cor aa tion this tog ether with the reac-
Pomtaae ae on charcoal indicate examination
sul examined in the matrass,

ES cian, Mieco tes phar whe open tube and on charcoal, and
the presence of a large amount of copper. In hardness it was very infe-
ronze mineral, but its mixture wit. Sidon r prevented an accurate

n assay made of a gece of this mixture, containing a

‘amount (not over one or two per cent at most) of malachite and perhaps also a
3 SECOND

SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No, 82.—JULY, 1859.
17

130 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.

se fa ellie . homoge
ous substance. The low amount of ¢ copper obtained by Prof. ‘Shepard is explained
i i i very considerable

na
Sach if Reape pote in my pe vah to aig Shepar ard I gave these with the remark,
ure of chlorite pad aioe: Prof. enc gives no physical
= Or okat Freee er hi h distinguish the mineral from chlori
Cu. Herriv: Surla Nomenclature et la jase itn des eaux Minérales. 8v0.
Paris, 1859.
J. Hovist: Des principales eaux minerales de l'Europe. 8yvo. Paris, 1858.
On the Microscopical Structure of Crystals, by H. ©. Sorby, Quart. Journ, Geol.
Soc., xiv, 453.—Treats mainly of the cavities in crystals, and draws from Ber
goto ith regard to the origin of the rocks in which the crystals
of pseudomorphic minerals occurring in Scotland, by Dr. Heddle ae

Meg. ie = 42.
On Pseudomorphism the P hard ae of Calcite and Epidote into Garnet,
we A. Knop of fiseses: potters Mine 1858, 3

On Heteromerism gn ghae romertate minerals, by R. Hermann, J. f. pr. Chem,
Ixxiv, 256—314, lxxv, 3

Alteration of Minerals—Dr. H. Eichhorn has published (Pogg., ev, 126) an im-
portant aed on this subject. Pulverized chabasite was exposed to different weak
oes _) 4-0 grams of chabazite in water peesttead 40 grams of common salt

400 cubic centimetres, for 10 days in the cold; (2) 15°0 grams, with 100 grams
= chlorid of ammonium "and 500 ¢. ¢ of water for 21 days; (3) 150 grams, with

grams with 10-0 grams of carbonat ammonia c. c. water for a1
‘The following are analyses 0 of true ah oo and thx: altered products

Ca go Reo BE
Chabazite, 4744 20°69 oe 065 042 20:18= 99-75

Altered 1, 4831 2104 665 064 540 1833=10037
" 2, 51°26 22°17 415 [06] ~ AmO 694=100
< « . $8, 4839 2076 5-64 6 86 ‘46=100'11
- = 4, 5061 2126 563 [087] ‘eas AmO 5-91==100.
Descriptions of Species,

cuLitr.—This ore from Beresowsk, has afforded R. Hermann (J. f. pr. Ch.

ray 450):
81650 Bi3487 ~ Pb3631 Cu 10°97 ah 036 Au 0-09 = 99:00

ose to the formula (€u, a + 3BiS

rb, Min.

1868, 313). r te or tanta late of | re and manganese with 9-7 per cent, of

Crystallis tion dimetric, the mee undetermined. H.=35—45. @.=3%-

ioe 7 aa rea 1 pepe to brown and blac ne ck, | Streak
or owish white. From ame Finland, wi

small crystals of tantalite. tine 2

agi

——

eee oe pin o,f

ee

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s lia 131

A hydrous alumina‘silicate— mi includes Klaproth’s analysis ad ii,
189), Si aa ie 4, Cal, FeO 0:05, 7 10—97'50; also Lychnell and Walm:
in
us magnesia-silicate, or steatite.
Under wey first group he places, besides Chin ese specimens in a first division, the
a ond that of Och-

nitz, analyzed by Karafiat [Min., anal. 4], and th he parophite and dysyntribite. These
ore divisions differ in haying for the pr meal the first 1R, ‘the second 2 R, the

a in his valuable ote fails to note that a0 jo _ beige asa
rock and not as a papa g by FE . S. Hunt; and that dysyntribite 0 proved to
be a rock by Smit and Bru The relation to agalmatolite is nd But

; : s arti te)
(this Jour.. xxvi, 64, July, 1858, and VI Suppl, p. 350), shows that this gieseckite
In fact a potash-agalmatolite, and as it comes from the same region with the

ed by Walmstedt.—

nga 4 g (ths Jour., Ph xxvii, 387).—Alisonite is a sulphuret of lead

and copper, from “ Grande, ar Coguimbo bo, Chili, It has a deep indigo-blue
peo ema tihng on enpiaeare =610; H=25—3s. — ciated. w ith

and Sasori and also vanadate ‘of lead and copper.
17-0 Cu 53°63 Pb 2 peep
corresponding to 1658 PbS, which requires Cu 53°33, Pb 28°88, S 17°77.

Axatorme [p. —Rammelsberg has published some analyses of analeime
in Pogg., ev, 317, ete Sas the Keres: fo — He mentions reasons for ote
ing the analysis of von Walters! usen [Min., No. 8].

Apatrre [p. 396, I—VI]—An apatite from Krageroe, Norway, according to
Vileker an Brit. Assoc., Dublin, 1857) contains no fluorine.

one-fifth to one line through, The - ii Sa are J, #4, +1, en 1, % Ee; +38 ae
$e $2, $9, 22, “ae 22, 27-27, y measurement, J pada
1:1=143° 36’. sgaleulation, 14: pth = 34’. —
ag odo he P cccurs near Gerfileo in Tusenny, in radiated columnar
forms. Marcel de Sev Sass aplssouisn es the color to the oxy a Eee and iron.—
L’ Institut, 1858, p- 351.
_ Aspotaw or Eanray Cosatt [p. 126 of Cobalt,
ss Ores in Gaston oly North Ca val ca ae (Am. J. Sei, ghee a xxvii, a
a al to Descloizeanx, autunite
. optically bat rand hee, (P.130), ¥, ERS: eae ciheaiee vi th [: E=90° 437-—
4 Institut, 1859, 33

132 - Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.

peg p. 500, I].—Under the penne of Homichlin, Breithaupt has de-
scribed an ore from Plauen in Voigtland (B. u. H. Zeit., xvii, 385, 424, and xviii, 65

a
FeS*=Iron 22°3, copper 48:2, — 30: 5, hein 7 nay ta the composition given
by Genth for the panacens y associated with kupferpecherz and malachite,
Other localities are, Pasdeaieche near Lichtonby rg in avaria, Duc y of Hesse
near 2 cageeeatle and at Breitenstein near Viedenkopf, Duchy of Nassa Binge bie
lah Kupfe erberg in Silesia, Johanngeorgenstadt, Lauterbach i Hartz,
Rheinbreitenbach on the Rhine, Quadmerget in Algeria, Chili at sae Se end To-
Jap

Baryres [p. 366, IT, V, Met iy brachydome 3-% has been observed by E. J.
copes. fe ina hay “gfe crystal e Museum of the University of Toronto (Cana-

Pine ore = (1 ae a bac: 4h monometric mineral from Binnen valley contains, ac-
Voom Min. bse’ for 1856, 57, p. 174):

* a 18: 98 oak g
according to which the ratio for the “ma oni: 8: a... iis
identical with enargite airman in crystallizati
BiexvE wy 45, II, aA "s2 brown blende from near Burbach in the Siegen dis-
trict Stas e8 ed ©, Schnabe 1 (Pogg., ev, 144) ZnS 70°45, FeS 12°59, insol. resid, 16°96
==5.

iti Tp. om —G. J. Brush has analyzed anew the boltonite of a
bate Stirred Or, ‘Suni 8 gi that nig eats oa is chrysolite. He has also shown
that the viata, of von Hauer, and the ments of Kenngott based upon it, are
wrong. He'o tained (this Jeacs xxvii, 3 95)—

g Al ign.
42° 82 54:44 1 41 0" 85 i. 0°76=100°34
It is therefore a van pure tt et Sed enn a variety of the species not Me
found elsewher =6—6'5. G=321. Color prada but fragments almost
colorless og "nea ccmpganee Cease very in one direction. The
crystals ar dded in a limestone gangue, and the suns of them are often

rectangu
aa ee
Brewsrotive [p. 471].—R. T. Simmlen has page a paper (Pogg., cv, att

acco’

liquid carbonic acid expands between 32° and 86° F. 45 per cent. In the former

per degree is 0°832, in the latter 0833. The index of refraction of the

Brewstoline, slenediog to Brewster: is 1:1106 for a specimen in a Siberian amethyst,

and 11311 es "er in a Brazilian topaz, or less than the number for yee (be 385);

and although the exact number for carbonic ge has ees been observed, it is stated
by Davy and Fa to be less than that of water.

Brocwantrre [p. 391].—Brochantite, pet to F, Sandberger (Pogg., cv, hd
occurs in Semel song i chalco og te lena and chalybite, malachite
phane. An analysis by H. Risse affo seer Gu 678, Greene”
chlorine, corresponding to the formula Cu75?
Catamive [p. 313, IT].—Analysis of the vito ela ein tm Se
tander in Spain, be ty 0. 1 (Foes, ey, 144):
23°74 66-25 ai tr. 884=9941, G.=3-42.

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 483

vivianite, of a sulphur- yellow, greenish ye ellow to siskin n-gree es yellowish white
color, and bstphiteyatiow streak ; occurs penetrate foliated, with very perf
cleavage affording thin lamella, and traces in “at other dir vesiebe,8 val at right an-
gles to the perféct pi ih A face and the other oblique. H. =2'5 ; G.=2°523—
2529, Reissig. Thin lamelle translucent. B.B. affords a black shining magnetic
globule. Easily dsciatpaele by muriatic acid. ‘Analysis by M. Reissig ‘afforded—

p

x #e Ca Mg is
3401 2-90 24°34 1481 2°65 20:56=99°27

Oxygen, 19°16 1:35 127 4°23 1-06 18°27

affording therefore as the oxygen ratio 7” the St wi oe sesquioxyds, phosphoric

water, nearly 6:9 ee H. Occurs in nodules in a de-

posit of clay at Battenberg in Rhenish serie The exterior o epomss

ae Abie and yellowish brown or reddish brown, and consists of the impure

ealci

Cavorre [p. 435, I—VI].—A grass green cleavable calcite from Central India
contains according to S. liubhten (Phil Mag,, [4], xvii, 16), a siliceous skeleton,
amounting to about t 14 per cent of the wile to which it owes its green color.
The skeleton afforded on ana lysis—

Si Al Fe Oa Mg TH and loss
54:59 4°74 22°84 0°94 490 11°99=100
giving the pine i) bal 88 al Me. Aaron observes that the composition
resembles that o e rock, which is merely a mixture of

calcite and the Brn aaibat Hiclonite..

— of many limestones by J. W. Mallet are given in Tuomey’s Second Bi-
ennial Report on the —_ ogy of Alabama; others by J. D. Whitney in Hall and
Whitney’ s Report on Iow.

Catperitez—See Garnet.

Cass —The ore of the veins at tg deg near Arksut, ptreculaesl
wines the ¢ eeyolilé oir is Sheol ated with ores of lead, Pig oe
lybdenum, fluor o zircon, cryolite, etc. The veins vary from 10 et tng to inch inch
in width, and in th the largest the tin ore occupies about 1 inch on one side of the
Casretnavnire [p. 432].—See Xenotime.

Crvotrre [p. 165].—A whitish aaa a little greasy in lustre, having G.=2319,

ay with orthoclase in granite from agpur, — has been analyzed by S. Haugh-
ton (Phil, Mag., [4], xvii, 18) and caaite
Si 1 Oa ig Hi (ign.)
65°93 20°97 0°30 0°45 11°61==99°26
The oxygen ratio for the alumina (includi protoxyds) and silica is about 1 : 3°36.
It is stated to to be gritty un cA agate poitle, Me Mr. Haughton ed
species the name Hur terite.

The species appears to be cimolite, as the characters and composition are essen-
tially oo same, Be — under the agate pestle appears to indicate a gns
tesiciare Of tes gs s

Copaur, Black.—See Asbolan.

Conic bas saat 129.

134 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.

Crocorstre [p. 359].—Dauber has measured the angles of crocoisite with great
care and published t ~~ results i in Pogg. Ann.,‘cvi, aie ae makes I: J=36° 31'6,
#2 :42==50° © 92’ 43’’, with a possible error of 1/ 52’’, and the axial
ratio for the pitatiaconsl clinodiagonal and eka axis, is 1: 0°96388 : 0°91751.

Dewertire [p. 285].—Kenngott in his last supplement (p. 67, paul in aged
ecntinues gi igh 2 slo gil under Gymnite, although the former na
er rity.

Lioaire [p. 446, IIT].—Massive diallogite has been found at Placentia Bay,
Newfoundland [f, S. ‘Hunt in Logan’s Can ada = for rie in — supposed to
be ian age. Color fawn- ih prs stil 13 It contains,

i . Hunt, 84°6 p. c. of carbona eof bac Do etd rr r cent of
silica, with small portions of iron, tine and espe Al but two per cent of the
silica mia ae soluble in a dilute solution of potas

mires [p. 441, I, II, ive pont hy of many dolomites - ater by J.

W. "Mallet are given in Tuo s Second Biennial cog teeg port of Alabama; also
of dolomites of Canada, by Ts S. ghoogg in Logan’s Geo ras Canada for 1857; and
in I J. D. Whitney in Hall and Whitney’s Towa

omitic veins or spots in fossiliferous wissen AL ing to the investiga-
tions of T. S. Hunt (Logan’s Canada Rep. for 1857, p. 200), “gto pravieh | nai
limestone of Dudswell is ordinary limestone consisting of carbona magnes
13, sand 6 2, and the rest carbonate of lime. The fossils have a aaa pene
material enyelops the fossils or fills ie veins, which is dolomitic,

oI
Cad Mg& FeO Insoluble, sand
56°60 11-76 26°72 = 98°31
There is here a mixture of dolomite wit carbonate of lime ; by means of acetic
acid the latter was rseagaas coe but 4°0 p. ¢. of carbonate of een a) and the
residue (52 per cent) then g
Cad

gC

' 51°75 85°73
The Portor marble, a well-known black oe with yellowish veins, brought
pag the sed te" ae ote (and according to Savi of the Neocomian fo iesege* also
lyzed b Hunt, afforded the same resulta The a Sadly « of the rock contained

aly £ ‘0 per = of carbonate of magnesia, while the veins afforded 35:5 per - vik
Ducktownite-—See page 129,
Dorrevoystre [p. 77, I, — Ill, IV, V].—This prismatic mineral from Binnen

9 contains, ac cording to tockar-Escher, (Kenngott’s Min. Forsch. for 1856, ’57,
p.
Pb g Fe
23°97 22°01 53°30 0°24 oan 99°52
24°22 25:27 49°22 94 025 = 99°90
25°30 26°33 46°83 1-62 — = 100°08
25°77 26°82 47-39 trace — = 99°98

The need result gives the formula 3PbS+2As*S*. The last two analyses also ap-
proach mula 4PbS bS+3As*S%, aoa Apes from that of plagionite or jame
sonite, int tngteraeh titution of arsenic ft ony.

ELLAGITE, A. E. Mord (See =. gee owl and Jahrb. Min., 1858,
oe —Probably monoclinic; two cleavages ma 0° with one anot Lustre
of cleavage surface pearly, shining; opake or “feeble wanduner Color yellow,

ish brown to yellowish red, Streak uncolored. B.B. yields water and with

hite Aoland in Finland. Formula deduced

te heat an enamel-white pearl. From F
i+ Si+128f.

Enaroite.—F. Field has described agh bs Jom. Pagie aig under the age of roan gg |
@eanile, an ie t of copper whic! has identified wi
contains, to Field, S 31:32 As 19 ‘i Gn isto eed with iieec of owt
and silver. The deduced is 36uS+ AsS5. H=35—4. G=£39.

I ee ey eee ee ee

si i

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 135

ror [p. 806, II—VI].—Scheerer has published (J. f. pr. peg Ixxv, pr iets 8
vines opposing os analytical results of Hermann with regar
carbonic acid in epidote, In the epidote of Bourg d’Oisans and y= gree

found neither a acid nor "protoxyd of iron, He states that the same error

extends to Hermann’s analyses of idocr

Erusibite. nis ‘ 129.

FrankuinitE [p. 166, I]. Rpldeac dy in crystals occurs at the mine Victoria
Eibach in Nassau, Bid C. Koch. The crystals are cubic. This species w
first announced as existing in Nassau at the mine Breitehek by Jung in iss4—
Ken ae Min. Ponsh, for 1856, ’57, p. 145,

ALENA [p. a Ii, Ill, 1V}.—A pier nr te ey, the blowpipe, like cupro-
damian some copper and a trace of a t the mine of Antonio Cruz
hear Comayagua in Honduras, prordlagy to aw. i. “Taylor (Proe, Acad. N. sae Philad,
Aug. 1858).

hudteat by R. Richter of a dark-red onak from
Piedmont ere: in Kon, Siichs. Ges. der Wiss., 1858, p. 9
1

_ e Oa te
39 09 17°98 6°45 32°70 9786-90-88

_ Oxygen ratio for R, #, Si=10-44: 10-33:

0°76.
Damour on the $4 pei of the Series into four groups.—L Institut, xxiv, 441,
and Jahrb, Min., 1858, 77.

Gtavcontre.—See under Calcite, and this Supplement.

Gersporrrire [p. 58].—Gersdorffite is found in fine crystals near Ems. Compo-
sition paar i to C, Bergemann (J. f. pr. Chem, ws 244):

As Sb Ss Ni Fe
45°02 061 19°04 3418 mat 1°02=100°14
It corresponds to the formula NiS?-+NiAs.
Gop [p. 7, 1, I, V, VI].—Native gold occurs in Australia imbedded in apatite.
“see GYLITE Thoreld, AE. biden 35 Ab scab Finl. Min. ete. Jahrb. Min,

ral oce
6 ustre greasy, a Frcmshinks Risks seh or a ey brown,
rk we. OB ields water and with a stronger fusing to a ble glass,
rage mula, according to 5 dn , ite, Kk) Sit 418i Si Fp if-a part of the iron
1s taken as protoxyd. From Yli Kitkajirvi in Fin
Guayacantre.—See co
YMNITE.—See ees te,
Hewarrre [p. 1 IIT, IV].—Rammelsberg (Pogg. civ, 641) has found the
martite (octahedral aa of Brazil to a 1 8S to 230 bet r cent of ptotoxyd of
Iron, and i i i

mo
while mostly Be, y i _ ets
1s re either some of iron or magnesia.
tained (1 A; ) Fe 85:90, Mg 12: 45) insoluble 122 1-22; *(2) Pe 82°52, Mg 15°68, insol.
(2) Be a2, Be 617, Mg 08 The cryst and
ean ine through a Scena Bpesitic gravity of \.and 8,
4 $00. ce ice “which | is less than in either hematite or maguetite; 0 5235.
Heescnetire [under wer Sc $21].—Descloizeaux has anne herschelite
hana, pogo tee of refract: Baa eds tr adiphtered-wyerety ot
herschelite, a positive axia--Lilnstitot, 1859, 33.
HOMICHLIN Breithaupt.—See Barnhardite.

aso at
te paper on the [p. 170, I, II, Sean Pig te Horabende an — ae

_ « Pogg..e ev, 598.

136 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.

Hratoruane [I, III, 4S Ms —Stockar-Escher has analyzed hyalophane and found it
to contain (Kenngott’s Min. Forsch., 1856, 7, p. 107):
Si Al Ba Ca Mg K Na ign.
52°67 21-07 15 05 0-46 0°04 782 214 0'°58=99°83
This makes it an oligoclase_with part of the at replaced by baryta, giving
the formula cK, rons if RISi2, Specific gravity =2°801.—Kenngott’s Min. Forsch.
for 1856, ’57, p

Ituentre [p. 1 V].—The varieties of titanic iron have been investigated
recently . Mimmesberg (Fogg, civ, 497). The following are the mean results of
his analyses, The last contains the ratio of FeTi to ¥e which he has de-
duced from the compte. , from ngelsberg beg Hof-Gastein, [same analyze
tng Kobell, Min. No.1]; 2, Layton’s Farm, near Warwick, Orange Co., New

ork; 3, [Imen Mts., Ural [Min, Nos, 8, 4, 5, id Schmidt below]; 4, Egersund,
Norway [Min., Nos. 7, 8,9, 10]; 6, rée, Norway; sh ne, from Iserwiese;

¥e Fe Mn Mg fet ES

L. 689 30 =1°65= 99°94
2. 431344293 5771 —— 2682 0:90 13-71= 99:14

81—4873 4593 1430 -3652 272 059=100-06
4, 4744&4791 5130 8874 39°83 trace 0°40=100°40
5. 4701 4 2

: 29° 3 :
wg 4676 42:20 2336 30°57 1°74 157= 99-44
. . 9

8, 5-060 1620 69°91 1260 0-77 ete

9. 4943 1008. TTT BER: Se ee AN 4o=o8s0
10.6 6127465150 918 8192 860 ——~— ——=—

11. 5187 & 5°209 910 8341 763 044 fr, =100388

te et et et et 0 9 0 OD St
ie is is Ch oe ee ee wot

we

2°26 0-44

A. 4-400 5719. 1567 26-00 —— Teor ee

B. 4905 827 5181 37:22 203 078=100-11

C. 5-075 520 61:36 38025 123 048= 98-52
@ Trace of Mn, 5 Mean of two cme

ore “pega t conclusions of Rammelsberg from his researches are as fol-

FR th ) The common es Ber 2 is FeTi. (2.) Magnesia in the nai "of “ther
laces part of the Bier ; ear

wick, it amounts to 14 per cent, the composition corresponding to the formula FeTi

magnesium elsberg also concludes that there i tahedral a
on and that Tere dumiye: is A) is a combination of Pel a and pete | in the ratio

(The ratios between the FeTi and Fe deduced preee elsberg are not in most
cases the precise results of the analyses. Thus in No, 4, the ratio obtained for the

Sie dhe fem of {emai MOE (be seco with which titanic iron
titanium, manganese and

meee rae ae a De ees ul a aa SIE i) Sc

a

=

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 137

present. The following table shows that, excepting one or two cases, the coinci-
dence is quite remarkable.

Metals. Oxygen. Ratio, Metals, Oxygen. Ratio.
Anal, 1. 21-77 32°11 1:148 | Anal. 7. 20°52 30°80 1:150
sil? 22°71 34°64 T3159 Be 29 30°62 trite
yee 20°67 31°55 1:1:50 9 2074 30°29 1: 150
oi: he 20:09 82°11 1:1°60 5105-2007 80°14 1: 1°50
aie 20°58 31°48 1:153 “i FS 2028 30°44 1s150%"
*S. OM 201% 31°67 1: 150 #18," 2018 80°22 1:10
“ 6B. 20°62 31°64 1:1°54
In i A, coe Ag corre —- oo are 20: 83°96=1 : 1-65; in B, 21°11
27°387= n C, 21:47: 27°65=1 : 1°29. t two are nearly the ratios of

pried an es 8 33), and, ie Ralsimalebe rg uit they sprees ci be nel
ous magnetite. As to A, which sat an ii of oxygen , Ramm

reasonably whether the silldetiels of iserine grains migl not have aaa nna
free ar i acid (grains of the black sail of ratile), le concluded that it was

Crystals of iimenit an no my . half in diameter and half an inch hams have
been found, according to W. J soph tag a N. Sci. Philad., August, 1858), in
a boulder on the 2 Schuylkill near : Fairmoun

Totrre (p. 214]. —A pseudomorph after iolite called peplolite, from Ramsberg
Sw eden » has /_ nant ed hor he i “on — mn (Kong. Vet. Akad. Lasse 1857, afi)
of three ee analyses, 0 . Sieurin,
rendre by Aomari, ‘and third ie Oarleoo, wes for the cicageiltiniss
i Fe a a g H
4595 8051 * 6-77 0°50 hr i i 02
— the oxygen ratio for H, R, ry 5 1°52: 1°00: 2°95:

ON arte [p. 17, ae —Pieces of native iron are Lo to have been found
at Gin tzen in Bohemia, imbedded in a limestone, the Pidnerkalk (K. A. and J. G.
mann, in the Jahrb. k. k. Geol. ‘Reichs, 1857, 854). J. G. Neumann sasuosts

that it is of Pasties origin, of the age of the Plinerkalk. An analysis a
ry 98°33, graphite 0°74, arsenic 0°32, nickel 0°61. Its structure is not at all
eu te Schorlomite.

KARELINITE, R. Hermann n (J. f. pr. Chem., Ixxv, 448).—Karelinite < Pe hie ied
sulphuret of bismuth, according to the analysis ‘by Hermann, which affor
gen 5°21 Sulphur 3°53 Bismuth 91:26 —

whence the atomic ete for O,S, Bi, 3:1:4, corresponding to BiO® +BiS. It is from
the Sawodinsk miue in the Altai Mts., where it Babe with Tiles Tee iver. Pee |
Fracture crystalline, cleavage perfect ne di “gray,
1.—=2. G.=6'60. ry is mixed wit! ye earthy bismnthit (GBiC+ Ba B.B.
Sives fumes of Caer oay se acid, and a gray slag bead 0: Named
after Mr. Karelin who brought it fst Siberia.

Karnicrre rn —This mineral, according to the examinations of Stédeler, is prob-
ably wavellite, it containing p vd 49, X1 39°59, with 24°92 (loss) water. —Kenngott’s
Min. Forsch. for 1856, 1857, p. 3

Peep a I, It). sath of the Keilhauite by Rammelsberg (Pog.

Bo oe ay Mon Meg K ign.
1. 2948 9667 675 545 2029 816 trace 094 060 054
2. — — 6°90 624 1715 edad trace trace —- 359
second was but it was a little altered and softened « bs
sorta: Ram abate sect net ren the oxygen 0 ‘RE Te Si, the ratio 1Te:
1059: 15:31 in No, 1, and 7°30 : 4°68 : 10°73: oelg he 2. He unites the o Piel so
SECOND Il, No. §2,—JULY.

138 Seventh = to Dana’s Mineralogy.

of the silica and titanic a R+4, Ti+-Si, the ratios 1: 2°09,
1: 2-13, and writes the Fecsila as SH "Be ) Tit.

[The mean of the two gpaizern nfs in fact very nearly 7-5R : 1-5: 5} Ti:
5Si i—< 5 Si), or od 1#: 3-5Ti: 55i, whic -si ac
for the above form Under ilmenite ae 136) Hb) shown that the compe

01

to Sr, (since aoe pe he hea and Phen nies
io be is 2

by
silica and the other ——— it dees 4p in nes 1 to 22-94=2-002 : 3-000, and
i ‘80 : 22-71=1°96 :

cies (and this is so, of course, prea silica ‘be Si or Si). Hence comes the formula
(Re, Be be Si?, which is equivalent to (Re, = Sif, as pom in = P ocomtbggee p- 341,
rdmann’s analysis, and since co sl gi orbes. Erdmann’s analyses, a8

calclte by Rammelsberg, afford ore same eres t, giving for the ratio 15°58 : 23°79
=1'97:8; and 15°30 : 23°44=1°96 : 3.—

KRANTZITE, 0. Bergemann (J. f. p. Com. 65).—Krantzite is a fossil resin
from the brown coal of Lattorf, and had been considered impure amber. It occurs
rad :

el
fo 8 and is nec no lag ove, G.=0°968; or of an
005 t 2 i

2. li esi as —A, E. Nordenskiéld has given pe e name Ersbyite to the

f No Seven the ner a . p. 287]. Itis coraiaiadll

peraps triclinic, and has the formula GaSi+ the — of labradorite. From
Beskrifv. Finl. Min. hes in in Jab sem 5 aes

N. W ar ff in on Ball ‘de la Soe. econ es Naturalistes de Moscou, 1857, oo 4
yale 518 «tala occurs in aeteee intersecting syenite. As remarked by.
ialadacs the colorless and greenish lapis lazuli becomes blue on heating.
Lazuutre [404, IT]. Jeeta: occurs in beautiful sky-blue crystals i ad eet Co.,
Georgia, on Graves’ Mountain, about twelve wllos northwest of the a us belt
n

pyrophyllite, hematite. The lazulite occurs in certain layers of a bed of itacolum
poem through them in ak beg yin one-quarter to one inch long.
paper contains figures of the fori

Lrapatture [371 te Morgan Si to C. U. Shepard (this Jour., xxvii. 40) occurs
small ee ilver Mine, in Spartanburg District, 8. C., with py
romorphi

tae — black mica, &e., see Geol. Soc. Proc. in Phil. Mag.,
xvi, p. 396.
oa {181, Il, IV].—Analyses of various = of Alabama are given in

Tuomey’s Second Biennial Geol. Rep. of Alabam
cess [429]—The crystallization of liroconite ing to ajenciones
(Llnstitot, 185 1859, 38) is f monoalinlt, having J: J=74° Si" aad and r* vertical axis

ie a ae IV, VI].—Rammelsberg in Pogg, civ, 536, gives several
analyses, (05 YT} Rammer One from basalt near Bisenach,

*

wh Nin oe area lie oe Teas.) Ae

aes

eT

oy Se fet OPS ONL ee Sart eee eee See le
ie a PN See ae oe

es

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 139

afforded 0°10 tiene ped and 1:20 magnesia, with #e 69°88, Fe 27-88==99°06. See
further under ilmenite and hematite.

Meturre (475, ve —A new locality has been found in Russia, in the district of
Nertschinsk, at the mine of Dmitrirwsk, in bituminous coal.

Microctine [242, be —Breithaupt has described (Berg. u. Hiitt. oe xvii, 324)
a twin consisting “li albite and microcline, in which the two have the ical axis

rallel and the faces of perfect cleav ( recisely coincident, holies an
identity in the initiating of the planes. Breithaupt cites an analysis P
i, 467, by ajeff, agreeing with microcline in the co ition, affording, viz.,

Si 6720, &1 20:03, Fe 0-18, K 8-85, Ga 0-21, Mg 0°31, Na 5°06, the formula of
which may be written _ Si+ AiSi*] + (NaSi+AlSie].

Motyspenrre [66, I ee ae ee ~ 1 aise: of molybdenite
are published by A. Knop, in Jahrb. Min.,

Narrotrre [327, VI].—R. Blum has a paper on the pseudomorphs of ‘atte lite
after oligoclase and nepheline, from the zircon-syenite of Norway, in Aktien ev, 133,
showing that the na ng is not an original mineral of the rock, as Scl er argued,
but a result of altera

Neoroxtre [169].—This mineral, according to A. E, Nordenskidld (Beskrif. Fin.
Min. ay Min., 1858, i: and Kopp’s Jahresb. for 1857), ee rae MgSi+
4(Fe, Mn)§ i+-8H. It is amorphous. G.=27—2'8. H= Color black
to brownish- black. Streak brown. aes or feeble alate B.B. yields

water, but is infusible. From Gaosbéle in Finland.

NIC RES.—C Be Seta ad — described (J. f. pr. Chem., Ixxv, 2) two
_ ew arsenates of nickel, differing from the common signe in con
and also pure oxyd of ni They o occur at righ a ae
(1.) Crystalline, sometimes amorphous. Dar H=t. G.=4'838.
No fumes on heating in a glass tube. B.B. on charcoal,

g 1, arsenical fumes.
pa: ) gr ee ea Su ulphur-yellow, H=4. G.=4'982. a With heat like the pre-
ceding. gz. nm:

i Cu no
(1) 8657 O14 6207" O54 034 094 tr. = 99-90
(2) 5053 tr, 4824 O81 057 062 —=10017

Formula of (1.) Ni'As=arsenic acid 38°01, oxyd of nickel 61°99.

Formula of (2.) NieA i¢ acid 50°54, oxyd of nickel 4946.

(3.) The oxyd of nickel occurs in regular octahedral crystals with faces of the
thombohedron, one-half a line e long. Color dull est green. H. Sea 6=
6°398, Composition, pure protoxyd of nickel. e crystals are not perceptibly
attacked by acids or by fusion with alkalin prs Were

Nioxet-Gyusrrz [286].—Reported by W. J. Taylor (Proc. Ac. N. Sci. Philad.,
Aug. 1858) from Webster, Jackson Co., N.C., where it occurs as an amorphous reni-
station in — e along. with chromic iron. Color apple-green to a

He

bideg t has ‘pitted nder the name of Rattisite et igs u. H Zeit, xvii, 1) an

impure hydrous rs of Sagas _ age in Voi It occurs in

a and inerusta nearly a. aatien
apple-green pron Title Todi ” eanaboees o subtranslucent, ‘opaque

when earthy H.=2--2°5; G.=2'358—2°370. As silelfala by C. Winkler is given

Si Al ¥ Ni Co Ca H 6 4s
Pa 468 081 s587 067 040 1117 270 080
is stated to be he numbers as they stand add up only 96°25
Hnirng Pad The ¥ Potted Fidget yee sum of the silica, oxyd of nickel and
Water is 91-42 (it is as printed 463 las oT). and thence deduces the formula
SNiSi+4H—=Silica 48:31, Ni 3915, H 12°64. It hence appears that there is a ty-

140 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.
aphical error in the statement of the silica of between 4 and 5 —_ [The
mineral is said to occur with : Fhe of nickel (see rater ne but the check
instead of allowing part of t oxts 0 of nickel to be ned with the 350 of
phosphoric ong arsenic acids "Cabich ight take up 2 sae nt), and part of ‘the
silica with the alu — selects out the ‘Sic ica, oxyd of rekal & nd water, Sane uses
these alone to ma a formula. ere is no sufficient Sgig that the
is not identical with the nickel-gymnite of Gent h (see Min., p. 286).—p.]

Ortuoctasr [242, II, III, V, VI].—The feldspar of the zircon-syenite has been
analyzed by Dr. C. Bergemann (Pogg., cv, 118) and the view confirmed of its being
a soda- searing ortho

gad e [898]—The osteolite of the Kratz mountain near Friedland in Bohe-
mia, a snow-white earthy mineral having G.==2°828 to 2°829, afforded Diirre (Pogg,
cy, 155): :

6 Ca Si x Fe Mg cl H
34:64 44-16 8:89 614 O51 0-79 sh 2:97==98'70

ps ore is mixed with a silicate; the former contains of the abov e, P34
pe ade 40°985. _The silicate has the composition nearly of an te Ho rr cul
being Ca*Si+-2R18i.

_ Pecrotrre [305, IT, ITI, i o 5, 6, in the author’s Mineralogy are of

the pectolite te of Bergen Hill,

es slr acing nig mineral occurs as the base of a granitic rock in Russia, in
ey go

white aid does not melt even on the edges. Composition
Si noe Fe . Ca. Mg “K H Quartz
58:90 20° 039. tr. 050 O29 016 .835.. 10:30=-99°38
affording the one AISi®-L OF.

Prenorsxwe [345, II, IV, VI].—Descloizeaux has found (L’Institut, 1859, 33)
that perofakite has two axes of double refraction quite distant, with the bisectrix

negative. is was observed on specimens of a brownish yellow ssid an Zer-
matt and the Urals; and it is a —— whether the black crystals from the Urals,
which appear to be monometric, are not pseudom

Gop er [425, II, VI].—The Hhlite from Ehl, has been analyzed by
she rere n and found to contain vanadic acid. His analysis afforded (Jabrb-
1858, 1

aA Cu H
17°89 734 64°09 8:90
Oxygen, 10°12 1:90 12°98 790
Pyropayriure [303, I, VI].—A mineral resembling massive pyrophyllite,
according to W. J. Taylor "Proc: Ac. N. Sci. Philad., Aug. “s63) | ‘at ca yet ¢ anal-
yzed, containing imbedded quartz crystals, at a coal mine in Sch aber a. It
is a tough, whitish mineral with a pearly lustre, somewhat pooh tod: See ng 4

layer not “a one-eighth inc
Locality of pyrophyllite in Cabell see under Lazulite,

Pyrox MLO A I, Il, V, V1].—The pale green smaragdite of the euphotide of
the Alps afforded T. S. Hunt (this Jour., [2], xxvii, 348):
Si Al Ca Mg Fe Gr Ni Na ign
5430 454 1372 1901 387 O61 tr. 980 0:30—9915
14:2 2°34

18°07
Viesnesthe gen ratio for R, #, Si, 13-29 : 2°12 : 28:96.
iia: feula caalittabd, Gchtaten ia w ioek-qroen xi inci aes —
of pyroxene, from Trayersella in Piedmont magnetic It is so

i Seem

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. M1

= this mineral but looks like a slightly altered variety. Composition according
R. Richter (Po ee
Si cl Ca - Mg H
52°39 1:21 20 46 7°98 ged 3°69==100°09

The oxygen ratio for the H, R, 8, Si, is 3-28 : 1258: 0°56: 27:20. The crystals are
rectangular prisms, having the faces ti i+ large, and T small, with the a 7 pari: e 0.
Ber. K6n. Sachs. Ges. der Wiss., June dom p. 92.) Scheerer regards the mine eral
as an os of what he calls param sis
yrgom, according to Scheerer (Ber. “én. ‘Siichs, Ges. der Wiss., June 1858, p. 96)

is augitic in exgstalization "Richter obtained:
l M

x n Oa Mg
3l 79 403 Lc 57 trace 18°98 17-40==99°77
giving the oxygen ratio for R, #, Si, 14°06: 1°88: 269. The form is a rhombic

ai by with the Po planes 41, —1, +2, —2, and occasionally some others, :
— sine ne Il, in sg form of ety from differen ie —

inic an
- big - to occur in three directions. The angles are stated. te be only y approxima
- Two of them, 954° and 133°, are very near angles in quartz (A:

RETZBANYITE, R. Hermann (J. f. pr. Chem., Ixxv, 450).—This is a bismuth
ore resembling eliaie: silver, aa yr ha are Color lead- ‘gray, but exte reg |
oxydized and mixed with cerusite and pagent oF re. In irregular pieces with n
Base of crystalline structure. H.==2'5. .B, fumes of sulphurous acid
wheat is reduced to a globule of lead and 7 biomath, Afforded on analysis by R.

8 Bi he Cu
T14 1193 38°38 86:01 1°93 4:29==99°61
giving the atomic nding for the oxygen, 8 ie bismuth, and other metals, 8
and making, according to Hermann, mpound of a sulphate and rene
With the formula aCe, PbS-+ SBiS]42Pb8.

Rorrisrre, oe ee Nickel-Gymnite.

Rotite [120, V].—In the vicinity of the lazulite locality, Lincoln Co., Georgia
(see lazuli), occur, according to ©. U. Shepard pe Jour., xxvii, a splendent
— crystals of rutile, some weighing upwards of a pound. O e has six gen-

i

Sapontrr.—A hydrous aluminous silicate from the waters at a nto has been:
analyzed by by J. Nicklés bee Fvasgarns 9 Saponite, a name that has for some time be-
longed toa magnesia mineral was found to consist of Silica 42°30,
ahmina 1 19°20, eg 36 bet “sguivilact to AlSi3-+ 12H, or near cimolite—L Institut,

0, 1318, staat 6,

Garnet. The o
alumina epidote, having G.=3-25—3°36. -

Scxo 342, WI) — Nordenskidld has described (Deshi inland Min,
dic., from having apparent characters of
schorlomit mM sh 32) = me lied melanit ite fou found i in Eleolite,
is lustrous } Reap 4 k gray,
an contains much titanium, is either in monometric ic crystals or massive. The
is not cited in the Jahrbuch. The formula given is Ca? Si+PeSi+4Ti0,
To while that written for schorlomite by Whitney is Ca*Si+¥eSi+ CaTi2.

142 Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy.

B.B. fuses to a black glass. Comes from Iwaara in the Kunsamo Kirchspiel in
Finland.

Scoroprre [419, [].—Lippmann has named a mineral found in small beet: aye

tals at Schaiesbers, Cobalt-scorodite. It = with hypochlorite an
enngott’s Min. Forsch. for 1856, 1857, p. 3
Seerentine (282, I—VI].—Antigorite, shown to be slaty serpentine by G
Brush, has since “ile analyzed by Stockar- — with Oe: same result basil
Min. Forsch., 1856, 7, 72). The mean of two analyses is
Si Al

Fe ” Nt
40°83 8 20 5°84 36-26 12:37=98'86.
ockar-Escher regards the alumina as ue egeecee the s
acts has described under the of Vorhause rit a , mine eral from the Fleims
Valley in the or at Monzoni, having os composition of Retinalite, but im-
i i i t occu ve ahi hous, of a bro
‘greenish-black color; weak waxy lus' scia: yellowish, pate or brownish yellow to
brownish s ; py G.=245. Analysis by J. Oellacher (Kenn. Min. Forsch,
1856-57, p. 71):
Si Mg Fe Mn H
4121 8924 172 0830 16°16, CaCl, Oa*P 0-9-9959
— is probably serpentine mixed with a little Deweylite.
aher chro

A pseulomorph occurs in Unst, according to Dr. Heddle (Phil.
Mag., [4], xvii, ae
Sarrusosrre [447, f, IIT].—Smithsonite from near Wiesloch contains carbonate

of cadmium. It ies a stab nea to wax-yellow color. An es in the labo-
ratory of Prof. Bunse d:
VAN OMe 718) “Gad FeG MgG 2n,H ZnS Sand
89-97 3°36 2:43 057 032 1:94 0-47 0-45=99°51
Specutar Iron.—See nee

des
of Guarinite, after Prof. G. Guarini of "Naple es, (Zeit. D on mc) Gess. x, 14) Tt is is
stated to occur in dimetric entala with difficult cleavage. Color cece? -yellow.
Translucent or transparent. Lustre eubadamantine and adamantine on cleavag?
faces. H—=6—6°5. 7. _Compositio

Bess he Ga Fe, Mn
33°64 3°92 28°01 trace = 95°67
The author observes that pt composition is near that of the sins of Piedmont
(Greenovite, Du/’r.).

Smatire [142].—An antimony ochre occurs with antimonial jiickcat- hire and
spathic iron near Eisern in the Siegen District, and contains, according to rier |
bel (Pogg., cv, 146) Ni 0-17, Fe 5°56, H 9-42, along with ‘antimonious cid
The oxyd of iron is hydrated.

Pe eae tae ser A. £. ranges mer (Beskrif. Finl. Min, and Jahrb. Min., 1858,
3).—An altered anorth

Terraprarire [21, 512, = 0) U. Shepard bess described (this Jour., ats [> xxvii,
39) — from Lum mpkin Co., Ga. It occurs in gneiss. It is ated with
gold, pyrrhotine, chlorite, ilmenite in broad curved crystals, and some ne ane and

e observes that it is also found at the Pascoe Mine in Cherokee Co-, and
ata place sla Van Wort in Po
Dr. ©. T. Jackson has analyzed the tetradymite of Dahlonega, Georgia, and ascer”
tained that it is the mineral, usually arranged under tetradymite, called bornite.
pt tees ~ Jour., [2], xxvii, 366):
Bi Gold (mixed)
seo 118 79°08 0°60 = 98°86

— e

See ee

*

Seventh Supplement to Dana’s Mineralogy. 143
— nearly with the analyses of the Brazilian bornite by Damour. Sp. gravity

TaerMoray.irre [Suppl. VI].—The the Nite of Hoponsuo contains, ac-
cording " A. B. Northcote (mean of two analyses Phil. Mag., [4], xvi, 263:

Al Fe Mg Na H °f ona at 212°F,
41 48 5°49 1°59 37°42 2°84 10 loge hath 9°70
It is stated “ occur in aggregated masses - a brownish gray co alk semi-tra
lucent, in so arts micaceous, through nips massive ihermophylite nye

e par rock
talline form ak determinable. [It b Haseuabled vermiculite in appear
before the blowpipe.]

Trranic Inon.—See Jlmenite.

Tourmatine [270, II, IV].—A fine —_ jraat ore re prewonurph after tourma-
line, three inches long and two in dia eer piso D.
geol. Ges., x, 12). It contains some puatored “nek fore ie is a
pre prism with the faces also of a 12-sided prism. It was from ‘hose

phe 1858), at the Pequa Lead Mine, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania, in minute erys-

it ai
—. The color varies from siskin to apple- gree n. Small crystals of cerusite
occur in the cavities of the a aida

Vornauserite, Kenngott,—See Retinalite under Serpentine.

Wavetuire [423 aye —A compound Rag orerey® wavellite in compositi
curs, according to A. Gages (Jour. Geol. Soc., Dublin, viii, 73), forming the caine of
& conglomerate found as a boulder near Loughhill, count y of Limerick. It is com-
ea of small emerald-green i mingled with some white ones and forming
mamillary concretions, Analysis by A. Gages:

cl Ni em H. Si
80°88 36:16 1: 81 033 tr. 2356 361 apatite 1°58, quartz 1:00—98°94
The formula deduced is (A, jie Vite a but it is stated to be proposed merely as
4n expression of a single
On the formula of Kapnicite by Stiadeler. ee Ann., cix, 305.

WHITNEYITE, Genth (ies Jour., [2], xxvii, 400).— Whitneyite is an arseniuret
of copper peveamann * about 12 per cent of pine or ts ee of arsenic to 18
of copper =copper el seeds 1163==100. Struc e crystalline, fine

granular. Weees. G.=8'408 (at 16° C.). “Lustre eotadieey ‘ecb pale reddish-

white ; tarnishes rea dily, becoming yellowish and changing to to brown and finally to

brown's sh-black ; sometimes iridescent. Somewhat malleable. Composition accord-
. Genth:

As “4 ‘81 Cu me et Ag and insoluble eae
“41

“Mineral Wealth of the U. Sta

Xenorme [401, I, I, Ee our, according to a recent

analysis (Bull. Géol. [21 xi 6 542, Kopp’s Tahresb, for 1857, 686), is xenotime. An

~~ se ewe 2 Eee ee
has been announced as occurring on the Mittamitta river, Aus-

tal 100ml orbs om Melba It contains a little cadmium.—Jabrb.

Be

144 Scientific Intelligence.

Zixc-Bioom [460, 513].—The zinc-bloom of Santander near Cumillas in Spain has
been analyzed by T. Petersen and E. Voit (Ann. d. Ch. u. be cviii, 48),

following are their i: (1A) the interior of a mass and (1B) the same after a
slight poi and also other analyses (2, 3) of the Seataia mineral by
Braun (loc, cit.)
Zn

1A. 5:1 731 100

1B. 13°81 74°13 11-45= 99°99

2. 13°33 73°15 12°96, mixed Calamine 1°34

3. 14°32 73°83 11:87=100-0

The constitution deduced from 1A, is 8Zn, 3G, 6H; from 1B, Zn6+22nH.

Analysis of zinc- cag ne from a lead mine near "Romsbeck in ba ogi by C.
Schnabel (Pogg., cv, 144): 6 12:30, Zn 64:04, Cu 0°62, Fe and Al 2°58, Ca 052,
H 13:59, Mate sorted his 2-02 (ao ‘ying in a water-bath), siliceous abst 3°88,
Mg, Mn, 3 traces=99'45—=Zn*® 6+3H.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
J, PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.
On the oxyd of ethylene—A. Wurtz has found that when glycol,
CulisOo 4-280, is saturated em muriatic aa gas and heated in a closed
tube water is set free and a new ether formed. The reaction is mere
sented by the equation
CsH604 + HCl = CaHsClO2 + 2HO,
The new ether is a colorless neutral liquid — in water and boiling at
128°; e author considers this as een glycol, CaH6Os, and
the Dutch liquid, CaHsCle. A solution of otal decomposes the new
ether giving oe of potassium and the ed of ethylene, ve

t forms no ba te pobre with ammonia. Perchlorid of phot
phorus converts it into Dutch liquid. We have, namely, the equation
C4H402 + POCls = CaHaCle + PO2Cls,
By a similar process Wurtz has prepared the oxyd of propyl- elven
. The relations Sic bias the diatomic ethers and aldehyds
best exhibited by the for

cera t Aldehyd CaHa.O2 = Ethylen oxyd

Calls0» t Propionic aldehyd CeHs.O2 — Propylen oxyd.
Goiniiies Rendus, xlviii, 101.
2. On the chemical constitution of lactic acid.—Ko.ne has bro
forward a new view of the constitution of lactic acid whieh connects this
id, The mens in the first place refers to the fact that the researches
of Perkin and peiipe = y be regarded as as proving that glycosine is
Biibioaocti uel y ches action of nitrous acid upon glycosine, alanin,

Chemistry and Physics. 145

sulting from the acids of the formie series by the replacement of o
equivalent of hydrogen in the radical by one of peroxyd of hydrogen
HO2z. Thus acetic acid being
CsH303-+ HO
glycolic acid is CaH2(HO2)03+4+-HO and may be termed
oxy-acetic acid. In like manner lactic acid is oxy-propionie acid and so
on. Considered as amido-acetic acid glycosin has the formula CsH2
(NH2)O3-+4-HO. To test the correctness of Kulbe’s view Ulrich has
instituted experiments to determine whether the acids of the formic series
can be prepared from those of the glycolic series, and has succeeded in
transforming lactic into propionic acid by a simple process. This consists _
in acting upon lactate of lime by perchlorid of phosphorus by which the —
chlorid of chloropropioxyl is formed. Brought into contact with water
this gives chloropropionic and muriatic acids, according to the equation
CeH1ClO2. Cl4- 2HO = CeHaClO3, HO+-HCl.

According to his view the glyoxylic acid of Debus is dioxyacetic
that we have the series

Acetie acid CsHs03, Ho
Oxyacetic acid CsH2(HO2)0s, HO
Dioxyacetic acid . CaH(HO2)203, HO

Glyceric acid is then dioxypropionic acid. In like manner anisic acid
may be regarded as oxytoluic acid. Kolbe suggests that the alcohols and
aldehyds of the oxy-acids are derived from the alcohols and aldehyds of
the primitive acids by simple replacement of hydrogen by HOs, exactly
like the oxy-acids themselves. It must be admitted that his views, to say
the least, are very ingenious and suggestive—Ann. der nd
harm., cix, 357.
have obtained combinations of valeral—the aldehyd of valerianic acid—
with acetic and benzoic aci of these ¢ m nds 1 tw
equivalents of acid to one of oxyd, but are not identical with t
acetate and benzoate of amyl-glycol. Guthrie had already
ta

the Compounds of Valeral with Acids ——Gutunie and

Ae

her show, moreover, that the aldehyds in their relations to acids care
referable to the type of two equivalents of water and not of two equiva-
drogen. rman

SECOND SERIES, Vor, XXVIII, No. §2,—JULY, 1859.
19

146 Scientific Intelligence.

certain salts of po y the action of bromid of elayl upon acetate
of potash, the author succeeded in preparing acetate of elayl in considera-
ble quantity. The id and acetate are to be dissolved in equal quan-

warmed, when y
less liquid, almost free from odor. e pure mercur-ethyl CaHsHg boils
between 158° and 160° C, It takes fire easily and burns with a ]uminous,

9°97, its calculated density for 2 vols. would be 8°68.
e author also obtain @ same compound by the action of zinc-

lead. It appears to be incapable of forming salts without a partial de-
composition, but the author obtained a crystalline chlorid and sulphate.

Chemistry and Physics. . 7

difficulty ; on heating there is a slow evolution of gas, and a chlorid is
formed which appears to be richer in tin than the original radical. This
ehlorid crystallizes with difficulty and has an oily consistency at ordinary
temperatures, it has a str rong and penetrating smell, and on heating gives
off a vapor which is very irritating to the skin. A ‘corresponding bromid
rye exists, but the other salts are not yet described.

the Compounds of Organic Radicals with the Metals of the
wibeke —Ha.iwacus and Scuararik have studied the action of iodid of

tals.

ethyl upon several of the earthy meta en magnesium is heated in
a closed tube with the iodid, the metal is gradually converted into a
white mass. On opening the tu be gas is Rate off, and e white mass

ee of hydro-carbons with traces of ethy ene Finely divi-
: en ie

authors Propose to to exte nd their investigation to other metals. Ww. G.
araday’s peer hes in Chemistry and Physics—(Researches in
Chemistry wid Physics, by Micnagt Farapay, D.CS., F.BS., &e., &c.).
ie Richard Taylor and William Francis, Printers and Publishe
to the University of London, 1859. 496 pp. 8vo, with 3 plates—The
illustrious freon of this volume says in ve preface, “The reasons whic
induce me to gather together in this volume the various physical and
dheaiival. shoe scattered in the Philosophical Transactions and else-
‘ where, are the same as those which caused the Experimental Researches
in _ Electricity to be collected into one series.” Every student of these
sciences will acknow ror hi a debt of gratitude to Englan nd’s most Fp: 4

ee t this paper at full length. Jt was at at the beginning of my communications
- the public, and i its results very important to me. oe ate
me the analyses to make, as a first attempt in chemistry, at a time when my fear
Was greater than my confidence an) psitn nt at a time
also when I had no fg thought of ever wrillii? ki per tnesatss hago The ad-
sition of his own comment and the publication of the paper encouraged me to go

; ing fi ne of Pp
in this volume. Their trans ‘tight : ’ into other — In-
my boldness; and now that forty years have elapsed and [ can look back

i icati ve 0,

acter has changed, that I haye not, either now or forty years ago,

148 Scientific Intelligence.

The last paper in the present volume is the author’s Lecture on Mental
Education, in which he develops with vigorous.thought his views on
some of the popular delusions of the day.

II, GEOLOGY.

1. Third Report on the sa gaa Survey of South Carolina ; by

Oscar M. Lizper. 224 pp. 8vo. Columbia, 8.C. Price of each Re-

port 50 cents.—This Report treats particularly of Greenville and Pickens |

Districts. It gives information respecting the topography of the region,
and the veins and metamorphic and eruptive rocks, and illustrates the
distribution of the rocks on colored maps. A large part of the Report
is occupied with a treatise on Itacolumite and the associate rocks, and
their connection with the occurrence of gold. The associate rocks are

own

2. Geological Survey of Canada ; Sir W. E. Locay, F.R.S., Director:
Figures and eed eas of Canadian Organic Remains. Decades I, and
IV. 48 and 72 pp. 8vo, each with 10 plates.- Montreal, 1859. B. Dawson.

—The publication of the third Decade on the Organic Remains of Canada
was announced in our last volume. Quite recently Decade I. has ap-
peared in similar style, and with exquisite steel-plate engravings. ‘This
number is by the paleontologist Mr. J. W. Salter of London, while the
engravings are by Mr. Sowerby. It takes up a portion of the Lower Si-
Jurian mollusks ‘and illustrates the genera and species with great skill,

bringing out much that is new respecting them. It hs gg finely the

Maclurea Logani with its operculum, species of Ophileta, Raphistoma,
Murchisonia, Cyclonema, Loxonema, Oyrtoceras, ofiiseaha (Hall’s Tel-
linomya, this name being changed with good reason because the species
are related not to Tellina or Mya, but to Saat ‘ai others. There is one
plate devoted to two species of Receptaculite
ecade IV. also has just been issued. It i is devoted to the "Crinoids of

the Lower Silurian, and is by Mr. E. Billings. Like the Decade on the
Cystids it shows great success in the collection and study of the Canada
Echinoderms. About fifty species are here included, five of which belong
to the Chazy, and the rest to the mars Black River, Trenton, and
Hudson River terinations. The most rem e species are certain forms
of the Chazy, Pentremite-like in preteens ron which the genus Blasto-
idocrinus is instituted. Another new genus of the Chazy is called Pale
—_— ——— P. striatus. It has five radiating ambulacral groove
on the su A second of the same rock is called Hybocrinus; #
four are Bence bed from the Trenton. The species are well illustrated
th lithographic plates.
j of the Mexican SS Survey—tThe first volume of
any Survey Report contains Geological Reports by Dt

23
.,

Geology. 149

C. C. Parry and Assistant Arthur Schott, —_ notes by W. H. Emo
a Report on the Paleontology and Geology of the Bo baa by Jane
Hall: and Description of Cretaceous and ‘Terti tiary Fossils by
rad, Esq.; and it is illustrated by a —— Map by Nir. ‘Hall, iad
numerous 4to plates of fossils by Con
The date of the volume on the title | page is 1857, but the true date of
ware is the summer of 1858.
. Contributions to the Paleontology of New York: being some of
ae jee of investigations made during the years 1855, ’56, °57, 58;
au. 18 PP ., 8vo. te — —This pamphlet contains
paces of three new gene ta—Palearca, Megambonia (near Ambo-

On en a

of ihe so-called Acroculie of the aliecaslc to Conrad’s genus Platyceras,
ne a citation of the characters of Conrad’s genus Platyostoma, The

one Geol. Rep. for 1857, p. 179; and Billings’s name therefore has
the priority. Mr. Hall states that the genus is in the third volume of his

ie]
2,
&
(=)
ja]
cr
2.
°
0
SS
ci:
i=]
Ss
™
co
S
S
o&
ag
@.
|
co
om
@
-
2
c
5
-@
es.
Rm
s
(=)
>
S
-e
ge
- oO
° a4
a)
oS
Qu
z
—
QO
eo

the genus, are referred the Eiminlion of the first volume of Hall’s Pa lee-
ontology, with Ambonychia obtusa, Cardiomorpha vetusta, Modiolopsis
pee hand ¥. i ps of the same volume.

cology of Pennsylvania : a Government — with a Ad

wood-euts, WY wood & Sons, Edinburgh and London, J. B. Lit
Cott ds Co, Philadelphia. 1858.—The geological —— of Penns nsylvania
Prof. Rogers was commenced under the act of the Legislature of the-

State in the year 1836, and was continued on for six years. Again in:
1851 it was resumed with reference to its completion, vn continued!
until the spring of 1855, the _— allowed by the act of 185

The publication of the e Report has been long and cate looked a
and it is a pleasure to see it pesily pasta ina —- cn IM will
a fullness of illustration and description that m eets so well se ———
mE and the interests of the State.

~ ded corps ¢ seaipionth to the poate of
twelve through much of the time. In 1836 the assistants, as he mentions
we in B. wet and James In 1837, they

_ Were Messrs, §, S, H McKinley, C. B. Trego, J. D. Whelp-
_ ley, with Dr. R. EB pagent 1838 they were Messrs. H. B.
Holl, A, A. McKinley, ©. B, Trego, J.D. s Whelpley, J. T. Hodge, R. M.

Jackson, J: C, McKinney, P. W.Sebaetier, T. Ward, geologists, and Dr.

150 Scientific Intelligence.

The volumes take up first the Physical Geography of the State, as an
Introductory to the Geology. Part I. treats of the Metamorphic rocks;

second volume commences with the coal basins of the State, to which
over 600 pages are devoted. Part III, some 30 pages in length, takes
up the stone series, of the of the Connecticut
River Sandstone. Part IV. includes discussions of various subjects: (1)

of coal; (10) methods of searching for, opening and mining coal, put-
sued in Pennsylvania; (11) American and European coal-fields and coal

palachians, including the ‘system of folds constituting the great range of
mountains and the arrangement of the ridges. The facts bear on the

story of all mountain making. A large number of sections illustrating
this subject are contained in the second volume, like the fac

is indebted for descriptions of a large number of coal plants and a series
of excellent plates illustrating them. The zoological paleontology Prot.
Rogers not undertaken to describe. A few figures are given in the
Napier on organic remains, pp. 815 to 829; but they are very unsati
tery, and are sometimes wrongly named or without any specific names.

Geology. 151

. The author has left this great department of the survey to future workers.
This being so, the author had hardly a broad enough basis for the institu-
tion of a new system of nomenclature and of subdivisions for the Palzo-

3 ich has had no existence except in the fancy of the

__ wnter, This unfortunate framework, about which Prof. Rogers has clus-
_ tered his facts, is no serious impediment to the geological reader who has

_ akey at hand for comparison. :

yy he work isa great one, worthy of the state which authorized the

and will ever rank among the most important of the reports on the
geology of the United States. A large and beautiful geological map of
the State accompanies it.

6. Contributions to the History of Euphotide and Saussurite ; by T.
Srerry Huwr (this Journal, [2], xxvii, 336-347).—Erratum.—On pa
345 in the analysis of saussurite vi. the oxygen of 27°72 of alumina is |
given as 13°95 instead of 12°95, the true number. This correction being
made, the oxygen ratios for the protoxyds, sesquioxyds and silica become
7°62 313-73: 23°25, equal to 1: 1°80: 3°05, instead of 1: 1°93: 3°05.
In this case therefore as well as in analysis vir, there is present a certain
excess of protoxyds and silica, corresponding nearly to a tersilicate.

T. 8

. 8.
__ 1. Cretaceous of New Jersey—In the note to page 88 of this volume,
it is intended to say, that the fossil leaves of New Jersey were found in
_ the lower part or base of the Cretaceous formation in that state, that is,
: — an extensive range of strata containing acknowledged Cretaceous
Hs.

___—~&. - Report of the Exploration of the Country between Lake Superior
_ and the Red River Settlement, and between the latter place and the Assi-
_ niboine and Saskatchewan ; by 8. J. Dawson, Esq., C.E. 45 pp. 4to.
_ Toronto, 1859. Printed by order of the Legislative Assembly.—Besides
Important information on the aphy of the region referred to, some

; It is that the Ammonite might

_ have been carried north by the Indians, but in view of the other facts it

_ improbable. Another lot of specimens, including Scaphites Nicoletit

_ and Nautilus DeKayi, received from another person, is said to have been
_ found in the bed of the Saskatchewan.

152 Scientific Intelligence.

9. On the Fossil Corals of the Devonian Rocks of Canada West ; by .

E. Bururnes, F.G.8S. 44 pp. 8vo. (From the Canadian Journal for March,

scription. Six of these, he states, are found in the Devonian of Europe,

Heliophyllum Halli. | but two of the species come from the Cornif-
erous and Onondaga limestones. The paper is illustrated by twenty-nine

gures,
10. On some new Genera and Species of Brachiopods from the Silurian

Centronella and Siricklandia. The first includes the Rhynchonella glans-

fagi of Hall, from the Oriskany sandstone and Corniferous limestone in
Canada, and Schoharie grit in New York. It has a loop, like Terebrat-
ula; the loop consists simply of two slender lamellae which extend about
one-half the length of the shell,.where they unite at an acute

the Middle Silurian of Britain. Three new species are described; S.
gasprensis, S. canadensis, and S. brevis, all from the Upper or Middle

11. Reports on the Geology, Botany and Zoology of Northern Califor-
nia and Oregon ; made to the War Department by Joun 8. N pene

‘ on, D. ©.
320 pp. 4to, with numerous plates. Washington.—The Geological and
Botanical Reports of Dr. Newberry, noticed in our last volume at page

Wh, . 8.
berry; on the Land Shells by W. G, — and on the Reptiles by
fossils, plants, fishes, rep-

Paks &

*

ae ~—

e ae

s
”~

*

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 153

Ill. ASTRONOMY.

regs was R. A.J h 30m, N. De el. 71°.

3. Numbering 9 the Planetoids or Asteroidal Planets —In numberi ring
the planetoids a difficulty has arisen from the fact discovered by Mr.
soa pate that the planetoid detected by Mr. Goldschmidt, Sept. 9, 1857,

mistaken for Daphne, is undoubtedly a different bo In the An-
ee < 1859 of the French Board of Longitude, the planetoid detected
all th

pt. 9, 1857, is numbered (47), a ea the numbers o those subse-
quently ibe is increased by on r. LeVerrier objects to this
proceeding, on account of the per seg which it occasions, and maintains

that the planetoid of Sept. 9, 1857, should be numbered (56).
of numbering in the pos of fee and as likely on the whole to
produce the least confusion

. IV. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
a pet ga Strictures on North American Geologists—Mr. Marcou
issued a pamphlet of 40 pages, purporting to be a reply to the two
Pa ge on his North American Geology by James D. Dana. These two

he has inserted, without any notice of it, nearly a page of matter from

: Wwitho
his book which the dea! did not quote. The pamphlet presents no
new basis for his claims, a ‘ert jee no reply. We merely quote a
single paragraph for sence as i n editorial bearing. It is intro-

duced after citing Prof. js wee from page 134 of our last vol-

ume, and is as follows: -
“Mr. Dana’s love of the truth and duty to science obliged him to decline publishing
this article i in my favor without and duty to sione 8, W. vate pe author pe ad to fnew not
pieaien to pass under Mr. Dana’s editorial scissors; and Mr. bliged to
wi 1 of his from thi ice odify

o refusal on the sack Salts cate gabloh’ Prokaeoe

Agassiz’ reply, and no proposition for editorial curtailment, but only ob-

— to its views, and a request to delay the “ie because Prof.
book

sono wan ot. XXVIM, No. s2.—JULY, 1859.

*

154 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

the propriety of Mr. Dana’s natural suggestion, and —_— us ee high
on the best of _. that if Prof. Agassiz had known what was in the
book in question e would not have written at all. Rs to a day of

Prof. Agassiz’s a re for Europe there has been no interruption of
the cordial intercourse that has always subsisted between him and Mr.

na; and we are confident that if he had not left the country imme-
diately after the arrival of the pamphlet, he would himself have made
a statement similar to this, i in his own name.—

2. Auroral Arch—During the oe? of the aurora borealis seen here
on the evening of Friday, April 29, 1859, a well defined luminous arch
or belt sprung up, spanning the sky from the western horizon wea A over
to the eastern, and passing a little south of our zenith. This was its ap-
pearance at gh 53™, when it was fully formed. Ten or fifteen 7 aeiniutas
previous it was not visible, and T did not observe the process of forma-

tion. Its width fro

southward while the part for twenty degrees or more about the meridian
changed its place so little and so slowly, as to present an uncommonly
good caine for fixing its place among the stars, and to render exact

in time less important. At 8h 58” 0s, New Haven mean time,

middle line of the arch. The phenomenon gradually faded from the east
westwardly, and by 92 38™ all had vanished. During this whole time
the sky was clear and there was no secondary arch to embarrass the ob-

serv
It i is 3 greatly to be desired that these and other data secured here may
be with like observations made to the north and south of New
Haven, in order to determine the altitude and width of the arch. Through
the kindness of Professor Loomis a few have reached me, but they are
too indefinite to be useful in this respect. Loose observations at Suffield,
Conn., combined with those made here seem to indicate a height of much
more than 100 miles. Any one within 300 miles of this place who may
have any pels observations on the _ is earnestly desired to pub-
n this Journal, or to send them e. C, Herrick.
pi sbi. Conn,
On Apparent Equivocal Generation; by H. Jamuzs Cini of
ania , Mass. (From the Proceedings of the American Academy,
ay 10th, 1859).—At the close of our last social meeting I
I

Boston,
Was as seen any trace of organization in the globules of the —

Vibrio-like fibrillze of the muscle of Sagitta. (See p. 108 of this number).

puerta our common jelly sh I observed that the whole Arafat
mass of cells was in violent os each cell dancing zigzag about

*

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 155

within the plane of the wall. If any one will shake about a single
layer = shot in a flat pan he can obtain an approximate idea of
appearance of this moving mass. In a perfectly healthy condition these
cells lie sicealy side by side, and do not move individually from place to
place, but yet are active on one side, which constitutes the surface of
the stomach, where they are covered by vibratile cilia. As the young
Aurelia grows, this wall bec —— separated from the outer one, but not
completely, for the cells of the adhere to each other by elongated
processes varying in number roe one to six orseven. Each cell of the
inner wall ae amenl oe red or brown ae few transparent
globules, and a e large clear mesoblast. When decomposition
ensued, these salle ern still farther sears from each other and
danced about in the manner which I have just described. é vi

cilia were not observed to share in this movement; in fact I pe not

celle whee I would only have to place ofore them some of

so < apes: jon
actions, and in the mode of sisdiidlen Oeics isa ‘anise dene
tinguishable resemblance to — moving bodies which go under
the name of Infusoria, and which may be found, unconnected wi with any

. Note on the Polarization of the Light of Comets; by Sir Da
howe rR, (L., E. and D. Phil. Mag., pri 1859, p.- $11)—Althongh
there can be no doubt as to the acew observations

S&
a
g,
iI
ge!
a.
Hy
i
a
>
5
a
ee
od:

»1 led to
a t the rer vies of the existence of polarized light in the light of
comets is not solved.

156 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

m not aware that those who have observed traces of polarization in
the light of comets have noted the direction of the plane in which it has
been polarized; nevertheless without some such observation we cannot
discover its cause. If the light be polarized in a plane passing through
the sun, the comet, and the eye, we must infer that it is polarized by the
reflexion of the light coming from the sa if it be polarized in an oppo-
site plane, the polarization be due to the refraction of the atmos-

PRE or - the fact of one or more of the lenses Ses pinched in their

ings of the object-glasses and eye-piece should be reduced to a central
band, which would stuinats the light polarized in an opposite plane, and
leave that which is polarized in a plane perpendicular to the direction.

By turning the telescope or the onan, the direction of the polarization
would be changed.

If the polarization be produced by a defect in the annealing of the

_ glass of which the lenses are made, as appears to be the case in one

of Amici’s telescopes mentioned by M. Govi, the existence of this im-

pete will be rendered evident by exposing the lenses to polarized

If the apoaiane agen observed be due to the reflexion of the rays of the

sun by the comet or its envelops, small stars will be seen more distinctly
ren it when the polarized light is extinguished by the application of
a Nicol

Whilst 'é was s investigating the erie of the atmosphere, I ob-
served the remarkable fact, that when n objects situated far off m the open

rendered indistinet by fogs or mists may, it appears to me, receive im-
x saa eee in pri and naval operations.— Comptes
segs a ane 9, p.
alee Guide to the Furnaces, Forges and Rolling
Mili ©, the United States, with discussion of iron as a chemical GR

a ‘done a service which will be highly — iated
by all who know the national importance of the iron industry, as *
ke those whose researches lead them to seek in a compendious se ie rm all
poemation on subjects connected with iron, to find which they have
hitherto been forced to search through a wide of isolated authori-
ties, Being a good geologist, familiar with the geology of Pennsylvania

Miscellaneous Intelligence. ; 157

and practically acquainted with what relates to the subject of iron, he
was eminently fitted for the labor he has here performe i
divided naturally into two parts. The first is a “ Directory to Iron works”
in the U.S.; Furnaces and Forges and Rolling Mills. The second part
(from the 264th page to the end) is a “Guide to the ores,” embracing

rst, general considerations respecting iron as an element, and next, its

D, G, J, are devoted to the rolling mills of the U. States, 224 in number.
From a valuable statistical summary in the end of the volume we draw
the following facts. :
The entire production of raw metal in the U.S. in 1856 was a little
over eight hundred thousand tons (812,917 tons), being an increase of
12 per cent from 1854, For the year 1856 the whole iron production
advanced only 6 per cent over the previous year, but the anthracite branch
of the manufacture reached the aggregate of 394,509 tons, being nearly
one-half the whole iron product of the country, and showing an increase
of thirteen per cent over the previous year, a fact to be explained by the
conversion of charcoal furnaces into anthracite furnaces. The industry
naturally tends to concentrate itself about the ee centre on fuel

industry outside of Pennsylvania by an annual rate of over six per cent,

large a number of rail ys in progress of construction.
The grand total of iron of all kinds, domestic and foreign, used in the

ue States in 1856 is set down at 1,330,548 tons, which is distributed
us:

: Domestic. Foreign. Total.
Rolled and hammered, 519,081 298,275 «817,356
Pig iron, 387,154 55,403 392,557

856,235 363,678 1,209,913

1,200 efficient iron we the U.S.,
producing annually about 850,000 tons of iron, the value of which in an
ordinary year is fifty millions of dollars, of which the large sum of
$35,000,000 is expended for labor alone. ; ;

Mr. Whitney, in his Metallic wealth of the United States, estimates
P

down for the U.§., Great Britain producing that year 3,000,000,

158 | Miscéllaneous Intelligence.

as seems adequate to meet the demands - the world as fast as the laws
of commerce will permit their developme

mals of North America: the cdunskiphabiin of species based
chiefly on mee collections in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution;
by Spencer F. Barrp, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

adelphia, J. B. 5 Lippine 409 & Co. 1859.—Professor Baird e hala sisal
— daniel untry a comprehensive Treatise on the Mammals or Quad-

of the cottntry a illustrated by plates. And from the collec-
a under the author’s hands, and our on of his care and ability,

Wentic Railroad Survey. To this is added the Seca on the are

are given with full details, and in the plates there are illustrations relat-
ing to 161 — The libraries of the country should be supplied with
this great w
7 ‘Rational Cosmology, or the Eternal Principles and the Nece

Laws of the Universe ; by Laurens P. Hicxox, D.D., Union College
New York, 1 858.—Rational cosmology comes regs ’ within the range
of this Journal, but not the system of Prof. Hickok, which is decidedly
irrational. He claims "6 educe a philosophy of nature from the empty

was defective and had been derived by imperfect reason from
earth. Prof. Alexander of pe has well set forth the eon of the

use it can perceive this unity, that it can therefore as
of a spi the Sang ‘ed the system of laws.
American Association for t dvaneement of

; ak of the Scientific Association was appointed to “a held at Spring:
rof.

commencing with the first Wednesday of August.
ae Alexander of etal is President for the year, and Prof. Ed- |
Hitchcock Vice-Presiden |

Miscellaneous Intelligence, 159

9. Synopsis of the Fresh-water Fishes of the Western Portion of the
Island of Trinidad, W. I.; by Tazoporz Gu. 70 pp. 8vo. H. Bail-
liere, New York City. (From the Annals of the Lyceum of Natural
ran”: New York, Vol. VL)

10. Votes on North American Crustacea, No. I.; by Wm. Srmpson.

48 pp. 8vo, with 1 plate (from ae Annals of the lesen Nat. Hist. of

New York for March, 1858)—We have barely space to announce the

appearance of this first part of a systematic account of North American

‘Crustacea. It commences with the Maioids and closes with the Pagurus
family among the Anomoura.

and present aspect o e ae “O18 pp. Edinburgh, 1859 ~ & C. Black.
. son: Siluria; the History of the oldest fossiliferous rocks and their
foundations, big a brief. sketch of the distribution of gold over the earth, $d edi oat

859.
7 Sr ecaaion The L Lithology of Edinburgh. Edinburgh.
C. M. Tracy: Studies of the Essex Flora; a complete enumeration of all plants
fond wild within the limits of Lous, Mass., and the towns adjoining. 88 pp. 8vo.

a Boston Soo. Nat. Hisr. 1859. wa 17, Birds of aie. eenege:
Dr. H. Bryant.—p. 21, Danie and _ habits f the bird
‘Seagate ge _ Minerals of the gold region of Geo eorgia; C. TZ. 5 23,

s Some n Actinoid hes of the Coast of the United States; Agassiz. —p. 26,
- Diatoms of West Roxbury; C. Stodder.— lix from Maine; Z. J.

33, Menobranchus in the k River; J. Lewis.—p. 34, Note on species of Po-
moti utnam.—p. 38, On the recent eruption of Mauna Loa; . Ly-
m Descriptions of new shells; A. A. Gould.—p. 45, Note on tals

from springs; 0. 7: Jackson.—p. 41, thickness of the earth’s crust; W. B.

‘lackson.

Proceepines Acap. Nat. Sct Paraputrara, 1859, —p. 91, tg of a Mastodon
from Honduras, probably of the same species as the common t 3 also
on Mosasaurus bones from New Jersey; J. Leidy.—p. 93, On the. Yess Nico-

ina ; te Sa nd Ee tt.

“ee ces; C. Gira = al rt of }
exico; 7. C. Henry.—p. 110, Teeth of reptiles and other fossils in the Triassic of
Pennsylvania ; teeth near those of Sau ring and tenet Diplodus from a lo-
thany i i enodus, Otodus and

us, associated with . €. Girard. wi 122,

cies of Unionide; I m= —p. 113, Ichth ol notices; C. bo oa

the primary divisions of the Salamandri D. pe eo eey On Wis g
Callionymus of Authors; 7 Gill.—p. 181, Description = pa
of fishes allied to Hem mnithamphus; 7 Gill—p. 7p. 193, sn of Be

and d
of Hemirhamphine T. Gill.—p. 164, I 0. Girard.
ha te hg Nicklds.

the following w
= ae of Ph Phy in the Scientific Fac-
in, by Logger = ements VoL 1. I, of this remarkable

Mater Tt & Bacuztren Bcmnins of Pais
ally of of Dijon. Wok Vol. ote

160 Miscellaneous Intelligence. a ee

work, which ee a 4 deer to the rd optics, to which Fm Billet has
devoted himse s quite as importa instru wrdick labors of
Thomson, at : aS aed have contributed mai t of ihe mate

Photographic Chemistry, arreswill and Davanne, in 8vo, 2d { edition. — Within
a few years the first edition of this work, announced by us, has been ee pe
eC) *

ss in photography, they have attached great importance to the processes on col-
lodion and on paper, and place d the pecoerrotyPe in the gen Bing

luminium, its nature, manufactu _ , by H. St. Claire peter
in 8vo, 176 pages, with plates.—This seoprta nt has rel mentioned in
communication o e 126. It contains the metic pth of the subject, and
municates many fatergating details. N oS ee that the French government
and private individuals have contributed to searches on aluminium, Deville
informs us that he has sacrificed to it a large po ‘of his personal fortune.

rent was for thirty years professor in the forest school of Nancy; he has trai
many pupils, and some of them are, like himself, devoted to
Scientific Essays, by Victor Meunier, in 12 nos. of 212 pages. ‘Vol. 3d—We ‘hate
already spoken of this work o age science, devoted especially ae ina
and discoveries which have not been made by those who were perly
journal, L’Amis des Sciences, by the sam — or, is devoted
al

Fs
oO
3
om
ba
5
-
a
£.
: +n ams
7 | 2 cole
28433
oO
x
E
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asl
ee

darts,” in which the editor, Dr. srl with great spirit attacks agree
vers of medicine and pharm y, as well as whatever is absurd in porary
Pear
Annals of “te 7 Obsereatory, — by Leverrier. Vol. 4, in 4to. Paris:
Mallet & Bac —This importa a is devoted to the theory and to tables
of the pear pan of the aa iti is en inty from the hand of M. Leverrier,
ho has impressed it wi amp of his 0

Catalytic Force, or Inve ye gee on the 5 a ena of ae, by T. L. Phip
son. A pamphlet in 4to of 34 pages—This work was crowned by the Holland
mo phenomena

Society of Sciences in 1858. e author examines ch care the
ic; he rp: these phenomena on a ground-work of known facts,
he concludes that ts only in name, and that the force known

a pure fiction

ting einen
reyes
¥

Eng byR.F Bartle

Lith. of J Bien, 60 Pinter

a,
ag dS

2%

AMERICAN ’

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS.

[SECOND SERIES.]}

Re a

Art. XVII— Obituary Notices of Brown and Humboldt, Members —
A the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ; from the Report |
_ of the Council of the Academy for 1859. __-

(Proceedings of the Academy, vol. iv, p. 229 et sia)

’ BrYonp the immediate pale of science, and
_ Most devoted cultivators, the association of the nam
_ BoLpt and Brown may seem new and strange;—the

me

It was Humboldt himself who, many
rown ae the appellation of JS aed
inceps ; and the universal consent of botanists ts recognized

firmed the title. However the meed of merit in science
vided between the most profound, and the most
Ctive and prolific minds -between those who divine and those

162 Obituary Notice of Robert Brown.

0 elaborate,—it will probably be conceded by all, that no one
since Linnzus has brought such rare sagacity to bear upon the
structure, and especially upon the ordinal characters and natural
affinities of plants, as did Robert Brown. ‘True, he was fortu-
nate in his time and his opportunities. Men of great genius,
happily, often are, or appear to be, through their power of turn-
ing opportunities to good account. The whole herbaria of Sir
JoseBh Banks, and the great collections which he himself made
around the coast of Australia, in Flinder’s expedition, and which

mon observer must wonder at this general recogni-

tion, during an era of great names and unequalled activity, of a
claim so rarely, and as it were so reluctantly, asserted. For

brief and comparatively few—alas! how much fewer than they
should have been!—are Mr. Brown’s publications. Much the
largest of them is the Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland,

forty-fifth page, and which stopped short at the end of the first
he others are special papers, mostly of small bulk,

devoted to the consideration of a particular plant, or a particular _

group or small collection of plants. But their simple titles
seldom foreshow the full import of their contents. Brown
delighted to rise from a special case to high and wide generali-
zations; and was apt to draw most important and always irre
sistible conclusions from some small, selected data, or particular
icture, which to ordinary apprehension would appear
lequate to the purpose. He had unequalled skill in
leeisiye instances. So all his discoveries, so simply and

eed, and all his notes and ob tions, sedulously

=
ei ie

Obituary Notice of Robert Brown. 163

reduced to the briefest expression, are fertile far beyond the
reader's expectation. Cautious to excess, never su sting a
theory until he had thoroughly weighed all the available objec-
tions to it, and never propounding a view which he did not know
how to prove, perhaps no naturalist ever taught so much in
writing so little, or made so few statements that had to be re-
called, or even recast; and of no one can there be a stronger
regret that he did not publish more.

‘With this character of mind, and while carefully sounding his

_ 21S most compact mode of expression, especially indicated him
for the task. Evidently, his influence upon the progress of Bot-
4 at least more immediate and
_ More conspicuous. Yet, rightly to estimate that influence now,

which coincided with Brown’s career,—and mark how largely the

_ profound, also for an unusually retiring disposition, which even
_ M authorship seems to have rendered him as sedulous to avoid
_ publicity as most writers are to gain it, it must be acknowledge
that his retentiveness was excessive; and that his guarded pub-
shed statements sometimes appear as if intended—like the ana-

grams of the older mathematicians and A retably
But this was |

e

robably
regard for entire accuracy, and his extreme dislike of all parade
of knowledge,—to the same peculiarity which every where led
ih ; at consequence into short

be

fe

164 Obituary Notice of Humboldt.

.

expositor.
But if thus in some sense unjust to himself and to his high
ealling, Brown could never be charged with the slightest injus-
tice to any fellow-laborer. He was scrupulously careful, even
solicitous, of the rights and claims of others; and in tracing
the history of any discovery in which he had himself borne a
sy he was sure to award to each one concerned his full due.
f not always communicative, he was kind and considerate to all.
To adopt the words of one of his intimate associates, ‘‘ those
who knew him as a man will bear unanimous testimony to the
unvarying simplicity, truthfulness, and benevolence of his char-
acter,” as ‘‘the singular uprightness of his judgment.”

The remaining, and the most illustrious name of all,—and one
in its wide renown strongly in contrast with the last,—has only
just now been inscribed upon our obituary list.

The telegraph of the last week brought to us the painful in-
telligence that the patriarch of science, the universal HuMBOLDT,
died at Berlin on the 6th of May. Born in 1769, a year more
— in great men than any equal period of all preceding time,*

umboldt had, before the end of the eighteenth century, exhib-
ited qualities of the very highest order, and obtained a place of
acknowledged celebrity in Europe. This, however, was the mere
prelude to his career, for with the close of that century he com-
menced, with Bonpland, his wonderful exploration of Spanish
America, which continued during five years. This journey must
be considered in all future time as, substantially, the scientific
discovery of Spanish America; and whether we measure its re-
sults by the amount of knowledge through the wide fields of
Astronomy, Geography, Geology, Mineralogy, Meteorology, Z0-
ology, Botany, and Political Economy, or the personal qualities
by which this knowledge was collected and sataned to its place
in the records of science, we cannot hesitate to rank the expedi-
tion amongst the most important and successful ever executed
by man.

On his return to Europe, in 1805, Humboldt was employed
several years in reducing his immense collection of materials to
form for publication. From that time to his death, a period of
almost half a century, he resided (except for a short time, in

__ ® Napoleon, Wellington, Mehemet Ali, Soult, Lannes, Ney, Castlereagh, Cha-
Me an Bie Cuvier, and Humboldt. es sat of Metternich is sometimes en

this list, probably incorrectly. — of Canning certainly does not belong here,
nor that of Mackintosh, nor of Sir Walter Scott—Ebs. ]

Obituary Notice of Humboldt. 165

_. which he made his journey to Northern Asia) in Europe, mostly
in France and Germany. The last twelve or fifteen years of this
great man were principally employed in the production of his
Cosmos,—the crowning labor of his long life, the harvest of his
mature wisdom,—a work that could not have been produced by
any other man, simply because no other man possessed the trea-
sures, or a key to the treasures, of the various knowledge con-
tained in it.

From his return to Europe to his death, he possessed, indis-
putably, the first place amongst philosophers, for the vast extent
of his acquirements. Without doubt, at all times during the

-

166 Arsenic not injurious to Larves of Flies.

21 XVIIL—On the power possessed by the Larves of various

mon Flies of consuming, without apparent injury to them-

rete the flesh of animals vie have died from the effects of
Arsenic; by Frank H. Sro

Read before the Boston Society of Natural History, January 5, 1859.

Some months since my attention was attracted by —
several living maggots upon the liver of a subject in the stom
ach of which I had —— detected the presence of arsenic.
This, eight days after death. As this liver was found, on analy-
sis, to be saturated with arsenic, a number of experiments were
made for the purpose of ascertaining whether the larvee observed
had really been nourished by the poisoned flesh on which they

ere discovered.

Several living rats having been obtained, they were fed with
eake which contained arsenious acid in various quantities, After
eating this they in every case soon died. Their skins having

n removed, the carcasses were exposed in a chamber to which
flies had ive access, In the course of forty-eight hours the
bodies of the rats were thoroughly fly-blown, and were soon

covered by a multitude of larve. Having completel y consumed
the flesh of the rats—leaving the bones bare, as in the specimen
now exhibited to the Society—the maggots concealed themselves
in sheltered corners and were converted into chrysalids in due
course. These results were constant, having been exactly simi-
lar in every instance, me two dozen or less of these chrysa-
lids being subjected to analysis, metallic arsenic was readily ob-
tained from them. It might be thought that this proves nothing

more than that the flesh of the rats contained arsenic, and that,
that obtained rear the shependide: had possibly been mechani-
cally attached to the exterior surfaces of the larvee and not have

‘ been swallowed by them. This view would indeed seem to be
supported by the fact that—as may be seen in the specimen pre-
sented—the surface of the bones from which the flesh has been
a devoured is covered with a white powder which has the
rance of arsenious acid. However this may be, only two
BA ves remain if it is not admitted that the arsenic found
in the chrysalids had really been assimilated by the larve:
either the latter must possess an instinct which leads them to

in which arsenic or other inorganic poison exists when contain
in organic tissues, it seems idle to dwell at greater pn on
this point.

Arsenic not injurious to Larves of Flies. 167

~ ever in a perfect state of preservation, being full of pup, just
, before they were lost. The empty shells of other chrysalids,
_ which had been formed at the same time as the above, were
_ heyertheless found about the room from time to time within the
_ Six weeks following their formation, indicating that some of
_them had been metamorphosed, as the appearances of these
shells were normal and no larve other than those which had
_ fed upon the arsenicated specimens had been admitted to the
_ apartment.

without much success it must be confessed owing to the facility
_ With which animal tissue is hardened by arsenious acid. If bits

matter how dilute the solution may be—the arsenious acid will

his hardening may indeed be somewhat delayed by vrappiag
the flesh in moist cloths, in which ca

covered with a strong solution of it; but these worms never at-
tamed maturity in any of my experiments: they perished for

Tn this case the grabs, an hour or two after leaving
would commence crawling about very rapidly, evide
irritated by the solution with which they were

know how quickly flies themselves are

; ar destroyed by
et being the active ingredient of nearly all the popular

168 Arsenic not injurious to Larves of Flies.

should have perished by scores, as they did while depositing
their eggs upon the poisoned flesh. Im may here observe that the
only reference to this subject which I have been able to find is
the remark of Jaeger (quoted by Orfila, Trait? de Toaicologe,
Paris, 1852, I, 379) that “insects, such as spiders, flies, &c.,
quickly die when arsenious acid in solution is introduced into
their digestive organs applied to their soft exterior parts.
The larvee of flies a a little longer than the insects which have un-
dergone metamo $
It being imposible: to obtain satisfactory results by the method
of experimenting which has just been desc “ote I had:com-
menced another series of experiments upon mall animals, into
the arterial systems of which solutions of arsenic of different
degrees of concentration had been injected soon after death.
ese trials were brought to an abrupt termination by cold
—— and the consequent dieappearence of all flies. The
e difficulties were however experienced here as in the pre-
ot cases ea in a lesser cae the flesh having always
a tendency to become dry and hard. As this hardening did
not take place so rapidly in the injected specimens as where bits
of flesh had been soaked in a solution of arsenious acid, so the
larvee were enabled to attain a much larger size, before drying
_ up, than in the previous instances. Indeed in several cases
where favorable, moist positions had been secured, they lived
for three or four days, becoming quite large and evidently almost
ready to pass into the chrysalid state. This, upon the body of
a rat weighing seven and a half ounces, into which four and a
alf 8 aaa of arsenious acid in aqueous solution had been in-
ject
In order to avoid the esha influence of arsenious acid,
solutions of arsenic acid—an eminently hygroscopic eon
—were resorted to, but from having been used in too concen-
trated a state, the larvae were destro ed, in the course of, a few
hours after birth, from contact with the solution which had
out upon ‘the surface of the flesh; showing clearly, as
with arsenious acid, om there i is a limit to the amount of arsenic
which these larvee can s
It is probable faded that in every case the harmlessness of
the poison eee <8 on its being so much diluted that it

can oe me ce rec any flesh into which arsenic has

been carri no Bs A view which is certainly

soggy 8 one oy the fact t of finding them upon the arsenl-

human liver, an veka ae as is well known, is suscep-
poison.

thle of — @ particular. ly large quantity of this

a i i ie

Pee ae ee Ww

se So

Arsenic not injurious to Larves of Flies. 169

thoroughly injected with a solution of arsenic acid, havin bes
mat yerionlly thrown aside and left unnoticed Le een days

his matter is one of some importance ene occupied
with judicial sari oaticnae who must not infer that a fly-blown
organ can contain no arsenic; and is especially interesting from
the fact that several authors have urged that the attention of

which they found, from having observed that the flies which
fed upon ei suspected organs soon perishe

But the subject is also, as it seems to me, worthy the attention
of this society, as affording another indication of the great dif-
ferences which exist between animals in their several coitons
of metamorphosis* and of the caution with whic expe
ments upon the action of remedies or poisons on animals of any
one species should be received when brought forward as indica-
tions of what that action will be upon other animals,

* IT cannot refrain, more ing attention to its obvio

: over, from calling atter : vious bearing upot
the important practical question of the destruction of insects hh ta to vegeta-
: ; insects besides

phor, for
hes-moth, an d its” a is

P ¢ clot
doubtless aiplegeane' to, Pe ost k not Abeotataly doptriviive of, tat insect pee
terfly sta

in its but-
te; but, as is well known, while it remains a worm it can feed with impu-

__ hity upon woolen stuffs, no matter how thickly they may be strewn with —
_ In like manner the larvze of Dermestes and Anthreni, a as prov ved by the experiments

_ of Dr. Cabot (Proc. Bost. Soc. of Nat. ae vii, 5), can consume bird-skins which
4 have been soaked in strong solutions of e or ina rope hot

of arsenious acid, age they will not vouch «pete ehh On

dipped in an alcoholic solu tion of strychnine.

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. £0,-SEPT; a
22 oe Fi fee ore pe

170 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

Art. XIX.—On some Reactions of the Salis of Lime and Magne-
sia, and on the Formation of Gypsums and Magnesian Rocks ;
by T. Srerry Hunt, F.B.S., of the Geol. Survey of Canada.*

THE importance, in a geological point of view, of gypsum and
of the carbonates of lime and magnesia in the forms of limestone,
dolomite and magnesite, has led me to make a series of re-
searches, whose results serve to explain many things hitherto
obscure in the history of these substances. I propose in the
present paper to describe, in the first place, certain chemical re-
actions of the salts of lime and magnesia; and, secondly, to con-
sider the principal facts in the history of gypsums, and magnesian
rocks, and the theory of their formation,

lL
On the action of solutions of bicarbonate of soda on salts of lime
and magnesia,

1. In studying some years since the geological relations of alka-
line mineral waters I found that by the action of a solution of
carbonate of soda, a partial separation of the salts of lime from
magnesia could be effected. Subsequent experiments, made with
dilute solutions of bicarbonate of soda, have led me to the follow-
ing results.

If to a solution containing besides common salt the chlorids
of calcium and magnesium in the proportion of one equivalent
of each, we add a solution of bicarbonate of soda in water satu-
rated with carbonic acid, there separates a gelatinous precipitate,
which very soon becomes crystalline. Collected and ‘washed

to equal 2°20, 2°00, and 1:23 per cent. The proportion of sepa-
cies L i" oe salts

r nated in the solution, which now gave no further preci-
itate with bicarbonate of soda, but yielded by evaporation to
; , 2 granular residue of hydrated carbonate of
with very little lime. In this way, a litre of the solution gave
"19 grams of carbonate of magnesia, (MgO, CO:) and only 0°14
grm. of carbonate of lime, while the soluble portion still retai
in the form of chlorid, 1-176 grms. of magnesia, but no lime.
* The — — oe —— this paper, or ecg neg
‘sec aye appeared i rt S ; Canada >
the others of this section, together with dues of the th se scomni
fir May. toen weiee, ean ar th \shaloal 6 section
aay, y . 8) e 0 in
ready teen published in the Baport of the Surrey but are fow for the first

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 171

50°7 of hydrated chlorid of magnesium, and 10:0 grms, of hydrated
sulphate of soda, the three chlorids being in the proportion of

hours there had separated a crystalline precipitate, weighing
‘288 grms., and consisting of carbonate of lime with only 2°6 p.c.

between dolomite and

ut 125° F. De
ind that solutions of bicar-
te of magnesia decompose chlorid of calcium in the cold, or

at temperatures below 212° F. with precipitation of nearly pure
carbonate of lin although th assertion of the latter, that sul-
phate of lime decom by the same agent, 1s, as I sh

172 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

presently show, not quite correct. The power of decomposing
sum appears to belong only to solutions containing monocar-
bonate of magnesia
6. When a portion of moist recently precipitated hydro-
satiate of magnesia is added to a solution of bicarbonate of
lime, it is immediately dissolved, but the saan solution
soon becomes turbid from separation of carbonate of lime. A
similar reaction is produced by carbonate of soda, which precipi-
tates carbonate of lime from a solution of the bicarbonate.
7. The preceding experiments show a remarkable degree of
solubility in recently formed bicarbonate of lime; the liquid in
§ 4 deposited je eet an amount of carbonate of lime
equal is 9: 6 ms. per litre; and if we add, as in $2, 0°8 grms. for
the amount of carbonate remaining in solution, we shall have
8-4 grms. of carbonate of lime held for a time dissolved as bicar-
bonate in a litre of saline water, at the ordinary pressure of the
atmosphere ; the experiment detailed in § 3, indicates a solubility
at least as great.
Boutron and ect by treating lime-water with carbonic acid,
obtained supers urated solutions holding 2°3 grms. of carbonate
ina litre, but the half of this was soon deposited, and they found
that a litre of water charged with carbonic acid, under a pres-
sure of several atmospheres, cannot retain more than 1°16 grms
of carbonate of lime in permanent solution. We have seen in
§ 2, that a saline solution retains after some hours exposure, 0°805
a of carbonate. In other trials I have found 0-838 and 0° 915

Be iecoun on uae te of magnesia shiny times greater than
eee by Bischof. In § 1 we have seen that a ne gene ve
containing at the same time chlorids of sodium and

- Maay hold dissolyed as bicarbonate 4:19 grms, sPedsbeiile opine

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 178

nesia; and by adding known quantities of carbonate of soda to
asolution of chlorid of magnesium and passing a current of
lagers acid through the mixture, I have found it easy to ob-
n permanent solutions, containing not less than 21:0 grms. of
Sabhiien vichinnes of magnesia ina litre. Bineau, by prolonging for
several days the action of carbonic acid, obtained a solution
which contained in a litre 11-2 grms. of magnesia (equal to 23°5
rs. of magnesian ee combined with very nearly two
cE Meriben of carbonic
observations of i. “Rhos and of Longchamp, show that
the presence of alkaline chloride, sulphates or carbonates, as well
magnesian salts, increases the solubility of carbonate of
st grienin in water. This may explain the great difference
tween the determination of Bischof, in which all foreign salts
were excluded from the solution, and the experiments of Bineau
and myself, with solutions which always a salts of soda
or magnesia. That the presence of such salts does not, on the
renee eso the solubility of shasta of lime, is appa-
rent

nesia, with sufficient muisiaie cid a form sorpcoirmcr ai dapat
Such solutions, whet transferred to closed vessels, were sponta-
decomposed, hydrated carbonate of magnesia separatin
while a bicarbonate remained in solution—(Ann. de Chim. et
vt , [8], li, 802.)
sim decomposition of the gen os of mag-
ocarbonate and bicarbonate i is ase ae

Plautagenct ring was left to erepetate in an open basin in
mmer, spin volume was to one-fifth, The
ler solution was iain decanted from a os orig gore of sae

_ t0.0°772 grms, of carbonate of magnesia to a litre of
a trated er which contained 1 no a bat iulteadiace of bicar-
bonate and ehlorid of r sium the separation of the

174 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,
I.

On the reaction et solutions of bicarbonate ed lime and the
sulphates of soda and magnesia

10. If to a solution of bicarbonate of lime we add a portion
of sulphate of soda or sulphate of magnesia, there are form
by double decomposition, bicarbonate of soda or bicarbonate of
magnesia and sulphate of =m which latter salt may be precipi-
tated by the addition of alco

and washed with dilute alcohol. It was completely soluble in
water, but was again throw n down by alcohol, with the addition

weighing, when ignited, 0-428 grms., which corresponds to 0°9
grms. of carbonate of lime to the litre
ML 400 c. Cc. of the same solution of bicarbonate of lime were

12. 5002 c.c, of a recent solution of eee: of lime with
20 grms. of hydrated sulphate of soda and an equal volume of
alcohol, gave a precipitate of gypsum, which when dissolved in
water and reprecipitated as in $10, gave 0°570 of sulphate of
lime, equal to ‘838 grm. of carbonate of lime toa litre. The alka
line filtrate was evaporated to dryness, the residue redissol st
and precipitated at a boiling heat by a dilute solution of chlorid
of calcium. The carbonate of lime thus obtained was free from
sulphate, and concen to -445 grm. of carbonate of soda;
pera pan mands 442.

13. In consequence of this formation of gypsum, the solubili
of carbonate of lime in carbonic acid ease is, as I have found
very much increased by the presence of sulphate of soda, or
phate of magnesia. To a little more than 200c. ¢. of lime-water
“— added 4-0 grms. of sulphate of soda, and a stream of carefully

ashed carbonic acid gas was then passed through the liquid for
ag hours, at the end of which time the solution of the earbon-
lime was nearly complete. On the addition of an equal

a Se

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 175

sulphate of lime, equal to about 2°0 grms. of carbonate of lime to
a litre e carbonate of soda in the alkaline filtrate was found,
by the indirect method of § 12, equal to 434 grm.; theory re-
quires °432.

14. In another experiment, a dilute solution of sulphate of
soda was treated with an excess of bicarbonate of lime, in order
to determine whether it were possible to decompose completely
the soda-salt by this means. After throwing down the gypsum
by alcohol, the residue contained for a litre 1-080 of carbonate
and 0°520 of sulphate of soda.

15. 250 c. c. of water, containing ten grams of hydrated sulphate
of soda, and two grams of pure carbonate of lime, were exposed
for an hour and a half to a current of carbonic acid gas, and the
solution was then left for four hours in a covered flask, after
which 150 c.c. of the clear liquid were mixed with an equal
volume of absolute alcohol. A copious precipitate was formed,
which, after twelve hours, was collected ; it was completely solu-
ble in 200 c. c. of water, from which alcohol threw down ‘343 grms.
of sulphate of lime, besides a farther portion of °020 grs. from
the evaporated filtrate, making a total of 863 grs., equal to 2-420
grs. of sulphate of lime to the litre.

. c.¢. of a similar solution to the last, gave with alco-
hol, a precipitate of gypsum, which was readily soluble in water,
and being thrown down as oxalate, gave an amount of carbonate
-. lime equal to 1-820 grms. to the litre, or 2-475 of sulphate of

é.

17. A current of carbonic acid gas was passed for an hour

_ and a quarter through a solution containing sulphate of magne-
_ §la and carbonate of lime. The filtered liquid remained transpa-
‘Tent many hours exposure to the air; but 200 c.c. of it
gave with alcohol a precipitate of gypsum, which was collected

_ after twelve hours and was completely soluble in water, from

# Which solution the lime was thrown down as oxalate, giving an
ig %mount of carbonate equal to 1565 grms. or to 2°128 grms. of sul-
_ phate of lime to the litre. The alcoholic filtrate by evaporation

__ to dryness over a water-bath, gave a little carbonate of lime, and

_ &0 amount of carbonate of magnesia equal to 1:100 grms. to the

_ tre; theory requires 1-312, but it is difficult to separate in this

4 es whole of the carbonate of magnesia from an excess of

q or m
liquids

hey are ‘wendy saturated solutions. The
in $15, §16 and § 17, give respectively one

176 On some Reactions of the Salis of Lime and Magnesia,

par
prepared gypsum, with distilled water, at 60° F. The lime was
thrown down as oxala ate, and indicated one part of sulphate of
lime to 483 parts of water. Another portion of the same aye
tion was evaporated at a gentle heat until crystals of gypsu
separated, and the clear saturated ease decanted from ae

erystals after twelve hours of re pos 60° F., contained one
part of sulphate of lime for 372 ee of a which approaches
closely to the determination of

In a late paper, by ae on the earthy carbonates
already cited (Ann. de Chim. et de Phys., [3] li., nae), the author
refers to a memoir of Mr. E. Marcha nd, who ts that a day
of water may hold dissolved as bicarbonate, Ton 42 Dp
carbonate of lime, and that sulphate of lime and alkaline biearbon-

ay co- -exist in natural waters. These statements are con

“Se though as will now be shown um may be ary
talli

Tess soluble salt than e um, or the carbonate of magnesia,
would be deposited. I have Guint: eth ak from such 4
solution under these conditions, tes, while bicar-
bonate of magnesia remains in so. ee aa ae sulphate of a
nesia speed | in the following experiments was care:
and contained no traces of lime or free acid; its Aes
gon did not alter the color of curcuma, but slowly restored that
of e carbonic acid employed was evolved
from limestone a iccchioie acid, and carefully washed, so that
its solution was not troubled by nitrate of silver.
‘To 500 c.¢, of water were einen twelve grams of sulphate of
magnesia and half a gram of precipitated carbonate of lime, and

178 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

ing ‘154 of sulphate of lime, with some carbonate of lime and a
trace only of magnesia.

A solution of five grams of sulphate of magnesia was mingled
with a portion of solution of bicarbonate of lime, and evaporated
at 160°-180° F., further portions of the latter, amounting in all
to 300 c. c. being added as the evaporation went on. There was
deposited a mixture of carbonate of lime, with crystalline gypsum
equal to 373 grm. of sulphate of lime to the litre.

23. It will be remarked, that while the recent solution con-
taining gypsum and carbonate of magnesia with excess of car-

bonic acid is neutral to cureuma and ma oiled for some
minutes before a precipitate of carbonate appears, the liquid
from which gypsum has n deposited by evaporation is

it deposits in a few hours, especially if gently warmed, a crystal-
line precipitate of carbonate of lime, resulting from the decom-
position of the sulphate of lime by the carbonate of magnesia.

The hate of magnesia retains the carbonate of magnesia in
solution in such a manner that the latter is not rendered com-
pletely insoluble, even when the liquid is evaporated to dryness
over a water-bath. Hence the deficiency observed in the deter-
minations of carbonate of magnesia in $17, § 21 and § 22, where
a large proportion of sulphate was present. The filtrate from
the carbonate in these cases is still alkaline, and gives wi
nitrates of silver and copper, precipitates of carbonates.

24, In the Sse experiments all salts, other than those
concerned in the reaction, were excluded, but similar results are
obtained in the presence of sea-salt and chlorid of magnesium.
Twenty grams of pure chlorid of sodium, and ten grams of sul-
phate of magnesia, with a portion of carbonate of lime, were
added to 800 c. c. of water, and the solution saturated with car-
bonic acid gas. Of this liquid 400 c. ¢. were evaporated at 160°-
180° F., until sea-salt separated, and gave -045 grm. of sulphate
of lime, mixed with -291 of carbonate.

_ Ten grams of chlorid of sodium, and twenty grams of crystal-
lized chlorid of magnesium were added to 600 c. c. of solution of
bicarbonate of lime, containing two grams of sulphate of magne-
sia; 300 ¢.¢. of this solution were now evaporated at 160°-
180° F., until crystals of sea-salt appeared; there were obtained
057 grm. of sulphate of lime.
25. A sai solution of one part of sea-salt and two parts
ef sulphate of magnesia was exposed to a cold of 82° F., when ® —
large amount of sulphate of soda separated. The mother liquor,
containing besides some sea-salt and sulphate of magnesia, ®

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 179

obtained. It did not effervesce with hydrochloric acid, and was
; The saline liquid by evap- |
nesia,

ings, and t D :
_ when treated with hhydndohioes acid, left crystalline grains of
gypsum.

_ 26. In the foregoing experiments it is not easy to separate the

“ae with the alkaline filtrate in which we wish to determine

this salt. As a solution of magnesian carbonate which has lost
__ its excess of carbonic acid by evaporation is incompatible with —

ta
su

180, On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

bonate of strontia. The first contained some sulphate, with a
large proportion of carbonate of soda, and the second, whic
gave no trace of dissolved strontia, let fall by boiling a copious
precipitate of magnesian carbonate.

An analogous reaction between the sulphates of iron and zinc
and bicarbonate of lime, resulting in the production of gypsum
and carbonates of zinc and iron, has already been suggested by
Monheim to explain the association of these minerals in a modern
deposit from the waters of a mine. The experiments of Bischof
have established the fact of such a decomposition for the sulphate
of copper, as well as for the sulphates of zinc, and protoxyd of
iron.—(Lehrbuch, ii, 1198-1202.)

II,
On the formation of the double carbonate of lime and magnesia.

Karsten long since observed that dilute acetic acid, at tempera-
tures below 82° F., readily dissolves carbonate of lime, but is

.

limits of error in Karsten’s process,

poupsaies carbonate of
ively effervescence, even when farther diluted. A pure crys

mite

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 181

of magnesia, equal to 8°63 p.c. of dolomite, oonmey oe 43°5 p.c.
of magnesian carbonate). At a temperature of 60° F., the same
acid caused a slow but continued lancaatiaans of gas bubbles
from the powdered dolomite, which after 30 hours lost 28-0 p. c.
of its weight, the dissolved portion containing 45°0 p. c. of car-
bonate of magnesia. At 120° F. the action of the acid upon the
powdered dolomite was Be with gentle effervescence,
and the amount dissolved after two hours digestion, was 13° 6
per cent.

A white crystalline aly from Styria, whose only impu-
rity was a portion of carbonate of iron “ae ual to 0°9 p. c. of per-
oxyd, and which was slowly but completely soluble in hot hy-
drochloric acid, was also slightly attacked by dilute acetic acid

at 60° F.; after twelve hours digestion there were dissolved 0°63
‘ c. of the carbonate. At 125° F. however a distinct efferves-
cence was produced with the acid, and “ the end of three hours
11-0 p. c. of the magnesite were dissolv

From these experiments it was evident that although not insol-
uble in acetic acid of 15-0 p.c. at 82° F., this liquid might serve
to separate dolomite from carbonate of lime, and also at a higher
maperere to effect a partial separation of dolomite from mag-

“30, “The insolubility of the acca ne ser of lime and
magnesia in carbonic acid water important fact in the
history of dolomite. Bischof Suns eur on the prolonged action
of a solution of carbonic acid upon a limestone containing 11°54
p. c. of magnesian carbonate, anees were dissolved 4:29 p. c.
Achsonte of lime and not a trace of nh EVES In like manner -
& manganesian iron-spar, which contained 14:0 p. c. of carbonate
of lime and 15:0 p. ¢. of carbonate of magnesia, gave to carbonic
acid water four parts of carbonate of lime for one part of magne-
~ ee onaie —(Lehrbuch, ii, 1176.

1. Accepting the idea that dolomites have been formed by
the e alteration of beds of carbonate of lime, hail long
Suggested that a solution of sulphate of magnesia at

gh. temperature might produce this change, giving rise ee
deable decom: sition to. carbonate of magnesia 8 and s ues of

ha:iectee:to- bate , regarded as forming with the excess

of carbonate of lime a double earbonate—(Liebig and Kopp,

182 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

Jahresbericht, 1848, ii, 500). Desirous of verifying this observa-
tion I have repeated the experiment of von Morlot, but have
found that although the sulphate of magnesia is indeed com-
pletely converted into carbonate, this remains for the most part
in the form of magnesite mechanically intermixed with the
excess of carbonate of lime, which may be separated by the aid
of dilute acetic acid.

. arts of pure precipitated carbonate of lime (two equi-
valents) and 123 parts of crystalized sulphate of magnesia (one
equivalent) were intimately mingled and exposed in sealed glass
tubes for six hours to a temperature of 392° F. (200° C.) The
resulting white tasteless mass was treated with cold dilute acetic
acid which immediately caused a strong effervescence. en
this action had subsided the residue was washed with cold water

ing. The above experiment was however repeated with the ad-
dition of a portion of water, but with the same result as before ;
the carbonates not dissolved by acetic acid consisted of -242 of
carbonate of magnesia and ‘008 of carbonate of lime.

33. The experiments of de Senarmont have shown that when
carbonate of nee is formed at a temperature of 150°-175° C.
by the reaction between solutions of sulphate of magnesia and
carbonate of soda, or by the decomposition of a solution of bi-
carbonate of magnesia, it separates as a crystalline powder spat-

ly soluble in acids and apparently identical with magnesite.
—Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. fay, xxi, 148. It is evident from

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 183

the results just detailed that a similar result takes place when
carbonate of lime is substituted for the carbonate of soda, the
carbonate of magnesia formed in the presence of an excess of
carbonate of lime retaining only three or four per cent of this
carbonate,

34. According to Marignac, when carbonate of lime is heated
in sealed tubes with a solution of chlorid of magnesium to 200° C.

ter was removed from the tubes, washed, dried, and treated
with dilute acetic acid, which caused a violent effervescence; as
soon as this had subsided, the filtrate, which contained a large
excess of acid and still attacked carbonate of lime with energy,
was separated by filtration from the undissolved residue which
was but little more than one-fifth of the whole. The dissolved
portion ¢
gn.

silicate, by dou!
cate of in. A
carbonate of soda ha’ been

© greater part of
hydrated silicate insoluble in acetic
digestion with hy
onl ¢ trace of lime, and left

\' ity to determine its
When ¢ ast : ermine i
in a cop;

iors sere Nicstes by the reac-
1 as I have elsewhere shown plays a most import-
f sedimentary rocks,—Proc. Society, and

Teaults of 8 series of researches
speci aceea

i.

184 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

acid of 15 p.c. at 60° F. No action was apparent even after
some minutes, but with a heat of 120° F. a gentle effervescence
ensued. When this ceased there remained a flocculent residue
equal to 15°7 p. c., and the undissolved portion gave carbonate
of lime 37°6, carbonate of magnesia 62°

rtion of ‘500 grm. of the same carbonates was now diges-
ted with diliste acetic acid at 60° F. for several hou The
soluble portion contained carbonate of lime 40-0, and pera
of magnesia 60-0, while the undissolved residue equalled 22-4
p- t effervesced freely with warm somewhat dilute hydro-
chloric acid and left a silicious residue of ‘032 grm., while the pe
solved portion gave ‘007 of carbonate of lime and ‘060 o
bonate of magnesia.

6. In another experiment with carbonate of lime and chlorid
of magnesium, the . of carbonates as extracted from the
tubes contained 24-4 magnesian carbonate. This was
treated with acetic acid v ‘60° F., and the digestion continued, for

senna omic g y 23°6 per cent. These experiments
eit double

70 p. ¢ c. of carbonate of lime, are mixtures of a double pas
ate of lime and magnesia with a less soluble carbonate of magne-
sian, from which the double salt may be partially separated ms
the prolonged action of acetic acid at ordinary temperatures, a5

own in § 35.

37. In the experiments § 384 and §36 it appears that the car-
bonate of magnesia unites, at the moment of its formation, with 4
portion of carbonate of lime to form the double carbonate. It re-

Mained to be seen whether mixtures of the two carbonates would
combine directly, and experiments were made with the Styrian
Ww

C. with a dilute solution of chlorid of calcium. No combination

took place, and the carbonate of lime was afterwards completely
removed from the magnesite by cold dilute acetic aci

ae dense insoluble magnesite, as might be conjectured from

its occurrence in the products of the previous experiments, eX

hb none of wnat aptitude to combine with carbonate of lime

which seems a the newly formed magnesian car

to this sparingly soluble condition, 4

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 185

change as we have seen in the experiments of de Senarmont
(§ 83) takes place at from 155° to 175° C. The hydrated carbon-
ates of magnesia formed at low temperatures and readily soluble
in dilute acids, are in like manner, when heated under pressure,
to prevent the loss of carbonic acid, converted into magnesite;
if under these conditions carbonate of lime be present the two
combine to form a double salt, possessing the chemical characters
of dolomite.*

88. In his researches on the double carbonates, H. Deville has
described an anhydrous crystalline salt composed of one equiva-
lent each of the carbonates of magnesia and soda. This double
carbonate is insoluble in cold water, but readily dissolves in
acetic acid. When itis heated with a solution of chlorid of mag-
nesium in sealed tubes to 200° C. chlorid of sodium and spar-

4 ingly soluble magnesite are obtained. When warmed with a
_ solution of chlorid of calcium this double carbonate is decom-

and soda were added to two ie of chlorid of calcium dissolved

»f carbonates, of which the carbonate of lime
The undissolved portion esced.
from a consideration of the den
n to. a com

Spars, that supposing them to possess
resent calcite by 15(CoM p00) while dolomi
Magnesite and carbonate of zine (smit)

€al

186 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia.

hydrochloric acid, which dissolved ‘178 of carbonates con-
taining only 12°8 p. c. of carbonate of lime, leaving ‘116 grm. of

insoluble silicious residue.
40. In a repetition of the above experiments the carbonates
were treated with acetic acid at 32° F. till effervescence ceased, and
of the remaining double carbonate was digested for

the alkaline carbonate in another. In another experiment, a
mixture of ter-hydrated carbonate of magnesia and carbonate of
lime with water and carbonate of soda, was employed. All o
these were heated in metallic tubes to from 130° to 200° C. and
the products digested for a long time with acetic acid at 60° F.

ese experiments were made at a time when I had not deter-

of
omg in the boiler of a steam engine to a temperature of from
20° to 180° C. for several hours every day danny ten weeks.
The washed residue was then digested with acetic acid only until
effervescence ceased ; after which it was completely soluble in hy-
drochlorie es and gave carbonate of lime 46:3, carbonate
ite Be

nesia, whether (1) as magnesia alba in presence of excess of cat-
bonic acid, from bicarbonate of soda, or (2) a ter-hydrated carbon-

of magnesia, or (4) by carbonate of lime from a solution of chlo-
rid of page at an elevated temperature, or (5) as separa

from the double carbonate of magnesia and soda by a solution of
chlorid of calcium, will in the presence of water unite directly
with carbonate of lime to form a double carbonate of lime and

Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan. 187

maghesia, sparingly soluble in cold dilute acetic acid. This com-
bination takes place between 180° and 200° C., at which —
atures the magnesian carbonate tends to pass into the still less
soluble state of magnesite, in which, as we have shown, it no
longer shows any disposition to unite with carbonate of lime.
Hence it happens that in all our experiments a ion of magne-
site is mingled with the dolomite, and cannot be completely sepa-
rated from it. Dilute acids slowly attack both, but unequally, so
that we finally obtain a residue which contains carbonate of
magnesia free from lime: but the solution having taken up a
portion of magnesite, contains more magnesia than is required to
form a dolomite with the carbonate of lime; so that we have
from 53-0 to 60:0 p. ¢. of magnesian carbonate instead of 45-0 as
in pure dolomite. In nature the combination of the two carbon-
ates has doubtless taken place slowly, and necessarily at the
lowest temperature, which is probably much below 130° €., so
that we may suppose that it is only in the absence of a sufficient

- quantity of carbonate of lime that a portion of the magnesian
_ ¢arbonate has been converted into magnesite.

(To be concluded in the next No.)

Art. XX.—Eextract from the concluding part of a Memoir on the
Botany of Japan, in its Relations to that of North America, and
of other parts of the Northern Temperate Zone; by ASA GRay.*

orth America, 134; in Baiegeaa ae

the 580 Japanese entries, there are os stemigiee

pean representatives, a little above 8.48 per cent of identical species, 0.
estern N. Ameri, 2 righ ge" S oe «090
Eastern American representati sae SS age 4

law ‘xtracted from the Memoirs of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
Series, yol, yi,

188 Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan,

So geographical continuity favors the extension of identical
species; but still Eastern North America has more in common
with Japan than Western North America has.

The relations of this kind between the floras of Japan and of
Europe are obvious enough ; and the identical species are mostly
such as extend continuously—as they readily may—throughout
Russian Asia, some few only to the eastern oatifande of Euro
but most of them to its western borders. To exhibit more dis-
tinctly the features of identity between the floras of Japan and of
North America, and also the manner in which these are distrib-

(rhioh is scent the same ee in the present view), whic ‘are
unknown in Europe,—I will enumerate the remaining peculiar
species which Japan possesses in common with America :—

In W.N. America. In E. N. America.

one Pennsylvanica A. Pennsylvanica
(Coptis a eaposibolia one C. asplenifolia
(Trautvetteria palm T. palmata T. palmata
Caulophyllum Dhaticerciden C. thalictroides
Diphylleia cymosa :
Brasenia peltata [B, peltata] B. peltata
Geranium erianthum ~ G. erianthum
Rhns Toxicodendron R. Toxicod., var. R. Toxicodendron
Vitis Labrusca (Thunb.) abrusca
Thermopsis fabacea T. fabacea
Prunus Virginiana ? P. Virginiana
Spirea betulzefolia 8. betulzfolia 8. betulzefolia
Photinia arbutifolia, in Bonin. P. arbutifolia
Pyrus rivularis ? P. rivularis
Ribes laxiflorum R, laxiflorum
(Penthorum sedoides, oe P. sedoides
Cryptotenia Canaden C. Canadensis
Heracleum lanatum H. lanatum H. lanatum
(Archemora rigida ? . Tigida
(Archangelica Gmelini) A. Gmelini A. Gmelini
Cymopterus littoralis ? C, littoralis
Osmorrhiza longistylis O. longistylis O. longistylis
Echinopanax horridus E. horridus
Aralia quinquefolia A. om a
Cornus Canadensis C, Canadensis CC. Citas
Viburnum plicatum Vv. ern o esiae

* Achillea Sibirica *A. Sibirica

in its relations to that of North America. 189

In Japan. In W. N. America. In E. N. America.
- (Asarum Canadense ?) A, Canadense
*Polygonum Bistorta . Bistorta
umex persicarioides R. persicarioides R. persicarioides
Liparis liliifolia L. liliifolia
Pogonia ophioglossoides P. ophioglossoides
Tris setosa I. setosa
Trillium erectum, var. T. erectum
(Smilacina trifolia) 8. trifolia
Polygonatum giganteum P. giganteum
(Streptopus roseus) S. roseus 8. roseus
Veratr iri V. viride V. viride
Juncus xiphioides J. xiphioides
(Cyperus Iria) C. Iria
Carex rostrata C. rostrata
Carex stipata C. stipata C. stipata
arex macrocephala C. macrocephala
Sporobolus elongatus elongatus 8. elongatus
Agrostis scabra scrabra scabra
Festuca pauciflora F. pauciflora
Adiantum pedatum A, pedatum A. pedatum
Onoclea sensibilis O. sensibilis
Osmunda cinnamomea O, cinnamomea
Lycopodium lucidulum L. lucidulum

(Lycopodium dendroideum) L. dendroideum L. dendroideum
species

The na: theses are of species which I
have not seen from Japan; some of them inhabit the adjacent

Euonymus latifolius, Fagus sylvatica, Blechnum Spicant,
Faleriana dioiea, ’ Streptopus amplesifolius, Athyrium foutanum.
Two of age inde

American
the northwest coast of

in Europe, twenty are of extra-European genera ; seven-

190 _ Prof. Gray on the Botany of =

adjacent; one is “8 ei to our northwest coast and Japan ;

cepted) to the Atlantic United States and Japan. Add to these
the similar cases of other American pone (nearly all of them

eculiarly Atlantic-American) which have been detected in the
Fimal or in Northern Asia,—such as Sree oe
dense Des

demands ai planati io
might be made yet stronger by reckoning some
subgeneric types as equivalent to generic in the present view,
and by distinguishing those species or genera which barely enter
oe eastern borders of Europe; e. g. avi de a Mehringa
teriflora, Geum strictum, ‘treed salicifolia, &
“i will be yet more strengthened, and the Shiv tis conclusion
ill become irresistible, when we take the nearly allied, as well
as the identical, species into account. And also when we con-
sider that, after excluding the identical aah Sth 15 per cent
of the entries in the European column of the detailed tabular
view are in italic type (i. e. are closely idtiaBersticon oe Japanese
species); while there are 22 per cent of this character in the
American column.
For the latter, I need only advert to some instances of such
close representation, as of

Trollius patulus by T. Americanus,
Aquilegia Burgeriana ze A. Ca octiagas
Rhus vernicifera & R. venena
Celastras scandens - oe becca
Negundo cissifolium - NV. aceroides,
Sophora Japonica . S. affinis,
Sanquisorba tenuifolia . S. Ce

Astilbe Thunbergii & Japonica = A, decandra,
Mitchella undulata -

Hamamelis Japonica . H. otis
Cle inervis 24 C. acuminata,
Rododendron brachycarpum sh Z Canpbiaies
Amsonia elliptica = Tabernemontana,

ururus 4 * S. cernuus,

and many others of the same sort,—several of which, when
better known, may yet prove to be conspecific; while an equally

*

in its relations to that of North America. 191

Hedera, Asperula, Rubia, Carpesium, Ligularia, Lampsana, Picris,
Pederota, Ajuga, Thymus, Nepeta, Lamium, Ligustrum, Kochia?
phne, Thesium, Bucus, Mercurialis, Cephalanthera, Paris, As-
paragus,—to which may as well be added Peonta and Bupleurum,
the former having a representative on the mountains, and the
latter in the arctic regions, of Western America, but both absent
from the rest of our continent. Excepting Pederota and
(the latter a rather doubtful native of Eastern Asia), none of
these genera are peculiar to Europe, but all extend throughout
Asia and elsewhere over large parts of the world.
The following incomplete list of North American genera or pe-
culiar subgeneric types represented in Japan and its vicinity, but
unknown in Europe, presents a very different appearance. Those
ce s absent from the flora of Western North America are
laneised,

oe rillium —

SaRIEY Philadelphus — Asarum § Heterotropa
Cimicifuga (barely reaches Penthorum Phytolacca
Europe) ammelis Benzoin & Sassafras ?
Iilicium Liquidambar -Tetranthera
agnolia ryptoteenia
Cocculus é Menispermum Cymopterus? Pachysandra
Mahonia Archemora Laportea
Caulophyllum :
Diphylleia Aralia & § Ginseng Bochmeria
Braseni Echinopanax Microptelea
Nelumbium Diervilla Maclura
Dicen Mitchel Juglans
Stuartia (& Gordonia?) Oldenlandia Abies § Tsuga
Zanthozylum (Siegesbeckia, in Mexico) Chamzecyparis
Cissus Cacalai (reaches E.Europe) Torreya
Ampelopsis Gaultheria rise
Berchemia Leucothoé retio
2 Asculus ieris -ogonia
4 sx pindus Clethra Arethusa
4 eames ‘ Menziesia :
q Sympl letris
Pvc ard

treptopus § Hekorima,
Jhameelirium ?

QROYAb
3
5

192 Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan,

Photonia Leptandra Sporobolus
Astilbe Callicarpa Arundinaria
Mitella © Cedronella Adiantum
Hydrangea Amsonia Onoclea
Ltea

Here are about 90 extra-Huropean genera or forms, 64 of
which are absent from Western North America out of the trop-
ies (the latter comprising a very large part of the most striking
representative species), and almost as many more are divided
between North America and extra-tropical (chiefly Northern and
Eastern) Asia. About 40 of the latter are genera or groups of
single, or else of two or few closely related species, peculiar, or
nearly peculiar, to the regions just mentioned.

This list should be supplemented by those additional North
American genera which have one or more closely representative
species in the Himalayan region only, such as Podophyllum, Py-
rularia, &c.; and also by the numerous cases in which Eastern
American plants are represented in the Himalayo-Japanese
region by strikingly cognate, although not congeneric species;
such as our Macrotys by Pityrosperma; Schizandra by Kadsura
and Spherostema ; Neviusia by Kerria and Rhodotypus ; Calycan-
thus by Chimonanthus; Cornus florida by Benthamia ; Prosariés

(vol. xxii, second series) ; where I had noticed the facts,—1. that
a large percentage of our extra-European types are shared w!
Eastern Asia; and 2, that no small part of these are unknown
in Western North America. But Mtr Bentham was first to
state the natural conclusion from all these data,—though I know
not if he has even yet published the remark,—viz., that the 1°
terchange between the temperate floras even of the western part
of the Old World and of the New has mainly taken place 1
Asia. Notwithstanding the few cases which point in the oppo
site direction (e. g. Hriocaulon septanguiare, Seats: Subularia,
tula alba), the general statement will be seen to be well sus
tained. Also, in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnzat
Society, 2. p. 34, Mr. Bentham “calls to mind how frequently
large American genera (such as Hupatorium, Aster, Solidago,
lanum, &¢.) are represented in Eastern Asia by a small num
of species, which gradually diminish or altogether disappear 4
we pr westward toward the Atlantic limits of foot
_ whilst the types peculiar to the extreme west of Europe ( ud-
ing of course the Arctic flora) are wholly deficient in Americ#.

ste aug ? ati

in its relations to that of North America. 193

These are among the considerations which suggest an ancient
continuity of territory between America and Asia, under a Iati-
tude, or at any rate with a climate, more meridional than would
be effected by a junction through the chains of the Aleutian and
the Kurile Islands.” es

and perhaps Scolopendrium. Hottonia might have been added,
but for a species accredited to Java.

Western America. Let it also be noted, that there are even
fewer Western-European types in the Pacific than in the
Atlantic United States, notwithstanding the similarity of the
climate ! wi

That representation by allied species of genera peculiar, or
nearly peculiar, to two regions, furnishes evidence of similar
nature and of equal pertinency with representation by identical
Species, will hardly be doubted. Whether or not susceptible of
Scientific explanation, it is certain that related species of phenog-
amous plants are commonly associated in the same region, or
are found in comparatively approximate (however large) areas
of similar climate.* Remarkable exceptions may indeed be ad-

‘ap : neric
rdial, and therefore beyond all scientific _ex-
imordial, sulin eet amaceeal xoeult:

194 Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan,

duced, but the fact that they are remarkable goes to confirm the
proposition. Indeed, the general expectation of botanists in this
regard sufficiently indicates the common, implicit opinion.
discovery of a new Sarracenia or a new Halesia in the Atlantic
United States, or of a new Eschscholtzia, Platystemon, or Calais
west of the Rocky Mountains, would excite no surprise. A con-
verse discovery, or the detection of any of these genera in a
remote region, would excite great surprise. The discovery of
numerous closely related species thus divided between two widely
separated districts might not, in the present state of our knowl-
ge, suggest former continuity, migration, or interchange; but
that of identical species peculiar to the two inevitably would.
Why should it? Evidently because the natural supposition
is that individuals of the same kind are descendants from a com-
)

and conscientious investigator formerly adopted and strenuously
maintained Schouw’s hypothesis of the double or multiple origia
of species, But in his great work, the Géographie Botanique Hat
sonnée, published in the year 1855, he has in effect discarded 1t,
and thi om any theoretical objections to that view, but be-
cause he found it no longer needed to account for the general
facts of distribution. This appears from his qualified, though
dubious, adherence to the hypothesis of a double origin, a8 4

ier ressort, in the few and extraordinary cases which he could
hardly explain in any other way. His decisive instance, indeed,
is the o Eastern American Phryma leptostachy4
in the Himalaya Mountains.
OR on are; or, in other Kye
in species (1 rimordial

“tind that derivative forma when segregated

in wuts relations to that of North America. 195
The facts presented in the present memoir effectually di

of this subsidiary hypothesis, by showing that the supposed
single exception belongs to a not uncommon case. Indeed, so
many species are now known to be common to Kastern and
Northern Asia and Eastern North America,—some of them oc-
curring also in Northwestern America and some not,—and so
many genera are divided between these two regions, that the an-
tecedent improbability of such occurrence is done away, and
more cases of the kind may be confidently expected. However
others may regard them, it is clear that De Candolle would now
explain these cases in accordance with the general views of dis-
tribution adopted by him, under which they naturally fall,—so
abandoning the notion of a separate creation. ;
know not whether any botanist continues to maintain
_ Schouw’s hypothesis. But its elements have been developed into
a different and more comprehensive doctrine, that of gassi
which should now be contemplated. It may be denominated
the autochthonal hypothesis. : a
In place of the ordinary conception, that each species origin-
ated in a local area, whence it has been diffused, according to
circumstances, over more or less broad tracts,—in some

means and facilities for dissemination, as most plants and ani-

mals. Why then should we supp » the Creator to do that su-
pernaturally. which would be naturally effected by the very

*

196 | Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan,

late Edward Forbes, by Dr. Hooker, and by Alphonse De
Candolle.

communiceted Mr. Lesquereux, have been
American Jo of Science and Arts.

in its relations to that of North America. ) 197

Separation), and therefore have commingled, as conterminous

ere do.

At length, as the post-tertiary opened, the glacier epoch came
_ Slowly on,—an extraordinary refrigeration of the northern hem-
- isphere, in the course of ages carrying glacial ice and arctic cli-
mate down nearly to the latitude of the Ohio. The change was
evidently so gradual that it did not destroy the temperate flora,
at least not those enumerated above as existing species. ‘These
and their fellows, or such as survive, must have been pushed on
to lower latitudes as the cold advanced, just as they now would

if the temperature were to be again lowered; and between
them and the ice there was doubtless a band of subarctic and

sone = HeTIOd

"therefore, may be adduced the
light by Mr. Lesquereux, who has

recently brou ht to_ :
i meen ? , virens), Pecan (Carya olive-for-

identified our liv
wish, Channon (neaaees umala), Planer-tree (Planera Gme-

198 Prof. Gray on the Botany of Japan,

lina), Honey-Locust (Gleditschia triacanthos), Prinos coriacets, and

‘alamus,—besides an elm and a Ceanothus doubtfully
referable to existing species,—on the Mississippi, near Colum-
bus, Kentucky, in beds which Mr. Lesquereux regards as ante-
rior to the drift. Professor D. D. Owen has indicated their
position “as about 120 feet lower than the ferrugineous sand as

Middle United States, the Hlephas primigenius, ranging from

well known to indicate a warm-temperate climate as far north as
Britain, in the middle, if not the later post-tertiary. North America

then had its herds of Mastodons, Elephants, Buffaloes or Bisons —

of different species, Elks, Horses, Megalonyx, the Lion, &c.; 204).
from the relations between this fauna and that of Europe, there.
is little doubt that the climate was as much milder than the
ay on this as on the other side of the ocean. All the facts
known to us in the tertiary and post-tertiary, even to the limtng
line of the drift, conspire to show that the difference between the
two continents as to temperature was very nearly the same thed

in its relations to that of North America. 199

land than now—by way of the Aleutian and Kurile Islands. I
cannot imagine a state of circumstances under which the Siberian
Elephant could migrate, and temperate plants could not.

The fluvial was succeede the “terrace epoch,” as Dana
names it, “a time of transition towards the present condition,
bringing the northern part of the continent up to its present
level, and down to its present cool temperature,”"*—giving the
arctic flora its present range, and again separating the temperate
floras of the New and of the Old World to the extent they are

sup
podal region affords of itself no presumption that they were orig-
inated there ;—and that the interchange of plants bet Eastern

_ Sreater difficulty than does the Arctic flora, the general homo-
_ Seneousness of which round the world has always been thought

asenia peltata—To the remarks upon the known range of
of this species, I have now to add the interesting that it iat)

_* For the collocation and
am indebted to the kindness of my friend, Professor Dana.

200 E. Tuckerman on North American Listens.

local on the western side of the continent, or it would have been
met with before. When this remarkable plant was known to
occur only in Eastern North America and Eastern Australia,
it made the strongest case in favor of double creation that perhaps

as ever been adduced. But since it has been found to occur
throughout the Eastern Himalayas and in Japan, and has now —
been detected i in Northwestern America also, the case seems to
crown the conclusions to which this memoir arrives.

Art. XXT.—& settee to an Enumeration of North Avast
Lichens, continued ; by EDWARD TUCKERMAN, A: M., Professor
of Botan ny in Amherst College.

THE species follow each other, as before, in the onder of the
arrangement proposed by Dr. Nylan nder , who has, studied these
plants in the fight afforded by a knowledge which includes not
only the external, but all the “pepe are details. Some spe-
cies, not North American as yet known, but of more or less 1D-
terest.in connection with our flora, are added in brackets.

CoLLEMA APALACHENSE, Tuck. in litt., thallo stellato multifido
imbricato crassiusculo fusco- viridi, laciniis is plano-convexis apice
subteretibus obtusis rugulosis, subtus pallidis; apotheciis innato-
sessilibus planis rufescentibus margine integerrimo. Spore ellip-
solide 3-septate diam. vix duplo mises Lime-rocks, Han-
cock county, Alabama, Hon. 7

CoLLEMA TEXANUM, a pasties aes orbiculari aioe
ce rere crasso aie -virescente, laciniis radiantibus elongatis
subplanis profunde Cinna noes s papulosis; apotheciis sparsis
planiusculis rufis margine po we mer. Spore minime fusi-

bles the more perfect fori. of C. pulpos um. Spores xceed-

ingly small. I am indebted, for their detection and eceon
to my friend, the Rev. J. L. ae
LEPTOGIUM CRENATE LLUM, = no , thallo imbricato_ tener:

Le EPTOGIUM JUNIPERINUM, Tuck. in litt., thallo = subor-
biculari imbricato tenui plumbeo e lobis rotundatis adscendenti-
boos crenatis subtus ad margines albo-fibrillosis ; - theciis sesili-

‘bus plano-convexis mnarpine tenui demum evanido diseum rufo-
tre fa ae gia" eae ect S-septate.

E. Tuckerman on North American Lichens. 201

Caticrum Curtisit, sp. nova, thallo byssaceo nigro (vel obso-
leto) apotheciis minutis turbinatis disco subnitido nigro stipiti-

us brevibus ex albido rufescentibus demum nigris. ore ma-
jusculee ellipsoides vel elongato-ellipsoides (dactyline, Koerb.)
fuscescentes simplices.—On the living bark of Rhus typbina, in
Berkshire, Massachusetts; and of Robinia Pseudacacia, at the
Hot Springs, Virginia, Rev. Dr. Curtis. The stipes like those of
Calicium or Coniocybe nigricans, Fr. (not of Tuckerm. Synops.
Lich. N. E. which is C. subtile, on Bark) but the apothecia quite
different, and the Spores very much larger than in that species;
as in C. eusporum, Nyl., to which, and C. byssaceum, Fr., the
lichen is probably nearest.

BOMYCES ABSOLUTUS, sp. nova, thallo crustaceo effuso te-
nuissimo submembranaceo leeteviridi; apotheciis stipitatis incar-
natis planis disco demum convexiusculo marginem tenuem ex-

[CLADONIA DACTYLOTA, sp. nova, thalli squamulis amplis
erectis subtus albo-pulverulentis podetia gracilescentia eylindrica
membranaceo-corticata levigata viridi-pallescentia e margine pro-
ferentibus, scyphis angustatis margine subincurvis denticulatis
on oblique prolifero-palmatis; apotheciis carneo-fuscescen-

us,

color of the apothecia. The white, cushion-like, pow ae
p (in the latter case appearing clearly to be deliquescent squamules)
make perhaps the ‘most striking, however an abnormal feature

EREOCAULON NANO! . nova, podetiis pumilis erectis
Cspitoso-conglomeratis subnudis validi tereti-compressis a basi
#ge apicemque versus fastigiato-ramosis albidis, phyllocladiis
‘pices confertis e rotundato-subsquamaceis glaucis demum
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVII, No. 63.—SEPT., 1650

202 E. Tuckerman on North American Lichens.

pulverulentis; apotheciis terminalibus dilatatis demum convexis.
Spore generis. §. nanum, Tuck. Synops. N. E. p. 46, pr. p.—
Rocks near water, (Crystal Falls; Saco Falls; Upper Gorge of
the Ammonoosuck) in the White Mountains, S. nanum of Eu-
Topean authors (Fr. Lich. Suec. n. 59; Scheer. Lich. Helv. n.
Moug. and Nestl. Crypt. Vog. n. 647) appears to be an
atypical condition, and has not yet occurred with us, but I have
hitherto taken the present as representing the perfect a of the
species. The full development of our lichen seems however to
indicate a different affinity, and to separate it from the section
(Chondrocaulon, Th. Fr.) aes a ences S. nanum. It is per-
haps rather nearer to 8. denu

glabris nitidis suabcompressis acunosis stramineis ap aati o-ramo-
sis, phyllocladiis = apices confertis minutis nomnONee mox de-
liquescentibus Pee ie Wh apotheciis..... Islands

cia of this last as’ are unknown.

[AtEcrorIA Japonica, sp. nova, thallo subciespitoso tereti
rigido sorediis albis exasperato stramineo, ramis sterilibus ramo-
sissimis implexis attenuatis subfilamentosis, fertilibus simplicius-
culis incrassatis, apicibus nigricantibus; esaheciie sabterminali-
bus superficiali-sessilibus appendiculatis disco concayo demum
expanso plano nitido castaneo. Spore majuscule ellipsoide»
limbate viridi-fuscescentes demum subhyaline.—On dead pine
trees, Ayan, Japan, Mr. Wright. Nearest to A. ochroleuca, but

Very much in habit, and in fructification. The spores
ery unlike those of Pertusaria pertusa.]

E Tuckerman on North American Lichens. 203

aries at DASYPOGA, sp. nova; thallo filamentoso rigidius-
culo fragili tereti laevigato viridi-fuscescente (pallescente) ramis
elongatis dichotome ramosis ultimis acuminatis nodulosis; a
theciis concavis demum planis repandis margine tenui incurvo
subcrenulato disparente. Spore ellipsoides uniseptatee curvule
hyaline diam.’ duplo longiores—On trees and rocks in the
mountains of Cuba, Mr. Wright. Allied to R. usneoides (Ach.)
yl., which has also been found in Cuba, by the same unwearied
collector, but differs in its regularly terete thallus, larger apothe-
cia, &c. It is still more like a pendulous Usnea, or perhaps
Alectoria; but possesses the spores of the present genus. ]

anguloso Jacunoso-subcanaliculato opaco e viridi fuscescente, ra-
mis irregulariter subdichotome ramosis patentibus, fertilibus su-
perne incrassatis ; apotheciis terminalibus appendiculatis margine
dentato-fimbriatis demum conyexis nigris.—On the bark of trees,

trees |
imen dark brown), Mr. ’ Beaumont ; Mississippi, Dr. Vettch ;
oulsiana, Dr, Hale; (Cuba, Mr. Wright.)}—A smaller plant than

either of the two ies of this group, of the northern
Sphere, with much the lobation of 8. lomieralifern, but
tu . and distinguished, so far as my sp
80, from both, by its strongly pitted upper surface, and
ate apothecia, which r: h those of
the members of the gr lida, Hook.

P a ee
flomerules appear only on a Cuban specimen. ‘They are quite
dike those of & iomeh ites: but the largest do not exceed a
_ line in diameter.” The spores are more eye than those of
_ the species just mentioned, and appear to be differently septate.

204 E. Tuckerman on North American Lichens.

[Sricra WRIGHTH, sp. nova, thallo subcoriaceo adpresso lw-
vigato viridi-glaucescente, laciniis rotundatis sinuato-incisis cre-
natis subtus fuscis ambitu pallescentibus Acoantone open
pencsoneave albis; apotheciis sparsis elevatis extus m mmil- -

the broader forms of S. dam: amcorn nis; in its spores; 23 most

markably, in gor oo in abundance, regular cyphellx: ; abich
resemble those of S. fuliginosa, though also a . urceolate,
as in 8. damecornis. The genus Ricasolia, ot., was origin-

ally conniitated: to include the natural group of species to which
ps ieee belongs, on a mistaken comparison of the apothecia
f thes ies, with certain sional apothecia common 10 -
ofhies meat of Sticta, which are now regarded, pou the publi-
cation of Mr. Tulasne’s important researches, as morbid condi-
tions, infested by a parasitic eryptogam. (Tulas asne, Maa sur les
‘Lichens, p- 128, note.) The species ~tnéladed 3 in the group, agree-
ing as they do in many obvious features, were also once sup-
posed to be destitute of cyphelle, ‘and the greater part, and in
cong the tropical ones, probably are so; but Fries and
elise testify to the occurrence of this development, however
rarely, in both the old species of the northern hemisphere, xii
in the Japanese lichen, above- described, it is normal.
yor cee not improbably be found to occur also in N orth
me
[PHyscia? WRIGHTH, sp. nova, thallo Schicuiatt imbricato
tenui molliusculo polito pallide viridi eae) subtus albo
venis minusculis promipul s villosis reticulato, hypothallo nune
- crassiusculo byssaceo-lanuginoso deste laciniis planis ir-
regulariter raulgfide lachiwttade ambitu latioribus palmatis, centro
minus eG isidiomo his cylindricis obsitis; apo-
theciis subcentralibus 5 a isco. plano luteolo margine
crasso incurvo eons onions ‘dema flexuosis. Sporse
—On trunks of trees in dense woods, in the mountains of Cuba,

teoa eons Ascociscana, Tuck. herb. ie Tuckerm.
suppl. &c. in Amer. Jou rn. Sci., xxv, p. 424, nee is some-
thing in this curious ohn which Sugeest nity
Psorom the genus is constituted by Dr. Milas, but aa
faseescent, often a little curved and kidney-shaped, one-septate

E. Tuckerman on North American Lichens. 205

spores indicate its true place in Lecanora, where it long stood in
my herbarium. The spores resemble those (I owe the suggestion
to Dr. Nylander) of L. sophodes, but the lichen is very distinct.

[LECANORA CAMPALEA, sp. nova, thallo crustaceo tartareo
verrucoso-subplicato lvigato viridi-glaucescente (pallescente)
hypothallo nigro insigni limitato; apotheciis appressis demum
flexuoso-irregularibus disco tumente e rufo fusco-nigrescente mar-
gine thallode integro pallente. Sporee suboctonz elongato-fusi-
formes 5-pluriseptatz diam. 10-15 plo longiores hyalinze.—Trees,
Island of Cuba, Mr. Wright. The affinity of this elegant lichen

L. ventosa is indicated, no less by the spores than by the ex-
ternal characters. ]

[BIATORA RHODOPTS, sp. nova, thallo crustaceo effuso tenui
cartilagineo-membranaceo leevigato rimuloso limitato glauco-cin-
erascente, intus miniato; apotheciis sessilibus hinc inde aggrega-
tis demum difformibus margine tumidulo integerrimo levi mox
flexuoso saturate roseo discum subplanum nudum rufo-nigrescen-
tem hypothecio crassiusculo nigro impositum cingente. Spores
- suboctone ellipsoideze simplices diam. duplo longiores hyaline.

—On bushes in the Island of Cuba, Mr. Wright. Differs re-
markably from described species, but has somewhat of the gen-
eral aspect of L. domingensis.

i-cylindrica: 1-4-
inee.—T'rees, Cuba, Mr.
in general appearance,

206 87. H. Huzley on the Phenomena of Gemmation.

but the spores connect the lichen rather with B. vernalis. It
does not appear to be described. ]

to Lecidea by Dr. Nylander (Enum. Gen., p. 127) but seems to
me to be remarkably distinguished by the structure of the apo-
thecium, and the vermicular spores.

Art. XXIL—On the Phenomena of Gemmation.—Lecture before
the meeting of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, by THOMAS
H. Huxtey, F.R.S.* .

THE speaker commenced by stating that a learned French
naturalist, M. Duvau, proposed many years ago, to term the
middle of the eighteenth century, “l’Epoque des Pucerons:”
and that the importance of the “phauehusts which. first brought
to light by the study of these remarkable insects renders the
phrase “Epoch of Plant-lice,” as applied to this period, far
~ whimsically inappropriate than it might at first sight seem
to be

After a brief sketch of the mode of life of these Plant-lice, oF
Aphides, as they are technically termed ; of the structure of their
singular piercing and sucking mouths; and of their relations to
what are called “ Blights;” the circumstances which have more
particularly drawn the attention of naturalists to these insects
were fully detailed.

It was between the years 1740 and 1750, in fact, that Bon-
het, acting upon the suggestions of the illustrious Reaumur,
isolated an Aphis immediately after its birth, and proved to dem-
onstration, that not only was it capable of spontaneously bring
ing forth numerous living young, but that these and thelr
descendants, to the ninth generation, preserved a similar gets f
_ _ Observations so remarkable were not likely to pass unheeded ;

but notwithstauding the careful sifting which they have received,

Bonnet’s results have never been questioned. On the contrary,
not only have Lyonet, Degeer, Kyber, Duvau, and others, borne
ample testimony to their accuracy, but it. own that,
Be fi favorable conditions of tem and , there 18
pea 20 limit to this power of asexual multiplication, oF

it has conveniently termed, ‘“‘ Agamogenesis.” _

* From the Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, May, 1858,

T. H. Huxley on the Phenomena of Gemmation. 207

Thus Kyber bred the viviparous Aphis Dianthi and Aphis
Rose for three years in interrupted succession; and the males
and true oviparous females of the A. dianthi have never yet been

with. The current notion that there is a fixed number of
broods # nine or eleven,” is based on a mistake.

under moderately favorable conditions, an Aphis comes to

se in about a fortnight; and as each Aphis is known to be
capable of producing a hundred young, the number of the prog-
eny which may eventually result from a single Aphis during the
six or seven warm months of the year is easily calculated. M.
Tougard’s estimate adopted, (and acknowledged) by Morren, and
copied from him by others, gives the number of the tenth brood
as one quintillion. Supposing the weight of each Aphis to be no
more than ;,';;th of a grain, the mass of living matter in this
te would “exceed that in the most thick] y sce countries
in t orld.

pero Aphides, whether eae or wingless; but ordinarily,
on the approach of cold weather, or even during warm weather,
if the aipepliek of food fall short, the viviparous Aphides produce

form ich are no ge oe viviparous, but are males =
Seen: females, The former are sometimes winged, so
times w — vee e later, with. a single doubtful comes

nt differing from it, as Von

old was ie The to eo re the Sudneb of what are termed

208 TT. H. Huzley on the Phenomena of Gemmation.

form.
n the terminal chambers of this ‘ Pseud-ovarium,” ovum-

like bodies, thence called “‘ pseud-ova,” are found. These bod-
: ’ : P :

iological difference, which cannot be detected by the eye, but
becomes at once obvious in the behavior of the two germs after
a certain period of their growth. Dating from this period, the
peseoren spontaneously passes into the form of an embryo,

ecoming larger and larger as it does so; but the ovum simply
enlarges, accumulates nutritive matter, acquires its outer invest-
ments, and then falls into a state of apparent rest, from which it
will never emerge, unless the influence of the spermatozoon
have been brought to bear upon it.

That the vast physiological difference between the ovum and
the pseudovum should reveal itself in the young state by no
external sign, is no more wonderful than that primarily the
— of the brain should be undistinguishable from that of the

The phenomena which have been described, were long sup-
isolated, but numerous cases of a like kind, some

even more remarkable, are now known.
ong the latter, the speaker cited the wonderful circum-
stances attending the production of the drones among bees, 23
described by Von Siebold ; and he drew attention to the plant
upon the table, Celobogyne tlicifolia, a female euphorbiaceous
shrub, the male flowers of which have never yet been seen, and
which nevertheless, for the last twenty years, has produced its
annual crop of fertile seeds in Kew Gardens. :
Not only can we find numerous cases of agamogenesis similar
to that exhibited by Aphis in the animal and vegetable worlds,

T. H. Huxley on the Philosophy of Gemmation. 209

some another, why some remain attached and some become de-
tached, we know not. Such phenomena are for the present the
ultimate facts of biological science; and we cannot understand
the simplest among them, it would scem useless, as yet, to seek
for an explanation of the more complex.

evertheless, an explanation of agamogenesis in the Aphis
and in like cases has been offered. It has been supposed to
depend upon “the retention unchanged of some part of the
primitive germ-mass ;’ this germ-mass being imagined to be the
seat of a peculiar force, by virtue of which it gives rise to inde-
pendent organisms.

ine that the terminal chamber of the pseudovarium is full of
nothing but “ unaltered germ-cells;” how does this explain the
Phenomena? Structures having quite as great a claim to the
title of “ unaltered germ-cells” lie in the extremities of the acini
of the secreting glands, in the sub-epidermal tissues and else-
Where ; why do not they give rise to young? Cells, less chang-

leinctes of Aphis, and more directly
om the primitive germ-mass, underlie the epidermis of

On the whole, it would seem better, when

210 J. P. Lacaite on Earthquakes in Southern Italy.

Art, XXIII—On Earthquakes in Southern Italy, by JAMES
Puiuie Lacaira, Esq., LL.D.*

matchless scenery, its great historical associations; but it has
also a less enviable renown; it is the classic ground of volcanoes
and earthquakes. Etna and Vesuvius are the two most active
volcanoes in Europe, and terrific earthquakes have often desola-
ted vast districts of the country.

Though the common origin, to a certain extent, of the agents
producing the phenomena of volcanoes and earthquakes is now
scarcely questioned, considerable difference of opinion still
prevails with regard to the real nature and character of those
agents. It is for men of science to determine whether those
agents are to be found in the internal heat of the earth which is
supposed to arise from a state of fusion; or in the heat produced
by chemical combinations and changes; or in the currents of
electricity circulating on the earth’s crust; or in any other causes
whatsoever. On this verata questio much light will no doubt be
thrown before long by the observations made on the spot by Mr.
Mallet, the distinguished author of the “Dynamics of Karth-

”

SOUTHERN Italy is celebrated for its delightful climate, its
h

kingdom of Naples and caused great loss of life; and especially
of the last earthquake, which took place on the night of Ko 16th
of December, 1857.
1. On the 5th of February, 1783, at 1 P. m., the Piana di Mon-
teleone, in the province of Calabria Ultra I, was convulsed by 4
en

repetition of the shock at midnight ruined the towns of Reggio
and Messina, and convulsed the whole Valdemone. At the
entrance of the Faro Straits, the sea, retiring from the Calabrian
shore and afterwards rushing back with overwhelming violence,
swept away more than 1500 inhabitants of the town of Scylla,
who had taken refuge on the beach for safety. After a succes-
sion of slight shocks, on the 28th of the following March,
another wolent shock convulsed the whole country from Reggio
to Cape Colonna, an area of 1200 square miles, and added two
* From the Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, May, 1858.

J. P. Lacaita on Earthquakes in Southern Italy. 211

thousand more to the number of victims. Mountains were cleft

fevers followed in summer; and at the beginning of 1784
Calabria had already lost more than 80,000 inhabitants. From
February to December 1788, there were no less than 949 shocks,
and 151 in 1784; they did not altogether cease till 1786.

2. The mountain of Frosolone, in the province of Molise, the
ancient Samnium, on the 26th of J uly, 1804, at 104 Pp. M., was the
centre of a violent shock of earthquake, which lasted 35 seconds,
and caused great desolation over an area of 600 square miles. It
Tuined 61 towns and villages, and crushed to death more than
6000 people. It was severely felt as far as Naples, where all the
buildings were greatly injured by its effects.

8. On the 29th of April, 1835, and on several successive days,
the Val di Crati, in the province of Calabria Citra, including the
town of Cosenza and its numerous villages, was convulsed by
violent shocks of earthquake, which caused the death of more
than 1000 people under the ruins.

4. On the 12th of October, 1836, the districts of Rossano and
Castrovillari, in the same province, and the district of Lagonegro,
in Basilicata, felt another violent shock of earthquake, which

5. The city of Melfi, built on a spur of Mount Vulture, an

hock, at 8 P. M., lasted only five seconds.
The loss of human life exceeded 1400; Melfi alone, out of 9274,

6. But worse than any of the latter earthquakes, and second
only to the Calabrian one of 1783, was the earthquake which
took place on the 16th of December last, at 10} P. M., at a season
of the ye k of
earthquakes, h
ances than
unusual stillness had

babi of

extinct volcano in the province of Basilicata, on the 14th of

*

212 J. P. Lacaita on Earthquakes in Southern Italy.

most violent successive and whirling shock of 25 seconds’
duration crushed thousands of them under the ruins of their
falling houses. Three other shocks were felt on that awful

shock, second ‘only to — of the 16th of Dendntber was felt,
which caused considerable injury; and, according to the latest
accounts, up to the 28th of April last, the shocks, though com-
paratively slight and harmless, still continued, and the people
were,in a state of constant alarm. Such was also the case in
every one of the five previous epic eg con have been

we

between the streams flowing into the é Pprcidninds the Tonisty
and the Adriatic sea, and form the upper basins of the Calore
or Tanagro, the Sele, the Ofanto, the Bradano, the Basento, the
Sinno, and the Agri rivers ~The. centre of action, as far as it

less dian half a aninute were crushed to eedths two thousand

severely wounded | ae —— was cracked and convulsed in
the strangest manne and deep fissures were opened in
several places, fertile. ‘ints teal bare rocks, valleys were raised
up, small pools formed, mountains cleft by deep ravines. The
towns of Montbonieny and nara especially were sees
entirely: — away; the former lost 5600 out of 7000, and the

latter 3000 out of 4000 inhabitants, Saponara, which rose in

J. P, Lacaita on Earthquakes in Southern Italy. 218

aud churches overthrown. Atthis place an extensive fire added
to the horrors of the night.

4 miles; to Bari, on the Adriatic, 80 miles; and to Mount
5 miles

of more than 8000 square miles, destroying or
less, about 200 towns and villages, with an aggrega’
of more than 200,000 inhabitants, of whom

Within this area the beautiful and fertile valley of Diano,
through whic nanace of the Sele, trav-
eect — flows the T i Galbria, and

i nd villages built

vened on | y numerous towns:
o ad So of a a bil is, was sadly desolated. Polla

314 J.P. Lacaita on Earthquakes in Southern Italy.

out of 9000; Pertosa, 218 out of 1100; Sassano, 185 out of
8600; Montesano, 420 out of 4800, &c. Leaving the valley of
Diano, and proceeding northwards to the head of the vallley
of the Sele, will be found Brienza, Calvello, St. Angelo Le
Fratte, Picerno, Tito, Potenza, the -capital of Basilicata, etc.,
with most of their houses and public buildings ruined, and
many of their inhabitants killed. At Tito, in particular, more
than 800 out of 4939 inhabitants were crushed to death, and

sanello, Sant’ Arcangelo, Castelsaraceno, and numerous other
towns and villages, most of the houses thrown down, and
many inhabitants killed.

But the effects of this terrific earthquake extended far beyond
‘the large era that has just been noticed. The two shocks of the
16th were felt, with various degrees of intensity, as far as the
town of Reggio in Calabria on the south, Brindisi on the Adri-
atic, on the east, Vasto, also on the Adriatic, on the north, and
Terracina on the west. Within these limits many towns had

their buildings rent. At Canosa, 15 houses were thrown down,
155 more rendered uninhabitable, and 5 persons were kill
At Melfi and Barile, there were three deaths. In the neighbor-
hood of Bella, a town which stands half way between Potenza
and Melfi, a tract of about 600 acres was split in different direc-
tions, and surrounded with a chasm 15 feet deep, and about as
wide. At Salerno, many public buildings were injured, and 4
persons killed. Even at Tramonti, near Amalfi, there were two
deaths; and at Naples, the inhabitants were so greatly alarmed
by the violence of the shocks, as to spend in the open air all the
night of the 16th of December.

On the whole, by this terrific earthquake, at least 22,000
human beings, on a most moderate calculation, were destroyed
in a few seconds. Many no doubt would have been saved had
it been possible by active steps to dig them out immediately.

his will account for the comparatively very small number ©!
wounded, in all about 4000. 2

rom the above data it will be seen that in the course of 72
years, from 1783 to 1857, the kingdom of Naples lost at least
111,000 inhabitants, by the effects of earthquakes, or more than
1500 per year, out of an average population of six millions!

Several touching anecdotes were told in the course of the nar-
rative. In 1783, Eloisa Basili, a beautiful girl of 16, was buried
under the ruins with a child in her arms, who died on the fourth

J. P. Lacaita on Earthquakes in Southern Italy. 215

day. She was so wedged in that she could not get rid of its life-
less remains. She was dug out alive after eleven days, which
she had counted from a ray of light that reached her.
recovered, but remained sad and gloomy, could not bear to see a
child, would neither marry nor become a nun. She preferred
solitude, turned away with a shudder from houses, and liked to —
sit musing under a tree, whence no buildings were seen. She
pined away, and died at five-and-twenty.

dug out alive on the third day, and lived. At Montemurro, in
t last, Maria Antonia Palermo and her two little girls,

4

216 T.G. Wormley on the Chemical Reactions of Strychnia.

Art. XXIV.—WNotes on some of the Chemical Reactions of Strych-
ia; by T. G. Wormuey, M.D.

1. Ammonia Test.

1. yds grain of pure strychnia in one grain of water, gives
with ammonia, an immediate white precipitate, which at first 1s
amorphous, but very soon it begins to assume a crystalline form,

and in about three minutes the drop becomes a solid mass 0
lengthened prisms.

. 35 gives an immediate precipitate, but in a few seconds
beautiful stellate crystals begin to form, which very soon become
abundant.

. tasz, behaves much the same as No. 2, not so abundant.
4. 5;'57, with the microscope, crystals begin to form in about
a minute, in three minutes they are very obvious to the naked
eye. If the drop be rubbed with a glass rod, rings of granules
are very obvious to the eye in a few seconds, and the precip
tate is much more abundant than when not thus treated.
5. szs5, nO indications after stirring for several minutes, €X
cept when viewed with the microscope, a few granules appeal.
From the above experiments, the limit of the ammonia test,
when applied to a single drop, is when it holds in solution g:'s

its weight of strychnia; however, at this degree of solution the

- .

result is yery satisfactory. _
2. Potash. :

This reagent behaves much the same as ammonia, its limit
being about the same. In applying this test it is important that
the proper quantity be added, for if either too much or to little,
no precipitate will be produced.

3. Carbonate of Potash.

1. ;3, grain of strychnia with carbonate of potash gives an
immediate white precipitate of star-like crystals, which will re-
dissolve if sufficient quantity of the reagent has not been added.

T. G. Wormley on the Chemical Reactions of Strychnia. 217

2. 333, in a few seconds small granules, prisms, and a few
asilais crystals begin to form, which after a little time are rath-
er abun sare

Tosa, In a few seconds lengthened granules may be seen
with the microscope, which in a few minutes are ver y obvious
to the naked ey
4a ci zoo) iar a few minutes small granules are very percept-
; ible.

9. 35's, after several minutes no indications with the micro-
scope,
4, Carbonate of Ammonia,

In +35, and 1, solutions the same results as with carbonate
of hogs In a drop of ;;55 solution no indication after 15
minu

5. Lodid of Potassium.

1. 54, solution in a few — gives a white crystalline pre-

cipitate of tufts of long prism

it is several siveree before crystals begin to form, if
the solution be stirred, however, they begin to appear in about
utes

rere by stirring, the crystals begin to appear in about

. 3000) els begin to form in about seven minutes.
_ _ 5. 3755, crystals can be observed with the microscope in about
4 = minutes, in 20 minutes they are just perceptible to the naked

6. Sulphocyanid of Potassium. a oe
es rss, Solution, gives an immediate mass of white crystals.
2. 500 in a few seconds the crystals are very abundant,
oe he vi by rubbing, in less than a minute the crystals are very
: f toe tv's, by rubbing, in a few minutes the crystals begin to

5. sts3, NO indication after several minutes, with the micro-
Scope a few crystals may be observed upon the border of the =

a: Fannie —

- BAB vd sveiel minut

satisfactory limi it of the test ely ae is ido a drop
fluid holding ‘in solution apie its weight of a dapeeess
SECOND oe Vor. gsi §3.—SEPT., 1859.

218 TT. G. Wormley on the Chemical Reactions of Strychnia.

The precipitate is very soluble in acetic acid, and if obtained
from dilute solutions, it is, also, soluble in a drop of potash, giv-
ing a red liqui ; but when produced from strong solutions, the
precipitate will not all dissolve in a drop of potash solution.
8. Bichlorid of Platinum.

1,5, an immediate yellow amorphous precipitate which
— granular.
=, an amorphous precipitate in a few moments, which
une granular.
x the results are very good in a few minutes.

x, if the solution be rubbed, small granules begin to
pial afew minutes, and soon the result is satisfactory.

9. Terchlorid of Gold.

1. ys, gives a bright yellow amorphous precipitate, which
soon becomes partly a most of the granules float upon
the surface of the drop. A portion of the precipitate collects into
little — flak
= suum gives much the same reaction as No. 1, not so abun-

ae:
Poo 9 pg
- Ba. 84
age $2

3. r3,b00, gives an almost oe d rigiane
THTTD) gives very satisfactory re
at this wich of ailetion the precipitate is still per-
ceptible, but fot satisfacto

the solution contains more than 5,';5 ~ its weight, the s eoas pies

precipitate from ;,,; or more dilute solutions, will readily dis-
solve, without much change of color, upon the addition of a drop
or two of potash solution; if then the mixture be boiled it will
give a fine purple color, with sometimes a purple precipitate.
When the precipitate is from a stronger solution than above
it does not readily dissolve in a solution of potash, aD
when the mixture is boiled it behaves as above
10. Chromate of Potash.
tie eres. an immediate mass of yellow crystals, soluble in
30 “irop strong acetic acid.
2. sess, crystals n to form in a few seconds, but they are
Ras very abundant Pott standing 15 minutes,
s. sist) snes Sraee microscope, a few prisms may be observed
in 8 minutes, but no indication to the eye, after standing 20
minutes,

5
aaa

T. G. Wormley on the Chemical Reactions of Strychnia. 219

. Carbazotic Acid.

This, and the three aiidem tests have been formerly recom-
mended in the lectures of the - writer, the only account of them
seen, is in the last edition of Taylor. on Poisons, in which the
iodine test is suggested.

An alcoholic solution of carbazotic acid will give with—

roo) grain of strychnia, an imme eee amorphous yellow
precipitate soon becoming twig-like t
. rasa) in a few seconds a poi soon becoming as in

é, s0z0, by rubbing a few seconds, a copious deposit of gran-

- T3;da5) IN about a minute the same as No.
5. z5y}55, in a few minutes small yams are ie obvious.
. Bichromate of Potash
ae Tis) an Spode brilliant yellow mass of dendroidal erys-
8.

2. z5'sa, in a few seconds same as No. 1.

3. sa5a) crystals begin to form in a few seconds, in a few
minutes agate are abundant.

n a few minutes beautiful octahedra appear, resem-

bling ‘ ay ‘of oxalate of lime. If the solution be rubbed the

eposit becomes rather abundant.

. TET by pte ina few pe erystals are obvious
with ape: microscope, i n sev veral minutes they are readily seen
the eye.

The es cipitate produced by this reagent is not as aan
rh In acetic se as that produced by the Procehenenty
potas

13. Iodine.

most «Rg It was a Za - nk following ccna ire
dissolving three grains 0: otassium in one fluid drachm

tive imme: iately a copious brownish yellow amorphous
precipitate soluble in at only soluble in ae
excess of acetic acid. tte hea ally dissolves in a —
few drops of ly replace

a dirty white precipita Sg
ol a, the iia ctl Scien é

3. 3H bom gives Same resal'
the prospitae d
precipi

: sie er and soon

220 T.G. Wormley on the Chemical Reactions of Strychnia.

6. zaa,h5, if the drop be touched with a small drop of the
reagent upon the end of a glass rod, it gives an obvious pre-
cipitate.

If a few drops of the last named solution be placed in a small
test tube, and a drop of the test fluid be placed upon the inside
and allowed to flow into the solution, when they meet, yellow
eae will readily be observed, and the solution will become
turbid. ;

14. Bromine.
This reagent was prepared by saturating a strong solution of
hydrobromic acid, with bromine.
_ 1. sss, gives an immediate bright yellow amorphous precip-
itate.
2. +503, a yellow precipitate, having a greenish tinge. _
- sardaz, & dirty yellow precipitate, which after several min-
utes nearly all dissolves. —-
4. 55,455, the precipitate is still perceptible, but not satisfactory.
15. Color Test.

sometimes,
hen ex-
ned crystals; at’

Bias

- sia a i aad ag it Serene a : ‘ ‘
as ae aa a a kh

gi tie

Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Volcanoes. 221

others, it is a confused mass distributed over the space occupied
by the drop. In the latter cuse the indications will not be near-
ly so good as in the former.

5. rates, dry, in a number of cases manipulated differently,
the majority gave no indications, some few gave as ight trace,

ut in no instance was the indication sufficient. ;

As the color test is relied upon, perhaps, more than any other
for medico-legal purposes, it is important to remember that it is
interfered with by the presence of morphia. When one part by
_ weight of strychnia is mixed with—

1. 1 part of morphia, it gives very good results. The colors,
however, are not so bright as with strychnia alone,

: 2 Of morphia, in a very small quantity of this mixture the
Indication of strychnia is very good, in a larger quantity, about
30 gr., the reaction is just perceptible. ete

3. 2 of morphia, the indication in a very small quantity is pret-

ty fair, but in about 7; gr. there is only a mere trace. ate

- 3 of morphia, in a very small quantity of this mixture,
the reaction is just perceptible, but in a larger amount there is
no reaction indicative of the presence of strychnia.

Columbus, Ohio, July 18, 1859,

Art. XXV.—On the Consolidation of Lava on Steep Slopes, and
on the Origin of the Conical Form of Volcanoes ; by Sir CHARLES
Lyewt, M.A. D.O.L., F.R.S.*

Durine two recent excursions made in the autumns of 1857
and 1858 to Mount Etna, Sir C. Lyell had an opportunity of ex-
amining sections of lava-currents of known date, which had

escended steep slopes, and had consolidated thereon in tabular
i inclination of which sometimes exceeded
This fact has an important bearing on the theory of

oa
pnd of lava were often poured out from a .
central vent. This opinion was a r. Scrope in his

_ * Proc, Roy. Inst. of Great Britain, April, 1859.

222 Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Volcanoes.

melted matter, in the shape of dykes, as part of the cone-making
process.

But in place of this simple explanation of the phenomena,
Von Buch substituted the following hypothesis: that a vast
thickness of horizontal or nearly horizontal sheets of lava and

a central axis towards all points of the compass, so as suddenly
to uplift the whole stratified mass, making it assume a conical
form ; giving rise at the same time, in many cases, to a wide and
deep circular opening at the top of the cone, an opening called a

“crater of elevation.’

In all great volcanoes of which sections can be obtained, there
are some layers of compact stone, inclined at angles of 10°, 20°,
and onto much higher angles, and these beds are often

aqueou w eraibiey and the occasional steepness of the dips of cer-
tain lavas, beyond that which is found on the flanks of ordinary
cones, (many of which might have been assigned to local dislo-
cation), afforded additional ti in favor of the new hy-
is. The lecturer then gave a rapid review of the contro-
versy respecting “craters of elevation,” stating the objections
made to it by English and continental writers, including the late
M. Constant Prevost; and he went on to observe that the princi-
ar ani of this discourse was to show that the law laid down
M. E. de Beaumont, and by the late M. Dufrenoy, as govern-
eA the cooling and solidification of lava currents, on steep slopes,
has no foundation in fact. Signor Scacchi had already, in 1855,
seen ete described a compact stony lava which in that year had
flowed down the flanks of Vesuvius from near the margin of
at crater to the base of the cone in the Atrio del Cavallo,
having a thickness of from 14 in the upper to 44 in its lower
part, and dipping at angles varying from 32° to 38°. The i
terior of this current was laid open to view ee a rare accident,

Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Volcanoes. 223

namely, the sinking down in the same year (1855) of a certain
portion of the north flank of the cone, whereby one side of the
new lava stream was engulphed, and a section of the remainder
rendered visible. Aiheuee this current had cooled on an aver-
age declivity of 35°, it was as compact and as free from vesicles
as many lavas which have congealed on level ground at the foot
of Vesuvius,

he first exemplification of a similarly inclined stony lava of
known date on Mount Etna, described by the lecturer, and of
which a pictorial representation was given, occurs in a ravine
called the Cava Grande, near Milo, about 17 miles north of
Catania, and 7 from the sea, above the level of which it is eleva-
ted about 2000 feet. A branch of the lava current of 1689
descending from the Val del Bove, cascaded over the right bank
of that ravine 220 feet high, and on cooling, formed a tabular
mass more than 16 feet in thickness, inclined at an average angle
of about 35°, and concealing the face of the precipice for a width
of about 400 feet. The internal structure of this new lava has

Pin tag i by Sig
cealed by the lay

in 1857, a

the early part

as poured out in

224 Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Volcanoes.

equalities on its surface, appearing almost even when contrasted
with the main current of the same date, from the surface of
which many parallel and longitudinal ridges project prominent-
_ ly, sometimes 40 feet above their base, and with very steep sides
sloping at angles of from 85° to 70°. The dip of the main cur-
rent is between 10° and 16° east. From this and other exam-
ples, it is inferred that wherever the slopes are excessive (between
25° and 45°) the surfaces of the cooling lavas are less rugged
than where the melted matter has congealed on more level
ground,

Allusion was next made to some lavas which have cascaded
over sea-cliffs 500 feet high, between Aci Reale and Santa Tecla.
One of these at a place called the Scalazza of Aci Reale, exhibits
a longitudinal section of a tabular mass of stony rock 20 feet
thick, inclined at angles of 23° and 29°, which is connected un-
interruptedly with the main body of the same lava resting on
the gently sloping platform above, of which the sea-cliff is the
abrupt termination. The above-mentioned highly inclined stony
lava is covered as usual by a parallel layer of scorize (in this case
12 feet thick) and its base consists of another bed of scorie of
— thickness.

; veral other sections of modern lavas of Etna, which have not

near Zafarana; and another reposing on the face of the great
precipice at the head of the Val del Bove, under the sunk space
ed “The Cisterna.” This remarkable current has a mean

the stream have been undermined and denuded by that constant

waste which makes the innumerable dikes to stand out in reli
on all the precipices surrounding the Val del Bove. Perhaps,
also, in this instance, the lateral excavation of the lava may have
been assisted by a rush of water like that of 1755, commonly
led Recupero’s flood, which descended the same precipice, the

“ Balzo di Trifoglietto.” Suggestions were then offered on t
oes cause of that singular inundation, which swept in a few
from near the summit of Etna through the Val del Bove
to the sea. The Canon Recupero traced its course, a few
months after the event, by following the line of sand and boul-
ders which it had left in its track; and calculated that the vol-
ume of water was so great, that, had all the snows of the top of

Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Volcanoes. 225

Etna been melted instantaneously, they could not have furnished
enough water for the deluge. He, therefore, concluded that
the water was vomited forth from the summit crater itself. Sir

ople o a, he n
ner in which the frontal wall of lava, 80 feet high, and inclined
at an angle of 37°, had crept slowly over green pastures and

1852-53 in the scenery of the Val del Boye, and in that of the
lower Valley of Calanna, in the interval since 1828, when the

both in a northeast stance
of six miles, with a breadth in each case of two miles, and having

been piled u the other in some places (as at the Por-
pl td one over the o ( ae loo ao? hdl Vani

: ‘on the surface of this nev
field are from 20 to 70 feet high; and there is now a

226 = Sir C. Lyell on the Conical Form of Valcanoes.

One branch of this lava of 1852 cascaded over a precipitous
declivity 500 feet high, at the head of the Valley of Calanna, and
consolidated at angles of 35°, 45°, and even 49°. The scoriace-
ous crust having been partially washed off, the surface of a con-
tinuous crystalline and stony mass is exposed to view, onl

1819, which passed down the same steep cliff, and which has at
some points a dip of more than 40°. ;

he author continues with facts and reasonings similar to
what is published in his paper of last year (this Journal, vol.

XXvi, p. 214)]:

In conclusion, the lecturer gave a brief sketch of the series of
geological events which he supposed to have occurred on the site
of Etna since the time of the earliest eruptions, events which may
have required thousands of centuries for their development.
The first eruptions are believed to have been submarine, occur-
ring probably in a bay of the sea, which was gradually converted
into land by the outpouring of lava and scoria, as well as by
a slow and simultaneous upheaval of the whole territory. e
b salts, and other igneous products of the Cyclopean Islands
were formed contemporaneously in the same sea, the molluscous

formed at successive heights. The remains of elephants, and
are found in these old

uffs
first the cone of Trifoglietto, and probably the lower part of the

o

cone of Mongibello, was built up; still later the cone last-men
tion coming the sole centre of activity, overwhelmed the
: vari forma-

tions, including the truncation of its summit, and the formation
of the V;

O. N. Stoddard on Diluvial Stria. Sx7

ArT. XXVI.—Diluvial Strie_on Fragments in Situ; by O. N.
STODDARD, Prof. Nat. Science, Miami University.

stone, hornblende and quartz, the whole em ed in com
clay. The striated surfaces were in the same plane, and at one
point the underlying rock was exposed, also striated. i-

e. iat 2 as
e bearing of this cage upon the different theories of

the onditions

. is region, holding the ded:

neath frost-bound ; - |, while t heir enormous pressure down-
wards, prevented di placement in an upward direction, their
Motion towards the south, gro nd down, not only the rocks in

y and no SecbeiiGi he meter eae ae Shas, that
glaciers once overs meal ie ion, holding the beds under-
d,

228 E. S. Snell on the Waterfall at Holyoke.

place, ca also these fragments, almost as firmly fixed by frost

s themselves. On examination, a few of the pieces
were fond to be jeunes on the under surface also. In one or
two cases the strie on opposite sides were nearly parallel, but
generally inclined at a considerable angle.

Probably these fragments were at first embedded in the glacier
and received, while in that position, the scratches on their under
surface, but were subsequently detached from the glacier, em-
bedded and frozen in the clay, where they were reduced to the
condition in which they were found.

t may not be amiss to remark in conclusion, that strize are
abundant upon the surface rocks of this region, their direction
varying from 1° to 11° east of south. The most durable bould-
ers generally exhibit upon one or more of their surfaces distinct
traces of the same abrading ue

Miami University, June 11th, 1

ART. nig a age in the Waterfall at aoe Mass.; by
Prof. E. S. SNELL, Amherst College

AT the meeting of the American Scientific Association held in
Montreal, August, 1857, I read a paper on the vibrations of the
fall at Holyoke, in which I attributed the movement to the rare-
faction of air in the tube behind the sheet, this ty nto being

Since the ~euiitie of the rrerat mentioned paper, I have ob-’
served the condition of the fall at four different times. In Octo-

very nearly, which I had previously reported. But on the 16th
of April, 1859, I found the water four or five feet deep on the
edge of the dam, the temperature of the air about 45°, and the
number of oscillations only eighty-two per minute. Again, on
the 25th of July last, I found the water lower than I had seen it
before, (less than three inches deep,) and no vibrations, either in
‘the Sie or the air at the end of the cavity behind it.

are, therefore, at least three very different rates. of vibra-
mane the slowest when the depth of water is

E. S. Snell on the pri at Holyoke. - 229

Time of ob- Temperature Depth on Observ’d No, vi-,; Cuiculated wo,

| servation. of ae: : Dam. brations per _min.| vibr. per. min.
1 July 25, 1857, 80°: 2 feet 137 136
2 ‘July 29, « 15 RP 136 136
5. (Any. 6. ¢ 16 Tose 257 271
4°1Oct. 7, ‘= 65 1‘ 258 268
5 {Nov-24, * 30 z-* 140 129

6 Apr. 16, 1859, 45 bod 82 6

| 7 \July 25, 1859, 40 3 inches none none

v
I used the formula in Peirce’s Treatise on Sound, N=n aE

where N is the number of vibrations, n the number of nodes, V
the velocity of sound, and L the length of the tube. It is observ-
able, that the calculated rates are higher than the observed, in
the cases of most rapid vibration, and lower, in those of least
Tapidity, while in the medium rates, they very closely agree.
As to the eres case, the sheet was so thin, that it was divi-

ine thus destroyed, no vibrations could p
Notwithstanding the discrepancies between the sastibait in

oe and the mode of exciting vibrations
ms to be one of the numerous cases, in which the body
which | excites vibrations in aerate is itself thrown into syn-
chronous vibration by reaction, and then, by its own inertia ¢
icity, controls the common rate of both. — ee
in its descent first produces rarefaction of the e by re-
i i a collapse 0 f the

it. The immediate effect is
‘Sheet of water, as well as a rash of air in at the ends. ‘But the
inertia of a thick mass of water W vent its recovering its

tural position so soon as if it ur stot eet hence, the air-
column di vides _— into such a number of segments, that the
Water an can adjust their movements to each other,

230 E. 8. Snell on the Waterfall at Holyoke.

In a manner somewhat like this, a stream of air from the lips,
driven across the embouchure of a flute, excites vibrations in the
column of air, with such frequency that it can itself vibrate in
unison with it. But, if the stream is blown more and more

S
aQ
>
oO
Lar)
a
ce
>
iff)
an
ves
=
pase
wo)
D>
<
o
ez |
fe]
pe)
3
_
=
E.
ivf)
3
g
fa)

breath produce six or eight harmonic notes on the flute, when
all the fale are closed.

At the time when I witnessed the comparatively slow oscil-
lation of 82 per minute, I was surprised by the great strength of
the current of air, as it rushed into the opening at the end of the

am. I could not venture within the passage through the pier,
lest I should be swept in behind the sheet; nor could I stand at
the entrance of the arch, without bracing myself, by placing
both hands on the corners. There was, however, no alternate
outward blast, but only a lull, or cessation of all motion; which
shows, that the excess of air that pours in at every pulse, is car-

ied out again in some other way; and there is no conceivable
way for it to escape, except to be driven down by the falling
water, and poured up externally in a bed of foam. It had never
occurred to me before, that the velocity of the air-current
must be greater, the longer the interval between the pulses,
since the rarefaction within the tube will be greater nearly in the
ratio of the same interval.

tothe air. But the rock and soil in the immediate vege! of
j ile the

water, and if so, that they cannot cause sensible undulations
the earth, I am not prepared to assert; but I believe that any
unbiased observer will tind it quite absurd to apply sueh an
explanation to the strong puffing of the air which is usually s°
noticeable at the Holyoke fall.

C. Dewey on Caricography. 231

Art. XXVITI.—Caricography; by Prof. C. Dewry.
(Continued from vol. xxiv, p. 48, Second Series.)

No, 254. (@. alata, Tor. Mon.

Spica composita; spiculis 5-8, ovalibus, sessilibus, crassis, su-
perne ageregatis, densifloris, infirne staminiferis; fractibus sub-
orbiculatis, interdum obovatis, distigmaticis, subplanis, abrupti
brevi- rostratis, bidentatis, lato- alatis, rostro subscabris, squama
ovato-lanceolata brevioribus.

“ 3-4 feet high, smooth, with rough edged leaves; pale
green; stigmas two. North Carolina and Georgia— raat
Ponds’ Chapman ; a pine sedge-grass.

255. C. striata, Mx. Boott, Ilust., No. 141.

sear staminiferis, 1-4, Sepe | 2, _ oblongis, cylindraceis, erectis,
Ler 2, raro

Calm 12. feet high, erect, stiff, eats -Deaeteain longer than the
striate and lanceolate leaves, reddi the root.
Penn.— Muhlenberg ; ae Jer any Torey and also Kniers-
kern ; Florida—Chapm
Confounded with C. C4 po rpha, Mub.; but Dr. Boott found
clynory the others, to be C- striata in the

er of Micheaux. This discovery makes a a, in its
deeostee: it led also to the other changes.
sey re vol = p. 813, of this Journal, becomes var. 2

, can be
Years after C. Hals-yana v was ree I iy it with
differcat forms, named. eee in Muhl. heron

ho stacaathedls 3-4, , opine erectis, gain, | =

tilliferis 2-4, sepe 3, longoey lindraceis Specs ts omer
Spe apice staminiferis, gre i foliaceo-bracteatis,
firma inferne attenuata et lax? sb peduonst pons
‘Wistigmaticis ovati-oblongis purer tos el cum Tostro
terati et bifurcato, glabris, subinflatis, stramiels revorsis, squa-

na lanceolata purpurea, angusta seabro-aristata |

232 C. Dewey on Caricography.

Culm 2-8 feet high, erect, strong, shorter than the broad stiff
rough nodose and reticulate-veined leaves; plant glaucous-green,
except the yellowish spikes.

undant over the country by streams.

-Confounded in our country with C. fe oni but separated
some years since by Dr. Boott in Hook. Flo r. Am.

C. ampullacea var. erwin. Carey in Masta and this var.
much the most commo

Var. sparsiflora, ae "All the spikes long, 8-6 inches, slender,
and ay pistillate quite loose—flowered and more lax below and
attenuated; fruit smaller, and scale longer.

oTe.—The following changes in the names of some species,

already oe in this Journal, become necessary, and some
correctior

C. psa Wormsk. is ana to that difficult form, C. davalli-
ana, Sedona vol. x, p. 283 of this Journal, and the characters need
to re full.

C. syrocat Wormsk. Weiss Supp., t. 31.

Spica a, dioica; pistillifera oblonga sublaxiflora; fructi-
bus web ratibes vel oblon ngis basin teretibus, nervosis, cum Tos-

maturis sub-horizontalibus, squama ovata acuta paullo longiori-
bus

Culm 4-6 inches high, roundish, glabrous, suleate, longer than

the strong, a it rved leaves
—Dr. Sartwell, as well as Greenland and Al-

pine Laplan d

C. tenella, Ehrhart, not Schk., is the oldest name of @. Per-
soonw, Sieb., in this Journal, vol. ‘xix, p. 258, Second Series. For
synonyms, see also Carey in Manual, 514. This name of I -
is the true designation.

C. lenticularis, Mx. Boott, Illus. No. 76.

Since the description of this species in this Journal, vol. ay
175, Second Series, it has been found on the White Mts.
also at Lake Avalanche N. Y.—Torrey and Gray. ie ae
fiteints 1, rarel - pistillate spikes 2-5 — obtuse, and

et oval or ovate, short-ros

S. Lyon and 8. A, Casseday on new species of Crinoidea. 238

Art. XXIX.—Description of Nine new species of Crinoidea from
the Subcarboniferous Rocks of Indiana and Kentucky; by SiDNEY
Lyon and S. A. CassepaY. :

Ir was our intention originally, to publish the description of
these, and other western Crinoidea, in the fourth volume of the
Report on the Geology of Kentucky; but as many of our new
and most interesting fossils find their way to the cabinets of’
European paleontologists and are described by them in conti-
nental journals, we determined to lay before the public the results
of our labors at the earliest possible moment. We have draw-
ings of all the species described, which we will publish sometime

uring the winter of the present year.

GONIASTEROIDOCRINDS, n. g., Lyon and Casseday.

Generic Formula.

to 9.
Arms, 5, nearly round, com of about seven rows of small
hexagonal pieces resting midway between the primary radials

each side of them severally. Non ciliate. The interbrachial
a support long, pendulous cilia, from five to seven in each
e a
Summit, pentagonal, composed of numerous polygonal pieces,
Fome of %y ich Bin pained “folds enclosing fields of smaller
Pieces. “Mouth depressed, sub-central.
lumn, round, stout, composed of thin pieces alternately
larger and smaller, the larger are the thickest.
The generic name was suggested to us by the resemblance of
the summit to a Gonias oy

Body, general form subeylindrical, or like a rounded pentagon, a little
higher than wide, base deals excavate. Summit plane or slightly eleva-
near the centre; the first radials are prolonged downwards and out-

wards into a spinous process. cee eer eg Teter =
b mh 7 ae forming together a regular pentagon ; nearly covered
Y the supra columnar piece. ee Si) Se

Subradials five, ret hexagonal, nearly equal in size, joined together,

te Margin presents four angular, and five plain margins between the
1859.

#

234 S. Lyon and S. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

small pieces, forming together a scutiform console “or supporting piece.
They stand prominently above the general surface of the body; the

and attached to the superior margin of the interbrachial fields and de-
pending therefrom, are from five to eight long delicate plumose cilia,
they are com of two or more rows of hexagonal pieces the same
size throughout their whole length; they bear delicate pinnules which
curve upwards. es
Summit, flat or slightly elevated, nearly a regular pentagon, covered
by » great num! er of polygonal pieces which are elevated into rounded
knobs. About the centre is a cluster of pieces, (a central piece Sur
rounded by five, six, or seven others,) very much larger than the remain
der from which proceed strong, curved ridges meeting at the arms, aU
losing five sunken fields which vary in size and in the number of the
i rming them. Without and along the margin are fiye fields,
lar in size and form, consisting of frem six to fifteen pieces. +4®
mouth is situated near the centre in the largest field on the summit, and
ean always be distinguished by the greater number and sm the
pieces surrounding 1, it is round and depressed

S. Lyon and S. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea, 285

Dimensions.
Diameter on second — ‘ - - - 1:00 inch.
Height from base to a - - - - + eg
Length of spines on first Tadials, eee
Greatest diameter of summit, - - - |e
Least diameter of summit, - : - —— €
Greatest height of summit, - | - - - ou... ©
Len ength of arms of a specinien whose summit diam - 9
eter is 1529, inch length ts riggs
Length of longest branch, - + oe ie
Length of ciliated branch, — - ore oS - roo. =
Thickness of ciliated branch, . - eo eee

Geological position and locality. Found in iy beds near the top of
the knobstone member of the hci s beds on Clear Cree:
Hardin Oo., Siero so in the same geological position in Washington a

scribed by F. re Roemer in 1850,* and again in 1854 by Zeiler and
Wirtgen,f the differences are such that we unhesitatingly refer our fossil
to a new genus. The columns are very unlike. Although closely resem-
bling each other in the interradial and anal fields, and the number of

Forsestocrinus, De Koninck and Le Hon.

Forbesiocrinus multibrachiatus, sp. nob.

Body subglobose where the arms are folded inward as is me
one; a e bee to the free arms somewhat discoid, robust, externally
covered with minute granules

Basal pieces, three, similar in form and size, forming by their outer
. Margins apparently the upper joint of the column, slightly thickened
Opposite the pe of the pieces.

colntnigs eee
Ra

adial pieces, 1st series. aan four nah te “

* F. A. Roemer, N. Jahrbuch 1850. 679, taf. vi, B.
jE Rar i Me FE a
Bonn, 1855,

236 S. Lyon and S. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

lightly in size: the fourth is axillary, obscurely six-sided, rising into a
long angular point; on each of its oblique upper sides supporting three
pieces of the secondary radials, which are similar in form and nearly as

at the summit of which completes the field.
Laterradial fields of the 2nd series, five, composed of pieces similar in
orm, from six to seven in number, variously arranged, sometimes one sur-
y two similar pieces, these by two others, then a smaller one,
or one at the base, with one above the other, these again by two ranges
of two, then one, all these forms are occasionally found in the same speci-

ep., pl. 48, fig.
fields in three series, it approaches F
pl. 17, fig. 5), from which it differs widely in the number of anal woe
atelloi

come under our observation there are no patelloid pieces, in a few of our
specimens (the prolongation of the superior pieces near the centre of

before cited. It is highly probable that this prolongation in the living
animal was less calcareous than the remainder of the piece, and owing to
this circumstance, was differently mineralized from the mass of the piece.
‘This very difference in the composition of the pieces, supposing that the

S; Lyon and S, A, Casseday on new species of Crinoidea. 287

rolongation was cartilaginous and the rest of the piece bony, would give
flexibility to the won of the fom and would have a n operat ee useful
o our similarly arranged species, whose rays are red together by
the intercalation of thies stories of ‘intermedial and iiterbrachit fields.
ur figures are drawn the size of nature from the largest perfect speci-
men x has come under our notice, fragments have been found of larger
individu Is,

Geological position and locality, Rare in the beds of the auc: sel
ous limestone near the top of the a“ sandstone, Clear Creek, Hard
county, Ky. Also in the same beds in Washington and Mon nigomery
counties, Ia, Vertical range suka, it is probable that it is ‘quite

ed.

Forbesiocrinus sine sp. nobis.

Body ree rays long, promin

Basal pieces, three, of equal oat, oa projecting beyond the column, in
perfect opeciansins appearing like the upper joint of the column; havin
“ unequal thickness, the thickest part being in the centre of the width of

e pieces
Subradials, — pentagonal, low, four times as broad as high. Radial
pieces, the first a about — as wide as high, epee tee eae

fourth are pentagonal, similar on their lower margins to the first, second
and third, irioroettig in breadth at the centre where they terminate in an
elevated point. The first — second radials join each other, the remain
der do not touch at any poin'

Second

radials support each, two bailed, varying from four tc six pieces
ly four), to the ene —— db like manner r the main eee of

imes.
Anal pieces, usually from fout to six, The first is the largest piece in
the circle of subradial pieces, hexagonal ; on its upper margin is placed a
rectangular parallelogramic piece three times as high as wide, on this
fo three or a small pieces one above the — palo”
nterradial pieces, Between each primary ray there is one, :
two, hexagonal pieces. It is not dec A sa tere ol panels
Without an interradial, in the young sine ae are seideen presen
Interbrachials. Usually one between the main ray and the fiat divie
ions, sometimes these pieces are found between the main branches anc
@ second, third and firth itehiions; In well preserved specimens the
whole body and arms are covered with minute granules, = 7

mn, round, diminishing from the body downwards, ¢
uy thin circular pieces, with a still thinner | muscular opis i. ne
@ good lens is m
oh a

required allie eth otic

of the pica

‘

238 S. Lyon and S. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

Dimensions of medium sized Adult :

Breadth of basal pieces, - . - . - “45 inch.
Height of subradials, - : - - - ei
idth o ve - - - - - - 45
Length of first 4 radials, - - - - et} oe
Length of arms, - . - - - i ee

This crinoid is referred with some doubt to Forbesiocrinus of de Ko-
ninck as defined by Jas. Hall, Geol. of Iowa, part 2, p. 630. In technical
strictness this is not Forbesiocrinus, and will not fall into that genus,

advanced, and the number of genera erected, to receive analogous forms
as not diminished the difficulties pertaining to the subject. :
Our species has from four to six anal pieces and no more, the generic

e differences should certainly be generic, yet the analogy of form is
such that it is proposed to modify and extend the generic formula and
admit this and other allied forms.

Geological position and locality. Subcarboniferous limestone, Hardin
Co., Ky., and in similar rocks in Indiana.

Actinocrinus. (Miller.)
Actinocrinus cornigerus, sp. nobis.

Body. General form subglobular, conical, below the arms having the
form of an inverted cone which is about two-thirds the length of the en-
tire body, the whole surface beautifully ornamented with carina, spines

|

Basal pieces, three, prominent, nearly equal in size, forming together a
large irregular hexagon; each piece has a broad leaf-like expansion raised

pieces. The lateral markings surrounding the base are quite prominent
and form around it a raised hexagon, ;
Second radials, five, hexagonal, a little smaller than the first radials
and similarly ornamented. .
Third radials, five, two of which are hexagonal, the others being 464
g strong rib which proceeding from the centre of the
and extending over the second radials, bifurcates near the centre of the
third, giving off two ribs. From the upper margin of the third

S. Lyon and 8. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea. 239

radials rise two radials of the second series: on each of these the rib
again bifurcates. Each of these last pieces bear two others; on those
nearest each other the rib again bifurcates, each branch of the first bifur-
cation thus bearing three ribs, which are here joined to the free arms.

Interradial pieces. Generally from three to seven, they are disposed as
follows: first, a large hexagonal one succeeded. by two nearly equal to it
in size, also hexagonal, then follow sometimes two, three or four, differing
in form, these again are followed by a number of small hexagonal

eces

Anal pieces, seven to sixteen: the first of the series is hexagonal, in the
same circle with the first radials, equal to them in size and having the

ament, this piece is followed by two others as in the interradial
fields, except that the pieces are generally smaller. Upon these succeed
four, sometimes more, which are followed by three regular and a cluster
of four petal-like pieces with one to the right of the cluster completing
e row. The ornature of all these pieces is the same as on those already

ese larger pieces, On the anal side the vault is more convex than on
either of the other sides, it is covered by about twenty-five or thirty small
i ieces composing the

Peas

240 S. Lyon and S, A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

Actinocrinus, sp. nobis.

Body, uniform, symmetrical, enlarging rapidly beneath the arms, vault
tumidly conical, centrally surmounted by a strong proboscis nearly as
long as the height of the body. Base plain below, slightly excavated for
the reception of a igs column which is round, composed of alternately
thick and thin piec

asal pieces, freragonsl, thick, low, margin and angles rounded, slightly
inflated, projecting beyond the ‘sa hase which it forms a ‘Pitalt-
form border, perforation ee pen

Second radials, very a tbodhd sneer rane as oe: as wide,
inflated in the same manner as os first radials.

others four ae as wi i on their oblique aie sani ae
support a se f two secondary radials each, the second of which are ax-
illary, sopporting usually four ee | three 2 shat giar baat

two long ferreting uble row n oF Joints; the arms be-
e free from the last brachial. The t two postero-lateral rays have an ad-
ditional arm on branches joining the anal ois This _each

In adiar pieces, The first is’ large, (inferior in size to the first radi-
als), hexagonal, ascending sides diverging, and resting in a deep angular
otch betw rst radi ve a ae et shoe oblique upper

Vault, The a is covered by numerous polygonal pieces differin os
ris ee fe in size, inflated, terminating in a point more or less
d near the center of the pieces.

» This like the vault is covered by polygonal ane which
differ remarkably in size, knobbed or spinigerous, the side corresponding to
the anal side being covered by se. 3 pentagonal pieces some of which
bear a range of two or three knobs or spines, on the mc Sb te side the
pieces are relatively much smaller, and the spines

S, Lyon and S. A, Casseday on new species of Crinoidea, 241

Dimensions of large Specimen.

Height of calyx, - - - - 95 inch,
“ “ vault, * uae Ji OF ae oe 46, %
“ “ base, = “ eS = 5 2 20 ««

Length of proboscis (not complete), ns iz oe 1°30...*

Height of calyx, vault and proboscis, - - ta SRE!
ngth of arms partly concealed, - - = - 3°45. *

Geological position and locality. Imperfect, but recognizable, speci-
mens occur at the quarries near Louisville and Nashville Railroad, Clear
Creek, Hardin Co., Ky., associated with Eretmocrinus magnificus, &c. For
the specimen figured we are indebted to the cabinet of O. A. Corey, Esq.,
who with praiseworthy liberality, placed at our disposal the whole of his
splendid cabinet of erinoidea. ‘A. grandis is nearly related to A. turbina-
tus, Hall (Iowa, p. 587, pl. ii, fig. 1), also to A. longirostis (Ib., pp. 589,
590), from both of these our species differs in the ornature of the pieces, the
number of arms, and so far as may be determined, by the figure and de-
scriptions referred to, by the pieces covering the proboscis and the vault,
and the number of pieces composing the anal and interradial fields.

ACTINOCRINUS, Miller.
Sub-Genus, Erermocrixus, Lyon and Casseday.

?
eral appearance as to be instantl nized. The structure of

Generic Formula. ie
Basal pieces, 3 large and extending beyond the calyx.
Radial “ "3x 5, very small. 4
Brachial“ 3x26.

Tnterradial “ 24, one larger and one smaller.
6x 2

Interaxillaries, 0.

Froboscidiferous. so oe
_ Arms, 26, long paddle shaped, deeply grooved on the inner
face, fimbriated on both sides of the groove.

ong generic name was sugg' by the oar-like arms of this
Splendid crinoid. ee sete

242 SS. Lyon and S. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

beyond the body where it joins to it, deeply concave below, the depression
left by the column forming a still deeper concavity, occupying about half
the diameter of the whole base, the centre being perforated by a small
pentapetalous opening. : :
First radials five, very minute, quadrangular, thrice as wide as high.
Second radials similar in form and size to the first radials. The third
radials are axillary, twice the size of the first, and support on each

single carinated protu

the base along the middle of the rays and

distinctly marking the course of the rays
nt

berances, more or less prominent, extending from
their branches to the free arms

Vault, The vault is of an elevated conical form surmounted by 4
proboscis, the whole being covered by irregular sized pieces, generally
hexagonal in form, rising from the margins toward the centre and termr
nating in a point—in some specimens, the centre of the pieces are marked
by two or sometimes.three points. It happens that all these forms are
found in the same specimen

A f th

in a sub-rotund column about one third of th :
en and expand towards the top; at the middle of their length they
are half an inch wide and about a sixteenth of an thi ort

istance the margins are parallel when they suddenly contract by a gra
ful curve to about half their greatest width, the sides again becoming
rallel for half an inch, when they close by a circular curve which
Sounds inds the upper extremity. The insides of the lower parts of these
arms are flattened and grooved by a deep semicircular sulculus, the mat
gins of which are lined with very fine, long cilia up to the enlargement
. nnot be traced, in

of the arms, beyond which they cannot be traced, in fact we suppos?

8, Lyon and 8, A, Casseday on new species of Crinoidea, 243

Geological position and ie eat Found in vast numbers in the quar-
ries near the Louisville and Nashyille Rail ig Clear Creek, Hardin Co.
Kentucky, at numerous localities in Indiana, i ds near the top of the
Knob member of the sub-carboniferous rocks. ia Clear Creek the hori-

Dimensions of medium sized specimen.

Height from base to foot of es - = 145 inch.
Height of calyx to = arms, se i “45°
Diameter at free arm - - - - miedo ue ts
nba ~ + - “ - SO
of nee ees Sa ee ee Sy
Height of sada wae wT a ce ill ne“

Meaistocrinus, Owen and Shumard.
Megistocrinus rugosus, sp. nobis.
bglobose, truncated ; below the truncation concave‘ from the
j dns

on,
Pieces of the calyx being ornamented with very prominent ci tuber-
cles, give it an exceedingly rugose we aly rise hence its tae pane:

pentapeta talo
_ Pasa pieces, three, forming together an irregular hexagon, the fo
Cinsoeiar of which is parallel to the ~ Apia Ae att facet of the

oi are finely granulated.

oo five, forming together with the first anal piece a circle
ot mmetrical hexadetel pieces. Their surfaces are beautifully orna-
“i =n strie disposed ——- with granular
tn

244 S. Lyon and 8. A. Casseday on new species of Crinoidea.

Third radials, five, generally wos 2 hexagonal, thick, tuberculated,

axillary, and support each two brachials. In three of the rays they are
axillary, and support on each facet one or two pieces, from which proceed
th rms, eac thus supporting four arms. In the two remaining

jeces
of these fields become olen? smaller, and are less regular in their
form and disposition. All of these as well as the other pieces forming

men; presenting much the same character as the interradials just men-
tioned. The one resting on the base is can in size to the first radials
which it resembles, this is succeeded by three large Fcxaded pieces,
nearly in a line with the second radials, the remainder are smaller and
ste dispo
Interbrachials, Between the brachials, and in a Jine with the radials,
are interbrachial pieces, one large and two smaller pieces. In the second
bifurcation, in those rays having four arms, and — the last brachials,
there is generally one other interbrachial inter |, sometimes two oF
ree, arms are —— in number running off in pe pairs of two,
and three om of ‘fou
ault, The vmilic’ is covered by small ee Ss _ arranged in
clusters of seven to ten about a central one, which is usually larger than
the surrounding pi eces, and nail spinigerous. With the ese 8 of

the spines, the vault is devoid of ornament. The pieces are rai n the
centre giving this part a varicose appearance. roboscis is ee sub-
central, com i similar to those of the vault; at or the

base of it is a spine which i is nearly central, or somewhat larger than any
other spine upon the summit.
Geological position and ‘locality, This magnificent crinoid is found in
considerable numbers in rocks of the Devonian period, a few feet beneath
the black slate, at the quarries on Bear Creek near Louisville, Ky.

We have referred this fossil to the genu s megistocrinus, which it resembles
so closely in the number and arrangement of the pieces that > ane dispo-
sition of it will hardly | 4 found in the ae rocks

egis tocrinus latus.
foil closely allied to this j is found in the Devonian rodks of Spain, and
by De Verneuil as Pradocrinus Baylii,* a second species P.
Americanus, is found on the Falls of the Ohio.

* Bulletin de la Geol. Soc. de France, 2d Series, t. vii, p. 187, pl. 2, fig. 11.

S. Lyon and 8S. A, Casseday on new species of Crinoidea, 245

CyaTHooriInus, Miller.
Cyathocrinus multibrachiatus, sp. nobis.

Calyz, vasiform, the pieces thick and tumid, surface ornamented with
ey t granulose a Column, round, proportionally small.

e, pentagonal rather large; their under surfaces are scooped _
out nee a oe excavation which 3 is 5 entirely overspread by the
column, Their superior margins are prolonged into

Subradials, tr iu into the retreating angles of the i ae of
Of

e
other. The pieces eagle the arms have a parallelogramic form, their
a os articulation i by an elevated rim, surfaces otherwise per-

specimen resembles Cyathocrinus intermncdns of Hall (Iowa, P
627, Pl = fig. bt yet the differences are so marked thetith ey will be
dr _ uish

nus and gor poner nani ae of a ea
kuck — of Iow. ee: ees
itp

The basal, subradial, radial and eat sas hives the same e form, rela-
tive size and rn in C. multibrachiatus. In est specimen figured

246 FF, A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy.

ecies above referred to; although this is true of another specimen in
our collection, we su 086 it owite to the imperfect conservation of those

composing the proboscis of the variety are arranged in parallel rows instead,
of alternating with each other as they do in C. multibrachiatus. The
arms of the variety come off as in the species, Haney the last radial
piece which is axillary, supports two rays of arms, but the secondary

mos

instances throughout their whole length without bifurcations. This me
rangement will ‘be easily understood by reference to plate 5,* fig. 5, 1,

Position and locality. This crinoid occurs in the same beds as its con-
gener described above.

Art. XXX.— Contributions to Mineralogy; by FrepK. A. GENTH.

1. Native Iron.
AxovT four years ago I received for examination a mineral,
ata was said to be found in the neighborhood of Kuoxville,
in considerable quantities, and which was believed to
e's a valuable nickel ore. A qualitative analysis of it, made at

made it: ve i probable that it was real native tron. - ‘The speci-
men, which

and breaks pc’, into fragments of an irregular shape, W
are crystalline, without, however, showing signs of any distinct
planes. It is soft and scratches fluorspar with difficu us-
tre eminently me Dissolves readily in nitric acid. It was
found to contain :
Tron, - - - - 99°790
Nickel, with a trace of Cobalt, - = 2 ee AO
M - = e = 0022
Calcium, - - - ~ ss <<; W191
Silicium, - - - - - - - 0075
100148

About a year after I had examined the mineral from Sox
ville, I received the same substance from northern Alabama a3 _

an alloy of gold, platinum, silver, copper, etc., with the request
to advise a plan for the separation of these metals.

nt bon endeavored to obtain more of this interesting perry

sree but the sie tel probably not being satis
* To be given hereafter.

eas
.

i

F’, A, Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy. 247

with the results of my examinations, did not comply with my
= and I hope others may be more successful than I have
en.

2. Native Bismuth.

A fragment of the beautiful variety of Bismuth from the Peak
of the Sorato, in Bolivia, S. A., where it occurs in masses of a
broadly laminated structure, the foliz frequently interlaminated
with films of native gold, has been presented to me by Chas.

.

M. Wheatley, Esq., and was found to contain:

Bismuth, x = - 99°914
Tellurium, % - - + - - 0 042
n, . i . é ‘ . - trace
99°956

3. Whitneyite. Am. Journ. Sci., [2], xxvii, 400,

In his Report on Lake Superior, Washington, 1849, p. 447,
Dr. C. T, Jackson makes the following observations. ‘ Aung.
8d, 1848. Crossing over the summit of the cliff and descending
a few rods on the slope, we came to a little vein, which was sup-

d to be antimonial copper ore, but which, by blowpipe
analysis, gave only arsenic and copper.” This passage having
€scaped my notice at the time of writing my paper, I have not
done Dr. Jackson full justice before. It is very probable that
Dr. Jackson had my new species (Whitneyite) im his hands as
early as Aug. 3d, 1848, (although he having failed to give an
analysis of the same, there is no positive evidence of it). It is
certain that he had a mineral, in which by blowpipe tests he
found oniy arsenic and copper; but he does not express his opin-
1on about it or its claims as a mineralogical species—and there-
fore, if he has been aware of the true nature of this interesting
mineral, he has done an injustice to himself and science by not
publishing his views about it. )

; learned an investigator as Dr. Jackson could not have been
ignorant that it was Domeyko, who first in 1843, described and
analyzed the mineral which bears his name and proved the exist-
ence of arsenids of copper in nature which had not been recog-
nized by Faraday, and von Kobell by their analyses of the same
mineral in its impure and partly oxydized state of condurrite. _

It is by no means certain, however, that the mineral noticed
by Dr, J ackson, in 1848, was not the arsenid of nickel and cop-
Per noticed in this Journal, [2], xix, 417, by T.S.. ‘unt,
4gan on p. 15, this vol, by Prof: Whitmey.

. This species, of which Breithaupt under the name of Homich-
lin gives a eat many socmioadar prediaied, when first observed,
to bee: avery important copper ore of North Carolina; it

248 F. A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy.

has, however, not been observed since in its pure state. The
localities Phoenix and Vanderburgh mines, mentioned by Otto
Dieffenbach, are extremely doubtful, the specimens, which came
to my notice from there, were only tarnished chalcopyrite; the
Barnhardt mine has proved to be worthless, and is exhausted,
whilst the ores from the Pioneer Mills mine, which I have from
time to time obtained, were mostly the mineral mentioned in my
paper, Am. Jour. Sci. [2], xix, 18, as containing about 40 p.c. of

r, or mixtures of chalcopyrite and barnhardtite with cop-
perglance, which latter could be easily distinguished with a good
magnifier in small veins, running through the whole mass,

the above mentioned 40 oz. copper ore, barnhardite and erubesite,
whilst the crust is chiefly composed of sesquioxyd of iron.

5. Gersdor fite.

I have observed this mineral on a specimen of anglesite from
Phoenixville, Pa., on which it forms an incrustation ne par-
tially decomposed galena and zincblende, associated wit
chalcopyrite and covelline. The very small crystals are cubes
with octahedral planes and, very rarely, those of the pentagonal
dodecahedron, the latter frequently indicated by the striation of
the cubical planes. B.B. it gave the reactions of sulphur, arseni¢
and cobalt; a nitric acid solution, however, showed the presence
of a larger percentage of nickel than cobalt.

6. Molybdate of Iron.

I am indebted to Dr. D. D. Owen for some fragments of this
mineral from Nevada City, California, and have made a few eX-
periments with the same, but regret that the rarity of this sub-
stance prevented a fuller examination. That which could be
scratched off the quartz was not quite pure and contained a trace
of limonite. Dilute ammonia acted readily upon it and extracted
ail the molybdic acid, leaving behind the hydrated sesquioxyd
of iron of a brown color. The sample examined gave 243 p. ©

F, A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy. 249

of sesquioxyd of iron, some of which was certainly mechanically
mixed with it. Dr. Owen found by his experiments 35 p.¢. 0
sesquioxyd of iron—from which it appears that this substance
exists in the mineral in variable quantities. This fact and the
other that dilute ammonia extracts the molybdic acid easily and
completely, leave very little doubt that the Nevada City mineral
is a mechanical mixture of molybdine with limonite, although I
will admit that no positive opinion can be formed about it, unless
larger quantities of the pure mineral are subjected to repeated
analyses,

5. Albite,

divergent structure, but only, where calcite predominated and
could be removed by acid, crystals could be obtained. They
were small and indistinct, showed however the common form or
twins of the same. The following planes are noticed: be ok
1,1’, Oand iz. I analyzed a specimen of the granular variety,
freed from calcite y dilute chlorhydric acid, and found:

_ By J. L. Smith’s method.

Silicie acid, < = - 68:89
Alumina, - Fe - - - 19°65 “eee
Sesquioxyd of iro Soak : - O41 ee
Lina a ee wag
Soda, - - - - OW 0°53
Potash, “ s ‘ é - trace trace
Ignition, - . . ‘ : 0-21 soe
10010
b. A massive greyish white variety of albite, much resembling
petrosilex and some kinds of jasper, from the Steele mine, Mont-

Somery county, N. C., has been examined in my laboratory by
Mr, J.P. Pépplein, who found it to contain:

Silicic acid, - ‘ s - 60-29
—— - < - ie i - - ted

squioxyd of iron, aa - - ee ely = : et te —

Oxyd of manganese, ‘ 3 ya A a ,

Magnesia, “ in a ‘ é sane ———— aca
Lime, a “ 2 = alae meat ae a poo
Peal ee
Water, : : Br Cia STA - 120
99°45

For the determination of the alkalies, the albite, both from the
le mine and California, were decomposed by fluohydric acid.

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. §3.—SEPT., 1859.
32

250 F. A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy.

Although the material for this analysis appeared to be quite
pure and homogeneous, the already commenced alteration of this
mineral is indicated by the low percentage of silicic acid, the
ae age of water, etc.

It is rarely pheno! with crystals of albite, but frequently

with game crystals of Sennen sphene, ripidolite, gold, pyrites,
blende, chalcopyrite and gal

8. ane.

The most interesting associate of the massive albite from the
Steele mine is ripidolite, ecause it is the result of its alteration,
as can be easily observed from the fact that, wherever the albite
has a crack, through which water could penetrate more readily,
a greenish line makes its appearance, which indicates ci ey?
mencing Set ; where this has already made mo it
can hat the ripidolite is lining both sides of f the fssu fn

r

nucleus of albite, often having the diminutive shape of the orig-
ina al

n cavities it is rarely observed in wormlike aggregations of
microscopic erystals, sometimes in peculiar casts,* having the
appearance of crystals, but generally in masses of aggregated

seales of a dark olive green color.

rof. J. D..Dana, who had the kindness to examine these casts, makes the fol-
lowing rears ina jaa: dated New Haven . June 23, sb

tions looking as if the cuts were due to esatben slate es that have been removed;
. The fact that the cuts sometimes go only half way ae the preudo-ryetal ;
. The imegularty of form presented ; for although the surfaces are flat, there 18
nes.

y to k

lar prisms, they might possibly occur in one pair of the faces, but would not also on

the others at the same time, and much less would they be found on the planes Fre
c oreover such Pegular tinagles look ae-i the system of crys

a was rhombohedral or monometric, while the forms are very far from

5. Teteedarget pseudo-crystal there is a piece of the rock projecting on one
side. paged meme piece has its pot ee for a iecaiek of nearly a line

2
stalline tes :

te occupies y= cavities ; cap gr pa ver
y marked they would chapters a the triangles alike on all the faces
ofthe ripiolite, arg tie: ca Vicion The difficulty in this view of the case is thix—
pode not occur on any mineral that I can suggest as he. proluble
eae sine" They ae fxd ‘on some foliated chlorite, ripidolite, elinochlore and pyto*

‘confess that I do not fully understand the ripidolite.”

F, A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy. 251

I found the pure mineral to contain :

Silicic acid, - - + 2490 contains 12°93 oxygen = 1°20
umina, - - - 21°77 33 10°17 1155 1-08

Sesquioxyd of iron, - 460 . 1°38

Oxyd of iron, = - - 24°21 “ 5°37

Oxyd of manganese, - 1°15 * vas 10°74 t

Magnesia, - + - 12°78 mf 511

Water, - - - - 10°69 - 9°41 0°87

The oxygen ratio of RO: R, O,: SiO, : HO being
1: 1:08: 1:20: 0°87, the ratio of the
equivalents would be =12 : 4: 8: 10,and considering
alumina and sesquioxyd of iron as replacing silicie acid th

formula = sR, (3) stom, or perhaps better a5) 3 +3He
9. Pholerite.

A mineral has been observed in several of the coal mines of
Schuylkill county, Pa., under similar circumstances to those,
identical, notwithstanding the differences between my own an
Guillemin’s analyses.

At Tamaqua it is found in scales of a yellowish white color,
which, however, can be easily removed by dilute chlorhydric
acid, and near Pottsville in snow white nacreous scales o
pearly lustre. .

Under the microscope the scales appear to be clinorhombic
With the planes 22 predominating and —1i indicated by the trun-
cation of the acute basal edge of the right rhomboidal prism. —

I have made several analyses of the mineral from a
a5 in its original state and after purifications by dilute chlor-

Yydriec acid. j

The analyses were made by fusion with carbonate of soda, as
well as with concentrated sulphuric acid ; the silicic acid separa-
ted by the latter method dissolved completely in boiling carbon-
> a. The alkalies were determined by J. Lawrence
Smith’s method:

* Il. Ht. Iv.
Original Mineral. “extracted by Chiorhydric Acid. Calculated. oh
; By Na0.CO, ByNaQCOz ByHOSO, 21; 5i,+6H
Silicic acid, “ = 46-93 46 98 4681 4706
Alumina, 9 3965 8956 89200
Geguinydof ie 018
Sem ot ¢ 3 i oa
Potash, - — . eee en i 8 tc ee
Water, = - 1398 13°69 13-91 13-71
99°92 10049 100 45 100-00
ieee analyses show that many of the varieties of the so-called
lin belong to pholerite. :

252 F. A, Genth’s Contribntions to Mineralogy.

10. Scheelite.

I have observed in North Carolina several new localities of
this mineral.

a. At the so-called Dutchmen Vein of the Bangle mine prop-
erty, Cabarras county, it has been met with between 90 and 100
feet depth, associated with pyrites and chalcopyrite in quartz;
forming an ore, which contains from 2 to 8 ounces of fine gold
in 2000 pounds, Although it is considerably disseminated
through the whole mass of ore in fine grains, the largest masses,
which I have seen were not over $ths of an inch in diameter.

No crystals have been noticed, but only granular masses of
a pale yellowish brown color, distinctly showing the octah
cleavage. It contains:

Binoxyd of tin, - - - - - O18
Teint acid, - . . 3 - 952
Oxyd of copper, : - - - - 008
Sesquioxyd of iron, - - - - 018
Lime, - - - - - 1931

99°22

b. Another locality is at the Flowe mine, Mecklenburgh
county, N.C., where it is associated with barytes, chalybite,
pyrites, chalcopyrite, wolfram and rhombic tungstate of lime.

Not more than two crystals have been observed; the first be-
ing a modification of the octahedron 1, slightly truncated by 1.
It has a yellowish brown color and would, if perfect, have @
leugth of ,%, of one inch; the other crystal was about half that
size, had a fine orange color and was a combination of the planes

and a; it contained a small quantity of tungstate of baryla-
Both crystals gave B.B. traces of tin.

11. Rhombic Tungstate of Lime.

Found also at the Flowe Mine.
It has a yellowish and greyish white color, and a vitreous lus-
tre, which is subadamantine on a fresh fracture

d
Are these crystals pseudomorphs? I do not believe it, at any
rate, they have not the appearance of pseudomorphs. Wek!
that lime is isomorphous with oxyd of iron and manganese,
would therefore suggest that tungstate of lime is dimorphous, and
that in this case it is coating a nucleus of (Ma)O> WO,, just
like a chrome-alum crystal, when placed into a solution of alum,

FP, A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy. 253

deposites upon itself a coating of the latter, or in the same man-
ner, in which the green tourmaline, of Chesterfield, Mass., sur-
rounds a nucleus of the red. I do not think that ever anybody
considered the green a pseudomorph of the red one?

12. Wolfram.

I have examined the wolfram, which forms the nucleus of the
thombic tungstate of lime.

Only one crystal has been observed yet, which shows the
planes J, 27, 47 and 13. Sp: gray. at 25° Cels. =7:496. It contains:

Tungstic acid, - - - - - 75°79
Oxyd of iron, - - - « - - 19°80

xyd of manganese, - - - - - 5365
Lime, - - - - - - - 0-32
Binoxyd of tin, - - - - : - trace

101-26
This corresponds with the formula: 4FeO, WO,+Mn0, WO,.
13. A few observations on the occurrence of Gold.

_ Much has been said and written about the occurrence of gold
I veins and elsewhere and the formation of the same, but com-

The gold obtained from the disintegrated diorite is generally
smooth and rounded as if it was water-worn. This cannot be,
however, because it lies still in its original, but only altered

ix, and has not been subjected to any attrition by water and

— 254 F., A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy.

sand; besides, if we observe any cavities in such gold, we find
the sharp edges of crystals, etc., in the same, rounded in a simi-
lar manner, just as if the whole piece had been subjected to the
action of acids, which in reality seems to have been the case.

believe that this is the most natural explanation, because it tells
us at the same time, to what source we must trace the gold,
which we find in the veins passing through these formations.

The greatest difficulty presents itself by inquiring into the
nature of the solvent. I do not believe it is very probable that
the gold has been carried off as a silicate of gold, or by the action
of chlorhydric acid upon the sulphid. What seems to me most
reasonable, is that it was-dissolved as terchlorid of gold. If we
remember, that the decomposition of pyrites, one of the most

n accessory constituents of diorite, produces sulphuric
acid, which in the presence of the never wanting chlorid of
sodium and an higher oxyd of manganese may liberate small
quantities of chlorine, the most powerful solvent of gold, we have
at least a very plausible explanation.

After penetrating the decomposed diorite the solution of gold,
passing down the veins, comes in contact with reducing agents
and is reprecipitated again, frequently in crystals or crystalline
forms. I shall farther below make a few remarks about the sub-
stances which precipitate the gold, in veins as well as in beds.

_An almost positive proof that the gold in the veins of the
diorite formation originates from the adjoining rocks is the fact
that the deeper the diorite is decomposed, the deeper the gold is
found in the veins. Many of these veins do not contain any

2g -
r they prove that the gold must have been 2

a. From Whitehall, Spotsylvania Co. Va.,—shows gold asso-
ciated with tetradymite, Acabaite and quartz. The gold is cry®
me, Be er dine nell

to th and

F. A. Genth’s Contributions to Mineralogy. 255

showing very distinctly one rhombohedron, scalenohedron and

an; it is coating tetradymite and ‘evidently a pseudo-
morph after it. I have seen other specimens from the same
locality, but of a value and beauty.

b. The tetradymite from the Tellurium Mine, Fluvanna Co.
Va., and the native bismuth from the Peak of the Sorato in
Bolivia, S. A., are frequently interlaminated with go

ve made some experiments with a solution of terchlorid
of ea and tetradymite and found that the latter precipitates
ihe ge gold from a dilute solution easily with a smooth and brilliant
surface.

c. In the upper portion of the ore bed in the metamorphic
Mics . Springfield, Carroll county, Md., which, near the sur-
face, consists of magnetite and at a greater depth of chalcopyrite
and other ores, sometimes films of native gold have been ob-
served coating ‘the cleavage planes of magnetite. On close ex-
amination it can be noticed that below the film - — the mag-
hetite is oxydized into hydrated sesquioxyd o

d. A very striking occurrence of native gold i is, ;, that where it
is associated with pyrites. Most.of the pyritous gold ores are too
poor to form a positive opinion about the form, in which they
Contain the gold, from observation, and many authors are of
Opinion that the gold may exist in the form of a sulphid, citer
by itself or as a sulphosalt. If we take it for granted that
pyrites itself is the result of the reduction of eae and bear
in mind that protosalts of iron reduce gold #%

Cannot adopt this opinion. But even as ease Ae gol vald-at abaeld
have been precipitated by sulphydric acid, whilst Agrees
through the vein, it could not remain in that state for a lon
time, because moist tersulphid of gold in the presence of fae
smallest trace of an acid is easily decomposed into metallic pis
and sulphuric acid. ras specimens of auriferous albite from
Winter's vein, Calayeras county, California, show beautifully
that, wherever there is a erystal of pyrites, small crystals of gold
are attached to it, demonstrating, t dot the sulphate of iron pre-
Cipitated the gold, previous to its own reduction into pyrites.

All these facts prove that the gold is carried into the st
from the adjoining rocks, and that the opinions which
Veins the source of the gold of alluvial and diluvial deposits ts and
the soil, is erroneous.

If another proof was wanted to show the fallacy of this idea,
it would be the fact that the gold from the soil or alluvial and
eavial deposits, has rarely the same sneea. a as that from the
- Me ‘ns wrought in the immediate neighborh« od of the same, the
[latter bea 1. Senarally less fine, It is Sapoaible therefore that
) ~— the destruction of a porti sine of these veins could have furnished

phia, July 27, oe -

— 256 Letter from Sir R. I. Murchison on

~

ArT. XXXI.—Notice of a Memoir by M. Jules Marcou, entitled
: ope, Nort

MURCHISON to the Editors.)

Genilemen—

In the early part of last winter I read with surprise the fol-
lowing paragraph in a published letter by M. Jules Marcou on »
-American Geology. “I think that the term Permian, at least

Considering this to be a serious charge, I wrote to M. Marcou
and begged to know the grounds on which he had made it. AS
he had never been in Russia, I-called his notice to another ex-~
pression in his own letter on American geology in which he
—_ “not having visited Kansas or Nebraska I have no de-
cided opinion respecting the geology of those countries; for I
profess the doctrine that geologists must see with their own
eyes,” &c. I further expressed a wish, that M. Marcou had
acted on his own doctrine, as respected Russia, before he p
so severe a judgment on the researches of M. de Verneuil, Count
Keyserling and myself. The replies sent to me by that gentle-
man, though very polite, being by no means satisfactory, i
stated to him my intention of publishing our correspondence 12
your journal. But I abstained to do so until M. Marcou had
produced a fuller explanation of his views.

a study of the original work of my friends and self, M.
Marcou has at length produced his results in the Bibliothéque
Universelle de Genéve under the title of which a translation 18

tion between the fossils of the Permian group or Dyas of M. —
Marcou and those of the Trias is much more sharply defined

* Bibliothéque Universelle de Genéve, Mai et Juin, 1859.

Mr. Jules Marcou’s Dyas and Trias, 257

sical group.
Although I will not answer objections in detail on the eology
of Russia which proceed from a writer who has never been in

outs of the vast region of Russia (larger than France) oc-
| by the rocks to which I assigned the name of Permian,

_Inshort, the whole geological series does not offer a more

mian and those of the Trias, whether we refer to their respect-
lvely imbedded reptiles, fishes and shells, or to their plants; the
She set marking the close of Palzozoic, the others the com-
mencement of the Mesozoic era. Yet these are the two deposits
which M. Marcou unites in one natural group under th eee
of New Red Sandstone. harps oes

To conclude, let me reques'

258 Letter from Sir R. I Murchison on Marcou’s Dyas, etc.

posing the views of an author who considers such fossils to be
the remains of “precocious beings”—the ‘precursors’ or ‘ad-
vanced guard’ of the secondary or Mesozoic populations !”
remain gentlemen, your very obedient servant,
RopeErick I. MURCHISON.
Geologieal Survey Office, London, July 25th, 1859.

ogie’ of d’Omalius, published in 1831, I found that although

(p. 276) that his name Penéen was intended as a French transla-
tion of Roht-todt-liegende, the examples of which rock, best —
known to the Nestor of Belgian geologists, near Malmedy, are
indeed quite sterile, as I know from personal examination long
before I visited Russia. 2

The following is the summary of Mr, Marcou, called for in
the last paragraph of Sir R. I. Murchison’s letter.—Eps.

“In the ‘New Red’ as well as in all other great epochs, we
remark that the lower beds (the lKoth-liegende) contain Car-
boniferous forms of life—a kind of ‘rear guard’ of the popula-
tions whose destruction had commenced, indicating that there

to become the spectato ut isola ;
new generations, which, although composed of beings somewhat

C. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina. 259

species of tentative experiment, which they were performing and

» eke to make room for the vigorous
and abundant flora of the warm season.” —Bibliotheque Univer-
selle (de Gendve), Juin 20, 1859, pp. 145, 146.

Arr. XXXII.—Zzamination of a supposed Meteoric Iron, found near
Rutherfordton, North Carolina; by CHARLES UPHAM SHEPARD.

For mv first knowledge of this Iron, I am indebted to Dr.
Thomas §. Duffy of Ratherfordton, who in the winter of 1857

Satisfactory judgment. From his description of its lustre and

260 C.U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina.

November, 1858, however, he sent the specimen to me by the
hand of Rev. Mr. Bowman; and a month after addressed me

from where it empties into Second Broad River, and four miles
from Rutherfordton. It was found by a man named Pinner,
who has since removed to the southwest. Search was made, but
no similar piece was discovered, although iron ore of good qual-
ity was found. There are no iron-works in the neighborhood.
This is all the information I am able to communicate about a
substance which has puzzled us all here. You will oblige me
by retaining it in your ion, till I can say something defin-
ite as to its ownership.’

My perplexity was greatly increased on the inspection of the
mass. Its weight was t pounds and three quarters, and its

was moreover slightly tapering in its figure,—having evidently
been broken directly and evenly across at each extremity, from
connection with a longer mass, that may have been stalactitic
in shape, or even drop-form, like the Charlotte meteoric iron,
that was seen to fall August 1, 1835. Almost the first impression
created by the fragment is, that it is cast-iron or steel, that has

en run in a mould formed by a fossil Calamite, supposing also
that the surface was afterwards perfectly cleared of any crust
or film, and polished throughout at every point. Singular ver-

7,

262 CO. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina.

Other lines still more delicate come into view with the aid of a
glass, forming a complication of patterns exceedingly delicate,

ss Siti ee _ ee a a ee a ee ee a
be
iia a a a

bs : . . 33) vu
“\
\\

C. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina. 263

but too intricate for description. They do not however possess
any analogy to the etchings on meteoric iron, steel or cast-iron.
e surface G at its uppermost portion (or to the right in the
figure) is almost perfectly smooth, presenting only a faint resem-
blance to the flat side, in the presence of a few nearly obsolete
wrinkles, At the middle region, however, these elevations be-
come more strongly marked; while still lower down (to the left)
they degenerate in regularity and pass into the pitted and undu-
lous surface, as they form the interior of a crateriform cavity
fully half an inch deep, by three quarters of an inch across at its °
opening. The appearance of this cavity at once suggests the
idea that a blunt solid was thrust into the matter when nearly
congealed, forcing it into the large wrinkles or waves whic
form the circumference of the crater. Indeed, it appears highly
probable that all the undulations and crimpings, large and small,
originated in the foreign body that produced this deep cavity,
Very little stress however could be attached to an explanation
of such various and unusual appearances as this mass presents,
and I could venture upon no conjecture of its origin as a whole,
more probable, than that the matter of which it is com ad
‘owed originally intg a cavity in some earthy, refractory mate-
nal, where it slowly suffered congelation, pressing with greater
force perhaps against the walls of the cavity on the striated or
seml-cylindric side than upon the other. In any case, it seems
quite certain, that its formation occurred with entire exclusion

received (J
‘T had

27th ult.
very

Was found
ever

264 OC. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N, Carolina.

r tarnish; and such is the delicacy of the raised lines, woe
tures and sinuses of the surface, it is impossible to believe that 1*

and struck with a hammer, it flew to pieces like glass.
tured surface was smoothed, and with some difficulty, etched w't
aqua regia. Its color (unlike to etched steel) was but slightly
‘darkened; and the developed was simply that of a coarse
( haroi n to a surface 0”

limestone, rubbed dow

C. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Tron? from N. Carolina, 265

ew
drochloric acid at the temperature of 80°. The extrication of
drogen gas was gradual, unattended by any sensible produc-
tion of heat. The action was considerably promoted by slight
agitation, On heating to 90°, the decomposition of the hydro-
chloric acid was much promoted; and the gas was tested, an
found to be pure hydrogen.* After some hours, a strong yellow-

q lined the flask for some distance above the level of the liquid.
q The flask being left in a state of rest for some time, fell in tem-
q psi to 65°; and its contents assumed a partially ploraenr 3
4 somewhat

_ Verified in several repetitions of the solution, and remains a

Possessed a dark greyish tinge, as if from the presence of traces

“ae ig hydrochloric acid at a lower temperatu
“intl#® crystals are formed, supposed to be a hydrated

» (say 65°) beautiful green
Settle chlorid of iron and
SECOND SERIES, Vou. XXVIII, No. s3.—suPT,, 1859,

34

266 C.U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina.

of carbon (possibly also of silicon). The affusion of hot water
pronvced an instantaneous effervescence, from the extrication of

ydrogen, This was continued by subsequent additions, until
the acid was almost completely removed, when the hydrated silica
occupied the bottom of the filter, having a somewhat lighter
shade of white, and on being turned out and broken up, was
found to be filled with rounded, amygdaloidal cavities. This
singular action of the hot water may proceed from the subver-
sion of a compound present, consisting of the chlorid of silicon
and hydrochlorie acid, its decomposition being occasioned by
the washing out of an excess of hydrochloric acid (aided by heat),
—the new bodies eliminated being silicic acid, hydrochloric acid
and hydrogen. Thus

SiCl, HCl+3HO=Si02, 2HC1+2H.

Or the effervescence m oecasioned simply by the decom-
— of water (aided by heat), through the presence of free
silicon. .

The silica was so light as to require much care while drying
it in a broad platinum capsule; and just prior to its ignition,
a bright glow set for an instant through its entire mass, produce
by the combustion of a trace of carbon, ‘

‘he first determination of the proportions of the iron and sili-
con gave as follows:
Tron, 2 - 5 ; : = - 84:00
Bilicon, +. - e tees : - - 13°57
It occurred to me at this stage of the investigation to deter-

n to traverse the heated powder, a brilliant red glow at
tended by scintillations in spots, appeared in the tube for the

drops of water produced hydrochlo-
. A portion of

C.U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina. 267

tested after the precipitation of the silica for iron, unattended by
its detection, even in the minutest trace. The volatile product
was therefore considered as terchlorid of silicon. :

But the charge in the tube which had suffered combustion,
was found to be swollen to three times its original bulk; and was
for the most part in beautifully perfect hexagonal crystals of a
blood-red color, like the minute forms of volcanic hematite.
These crystals were found to possess very remarkable properties,
a few of which may here be mentioned. :

The tube in which they were formed was carefully corked, so—
as to exclude the air. On allowing a few of them to fall into a
dry test-tube, and held in the sun’s rays, they turned a deep yellow
with a tinge of green, and quickly ‘coiled up and shrivelled,—
at the same time, emitting a peculiar ethereal odor.

n the process of sealing hermetically the tube in which the
crystals had been formed, a considerable jet of vapor issued from
the heated end, and burned with a bright light, attended by a
white smoke. As all moisture had not been excluded from the

wder, it appeared probable that this combustion was partly to

ascribed to siliciuretted hydrogen; and the smoke was at-
tributed to silicic acid.

The red crystals in the air, out of the sun’s rays, deliquesce
rapidly, forming a blood-red solution; and are soluble in ether

id in water: ammonia throws down from either solution, a
‘mixture of silicic acid and peroxyd of iron.

On heating the contents of the sealed tube to between 250°
and 300°, the red crystals are speedily volatilized, and condense
as ea y_on cooler portions of the tube immediately contiguous,
7_the precipitated crystals filling the cavity of the tube, and per-

5

The un: ales obtained: wetilaved ed dedroul of commu-
3 nicating i ence Behe ahd tomes vice, to Prof. Wohler of Gét-
ingen, a chemist who had especiall pe ially occupied himself not only

—

268 C.U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina.

with the analysis of meteorites, but with the study of silicon and
its more difficult compounds. I accordingly forwarded to him
an outline of my results, accompanied by a few grammes of the |
iron, and solicited his opinion upon the subject. He had the
goodness to have an analysis performed for me under his eye,
and to engage in some experiments himself upon the material

sent.
The analysis afforded the following result:

stom, * - 87°10

Silicon, - - - - 10°60

Graphite, - : - - 0-40 |
98°10 |

_ Of which he remarks, that without claiming for it the most = |
rigorous exactness, it is sufficiently accurate to show, that the |
composition of the mass is essentially a compound of Fe°Si, or

Tron, - : - - - 88°80
Silicon, é - - - 11°20

(Silicic acid being assumed =Si O°).

He then observes, that it subsequently occurred to him to ex-
amine the precipitated peroxyd of iron for phosphoric acid; and
that he detected therein, a strongly pronounced proof of its exist-
ence. This discovery induced him further to say, that the pres-
ence of phosphorus points to its meteoric origin, notwithstand-
ing the absence of nickel in the ;

I have since made a determination of the phosphorus, and
found it to amount to 1:312 p.c¢.; and combining the numbers
of the calculated result upon the iron as being composed of
Fe* Si, and employing therewith Wohler’s determination of the
carbon and my own of the phosphorus, the present statement 1s
believed to be a close approximation to the composition of the
Rutherfordton mass: ;

on, . - . - 87-279
Silicon, - - - 11-008
Phosphorus, - . : - 1312
Carbon, - - - - 0-400
Magnesium, - - - - trace

99-999

We recur once more to the question of its origin. It is ad-
mitted that it was found in a region containing iron ores, and
that the manufacture of this metal had been carried on, though , —
toa very limited extent, at the distance of ten or fifteen miles
from the place of its discovery. It is with difficulty supposable
that so considerable an unknown 12

&

C. U. Shepard on a Meteoric Iron? from N. Carolina. 269

.

270 C.U. Shepard on a Shooting Meteor from S. Carolina.

which I am acquainted. Still I cannot pronounce them identi-
cal, though my very imperfect examination had enabled me to
indicate silicon from the first, as a constituent of the Randolph
specimen. They were each found under circumstances equally
favorable as in the case of the Rutherford iron, to the idea of
their being natural productions. But unfortunately, the size of
the imens was so small as to render their full elucidation
difficult. Nevertheless, I hope very soon to subject them anew
to examination; and [I think I may add, with every probability
of establishing the real existence of the group of meteoric irons
originally proposed, but which has temporarily been withdrawn
from my classification.

As a convenient name for the Rutherfordton species of matter,

<I would propose that of Ferrosilicine

—

Arr. XXXIIT.—On a Shooting Meteor, seen to fall at Charleston,
South Carolina, on the evening of November 16th, 1857, with no-
few of other supposed shooting meteors; by CHARLES UPHAM

HEPARD, : -

IN calling attention to the matter of a shooting meteor, I am
conscious, that the evidence of its genuineness is not absolutely
perfect; nevertheless, it falls so little short of entire satisfactori-
ness, as to make it fully worthy of notice. No instance of the
kind at least, has yet been recorded, entitled to so much confi-
dence. In detailing the circumstances, I shall aim to present
every particular, precisely as it came to my knowledge.

Mr. Sparkman R. Scriven, aged about 17, and clerk in the

fiery ball of the size and shape of an orange, slowly caperem a

his induced young Scriven, who had never -before heard of
meteoric falls, at once to examine the fence against which the
ball -had struck. The fence was eight feet high, and formed of
long strips of horizontally disposed boards. It was near the
extremity of an uppermost board, that had been detached and

nt around so as to present its flat side uppermost, that the
body had been seen to fa eset And here it was, that he dis-

-

scribed, and shown a mere pinch of the matter that had been
detached from the fence,—the principal portion of it having un-
fortunately been given to a young man of the neighborhood, an
_-€ngineer at the depot of the Northwestern railroad, who wished
__. to exhibit it to his friends.

Dr. Pettigrew immediately called to acquaint me of the case;
but not finding me at home, we did not meet until the forenoon
of the 20th, when he presented me the specimen gathered by
Scriven, and took me to the spot.

ined the grass and soil on both sides
‘ the fence, without finding anything beyond little fragments
of chaicoal, ‘which are oe a most places about the

Piet

*

272 ©. U. Shepard on a Shooting Meteor from S. Carolina.

premises of houses. We then took pains to find the individual
to whom had been given the principal portion of the fibrous mat-
_ ter obtained from the fence; but had the mortification to discover,
that having worn it in a paper wrapper for several days in his-vest
pocket, he had finally mislaid or lost it. Thus little more than
a microscopically visible specimen of the shooting star remained
for study and examination. Its entire weight is probably less
than one-tenth of a grain. When viewed by a single pocket-
lens, it seems to be a confused aggregate of short clippings of
the finest black hair, varying in length from one-tenth to one-
third of an inch. Each portion is straight or only slightly
eurved. Except in color, they remind one most of that variety
of pumice stone from the Sandwich Islands, known as volcanic
hair, or as “Pele’s hair.” They do not seem very prone to break
in handli ng, and shally elastic.

They have been examined under compound microscopes of
high ene by earns 4 oer accustomed to the use of this in
strument; poe hitherto no ye has ventured to suggest a vile
tionship in ol ee eee to any known form of organic or in-
organic ie 304, he following description is from a note, hande
to me by my friend, Dr. F. W. Porcher of Charleston. ‘“‘ Black
elongated bodies, perfectly opaque, round and solid; amorphous,
not properly smooth, _ often furnished with warty dots
or SeceE rather

fig. 1, I have ae ‘Dr. Porcher’s drawings of a few of
the Pavan about four times, as | presented ore grapath to him,
through a one-third inch object- glass. A few of the bodies are
subspinose, and one or two decidedly rer tvals others are can-
cellated, anil seem capable of spaeei into smaller fibres. The
surfaces are not always perfectly ro |

could spare only a few of hen fas a chemical trial. Th
be ntroduced ee = — of test-tube cep 3 weil

measure their aa Pa with the eS Ho sar of being ren-
oT mid there transparent, as if about one-half of the black

si ae

ue
LA
i
4 |
a
i
id |
cd 9
eee
me
is,
ee

‘a
if

C. U. Shepard on a Shooting Meteor from S. Carolina. 273

matter had been eaten out and dissolved, leaving the remainder
1.

sufficiently connected to main-
tain the original figure of the
body. This honeycomb appear-
ance is also represented in three
of the drawings (fig. 2) made by
Dr. Porcher.

This is all that I have been

aps, in
Berzelius detected what appear-
ed to him to be an organic re-
siduum (resembling burnt hay)
in the French meteoric stone of

. Alais that fell March 15, 1806;

and bearing more distinctly still

ganic nature (resinous) in the
meteoric stone of Kaba, Hun-

carbonaceous matter in the
Stone that fell Oct. 13, 1888,
at Cape of Good Hope, —a
meteorite originally described
by Sir John Herschell and Prof.

araday. Prof. Harris states in
his valuable thesis on meteor-
ites (Gottingen, 1859), that he

nds @ quarter per cent of bitumin
Which is soluble both in aleohol and ether,

ube over a spirit lamp. It finally burns with a bituminous odor

and the deposition of carbon.

SECOND SERIES, Vor, XXVIII, Ne. 83.—8EPT., 1359.
35

ous matter in the Cape stone,
and fusible in a _

.

274 OC. U. Shepard on a Shooting Meteor from S. Carolina.

ution in water. But however this may be, the facts seem

as to make the recital of their apparition almost monotonous.

! ces, of whi
mention has yet been made,—not claiming for them howeve?,
* As having possibly a close connexion with the subject in hand, may be men
tioned, two instances J scene nese ladni’s list of aaa i meteorites, _ sane
these refers to the fall at Rockhausen near Erfort, July 5, 1582,? during a eweond
pest, of a large quantity of a fibrous substance, similar to hair. The #0
ch 23, 16652. aumburg, in whieh

C. U. Shepard on a Shooting Meteor from S. Carolina. 275

any other character than that of mere hints, intended to awaken
regard to a fuller investigation of analogous cases, as they may
from time to time present themselves.

It was hot far from the month of August, 1834, that the
newspapers announced the fall of a blazing meteor in the night,
in the town of Norwich, Conn. Its descent was unaccompa-
nied by any report, and the mass of matter in its course, came
near falling upon the roof of a house, missing it only by the
space of about two feet, and nearly burying itself in the rather
soft earth of the door-yard. The phenomenon occasioned much
fright to the occupants of the house, who were only females.
It was seen however, by others. The mass of matter occupying
the cavity was of a flattened form, and nearly as large over as
aman’s head. It had tlie appearance (in the words of a neigh-
bor who saw it and who described it to mea few weeks after)
of a mass of earth, stuck together by the infiltration of tarry
matter, And such he took it to be, supposing that some mis-
chievous persons had prepared a fire-ball, and projected it on
fire into the air, with the intention of alarming the inmates of
the house. I was shown the cavity said to have been pro-
duced by the ball; but the specimen had been given to a medi-
cal student, who had sent it to bis preceptor, residing in or near
Albany, N.Y, The circumstances were on the w ole so dis-
Couraging to the idea of its being a genuine meteorite, that I

ve the subject no further consideration. It may not
- te, to recover further information respecting its character.

On the evening of the 23d of April, 1855, at Ochtertyre House,
Crieff, in Perthshire (Scotland), a young woman saw from the
third story, a shooting star or meteorite, falling with a brilliant
It struck the gravel walk near to the house. She in-
stantly called two other females, “ who saw as it were, a brig t
object on the gravel, like the sun shining on a large diamond.

wo of them ran out of the house and round a court-yard to
Pe: spo

Spection of one of the specimens, and was satisfied that a correct
_ §ueral view had been taken of their character. Nevertheless, as

276 Scientific Intelligence.

the confidence of the gentleman referred to, was full and entire
in the integrity of the witnesses of the phenomenon, it wou
seem to be an instance, in which the sulphurous matter of a
shooting star was not completely consumed before reaching the
ground, and that much of the residuum suffered oxydation after
it struck upon the cinder of the walk.* ;
meteoric cabinet has contained for many years, a few grains
of a mixture of carbonaceous and earthy matter in a pulverulent
state, sent to me in 1845 by Mr. Black, of Elizabethtown, Essex
county, N. Y., (then a member of the Legislature of New York),
re ——s fallen in his wood-yard during the winter of 1844 and

_ As an appendix to this unsatisfactory list of supposed meteor-
ites may be added a statement concerning a specimen, the half of
which is in m ession, so puzzling in its properties as to
leave me in great doubt, whether to arrange it among terrestrial
or celestial productions. Its history is briefly as follows. It
was brought to Dr. Gibbs of Columbia, S. C., by a poor woman
resident in the vicinity, under the impression I believe, of its hav-
ing fallen from the skies; ahd as such, was presented to me by Dr.
Gibbs. Its size is about that of an ordinary fig, which fruit ina
compressed state, it somewhat resembles in figure. Its surface
was nearly black, rough and without a glaze. It seemed hol-
ow, and reminded me of an impure, brown iron-stone cetite.
On breaking it open, it presented an irregularly shaped cavity,
holding nearly a thimble full of silicious sand, and had upon its
interior walls, little pellets (half the size of a mustard seed) of
pure lead, almost exactly resembling those found in the Hemalga
(Chili) meteoric iron.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
I. CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.

1. On Ammonia-Chromium bases.—Frémy has discovered a class of
ammonia-chrumium bases, analogous to those formed by cobalt, iridium
and rhodium. The author, who appears to be ignorant of what has

sh he te:
oxyd” and the other “ metachromoxyd,” the latter being the soluble and

- the an: yses of which are not given. These substances are easily decom-
__ # Tt-was found by Dr. Heddle of that the cinder still retains distinct
gnu Saegeg

+

q
Pe
S|
i.
a,

Chemistry and Physics. 277

posed; among the products of their decomposition the author has dis-
covered an ammonia-chromium base which has the formula Cra03.4NHs,
The constitution of the salts of this base may be represented by the

neral expression Cr203.4NH3-+-3A, in which A represents one equiva-
lent of acid. The solutions are almost pure rose-red—the chlorid, which
the author considers as a hydrochlorate, has the formula Co2O3. 4NIIs
38HCI. The salt crystallizes from an acid solution in the form of beautiful
regular octahedrons ; it forms crystallizable double salts with the chlorids
of platinum and mereury. In addition, the author has discovered two
nag salts, which appear to contain different bases.— Comptes Rendus,
xlvii, 883,

according to experiments made at the Polytechnic Institute at a.

slightly soluble i
When treated for a long time with

a i ved into c rine
and acid which remains united with the alkali. The author concludes
from his analyses, that the true formula of cholesterine is that of Ger-
hardt, viz, : 4402, nine in combining with acids loses four
equivalents of water: the author succeeded in prepariag a benzoate and
stearate. He farther points out the relations which exist between meco-

e farther poin

278 Scientific Intelligence.

nine, C2of{1003, and the products of its oxydation, viz.: opianic and
hemipinic acids; C20Hi0010 and C2oHi00.2. These relations are the
same as those between olefiant gas CsHs, aldehyd CsH40s, and acetic
acid CaHsO

nD
oil of turpentine, and commonly known under the name of artificial
camphor, the only difference between them consisting in their power of
rotating polarized light. The author did not however succeed in obtain-

error
- of regret that iu the history of the world the progress of science
a secondary place to that of bloodshed, tyranny and political in-

ote, ae

oe

Chemistry and Physics, 279

The most trifling acts of kings and generals are recorded and

commented upon, and any misstatement in regard to them is soon
tected and pointed out to the confusion of the erring historian. But it

disseminated by each suc eeding writer until the authority in favor of
the error preponderates (numerically at least) over that in favor of the
truth

A striking instance of this occurs in relation to Sir H. Davy’s great
discovery. Seeing it stated in Lardner’s Hand-book of Electricity that it
was with the great battery of two thousand pairs of plates belonging to
the Royal Institution that Davy succeeded in decomposing the alkalies
and resolving them into metals and oxygen, and knowing that such w

: n this poin aware that Pouillet in his ig Tr
ique” (from which Lardner has largely copied) makes a similar statement ;
ut this I was prepare expect in the works of an associate of those

somewhat surprised me, and I was still more astonished to find that Brit-
ish authors, long before the time of Lardner and Pouillet, had given cur-

battery used consisted of only one hundred pairs of six inch plates; and
still further, in a note to the Bakerian lecture for 1808, he states that
many have been deterred from repeating these experiments, supposing

280 Scientific Intelligence.

his recent elaborate work on se pao (tome 1, page 46) falls into the
same mistake.* Lardner in his Lectu es even goes so far as to make an
entsisti defense of Davy from the imputation that he owed this ac-
ssion to his reputation to the fortuitous circumstance of his having
to the large battery of the Royal Institution. But he does not
eorrect the error. A few of our minor authors (Bakewell for instance)
seem to have read the Bakerian Lecture for themselves ; anda - rm rench
stsTiors, as Becquerel and Figuier, have se given Davy his
e extent to which this error has been copied shows with whos ser-

num rs reqs 1te, J. P.
r, N.Y, = 26th, 1859.

vani had fos eleven years been ongininetici in an elaborate vedosrol on ani-

mal electricity, in which he used frogs legs as sensitiv
The error has been continued from the —. of a careful distinction be-
tween the real discoveri lvani of Volta. Galvani was an
anatomist and a ace, rete he sally pte the existence of e
trical currents in living or recently dead an imals, and he justly csr
the convulsions of the frogs prsarin when made without a metallic are—by
co the exterior mucous with the lotisioe nervous aces

* The w ot M.D a Bre roa ple & mend ndentes en
en omen ¢ avec couples metalliques mobiles, forme so uelle fut icueels
deux cents couples ed Home sagem Royale a de Londres, au a be
es age He

eo construct
en by A. Dela Rive, but if for “
description a) Sites bests to the great

Chemistry and Physics. 281

honor of discovery of the pile, since he di efore it was discovered.
Prof. James D. Forbes, in his sketch of the progress of mathematical and
physical science in the Encye. Brit., (8th ed.) has given the best account of
the labors of Galvani and Volta to be found in English. In that essay
Prof. Forbes says (§ 765) respecting the discoveries of Davy, “ Potassium
was discovered in the laboratory of the Royal Institntion on the 6th of
October, (Oct. 19th ?) 1807, and sodium a few days later. The battery
used contained 250 pairs of plates of 6 and 4 inches square.” Davy in
reality employed, it is probable, two batteries; one of one hundred pairs
“ 6 inch plates, and another of one hundred and fifty pairs of 4 inch
ates

7. On the Electrolysis of Sulphuric acid ; by Dr. Axton GEnTHER.
(Liebig and Kopp’s Annal., Feb. 1857).—The following experiments were
undertaken for the purpose of deciding the question whether an electro-
lyte of different constitution than the simple binary relation of atom for
atom of each element is capable of decomposition by the current. Pre-

vious experiments with chromic acid, chlorid of iron and chromate of
- ;

282 Scientific Intelligence.

ducting power. As in the former experiment oxygen appears at the
-+ pole, but much more copiously; and at the —pole a shght escape of
gas bubbles is perceptible, whilst the blue streaks present themselves in
greater quantity, coloring the liquid contained in the negative arm of the
t ‘he odor of sulpburous acid is also distinctly perceptible. With

place,
of the color produced,

The development of sulphurous acid seems to be occasioned by the
rise of temperature produced in the solution by the action of the current,
Nor is it confined to the negative arm of the tube; circumstances whi
indicate that it is a seconda odu

82° F., the liberation of oxygen and hydrogen was of longer duration
pre free sulphur appeared. The temperature of the electrolyte was
oun

it meets at the moment of separation, and form sulphuretted hydrogen.
Nota trace of this gas has however been yet detected. F urthermore if
i i at

Geology. 283

depends on the concentration of the acid whether the extra decomposition
{ of water accompanies the foregoing products.

; at an electrolyte differing from the simply binary constitution is
capable of direct decomposition by the current is thus shown in the case
of SOs, and even with less room for doubt in the case of anhydrous
chromic acid, and chromate of potash, as the researches of Prof. Magnus
prove.

H. GEOLOGY.

1. Teeth and Bones of Elephas primogenius, lately found near the
western fork of White River, in Monroe County, Indiana ; communicated
by Prof. T. A. Wyire.—On Friday, July 28d, in company. with Prof. .
Cole, I visited the place where these bones were found. It is situated on
the farm of Jefferson Wampler, about a mile southeast of the town of
Gosport. On the 6th of June last, one of the young men, in whose pos-
session the bones now are, found one of the teeth, which had been washed
out from the bank y a heavy rain. This led to a further exploration,
and the discovery of the tusks and teeth and several fragments of the
skeleton. The bank into which they dug is a stiff plastic bluish clay.
The bones were found at the depth of eight or nine feet, in a bed of sand
underlying the clay, all in confusion as if they had drifted there, and had
afterward been covered with the clay. The sand probably rests om sand-
stone (Carboniferous) which forms the bottom of the brook not many
yards distant. Several of the larger bones were so far decayed that they
crumbled on attempting to take them out.

sq - Richardson, whom the discovery of these remains was
__ Made, deserve credit for the care they have taken in disinterring and pre-
6 serving them.
| _ The bones consist of two tusks, four molar teeth, and several frag-
me ments, viz, a piece of a rib, am end of the radius (?) much worn, measur-
y=: 2g about seven inches across its concave sarface, and a few spongy por-
og tions of the larger bones, :
_ _ One of the tusks measures on the outside of the curvature eight feet,

ju ing from the a arance of the fracture, this might have been lost
before the death of the animal. It measures five feet in length, and in
- diameter is the same as the other. The weight of the larger tusk is 166

_ There are four molar teeth, two larger i and two smaller. The largest
Measures, in the longer diagonal from crown to base, eleven inches; ver-

284 Scientific Intelligence.

tically, eight inches. Across the grinding surface, four inches. The
smaller molars are about eight inches, and five inche es in the same direc-

of these double plates were counted; in the smaller, fourteen
tance between the se oxy the interval between me pairs, is about
one-fourth of an i crak resemble so cis al nave seen of

: indrical columns of ename were distinct, and where also the gradual
coalescing of three of these into one, could be as perceived.
Indiana State University, Bloomington, August 1st, 185
2. iption of Mauna Loa, Sandwich Islands ; oe information in
a letter t o J.D. Dawa from Prof. R. C. Haskett, Oahu College, dated
Kona, Hawaii, June 22d, 1859) uke one just returned from a second visit
to the scene of the lava-flood on Mauna Loa. There is one fact which I

Below this point there is a stream, now co C , & Tew rods
width. In this flow therefore there is no doubt that there is a Rae 8a
crack in the side of the mountain for four miles. ow much farther

this crack extends down the mountain cannot be fk now at least,
for the craters are still sending forth immense columns of sulphurous va-
bowe and the stream of lava is still flowing below them. This stream
seh is much smaller than it was in February, and is entirely subter-
n for the first twenty-five or thirty miles, except that there are a lew
ficlat cahahe the running lava can be seen. In some instances this st
is as much as forty feet below the surface. During this trip I went to
the top wh ao Loa. There is no perceptible action in the crater of
Mokuaw The source * the present flow is probably about 11, 000
feet pase the level rt the se
3. Observations on the Ossi siferous Caves near Palermo; by Dr. Fat
coner, (Proc. Geol. ae London, Atheneum, roid 16, 1859, p- 86).—Dr.
Falconer, in the first place, adverted to his previ us communication, T
on the 4th of May last, before his collections na aftived 3 in England. In
the present paper he submitted, with more pots explanations, the ma-
terials on Pst ole his first statements were founded. Dr. Falconer aa
ysical sot Mts hy of that portion of the northern coast ©
2 bic the aad sioia ienie; namely, apg toep on

sot Tapas on te ma Along the Bay of Palermo, and

er eee

Geology. 285

its, usually about one and a ha r ay
majority of fossil shells in pers sag a beds belong to recent species
At the base of those inland cli ut sometimes 50 feet above the level

occur. One of the best known of these is the Grotto di Santo Ciro, in
the Monte Griffone, about two miles from Palermo. This cave has been
f bo

ean soil, T 5 bones from ‘hiss eave had lon ng en pisos and
mee formerly thought to be those of giants, Some years since bones.

e here excavated for exportation ; and M. Christol at Marseilles was
spied to recognize the vast majority of remains of two species of

galt Besides the ee te remains 0 So also occur. Prof.

Marine bed with oe and continuous with the external ter tiary cde.
The wall of the cave to the te of eight feet from os floor had been

; . spdean that of
reds of Hippopotams The remains of

lis, t ead sigan
is grey oe pi o istic of the other pliocene caves of

met with also,

-

286 Scientific Intelligence.

Europe. Coprolites of a large Hyena occur in ochreous loam; and
especially in a recess on the face of the cliff near the cave’s mouth.
patch of the “cinere impastate” was found under the superficial earthy
floor of the cave at one spot near the inner wall.

The author next described some remarkable conditions in the roof of
the cave. About half way in from the mouth, and at ten feet above the

ely, lon
smooth conchoidal surface below, and above, a longitudinal ridge bevelled
off right and left, or a concave facet replacing the ridge; in the latter

.

In very considerable abundance; amorphous fragments of flint are com-
ivel les or bi i i

In regard to the theory of the various conditions observed in the Mac-

mone Cave, the author considers that it has undergone several changes
of level, and that the accumulation of bone-breccia below and outside 1s
referrable to a period when the cave was scarcely above the level of the
sea. Dr, Falconer points out the significance of the fact, that a
coprolites of Hyane were so abundant against the roof and outside, none,

or but very few, of the bones of Hyznas were observed in the interior.

Ea ee ee
oe as a?

Geolpgy. 287

such as Rodents. He inferred that the cave, in its present form, and with
its present floor, had not been tenanted by these animals. The vast num-
ber of Hippopotami uel that the physical condition of the country
must have wee very different at no very distant geological period from
what obtains now. He considered that all deposits above the bone-breccia

ad been accumulated up to the roof by materials washed in from above,
through numerous crevices of flues in the limestone, and that the upper-
most Ges, § consisting of the breccia of shells, bone-splinters, siliceous
objects, burnt clay, bits of charcoal, and coprolites of Hyena, had been
cemented to the roof by stalagmitic infiltration. The entire condition of
the large fragile Helices proved that the effect had been produced by the
tranquil agency of water, as distinct from any tumultuous action. There

portions agglutinated to the roof, The wreck of these ‘ejecta was Vaible
in the patches of “cinere impastate,” containing fossil bones below the
mouth of the cavern, That a long period must have operated in the ex-
tinction of the Hyzna, Cave-lion, and other fossil one is certain; but
no index remains for its measurement.

The author would call the careful attention of cautious geologists to
the inferences,—that the Maccagnone Cave was’ filled up to the roof

land-shells, coprolites o and human objects was agglutinated to
the roof by the infiltration of water holding: lime in solution; that su
sequently, and within the human period, suc t amount of chan.

three long galleries meeting or intersecting one another at right angles,
Numerous bones of Rhinoceros tichorhinus, Bos, Equus, Cervus tarandus,
Ursus speleus, and Hyena have been found; and several ies

ge e in

8 composed of water-worn chalk dl igh ee is igh Sa fie i i above

it is a thin band of sand, surmounted by sandy beds (3 feet 6 in.), and
brick-earth (11 feet 9in.). In ls we ple: the remains of elephant,
horse, and deer have been found, with land and fresh-water shells of re-

cent species. From the gravel Mr. Flower dug out a flint-implement,

288 Scientific Intelligence,

shaped like a spear-head, at about eighteen inches from the face of the
pit, and sixteen from the surface of the ground. Mr. Flower in this com-
munication pointed out evidences to prove that this and many other simi-
Jar flint-implements obtained from the same gravel were really the result
of human manufacture, at a time previous to the deposition of the gravel
in its present place. Mr. Fowler’s visit to St-Acheul was made in com-
pany with Messrs. Prestwich, Godwin Austen, and Mylne, with a view to
verify the discoveries made respecting the occurrence of flint-implements
in the gravel and peat of the Somme Valley by M. Boucher de Perthes,
of Amiens.

_6. On Professor C. Piazzi Smyth’s supposed proofs of the Subma-

ones %

publication in the Philosophical Transactions of my paper on the Lavas
of Mount Etna,* a Report by Prof. Smyth, Her Majesty’s Astronomer for
Scotland, has been printed by the Admiralty of Great Britain, “On the
Teneriffe Astronomical Experiment of 1856,” in which a chapter on
geology and “ volcanic theories” is introduced.

This chapter, which did not form part of the original report as pub-

sari
When I first read these passages, I naturally concluded that some new

ed
having never seen or heard of such a fact myself when in the island,
On the Structure of Lavas which have consolidated on steep slopes; with Re-
1 the Mode of origin of Mount Etna, and on the Theory of Craters of Ele-
t Charles Lyell, Phil. Trans. part 2, 1858, p. 703.

Geology. 289

I wrote to Prof. Smyth to know where and at what height above the sea,
and under what geological circumstances, he or his informants had detec-
ted these shells. In reply he could give me no information on any one
of these three heads, “ he had merely given the statement on report, and
not from his own observations.” It appears, then, that he had simply
learnt that marine fossil shells had been met with somewhere in the island

d
Hartung and I were there in 1854. These shells, however, did not occur
“on the slopes of the crater,” but in the suburbs of Santa Cruz, along the
shore to the northeast of the town, a part of the island which is geo-
graphically and geologically independent, not only of the Peak, which is
more than twenty miles distant, but also of that volcanic chain which
extends many miles from the flanks of the great cone, trending in a north-
easterly direction. The separation of the Santa Cruz rocks from the
chain to which the Peak belon , will be understood by a glance at the
maps of Von Buch and Captain Vidal, and by reference to the view of

do not conform “to the slope” of any crater or cone. So far as they can
en, they appear to be nearly horizontal, and occur only at slight
elevations above the level of the sea. We were told that the same re-
mark holds good in reference to certain other deposits containing shells,
Which we did not examine, in the northeastern extremity of the island,
still further from the Pea
o the first of the p es above cited, Prof. Smyth has alluded to
fossiliferous strata in the islands of Grand Canary and Palma, In
to Palma, I may mention that Mr. Hartung and I, when we were there

tly, as to the Grand Canary, Von.Buch was, I believe, the first to
call attention to the existence of marine shells in that island, where Mr.
Hartung and I collected them in abundance in 1854, an ertained
that they are imbedded in nearly horizontal strata continuous over a

290 Scientific Intelligence.

Agassiz and Forbes first taught us to open our eyes to the truth on this
subject. Those who have not visited the classic scenes of Wales will find
the excellent woodeuts of this essay quite a valuable substitute for per-
sonal observation.

Ill. BOTANY.

1. Eulogy on Robert Brown ; by D r. Von Martius (translated from
the’ German by Prof. Henfrey, and pablidhed in the Annals and Mag-
“ee of Natural History for r May, 1859).—An eulogy upon “ the greatest
anzenkenner, the world has yet produced,” pronounced by one of his
most peng survivors and intimate friends. one earned, 80

tion of his medical s Se rown, as is sown, was attached as
ensign and assistant atone to a Scotch salt regiment stationed upon
the western coast of Ireland.

“ An inconspicuous plant with which he there became acquainted—the
Eriocaulon septangulare,—the only European representative of an
especially American order—caused his life to be diverted into the exclu-
sive service of botany ; for, accompanying a recruiting party of his =
ment to London, in the summer of the pen hee and on the

upon it, to = fia This learned botanist, Traian to me Jose

stay in London, and in ane: 1800, propos osed him to the Govern-
ment as Natnralist to the naval Exploring Expedition to New Holland,
under Capt. Flinders, then spa a areal Brown, at this call, gave
up at once the military career, n to London at Christmas, 1800,
and on the 18th of July, 1801, ‘sailed § in the * Investigator’ ce pit-

to the newly discovered quarter of the globe.”

ragmenta Phytographie Australie, contulit FerpinanDUs “Most.

eae Ph.D., M.D,, Gubern. Col. Victoree Phytologus, Hort. Bot. Mel-
bournensis Director, ete., ete. Melbourne. Vol. I, fase. 1—4, (PP
96), 1858-9.— The British California in the southern hemisphere,—
more enlightened nes more spirited than our own,—has officially org@”-

and promoted scientific research from the first. The colony has not
only its Philosopbical Institute, publishing memoirs of ge character
but its Botanic Garden, Museum and Herbarium, under the ehatge
snarl oa Botanist, the able and indefatigable Se aay a or do
y midleg ied of this officer to the Victoria Colon

botanist, the recent exp!

“Capt. Gregor7

Botany. 201

of the northern part of the great ‘Australian continent, where an exten-
; A :

are rapidly accumulating in his hands. e has already published
numerous scattered papers, in Germany, Engiand and Australia. The
publication now commenced has the advantage of a more convenient,
connected form, and contains the characters of new genera and species,
and rectifications of those published before, with important critical re-

s, &e. A. G.

3. Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Botany), Nov.
12, (1859): contains, Ist, the latter half of Prof. Henfrey’s Vote on the
Morphology of the Balsaminace. Balsams double [as do most blossoms]
by an increase in the number of the whorls of the petals; and when merely
one extra whorl of petals is developed, Prof. Henfrey finds these to alter-
nate regularly with the five pieces which Reeper takes for the corolla ;
thus confirming Reeper’s view (over that of Kunth) by evidence from
within, of the same nature as that which Hydrocera normally furnishes
= ast 2. On the Arborescent Ferns of New Zealand ; by Thomas

» Ra
growth. 3. The Indian species of Utricularie ; by Daniel Oliver. Ap-
parently an excellent monograph ; the Indian species reduced to about
zen, 4

elegant group of F ak illustrated by figures, has issued this precursory
By nopsis. It contains a classified arrangeme tl
habitat, most important synonymy, and the characters of a few new s

amended characters ; viz :—Cardiomanes, Presl, Fi eca, Bo
eh Trevis; Cephalomanes, Presl; Tri homanes, Smith (
Known ies); Didymoglossum, Desv. ;

» Presl ; and Hymenophyllum (14 Lo te
ologist into this analogous He! strncture. of the frond.

cosum, d & ti ne ee oe a. @

_ 5 i dbdonya thc ahaa Introduction by C.C. Parry.

Botany of neg oundary, by Joun Torrey, M.D. Cactacer, by Grorce
SLEMANN, M.D, This forms the f

Ey the first half of that ponderous tome

292 Scientific Intelligence.

(almost half as thick as it is wide), the second volume of the Report on
the United States and Mexican Survey by Col. Emory, and it must be

drawn by Riocreux, Sprague, and a few by Hochstein. Dr. Engelmann’s
important memoir on the Cactace occupies 78 pages of letter-press and
is adorned by 75 plates of surpassing excellence. is and its counter-

wide south-western regions in a manner which must command universal
admiration, and must assign to the author a high rank among the sys-
tematic botanists of our day. The general Botany of the same expedition,
by Dr. Torrey, founded upon one of the best collections ever made in
such a journey, and illustrated by 25 plates, is worthy of equal praise.

t all these memoirs are sadly marred by typographical errors. A

these are prepense, and are caused by the depraved t ey FE
the names of people with a small, instead of a capital initial letter;
dwardsit, clarkii, ordii, henryi, and so on, usque auseu

=)
°
S"
ge]
a
oO
iS)
I
a)
=
@
|
Oo
o
a.
O-
e
CJ
s
ie.
vat
@
5
=
o
S
5

humous distribution. A systematic catalogue of all the plants enumera-
ted and described in these various Western Expeditions, or rather a com-
plete catalogue of the species of the United States west of the 100th
parallel of longitude, including those of the Mexican border, is now Very
much wanted. 0 PA
6. Cataloque of the Phenogamous and Acrogenous Plnnts contained
in Gray’s Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States, adapted
for marking desiderata in exchanges of specimens, ete. New York: Ivt-
son & Phinney. 1859.—A help of this sort in making exchanges has
often been asked for, and the enterprisi: ’s Manua
have responded to the demand by publish o
Jatalogue, for which office they deserve the best thanks of our scat-
tered botanists. The species are numbered consecutively, from No. |

£8 RA REELS ets i tt sie SR Elam erat: ane nan hae

_ Tepresented. Choice s
_lector’s hands like the fabl

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 293°

itself, A cent stamp will pay the postage of the pamphlet to any part of
the United States; and the sender has only to indicate to his distant cor-
respondent, by marking or by copying the numbers, the species which he
desires to receive or is able to furnish. Moreover, the names of the orders,
which are printed in bold type, and even those of the genera, may serve
oa useful purpose: they may be cut out and used for labels in the
erbarium. ;

IV. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
1. The Thirteenth Meeting of the American Association for the Ad-

-

vancement of Science was held August 3-9, 1859, at the City Hall in

certainly by those of any other college in the Unit t ere Dr.
itchcock has built up a lasting monument of his original labors in the
curious department of foot-mark: the Connecticut san is

represented,
Is Stated in Mr

the

Most rare or choice from an

: é mid such su rc ings and
herst ladies, the Association was beguiled to

. vie
Summer sunset over the picturesque ranges of the Northampton hills, or

294 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

that they returned to Springfield late in the evening full of the praises of
the day and its rich entertainmen

We append a list of the officers of the Springfield meeting, and also
of the papers registered.

Officers of the Association, Springfield meeting— President, Professor
Stephen Alexander.— Vice President, Prof. Edward Hitchcock.—Per-

Mayor swith on Galh oun ; gs Be Doi S$” Moo ora
Smith; Coca Gurdon io Judson, Reuben T. Safford, pati M.
Harrington, Walter North.

List of papers registered for presentation to the Association.*
On the Origin of the Azoic Rocks of Michigan and Wisconsin; by Charles

£
oT
2. On the Drift Cavities, or “ sh iepncet of Wisconsin; by C. Whittlesey.

3. General Account of the Results of the Discussion of the Dorlinnnastet Obser-
vations made at Girard College, Philadelphia between the yea 840 and 1845,
With special reference to the Eleven Years’ Period; by A. D

4, Distribution of Tein perntide in the Florida ‘Channel ey ‘picpaiti by A. D.

5. Comparison of the Amount and Fre ene of re with different Winds on
the Western Coast of the United States; by A. D. Bach
6. Abstract of be principal results of the Observation ie of Temperature at Van
Rensselaer F Harbor, North Greenland, made by the se med Gri nnel Expedition under
mman i K. Kane, U. S. N., during the years 1853-4-5; decree Md
A. D. Buchs, ‘iciied-saduexias ail daadeked y Charles A. Schott, t, assistant in

Coast Surve
7. Abstract ot of the principal ee ed the rs aa of the Observations for the

Direction and Force of the Wind at Van Rensselae Harbor, North Greenland, made _
by the saeciad Grinnel Expedition, ie the command 0 f Dr. E. K. Kane, U.S. N.
in 1853-4-5; presented by A. D. Bache, from a reduction and discussion on by Charles

A. Schott, assistant in the U. S. Coas gorge Stas :
8. Abstract of the principal results “ the Discussion of Observations for
Atmospheric Pressure at Van Rensselaer Harbor, North piel sg 3 by the
E. K. K S. N., during
iscussi0n

assi he U. S. Coast Survey.
9. On the Occurrence of Pot Holes, (or pot-shaped excavations, caused by the
gyration of pebbles,) fo per by the Drift Agency ; by Oliver ag fi e
in Massa-

10. On the marks of A —— on the Green Mountain Range
chusetts and Vermont; by C Charles H.
11. Lake and Pond Ram: in Vermont; by Charles H. Hitchcock.

he meteriek:prefized. indicate papers not read and should eee
tie eer wt cay tno ) the Editors,

SRS HATS SR iE ire et Midian
Ce a ne ne ee

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 295

2. On the so-called nie schist of Vermont; by Charles H. Hitchcock,
18 Dykes of Trachyte and Conglomerate in Shelburne, V ; by C. H. Hitcheock.
Pt Fh - eampoanas Syauits Porphyry and Granite in " eeibodl, by Charles H.
ite
oy oe the Circulation of the sig aA sige age
6. Some Observations on Ozone; by John
a 11 teed on the subject of Parley Welle pa Cold Springs; by John
8. On cutting a Threads of Male and Female Screws, so that they shall com-
_ and termina e at any desired points with precise uniformity and correspond-
by Cyrus Bucklan
“a 9 A ioccned | or discharging the Leyden Jar, = —— an Imperfect Con-
- B.C ee

nt
21. On the Mass of the Moon; by St tephen Alexander.
22. A question as A the Earth's Dimensions aie Metre; by Stephen Alexander.
23, A brief note on Comets; by Stephen Alexa
pe On the Harmonies and the Ancient History of the Solar System; by Stephen

25, On’ the Common Origin of the Asteroids, and also of some of the Comets of
se meg by Stephen Alexander.
n the Gabane of the Variation of Temperature of the Seasons; by G. W.

n
ig n the Theory of the Comet’s Tail ; by Benjamin Peirce
On the Seem of the Investigation of the Physical Constitution of Comets;
he Neneotiap eirce,
29. On the Personal Peculiarities of Astronomical Observers; by Benj. P :
30. On the — rae = af he observed Geo ee Changes in is “Barth's

35. On orology; by Joseph H Centrifugal
a [= sir’ otis "aes whic eg the Action of the per
> Dy Charles J. Porter. Morgan. —

2g The Indian Mode sf bastemng SoCs panes Ee
esearches on the Platinum Metals; by Wolcott Gi American Lepi-
“Sse : stematic jr Catalogue of all the described North
y John orris,
vari nut Ober Semicircle of the Zodiacal Light, as seen at night recently by
ous observers: by Geo ones.
l. The écrsaional Kenan of the Atmosphere at night, as Seattre P
ei s Fa sag fs ndes; by George Jones, 6; by Elias Loo
Nn the ro) n Stor m of Dec. 26, 183
7 On the alleged 1 Lunar Origin of Acrolites; "by B.A. Gould, a, J.
On t bones and teeth in the “beari g

Nort us crevices of the
45 ak > by itney. = ee,
. a eer Curves treated by ne pie cig send ‘ho

Sco d Method of Linguistic ence; W. D.
fees f = Arts which distinguish Gi of the ami World fon the Abo-
a) i W t .
<? 4g Js I adie Peavaps ae ee by ae Ls 4
H. Gi uf C otton and

49. Winds of the Southern Hemispheres | 5 James oft,
BI, oj the Hind Astronomy ; by Wee ot a Mby HL J. Clar
Lasso-Cells of Polypi Acalep by H. J.
52. On the Facetted Byes of Aap penal of Aire via: 7

296 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

. On apparent equivocal Generation; by H. J. Clark.

“se On a ia osed Meteorite of a new Chemical Constitution from North Caro-
lina; by C. U. Shepard.
-*55, On an Seischnation of the Matter of a supposed eprops ra that fell on
the eve of November 16th, 1857, at Charleston, 8. C.; b aia hepard.

56. Vibrations in the Water-fall at olyoke, Mass. ; ” by nell.
* 57. Seng of pam of the Red Race, and its eainiees to Ethnology;
y Lewis H. Mor

58. On a Fen "Depoait of modified Drift in Brandon, Vermont; by Edward
Hit ¥

59. On the Conglomerate near Newport, R. L, with elongated pebbles and trans-
ben seit by Edward Hitchcoc
0. On a Deposit of Fossiliferous oe beneath Granite and Mica slate in
Derby, toe ont; by — Hitch
61. An attempt to prove that t the age nger Metamorphic Rocks a a ina
plastic or semi-plastic state since ote original consoldation by E. Hite’
62. On the nt and Proofs of Erosion i =r ten t, with special sate to
res tks of pees te by award Hitchcoc
8. Recent Discoveries in the Devonian and Cisticniferous Flora of British Amer-
sft = J. pach
64. The means of preventing the ponycoeseed el Soon Surfaces employed to
= and break a eae circuit; by F.
On the sudden Disappearance ‘ a a a . Northern Lakes; by J. G.

66. & On Nitride of Zirconium ; by J. W. Mall
67. On the Atomic Weight « of Lithium; by SW . Mallet
68. On Osmious Acid, and the position of Osmium among the Elements; by J.
W. Mallet.
69. On ae Vertical Planes in Bituminous and other Coals; by E. B. Andrews.
70. he Terraces along the Rivers in Southern Ohio; by E. B. Andrews.
*71. On the peed ro Sandstone of the riers Basin ; by Joseph Barratt.
wie. On the Disco i _ Creature (Kamdactylus sub- humanus), the Antetype
of Man;
73. Ornithichntes; by well Field.
*74, On th cal Construction of — of degrees higher than the sec
ond, haces hese alll points ; on.
75. The ee of Ph — Cheriton rahe Vital Forces, and the Conserva-
tion of Force in al Phenomena; by nte,
76. On the Poranglea of Ceetinenes and Oceans ; by Joseph Lecont
obenere on the Geo ss Poli the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of Santa
i kk

; by William P
78, Physical Constitution of Comets; at A W, A. 8
79. I Sand in Maple Sugar: fo E. N. Horsford.
80. oe he Batre of of Carbonate of Lime in Organic $s occurring 10 in Sea-
water; . Hors
81. On some recent Deters of the Carbonic Acid in the sks of the
ia)

g of Saratoga; by William E. Hughes, ted by E. Horsford.
#82. ae eapeviine m t the Lawrence nti ol, on abe heey

e a
Hora of luminous and non- "lainiasien Flames; by G. A. Gould, presen E.N.

Poe e Prevention of Fermentation in the Juices of Fruits, by means of
a pte of Pitiset b E N. Hor-ford.
84. Theoretical Z tion of the si milarity between the Flora of Northeastern

_ 85. Note on the ae arge of Atmospheric Electricity through Gas Mains ; by
an oc or, er ht Electric Conductors to Buildings; by L. F. Locke.
the a f on nil .
87. Remarks on the haloes Skeleton of the Fossil il Whale of Charlotte, Vt;
“by Baward Hitchoee Je
88. On some applications of the principle of Relative Motion to the determins
tion of the Areas of Closed Curves; by George Eastwood.

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 297

On the use of . a ~s asa — for the Zenith Telescope in the
detention of Latitude: by C. 8S. Lyma
90. ents for or measures the De epth of the Ocean; b: P. Trowbridge.
‘ Hs On the ‘Seradgrighionl Position of the Sandstone of the © Connecticut Valley;
y J. D. Whitne
. 12 On a Femacksbls Vein of Gold in the bed of the Chestatee river, Georgia ;
Yy P. Blake.
93. The Placer Gold Mines of oe and the introduction of improved meth-
* ‘y working them ; W.
Ren harks on the Minerals and Biciodt Mines of the Cherokee Valley River,
North Carolina; by W. P. Blake.
at Contribution to the Hi istory of the Laurentian Limestones; by W. E. Logan.
drous Fermentation ;” by L. F. Lo
Wt On some ‘Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesi ; by T.S

8. On the Para the Coexistence of Excessive Prodichon Sad E
Popo: by Clinton ‘Kana t.
- On the Formation of Gy d Magnesian Rocks; by T. 4 nai

100. On the Origin and hema at of oe Rocks; y T.S

101.-The Relations of the Upper Carbonifer s Rocks of Ilinois rs the older
members of the Paleozoic System; by J. H. esney.

102. Remarks o Ae ‘oe ofa Fueteotrial Flora in the Mountain Limestone

08. On the Colapaditan miok ‘Pectolite ; by J. D. Whitney.

104. On Magnetizing Locomotive Whe els by Curved Helices, and the Experi-

mental Results: by Edward W., Serrell.

105. Vital Observations and Statistics as Data for the Formation of Natural
cou lpn by E. B. Elliott.

xperime ents on gcc Time in Electro-magnets in Telegraph Lines;

“a 'D. Bache and J. E. Hilga

107. On Certain Phenomena of the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North
mies by Nathan B. Webster.

The Causes ‘of Steam-bviler Explosions; by James Hyatt.

The officers of the — for 1860 are: President, Isaac Lea, of
Philadelphia ; Vice President, B. A. Gould, "Canis Mass.; General
sortie Joseph LeConte, of Columbia, 8. C.; Treasurer, A. is = ee

ladelphia

The penne will be held at Newport, R. L, on the first of A
1860. The warm waters of that shore will offer a rich treat to ra
onto who will unquestionably assemble at Newport in unwonted

um

he address of the retiring president, Prof. Alexis Caswell of Brown
University, af after paying a course tribute to the memory of deceased
Members, was a sketch of American an progress in his favorite science of
Astronomy. It will be published in the Transactions of Association.
Among the serige already visible for me Newport | meetin ; wil
appointment of the Association—a di

an

'y 4. est
Interesting and appropriate that the labors of bis range)
have co bein hagas signally to enlarge our |
sea, which Dr. Franklin was t tho first to Sine to the general
natice of a eos scientific world. Dr, Jos. Leidy was also requested to ad-
dress the oe fe Newport pin pertees noxtigomaa Reptilia and Mam-
- Inalia of North

SECOND waa Vou. ax No. ‘an EPT., 1859.
38

x
.

4
Pm,

298 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

may be termed school learning, constitutes the basis and chief condition
of progress and of every improvement. man with a min

t. A young
well stored with solid scientific acquirements will, without difficulty or

eral, an individual who is thoroughly master of the technical part may be
altogether incapable of seizing upon any new fact that has not previously
presented itself to him, or of comprehending a scientific principle and its
application."—Liebig, Letters on Modern Agriculture, edited by John
Blyth, MD,

3. Dr. Newberry’s late Explorations in New Mexico—he shows Marcou’s
so-called Jurassic to be Cretaceous.— Advices have been received from Dr.
Newberry at Santa Fé, N. Me

eek, Dr. N., following the Santa Fé road from Independence, Mo., to

to

Feta was a lig -colored Magnesian Limestone. From
Little Arkansas to Walnut creek the surface rocks were Red, Yellow and
White Marls and Gypsum, so characteristic of the Llano Estacado and
the country west of the Rio Grande. There were no fossils. These are
the beds seen by Meek and Hayden and described by them as between
the lower Cretaceous and the Permian in Kansas, some 35 to 40 miles
farther to the northeast, and which rocks they state in their paper may
be either Jurassic or Triassic—but they (like Dr. Newberry) discovered
no fossils in them. . ct
_ On the banks of Walnut creek, a tributary of the Arkansas—a little —
ne farther west, Dr. Newberry saw the same red or brown sandstone from

which Messrs, Meek and Hayden collected the fossil leaves on Smoky Hill

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 299

river, some 40 or 50 miles farther to the northeast, and also in Nebraska
at the Blackbird Hills. In this sandstone and in a gray clay beneath it,

| ty
Willows, &c., precisely as at Smoky Hill, Blackbird Hills and in New
Jersey.” These leaves Dr. Newberry pronounces the same which mark
the base of the Cretaceous in New Jersey, Nebraska and Kansas. These
/

The Cretaceous beds at this point were not seen by Dr. Newberry over-
lying the sandstone, but on the Canadian, further southwest, as we might
expect from the dip, he found this same sandstone overlaid by the same

these Cretaceous beds,—a whitish marly limestone and shale (Nos. 2 and
8 of the Nebraska Section of Meek and Hayden, the Sandstone being
Il know

No. 1,)\—he found Jnoceramus problematicus, a we n Cretaceous

os
oe
o
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yr}
oO
3
a
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og)
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5
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8
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hea Pitcheri (G. dilatata, var. Tucumcarit of Marcou). Thus we
have the same stone which Mr. Marcou and Prof. Heer would make Afio-
cene, overlaid by beds containing not only well known and admitted Cre-
taceous fossils, but along with these the very Gryphea relied upon by Mr.
Marcou for the establishment of the existence of the Jurassic. So if Mr.
Marcou and Prof. Heer are right, the Miocene proves to be older than the
Cretaceous and the Jurassic! and the unfortunate American geologists
find to their confusion that the roof of their geological edifice was con-
structed before the foundation was laid.
| “at Galisteo I found upper and lower Creta-
ceous rocks beautifully exposed, and in the lower Cretaceous Sandstone

ic of M

=
=
Mt
D
ot
2
ot
fa")
Dp
ol
$

The facts elicited by Dr. N. seem however to sustain the Trias in New

-

-

accounts, is a paradise for the geologist, but very much the re-
for other people. He hopes to exhibit his interesting hc calgiag to

Seological friends in the United States by the end of October

300 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

4. Meteor of August 11, 1859.—On the morning of the 11th of August,
at 7 o’clock and 20 minutes, or thereabouts, thermometer 73° F., air still
and without clouds, two violent and successive explosions or reports (one
witness, Mrs. Ball, says there were three,) were heard over a district of
country, extending in an east and west line, from Blandford, in Hampden
county, Massachusetts, to some ten miles west of the cities of Troy and
Albany on the Hudson—a distance of about 100 miles ;—and in a north

of about 80 miles. he noise, which has been compared by some, to
two successive, sharp and heavy peals of thunder, and by others, to the

Schodack, on the Springfield and Albany railroad, men who were at work
in the fields heard the report and felt the shock with great distinctness,
and at Greenbush, a large number of people rushed to the docks, expect
ing that a steamboat had burst its boiler.

As to the cause of the phenomenon ;—a great abundance of concurrent
testimony, seems to prove, that it was due to the explosion of an
mense meteor at a considerable distance above the surface of the earth.
This evidence, so far as we have been able to collect it is, as follows:—

John P. Ball, County Clerk of Rensselaer Co., N. Y., in a letter to the
editor of the Troy Times, states: “that as he was standing in his door-

5

moment or more he heard the explosion. It was very loud
thunder. He had previously called his family to view the meteor. and
they all observed the light and heard the explosi
that there were three separate explosions—one much louder than the
rs—and in support of her statement, Mr. B. says he saw three distinct

louds of smoke in the track of the meteor, which app to be a mile
) sight. The meteor appeared to be at a distance of about twenty miles
om Mr. Ball’s residence.” |

°
€ |
or more apart. The smoke was visible for some time, but was finally lost
. as here given, are based upon positive information ; they may, how:

Miscellaneous Intelligencé. 301

Ezra Turner and son, of North Schaghticoke, N. Y., three miles north
of Mr. Ball’s residence in Grafton, observed the meteor distinetly, and
heard the explosion.

t New Lebanon, N. Y., it was seen by two members of the Shaker
community to pass over their town in the direction of Troy, and was ap-
parently as large as a “ — r barrel.”

t Hoossic, N. Y., it was ee observed, together with the cloud of
smoke that followed ths hel gisins A lad livi ng in the easterly limits of
the city of Troy, N. Y., saw a ball of fire in the air, and called his on
to look at it. As he di 4s so the extraordinary report was heard, and thos
who looked in the direction he indicated, saw a small but dense cloud of
smoke,

2]
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ee
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follows :-— Abou t twenty minutes before wpe 0 ‘clock on the oie Se
the 11th, I was standing with a friend in a position facing the
horizon, when our attention was attracted by an usual a
the heavens—a luminous Settee aa as the sun in | righ

4 4 4 . ls
lst ap tran an at nd os on Fen , ae socket 9 act of
explosion, We liste ned for the 1 tbat pe econ
any

Invisib

302 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

in that vicinity :—“ About 7 o’clock on that morning as I was about to
leave my bed chamber, I was startled by two distinct and very heavy ex-
plosions, so that I immediately ran to the window and looked over toward
the Shaker village hill, where I knew they were blasting stones to build
the great dam in that village, but could see no smoke at all, the sky being
clear and the weather beautiful. The noise was so startling as to call
the attention of every one about the premises, and various persons in our
house (a large farm house) went out of doors, and others to the window,
to see what was the matter. The house trembled so as to be noticed by
all of us—a family of over twenty people, and more than half were in
the house at the time.

“ We supposed some powder mill had exploded, but heard during the
day that two of the ‘Shakers,’ Messrs. Calvert and Chase, (two miles from
here,) who were out in the field, had their ores drawn to a bright
light i in the sky, when they saw a meteor, which exploded apparently in
the vicinity of Pittstown, and immediately the great report followed. The

were looking north, while my window es 5 but I might not have
seen the meteor if I had looked north, as the two ‘Shakers’ were on
bigh hill, while I was in a valley. [This fully sarin Mr. Ball’s account}.
brother, with three others of our amily, was riding in a carriage,
on hie way to Canaan to meet the cars, atthe time of the explosion, and
the noise was so great as to excite — from all in the puiee” and
to make both the horses jump as though frightened. The noise was
heard at all the neighboring village, and —— through ies rales
and hills like very heavy thunder. It was heard at ‘Columbia Hall,’ a
Lebanon Springs, one and a half miles from here, a not so geared as
we heard it, as the explosion occurred north of us, and that hotel stands
on “ e south side of a high hill.”
om Morristown, Lamoille county, Vermont, twenty-five miles north
of Montpelier, Mr. hatterton writes, that the meteor was seen
the same time as noticed elsewhere, by himself and others. “The sun
was shining brightly at the time, and its course was towards the south.” fe

“ A Subscriber” writes to the Boston Journal from “ Copperas nor

Strafford, Vt., one the accounts from a e says:—*

=
&
Hl
ee
=
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wD
g
5
=
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Sf
3
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or «
a
R
o
aa
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a

; ; gre : 2 .
greater than we had apprehended, that no shock was ex enced.
The pian Evening Journal of Aug. 20th has the following item -
“Garritt Vanderpool, a well-known and highly respected fa
en miles from this city, and one mile west of the Beaklchenn checks
hen at work in his barn, on the morning of the mysterious commotion
eretofore referred to, and about two minutes after the oe which had
attracted his attention had ceased, he heard what sounded lik e a small

a
s
S

eT ens nee
2 spi ee NR oad as

Miscellaneous Intelligence. _ 303
stone thrown against the side of his carriage-house. On looking up, he
saw the object fall, and at once picked it up. It is about the size of a
pigeon’s egg, broken through the centre; and is partially covered with a
black substance. Mr. V.s says there is no stone on his farm like it, and
is fully iy a that it is a part of the exploded meteor. Others also
think so. It be examined by competent judges, and the result prop-
erly announced. *

ston, Conn., on th Decein ber
14th, 1807, as described: bs Profs. Silliman and peal In that case

: ; by

Witurase G. Peck, Adjunct Professor of Mersey Columbia Colas,

New hs rk. A.S, Barnes & Burr. 12mo. pp. 338. 1859.—This work

cess all the important pro ee of elem entary mechanics, ar-
d

- United. Ki ingdom ; the Museum of juebetth Geology, z 24 pp. 8vo,

4 LA ion maps.—This is the annual report showing the progress
bese in the several important scientific trusts co omprised in the Jermyn
St establishment now under the gen neral eee ot Sir and Fan yg ap

th
AMMOnD, M.D., Assist. Su anny is Wate
Philadelphia. Read before rete of Nat. Sei. Philad., M r1G 1859.
[Brochure, Extracted from the Am. Jour "Med. Sei, dpi igh pp. 48.
9. Astronom: cal end Meera! Obrint pheno

| cliffe Observatory, Oxford, (Eng.) in the year 1857, pce eed

tendence of Maxven ¥ ee M.A., Radcliffe Observer. Vol. xviii

. Published by order of the Radcli ffe Trustees. Oxford, J. and J. Parker.
vo, pp. 255 Ast ical, 132 ) mt plates.

* Memoirs Connecticut hietany st de ill Geletcen, vol. i, pp. 141 (1810.)

304 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

. Fowxss: A manual of Chemistry, ée., “ge = the 7th London
edition by Dr. Roserr Bripees. Philade elphia, 18 —The simple an-
nouncement of a new edition of this favorite rang is all that is needed
to sil: it to the notice of students and teachers.
he American Gas Light Journal, the representative of Light, Water,
pi Public Health. J.C. Murray & Co., 40 Wall st., N. York. 4to, monthly.
Daviv Date Owen: Ae Report of a Geological ee ee of the North-
em Counties of Arkansas, made during 1857 and 1858, by D. D. Owen, Principal
or assisted by W " Biderhoist Chem. Assistant, and Edward T. Cox, Assist-
ant Geologist. 8vo. pp. 256. Little Rock, 1859.
ooks in Press.
A Manu nid A Spherical and Practical Astronomy, embracing Nautical Astron-

my, heory and use of fixed an pag Astronomical Instruments: am-
en illustrated ye engravings on wood and s By Prof. Witi1am Csavvenet,
of the United States Naval Academy. In i pal ie octavo volumes. . Price $7.50.
“There exists at present no work on Spherical and Practical Astronomy In the
English righ. ada o the wants of the practical astronomer, or even of the
-_ Uni ty student. While abe e man tary treatises desig
as t s in a collegiate or academic course them admirably adapted for
this use, the st ot Bayon ’ the Eleme nts

raseell ae details of the reitiech which are ae indispenss sable to dhe w eoreee astronomer.

“ Professor Chauvenet, who is wel saligs the scientific world as an exact Inves-
tigator and c expou fe) sisisieasoatine 1 and Setetaetical © ubjects, has under-
taken to supply thi is work will n e t aenplete reference

k on this ed by the that exists in the English language, but will cover the w
yround German both Spherical and Prac-
bores pier my. ost rece a inv etna of American as well as Eurepean

wil be in tines ted in the wor ce a the bee useful problems will
bef ally lasted oy numerical cxienistie, d upon numbers derived from actual
observation, and rodeo out in the forms ‘hike appear eo be most approved among

experienced compu

athe ecteel investigations will be illustrated by wood- pe in the body of
the Het "tat the most useful astronomical i instruments will exhibited in fine de-
tailed steel engravings. These engravings will be executed in the Piet style of
the art. The typogra nd u

lishers confidently expect ~ cre a work which will at be a valuable contribu-
tion to the science of the co superior specimen of typographical art.

“The manuscript of pore work is lead repared, and 7 is proposed to com
seal sant atulicgre mnie fsu iter pains are received
to warrant the undert rakiie “Ie is = oped that it will be ready for delivery to sub-
scribers before the close of the present year.”
Complete Writings of Thomas Aaron the Entomology of the United States.
pons by J. L. LeCowte, Member of te Academy of Natural Sciences of Phila-
To be ganar by subserip
“This Work will consist of 2 vols, no 5 of eho 1100 pages and 55 Plates geil
ing about 175 Figures. “leaving purchased the original Copper-plates of the “Amel
ican Entomo soary LOR, < cohriaadong of which are so universally admired, and the
eins Gia Specimens in the possession of Dr. Le Conte Cboee copied oagrod
the old Saray it is Saiaved that pret. bale ee be wentng in
render them o eoy of the praise o LLIERE, publisher, 200

iy x
The comple gasp. Thomas Say, the Concha the seer States.
Edited : NNEY, ae of a acuieny of Natural naan Philadel-

rr. 8 La
te edition

seen Se
kg earl

nat

*
hae at

AMERICAN ‘

JOURNAL OF SCIENCE AND ARTS.

[SECOND SERIES.]

ART. XXXIV.—The Correlation of Physical, Chemical and Vital
Force, and the Conservation of Force in Vital Phen omena ; b $
JosEPH LeConts, Professor of Geol. and Chem. in the South —
Carolina College, Columbia. a

(Read before the American Association for the sopamat of Sa

- Springfield vee August, er

force eedes its for sine a but is itself sal men Soa inca- 2
Pable of meray and the same absolute amount — S

force exists in the universe at all times and Srcvas — mu-
tual convertibility of the various forms of force is called “

tion of forces.” "The invariability of the absolute amount in ‘the
midst of constant ore ie is called “ conservation vat force.” oe!
Principle of correlation and conservation of force m

firmly gras It must be isnot
ped, almost axiomatic. At must be ¢ L
Necessary oa and as such is a legitimate basis of deductive
the te i what 4

a

-
306 J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

T-
penter entitled “mutual relation of physical and vital forces,”

1s the plane of elementary existence, the second the plane of chem-

take place upon plane No. 2 by the mutual reactions of bodies
situated on that plane, are under the guidance and control of
this force. It is the special prerogative of the force of vegetation

nature can lift from No.1 to No. 8, or from No. 2 to No. 4.

Plants cannot feed entirely upon elementary matter, nor cap

animals feed upon mineral matter. The reason of this will be
‘Seen in the sequel. Thus it seems that after matter 18

1 the elementary to the mineral condition, it
itl aL fore : lh 7

, and again another :

Be wb it into
of another and peculiar kind to raise it 0
: r accession of force tO —

i

=

J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. A ..

fore, truly represented as successive planes raised one above the —
other, thus:
No. 4, Animal Kingdom.
3, Vegetable Kingdom.
2, ae oe

1, Blem
If then it be admitted one poe is the sonnet A gti of these
lanes—that it requires a greater and grea nditure of

orce to maintain matter upon each wikicledepe ? ane, then it
follows that any amount of matter returning to a lower gon 3
decomposition must set Sree or develop a force which yin | under
favorable circumstances raise other matter from a lower

condition. Or to express it by a ce eae a ilstration, a given

amount of matter falling from one plane to any plane below,
develops a force sufficient to raise an equal quantity of matter
an equal height. Thus decomposition must in every case ree 7

Jorce, which force may take the form of heat as in combustio
or electricity as in electrolysis, or may expend itself in sbiitieg
c min compounds or even in organizing matter.

In the same manner as matter may be arranged in
several distinct and Saga kingdoms, so it seems to me the
forces of nature may also be properly divided into distinct
Beit arranged in a similar manner one ae the other. These

are the physical, the chemical and the vi tal forces. And as in the
case of ce so also in the case of ‘pre’ ep eine. to pass

into vital force seems im ible tout passing through the
intermediate condition of chemical
These are the simple principles upon which are based all that
ollows—principles which may possibly seem fanciful to some
unfamiliar with the principle of Soller RiGh of force, but the
number of phenomena which the irae explain will I
ope entitle them to serious thou
pS It is well known that chonieat ee in what is called
the ‘nascent condition” i.e , at the moment of liberation from

afinity not exhibited under other cc cruipande Tt seems to
me that this is scliehy explicable on the baie ated conserva
ecom

eBnity whi ee At the moment of a

which bound the elements er and

fore Te satisfied, is suddenly left unsatisfied. “here i an attraction
set free whic ch was before di liberated

diary hy
te

present, then it may take some other form of force, e. g., heat or

308 J, LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

che
illustration used above. Matter falling from plane No. 2 to

ge matter of the seed is decomposed. This decomposition sets

be effected by the heat and perhaps (according to Hunt) by the
actinic rays of the sun.* Heat and actinic rays have been
spoken of by many writers, e. g., by Carpenter and by Robert

sugar. Starch as is well known differs from sugar in two Im
portant respects, viz., it is insoluble and it is more highly car

* See Report hy Rebert Hunt on the h of Plants, Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1846,
B24 tes7, p70.” arotethint Riel Her :

Robert Hunt, Rep. Brit Ass., 1847. p. 20-22. Carpenter, Comp. Phys. p. 28
der, Ciem. An. and Veg. Phys, pp. U8, 230 .

a Si

ah a meta Regen atta ct I EMC ang EE Perm AR RT Mai ON 9 Ie i A ae In te a RE NG

J, LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. 309

bon; then germination of the seed might take place without —
loss of weight, by — direct conversion of heat into vital force.

According t to my view, decomposition and therefore loss of —
as absolutely nanny a develop the organizing force, t
wren being in fact the exact measure 0 c

As soon as ns plant develops green leaves, a complete
— takes place in its mode of development. Tt no lon nger
loses weight but increases in weight. It not only develops but
grows. The reason of this is, that the neh gerne force is no
anerr developed by decomposition of food laid 03 within its

n tissues, but by the decomposition of food taken ab externo.
Sunlight is universally admitted to be the phseael force con-
cerned in this decomposition. Farther, it is generally supposed
that there is a direct and immediate conversion of light into
vital force in the green leaves of plants. But evidently this is
impossible, since the work done by the laght a as the separation of the
two elements carbon and oxygen. Light is therefore converted into
motion. It is therefore the chemical aflinity thus set free which
is the force immediately converted into vital a The food of
plants consists of carbonic acid, water and ammonia (CO,, HO
and NH,,) or in some cases according to M. Ville of CO,, HO
and N.* Sunlight acting through the medium of the “oreen
leaves of plants has the remarkable power of decomposing CO,.
The Jorce thus set free from a latent condition, or the chemical

retarn n to my tS. jHuckralion gerne Ome falling fom
the second to the first plane de evelops force sufficient to
other mat ter from the second to the third — Thus it is is

plants should feed entirely upon nta , Teas
cording to the ordinary view of the pegs conversion of ee
into organizing force, there is no lants should not

green leaves of sexe Pale ena :< -— the re angi ong
and th the —— among
power to O,. These PS therefore, cannot cua

* See review of he co fe between Boussingault and Ville on this subject,
Bib. Univ. Arch, des Sci., = nies Sikes Also Phil. ‘er aa ser., vol. 13, ag 497,
Ann. des Sci... 4th ponte a : p. 357. Am. Jour. Science, vol. 19, — Bib.
Univ. Arch. des s Sci., vol. 28 335. Ann. des Sei, 4th vol. 7, p. 5

+ Ammonia is alsa ‘ontly decom: in the tissues of the leaves of plants,
(Carpenter, correlation of physieal and vital Sinceh Phil ‘Tram. 1850, p. 732 See
also Morren, Bib, Univ. Arch. des Sei, new periud, vol, 6, p. 84) This would of
= produos additional orgunising nes

310 «J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

~ upon chemical compounds—mineral matter. They must feed upon
organic matter, which organic matter in its partial decomposition
furnishes the force necessary for organization. If so, then this de-
composition, as in the case of germination, must be attended

gress,
by my brother Prof. John LeConte, and published in the last
proceedings and in the American Journal of Science and Arts,
vol. 24, p. 317, will eventually furnish the means of solving this

oO
+ counteracted the effect of a heat of the sun.
h, Etolated plants, or plants artificially blanched by exclu-
ight, exhibit the same phenomena and for the same
‘hese plants cannot receive their, organizing force

J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. S12 «4

organic matter previously accumulated in their tissues in the
form of starch and actually lose weight of solid matter.*
th. In a most interesting and suggestive article in the Biblio-
théquey Universelle (Archive des Sciences,+) on the subject of
humus, M. Risler shows in the most conclusive manner that
m

mus
ingdom before it can be absorbed and assimilated by plants,

plied, but in insufficient quantities, by the atmosphere.
Risler repeats with great care the experiments

€xposed at a somewhat elevated temperature to sunlight under a
bell glass, Microscopic plants developed in great abundance.
As long as these plants continued to develop the infusion was
transparent and did not putrefy in the slightest degree: and yet
ere was a constant evolution of CO, as shown by analysis oot

the air, for the liquid, far from absorbing, disengaged CO,. There-
fore the soluble fe must have furnished the carbon —

rni it
in the form of CO, derived from decomposition of the organic
Matter, otherwise instead of CO, would have elimi-
nated.

* Carpenter, Comp, Phys, p. 285.
+ Bib. Un. Arch, des Sei, new period, vol. 1, p. 305.

_ $12 J, LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

of evolution of CO, as we have already said, is opposed by
light bat favored by darkness and heat. Light favors the forma-

the direction of most abundant manure. It is easy to'see, noe
why roots avoid the light; since light decomposes CO, 4
therefore must be unfavorable to the formation of this substance.
7th. It is a well known fact that the so-called respiration of
_ plants consists of two distinct and apparently opposite aman
Ast, the absorption of CO, by the leaves and also in solution by
a * Bib, Un. Arch. des Sciences, new series, vol. 1, p. 5.

J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. 313

the roots, the decomposition of this CO, by means of light
with the fixation of the carbon and the elimination of the oxy-
gen: 2nd, the recomposition and evolution of Co,. The decom-
position of CO, undoubtedly takes place in the leaves, but where
the recomposition of CO, takes place is not so well ascertained.
It is exhaled however, like the oxygen, from the leavés. The
process of decomposition of CO, takes place only during the day
as light is absolutely necessary for this process. The recompost-
tion of CO, takes place night and day, although its exhalation
according to some observers seems to be more abundant during
the night. The process of decomposition of CO, is well under-
stood—of that of recomposition our knowledge is very imperfect.
M. Risler’s explanation of this latter process seems most probable.
Plants, we have seen, undoubtedly absorb soluble organic mat-
ter, i.¢., humus. Humus we know is a more highly carbonized
substance than cellulose or starch. This humus is therefore
oxydized in the roots and interior of the trunk, away from light,
by means of oxygen also absorbed by the roots and thus forms
2

composed in the leaves during the day, then of |
difference between the amount exhaled during the night and day
Would enter as an element in the calculation. Also it would
seem that those plants, especially, which frequent rich shady

less oxygen,

até combined in various proportions. The Ist must of course
be considered = is ns 2 at and necessary, the 2nd being
OV., 1859.

314 J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

evidently supplementary. The decomposition of CO, by sun-
light may be considered as the original source of all vegetation,

ung the necessary force. portion of the organic matter, falling
from the organic to the mineral plane, sets free a force which
raises the ining portion into a slightly higher condition

—_ of animal life, and as such has passed into the

wens © | y.
38 in a state of unstable equilibrium; that constant decompos!

is the result of this instability, and that

J, LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. 315

y at a given position. How then can growth and animal
activity goon? The answer to this question is obvious enough
when we recollect the nature of the food of animals. Animals
it is well known cannot feed upon mineral matter but only on
food already organized, at least up to the vegetable condition.
But when decomposition takes place, the animal matter returns
no longer to the vegetable condition from which it was immedi-
ately raised, but to the mineral condition. It is decomposed into

J, HO and urea, This last substance though not strictly a
mineral substance is far below the condition of vegetable matter.
hus it is evident that a given quantity of matter falling

soreer quantity of matter from the vegetable to the animal condi-
7

is view of the case we see at once the absolute necessity

that the food of animals should be organized. Lee the princi
of conservation of force, growth and animal activity, in a
Word, animal life, would otherwise be impossible. =|
It follows also from the above, that the higher the ae

316 J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

10th. I have spoken thus far of only one source of vital force
in animals, viz., the decomposition of the tissues. I have attempted
to show how, upon the principle of conservation of force, this
is sufficient to carry on the growth and the activity of the ani-

organism. But decomposition of the tissues, though the
ee source—the source characteristic of and peculiar to

mals—of immediate and universal necessity in this kingdom,
oa im many cases sufficient of itself, is not the only source.
There is also in animals as in plants a supplemental source, VizZ.,
the iieompdetion 0 of food.

It is well known that the food - animals consists of two kinds,
the nitrogenous, such as album n, fibrin, casein, &c., and the
non-nitrogenous, such as fat, sites sugar, gum, &c. According
_ to all physiologists since Liebig, the nitrogenous alone are used
in the repair and growth of ve oe The non-nitrogenous are
either quickly consumed in respiration, or else are laid up in
the form of fat for future ou awa in the same way. Now
there can be no doubt that animals may live entirely 0 on nitro-
genous food; in which case the whole vital force, whether for
assimilation or for animal heat and animal activity, is
derived from the decomposition of the tissues. This is the case
pe i aap in _ starving animal, particularly if lean. But

n alm st all cases ood in the form of fat, starch, sugar,
deo. fon: Sdtropscas)p is never transformed at all into tissues,
but is taken into the blood, uals decomposed, oxydized in
the course of the circulation, changed into CO, and HO, and
finally removed by exhalation from the lungs, Now what is
the object of the non-nitrogenous food, since these do not form
any part of the tissues but are again decomposed and thrown
out of the system? The answer usually given is that such food
is used in the animal economy solely as fuel to keep up the ani-
mal heat. On this view it is difficult to see why this class of
food should be used at all, especially in w But ac-

fores of aus in the a of dhicaal life generally, yet
the decomposition of aa en rganic food furnishes ad-
panes ea by which growth and animal activity may be
une out too great meptaditens of the tissues.

J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. sty

llth. In what then consists the essential difference between
animals and plants? There can be no doubt that it consists,
generally, in their relations to one another and to the mineral

ingdom. Plants occupy a middle ground between the mineral
and animal kingdom—a necessary halting place for matter in its
upward struggles. But when we attempt to define this relation
more accurately, the problem becomes much more difficult. It
is indeed probable that no single distinction will be found free
from objection. The commonly received and, toa certain ex-
tent, very correct idea is, that the essential distinction consists in
their relation to CO,. Plants decompose and animals recom-
pose CO,. The beautiful manner in which the two kingdoms
stand related to each other through these converse processes, is
familiar to all. But it is well known that most plants carry on
both of these processes at the same time, while some, as fungi,
pale plants, &., only recompose CO, like animals. It seems to
me that at least an equally good fundamental distinction may be
found in this, that in plants the fundamental and necessary
source of vital force is the decomposition of its mineral food ;
while in animals the fundamental source of vital force is the de-
composition of its tissues. It is true that in what I have called

; but
erence, that in plants this de-
composition of organic food is only partial, and therefore fur-
nishes not only force but material for organization ; while in
animals the decomposition is complete and therefore furnishes
only force,

318 J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces.

growth takes place by multiplication of cells throughout the
whole plant—in other words, a true interstitial growth as in

formed by the partial decomposition of highly carbonized or-
ganic food.

forms the base and the animal kingdom the apex. The absolute
necessity of this arrangement on the principle of the conserva
tion of force may be thus expressed. Matter, force and energy
are related to one another in physical and organic science some-
what in the same. manner as matter, velocity and momentum 1D
mechanics. The whole energy remaining constant, the greater
the intensity of the force (the elevation in the scale of existence)
the less the quantity of matter. Thus necessarily results what
I have called the pyramid of nature, upon which organic forces
work Spiewsk nk chosimnl-and chemical forces downwards.

J. LeConte on the Correlation of Forces. 319

18th. As the matter of organisms is not created by them, but
is only so much matter withdrawn, borrowed as it were, from
the common fund of matter, to be restored at death; so also
organic forces cannot be created by organisms, but must be re-
garded as so much force abstracted from the common fund of
Jorce, to be again restored, the whole of it, at death.* If then
vital force is only transformed physical force, is it not possible,
it will be asked, that physical forces may generate organisms de

an organized fabric; the necessary condition of the existence of

320 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

Art. XXXV.—Report on the Exploration of two Passes, (the Koo-
tanie and Boundary Passes) of the Rocky Mountains in 1858;
by Captain BLAKIsToNn, Royal Artillery. (With a map.)*

ress, detailing some of the results of the Palliser
Expedition.—Eps.]

On the 12th of August, 1858, I left the camp of the main
body of the Exploring Expedition at the site of Bow Fort,
of the Rocky Mountains, lat. 51° 9’ N., long. 115° 20’ W., and
after crossing the Bow River by a ford about four miles above
that point, I gained ground to the eastward, so as to get clear of
the broken and wooded country on the edge of the mountains.

y party consisted of three Red River half-breed voyageurs,

Thomas Sinclair, Amable Hogg, and Charles Racette, besides 4

* To H. Mzrivate, Esq., Under Secretary of State for the Colonies.

13, Ashley Place, April 18, 1859.

Sir,—I have the honor to enclose a Report which I have received by post from
Captain Blakiston of the Royal Artillery, with a request that it should be trans
mitted for the information of H. M. Government. i

The , with Map and Sections, states the particulars of Captain Blakiston’s
Explorations of the Kootanie and Boundary Passes of the Rocky Mountains; the
first known only by name, and the second unknown, except to the native Indians;
the sgl Pass proving to be the most southern, and by far the shortest yet

in

F 1 ° i
Ihave at the same time received from Captain Blakiston a continuation of the |
Magnetic observations which constituted his special duty, up to the date of the
terized his former observations. The results will be laid before the Royal
as those of his earlier ob tions have been.
In the

he phical obj
proval of H. M. Government.
EDWARD SABINE, Major-General, R. A.

a

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains, 321

Thickwood Cree Indian “James,” whom I had engaged as
hunter to the party. I had ten horses, five of which were used
for riding, and the rest carried the packs, containing a quantit
of ball and powder, tobacco, a few knives, and other articles of
small value for Indian trade; also some dried meat and pemmi-
can, with tea, sugar and salt, as well as two boxes containing
my instruments, books, &c.

Soon after leaving Bow River, we crossed one of its tributa-
ties, the Kananaskasis or Lake River, a rapid stream coming out
of the mountains from the southwest; here we saw the remains
of many wooden carts, which had been abandoned by a party
of emigrants from Red River Settlement, under the late Mr.
James Sinclair, on their way to the Columbia, in 1854, who had
found it impossible to drag them farther into the mountains.
This pass, 1 believe, follows the course of the river to its source,
and is the one by which Sir George Simpson governor of the
territories of the Hudson’s Bay Company, as well as another
party of emigrants crossed the Rocky Mountains in 1841. In
the past season it was travelled by Capt. Palliser. —

The forest consists of spruce (Adzies alba), a small pine (P. Bank-

charact

The following day, our course still tending a good deal to the
eastward, carried us farther and farther from the mountains, but
We passed within twelve miles of a marked outlier, which from
Xs peculiar form, I called “‘The Family.” After this as we
travelled along through a partially wooded country, and rece-
ding from the near hills which: obstructed the view, a sharp peak

Omenon was caused by the aqueous vapor of the warm Pacific

322 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

bearings of this mountain, to which I gave the name of ‘The
Pyramid.”

We camped at the forks of a creek, called by our hunter the
“Strong Current.” Here he was successful enough to procnre a
few fine mountain trout, which proved a very agreeable change
to our ordinary fare, which consisted of dried buffalo meat, con-
taining 2s means too large a proportion of fat, washed down
by tea. Bread was not in our bill of fare, and I may here state,
that during the whole summer while travelling, with the excep-
tion of two Sundays, I never tasted a morsel of farinaceous food.
This may appear astonishing, but when continually travelling,
with the appetite sharpened by a ride over the prairie in the

ze of the mountains, one becomes acccustomed to do
without flour, salt, sugar, &., which under other circumstances
would be considered indispensable.

The next day was Saturday; we rose early, packed the horses,
and made a start as usual about sunrise, and travelled on through
much the same sort of country, the up-lands being generally
wooded, while the bottoms were partially covered by scrub-
willow and other bushes. We halted between 8 and 9 a. M. for
breakfast, giving the horses a “spell” of a couple of hours or
80; then case again, and gained a somewhat elevated position,
from which we had an extensive view of a fine valley, watered
by two clear mountain streams, which as they neared the edge
of the great plains, stretching probably without break for 700
miles eastward, united, and with mingled waters, pursued their
course towards Bow River, ultimately to pour themselves into the
icy basin of Hudson’s Bay. We continued on until we reach
the southernmost of the two creeks, within ten yards of which,
under the shade of some fine poplars, I pitched my small patrol
tent. The valley bottom was a fine piece of prairie pasture for
the horses, and presented a most suitable resting-place for a
Sunday camp. I had (for it was only two o'clock), halted in
sufficient time to allow me to obtain an observation of the sun
during the afternoon for comparison with one I hoped to obtain
on the morrow, and so rate my chronometer. This important
instrument was carried each day, turn about, by one of the men,
who for that day did nothing else but carry it as carefully a —
possible. I would recommend this plan to future explorers. In
a large party, a few of the steadier hands should be selected for
this service; but the same man should never be obliged to carry
the instrument every day, lest he become careless.

_ My ordinary mode of travelling, gave the horses six to seven
hours’ work per day, with the exception of Sundays. Frequent
ly I halted from breakfast till noon, in order to obtain an obser> —
vation for latitude, in which case I camped later. I never, how- =
ever, gave up the plan which I adopted from the first, of making —

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 323

an early start, and getting the best part of the day’s work over
efore noon. There are many reasons in favor it. The
horses were mostly Indian ponies, which are hardy and work

Sagacious in following a trail. e 15th of August was a
Sunday. While continually travelling, it will be found that

| _ taking advantage of it to wash and mend clothe

S.
The weather continued fine, and this day the thermometer

same as
that of the sea breeze so unvarying in tropical islands, —

Indian thought requisite. We were, however, within the out-
lying ridges, wack are numerous, and all run —* the
r ranges of the great chain, namely, S.S.E. Thus tra
© Course n, we had very seldom to surmount any
high land, but passed along the valleys between t
less than th

e,
thirty
On the 16th our hunter was lucky enough to procure us some
fresh meat in she dhanps of wawrapiie or wa-waskasew (red deer):

324 Oapt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

_of the Crees. In order to lighten the burthen of the horses and
preserve the meat, the bones were taken out, and it was cut into
thin flakes and half-dried over the night camp fire.

e same afternoon, as we arrived at Trap Creek, just above
its junction with High Woods River, we found six tents of
Thickwood Stone Indians who were just preparing their encamp-
ment. We camped along with them, and as usual, when with
or near any Indians, my flag, a St. George’s Jack, was hoisted
on a pole in front of the tent. I gave them a present of some
tobacco and fresh meat. These Stone Indians, with whom are
associated also a few Crees, and whose hunting ground is the

ooded and semi-wooded country along the base of the moun-
tains, like the head-natives of the Saskatchawan, are a harmless

and well disposed people towards the whites. Education has,
thanks to the former Wesleyan missionary, the Rev. Mr. Ren-
all, and his successor the Rev. Thomas Wolsey, made some
little progress amongst them; a few being able to read and write
the Cree syllabic characters, now in general use among the
missions of the northwest.
uring the afternoon I held a talk with these Indians. I told
them plainly for what reason we had been sent to the country ;
that Her Majesty was always glad to hear of their welfare, and
that any message which they might have for her, I would take
down in writing.

“We are glad,” said an old man, “that the great woman
chief of the whites takes compassion upon us, we think she is
ignorant of the way in which the traders treat us; they give us
very little goods and ammunition for our furs and skins, and if
this continues our children cannot live. We are poor, but we
work well for the whites. The Indians of the plains treat us
badly and steal our horses, but we do nothing to them, for the
minister tells us so.” In answer to questions from myself, they
said that they would wish white people to come and live among —
them, and teach them to farm, make clothes, &c., so that “ their
children might live,” for the animals are getting every year more
scarce. I may here state, that | have been fortunate enough
this year to fall in with many camps of the different tribes of
Indians inhabiting this country, from whom I always obtained —
- as much information as possible on their present state, and their —
wishes as to the future; and I hope to draw up a report on the
same for the information of H. M. Government; for without —
doubt, when deciding on the future of this country, some prov —
sion should be made for the poor uncivilized beings, to whom by —

bacco, I changed a lame horse which I had brought with me —
or that purpose, for a good strong Indian pony. 4

Bi a a ll i ta rae

sso

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 325

Crossing Spetchee or High-woods River on leaving the In-
dians in the morning, we travelled over undulating prairie all
the forenoon, crossing another tributary of this river. Durin
the latter part of the day, we passed through a narrow woode
ravine between rugged hills, covered with burned forest, and
¢ nasmall creek. Here I determined to make a cache.
Therefore selecting a good thick spruce tree, we enclosed in a

x some ammunition, tobacco, and a few other things, which
with half the bag of pemmican still remaining intact, rolled up
ina piece of buffalo robe, we suspended from a branch about
fifteen feet from the ground.

We were delayed some time next morning by some of the
horses having strayed a distance into the wo i :

ight; however, when found they were quickly unhobbled,
saddled, and packed, and we started not very long after our
usual hour. The Indian trail led between numerous wooded

ridges, namely, a little east of south, and usually dip from, +

Vertical angle.

In the afternoon we passed ¢lose on the left hand a very re-
markable feature; it was a mass of rock projecting upwards from
the top of a hill, and visible at a considerable distance ; from its
Peculiar form I called it the “Chopping Block.” Soon after, we
gained the height of land between the waters of the Spetchee
and Mocowans, or Belly River, and the wide prairie valley of
the latter broke upon our view. We descended a short distance
and camped at the first wood and water. ; ;

fore gaining Belly River in the moron quick and

Practised eye of the Indian caught sight of a of Buffalo in
the valley, he therefore went Re and by the time we had
halted on the river, and I had obtained an observation, he had
killed one animal. I remained here until noon, in order to ob-
tain a meridian altitude, and so complete my observation for
latitude and longitude, occupying a portion of the time in meas-
uring the heights of the successive river levels with the aneroid

Trometer. 3

These « river levels” are a very general feature in this portion
of the Western Cuasiited: I have observed them on all parts of

326 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

the Saskatchawan above the forks, and its tributaries issuing
from the Rocky Mountains, as well as on the Kootanie fork of.
_ the Columbia on the west side, and the Flathead River in the

mountains, from an altitude of 1000 to upwards of 4200 feet
above the sea. ey are in some places very marked, and
appear as a succession of steps from the bed of the river to the
level of the plain above, often in sight for miles, and running
horizontally along either side. ‘The tread of the step is of
greater or lesser width, the rise nearly always abrupt and well
marked. They were very decided in the valley of Bow River
at the base of the mountains, where they appeared cut with
mathematical accuracy.

The levels measured at Belly River were :—

Above the sea.
Present bed of the river, - - - - 4024
Ist, river level, - - - - - - 4085
Qnd,. * Re is mx, moh Te
3rd, the level of the valley, Ris 7s AOE

These river levels are for the most part, on the lower portions
of the branches of the Saskatchawan, on a somewhat larger
scale in vertical height, than near the sources.

won Belly River at about the same altitude as on
Bow River at the site of Bow Fort, namely, 4000 feet above the
sea, although eighty-seven miles (geographical) in a direct line
S.S.E. from it. From this point the route of the party may be
traced on the plan attached to this report. The plan does not
include the country to the northward, which has no connection
with the passes reported upon. I have, however, the whole
country mapped on a smaller scale. ;

The bed and sides of this river are rocky, the strata of hard
gray sandstone, much inclined, and the current obstructed in
places by immense granite boulders. We found no difficulty in
- crossing, the water though running swiftly, being not deeper
than three feet, and about twenty-five yards across.

Looking through the gap in the near range through which the
river issues, I saw a conspicuously dome-shaped mouitain. It

fterwards proved to be when séen from the plains, and also from
the top of a mountain in the Kootanie pass, the highest and
almost only peak rising above the others in this part of the
mountains. After the clistingraish 6a British naturalist, I named
it “Gould’s Dome.” The gap through which I had seen this
mountain was in the eastern or near range, of very regular form,
extending with the exception of this gap, for a distance of five
and twenty miles without break. The crest of the range was 0!
so regular a form, that no point could be selected as a peax, I
_ therefore gave the whole the name of “ Livingston’s Range;” 1t
is a very marked feature when seen from the forks of Belly

‘River

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 327

On leaving Belly River we rose —_e and keeping
along under Livingston’s Range, the sun had dropped behind

this great curtain before we carnped. The spot was 540 feet .

above Belly River which we had left behind to the northward.

king to the mountains ahead of us, I picked out the most

¥

prominent, and took bearings of them before the Indian who
was in the rear hunting, came up. There were two near one
another bearing thirty miles south, one of which, from the re-
semblance to a castle on its summit, I named “Castle Moun-
tain ;” to the east of these, but at a greater distance a portion of
the mountains stretched out to the eastward. From reports
which I had previously heard, I took the most easterly one
Standing by itself to be the “Chief's Mountain,” which the
Indian on coming up confirmed, and pointed out the place where
on the morrow we should turn into the mountains,
his offset range occurs, as I afterwards discovered, just at the
49th parallel or International Boundary line. :
€ morning of the 20th of August was thick and hazy, with
Occasional showers of rain, which entirely prevented me from
obtaining the good view of the country which I had hoped for,
aving seen but little in the uncertain light of the previous
evening. I therefore travelled on, crossed Crow Nest River, and
Soon after noon gained the entrance of the Kootanie pass, where
another of the branches of Belly River issues from the moun-
tains. Here we struck a narrow but tolerably well beaten ear

which the Indian informed us was the Kootanie trail, by which

the Indians had crossed the mountains in the past spring.
aking a turn therefore to the W.S.W., nearly at right angles

Guide had been allotted to me by Capt. Palliser, but on leaving

the camp of the eapedies on Bow River, I had started without
Mon account of the sickness of his wife. -

i overtake

fortes ] ae Ta onides,”
party, for I have no great faith in the so-called “ guides,
and think they are seldom worth their pay.

]

-

and 54° north latitude, rise the four great rivers of the contl-

328 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

The entrance of this pass is in latitude 49° 34’ N., and longi-
tude 114° 34’ W., being (consequently) forty English miles north

enormous vertical escarpment, facing the east, of hard red sand-
ing at least 45° to the
seen by reference to

r the purpose of reading the barometer, which shewed an altt-
tude of 5960 feet. It was just five hours since leaving our pre-
vious night’s camp, at an altitude of 4100 feet.

This is no place for a dissertation on the physical geography
of North America, but I may simply state, that in that portion
of the Rocky Mountains, comprised between the parallels of 49

nent, namely, the Mackenzie, running north to the Arctic

Ocean, the Saskatchawan east to Hudson’s Bay, the Columbia

west to the Pacific, and the Missouri south to the Gulf of Mex-

‘ ico; thus we may say, that in a certain sense that portion of the

point of North America, an

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 329

now, on the Kootanie Pass, stood as nearly as possible in the
centre of it,

_ Plece of swampy ground. On moving forward again we plunged
_ Into thick forests, where the track was greatly obstructed by
fallen timber. The Kootanies cut through a good many of the
fallen sticks to allow of the passage of their horses, but still the

them; there were
of ridges

somewhat less elevation ;

330 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

hard gray sandstone we had observed all along the base of the
mountains on the east side, no granite showing itself anywhere.
Heavy dark clouds were gathering rapidly, and the louder
and louder rumblings of thunder war rned us of an approaching
storm. We had descended but a few yards of the great western
slope when the tempest broke with all its violence, and we were
wet to the skin in a few moments; my own abiliments were
from waterproof, being simp! y a flannel shirt, a pair of
leather trowsers, with a striped cotton shirt over all. e de-
scent was very steep, the horses having in some places difficulty
in keeping their legs, although the path was zig-zag; and the
continual descending on foot was very trying to the legs. After
some distance, however, the descent became less steep, and we
continued our course for a couple of hours before coming to any
place fit forcamping. Although camping in the woods is always
- to be avoided with horses, we were at length induced to halt
from the appearance of some old skeletons of Indian lodges, not
knowing how far we might have to travel before coming to any
_ place; and we camped, for the first time, in a Columbian
ores
The change in the vegetation was first made evident to me on
descending the mountain, by the appearance of a beautiful and
regularly formed cedar, which for the sake of remembering the —
, I then called the “Columbian Cedar.” It flourished at an
altitude of about 5000 feet, and I subsequently observed it a8
low as 8000, but I feel doubtful as to whether it descends to the
Tobacco Plains. Besides this I found, to me, a new Abies some-
thing like the Balsam Fir of the Atlantic slope, but with a rough
and su

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 331

most fantastic appearance. The track leaving the river and as-
cending a steep bank, carried us for five miles over a very rocky
piece of country, where the trees were of stunted growth from
want of soil, to the junction of Wigwam River with the Koota-
nie Fork of the Columbia. The former was forty yards wide
and two to three feet deep, and the latter sixty yards across with
adepth of four to six feet, both running with a swift current,
their beds being rocky and stony. The Kootanie Fork could
€ seen coming down a valley from the N.N.W., from near a
well marked mountain about twenty-seven miles distant, which
has been called “The Steeples,” or Mount Sabine. I believe
that not far above the Wigwam tributary another called the Elk
iver comes in from the north, down along narrow valley in
the mountains. We descended about 300 feet, crossed the small
river, and having lost the trail, camped for the night, the Indian’s
opinion being that we must also cross the main river, whic
would have occupied more time than the decreasing daylight

the Pacific, hesause the mountains to the north have not yet

n sufficiently explored; but I am able to say that it is the
most southern line within the British territory, and, as yet, by
far the shortest; moreover, I have every reason to believe, that
the Most suitable portion of the mountains for the passage of a

The Kootanie Pass crosses the Rocky M |

332 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

length is 40 geographical, or nearly 47 English miles, extending
from longitude 114° 84’ to 115° 24’ W. It leaves the Saskatch-
awan Plains where they have an altitude of about 4000 feet
above the sea, rises 2000 feet to the watershed of the mountains,
descends to Flathead River, again to an altitude of 4000, follows
up this river to its head waters, then crosses a precipitous ndge,
reaching an altitude of 6000 feet; it then descends the great
western slope, falling 2000 feet in two miles of horizontal dis-
tance, after which, by a nearly uniform grade of 100 feet per
geographical mile, it gains the Tobacco Plains at the point where
the Wigwam branch enters Kootanie River.

By reference to section No.-1, it will be seen that there are

5

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 333

Geog. miles.

Lake Supe:ior to Red River settlement, - - - 320

Red River settlement, vi@ elbow of south branch of 700

Saskatchawan to Rocky Mountains, - = -
Rectiivie, Pak) foes er eee ee 40
West end of Kootanie Pass to mouth of Frazer's } 300
River, Gulf of Georgia, —- - : Z
otal, Lake Superior to Pacific, - - 1860
Probable length of railroad, 2300 English miles.

Thus it will be seen that out of the whole distance one-half is
over level prairies, and but 40 miles through mountai ?
To resume the narrative of my journey: On the morning of
the 25th of August, at starting we were obliged to climb the face
of a steep hill-side for the purpose of keeping on the left bank
of the Kootanie Fork, which here sweeps in close under an outer
Tange of the mountains, having a north and south direction, and
Which I have called ‘‘Galton’s Range.’ We gained a consider-
able altitude above the river, which ran at our feet, and of whose
Course I had a view for some distance. The banks were vertical —
and rocky, and the stream appeared to continue swift. Both
horses and men had enough to do in climbing up, and then com-

ing down again from the heights. I was wel repaid for m
Climb by the remainder of the day’s travel, which was throug
Magnificent open forests with patches of prairie, sometimes of
Considerable extent. These forests were the finest it —

; gp sa fortune to see. A gage species of pine ¢ pes
arch previously spoken of, with their bright red barks, Fr
from the ground at ample distances; no brushwood encumbered
their feet or offered impediment to the progress of wagons, which

ight move in every direction. a eS

As w eatebcad ns the p the trail forked, and our
Indian took the branch which led nearest the river, as from in-
formation he had received, he believed it to be that which led

‘o the trading post. Towards evening, according to my reckon.

334 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. .

ing, we crossed the Boundary Line, and camped about two miles
within the American territory, and not more than a mile from

ried and pounded s milk. Of course, although
no payment was asked, I paid these people for their food in to-

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 335

about eight or ten days’ journey with pack horses, and that they
could descend to it by the river in canoes, but there were too
Many falls and rapids to admit of its being ascended; that tl
Flathead River, which I followed up in the mountains, runs to
the south and joins Clark’s Fork of the Columbia, in which is
the Flathead Mission, which they described as three days riding
South of this; that there are large lakes to the northwest of the
ootanie Post, from one of which a small river flows and ee
the Kootanie Fork, before it falls into Clark’s Fork. sey
They also told me that there was a pass entering cot getonl

336 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

There are some considerable tracts of the Tobacco Plains which
are prairie; the grass however, does not grow close and thick,
but in small bunches with bare ground between, and the pasture
is nothing to be compared to that at the base of the mountains
on the east side. This is perhaps chiefly owing to the nature of
the soil, which in the latter case, is a black mould, while on the
Tobacco Plains it is sandy, and in most parts stony; at this sea-
son the grass was quite dried up and yellow. .

As tot ootanie Indians, their language at once strikes one
as being most guttural and unpronounceable by a European,
every word appearing to be brought up with difficulty from their
lowest extremities.

hey are nearly all baptized Roman Catholics, and are most
particular in their attendance at morning and evening prayers,
to which they are summoned by asmall hand-bell. They always
pray before eating. On the Sunday that I spent with them, their
service, in which is a good deal of singing, lasted a considerable
time; one of their number preached, and seemed to be well at-

n to.
Their food at this season appears to be almost entirely berries,
S ”

Capt. Biakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 337

ere is sufficient crust on the deep
snow of the mountains, on snow shoes, also for the purpose of
pyeining provisions, for there is little or no game on the west
side.

On the 2d of September, I set out on my return journey across
the mountains. The morning was clear and sharp, the ther-
mMometer being two degrees below freezing. er I had lost
sight of the Kootanie camp, and was riding ahead of my part
on a S.S.E. course over undulating prairie, I felt satisfied that I
had done all that came under the spirit of my instructions, and
was happy to be able to recross the mountains by another unex-
plored route; my only regret was that this time it was not my
fate to see the Pacific. °

Leaving the Tobacco Plains at a point where they were pretty
thickly wooded we followed a narrow trail, which, turning the

the north end. We crossed a considerable mountain stream
coming down a valley from the north, which as it may be of use
‘0 the Boundary Commission, I have taken care to mark, a

fitlen u

y the next morning, Sunday,
mand nearly all that day, giving

388 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

On Monday the 6th of September, immediately on starting at
A.M. we regained British ground; we travelled up the creek
till 10, when we halted for breakfast. It was cold, raw, and

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ing of the barometer, which gave an altitude of 6030 feet. We
ascended along the ridge about 100 feet more, and then by a 2!g-
zag track commenced a steep descent. It was not however very
bad, and we soon arrived at a small mountain torrent flowing
eastward, thus regaining the waters of the Atlantic after an a
sence of sixteen days. The trail continued mostly through
woods down the valley due east. The rocks on the tops of the —
mountains on either side were often of very curious shapes, —
and the strata in places much contorted; there were also some —
magnificent cliffs, and the cascades of snow water falling down
the narrow gullies, added motion to the grandeur of the scene. —
‘The snow gradually decreased as we descended. On arriving at —
the spot where the valley joined another, I found the Indians
my ona patch of prairie, where I was glad enough to let
my horse free, as we had travelled this day from six to six, with 4
a halt of only 14 hours. ;
_ The horses had the first half of the following day to rest, and —
IT took the opportunity of testing my aneroid barometer by the —
er water apparatus, making the ordinary observations, a
After two h

a sketch of a very peculiar peak just above our camp. —
‘© hours travelling on level ground along Red-stone

Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains. 339

Creek, we emerged on the Saskatchawan Plains, just six geo-
graphicai miles north of the 49th parallel, and camped at Water-
ton Lakes two miles east of the mouth of the pass.

The position of the Waterton Lakes, as will be seen.on the
plan, is just where the offset range, before spoken of, strikes out
to the eastward from the main chain, having the Chief’s Moun-
tain at its extremity. The uppermost and largest of these lakes,
lies in a gorge in the mauntains, and is crossed by the boundary
line; the scenery here is grand and picturesque, and I took care
to make a sketch from the narrows between the upper or south-
ernmost and second lake.

was here fortunate enough to discover a stunted species of
pine which M. Bourgeau, the botanist of the expedition, had
hot obtained. I gave him the specimen of this as well as of some.
ferns and other plants which I had collected. :
_4 was much struck by the comparative greenness of the prai-
nes on this side, after the burned-up appearance of the Tobacco
Plains, which we had left but a few days before.

I remained camped at this pleasant spot two whole days for
the sake of the horses, and in order to examine more carefully
the nature of the country. Game was abundant, including
grizzly bears, and we obtained both fresh meat and fish. The

i

It will be seen that some of the waters of the Saskatchawan
take their rise from the offset range at the boundary line, and
from information gained from the Indians, I believe there is a
tributary of the South Branch, which rises to the southward of
the Chief's Mountain, this may be the Bull-pound River of Ar-
Towsmith ; if so, this offset range has nothing to do with divid-

ing the waters of the Missouri and Saskatchawan, and some

the waters of the latter must come from American ground. igs
ave experienced a gale of wind from the southwest, one

hight ie llowing mornin. ceased very
ght of the 7th, which on the fo owing | age ht ai

n e. gag
On the 10th of September, I turned my face towards Fort Ed-

monton, the previously ‘winter quarters of the expedi-

%
ee

340 Capt. Blakiston’s Explorations in the Rocky Mountains.

tion, which lay more than three hundred miles to the north, and as
will be seen on the plan, passed several creeks, and over a coun-
try mostly prairie. I remained at the Forks of Belly River on
Sunday the 12th. From this place I visited a camp of forty-five
tents of Blackfoot Indians, accompanied by one of my men, and
“‘ James,” the Cree Indian. I was received with the usual hos-
pitality, and having expressed a desire to change a horse or two,
I had no trouble the following morning in exchanging one an

buying another for ammunition, tobacco, blankets, old coat, &c.
This tribe has the credit of being dangerous, but from what I
have seen of them, I consider them far better behaved than their
more civilized neighbors, the Crees. I made it a rule never to

hide from Indians, and, although I had but a small party, to go _

to them as soon as I knew of their proximity. I also always
told them for what reason the British Government had sent the
expedition to the country; and I never failed to receive manl-
festations of good will, neither was there one attempt made to
steal my horses, a practice only too prevalent among the Indians
of these plains. '

same amount of attention to the mapping of it, as I considered
a knowledge of that portion of the mountains would be of ser

vice to the International Boundary Commissioners at present e0-
gaged on the west side. Moreover, I do not consider the Bound- —
ary Pass so well suited for the passage of a railroad as the Koo —

tanie Pass. : were
It will be perhaps noticed that I have said nothing concerning
the fitness of the Kootanie Pass for a waggon road. reason

is simply that where a railroad can be constructed, a wagg02
road can also be made; without considerable expense a road

» Sos Wi ee

ee ea

Sir R, I. Murchison on the Palliser Expedition. 341

adapted for wheel carriages. er other parts the road would fol-
low the line proposed for the oad.

I have not mentioned the siciinesios of two other passes across
this portion of the mountains, called the ““Crow-nest”’ and “ Flat-
head Passes,” the former in the British, and the latter in Ameri-
can territory.

The Crow-nest Pass, of which I have marked the general di-
rection on the lan, follows up Crow-nest River, a tributary of
Belly River, into the mountains, and gains the west side near
“The Ste eeple s.” By report of the natives it isa very bad road,
and seldom used. I observed the old — coming in from the
plains on the left bank of Crow-nest Rive

The Flathead Pass enters the dckctaiens at the 49th parallel
of latitude, follows the west shore of Lake Waterton, and gains
Flathead River, which it follows to the Flathead Mission on
Clark’s Fork of the Columbia, about 80 miles S. by E. of th
Kootanie trading post. It is used by the Flathead Indians when
crossing to the Saskatchawan Plains for the purpose of obtaining

eat.

Fort Carlton, Saskatchawan River, December 15, 1858.

APPENDIX.
[Extract from the address of Sir R. I. Murchison at the anni-
versary tapering of the Royal Geographical Society, EPs 23,
p. 108.]

1859.
Palliser Expedition.
_ British North America.—The ay ors results of the

tion, one of the main points of interest to geogra =! was a sur-
Ui ‘of that part of re th of the

Onization as d dant ai the possibility of ing practicable
routes of astaamuads ae For example, whether the Canadas

nt. The more western pear
Were destined to develop the true nature of the great prairi

342 Str R. I. Murchison on the Pailiser Expedition.

region, as watered by the North and South Saskatchawan rivers
and their affluents. Collaterally, it was resolved, if possible—and
mainly at the instance of this Society—to determine the elevation
of the Rocky Mountains in those parallels of latitude, and to
point out the passes in them by which communication might be
opened out between the vast country occupied by the Hudson
Bay Company and the great British seaboard on the Pacific.

In the award of the Patron’s Medal to Captain Palliser, allu-
sions have been made to some of the principle results obtained

the researches of the expedition under his orders. But

should not do justice to the leader and his associates, nor to my
own feelings, were I not to add a few words of explanation and
comment. The first year’s labors were necessarily of more im-
portance to the Government than they could be to geographers
and naturalists. The great object was to determine the capa-

magnetical observations of considerable importance were made
—these countries being: to a great extent known before, and
their outlines being monotonous—that portion of the survey cre-
ated but slight interest among us.

Not so when the Rocky Mountains, to which we bad specially
directed attention, came to be surveyed.* On proceeding from

three parties. Leading one of these himself across the Kananaski
Pass, and returning by the Kootanie Pass in north latitude 494°,

erly or boundary Pass, he sent Dr. Hector to traverse the chain
by the Vermilion Pass, and to explore, as a geologist and natu-
ralist, the much loftier mountains into which the chain rises 10 18
trend to the N.N.W. This division of his forces well merited,
therefore, the expressions. used in the award which has been
sanctioned by t il. .

_ The marked success of the survey accomplished by my young
friend Dr. Hector has been peculiarly gratifying to me, inasmuc
as I had answered for the capacity he would exhibit in applymg
his scientific knowledge. Thus, in addition to the determination
of latitade, longitude, and the altitude of the mountains and two
4 Dt Hector had, by directions of his chief, made a successful foray in dog sledges

. edge of the Rocky Mountains during the winter, in which he pro-

pea a Fei

Sir R. I. Murchison on the Palliser Expedition. 348

of their passes, Dr. Hector presents us with a sketch of the phy-
sical and geological structure of the chain, with its axis of slaty
subcrystalline rocks, overlaid by limestones of Devonian and
Carboniferous age, and flanked on the eastern face by Carbonifer-
ous sandstone, representing, probably, our own coalfields, the
whole followed by those Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits which
constitute the subsoil of the vast and rich prairies watered by
the North and South Saskatchawan and their affluents. His
observations on the erratic or drift phenomena are also curious
and valuable.
Prevented by his instructions from descending into the valleys
of Columbia, and there to ascertain practicable routes to the far
west, which he will look out for during the present summer,
Dr. Hector, though so severely injured by the kick of a horse as
to be incapacitated from moving for some days, contrived so to
travel northwards as to round the base of the loftiest mountains
of the chain before he returned to his winter-quarters in October,
after an absence of eighteen weeks from his chief, but laden with
valuable geographical and geological knowledge. ;
In this survey he had the merit of showing that the Vermil-
ion Pass—which is less than 5000 feet high, and therefore 1000
feet lower than any other known pass of the Rocky Mountains—
had another decided advantage over them, inasmuch as its west-
ern slope, from the summit level of the horse-path, is so little
Steep that its explorer has no doubt that even a road for carts may
be there established. The descents westward, or into the drain-
age of the Columbia, in the other passes are exceedingly steep ;
and according to Captain Blakiston, the Kootanie Pass can only
have a railroad made along it by the formation of tunnels of sey-
eral miles in length, and by encountering the difficulty of the
Steep western gradicas of 194 feet per mile. ‘
Another singular natural feature of comparison is, that whilst
the Vermilion Pass is less that 5000 feet above the sea, the adja-
cent mountains on the north rise to near 16,000 feet, showing
the great depth of the gorge. On the other hand, in the range
beyond the British boundary, to the south, and where no pea
(not even that of Fremont) exceeds 18,000 feet, the passes range
from 6000 to 7000 feet high.* od aie ee ceo
* In anticipation of what may hereafter be published in the ‘Journal of the Royal

Gengraphical Society, the reader is refered to the pers to Parliament in
April, relative to this “Ex i Captain Pallis | portion of British
North a which lies between the northern branch of the River Saskatchawan
and the frontier of the United States, and between the Ked River and Rocky
Mountains,” These printed documents are accompanied by a map, executed by
wsmith, from the surveys of the Palliser dition, together with despatches

of the leader and officers under his and, and tables giving the calculations of
iti were fixed. An additional

ad
latitad 4 8 ositions of
i Ppeere. sig oy ae ae t Cecgesecvoned near the American

undary, as “a by Captain Biakiston, w d quitted the expedition, has
very vecoutly bee sent to the Society, with the notice from the Secretary of the

344 Sir R. I. Murchison on the Palliser Expedition.

Whether one of the heights called Mounts Brown* and Hook-
er by Mr. Douglas, in honour of our eminent botanical contem-
poraries, be still higher than the Mount Murchison of Palliser
and Hector, it is certain that the chain diminishes rapidly in its
trend from this yey cluster to the north. We know, indeed,
that Mackenzie, the first great explorer of those regions, passed
through the ee in north latitude 56°, at a comparatively low-
er level. Again, we further know that in proceeding northwards

these mountains dwindle into insignificance before they reach the
Arctic Ocean.

It wall be recollected es seven years ago Captain M. H.
Synge of the Royal Engineers, who had been quartered in the
Canadas and had made scaamione into the adjacent western |
territories, being deeply imbued with the importance of the orig-
inal observations of Mackenzie, and attracted by his glowing
description, made a warm appeal in favor of the establishment of a
line of communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, by pass-
ing from Lake Athabasca and the Peace River, thence traversing
the Rocky Mountains on the parallel followed by Mackenzie.
But that scheme must now, I apprehend, give way before the

(RE TR Ee ape aN tenes a ee oe Ree ee oe

Colonies that it was not i. to be looked upon as an official communication until sanc-

tioned by. a tain Pallise: These last-mentioned documents, Be seem to me
gripes) have not yet been laid before the Socie The public will
soon ss “a excellent map by Arrowsmith, in which all ea new discoveries are

ntitled ‘The Provinces of British Columbia, Vancouver
Tsland, bi potion of the United States and Hudson Bay Territories.
ecently informed by my friend the Right Hon. Edward Ellice that the geo-

between Hudson Bay and Lake Suprior on the east, and the ific on the west !
It appears that the last six years of his labors were spent on the west side of the
Mountains ; it being pole to note that his MS. maps were all made from
survey, corrected by numerous astronomical o ions. affiu-
ent of the Frazer , Rivers in British Columbia, “the Thompson,” justly bears the name
of this great but little-known geographical explorer; Pee pcabenide trast that there
is no eeriation, for a report which has been spread, that to ane
r appe cage Pee deeoerarte us ous man.
‘wits seagetd :

North American Boun antianee, and was sate of eighty
ears of age when he died in Canada. In the words of Mr. Arrowsmith, “he has
ind him who i is ten et uain

‘P! ot snow
its dealing w: a a a eye | — set ag mpent try
to have maintained the attachment of these poor people, who under such into

, instead of falling before the white man as in other
jm. ee » & 2 ARAN £...4 Lewk

+ ‘Thin is.the preceding Repott.

Sir R. I. Murchison on the Palliser Expedition. 345

shorter passages across the mountains in a more southern paral-

lel, and which will, it is hoped, bring a rich prairie country on

the tract lying between the North and South Saskatchawan on

nse cold preva
and that, once through the Rocky Mountains, the traveller enters
4 country of cedars and rich vegetation, in which even wheat

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had great pleasure in su ing the request of the gallant leader

upporting the request of tk Jah 1eaclor
of this expedition and of his associate Dr. Hector, that they might
allowed to wend their way home next summer
rrsing the passes in the Rocky Mountains, and thence

razer River. I am happy say t.
a . Lytton readily complied with this request, and that
€ Palliser expedition is thus about to establish fresh claims
Upon our appro tion.
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.
44

346 Prof. J. W. Mallet on Nitride of Zirconium.

Art, XXXVI.—On Mitride of Zirconium; by J. W. MALLET,
Prof. Chemistry in the University of Alabama.

(Read before the Amer. Assoc. for the Ady. of Science, August, 1859.)

Awmone the most interesting facts brought to light by the re-
cent researches of Woéhler and Deville upon silicon and the
allied elements is that of the strong affinity of these bodies, when
free, for nitrogen. Several of the nitrides which result from this
affinity have been described—as those of boron, silicon, titani-
um, and tantalum. I have now to add to the list nzéride of zir-
conium.

This substance was obtained under the following circumstan-
ces. The ease with which silicon and boron may be crystallized
by exposing the elements in the amorphous state to a very hig
temperature, in contact with aluminum, which when fused seems
to act the part of a solvent, led very obviously to the expecta-
tion that other related elements might also be obtained im crys-

is process. Titanium and zirconium suggested them-
selves as ge worthy of experiment in this direction. With

the bare notice* that Deville, by heating alu-

Wohler have indeed stated at a beginning of a tet on nitride
of titanium that this substance was first notice

A
pared by heating the potassio-fluorids with sodium in an atmos
hangs hydrogen, and it then remained to be seen whether the
me

small blast furnace capable of melting platinum.

%
Sarin of amorphous zirconium and titanium was pre

i ade i

gs Ri bate i

Sia 2
See tee

ling, the crucible was removed from the farnace,

coo.
and was found to be slightly cracked. This no doubt

_® Paris correspondence in Amer. Jour. Sci., May, 1856, p. 404.
+ Ann. d. Chem. u. Pharm., August, 1857, 8.230.

at the beginning of the experiment, and was caused by the too

Prof. J. W. Mallet on Nitride of Zirconium. 847

baci aoc sal
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ing, I think, the likelihood of their being silicon itself, derived

either from the aluminum or the lime; the absolute amount,

gold-like crusts; with a po ste of 400-600 they were
the

being imbedded in a colorless glassy matrix, probably a com-
pound of zirconia and lime. One was reminded by them of the

sition was not determined quantitatively, owing to want of suf-
ficient material, for much of the zirconium combined with
f :

* Ann. d. Chem. u. Pharm, Mai, 1859, 8. 249.

348 Prof. J. W. Mallet on Nitride of Zirconium.

Amorphous zirconium was heated in a Bohemian glass tube
up to the temperature at which the latter softened, a stream of
ammoniacal gas being passed through it. At a low red heat
there suddenly appeared a bright glow, spreading rapidly. over
the metallic powder, and then disappearing; this was probably
owing to the presence of a little hydrate of zirconia, the water
of which, as Berzelius has shown, yields oxygen to the metal
when heated. After cooling, the tube was found to contain a

; pate amorphous powder. Under the paca
0

es by the fact that the ammonia had not been perfectly dried.

took fire, glowed brightly, and even continued to burn when re-
moved from the lamp-flame. It burned almost white, and when
afterwards fused with caustic potash, gave only traces of ammonia.
similar gray powder was obtained by heating
the anhydrous chlorid of zirconium in gaseous ammonia, chlorid
of ammonium and hydrochloric acid volatilizing. Unfortunately
the ammonia was not quite dry, and in consequence the color of
the powder was light, showing the presence of but little nitride;
on fusion with caustic potash but little ammonia was given off.
Lastly, pulverulent zirconium was heated to a bright redness
in a tube of Bohemian glass, through which passed a stream of
dry cyanogen. The glow alluded to above appeared and spread
over the mass. On cooling, an amorphous powder was obtained,
of black color with a shade of chocolate-brown; this, after gen-
tle heating in the air, was fused with caustic potash and gave off
ammonia in large quantity. Strongly heated in the air, the
powder took fire, and burned nearly white; after burning, 1t
fave with caustic potash slight but distinct traces of ammonia.

e brown, and a little gas, apparently ss sgh ‘a
er contame

These experiments would seem to show that—

(1.) Zirconium, like titanium, silicon, and boron, has a strong
affinity for nitrogen, is capable of removing it from some of its
compounds, and will even unite directly with it when free and
_ Mert, as in atmospheric air.

(2) The relation, thus indicated, of zirconium to titanium and

Silicon, supports the evidence afforded by the late experiments

a

Prof. J. W. Mallet on the Atomic Weight of Lithium. 349
of Deville and Troost on the vapor-density of chlorid of zirco-

nium, which appears to have the formula Zr(l,, analogous to
TiCl, and SiCl

pared from ammonia or cyanogen at least, its nitride burns when

Art. XXXVIL—On the Atomic Weight of Lithium; by J. W.
Matter, Prof. Chemistry in the University of Alabama.

(Read before the Amer. Assoc, for the Advan. of Science, Aug. 1859.)

that the equivalent of lithium, which has been usually taken, on
elius, as 65 (=81-25 on the oxygen scale),
or 6°6 (=82°50), is in fact considerably higher, and may be as-

._ My own results were obtained by the method used by Pelouze
in determining the equivalents of sodium and barium, namely,
the precipitation of chlorid of lithium by a solution of silver of
Known Strength. In this way the equivalent of lithium Was
found by three experiments =86'93, 86°96, 86°45, or in the mean
86-78 (or 6-95 as referred to the hydrogen unit). ‘es

_ Since the publication of the above result, it has_ m..GOn-
firmed by Dumas, who, in one of his recent papers on the equiv-
alents of the elements, states that he has found that of lithium

* Ann. d. Chem. a. Pharm., Mai, 1856, 5. 140, + Ibid, Feb, 1858, 8. 259.
+ Ibid, Mai, 1859, S. 249

350 Prof. J. W. Mallet on the Atomic Weight of Lithium.

=7', without however giving the details of the experiments on
which this number is based.

On the other hand, Troost, in a paper upon the general history
of lithia and its salts,* has objected to the method by which my
determination of the equivalent was made, and has returned to
a number near that originally given by Berzelius. Troost states
that chlorid of lithium on being heated in the air loses chlorine
and takes up oxygen, so that it must give by the method of
Pelouze an atomic weight for the metal higher than the truth.

-This fact was distinctly noticed in my former paper, and it was
stated that the decomposition might be prevented by addition of
a little pure sal-ammoniac to the chlorid of lithium before heat-
ing.

follow from the mechanical loss of the least drop of fluid during
the effervescence of the carbonate with sulphuric acid or the
subsequent evaporation of the sulphate of lithia; and, without
oe the slightest doubt of the manipulative skill of the
French chemist, we must admit that, in so delicate a process a5

the determination of an atomic weight, the solution of a carbon- —

ate and evaporation of the solution—steps which are generally
*Ann. de Chim, et de Phys., [3], t. x1, p, 108.

i

Prof. J. W. Mallet on the Atomic Weight of Lithium. 351

sulphate of baryta precipitated, we are not certain that
Weight of the latter really corresponds to the quantity of sul-

take the sulphates of two very similar and closely related bases,
itis probable that the difference in the amount of error will be
Very small. These considerations have led to the followi
method for determining the equivalent of lithium.

Portions (A, 1, and 2,) of this salt were rendered anhydrous ny
Cautious application of a heat below redness, and accurately
Weighed. Two similar portions of perfectly pure sulphate of
soda (B, 1, and 2,) were dried and weighed with equal care.
And, lastly, two portions of pure sulphate of magnesia (C, 1, and
2,) were in like manner due and weighed. Soda and magnesia

~

352 Prof. J. W. Mailet on the Atomic Weight of Lithium.

were chosen for comparison with lithia because the last-named
base seems in most of its relations to hold an intermediate place
between the former two, with which it is closely allied. Chlorid
of barium was also prepared with all the precautions needed to
ensure its purity, precipitated twice from its aqueous solution by
alcohol, and recrystallized three or four times. It was at last
obtained as a fine crystalline powder by stirring the hot satura-
solution as it cooled, and this powder was allowed to dry
spontaneously in the air at a temperature of about 80° F. Thus
prepared, the salt—as Marignac has shown—is not altered in
weight by further exposure to air, its theoretical composition is
BaCl+2HO, the precise amount of water actually present was
probably a little greater, owing to the mode of drying, but was
unimportant under the conditions of experiment adopted.

For each of the six weighed portions of sulphates mentioned
above, the quantity of chlorid of barium needed for exact pre-
cipitation was calculated, assuming the equivalent of sodium
= of magnesium =12, that of lithium =7, and that of
barium =68°6, and considering the chlorid of barium as con-
taining strictly two. atoms of water. Six portions of the last-
named salt were weighed out (at the same time), each less than
the amount calculated by one or two centigrams. Each was dis-
solved in 200 cubic centimetres of hot water, and added to its
corresponding portion of sulphate, likewise dissolved in 200 cub.
centim. of hot water. The fluid and precipitate in the six
beakers were well stirred, and left to settle.

ally taken. At first it was easy to observe the formation of a

sf
.

of
ef
|

Prof. J. W. Mallet on the Atomic Weight of Lithium. 353

2.—4-6440 orm. of LiO, SO, required 10-2940 Or
pcitoHo & Mee Pe tae
B, 1—5:0675 grm. of NaO, SO, required 8-6920 grm. of

—5-1107 grm. of NaO, SO, required 87688 grm. of
. nO Peeps » SO, req grm
C, 1.43380 grm. of MgO, SO, required 8:8318 grm. of
a

C, 2.—4-6625 grm. of MgO, SO, required 94872 grm. of
BaCl+2HO.

Calculating now from B, and ©, the amount of crystalline
chlorid of barium necessary to precipitate an equivalent of NaO,
SO, or MgO, SO,, we get the following numbers, which repre-
sent what may be called the practical equivalent of ‘the chlorid of

arium as actually used.

Means.

From B, 1 _ 121-78 fee
gt BBN cick cack ws am
i cane ; 129-12
the theoreti pr eM of BaCl+2HO being 122°1—the pres-
nee of any water over the normal two atoms tends to raise the

practical equivalent—the presence of any BaCl in the precipitated
BaO, O, has the same effect,—the presence of either of the ae
ble sulphates i in the same precipitate leads to an opposite
From this practical equivalent of chlorid of barium and ths
Tesults given above under pi and A, 2, we may calculate the
equivalent of lithium. If w ends for chlorid of barium the
number 121-80—that obtained by the precipitation of NaO, SO,
—we have for

: $8004-+12180_, 92=Li0, SO

54-92—48(SO0, +0)=6:92=Li

and for A, .F

4°6440+121'80_n 1.0% 1:0 so
10-2940 ee oe

. 54:95—48=6°95=Li.
The mean of the two results is 6°935. . :
we take for chlorid of barium the num ived
Bom ing experiments with i SO,—we - by by a similar cal-

= ‘ Pe ie a7 OY.
rere Pa ats

or, in the mean, 7:08.
SECOND SERIES, Vo, XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.
45

354 O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of S. Carolina.

Lastly, if we take the mean of the two numbers for chlorid
of barium, namely, 121-96, we get for
BOE SE = octomigs * RT - Ti=699
OS Sa ee are + dae

or, in the mean, 7-005.
Hence, we find, that the equivalent of lithium, as deduced
from the mean results of the above experiments, comes out
6935 (=86-69 on the oxygen scale)
7-080 (=88°49 te fai “ oe
7-005 (=87°56 108 “ “ ’
or as we take the practical equivalent, or actual precipitating power,
of chlorid of barium from the experiments with NaO, SO,, thos

i , SO,, or the mean of the two, these numbers exhib-
iting close agreement, and obviously indicate 7- as the true
equivalent of the metal. It will be observed that the above
method is independent of a knowledge of the exact equivalent
of barium, and uses chlorid of barium merely as a means 0
bringing sulphate of lithia into comparison with the sulphates

a and magnesia—the equivalents of the two last named
bases may be considered as ranking among those best established
—and the small difference between the practical equivalents for
chlorid of barium deduced from these two shows the probable
extent of error involved in the assumption of the sare constant
in the precipitate of the sulphate of lithia.

While these results confirm those formerly obtained by the
analysis of chlorid of lithium, I do not consider them of superior
or perhaps even of equal value. The estimation of chlorine by
the method of Pelouze is apparently one of the most simple and
exact processes for the determination of an atomic weight which
have ever been proposed, and it is, as I believe, fully applicable
to the case of chlorid of lithium. .

As the result of both sets of experiments we may fairly take
the — 7° (=87°50) as representing the true equivalent of

G ‘

ESPON ea a

ArT. XXXVIII.—Notes on certain Ancient and Present Changes
along the Coast of South Carolina; by Oscar M. Lier, State
ologist,. S. C
Ir is very evident that remarkable changes have taken place
on the coast of South Carolina during the present geological
epoch; changes, which have effected or are yet, effecting very
QTy + e

co :
the hydrography of the immediate interior, and the elevation

O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of 8. Carolina. 355

and character of the land. Five or six prominent effects of
change I think may thus be distinguished:

I. An ancient depression along our coast.

IL. A total change in the course of the portions of the rivers
near the coast.

If, A more recent superficial elevation of the coast and—

IV. Consequent gradual seaward extension of the coast.

V. A present depression of the coast an

VI. A southward translocation of our littoral islands.

Of the ancient depression of the coast we find an indubitable
proof in the piles of oyster shells accompanied by charred wood
and Indian pottery, found in ditching the rice fields sometimes
at a depth of five or six feet, and near the level of low tide at a
distance of thirty miles frequently from the mouth of the river,
(as at Mr. Langdon Cheves’ plantation opposite Savannah). This
fact also seems to indicate that the coast must, at the time that
these oyster piles were formed, have been far nearer, for the dis-
tance from the sea would be too great to render transportation
likely. It also shows the gradual rise of the land by surface ac-
cumulation, of which, of course, there are many other indica-
tions in the fertile alluvium of the rice-lands. .

The formation of some of these rice-lands is itself connected
with a remarkable change in the general character of the sea-

of the most remarkable cases in the State. Any map of

356 O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of 8. Carolina.

enel’s residence, where the stratum, CC, may be observed to
extend into the adjacent sand bank, while at another point on

i,

the same plantation the drift wood contained in this bed, was
struck at a considerable distance from the edge of the bank. D,

of B; but entirely independent.

greatest development. If we notice the gr

O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of S. Carolina, 357

ever, becomes apparent, and we are then taught that these rivers
did at one time drain large portions of the back country, the

.

trees and logs from the interior. e have ample and historical

to determine the changes in elevation which take place on our
Sea-board. he a
In fig. 2 I have given an ideal section, which might represent
a Section across Cooper river. In this figure, a}, represents the
2,

8 Marsh growth.
Live-oak stumps. Dead trees. "Live vegetation.

SS

—_—_—

el

——— Serene é
a.

beneath the former, for I have enjoyed no aaa of study-
, beneath the sand, or the joint
boundary of the older sand bed h, and of the marl beds e, be-
neath d. Undoubtedly pettin4 i in Ee aiamieon the
comm, t b ich appear in high bluffs on t
on, and the eocene beds whi fed saree Rive

have here represented. This has however little to do with the
question which we now approach. : agape

It has been said that a gradu ression and submersion is
manifest on our coast. is I have endeavored to exhibit in

358 O. M. Lieber on the changes of the Coast of S. Carolina.

points on his plantation where this fact is exhibited in the high-

wel Nc OR SENT SN xrVE,
TE nee eee Sea eS

Gen. Totten on Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes. 359

Camp Geol. Survey, 8. C., August 7, 1859.

Ant. XXXIX.—On the Sudden Disappearance of the Ice of our
Northern Lakes in the Spring; by Gen. J. G. Torran, Chief
Engineer, U. S.

(Read before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held at
Springfield, August, 1859.)

This striking phenomenon has often given rise to wild : p
lation and saeitobenis in the unscientific world. -It was the
of dij 1 i : —

ons,

At the close of a day in A il, I think, the whole surface of
e Champlain, with the exception of a very few “air holes

~

n—so much to my astonishment and surprise,
_ notice. I have observed since, that the ciconriabtenbes sikder whlch bodies of teal

360 Gen. Totten on Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes.

or unfrozen portions of at most a few acres each, and a strip of
water next the shores, was one t expanse of ice, of a thick-
ness not less than twelve inches, and apparently, looking merely
at the surface, as solid as ever.

During the following night there arose a strong wind from the.

southward, blowing, therefore, nearly lengthwise of the lake;
and when I looked out the following morning not a particle of
ice was to be seen, but instead thereof, a lively play of water
sparkling with “white caps.” e was, as determined by
immediate and close examination, absolutely no ice mim the

much to partake of the marvellous as to require a higher solu-
tion than philosophy was able, consistently to supply
I venture, in offering this mite to the collections of the Asso-

sistent philosophy that nature loves. :

The fringe of broken ice was found to consist wholly of pris-
matic fragments, all of which, excepting a few broken trans-
versely, were of uniform length, namely a length exactly equal
to the. thickness of the mass of ice of which they had been por-
tions.

The sides of these fragments were irregular as to number and
form; the breadth or thickness varying sometimes in the same
sins from three-quarters of an inch to an inch and a half—per-

ps a little more or less; but notwithstanding such variations,
there was a general agreement as to shape and’size, and the gen-
eral result in all was a decidedly prismatic form. There were,

* The following description and remarks, as far as relates to details, belongs to
i case the to

to be detected by cleavage, unless indeed, the of
ongealation has been disturbed by forces too great for an observance of the law
rysiallization, Such deviations do not however, it is thought, touch the general

4

is nay

uo ea

Gen. Totten on the Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes. 361

o

resistance being made to the point of a cane. ;
Before describing the —s preliminary process by which

Were the results of violence, causing the greater surprise by sud-
denly bringing about what, according r the calm process above

‘as shown next morning by fragments on the
shore, it could oppose little resistance to waves raised by the wind
SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.
46

862 Gen. Totten on the Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes.

certainly exists in the irregular spaces between the prisms, 48 We —

see by the particulars before given.

Eee Ne ay See RT

Sen, ee Se ene s) oe =
Se SS a Ee OE ES ak ON te Reese ts | AEE aes 5 ira WE =

, <a nare reree iin . a Se ee

€ process
howd has probably been heretofore e

Gen. Totten on the Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes. 368

paces be-
tween the prisms, dissolves them out to the full depth to which
the ice is immersed, and perhaps still farther, by capillary action.
At the same time, the spongy ice, formed upon the upper surface
by melted and refrozen snow, affords warm water, by melting
and percolation, to affect similarly the porous spaces between the
tops of the prisms.

In this way, during the considerable period intervening be-
tween the first spring rains and the final breaking up of the lake,
the solid ice is transformed into the condition necessary to a sud-
den dissolution.

Ve may assume, indeed, that the solvent action begins on the
lower surface, about the time the accretion, by farther freezing,
ceases; that it proceeds very slowly, so long as the temperature
of the water remains below that of the greatest density, and of
course that it goes on more rapidly as the water is lifted above
that temperature by the growing warmth of spring. 3

I regret that I did not take the temperature of the water in
the morning after the disappearance of the ice; but on this point
I may add to what is said above, that the spring was then well
forward, all, or nearly all, the snow had melted from the fields;
the early rains and melted snows had for some time been raising
the lake, which was then nearly at its greatest height. It was
this rise in the lake that had spread a margin of water that did
not freeze between the great field of ice and the shore. The in-
ference from all the circumstances, that the temperature of the
water at the time of disruption, and for some time previous, was
not only above the melting point, but also above that of maxi-
mum density, seems to me unavoidable. :

I may here be permitted to mention another matter connected
With fields of lake-ice that has excited some wonder, namely, the
movement towards the shore of boulders, sometimes quite 1a1
Th which must have occurred to intelligent o

plained, seems to be this:

the rising of the water has supplied an w en m
a strong and wl comets ume the whole field to move
until its edge meets adequate resistance upon the shore, all
boulders encountered ae way, being pushed before it, into
an array upon the shore that accurately marks the extent of the

364 Gen. Totten on the Disappearance of Ice in Northern Lakes.

invasion. These lines of boulders are to be seen in many places,
registering accurately, not the work of the preceding year, but
the greatest effort of any previous year.

e circumstances of some deep-lying boulders may be such
that they are rarely embraced, acted on, or moved, and such
may long, by fits, continue to be erratic, though finally to joi
the general shore parade

The force of these moving fields is very great, even when the
decomposing process is much advanced. I have seen a timber
wharf, which was about thirty feet square, ten or fourteen feet
high, and filled solidly with earth and stones, shoved along the
bottom about thirty feet, by a single continuous push of a great
field of ice just ready to be resolved into its prismatic elements.
The motion was very slow, only to be seen, indeed, by close ob-
servation, while the ice was broken at the edge of contact into
innumerable fragments, piling themselves, with a tinkling sound,
high upon the wharf and following ice.

A simple and effectual guard against this danger to wharf or
pier has been found to be, the giving to the exposed face a cer-
tain talus (about one of base to two of height, I think), which
turns the ice upwards to the top of the structure, where its frag-
ments accumulate, sometimes to a considerable height. This
easy diversion of so great a force is due, of course, to the pe-
culiar crystalline structure of the ice, the degree to which it has

n decomposed, and the consequent brittleness against a trans-
verse strain. Should there be an unfrozen margin to permit
this motion of large fields of ice, before the solution of conti-
uity in the crystalline arrangement, nothing but the solid earth
could stand before it.

These remarks have extended further than I intended, and I
fear much beyond what was required by the state of knowledge
on the subject. But I venture, nevertheless, in reference to the

portion of these remarks, one further observation—namely,
that nature seems to have especially provided, in the structure
of these wintry coverings of water surfaces, for their prompt Te
moval, when their existence would retard the advancing year.

Kes

eisai nates

SEER Ee SHES S

On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia, 365

Art. XL.—On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magne-
sia, and on the Formation of Gypsums and Magnesian Rocks ;
by T. Srerry Hunt, F.R.S., of the Geol. Survey of Canada,
(Continued from this vol., p. 187.)

I¥;
Facts in the history of Gypsums, Dolomites, Magnesites and Lime-
stones.
43. The gypsums found in nature may be divided into two
classes, those directly deposited from water, and those produced

by the alteration of beds of limestone. To the latter division
belong the gypsums found in the vicinity of solfataras, where,
as

2], vil, 175;
dus de V Acad., 1855, xl, 1848. 5
These acid waters which make their appease in an almost

undisturbed region, I conceive to have their origin in d

. Waters containin piney ae acid or ferric or alumin-
ous sulphate, may by fowitis into basins where carbonate of
lime is present, give rise to solutions of renga of lime, a
the evaporation of these, of sea-water or other gypseous solu-
tions pet give ia to deposits of sulphate of lime, which will

366 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

belong to the first division mentioned above. These modes of
formation however do not account for an important fact in the
history of most stratified gypsums, which is that of their almost
constant association with carbonate of magnesia generally in the
orm of magnesian limestone. Beds of dolomite are often inter-
stratified with or include beds or masses of gypsum, while dolo-
mite and carbonate of magnesia are sometimes found imbedded
in gypsum or anhydrite. For a description of the magnesite
which is disseminated in the gypsum of Salzburg, see Dufré-
noy, Minéralogie, 2d ed., ii, 424. Small masses of compact
and crystalline gypsum, occasionally associated with crystals of
ealcite and quartz, abound in some of the dolomite beds of the
so-called Calciferous sandrock in Canada, and crystallized gyp-
sum and anhydrite, together with sulphates of baryta and stron-
tia, and fluor spar, occur in geodes in the magnesian limestone
of Niagara. The anhydrous sulphate of lime not only forms
beds by itself but is often met with disseminated in masses,
grains or crystals through beds of gypsum, and even interstrati-
fied with it, as in the south of France, in the Hartz, Switzerland,
and in Nova Scotia, as described by Mr. Dawson. (Acadian Ge-
ology, 225.) The conversion of beds of anhydrite into gypsum
by the absorption of water, and the attendant phenomena, have
been described by Charpentier.

45. Both the hydrous and anhydrous sulphate sometimes form
the cement of conglomerates or breccias, which enclose flints,
fragments of shale and of limestone, as at Pomarance in Tuscany,
(Scarabelli, Bull. Soc. Géol. de France, [2], xi, 846,) and also at
Bex, where the cement of the conglomerate is a granular anhy-
drite (Charpentier, Jbid., [2], xii, 546). :

ums moreover often include clay and sand, and sometimes
contain a considerable admixture of carbonate of lime, which
in those of Aix, according to Coquand, amounts to eight per
cent. The gypsums of Montmartre also contain, according to
Delesse, besides some clay and sand, and several hundredths of
carbonate of lime, not less than three per cent of soluble silica
intermixed. Silica in the form of flint or chert is sometimes
found in concretions with gypsum; thus in the miocene clays
near Bologna in Italy, flints are met with associated with sul-
phates of lime, of baryta and strontia, together with pyrites and
ulphur. Masses of sulphate of strontia are likewise found in
clays with the gypsums of Montmartre, and the association 0
sulphate of strontia with the sulphur, m and rock salt of
Sicily is well known. The gypsums of Madrid, which occur 10
ey are according to Casiano de Prado, accompanied
by ees chert and of magnesite (Bull. Soc. Géol. de France, [2];

aPC ee

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 367

gy rm
associated clays. (Bischof, Chem. Geology, ii, 421-481.) pa 2
deposits of both of these sulphates occur with gypsum and rock-

46. The gypsums of the class which we are now describin
appear in every geological period. To these apparently belong
the masses of gypsum and anhydrite, which at Fahlun are asso-
ciated with dolomite and serpentine in the chloritie bands of the
‘oldest crystalline rocks of Scandinavia, the probable equivalents
of the Laurentian system of North America. On this continent
the oldest known gypsums are those already mentioned as occur-
ring near the base of the paleeozoic series, and in what is called
by the geologists of New York the Caleiferous sandrock. \
ascend the series gypsum is occasionally met with in the Clinton
and Niagara groups, until we reach the Onondaga salt-group in
the Upper Silurian rocks of Canada and New York, which con-
tains great deposits of dolomite and gypsum, occasionally accom-
panied by sulphur. The gypsums, anhydrites, and brine springs
of Nova Scotia belong to the Carboniferous series, while the fre-
quent recurrence of gypsum in Europe through all the higher
rocks up to the Miocene inclusive, is too well known to require
Notice.

_ 47. The so-called primitive gypsums and anhydrites, which
in the Alps and Pyrennees occur interstratified with crystalline

— and alters both fossiliferous limestone and gypsum. The latte

becomes mingled with and finally passes ito limestone. (Co-

quand, Bull. Soc. Géol, de France, [1], xii, 345.) | In Al
h m is associated with crystalline |

eryl are found
the um,

| Hartz, a =: ‘3 , con-
n nodules of a silicate of magnesia col yy carbonaceous
. crite the sci and the chemical composition of

[2], iv, 882.)

368 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

49, Becides the magnesian limestones of parm strata
a preoee of dolomite occur in the rocks of every geological
ve long since described the dolomites which form
posers beds s, often associated with ophiolites and with erys-
talline limestones, in the Laurentian system in Canada. Great
portions of the paleeozoic limestones of North America are mag-
nesian, especially in the valley of the Mississippi,* while deposits
of dolomites are found in Europe alike in the Permian, Triassic,
Jurassic, and Tertiary strata. Mr. Dana has even described as
of recent formation a dolomite from the coral island of Matea,
beet by Silliman and myself.—(Am. Journal of Science, (2,
xix,

50. The — conditions of these magnesian limestones
vary greatly; they are sometimes made up of crystalline ame
of dolomite, which are strongly coherent, or more rarely fo
loose sand. Not unfrequently the magnesian limestones are ea
cretionary in their structure, and may be oolitic or botryoidal.
The action of the concreting force has sometimes obliterated the
marks of stratification. The porous or cavernous structure of
many dolomites is also to be remarked.

* For the following facts with regard to the dolomites of the palzozoic rocks of
the Mississippi valley, I am indebted to Prof, James Hall of A ‘Geer y. We have
ge gehen same order:

e so-called Magnesian limestone, which is regarded as the equiva-
leat o of ‘the Calciferous Sandrock, and is from 200 to 250 feet in thickness. — Kis
2d. The Galena li ihre baseman ves about 250 feet of dolomite “ntorpoced
betmeen the Trenton and the Hudson River groups. It is the lead-bearing rock of
Iowa, Wisconsin

and Illinois,
3d. The Niagara li ns sien. doll Sg, 250 Sant in. iene, 20 2 ti

4th. The Leclaire or Galt 2 rset one, a dolomitic formation interposed between
the last and the Onondaga Salt Group, It attains upon the Mississippi a thickness
af 500 foot, but thine out, to the « astward. :

5th. The fea of the Onondaga Gated 100 feet thick.

6th. A dolomitic deposit in the rei’ rt of the Carbonifé a rous series.
The formation No. 1, al lly regarde as the equivalent of the Calcif
is sienlatiee of the e, which on Lake
ktatecd sine tien a pure dolomite, and on the island of Montreal includes thin
sandrock itself, er Canada, eee

extensive bois of dolomite, and the Hudson udson River group is characterized by beds .
of dolomite and of magnesite

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks, 369

Magnesian limestones often contain large admixtures of clay
and sand; dolomite is not unfrequently the cement of breccias
or conglomerates, as in the well-known conglomerate of the Per-
mian system in England. Concretionary masses of dolomite
sometimes occur in these aggregates, and in the Permian rocks
of the Vosges are pr in’ bed of a sandy clay, itself occasion-
ally cemented by nto

I have irri fe ‘deweribed two remarkable ones con-

ie: of

en ee ee ee ee a ee ee a ee

—
fc)
mn
is)
——s
~—
o~
gE
fa")
ie)
[ag
iS)
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er
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io]
o)
Li
ise)
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l

stratified with this last are beds of bituminous igellweW ebtlste
ing sia vp containing carbonate of iron, and always intermixed

with more or less sand or clay or both; the clay in one speci-
men dincentsh to fifty per cent, while another quartzose variety
gave carbonate of lime 58°04, carbonate of magnesia 31°96, car-

nate of iron 5:80, silicious sand 880=99-60, The latter is a
friable crystalline rock, showing in its fracture broad surfaces of
Cleavage, like the crystals of Fontainebleau sandstone. ese
dolomites, which contain no fossils, are occasionally traversed ao
Veins of quartz and peers a spar, or contain small masses of

pein of the travertine.

_ The conglomerates of this series inclose in a paste of ferrifer-

ous dolomite, grains and rounded fragments of limestone, often

having the characters of the associated travertine, together with
sm asses

ents of quartz and mi oe an a nearly
Hee yellowish crystalline dolomite; these are ah baa
onary in their origin and noti mbedded saeetea! ae

The other conglomerate to be ae occurs on 5 tha islands of
Montreal, Se — and several other localities in the neigh-
borhood, an d belongs to to small detached patches of the Lower
Sot series, left after denudation, which Tepose ee

n

sat sermac~ Vor. XXVIII, No. “a1. —NOV., 1
7

370 On some Relations of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

ments are black augite, mica and olivine, derived from the igne-

nesia 16:4, carbonate of iron 25°8=100-0. In one instance these
yellow-weathering beds of conglomerate are associated with
others of which the cement remains white on the exposed sur-
faces, effervesces freely with acids, and is pure carbonate of lime.
— 1.

there are drusy cavities lined with crystallized dolomite and oc-
easionally containing prisms of quartz. The analysis of a frag-
ment of the cast of an Orthoceras from the Trenton limestone at
Ottawa, gave me carbonate of lime 56-00, carbonate of magnesia
87-80, carbonate of iron 5-95=99:75. The surrounding lime-
Stone, which was compact, bluish-gray, and bituminous, con

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 371

tained 3:9 p. c. of clay and sand; its solution gave 0°6 p. ¢. of
oxyd of iron with alumina, but no magnesia. Similar examples
. of fossils replaced by dolomite oceur in gray limestones associa-
: with the travertines and dolomites of Pointe Levis (§ 50).
53. Magnesian limestones are very frequently destitute of or-
ganic remains; in some cases however they may contain ealea-
reous fossils, as in the Niagara limestone at Dudswell, where
corals of the genera Cyathophyllum, Poriles and Favosites, com-
# | posed of pure carbonate of lime, and generally bluish-black in
2 color, are imbedded in a yellow ferriferous magnesian limestone
4 which contains an excess of carbonate of lime. This limestone
J gave by analysis carbonate of lime 56°60, carbonate of magne-
J sia 11-76, carbonate of iron 823, insoluble quartz sand 2672=
; 98°31. The portion soluble in cold dilute acetie acid was car-
bonate of lime with four per cent of carbonate of magnesia and
: a trace of iron, and the residue when digested with dilute hydro-
chloric acid left 52-0 p. ¢. of sand me) pyrites; the dissolved
part consisting of earbonate of lime 51°75, carbonate of magne-
a sia 35°73, carbonate of iron 12°52=100-00. :
a | In the magnesian limestone of Galt in western Canada, whieh
isa pure crystalline dolomite, there are numerous casts of i
: valve molluscs, the shells of which were evidently removed by
solution after they had been filled and enveloped by the dolo-
i mitic matrix, since the walls of the cavities once occupied by
the shells of a large bivalve, Megalomus Canadensis, retain the
markings of the inner and outer surfaces of the shell. Similar
; moulds of Ophileta compacta are abundant in the blue dolomite
of Beauharnois, which belongs to the Calciferous sandrock; in
4 a dolomite of the same logical formation from the Mingan
a4
;

Islands, the shells of Ophileta, Maclurea and Scaphites are ré-
Plae sili

n some portions of the Galt formation fragments of encrinal
columns are found replaced by dolomite, which is only distit-
guished by a little difference of color from the matrix. It woule
appear in this case as if the calcareous fossil refi Re first
Temoved by solution ($30) the cavity had been su agent!
filled with dolomite as in the casts found in the Ottawa an

($52). : a
54. Although dolomites not unfrequently form by ers
masses of great thickness, as in the Jurassic formation of the

372 On some Relations of the Salis of Lime and Magnesia,

The magnesian layers being pulverulent, the encrinal columns,
which are pure carbonate of lime, are easily separated from their
matrix, which gave me carbonate of lime 40°95, carbonate of
magnesia 24:19, carbonate of iron 27-03, silicious sand without

umina 9°01=101-18; the iron was in part as peroxyd. ‘The
bluish crystalline limestone distant an inch from the magnesian
layer gave 18:4 p. c. of white insoluble residue and 1-09 p. ¢. of
carbonate of magnesia.

Tn these strata we sometimes meet with similar reddish pul-
verulent layers which contain no carbonate of magnesia, but are
composed of carbonate of lime with a large amount of peroxyd
of iron; such a mixture in one instance forms the cement of a
breccia of fragments of the blue limestone; it was perhaps at
one time a double carbonate of lime and iron.

The thin beds of dolomite above described are closely asso-
ciated with those holding the dolomitic casts of orthoceratites

eady noticed; these were enclosed in a nearly black compact
limestone, which during its solution in hydrochloric acid evolved
traces of sulphuretted hydrogen. The residue contained a little
iron pyrites which was removed by nitric acid; it was black
from carbonaceous matter, but became white by ignition in the
air, and was an impalpable powder, equal to 12°8 p.c. of the
rock. Dilute soda ley removed from it 9° p. ¢. of its weight of
soluble silica, and the residue had nearly the composition of a
feldspar. It gave me, silica 73°02, alumina 18°31, lime 0°93,
magnesia 0°87, potash 5:55, soda 0°89=99'57.

The fossiliferous yellow magnesian limestones of Dudswell
(§ 53) are in like manner interstratified with beds of gray crys-

cur interstratified both with limestones of organic origin and
i i i i its. Allied to

St. Maxence in France.—(See Damour,
[2], xiii, 67.) ao. E

chemical constitution of the rocks containing carbon-
now de: our consideration. Pure dolomite —

eee ates : og wv

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 373

is well known to consist of equivalents of carbonate of lime and
magnesia corresponding to 45°65 parts of the one to 54°35 of the
other, and many magnesian limestones have this composition, or
contain beside only mechanical impurities, such as sand and
clay. Others with an excess of carbonate of lime are shown by
the method of Karsten to be mixtures of dolomite with carbon-
ate of lime, which is readily separated by the solvent action of
cold dilute acetic acid ($28, $53). The same chemist however
found in clefts and fissures of the gypsiferous rocks of Luneberg
and elsewhere, carbonates of lime and magnesia mingled with
clay, from which dilute acetic or muriatic acid removed the
Whole of the lime, leaving a residue of from 40 to 68°0 p. c. of

ouble carbonate. The free carbonate of lime which they con-
tain is however probably epigenic and produced by the decom-
position of a portion of the magnesite by the infiltration of dis-
solved gypsum. -
Carbonate of iron often replaces a part of the magnesian car-
bonate in dolomites, which also sometimes contain carbonate of
manganese, and even carbonates of zinc, cobalt and lead. It
hot unfrequently happens that the sum of the other carbonates
in these ferruginous dolomites is more than equivalent to the
carbonate of lime. Such is the case with the dolomitic conglom-
erate of St. Helens (§ 50). :
The dolomites of the Hudson River group in eastern Canada

manganese. A grayish granular dolomite from Sutton,
which contains disseminated chlorite and crystals of ——

weathers blackish-brown from the presence of man e
oreign minerals are arranged in bands, and layers of the dolo-
Mite an inch or two in thickness are apparently ad-

lime 40-10, carbonate of magnesia 20-20, carbonate of iron 10°65,

ds of manganese and portions of Report,
1668 oe 474, and rear enme [2], xxvi, 238.) has e@ manner noticed
the oceurrence of a proportion of ‘yd of manganese in the olive colored
slates of the oa series in Pennsylvania, and to the decomposition of

374 On some Relations of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

57. Magnesian limestones containing an excess of carbonate
of magnesia are not uncommon; one from the muschelkalk of
Thuringia gave to Senft, carbonate of lime 42°9, carbonate o
magnesia 55°4, besides 2°7 of carbonate of iron =101°0. A la-

.

custrine dolomite from the brown-coal formation near Giessen

assic system in Germany. A tender greenish schistose marl
from Tubingen effervesced very slightly with acids, and gave
for 100-00 parts, carbonate of lime 14°56, carbonate of magnesia
19°10, the remainder being clay with a little iron-oxyd. (Senft,

‘BB, «
83-94, carbonate of lime 0°67, with 10°81 of clay, water, ete.
(L. and K. Jahresbericht, 1849, 581.)

58. Magnesian rocks allied to the last occur in the Hudson
River group of eastern Canada, and were described by me sev-
eral years since. In the township of Sutton, interstratified with
dolomite, steatite and taleo-quartzose strata, is a bed of green
and white reddish-weathering crystalline rock, gneissoid in struc-
ture, and containing variable porportions of magnesian carbon-

such rocks correctly ascribes the origin of the deposits of peroxyd of manganese
met with in that region. Beds of silicate of manganese, more or less intermingled

rusted in part with erystalline peroxyd of manganese. Acids in the cold searcely
attack this mineral, but h nhisie and dissolves it with effervescence, leaving
residue of 14-4 pee of silica, of which the greater part is soluble in a dilute alka-
line solution. The analysis gave me besides 84°6 p.c. of carbonate of manganese,

i magnesia, (

Cee eee ire

re

wails

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 375

ate. A pose and nearly white fragment gave to hydrochloric
acid, carbonate of magnesia 83:35, carbonate of iron 9-02, and
left insoluble 8-03=100-40 ;. while another specimen from the

same mass contained, carbonate of magnesia 33-00, carbonate of

iron 19°35, alumina 0:50, insoluble 45°90=98:70. In both cases

co)
ia
(4)
=<]
Q,
eo
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Pe
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bp
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isle}
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ot
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°
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os
S
Q

vesce with cold hydrochloric acid, which however readily dis-
Solves them with the aid of heat. The decomposition i
i surfaces

contained carbonate of iron renders their weat:

fy Me. W. P. Blake, who also found a bed of nearly pure white

t carbonate of magnesia am
that region, I may see cmalll the existence of beds of magne-
site among argillites in Styria, and also in the ancient crystalline
gneiss of Modum in Norway, where a crystalline magnesite is
the gangue of crystals of serpentine and ilmenite—(Am. Jour,
of Science, (2), v, 389.)

376 On some Relations of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

59. The greater number of dolomites and magnesian rocks
are shown by their fossils or by the nature of the associated
strata to be of marine origin, but dolomites are also found m
fresh-water deposits. Such is that with excess of magnesian
carbonate from the brown-coal formation near Giessen (§ 57),
and dolomites are said to occur with the lacustrine limestones of
Dachingen near Ulm.—(Senft, Die Felsarten, 133.)

Vv

On the mode of formation of the preceding rocks.

60. Having in the fourth division of this paper brought to-
gether the principal facts in the history of magnesian rocks, as
well from the researches of others as from our own observations,

sla ees to the observations of Von Morlot and Marignac.
’ [4], Vl,

* Bischof cites Fournet, Histoire de la Dolomie, 1847, but I have not been able
to consult the work in the ion of this paper.

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 377

to those magnesian limestones which include beds, sneneaiees 2
organic remains of pure carbonate of lime. In any case

must suppose a long continued filtration of solutions of sii
— chlorid through the heated limestone under certain condi-
tions which seem at least improbable.

63. The theory of the formation of magnesian sediments —
be readily understood from the experiments which have bee
described in the earlier parts of this paper, but before Scene
to its consideration I wish to call attention to the results of the

n the waters of the Elbe and Thames chlorids greatly
a (in the latter with gypsum), with small amounts of
magnesian salts, and the evaporation of these waters eee: give
Tise to lakes containing a large proportion of common salt. ‘In
the Seine on the contrary, aula of lime predominates, while
the waters of the Rhine, the Danube, the Arr and the Arve
saan but small amounts of chlorids and large proportions of
sulphates of lime and magn

64. In other rivers oe ie alkaline salts; the Loire at Orleans F
according to Deville, rene: in 100,000 13°46 of soli
matters, of which 85:0 p. ¢. is carbonate of lime, 30:0 p. c. silica,
wpile two-thirds of the more oe salts consist of carbonate

of soda. In the waters of the Garonne, with as large a propor-
tion of silica, and more te of lime, the carbonate of soda
equals ohe-founte of the soluble 5 while 100,000 parts of the

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.

48

378 On some Relations of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

water of the Ottawa, according to my analysis, contain 6°11 parts
of solid matters, consisting of carbonate of lime 2°48, carbonate
of magnesia 0°69, silica 2°06, sulphates and chlorids of potassium
and sodium 0°47, and carbonate of soda 0°41. (Report Geol. Sur-
vey of Canada, 1853-56, 360, and Philos. Mag., [4], xiii, 239.)
Silica, although more abundant in alkaline river waters, which
are chiefly derived from crystalline rocks, is not wanting in wa-
ters containing neutral earthy salts, like the Seine and the Rhone,
of the solid matters of which, according to Deville, it forms re-
spectively 10°0 and 13:0 p. c—(Ann. de Chem. et Phys., [8],
Xxili, 32.)

The waters which rise from the Lower Silurian shales of the
St. Lawrence valley are, as I have elsewhere shown, remarkable
for the predominance of alkaline salts, which sometimes amount
to one-thousandth, or more than one-half the solid matters pres-
ent; these waters are distinguished from the river waters just
mentioned by their comparatively small amount of silica and
earthy carbonates, and by the presence of a notable proportion
of borates.—( Rep, Geol. Survey of Canada, 1852, p. 165,—1853-
56, p. 469, and Proc. Royal Soc., Phil. Mag., [4], xvi, 376.)

e may here refer to the strongly alkaline waters furnished
by the artesian wells of Paris and London as evidences of the

The car
in the decomposition of feldspathic minerals, and shows the con-
tinance in our time of a process whose great activity in former
geologic ages is attested, as I have elsewhere maintained, by vast

the intervention of carbonate of soda has been formed from the
chlorid of calcium of the primeval ocean and deposited as lime-
stone.

65. An indispensable condition for the precipitation of car-
bonate of magnesia is the absence of chlorid of calcium from
the solutions, and this in the presence of excess of sulphates 18
attained simply by evaporating to the point where gypsum be-
comes insoluble. In nearly all river and spring waters bicar-
bonate of lime is present in a large proportion, and is often the
most abundant salt. We have shown that when mingled with
a solution containing sulphate of magnesia, it gives rise by double
devoregteition tp bicarbonate of magnesia. aid sulphate of lime.

3
‘

3

and the formation of Gypsum and Magnesian Rocks. 379

portion of its carbonic acid by evaporation, reacts in a similar
manner with a solution of sulphate of lime (§ 5, § 23). In this
way, an influx of sea-water into the basin from which gypsum,
and perhaps a portion of magnesian carbonate has already been
deposited, would give rise to a precipitate of carbonate of lime,
like the tufaceous limestones, whose occurrence with gypsum
and dolomites has been already noticed. In basins which, like
the salt lagoons of Bessarabia on the shores of the Black
receive occasional additions of sea-water, and deposit every sum~-
mer large amounts of salt, (Bischof, Lehrbuch, ii, 1717,) the influx
of waters containing bicarbonate of lime would give rise to the
formation of beds of gypsum, alternating with dolomites or
Magnesian marls and rock salt.

_ 67. We have already referred to the analyses of certain rivers,
in which the sulphates are more abundant than the chlorids.
Thus, in the Rhine, near Bonn, according to Bischof, we have
for 100,000 parts of the water, 17-08 of solid matters, of which
1:23 are sulphate of lime, 1°81 sulphate of magnesia, with only
1:45 of chlorid and 8°37 of carbonate of lime; in the Danube

hear Vienna, the predominance of sulphates is still more marked.

The waters of the Arve, in the month of February, gave to Tin-
gry, for 100,000 parts, 24°5 of solid matters, of which 65 were
sulphate of lime, 6°2 sulphate of magnesia, and 8°3 carbonate of
lime, with only 1:5 of chlorids. Now, as in river waters there
's always pres

of lime and sulphate of magnesia in solution are mutually de-
composed, these waters, which are to be regarded as solutions of
Sulphate of lime and bicarbonate of magnesia, (§ 18) w by
their evaporation, yield gypsum and m rbonati :
Would appear as portions of a fresh-water formation, like those
of Aix and Auvergne. :

The decomposition of soluble sulphates by bicarbonates of
baryta and strontia, will explain the formation of heavy spar and
Celestine, and their frequent association with gypsiferous roc

68. As to the native sulphur which is often associated both
With epigenic and sedimentary ums, it has doubtless in
very case been formed as Hiexick long since indicated, by the

380 On some Relations of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia,

tion of the gas is often mingled with sedimentar psums.*
(See Bischof, Lehrbuch, ii, 189-185.) This author has suggested
the decomposition of chlorid of magnesium by alkaline or earthy
sulphurets as a source of sulphuretted hydrogen and hydrate of
magnesia, into which sulphuret of magnesium is readily resolved
in the presence of water. (Chem. Geology, i, 16.) If a salt of
calcium were present, this reaction could only take place in the
absence of carbonic acid, for carbonate of magnesia is incom-
patible with chlorid of calcium. The direct reduction and
decomposition of sulphate of magnesia by organic matter and
carbonic acid may, however, yield sulphuretted hydrogen and
carbonate of magnesia, and thus, in certain cases, give rise to
magnesian sediments.

69. In the preceding sections, we have supposed the waters
mingling with the solution of sulphate of magnesia to contain
no other bicarbonate than that of lime, but bicarbonate of soda
is often present in large proportion in natural waters, and the
addition of this salt to sea-water or other solutions containing
chlorids and sulphates of lime and magnesia, will, as we have
seen, (§ 1) separate the lime as bicarbonate, and give rise to
liquids, which, without being concentrated brines as in_the
previous case, will contain sulphate of magnesia, but no lime
salts. A farther portion of bicarbonate of soda will produce
bicarbonate of magnesia, by the evaporation of whose solutions
as before, hydrated carbonate of magnesia would be = oe
mingled with the carbonate of lime which accompanies the aika-
line salt, and in the case of the waters of alkaline springs, the
compounds of iron, manganese, zinc, nickel, lead, copper, arsenic,
chrome, and other metals, which springs of this kind still bring
_ to the surface. In this way the metalliferous character of many
dolomites is explained, as also the frequent association of metals,
such as copper, nickel, cobalt, chrome and titanium, with ser-
pentine, steatite, diallage, olivine, and other magnesian silicates,
which owe their origin to the alteration of magnesian sediments
such as we have described.

* On certain modes of decomposition of the sulphates, see Jacquemin, Comptes — 4

ap ag ae Se dae ake eae

2. ne

and the formation of — and Magnesian Rocks. 381

Albany, are generally such as indicate a shallow sea. To the
intervention of carbonate of soda is I conceive to be referred the
origin of all those dolomites which are not accompanied by
psums, and which make up by far the larger part of the mag-
nesian limestones; nor will the dolomites thus derived be neces-

bonates and sea aera er J am sont to ascribe the formation 0
certain deposits of carbonate of lime which although pera ir
in fossiliferous formations, are unlike most of their associated

are often imbedded silicified shells and corals.* It is not per-
haps easy in all cases to distinguish between such precipitates,
which may assume a concr maori structure, He on this —

tion of any known rock, and Mr. J. peasare at her meeting of the

talline character of the grains composing eo ones in Ohio, as evidence that
oe were chemical deposits. He however fell into the error of supposing that

even quartzose conglomerates have origin, while th

she aid on nd beds in the sax
al See with
d. (Daubrée
e 6 cg i may
here mention the from the green sand of gave to
Sauvage 56-0 p.c phon pernit silica mixed with quartz sand and glauco-

1

. Maschke as ee sl on cs ner eal <i cage ee ame “ees — “the

tion or v t

five par ? this it separates by evapora

peer ay of concentrated saline solutions in a form insoluble in water. (Jour. fiir
kt. Chemie, oS 2338.) In these reactions we have a key to the formation of

aiions deposi

382 On some Reactions of the Salts of Lime and Magnesia.

tion Bischof, Chem. Geology, i. 428,) and those deposits which
like travertines have been formed from subterranean springs..
In neither case however, should they be confounded with the
tufaceous limestones mentioned in § 68.

72. The union of the mingled carbonates of lime and magne-
sia to form dolomite, is attended with contraction, which in case
the sediment was already somewhat consolidated, would give rise
to fissures and cavities in the mass. Should the dolomitic strata
be afterwards exposed to the action of infiltrating carbonated
waters, the excess of carbonate of lime and any calcareous fossils

cavities both in magnesian and in pure limestones, not less than
its deposition in veins and druses, indicates that dolomite 1s
under certain conditions soluble. t ;

e lowest temperature at which hydrous magnesian sedi- .
ments may be transformed into magnesite and dolomite has yet
to be determined. The requisite heat has however doubtless
been attained by the accumulation of overlying sediments, in
virtue of that law which causes the temperature to increase aS
we penetrate the earth’s crust. This increase we may suppose
with Mr. Hopkins to have been much more rapid im former
epochs than at present.—(Geol. Journal, viii, 59, also Phillips
| Manual of Geology, 609.)

Conclusions.

1. The action of solutions of bicarbonate of soda upon sea
water separates in the first place the whole of the lime in the
form of carbonate, and then gives rise to a solution of bicarbon-
ate of magnesia, which by evaporation deposits hydrous mag-
nesian carbonate.

2. The addition of solutions of bicarbonate of lime to sulphate
of soda or sulphate of magnesia gives rise to bicarbonates of
these together with sulphate of lime, which latter may be
thrown down by alcohol. By the evaporation of a solution con-
taining bicarbonate of magnesia and sulphate of lime, either
with or without sea salt, gypsum and hydrous carbonate of mag-
nesia are successively deposited.

3. When the hydrous carbonate of magnesia is heated alone
under pressure it is converted into magnesite, but if carbonate

Dr. Mahla on Gallic and Galihumic Acid. 383

origin in sediments of magnesian carbonate formed oy the evap-
i hese solu-

Arr. XLI—On Gallic and Gallhumic (Metagallic) acid; by Dr.
F, Maw, Ph.D., Chicago.

It is mentioned among the reactions of gallic acid in almost
every handbook of chemistry, that its solution produces a deep
bluish-black color with a solution of the salts of the sesquioxyd
of iron, which disappears, when the solution is heated. <As I

ave nowhere found an explanation of this fact, I have tried to
investigate it by some experiments. : ioe

When the solutions of the sesquioxyd of iron and gallic acid
are used in a diluted state, the resulting mixture appears only
slightly colored, but if they are concentrated, it assumes after
being heated to ebullition, a dark brown tint, and then causes
black spots on the skin, which can be washed away only with
the greatest difficulty. Such a solution might perhaps be used

vantageously as a hair dye. 3 :

If the iron-solution was not added in too large proportion,
liquid ammonia no longer precipitates hydrated sesquioxyd of
iron, but the proto-sesquioxyd (black oxyd). A reduction
place therefore, the oxygen transforming some of the carbon of
the gallic acid into carbonic acid, which is freely evolved during
the ebullition.

soda was added in 2 ——
and the black precipitate separated by filtration. A portion
the filtered dark ‘Siow liquor, after being exactly saturated with
hydrochloric acid, deposited a voluminous black precipitate,
which if dried, formed a black shining mass but when freshly

384 Dr. Mahla on Gallic and Gallhumic Acid.

precipitated, was easily redissolved by free muriatic acid. Such
a solution, containing but little free muriatic acid, produced
black insoluble precipitates with limewater, with the different
salts of lime and baryta, with sulphate of zinc and sulphate of
copper. Another portion of the filtered liquor super-saturated
with acetic acid, caused precipitates of a black color in solutions
of acetate of lead and nitrate of silver. From the silver pre-
cipitate, metallic silver was soon separated.

The lead precipitate was carefully washed with distilled water,
and after being dried in an air-bath at a temperature not ex-
ceeding 200° F. (94° C.) for ten hours, it was heated over a spirit
lamp, until the organic matter was perfectly destroyed. The
residue, consisting of a mixture of oxyd of lead and metallic
lead, was treated with acetic acid, and from it the whole quan-
tity of oxyd of lead was calculated. )

1-052 gram. gave 0°662 of the mixture of PbO+Pb, which
left after being treated with acetic acid 0-037 metallic lead, a

uantity corresponding to 0-041 oxyd of lead. The acetic acid
extracted 0625 oxyd of lead, which quantity added to the above
found 0-041 gives 0°666. This is equal to 63°30 per cent.

Gallhumic (metagallic) acid, which was detected by Pelouze in
the residue of distillation, when gallic acid was suddenly heated
to 480° F. (249° C.) shows the same reactions, and its lead salt,
2PbO, C'*H20%, contains 63-04 per cent of the oxyd of lead.
No doubt can therefore exist about the identity of Pelouze’s acid
and my product. Two equivalents of gallic acid are divide
exactly into one equiv. of gallhumic, two equiv. of carbonic acid,
and three equiv. of water:

C1 2H3203
2 4
cvtore= —

GraHsore

C into gall
stances on gallic acid and the formation of the new product, 1s
explained by eee acid to be only an intermediate
product, the final res t being carbonic acid and water.

fe ee

i a

Great Aurora of 1859. 385

Arr. XLIL—The Great Auroral Exhibition of August 28th to
September 4th, 1859. ©

It appears from our own correspondence, and from the daily.
Journals, that the late display of the Aurora was witnessed from
Cuba and Jamaica on the south, to an unknown distance beyond

386 Prof. Loomis on the Aurora of 1859.

Ind.; at Springhill, Ala.; at Jefferson Co., Miss.; at Havana,
Cuba; and at San Francisco, California. All but one of these
having been communicated to this Journal directly from their
authors.

1. Observations made at Lewiston, Maine, lat. 44° 5’ N., long.
70° 15’ W.; by Prof. Er1as Loomis.

Sunday, the 28th of August, I passed at Lewiston, in the state
of Maine. The day was throughout unusually cold and fm
windy. In the evening, the wind was less violent, but still fres
from the northwest, and so continued until midnight. At 10
P. M, the thermometer stood at 58° F. and the next morning at
5 o'clock it stood at 50° F.

At 8 20™ in the evening I first noticed some remarkable au-
roral indications. Long brushes of pale white light were shoot-
ing up from the west and also from the east, and were directed
towards a point considerably south of the zenith; while in the
northwest was a large mass of light tinged with a decided
rosy hue.

At 8 35m p.m. the light in the east and northeast had also

At 81 45m p.M. in nearly every part of the heavens the light
had become more intense, and the streamers were continually

egrees. :
At 9 P.M. the light had broken through nearly the entire
dark bank in the north, so that there remained only a portion of
this bank of very irregular shape, and its average height did

named, but occas little to the north of that central pot.
_ At 95 5™ the illumination of the southern half of the heavens
was much greater than that of the northern; but at 9* 10™ the
illumination of the southern half had sensibly declined and

oe eh aay ia < c p
i eal ia ae i at et ,,

Prof. Loomis on the Aurora of 1859. 387

— bank me pps on the southern horizon had risen to a height
0 18°.

At gh 18™ the point of convergence of the streamers w
nearly equidistant from the stars above named, but somewhat
nearer to « Cygni

At gh 23m thie ‘dark segment in the south was quite regular,
and not more than ten degrees in Aerts and the bright border
was very strongly illumined; while the dark segment in the
north had almost entirely Rieapeanit and there was but little
light in the northern portion of the heavens, nearer the north
horizon than about forty degrees.

At 98 33m a narrow beam of white light shot up from the
west and another similar beam shot up from the east, which met
at the magnetic zenith, forming a pretty well defined bow, and
being nearly half of a great circle of the sphere. Throughout
the entire portion of the heavens north of this arc, there was
scarcely any trace of auroral light; while in the south the dark
Segment was complete, and the diffuse illumination above it —
very ser de that is, the a conditions of the aurora were e

rising more than 40° above the southern hitiogn = it seemed
as if the light was entirely disappearing, passing away towards
the south, when very suddenly it increased in a ae and
rose higher in the heavens. ay it became —_ a

gnt. Soon they covered the entire heavens, see down
shank to the eters) horizon. The hght in many places, aes
larly in the south, at an elevation of about 45°, me 0
brilliant crimson, and then commenced a succession of fs
like it a light rolling up towards the magnetic zenith.

Atl s point of oye ence of the streamers was
about idist rom « Delphini and « Cygni and about three de-
grees east of the hee joining tices two A soa The flashes still
continued, but the illumination was less inten

At 10h ‘10m P.M. the light had become very ge and diffuse,
is aera in the north.

on dae Pp. M. almost the entire heavens appeared of that
auil’ atte color which usually characterizes the dark segment
near the horizon; but at 10! 19™ the whole heavens brightened
up again with diffuse of straw-colored light, all inclin-
ing towards the magnetic zenith.

388 Prof. Kingston on the Aurora of 1859.

At 10h 24m p.m. the point of convergence of the streamers
was oT equidistant from een a Cygni and Kia Pegast.

At 10 30m p, e corona was very perfect, but the light
was chiefly of a straw color, and much paler than it had been
about ten o’cloc

At 104 45m p,m, irregular streamers of pale light covered the
entire heavens with the a ate of a segment rising about
thirty degrees above the southern

Soon after 11 o'clock I retired, tak slept little during the night.
The light of the sore continued mee day-light, and made my
room nearly as light as a full moon would have done; and I
frequently rose to Sodas the phenomenon a my window,
which had a free northern exp

At 12 o’clock Gaidnight) ie. aphole northern half of the
heavens was covered with streamers of a diffuse yellow light,
and whose borders were not sharply defined.

Aug. 29th at 2 A.M. the whole sky was covered with a hazi-

ess, while a number of light clouds of considerable extent were
Bt and the whole was lighted up as by a full moon shining
through them.

t 5 A. M. the sky seemed unusually clear with the exception
of a few light clouds, mostly cirro-stratus, scattered irregularly
over the heavens; but near the north horizon was a collection
of cirro-stratus clouds forming together a bank rising to an ele-
vation of about eight degrees, and similar to the dark segment
observed last evening.

I subsequently ascertained that on the evening of Aug. 28th,
snow and sleet were falling upon the summit of Mount Wash-
mero (the highest of the White Mountains in New Hampshire),

this snow remained unmelted for several days.

2. Observations at Toronto, Canada West, lat. 48° 39’ 35” N.,
a 79° 21’ 30” W.; by Prof. G. P. Krvasrox, Director of
the Magnetic Observatory. (In a letter to the Editors).

Magnetic Observatory, Toronto, Canada, Sept. 24, 1859.

Dear Sirs:—According to the promise conveyed to you in my
note of yesterday I send you some facts relating to the Aurora —
of 28th August and following days. These facts you will notice
are not given in a form suitable for publication, but must be con-
sidered only as materials for you to work up in the manner best
adapted for your purpose.*

® Prof. Ki é letter was accompanied by a of his magnetic uae
the two days named—Sept. 2d and 3r ena Dy cony of or every iveminutes,
and for a part of the time every two minutes during the hours of observation. These
cords are extremely in ing and will undoubtedly be presented in full in the
records of the Observatory. ‘We haye condensed from them the brief table oe

Prof. Kingston on the Aurora of 1859. 389

In the magnetical observations the apres of the instruments
ith ard readings proper

when it is considered that according to the rule mig ie by
e decli-

the morning of Sept. 2, the instruments occasionally gave evi-
dence of a disturbed condition of the magnetic elements but not
to such an extent as to lead to aoe systematic reading of them
excepting at the regular hours of observation. The Aurora first
appeared about 7: 40 P. M. of Sunday Aug. 28. From which time
through the whole night the whole sky was covered with a brilliant
mass of streamers, patches and luminous bands, which rose from
all points of the horizon, the predominant color being yellow
intermixed with patches of crimson.

At 81 10™ along the south horizon was seen a low bank of
dark haze similar to that which is common on like occasions in
the north horizon, and from which streamers occasionally issued
extending towards the zenith and forming with streamers that
converged from other points a corona about 16° south of the
zenith.

from N.W. to S.S.E., with an intermixture of crimson patches.
On the whole the aurora of Aug. 28 seems to have been char-

ug. 30—Sky overcast.
Aug. 31—Clear and unclouded but no aurora recorded.
Sept. 1—Overcast till near midnight. When the sky cleared
auroral light was seen accompa iec by streamers. At [2h 30m
a fine corona was formed round a point 28° S. of the zenith.
Sept. 2—Generally overcast with auroral light occasionally
visible through the clouds. :

390 Prof. Kingston on the Aurora of 1859.

Sept. 3—Aurora visible from sunset consisting of streamers
with the formation occasionally of im

Sept. 4—Auroral light with coeusiaal streamers.

Sept. 5—Unclouded, faint auroral light.

Magnetic Disturbance at Toronto, 2nd and 3rd gah 1859. Table
giving the variation of the Declination, Inclination, Horizontal and
Vertical Forces, from the respective normal values.

The variations of the declination and inclination are expressed in
minutes of arc, and those of the horizontal and vertical forces in Parts of
the horizontal and vertical et respectively,

enotes a westerly deviation or increase of westerly declination and
a docreias of dip and of force.

Gottin- ee “ Vv “=< soa. | Inclina-| HOt | Vertical
ea — _ zens | “pore ls pono ahs 0 tion. Force Forces. |
D. H. M. Sf 8 wh =
2°00 77) —-0191 1411- 28) 0024] 0039
i1-3i- 270} °0016 40
49\—~ 4°¢
33°3\- 14:4; °0130
113\- 9°6| ‘0095| ‘0047
— g7/- 10°8| ‘0118
66/- 1° 0044} "0045
+ 18° 0268| “0089

Prof. Lyman on the Aurora of 1859. 391

8. Observations at New Haven (lat. 41° 18’ 27"), by Prof. 0. S.
ge YMAN of Yale College.

sis above the northern horizon. At 745m this i nee
the zenith ; at 7h 55™ it had passed 25° or 30° further south, and
the marginal portion formed for a few minutes, an irregular belt or
zone made up of evanescent fragments of arches, intermingled with
streaks and patches of auroral light. No distinct bow, however, was
at any time formed. At 8°15™ this portion had nearly vanis

and the southern edge was only 3 or 4 degrees below alpha Lyra,
then near the meridian. Eight minutes later the edge touched
alpha Aquile and in three minutes more was about 10° south of
it. This southern margin was at times quite definite, and as it
moved gragually towards the south the following notes were
made of it at the time—the altitudes (near the meridian) being
measured with a sia quadrant, and probably in error less
than half a degree

At 8h 27m alt. of edge 28°
9 20° 30’, — and regularly arched.
15, bri

15 45, brie broad, “ise well defined.
14 0, at star Epsilon S agittarii.

14 0, bright, and well defined.

12 30, bright, and very well defined.

~_
1 =T

30 308 “

—
bo
S
oO
ae”
£
4
=
pe
ch
oO

10 40, nearly the minimum alt.
12 45, receding, 30’ or 40’ below star # Sag.
10 30, second arch, first 4° or 5° above.
ite Hedin: 12 30, bot edge well defined—at star ¢.
1g. ie 2 30, edge at same star.
At this time a small bright horpaneel § cloud of light some 2°
wide and 5° or 6° in length, and pointed at each end, formed

oo
ns
eo
cow]
SS FRR RP

lv slike sine slo ole oe sine ole ole ole sine sie 2)
he ow no
nC) aI

re
Oo Oo
bad bad

ro

rapidly, near the meridian, in the open sky just below the arch

yes “altita de of 9° 50’, and ‘oor Be io F tke west parallel
to the ao through .a distance of 15 ee re Ye to
view behind t trees, s. about a minute, Ye et ate, after its forma-

tion, Ths cloud appears to to have been crentieat with one seen
by Pro A oe C. Twining at West Point.

The s silon Sagiltarit, referred to above, is found by
awneutenes to have had an altitude at gh 33™ of 13° va wan
then 45™ past the meridian. Its altitude at 8 50™ was 12° 58’.
When on the meridian at 75 48™ it was 14° 18’.

-

‘several times no’

392 Prof. Lyman on the Aurora of 1859.

At 85 52™, arch at the south growing fainter and breaking up. - |

Se "9 few minutes that quarter of the sky was nearly free from
ight.

At 8:54 an imperfect corona formed at an altitude of 69°.
At 8:56 a better one with bright wisp at its center, alt. 72°.
At 8:583, corona 724° apparently in vertical plane cutting
alpha Aquile. (Azimuth of the star then, by calculation, 8°
22' EK.) The corona at these times not very definitely formed.

At 94 5m a bright mass of light noticed in the east, irregular,
expanding, and stretching obliquely upwards and towards the
south. At 910™ this was met by a similar irregular mass of light
stretching around simultaneously from the west, forming an 1m-
perfect band or arch, with very little light below it, its lower
edge at this time having an altitude of 27° on the meridian. At
9h 12™ its altitude was 20° 80’, at 9b 23m, 16° 15’, and at 9" 31,
16°, soon after which it faded. While this second curtain was
shutting down in the south, it was noticed that the light in the
north was rising gradually. At 9% 26™ 30s its lower edge passed
Polaris, and three minutes later was: at an altitude of 62°,
leaving the sky below nearly free from auroral light. At the

general with the direction of the dipping needle, its altitude was

se ! g

eae, The coronal point, however, was seldom or never suil-

ciently d i

purpose. In addition to the notes of the coronas before 9 o’cloc

given above, the following were also made at the time. :

At 9h 15m 30s altitude of C. 73°, very definite. — . ee
: bright streak or cloud above C. (alt, 76°) lasted 13".

i et eR a ae i oe e ‘ .
Ee Re eet Se Soe TOE Te ele ce CaN ae eg aE on ESR tee Sheet Sota aes eee hh ale ba . i i ai ae ee = oe . .
Se tere ais mers PENSAR TES ORE eS EPMO oc eT a ROEM TO HG eR Es ET aR ere EE PSE Cat Oe SS aA NE PT AEE NE ER ee ON Oe Lee TE eee Te eT eT Re

efinite to make the observations of much Mee for 6 4

Prof. Lyman on the Aurora of 1859. 393

At 9h 22m alt. 73°, fine corona, long streamers.
9 24 30% “ 68° 30’, bright wisp near corona. C. not definite.

9 26 30 “ 72 15, good corona.

9 28 “ 43 15,

9 30 40 “ 73 0, coronal cloud with rays from it.

9 33 “ 73 40, definite, dark center of grand corona.

9 34 30 “ 74 30, very fine and definite.

9 36 30 “ 75 15, C. not definite, colored streamers, splendid

canopy.

38 “ 72 465, tints brilliant.

40 “74 0, C. definite, bright red, whole display mag-
nificent.

~T
wo

49 45, display much less brilliant. —-
52 to 58, brilliant flashes and pulsations, chiefly towards corona.

9

9

9 41 30 “ 74 0, splendid.
9

9 . .

9 53 10, ashooting star appeared about 15° above Polaris, moving

rapidly towards the west over an arc of 15° or 20°.
9 58 Auroral light diffused, faint—colored flashes.
10 0 very little except in north.

Flashes and pulsations continued with varying brilliancy until

er 11 o’clock, and according to the testimony of o
the display continued through the night, at times with much
splendor.

The mean of the above altitudes of the corona is about 78° 20’.
The dip at New Haven is about 73° 50’.

A similar display of rosy streamers and waving light, though

ili pt r

7

served about daybreak by Prof. Forrest Shepherd, whose atten-
tion was particularly attracted by the rapid flashes and pulsations
overhead, which seemed to him to indicate a very low elevation
of the phenomena above the earth.

The display was continued on the evening of the same day,
being most brilliant between 9 and 10 o’clock when the whole
northern heavens to the zenith, and often beyond, was filled with
upward flashes and pulsations here and there, chiefly of whitish
light, and with but few streamers. | i.

n Sunday evening Sept. 4th, there were indications of a
bright Aurora, though a clouded sky prevented it being
particularly observe :

Auroral indications were also noticed on some other evenings
of the preceding week. ;

Be ey no magnetic observations were made at New
ven. |

_ The time piece used in noting the phenomena of the 28th was

compared the same evening with the astronomical clock of the

writer's observatory, and found to be only 5 seconds fast of

. H. mean time.

SECOND SERIES, Vor. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1659.

50

394 Prof, Twining on the Aurora of 1859.

4, Observations of Prof. ALEXANDER C. TWINING on the Aurora
of Aug. 28th, 1859, made at West Point, New York.

it is believed, making the local time 7! 19™). In about ten min-
utes the southern boundary moved to Alpha Aquilae, and the
rosy light had extended itself visibly over to the west, and
streamers were seen in the northeast. Very soon the northern
sky became variegated nearly up to the zenith with advancing
bands and flakes of yellowish and reddish cloud with streamers
intermixed. At a quarter before eight o’clock, by estimation of
the true local time, the streamers in the north were numerous;
and by careful observation they were perceived universally to
move towards the west.

_ At 84 35™ (by the watch) I looked again. A corona was then
formed, and the auroral clouds and streamers were colored with

b
if improved, will determine the height of that auroral clou
with an unparalled certainty and accuracy. There was also dur-
ing this period another phenomenon equally remarkable and,
if “tel observed in widely different latitudes, equally
Ten

valuable.

or fifteen minutes before nine o’clock a bright j

Prof. Twining on the Aurora of 1859. 395

bright contiguous stars in the end of the ate s tail,—show-
ing an altitude, at the cloud’s middle line, of n two min-

Sold Ieayinie a far less dense and bright accumulation of mine
ioe ian all that quarter.

moving westward was stri ee repeated. The aieud eet baweses
in ae instance was longer and less definite in sha se

m ten o'clock to 12h 15™ T did not observe. "At this last
ititiionsa time the auroral twilight shone Wie tie in the

T observed again from 2° 45" to 3". The pare and dome
were more regularly and completely formed than previously at ten
o'clock, and nae e than I aie seen them in either of oe fein

motion have not been so numerous as at hae At the spot

rab? ee we 2

sp 3 wing streamer be taken as the visible path of

bes hs eaten he lowing rem or ade so, to the great thermal cur-

= of — earth, Such 8m a normal current, in conformity with known laws, will ex-
influence of the th

hak ane upon ie fees thus ae aioe magnetic intensity at the earth’s surface, and,

*

396 Prof. Kirkwood on the Aurora of 1859.

observed the motion was estimated as being fully 20° per min-
ute. The ever varying wisps of cloud at the corona, and the
southern streamers were also moving to the east. I left the dis-
play in full action without observing farther.

The repetition which took place Sept. 3d, ene on a vastly
diminished scale of grandeur, I observed about 0 e hour,—sa
from 94 to 105 p.m. It was remarkable for the charaies of the
auroral waves, which passed upward, ees engge gone
different definite spaces in their path. The mo of thes
waves was far more moderate than I have ever sane reunarigas
Tn this instance I could not a it to exceed forty-five de-
grees of arc in a second of time. The movement was every-
where distinctly upward; but the ‘det&rmination of arcual or an-

ar motion in this phenomenon, i is excessively difficult and in-
exact.

5. Two letters from Prof. Daniel Kirkwood, Bloomington, Ind.
[ First letter.]
Aug. 29th, 1859.
TO THE EDITORS, &c.

Genilemen :—The most extraordinary display of the Aurora
Borealis I have ever witnessed was seen from this place last
night. It was observed immediately after the close of twilight,
and, in the course of an hour, the whole northern horizon from
east, to west was illuminated. The phenomenon continued from

stars Alioth, Micab and where it to orm of
streamers, ie wide a point somewhat south of the
zenith. At the same time an arch of light appeared, havin

one extremity in the horizon beneath, or rather westward of,

almost of necessity the declination and dip; which seem to be merely resultants of
all the electro-dynamic actions upon the needle, subsisting at the time. Under the

above hypothesis, therefore, every development of streamers must ordinarily concur
Pe hae other phenomena, viz., a lateral movement of the streamers, a of

cial ages Sapte Be
gratuitous. It is only ite that the medium, or substance through or along
which the current passes, shall be eS of illumination 0 — hare oe so
‘ain phenomena however indicate that t trans uroral vapor lat-
erally with itself. The importance of Of this clas bf abonrations to questans Fel?
ting to the cause of the aurora, as well as to the direction of currents, is obvious.

Prof. Kirkwood on the Aurora of 1859. 397

these red agin the other in the southeast; the zenith dis-
tance of its summit being about 40°, and its outer edge just
reaching Arcturus.

eae a splendid corona was formed, towards which
the streamers moved in beautiful undulations. aa Sosa re-
markable feature in the phenomenon, how extent ;
not only the entire northern part of the visible Printer was
illuminated, but the greater portion also of the southern.

I have just learned that during the night some lines of the
magnetic telegraph were so much isturbed as to stop communi-
cation between different points. ;

[Second letter. |
Bloomington, Indiana, Sept. 9th, 1859.
TO THE EDITORS, &c.

Gentlemen :—Since the date of my hasty note of the 29th ult.,
we have had several cg displays of the Aurora. Not having
witnessed them myself, however, I have collected from others
the following facts in regard to them: the first—a magnificent
one—was seen by many of our citizens on the night of Sep-
tember Ist. It was noticed in the north about 11 o'clock, and

gradually increased in brilliancy and extent until the whole visi-
ble heavens were illuminated ; the light at times being such that
ordinary print could be read without much difficulty. At 1

way between the zenith and horizon. e Stark County (IIlL.)

News thus describes the phenomenon :—

“On yoxterdng fase fal (Sept. Ist) between one and two o'clock, the
whole heavens were aglow with deep red light, which prensntey every

er of beautiful aspect imaginable. en we ooked out, it
| if two brilliant suns had just set, one in the east and one in
the sil and the sky, at either point was painted in broad streams of

crimson and gold. This lasted but a moment, then a deep oer over-
Spread the whole sky, brighter at some points than others, but Pang 2
e light was so strong at times, that we could see to read fine
ease, and gave to buildings and - ae a dim fae. like freight
An are of some 20° was formed o e southern pute the inside of
which presented a silvery appeal ‘ike the edge of a cloud brightened
by the moon, and from this, broad streams of a lilac color would flash
up toward the zenith abd abruptly ad

The displ = hts of the 1st and 2nd, are described
by the fadiasmpatin oli m et of the 3rd inst., as follows :—

“ Another Aurora.— Y est — mornin (Se pt. 1) fi rom midnight till
day another Aurora, more brilliant than the first, in this locality at least,

398 Prof. Cornette on the Aurora of 1859.

was witnessed by those who had the good luck to be up at that time.
At half past 11 o’clock it was quite brilliant, as a low arch of pure white
light in the north, with but few radiations of colored light, and none that
rose very high. It was amy. luminous, we could see as plainly as by

point of junction a flood of red light poured out over the sky running
down to the horizon on all sides, south as well as north, and the whole
earth colored under its seca but ghastly crimson. Many who saw it
say it was far more brilliant than the one of Sunday night, and it cer-
tainly was much more inde though less marked by the darting rays
and wonderful agrge that made the first so splendid. It was seen at
Cincinnati, and all over the Union, we suppose, as the first one was.
ant frequeney and ielcade of Auroras at this season we never saw or

“ Still another.—Another very beautiful Aurora Borealis was seen last
night (Sept. 2) about half past — o'clock. At that time it was con-
ned to the north entirely. The rays shot up in very distinct cones or
peaks of light, and beautifally variegated in color.

On Monday the 5th, about 2 o’clock in the morning, the phe-
nomenon was witnessed for the fourth time within a week.
Savoral beautiful streamers shot up from the palm towards
the pea The light, however, was of short
It may be proper to remark that last pies the Sth, about
9 delet. notwithstanding the bright moonlight, indications of
the Aurora were again discoverable.

6. On the Meteorological and Magnetic Phenomena accompanying
the Aurora Borealis of Aug. 28th, 1859, as observed at Springhill
(near Mobile), Alabama; by Pro if, A. Corn RNETTE, 8. J.

T have thought that the meteoric conditions which preceded,
accompanied and followed the Aurora Borealis of August 28th
would be read with interest by all who witnessed that phenome-
non on this memorable occasion. I copy from my daily journal
without translating the French metrical numbers which I have
for many years em

Tadd some ho cifly ot observations upon the Por erbeyins © of the
magnetic current after the phenomen on, as well also as e ob-
servations on the subject at large.*

* In conformity with our design to at present only facts, PE OE
Cpnetie 5 ingenious speculations to eth np

Prof. Cornette on the Aurora of 1859. 399

Meteorological Observations at Springhill, lat. 30° 41’ N. Elevation 46
metres. (In French metrical and thermometrical standards.) _

» 3, |Attached} Detached Wet bulb ‘ T
1869) eet age eee fines ihcreie | theratek. | Absorption. lwells |
z
4h | 9h | 12% | 3% | Qe [Min/Max] 6 | 2 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 9 [Iner|Exvr| 3
Ang. ee ies PS mm.| mm.
27 yeni, 760°7)|759°6 yt 279! 30° es 24-4191 8123-0122 60}...
28 | 59-1 7| 60-4) 59-0) 59-Cf 28 | 30 [22-7 - 30°7/26°0121°8/25°0/23°8) 15) 6°0 )3-°0, 21-1
29 | 59-2] 59°9| 59-8] 57:8] 58°51 27 | 28 24°2.26 *4/24°3122°0/23 0/230) 1-0} 4-0 [25
30 |758°5| 58°61... .| 57-2) 58°C] 27 | 29 921-2266 22-8}19-2/22-1/20-7] 12) 5-0}....121-1
Cog! VIND. CLoups. é
Morning. Evening,|Night |Morning.| Evening. Night. |Morning [Evening.| Night. | mm.
Rag ee eee ee me
Me Oe oF tb Cc 8 8 8 0 0 0
2 |C N N C..Lon. n \n-SN-| 0 0 R¥0 |} 00
5 ‘
29 INWsNW| NW |NW/ N: | N-n,| 2; | pp | 0 | 0 | 08
30 N | N | Clan:] 2, 8. 0 0 0 | 00
Explanation of the notat
1st. For the winds. oo N2 north wind of the ner order, 5 bein

gale.
i woth overa esate wind, or opposite winds as 5 » Nedne by clouds.

2d. For the face of the ai se serene, N cloudy. », slight cirrus clouds,
ni mg clouds. N~ slight stratus clouds.

3d. For rain storms.—p rain, R® heat lightning to the north,
Magnetic Declination (relative diurnal).
ts
1859, 4h 6h Or 12h | 3h 64 On
FI :
Aug. 27 | 23/, 2075) 20.02. yn SRB Se, 26’, 40-5 | 23', 29'S | 22/, 10-0
/ : 34" B65] oo... Ty BOO J ss vs 29” 50-0 | 41” 59-0 | 667, 548
1 29 | 61', 47"5 | 47", 6-0 14°90 40, 0-5. | 87° 34°-0 | 30’, 50-0 | 87", 34”-0
j 80: 88, ef ee: 2 MOY EET: 5 5901... 31, 70
In the night of August 28, after the Aurora Borealis.
Hours. | Decl’n. |Barom Therm [Psych Hours. Declin’a. Barom, | Therm. |Psych’t) Sky.
ae oe , ? ’ Lad regen
9 10 | 82 52-0] 759-0) ....)....] 9 37 58 200) bach «ate ia
15 | 76 «ses | DOB] 28 50 | 64 21:0 ae ae Obs
20 | 71 22-0] 759-1} ....]....910 0 | 65 390 Pee ea
25 158 39°51..../....].,..4 10 10° | 61 475 Td 250 1; 8
M100 175)... nd cect Sa Del BL Seo = 5 eos
9 34 155 2501.0... oli) Ga a] eee 22°2| N:

Tn ris to a fall Slandca of aa tables it would be
requisite to know also the whole course, absolute and relative,
of the various mgeciricanag henomena. This contd be too long
an undertaking, although the means areat command, But from
the observations of the four days mentioned, we are able to draw
the following conclusions :

oe: ree ne

in the evening, ve it falls = ak in the ue
: = I have scarcely found a single

400 Prof. Cornette on the Aurora of 1859.

exception to this law between the equator and Mexico, and the
exceptions are very rare at Springhill. Such an exception hap-
— on the night of the Aurora Borealis (Aug. 28) when the
arometer remained stationary from three to nine, and rose after
nine when it should have fallen.
2d. The temperature féll considerably but not until the next
day (29th) under a northwest wind, which had not blown for a
long time, and which is ordinarily cold. ,
3d. The tension of watery vapor in the air was slightly modi-
fied. The mean degree of saturation on the 27th and 28th was
21°-35, tension 18°‘7™m; 29th and 80th was 22°40, tension 19°9.
The 28th at 9 in the evening during the phenomena 22°°26, ten-
sion 19-7; 28th at 10 in the evening after the phenomena 23°47,

q
stricted. In high latitudes it is more disturbed and the ampli-
tude larger. Three years observations in 4°, 14°, and 19° north
latitude, leaving me no doubt upon the accuracy of these maxi
ma minima. In these latitudes this daily march was dis-
turbed only during earthquakes, a ed rmal
order after the quaking. At Springhill (where I have followed

Prof. Cornette on the Aurora of 1859. 401

(Aug.) the normal course of diurnal declination was scarcely
recognizable and consequently I have followed it with the more
interest. This disordered movement reached its maximum of

29th, and last evening (September Ist) the declination had grad-
ually diminished.

was there much diffused purple light. The same cause had pro-
duced the same effect, since that moment, (which does not coin-

The purple light extended from the north on ct night of

conclusion that the opposed aerial movement reigned simultane-
ously in the atmosphere and developed in the air electric tension,

_- that a calm followed the struggle, and that the Aurora Borealis

happened during a calm, they would have made a glorious con-
uest fi i
: But pas ‘See remain yet to be observed. No Aurora Bo-
realis appeared to me in the equinoctial regions as far as lat.
20° from 1847 to 1857. The first which I saw—at Troy, N. Y.,
SECOND SERIES, Voz. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.
51

402 Observations at Jefferson Co., Miss., on the Aurora of 1859. °

July 25th, 1857—took place after a rain storm and above a low
characteristic cloud during a calm which followed a contest be-
tween a south and southeast wind. It was less brilliant than
that of August 28th.

The Aurora of August 28th took place in a calm after a
struggle between two opposite winds, and that of to-day took
place in the calm after a day in which the north wind prevailed
in the morning and the south in the evening, but the clouds
were immovable and induced the belief that the south wind was
low, and that the north wind had ceased.

The Aurora Borealis of the 28th appears to authorize the infer-
ence that the light diverged from the magnetic pole, or that it was
produced by a radiation of the polar magnetism from the terres-
trial magnet. The most brilliant rays which escaped, emanated
rapidly from a center below the horizon and that center was
in the direction of the magnetic pole. A simple plumb line
showed that the rays which reached Polaris were not perpen-
dicular beneath that star but were inclined to the east some

eTees,

Now the magnetic pole at Springhill is at 6° 28’ east, (mean
from several observations). The other inclined rays might have
served to determine the place of this center had time permitte
my arranging an instrument for taking their sine.* 3

_The low clouds frequently characteristic of the Aurora Borealis
did not appear with those of last night. On the 28th there
was an expanded and regular stratus in the horizon even to the
height of about 8°, with heat lightning from time to time from
the northwest.

7. Observations at Jefferson Co., Miss. (about lat. 31° 50’, lon. 91°),
by an anonymous correspondent—published September 9th in
the Port Gibson Reveille.

The Aurora Borealis of Sept. 1, 1859.—My attention was attrac-
ted at 11 o’clock last night, (Sept. Ist) to this rare but beautiful
celestial phenomenon.

A belt of white light tinged with pink shot up from the north-
ern horizon to the height of twenty or twenty-five degrees an
extended east and west nearly the same elevation. Looking to
those points I noticed the color deepening until about N.E. and
N.W. it attained a bright deep scarlet red, like deeply tinged
clouds of our dry-weather sunsets. It shot up in irre col-

2.

umns arising in places almost to the zenith and spreading out fan ~

shaped and paling as itrose. The white light was stationary eX
cept apparently sinking lower or rising higher. The colored

* Tt was equally impossible to prove that the ra: change their direction at the

q

M. Poey on the Aurora of 1859. 403

portions evolved, rolled, curled, and changed place and color,
like the vapors climbing a mountain side. There was a ve

light surface breeze from the N.N.E. but the tendency of the me-
teor was toS.S.E. At half-past twelve, it embraced almost the
entire northern hemisphere west, and at the height of from 45

ning longitudinally from end to end. It presented every color of

or candle, vibrat
No sound was heard.
At 1 o’clock A. M., the white light under and to the left of the
polar star was as bright as twilight half an hour before sunrise
of a fair morning and extended almost to the zenith. I cou
see every object in the rooms—the hands of a clock and watch—
out of doors the earth had a reddish glare, and every thing was
as visible as at half moon, but more distinct as no shadows were

ng and flickering as though disturbed by wind.
ard

during the two and a half hours I was up, similar to those of the
great meteoric shower of November 13th, 1833, and such as may
be seen any fair night between the 10th of August and Ist of
December.

We witnessed an Aurora the early part of October 1851, —e
and brilliant for this latitude, but in no ways comparable to the

.

one of last night. The succeeding winter was long and unusually
cold. : _ SENEX, SR.
Jefferson Co., Miss., Sept. 2d, 1859. ae ii
8. Description of two magnificent Aurore Boreales observed at Ha-
vana, Cuba. “ln a letter from M. Awpreas Pory, Director =
the Physio-Meteorological Observatory at Havana, Sept. 8th,
to the Rditors.) os
‘The a pearance of the Aurora Borealis in the twenty-third de-
of none latitude is an event so rare that it naturally pro-
pa fear in the common mind, and arrests the attention of men
science. The records and traditions of Cuba show but few
examples of the occurrence of this phenomenon. The /irst is

-

404 M. Poey on the Aurora of 1859.

said to have been seen on the 13th of November, 1784; the sec-

ond upon the 14th of November, 1789; the third in 1833 (Nov. 2);

the fourth on the 17th of November, 1848 ; and finally the ji/th
and sixth now recorde

First aurora on the night of Aug. 28th-29th, 1859.—The first
appearance of a reddish gleam was seen at 5 minutes past 9 in
the evening, which rapidly rose exactly in the north and ex-
tended over the space embraced between the N.H. and N.W.,
reaching the height of Polaris about ‘28°. Some persons, it is
said, saw it as early as 88 45™. Its color grew brighter until
gh 30m, but from this time it faded to its total disappearance
at 105, A slightly luminous and whitish tint afterwards covered
this part of the sky. But at 1 o'clock it reappeared, reaching
again to Polaris. “tt et its maximum brilliancy at 4" to 4p
10™—its base being of a beautiful carmine red, from which rose
divergent rays of a variable diameter, some fire- colored, others
whitish, and rising to the antes the reddish tint covering a
space o: of 180° from N.E. to N.W. At 4" 20 the aurora disap-
peared entirely.

Second Aurora on the night of the 1st-2d of September —This sec-
ond — BARDS been incomparably more brilliant, more ex-
tend ore permanent than the first, it seems best to no-
tice the rota of its development with care, as points of com-
parison with observations in higher latitudes. This aurora was
not Wiilble before 12" 30™, and from that moment to 5" A. M.
followed all its changes. From 12 80™ to 12" 45™ it spread

the extreme west. From to 1 r the white rays became
extinct a portion of the east eae of a beautiful fire-r A
part of the west became also more flaming, and the summit of

the entrance of the fort. wt this prillianey in-
creased and rose above the horizon its tints passed into light
blue, involving the red eels at the northeast, and presently
it began to fade out. The upper red segment rose considerably
above Polaris. The Tiacanen faded towards the northwest
and embraced the whole of the auroral base; afterwards it rose
~ Soothe to sa height of 12°. White rays with red and blue were
the west, which dilated longitudinall y oscilla-
ted cally. were extinguished and resumed their brilliancy
again by turns. The intensity of the illumination increa
‘towards the ‘ast and the red segment tow: west _be-
came more brilliant and more extended, until at the E.N.E. it

F

M. Poey on the Aurora of 1859. 405

Aurora now became very red with rays to the north and west.
This shade spread almost to the zenith. The fire-red of the

.

whose different phases I have followed then constituted a white
arch, the central and visible base of the Aurora above a bed o:
cumulus clouds which reached 8° above the horizon. : At

These two Auroras have manifested the following peculiarities

.

wer
segment h it might readily have been covered with the
pis eee poate which are §? above the conse : _— 0 nie
expa urora ent extent of w no
aR ti i se 4th. The great height of 23° of the lu-
minous segment or lower white arch visible onl in the second
Aurora, 5th. The rays or jets of light, some of which rose di-
verging from a point very far below the horizon, while others
Springing from the centre of the Aurora appeared to converge

in extent over 180°, their long continuance to d ye wn here
3 of an obscure lo

406 Dr. Trask on the Aurora of 1859.

to address to the Academy. I enumerate the principal points
observed. ist. There was no noise in the aurora. 2d. The
freely suspended needle of Marianini’s Ré-Electrometer mani-
fested not the slightest oscillation. 38d. The gold leaf electro-

9. Observation at San Francisco, California; by Dr. JOHN
Trask. (In a letter to the Editors, dated Sept. 1st, 1859.)

On the night of the 28th of August, at the hour of 10 o'clock,
and continuing from that hour until near daylight we had for
the first time in ten years in California a fine display of the
Aurora. The sky was illuminated from the northwest to the
northeast, with a flood of crimson light extending to the zenith,
through which the whiter and yellow columns would start at
varied intervals. It was a magnificent display and will compare
favorably with the best varieties of your wintry months.

10. Height of the base of the Auroral curtain, Aug. 28.

The minimum altitude above the southern horizon of the
lower margin of the meridional part of the auroral curtain, seen
during the display of Aug. 28th, previous to 9 P. ., was de-
termined independently by Prof. C. S. Lyman and by Mr. E. C.
Herrick at New Haven, and by Prof. A. ©. Twining at West
Point, N.Y. These three determinations were made at about

Appeal to Observers. 407

places between New Haven or West Point and Philadelphia and

eyond, as far as Annapolis or Washington. The elevation of
auroral belts observed in New England has been found to ex-
ceed one hundred miles, but the relation between auroral belts
and streamers is little understood.

11. Appeal to Observers.
It is conceded that there is much connected with the auroral

purpose we need a careful collection of all :
facts; and it is earnestly requested that every person who made
accurate observations of the Aurora of Aug. 28th would commu-
nicate them to us for publication. appeal is addressed to

408 Aurora of 1859.

In order to render the communications of observers more defi-
nite and precise, we will briefly indicate the kind of information
we desire.

We desire an accurate but concise description of all the phe-
nomena with the exact time of their occurrence

1. If a dark segment was seen resting either on the northern
or southern horizon, or both of them, its altitude and position
should be accurately stated.

2. If the streamers were seen to converge to a single point of
the heavens, this point should be accurately located and the time
of observation given.

3. If any single phenomenon (such as a detached luminous
arch extending from the east to the west horizon) was so con-
spicuous as to be easily identified, it is important to have an ac-
curate statement of its position and the altitude of its vertex,
with the time of its formation and disappearance.

4, Was the Aurora seen in the southern half of the heavens,
and how near the southern horizon did it exten

5. Describe the color of the light, as well as its intensity.

: e Aurora exhibited any great variations of brilliancy
it is important to know the times of least as well as the times of
greatest brilliancy. .

. Did the Aurora exhibit any sudden flashes? Were there
any pulsations like waves of light rushing up from the horizon ?

any observations were made showing the influence of
the Aurora upon the magnetic needle, it is desirable that they
should be communicated in detail.

9. The kind and degree of influence exerted upon telegraph
wires.

ed to
present an analysis of the whole, with some speculations on the
eral subject of Auroras. Observers may forward their com-
munications either to the “Editors of the Journal of Science,
New Haven, Ct.,” or to “Prof. Elias Loomis, New York City,
who has consented to undertake the discussion of the phenomena.

Posiscript.—Any exact data, relating to the remarkable auro-
ral arch of April 29, 1859—mentioned by Mr. Herrick on p.
of this volume, will de very acceptable. |

J. 2 Smith on Meteoric Stones. 409

Art. XLII.—Account of several Meteoric Stones which fell in
Harrison Co., Indiana, March 28th, 1859; by J. LAWRENCE
Smit, M.D., Prof. Chemistry, University of Louisville, Ky.

HAVING become acquainted with a remarkable phenomenon
accompanied with a fall of stones that occurred in Harrison Co.,
Indiana, I immediately made enquiries concerning it, expecting
to visit the neighborhood on an early occasion; but I was fortu-
nate enough to learn of some admirable observations made b
Mr. KE. S. Crosier, and in fact so complete were his examinations
that I clearly saw that no additional information could be elicited
by my resorting to the spot. Mr. Crosier obtained for me the
various stones that had been found, and also put himself to
much trouble to obtain the information desired.

The stones fell on Monday the 28th of March, 1859, and Mr.
Crosier visited the place on the Saturday following; in the mean

€

time the following stones were discovered:

No. 1, weighing 19 0z., discovered by Goldsmith,
2, “ 0z., c iil
8, 420 grains, « «“ é
4, . 167 = : ‘s Mrs. Kelly.

- Were the first intimations of ae unusual. number of

smaller reports followed, resembling the bursting of stones in a

them heard the stones distinctly striking amongst eke tac

around.
very much like the sound produced pouring water upon h
sto:

nes.
with thousands of serpents. oe :
_ Mr. Crawford and his wife were standing in their yard at the
time, and hearing a loud hissing sound overhead, on looking up
SECOND XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV., 1859.

410 J. L. Smith on Meteoric St8nes.

icles,

The mean specific gravity is 3-465; when broken up and ex-
amined under a glass four substances are distinguishable: me-
tallic particles, dark glassy mineral, dark dull mineral, white
mineral matter,

: Examined as a whole the following elements were found in it:
iron, nickel, cobalt, copper, phosphorus, sulphur, silicium, cal-
_ cium, aluminum, magnesium, manganese, sodium, ium,

Ale y 2.

BE bese Aon
a6 the action of the magnet it was separated into

_ Nickeliferous iron, —- - . . : 4°91
_ Earthy minerals, - - - . : . - 95:19
100-00

‘The earthy vubsibiests etd ‘On by warm dilute hydrochloric
acid, thrown on a filter and thoroughly washed, ‘neti treated

Geographical Notices. 41}

with dilute caustic potash, to dissolve any silica of the decom-
posed portion that was not dissolved Py the acid, gave

Soluble portion, - - 62°49
Insoluble e portion, - : é - BT SE
The metallic pore spate from the ty part gave

‘= : : 86°78
Nickel, - . - - - - - 43°241
Cobalt, : 3 : é > . 0-342
Copper, - - - 4 - : - 0036
Phosphorus, - - . - % ‘ 0°026
ulphur, - - - - +. SO7e

Silica - - - - 47-06
Oxyd iron, 4 : - “ - . - 26-05
Magnesia, - - - - - - - 27°61
Alumina, - - - - - - - - 2°35
Lime, - > - - - - - - 0s1
Soda, - - -. . ie < "3 z 00-42

Potash, : - - - - - 00°68
Peroxyd manganese, - - - - trace, not estimated.

It is clear from the analyses as made out, that these meteoric
stones contain the constituents frequently found in similar bodies;
namely: niekeliferous iron, phosphuret of iron and nickel, sul-
phuret of iron, 0 sa a8 pyroxene and albite; and in about the
following proportio

Nickeliferous i iron, - - - - - - 4989

i i - - - a = < ~~ - 009"
Magnetic pyrites, - - - < - - 001
Olivine, - - - - = - - ~ $1000
Pyroxene and albite, - . - - - - 34-000°

I have no intention to enter into any speculations in relation
to these meteoric stones, although I have accumulated some addi-
tional matter on the subject since my memoir on meteorites pub-
lished in the Am. Jour. Science, yol xix, pp: 152 and 522, in-

tending to reserve nee publication for a future occasion.

Louisville, Ky., Oct. 1, 185

Art. XLIV.— Geographical Notices. No. IX.

Tur INLAND Seas or Arrica. Sources oF THE NILE.—
The Royal hiecal Society of London ‘have awarded the
Founder's Medal otal te the current year to Capt. R. F. Burton, of

é Bombay ay army, for the discovery of the great lake of Tangan-
ika, in Africa, the more northern lake being discovered by

ne 26, 1857, the Fes Paveléis left Zanzibar for the interior

412 Geographical Notices,

and succeeded in reaching the great lake Tenganyike 800 miles
long, and: 80 broad, which lies about 700 miles from the coast.
Captain Speke proceeded from Uny ake to another vast in-
land lake called Nyanza, the south end of which was fixed by
him at 2° 30'S. lat., and 33° 30’ EH. long. It is estimated to have
a width of about i Sent and is said to extend northward for
upwards of 300

Sir Roderick I. Maxshison; President of the Royal Geographi-
cal Society of London, in his annual address gives the following
account of the discoveries of Burton and Speke which are par-
ticularly amen in reference to the long disputed problem of
the Sources of ile.

“Returning to phos from Aden, both Captains Burton and
Speke sought and obtained employment i in the Turkish contin-
gent of the allied armies operating in the Crimea. Thrown out
of their military career by the peace, they returned to the east
coast of Africa, with the view of exploring the country from the
coast of Zanzibar as far inland as might enable them to ascertain
the real g geography of the interior in that latitude.

‘“ Aided by the late Colonel Hamerton, our meritorious consul
at Zanzibar, and by Seyd Majid, the second son of the Imaum
of Muscat, now the Prince of Zanzibar, the travellers made an

is shill asi. of sandstone and siuelline rocks, the true
character of age, will be ascertained when Captain Burton's
specimens arri

is Chanting | from the coast range to the aang interior plateau
land, at a lower level, and travelling over some poor lands, they
reached a rich country in which knolls or bosses of granite and
basalt rise up like rocks in an ocean. The country is exclu-
php peopled by negroes, none of whom are Mahomedans, as

ar ast.
“Like the a geod by Livingstone, yonave 2 no

rare among them. Their co country ete | cotton, tobacco,
maize, sweet potatoes, a great variety of pulses, manioc, Canes

ee and melons; they manufacture iron, cotton fabrics,
lave abundance of cows and goats, and live in comparative

Inland Seas of Africa. 413

“From Kazé, in inne ores a spot where the Arab traders
have established a of mart, and where articles from the
coast are barte iy for or ivor sib ale ves, the travellers moved
romero until they reached the ors inland mass of water trend-

ing from 8. to N., which has been styled Uniamesi and Ujiji,
but the ran name of which is Diarra vik

“This lake was found to be 1,800 feet only above the sea, or
about half the average height of the plateau land west of the

coast range. It has a length of about 300 and a breadth of from
30 to 40 miles.

his great internal mass of water was determined to be a

Saye depression into which streams flow on all sides. Tt
was crossed by Speke in the centre, and navigated conjointly

tsetse = shen rod pe of the more orn ete African countries, in
which Livingstone travelled, is unknow

“A singular phenomenon of BLEhRneas sree for some time
both the “tt vellers, Whilst exposed in the arid, hilly coast
range, and also in vive plateau land, to a ered and glaring sun
their sight was unaffected; but on descending into the verdant,
well watered, and rich lacustrine expanse of Tanganyika their
sight was dimmed, and gradually aot became almost blind—
their Sane being slow and imperfect. It was this ban
alone which diminished the number of astronomical observati
m ide by Captain Speke, who lost no opportunity of fixing ‘he
latitude and longitude of numerous positions.

“When returned to their chief central station in Unyanyembé,

Speke, thriving upon hard field work, left his invalid co companion -

* Since this Address was dolixerete: ne Bri ite Museum has. acquired a curious,
large, old Portugese MS. map of the ercator’s
in 1623, which

author distinct! y
sar oe of Zanzi Although all t hp pve sersay probably
ngo flow out of this lake to the west. rd:
besi), which i same to the S§. ng Fa

the so which is called R. de St, Yurzes, oat
general notion of great i waters is there pu
c 2 has recently discovered in an old MS. in the Royal Library at
a in the year 1291, two Genoese navigators, dosio Doria and
Ugolino Vivaldi, sailed for a down the West Coast of Africa. Their
shi er Antonia and Allegranza, and the last-ment name has,
in remained attached to the most northern of the Canary Islands. It has been
€rroneously stated in some that these Genoese navigators sailed round the

Cape of Good Hope.—June 20, 1859.

#

414 Geographical Notices.

in order to reach the great lake Nyanza, the position of which
had been pointed out to him by the Arabs, who asserted that it
was much longer and larger than Tanganyika, from which it is
separated by about 200 miles. In this journey Captain Speke,
accompanied by his faithful Belooches, passed through the dis-
trict where the chief iron works of the country are carried on;
the native blacksmiths smelting the ore with charcoal.

e great lake Nyanza was found to occupy the position as-
signed to it by the Arabs, and the E. longitude being very nearly
that of Kazé, viz., 32° 47’,* its southern end was fixed at 2° 30’
S. lat. Ascending a hill and looking northwards, the enter-
prising traveller could discern nothing beyond the islands termed

erewe, but a vast interior sheet of water, which, according to
ose whose information had hitherto proved correct, ex-
tended northwards for upwards of 300 miles. Captain Speke,
who estimates the breadth of this internal sea at 90 miles near
its southern end, further ascertained that it is fed not only by
streams flowing from the mountains which separate it from Lake
a but also by other streams, many of which meander-

e
a

ee

d
which when supersaturated by the rains burst and overflow the
unt:

pressions.

“The physical configuration of the land to the east of the
great Nyanza Lake is indeed strongly in favor of this view. On
that side, and at a distance of about 200 miles from its banks,
the eastern coast range of Africa rises from 6000 feet in the lati-
tude of Zanzibar (where it was passed by our travellers) into @
lofty range or cluster, of which Kilimanjaro forms the southern
and Kenia a northern peak. :

“If the assertion of Rebmann and Krapf be accepted, that
perpetual snow lies on those mountains, though the able criti
essay of Cooley} had induced me to suppose that these mission-

tk ba * Lunar observations were made at this station.
+ See Cooley’s “Inner Africa Laid Open,” p. 126.

Inland Seas of Africa. 415

aries might have been somewhat misled, the summits of these

mountains must have an altitude of upwards of 18,000 feet. At

all events it is granted that they are the highest points of this

= range. Now, whilst streams descending from the western
.

by M. -Rollet,
ian, who had ine ers a eading post at Belenia in latitude 4°
50’ ‘north, on the White Nile in 1851. The north and south
direction of the Nyanza, which Speke believes to reach from
south latitude 24° to 8° 80’ north latitude, brings us in fact be-
yond the Garbo of Ulivi and Brun-Rollet. *

“The variations which occur in the height of the waters at
different seasons, in the interior plateau- country surrounding the
great lake, were strikingly described to Captain Speke by the
pa when they assured him that at one season of the year the
water lilies were so abundant as to enable the traveller to pass
over a wide river by treading on their broad and thick floating
leaves, ——- how flat the country must be, and how sluggish
are the streams.

“Let us hope that when re-invigorated by a year’s rest, the
undaunted Speke may receive every encouragement to p
from Zanzibar to his old station, and thence carry out to demon-
stration the view which he now maintains, that the Lake Nyanza
is the main source of the Nile. Considering the vast difficulties
which beset the traveller who attempts to penetrate southwards
by eins the Nile, it seems to be preferable that the effort
should be made from Zanzibar, where Captain Speke is sure of
being heartily supported by t the Sulta n, and whence, taking men
whom he cou nd rely, he can caer calculate on reachin
the Lake Nyanza in good plight, for that zone of Africa whic
he has passed through is now ascertained to be occupied by a
south of 4 ard ee people than those of the countries north and
sout. ‘
“On rn ormer occasions I contended that the periodical overflow
of the ating from the internal fresh-water lakes was explicable
by the fact, that at certain periods of the year, differing of course
in different latitudes, the rain-fall of several months would at last
So supersaturate the interior plateau-lands and lakes as to pro-
duce periodical annual discharges. That the ie mountains of
.* M. Jonard has analyzed and the discoveries of M. Bran-Rollet, who
gives some information derived from Shige who ee ae
which is _—- attention. —— founded on such

416 Geographical Notices.

y-

n consulting Captain Speke respecting the rainy season of
that part of the interior of Africa which lies between Ujiji and
Unyanyembé, I find that in about east longitude 30° and south
latitude 5° the rains commence on the 15th November and end

. * This acute scholar has shown his power as a comparative geographer by a close
analysis of the questio vexata ing the Nile of the ancients, and shows that
the true Nile of Ptolemy was the Blue Nile, which descends from the mountains

! that the great lakes of the Nile of Ptolemy are at the
Equator—a view now confirmed by the researches of Speke. As to vena £8
he ays it is “an insulated mountain in a sea-like plain, and on a th scale of the

ignitude required for maintaining etual snow near the Equator.
work “Inner Afri Laid Open,” in which he explains the existence of a great sea

FT AT A ene a Fc te ee

A A

Inland Seas of Africa. 417

cerning the ascents of the White Nile from the exPeiae ej
by Mahomed Ali in 1839 to that of Don Angelis, w Bru
Rollet accompanied in 1851, and when the party *oashed 3° 50)
north latitude, 31° east longitude. Adding to information ob-
tained from natives and A rabs, and citing Lucan and other
ancient authors to the same effect, Mr. M’Queen Setends that a
lofty mountain to the southeast of the cataracts of Garbo, the
last station of Brun-Rollett and his companions, which must be
el is the chief feeder of the Whi te Nile, and that the river
esi, spoken of by the African King of ‘Bari, is —e the
Tani poste of by Dr. Krapf. -
en if this view be sustained, it seems to
grie uite natiguetble with the fresh teuowiedae obtained by. Captai
peke, and his inference, that the Nyanza is the chief feeder of
the White Nile. For the southern extremity of this great
inland lake is but 24° south of the equator, whilst its western
ea is prepay not more than 150 miles from the lofty moun-
tain of Kenia. Hence, seeing that Nyanza is about 4000 Li
only above the sea, and that the eastern mountains, under
equator, are much higher, there is every probability that this
vast sheet of water may be fed from the east by streams flowing
from Kenia, as it is ascertained to be supplied from the south-
west and west by other rivers flowing from the mountains, which
et me high sheet of water from the de pressed Lake
anganyi
“Tf then it should eventually be proved, that the Lake ay
anza contributes its annual surplus waters to th napoisroen Nile,
informs me that Botero, in his “Re niversali”
(Venieg 1640), says that the eastern mn Nile flows out of a lake 220 miles long, situa-
laces the sources of the western branch of that

ted under the equator; and ne F
Hic lat. 8°, close the sources of the Zaire or aston gael may also
Zoatton

tended for the ae,
ND SE oo. XV, No, 84.—NOV., 1859.

418 Geographical Notices.

may it then be fairly considered as the main source of the great
river; the more so when we see that its southern end is farther
to the south, or more remote from the embouchure, than any
other portion of the Nilotic water-parting.* On the other hand,
the high mountains which flank the great stream on the east, and
probably supply it with some of its waters, may by other geog-
raphers be rather viewed as the main and original source. These
are the only remaining portions of the great problem which have
to be worked out—a problem which it has been the desideratum
of all ages to unravel, and one which, according to Lucan, made
Julius Cesar exclaim, that to gain this knowledge he would even
abandon the civil wart—a problem which Nero sent his centu-
rions to determine, and which, by the last discovery of Captain
Speke, seems certainly now to approach nearly to a satisfactory
solution.”

WARREN’S MEMOIR TO ACCOMPANY A Map oF THE WESTERN
Territory or U.S.—We have already referred to the admirable
map by Lieut. G. K. Warren, U.S. Topog. Eng., prepared to
illustrate the result of the various expeditions of the government
to the teritory west of the Mississippi river.t We have now
received a volume from the pen of the same officer, illustrative
of the map. It is printed from the advance sheets of the eleventh
volume of the Pacific Rail Road Surveys. This memoir is not

“a

exploring expeditions in the West since 1800
The firs

ft.

The second period, from 1832 to 1844, includes the exploration
of Bonneville, the early discoveries in Great Salt basin, Nicollet's
hydrographical survey of the upper Mississippi, the beginning of

rémont’s travels, and other reports and maps of army officers,
the topographical engineers. :

The third chapter is devoted to more than twenty expeditions,
of greater or less importance undertaken between 1848 and 1852,
almost exclusively under the patronage of the U.S. Government.

rse 0

this feature, as well as on the parallelism of its course to the great N. and S. de-

pression of the Red Sea, on the fertilizing powers of its waters, and on the .

icity of its flood, the reader will do well to consult the article “ Mediterranean Sea,
‘ Review, vol. cvi., which i of our accomplished associate

Sir Henry Holland.
eS ¢ “Spes sit mihi certa videndi

Niliacos fontes bellum civile relinquam.”—Lucan, Book 10.

(As quoted by Mr. M’
goo Beebe pane RO

Discovery of America. 419

Four reduced copies of early maps of the territory west of the
Mississippi are included in the Memoir; first, of a map published
with Winterbotham’s History in 1796; second, of Rector and
Roberdeau’s map, 1818; third, a part of Finley’s North America,
1826; and finally, of Bonneville’s map which appeared in 1887.

he Memoir and the Map taken together are an important
accession to our knowledge of the physical geography of this
continent and will be of constant service not only to men of sci-
ence, but to statesmen and all others who are interested in the
structure and resources of the immense territory which lies to
the west of the Mississippi river. In this connection, we may call
attention to the tenth volume of the surveys of the Pacific Rail
Road which has just been distributed, containing Part III. of the
Ppa on “ Zoology,” prepared by Prof. Spencer F. Baird of the

mitt i ion

.

Institutio

History OF THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA. ATLAS OF
KUNSTMANN, SPRUNER AND THOMAS.—In striking contrast with
the work we have noticed by Lieut. Warren and its illustrations
of recent discovery, we may mention the republication of early
maps of this continent (chiefly the Atlantic coast,) which has
been just made under the auspices of the Bavarian government.
A few copies of this truly magnificent atlas have been received
by Messrs. B. Westermann & Co., in New York. In place of
comment of our own, we translate from the Berlin Zeitschrift fiir
allgemeine Erdkunde, the following condensation of the plan of

e compilers.

F. Kunstmann, K. v. Spruner and G. M. Thomas have pub-
lished an Atlas on the history of the discovery of America, which
consists of thirteen most interesting sheets printed in fac-simile
from those most valuable chartographical documents, which are
found in the Royal Library, the Library of the University and
the Military Conservatory at Munich. F. Kunstmann in his
learned treatise “ Die Entdeckung Amerika’s, which precedesthe
text explanatory to the charts, says, ‘The charts commence in
the 14th century, when they first appear as the product of inde-
pendent inquiry, and follow the progress of the voyages of dis-
covery, the results of which are for the most part deposited in
them. Our knowledge that the Azores were discovered in the
14th century, we owe solely to the charts, as we have no other
historical accounts eoncerning them. The history of the Canary
Isles which is at first but fragmentary, is also completed by them.

420 Geographical Notices.

They also enlighten and increase our knowledge in relation to
the discoveries in America generally. In these charts we also
have original records for the history of the voyages of the sepa-
rate nations. They commence with the voyages of the Italians,
who first set out independently, then in the service of Portugal,
Spain and England, leaving us those grand drawings of the
bagi which were continued and finished by other nations.

hese accordingly preceded the systematic descriptions of the
world, which furnished us with but poor and scanty information
in regard to the discovery of America, although the charts had
already presented an almost complete picture of what was then
known.” Of the thirteen sheets of the atlas the first five relate

King Emanuel of Portugal,) two Reinels, father and son, omit-
ting however their christian names. ‘I saw, he says, the Moluc-

Bay, i given by
the Venetian ambassador Pasqualigo, (October 19, 1501) on the
second voyage of Caspar Cortereal in the year 1501, from which
bon bate Caraveles with

sixty natives, without Cortereal, returned.

Discovery of America. 421

The second chart represents the notions of that period in
which North America was believed to —s of a number of
islands between which, it was hoped, a passage might be found
to the Molluccas. We find here the “Terra det Corte Reall” com-
pletely separated and the terra de lanorador tae as a
complete island. North of Great Britain the ‘Terra de Ures-
land” (Vresland, Frisland) is situated, a name hin according
to Zahrtmann is derived from Ferris land as English mariners
called the Faroes. Besides this, the sheet contains the West
Indies (le Antilie) the northern and part of the eastern coast of
South America, the latter up to Rio de Cananor, as according to
Peschel, it is often wri ritten instead of Rio de Cananea, on the
i charts published since 1507, which were copied after

te the third chart, which only marks the discoveries of the
Portuguese, of which the Spaniards take no notice, Labrador, (or
Groenland, and the “Terra de Corte Reall” appear also as sepa-
rate continents in accordance with the discoveries of C. Cortereal
in his two voyages in the years 1500 and 1501. As a third con-
tinent, is seen the eastern coast of South America from
Roque up to R. Cananea, in conformity with the results obtained
by the coast-voyage in the year 1501, in which Amerigo Ves-
pucci took part.

The fourth chart represents North ste Labrador, New-
foundland under the name Bacalnaos instead of Bacalhaos, and
the country of Corte Real as all three separated from one an-
other by straits. In Central America the Peninsula of Yucatan
appears, and the chart must therefore have been finished after the —
year 1517. Honduras with the islands lying before the same,
the Isthmus with the Pacific coast, the latter however without
nomenclature, and finally the West India Islands, The South
American coast, richly furnished with names, extends southerly
over the R. Cananea up to C. Santa Maria, comprising a region
which was not drawn upon the —< sheet, which however in

¢ Kunstmann’s ropitien — disco ered already i in the year 1501 ;

want of space. Here the Moluccan pape are noted with we
addition: ‘“ilhas de maluqua donde vem ho cravo.” The flee
which Albuquerque had sent out to open the trade with tle
Moluccan Islands, first reached them early in the year 1512.

The fifth sheet has been taken from an atlas which consists of

hance cartan in a7 with the year 1519, which

422 Geographical Notices.

con also indicates the time of origin of the other six sheets.
ajolo is situated in the papal dominions, and a Jacobus de
Majolo condam Vesconti, probably a son of the one mentioned
above, presents himself as the author of a chart: ‘‘Janua anno
Domini 1551 die 19 marsi.” The chart taken from this atlas
by Kunstmann commences on the American continent with the
coast of Honduras, upon which the Rio de Cama Roma (Cape
Cameron), and the Bay of Xagoa, both discovered in 1508, are
nam esides these the four great Antilles are noted upon
it and a considerable number of smaller islands. The South
American continent is also already drawn out up to the Cape of
St. Maria and is richly furnished with names.

The following charts belong to a period after Magalhaens’s
voyage. Sheets six and seven are taken from an atlas of thir-
teen charts, which is kept in the Library of the University, and
which can only have been drawn after the year 1534, as Cuzco
is mentioned in it.

The sixth sheet commences at the eastern coast of America
with the terra ‘che descobrio steuen comes,” i. e., the country
which Estevan Gomez had discovered in 1525. It contains the

1 wados, i. e., the coasts of Pennsylvania, Virginia
and Carolina, which the Licentiates Lueas Vasquez de Aillon
and Matienzo are supposed to have already discovered in 1520;
and also Mexico under the name Temistitan vel Misicho ;—the
central American coast, near which Yucatan is represented as an
island ;—the Antilles and the northern coast of South America.
In the south, we perceive Magalhaens’s Strait (Strictum de
Magellano) with the harbor of St. Julian and Fireland, and
from the western coast of America is seen a continuous stretch
of Colao Provintia and Peru Provintia in the south, up to Cali
fornia in the north, which latter is represented as a peninsula.
In the remoter part of the Pacific Ocean, several of the east
Asiatic islands are noted as Dshilolo, Timor, Sumatra, and on

eastern side of Asia, Bengala Civitas and China Civitas.

The seventh sheet, taken from the same atlas, represents the
countries on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean: the eastern coast
of America from Newfoundland (terra de bacalaos) in the north,
to Magalhaens’s Strait, inclusive of that part of the Brazilian
coast which is wanting on the former chart, and the coast of La
Plata south to the Strictum de Magellano and the northern coast
of the Fireland with the Campana de Roldan, which is called

ter a German companion of Magalhaens. As on the former
sheet so also here the west coast of Patagonia and the coast of
Chile are wanting.

_ The sheets eight to twelve are taken from the atlas of Vaz
Dourado, the original of which with the year 1571 is found in
the Archives at Lisbon. The Royal Library at Munich

The Fate of Sir John Franklin. 423

a much more splendid copy of the year 1580, which however
deviates in many respects from the original. The eighth sheet
furnishes a complete drawing of the coast of South America
south of the mouth of the La Plata with Magalhaens’s Strait, on
which the Cape dellas virgines and the Fireland, which is divided
into several islands, are named. The western coast of South
America is abundantly furnished with names. The ninth sheet
is equally rich and contains the northern half of South America;

t

The last sheet of the atlas reproduces an old English chart
with the inscription “Thomas Food made this platte 1592.”
The original belongs to the valuable collection of the Duke of
Northumberland, Robert Dudley, who died 1639 at Florence in
Italy. The part of America which is here represented, compri-
the great Antilles, the Bahama isles, the coast of Yucatan,
Mexico, Florida and Norumbega, which latter name is retained
for a considerable part of the American coast south of the River
St. Lawrence.
The atlas therefore comprises a great number of most valuable
documents in relation to the history of the discovery of the new

. continent. The execution of the different sheets is so excellent,

that the whole work may justly be called splendid. The text
accompanying the same, contains, besides Kunstmann’s com-
ments above mentioned and the explanatory notes to the single
charts, a log-book, first edited by G. M. Thomas, which was taken
from a ship of Drake’s third expedition (Aug. 28, 1595 until May
10, 1596,) and is preserved in the Royal Library at Munich.

THe Fate or Srr JoHN FRANKLIN.—The following letter
has been addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty by Capt.
F. L. McClintock, R.N. -

“ Yacht Fox, R. Y.8.

“Sir: I beg you will inform the Lords Commissioners of the -
Admiralty of the safe return to this country of Lady Franklin’s
Final Searching Expedition, which I have had the honor to
conduct. ‘

“Their lordships will rejoice to hear that our endeavors to
ascertain the fate of the ‘Franklin Expedition’ have met with
complete success. 5 ae

“ At Point Victory, on the northwest coast of King William’s

a record has been found, dated the 25th of April, 1848,
and signed by Captains Crozier and Fitzjames. By it we were

424 Correspondence of J. Nickles.

informed that her Majesty’s ships Erebus and Terror were aban-
doned on the 22d of April, 1848, in the ice, five leagues to the
N.N.W., and that the survivors—in all amounting to one
hundred and five souls, under the command of Captain Crozier
—were proceeding to the Great Fish River. Sir John Franklin
had died on the 11th of June, 1847.

‘Many deeply interesting relics of our lost countrymen have
been picked up on the western shore of King William’s Island,
and others obtained from the Esquimaux, by whom we were in-
formed that, subsequent to their abandonment, one ship was
crushed and sunk by the ice, and the other forced on shore,
where she has since been, affording them an almost inexhausti-
ble mine of wealth.

“Being unable to penetrate beyond Bellot Strait, the Fox
wintered in Brentford Bay and the search, including the estuary
of the Great Fish River and the discovery of eight hundred
miles of coast line, by which we have united the explorations of
the former searching expeditions to the north and west of our
position with those of James Ross, Dease and Simpson, and Rae
to the south, has been performed by sledge journeys this spring,

conducted by Lieutenant Hobson, R.N., Captain Allen Young

myself. i
“As a somewhat detailed report of our proceedings will
doubtless be interesting to their lordships, it is herewith enclosed,
together with a chart of our discoveries and explorations, and at
the earliest opportunity I will present myself at the Admiralty

to afford further information, and lay before their lordships the
Fe: D. G

record found at Port Victor
Yale College Library, Oct., 1859.

| Art. XLV.—Correspondence of Prof. Jerome Nickles, dated
Nancy, August 20th, 1859.

serew to the purposes of a blowing machine. This apparatus is still

Ee Se OTR Ie ME TEI eRe ae NO CE Le eT ON ee ee ee “"

a a

8 he devoted himself to eo Eyal 20 and largely aided the
general introduction of this important industry into France. It was how-
ever in 1819 that he made his most important and beautiful invention,

liquids. He discovered thereby the origin of what is called “teohnically

each other although soun he same pitch and with like intensity
In 1822 he published his pene Bs upon the effect produced by heat
on bodies under great res. He deduced fi wn es pragioun

product resembling coal. This experiment has been rea recently
under better conditions and real coal has been thus obtaine

(traction). pereags n 1826 he constructed the Aa nded apenas of
Crouzol, nearly two hundred meters long, and without intermediate sup-
rt.

por
Disinfection and Pah oe of wounds.—For several weeks the scientific
and medical world has been greatly interested by the introduction of a
cial

¢ kind

tinguished surgeon Velpeau, after experiments with this disinfectant on

suppurating wounds in a eg state, has reported {ayer to the Acad-
omy. of Sciences, We extract some passages from his re

of a woman with a

n the case vast. cancerous “eating way all
ihe “left side of the chest, the odes of pour pus after two daily ap-

plications disappeared.

A young man was treated whose hand was scalded by a steam boiler
and mortification had supervened, involving: cl the whole of one fin-
ger. On Saturday bane this ee a as in a complete state of morti-

is
:
li
©
B
@
3
°
5
=]
gg

fication and gave , itw

and evening of a ne i 5 the. po wder i in question ; the bad finger was

dried Bee ae sens, vat the odor el and the mortification ceased,
XXVIII, No. 84, NOV., 1359.

426 Correspondence of J. Nickleés.

Thus in wounds as well as on fetid animal matters disconnected naa
the body this topic disinfects them at once, having no trace of odor
yond a slight and not disagreeable smell of bitumen.

He adds that this mode of disinfection occasions neither pain, irrita-
= swelling or inflammation ; it also appears rather to favor than other-

se, the progress of granulation and cicitrization ; there is therefore no
inconvenience in applying it to various ulcers, sores "and wounds requiring
to be disinfected.”

Results equally favorable have been obtained at the veterinary estab-
lishment at Alfo

The Major General of the French army in Italy, anticipating these re-
ported results gave orders for the use of this topic immediately for the
relief of the wounded. The success of this treatment has been commu-
nicated by Marshall Vaillant to the Academy. The report details the
successful treatment by this means of gangrened sores upon twen ty
wounded Austrians in the hospital at Milan. These cases the lane
assert were of the worst possible character, and the success immediate
and complete.

hat is this remarkable topic? J¢ is a mixture of 100 parts of plas-
ter of Paris with 3 parts of coal tar. The mixture is easily made in a

morter. Its ieation is made by mixing the powder with olive oil.
The application either of the powder or the pomade occasions no
eve aced in direct contact with the surface. The treatment has the

double advantage of disinfecting and also absorbing the pus—thus dis-
pensing with the employment of lint—as the late experience in aly ot has
abundantly proved.

This simple mixture was originally prepared for the disinfection of ar-
tificial manures. Its aut ok is Mr. Ed. Corne, veterinary sur

tion and giving off an Sufbtiots odor has by this a et been instantly
transformed into a odorless earthy mass.

e communication of Dr. Velpeau gave rise to an important disc
sion which we will now consider. M. Bussy at once recalled the fact ia
chareoal powder, the Boghead coke, creosote and alkaline hypochlorites
have for a long time been used as disinfectants. M. Chevreul next called
attention to the fact that in the last century Dr. George Berkeley, Bishop
of ene had published a work on the virtues of tar-water, in some h he

of this agent with er asm. It was esteemed by him as a spe

More than twelve y mage Dr. Herpin of Metz propoed a disinfecting
mixture of plaster sod eae Dumas reminded the Academy that one
of its prizes was a few years since awarded to Mr. Sizet, who showed all
the metallic salts which could be used with advantage in disinfection—
who also added that the properties of these disinfectants were much ex-
alted by the addition of a small proportion of coal tar. These experi-

confirm

been used in England for disinfecting dead animals for

sl le

SSS a eee Ee ee ee ee a ee

On the Odors of Perfumes. 427

the uses of rural economy. The use of coal tar has also been advised for
the dead on the battle field.
umas added that having often sought an explanation of these facts

this case the odorous mixtures would be pate soe bee burned by the ozon-
ized oxygen and the putrid odor rapidly destroye

If coal tar really produces this action it is necessary, according to
Dumas, to distinguish three effects. Ist, the penser - the infectious
vapor or = by means of ozone arising ‘from coal tar. , the action of
the plaster in preventing the production of new infections poh er by the
solidification of the liquids present. 3d, the point of a t to the
development of putrefactive process by any of the tons conta in
coal tar, and especially the phenic acid which in the smallest traces in od
form of wer of soda secures the preservation of animal matters

-

s of perfumes—On occasion of the discussion which we
have ae Pie Mr. pease offered his ideas upon the mode of ac-
tion of odoriferow 8 ‘substances, is discussion was mtended to recall the

exert their oders when properly mixed with other odoriferous materials.
Ist. Bodies dissiteabies odorant disguise the odors of other substances,
as a strong light overpowers a feeble one. 2d. g them-
selves odoriferous act in the manner of an acid in neutralizing a base.
3d. Solid bodies may act by capillary affinity to absorb odors, as is the
r example with charcoal. 4th. Other bodies act by es the
constitution of the odorant substance, producing new compounds either
odorless or nearly so. Such is the action of moist chlorine or oxygenated
water. 5th. Lastly, the action may be two-fold, as in the case of —
and ammonia, os page g one portion and neutralizing the other
ut decompositio:
Neutralization abies the largest class of cases; thus the volatile
odorous acids are neutralized by alkalies to form odorless salts. Ammo-
nia ieiandl its odor when united to an acid. The odors in sueh cases are
truly neutralized, since displacing the acids liberates again the odors each
in its own charac Examples of the destruction of odors are numeroys

of odors, because at the same time we have decomposition of one part of
the nee and the neutralization of another part by the chlorohydric acid

MC hevreul proposes to define odors by means of a scale, analogous to
our notation of sounds, or for gradations of color by the chromatic dia-
gram (which last device we also owe to this savan. t). The great obstacle
to this plan is the difficulty sudiione the sense of smell as we employ
that of sight or hearing, a difficulty much increased by the toleration
which the smell soon acquires to odors—becoming ‘ blase.

428 Correspondence of J. Nickles.

In 1880 he endeavored to take account of the changing odors exhaled
by the woad vats during evaporation, if possible to define exactly the
kind of odor vp manners to each condition of the vat. He reached no
positive results although he detected in the dye stuff bath five perfectly
distinct odors; the odor 0 ammonia, a sulphurous odor, a metallic odor,
an aromatic odor, clinging for many months to the woolen stufis which
had passed through the woad vat, oa lastly, the odor of a volatile acid
analogous to that of animal matters in dec ——— ition. M. Chevr eul hoped

1st, an ammoniacal odor —e blue a reddened test paper. 2d, a feeble
butyric odor, 3d, a heavy odor which is familiar in the ‘trying out’ of
suet or lard. No specific vai exists then in cancers, since the three odors
recognized coexist in non-cancerous matters which the disease alters.

smell of a due probably to a compound am

To all these odors he adds what he ealls the 1 stale-nauseous (fade nau-
seabonde) which appears in well-water that has stood some days in a
vessel in which have been placed egg shells impregnated with neinagth

[We may be permitted to-add to these interesting facts some others
which we submit to the distinguished author of the chromatic ere and
poocarpe on the fatty bodies.

orous substance can be neutralized or destroyed by another

odorant ike _ are others destitute of odor which by union produce
odorant substan

(To this prise of odorless ence belong O, 8, Se, Te, C, H, As, Az,
and we might add P, which is oderless unless combined.

2. Likewise there are odorless bodice which have become odorant by
union with others endowed with odor,

It is thus with oxalic, malic, butyric, sabretin: citric, sorbic (the act
recently discovered by Hoffmann), boric, silicic acids, all odorless, wich

"ea Tt is necessary also to rn ah bodies having an odor proper,
that is, an odor which exists when they form compounds with other
bodies (for example, arsenic). The arsenical odor is in AsH®, a
AsBr®, and in the cacody] series. Tin is another example. The ¢ odor

in charactesin large number of stannic = rian
SNH,, SCi, = are a more or
a mee

Humboldt Foundation.—Photography by Carbon. 429

might also mention napthaline, benzoin, and other mpremaiions
and dgpete radicals.

We see that this group of bodies characterized by a peculiar odor, em-
braces those elements which, like sulphur, arsenic and phosphorus, are
enya se odor, _— is, their odor is manifesto only in combination. If

of velit, althou ugh as a general thing the odor of most bodies is de-
veloped when they are volatilized.

odors. This element possesses a above all other substances the peculiar
property of developing odors even with odorless bodies, as N, C, Se, Te,
P, &c., and a great number of compounds, of these and other elements.

encourage scientific explorations, while. the Society for the
Science sustains scientific men in declining heal es to the relief
of their widows and orphans. The two organizations are therefore com-
plementary to each other, and are worthy to —_ on side

CQUTS

Photography by ‘on For the — — by the Duke
of 3—We have for some ee
question—the object of a prize established by a at amateur,
the uynes. It is required to di a method by the use of

rs im oq
carbon alone, neglecting salts of gold, silver, and other metals, to produce
es this being the only material which submitted to the test of

time has transmitted to us without

bee adjo ourned for three years,
* This Journal, July, 1856, p. 109.

430 Correspondence of J. Nickles.

ner to plates previously exposed to the sun. We give a résumé of the
new results in two memoirs esteemed by the Commission worthy of re-
Ww .

tive is obtained. :
In this process the manipulation is a little easier and more simple.
The use of a negative authorized the expectation of a better result, but
the exposure is longer than in the mode of Garnier and Salmon, whose
use of a positive avoids the chances of accident which attend the nega
tive plates in the hands of the operatar. oe
Messrs. Pouncy, Garnier and Salmon share the prize with Mr. Poiteri,
who has the merit of anticipating these photographers, whose methods
are only an advance on the process which Mr. Poiterin published in 1856.
ormation of cellulose into sugar—We have already spoken in

* This volume, page 126.

.
4
:
:

Bibliography. 431

this is not a new observation, but was first made known in 1846 by

these animals in the sandy provinces of Brazi everal of th TOV-
inces, particularly Céara, during many months of the year are destitute
of water, resemble in physical characters th f

The Society of Acclimation, in view of the importance of the case, have
sent one of the Vice Presidents of the society, M. Richard (du Cantal), a
distinguished zootechnist, to Algeria, between Boghar and Lagonat, in a
region inhabited by one of the tribes most distinguished for the number
and beauty of their dromedaries. From these herds Richard selected ten
females of three to four years old, three males of four years, and one of
seven, all in the highest condition, at a cost of 380 francs each. Four

b camel drivers were also obtained to accompany the animals.

The July (1859) number of the Journal of Acclimation relates all the
history of this experiment, to which we refer for the details. But it is to
be remarked as regards the prospect of success for this enterprize that a
similar experiment has met with success some time since in Texas and
Central America, the credit of which is due to Major Wayne of the
United States Army.

Brstio¢rapny.—There has appeared from the central book depot of

P

naire raisonné @ Agriculture et @’ Beonomie du Bétail .,

432 Scientific Intelligence.

servations on shooting stars. This work embraces all belonging to what

alled meteors. The author is under great obligations to the French
government who, on the recommendation of Arago, placed Mr. Coulvier
Gravier in a situation to follow his tastes for this sort of observation.
This observer does not despair of obtaining the means of predicting the
meteoric periods. He unfolds his theory in a volume which all can under-
stand, since it is written in a simple style and contains few mathematical
formulz. It shows that the author has obeyed a controlling taste; and
his work fills an important gap in astronomical bibliography.

ours de Mecanique appliqueé par M. Mahistre. 1 vol. 8vo, illustré
de 211 figures——Mr. Mahistre is professor of Mechanics a la Faculté des
Sciences a Lille, one of the great manufacturing centers of Europe. His
admirable work is especially adapted to engineers and to students who
are destined to industrial pursuits. ©

This first volume treats specially of the strength of materials. Like the
work of Mahistre, it is particularly adapted to civil engineers; above all
it interests the engineers of bridges and roads, who in France occupy so
important a role, particularly in railroad constructions. Multitudes of
these engineers are found scattered over the continent of Europe, especia ly
in Russia, Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Belgium, The science of
the pupil gives evidence of the master, who is Mr. Bresse.

Cours d’ Electrophysiologie par M. Matieucci. 1 vol. 8yo—This course
pronounced at the University of Pisa is now reproduced in France where

e well known high reputation of the author will secure it the attention
it deserves, :

Cours d’ Analyse de Ecole Polytechnique par M, Sturm. T. II, in 8v0,
1859.— We have already announced the first volume of this great math-
ematician, who died some years ago. It is published by one of his pu-
pils, Mr. Proutret, by the choice of the author, and from the manuscript
left by him. This work is of special value to professional mathemat-
cians, and to those who are charged with the instruction of this science.

SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.
I. CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS.

1. On Torsion and its relations to Magnetism — WiEpEMANN has com-
municated several interesting papers on torsion and its relations to mag-
netism, from the last of which we extract the following comparative view,
referring to the original paper for the details of the experimental meth
employed.

Torsion. Magnetism.

_1, The temporary torsions of a 1. The temporary magnetisms of
wire twisted for the first time by a bar magnetized for the first time
increasing weights, augment more by increasing galvanic currents, aug
apic an the weig' ment more rapidly than the intenst
. ties of these currents.

Chemistry and Physics.

The permanent torsions of the

sary to untwist the wire than to
twist it.

4. By repeated turnings of the
wire, its torsions approximate more
and more closely to a ed gies om
ity with the turning weight
torsions are thereby greater ‘thant in
the first turning.

5. By repeated papers ct _
twisting and untw Ing
weights, G. and —G, the maxi-

rises up to a definite limit.

. When twisted beyond the lim-
its ge the repeated torsions and de-
torsions the wire behaves as if it
were twisted for the first time.

7. A twisted wire which is un-
twisted by the force —-G cannot be
twisted by repeated action of ie
: ;

twists it easily in the first direction.

8. When a wire which possesses
@ permanent twistin = si
brought by the force } to the
sion B and then farther to the =
sion C, which lies between Aa an

be also 0, and B sia be greater
or smaller than A.

9. Vibrations during the action
of a twisting seria increase the
rsion of on

“ing currents, J. and —J.

433

. The permanent magnetisms of
the rod increase still more rapidly.
3. A much weaker counter cur-
rent is necessary to ie cae the
bar, gros to magnetize
4, In‘a case of repaitel magnet-
‘dike of the bar, its magnetisms
P

of the magnetizing currents. 8
magnetisms are thereby greater than
in the first magnetization.

5. By repeated application of the

mum of magnetism reached in the
magnetization, sinks, and the mini-
um of the same emctind in the
demagnetization rises up to a cer-
tain limi
hie en a — the
Eisite of the repeated magnetiza-
tions and Rc ccartioce, “hk bar
were magnetized

nédiend bar which is

magnetizes it easily i in
the first direction.

* bikes a bar which has the
permanent magnetism A is is brought
by the piss b to the ——

n farther

magnetism B. In is case A ma
also be 0, and B may be greater “i
smaller than A.
9. Vibrations during the action
= a magnetizing current, increase
the magnetism of a bar.

10. The permanent magnetism
ack the bar after removing the mag-

etizing current is on the contrary,

diminished by vibrations,

434

11. A wire twisted and then un-
twisted loses or gains torsion by vi-
bration according to the magnitude
of the detorsion.

12. The permanent torsion of
wires diminishes by their mag-
netization, and that in a ratio which
iminishes as the magnetism in-

3. Repea
the same none Soareon dimin-

netization in n the opposite direction
to the first produces howev
strong diminution of the torsion.

ection a maxi-
m, by magnetization in the oppo-
ae direction a minimum of torsion.

15. A twiste
been partially untwisted, loses by
magnetization much less of its twist
lan an ordinary twisted wire.
wire farther untwisted, exhibits on
feeble magnetization at first an in-
crease of its torsion, which by aug-
menting the magnetization rises to

was untwisted, the stronger must
the prea in order to reach
this maxim pag wire is
ais diontls untwisted, its t

while under the influence of the
twisting weight, its torsion increases
by w cake, = ishes by stronger

17, x wire ‘viele at the ordi-
nary temperature loses torsion b
heating, and on coo sooling gain: te-
covers a portion of its loss. The
inerease with —-
torsion. After repeated changes of

Scientific Intelligence.

11. A magnetised and then de-
magnetized bar loses or gains mag-
netism by vibration, according t
the magnitude of the demagnetiza-
tion.

e permanent magnetism
of antl bars sce by their
torsion and that in a ratio which
diminishes as a torsion increases.

13. Re aco torsions in the same
direction dimini e ma
of a steel bar but little.
in a direction opposite to the first,
produces, however, a new strong
diminution of the magnetism.
. When a bar by repeated
twisting and untwisting is demag-
netized as far as this is possible by
torsion within: definite limits, it. as-

magnetized, exhibits on feeble tor-
sion, at first, an increase of magnet-
ism which on increasing the torsion,

s to a maximum and then again
dliminiehiéx The more strongly the

maximum, When the bar is very
strongly a the magneti-
zation increases e up to the ap-
= “ hake aol torsions.

1 a steel bar is twisted
when swt saa influence of a mag-
netizing current, its ma etism in-
creases by weaker, diminishes by
ee ae torsion.

. A bar siassntinal at the or-
aoa temperature, loses magnetism
by heating, and on cooling recovers
a portion of its loss. The changes
- ee to the magone,

After repeated changes

Chemistry and Physics.

temperature, the wire arrives at a

nary temperature, pie then partial-
ly untwisted, loses eating so
much the less of its sania, the far-
ther it has been untwisted. Upon
cooling, its torsion is less than before

if the detorsion has been slight, but
greater if this has been considerable.

. A wire twisted at a higher
temperate, loses torsion on cool-
U a second heating, it
Rot loses, and upon a second cool-
ing first regains a portion of its loss.
hen the wire is vibrated previous
to the first ee it immediately
gains in torsion.
From this i comparison it
the pheno
even in the d details

cannot justly infer from it, that the
torsi

a of magnetism and those
Fhe author remarks that this

435
— the bar arrives at a

onstant state, in which to every
hail — corresponds a definite
of the bar, which dimin-

dinary temperature, and then par-
tially demagnetized, loses by heat-
ing so much the less of its magnet-
ism the farther = = been demag-
netized. , its magnetism
is less than below: ms the demag-
netization has been slight, but
greater when this has been consid-
erable,

19. Ab tiger atc ih As
temperature loses magne on

the first eos it immediately
gains in magne

t will be seen that there is an alia between

good

on. This is not proved by experi inc moreover as he proposes to

show in an

other memoir, similar relations are found in the case of other

rare age displacements, as for example, in flexion—Pogg. Ann., evi,

the densities of vapors at high temperatures —H. Sarnte CLarre

oe
tienes and Troost
f

0

which they enclosed siiscenaivel vapor of i

‘hi his manner, ci ratio of the a pabition of
ensit

ing been previously accurately

were as follows

on ave perce their te et on the densities

scribed, but Pre ti)
° °C. ) for

were nish tpl instead of glass,

ne and the v

of the vapor of iodine hav-

oer By this a deter-
mination of the temperature becomes unnecessary, T

Sulpbur, at the temperature of 860° has a vapor catty of 2°2, and
this density does not change as the temperature rises, being the same at
1040° as determined by more than twelve experiments. We may there-

436. Scientific Intelligence.

fore admit with certainty that the equivalent of sulphur (16) represents
one volume of vapor, like oxygen

The vapor of selenium presents the same anomalies as the vapor of sul-
phur. At 860° its density is 82; at 1040° it is not more than 6°37.
The authors propose to determine the density of this substance at still
higher temperatures. _

The vapor density of phosphorus at 1040° is 451 vol., correspond-
ing to the equivalent generally adopted. The vapor density of cadmium
at 1040° is 3-942 vols. Calculated on this hypothesis it would be 3°87.

At 1040° the vapor density of sal-ammoniac is 1:01=8 vols. (calcula-
ted 0°92.) The observed vapor density of bromid of aluminum 1s
18°62=2 vols. (calculated =18°51).

The vapor density of iodid of aluminum in like manner corresponds to

These two last numbers are calculated from experiments made in the
vapor of sulphur. The iodid of alumi

lished a fourth memoir in continuation of his investigations of the com-
pounds of metals with organic radicals. By the action of zine-ethy]
upon the iodid of stannethyl, the author obtained a crystalline compound
of iodid of zinc and bi-ethyl-tin, having the formula Sn(CaHs)24-Zal,
the reaction being represented by the equation

SnCsHsI + ZnCsHs = (Sn(CsHs)24-Znl).

' again distilled, bi-ethyl-tin passes over asa cl
metallic but not disagreeable taste.

flame givin
ethyl is not capable of uniting with any other element unless an equiva
lent of ethyl is separated at the same time. Iodine forms with it a com-
pound having perhaps the formula Sn2o(CaHs)2I, though it may be the
compound described by Cahours and Riche, Sn2(CaHs)31.

By the action of methyl-zine upon iodid of stannethy], Frankland ob-

tained a colorless liquid having the formula Sn i ee which he terms
ahs amthyiie of tin, the vapor density of which also corresponds to
2 v0

and distils over unchanged. -It burns with a dark deep blue bordered
g off whi

2 ‘When zine-ethy] is brought into contact with the iodid of methyl-mer-
fe ceury, Hg } OT , iodid of zinc is separated after a few hours, and on dis- 4
tillation, bi-ethyl-mercury is obtained. This body agrees completely with 4

Chemistry and Physics. ae

the ethylide of wees described by Buckton. Its formation may be
represented by the equation
Ha(C2Els)I-4-22n (Calls) =H OcHls)2-4 Zn(OsHs)-4Znl.
This result exhibits a mobility in the uae groups of these compounds
which could scarcely have been expec
the action of zine-methyl nee the chlorid of mercur-ethyl and

subsequent distillation, the author obtained only a mixture of ethylide of
mercury, Hg(CsHs)2, and methylide of mercury, Hg(C2H3)2, but con-
siders it probable that in the above reaction an ethylomethylide of mer-
Pie is actually formed, but that this is subsequently decomposed by dis-
tillation.

In a previous memoir, the author showed that the vapor density of

zinc-ethyl requires the formula Zn2 i Calis} nevertheless it was not found

CaHs

—— to pind the intermediate sicieniesite Zn? io CoHs

in ether is treated with zinc in the co digester, zinc-methyl is formed
in large quantity, but - distillation a body 3 is obtained which has the

formula 2Zn2 rant mc ib Cy aa O2, and which therefore anyon to be a

methy] vapor and ether vapor in the above proportions would
density 3°0413, without however definitely adopting either view. has:
er Chemie und Pharmacie, exi, 44.

4, On the isomorphism of stannic, silicic, and zirconic acids.—The ob-
servation of Marrenac that the fluostannates and fluosilicates are isomor-
phous, renders it necessary to assume that silicic acid, like stannic acid,
- contains two equivalents of oxygen . Rose di rects attention to ‘the
fact that zircon has the same crystalline form as yee and with
this also in the cleavages. The isomorphism o este with one of the

orms of titanic acid is still more close, although peter pr not like ru-
tile and tinstone been found in twin crystals. The author remarks that
zircon must be regarded as an isomorphous sesame of one atom of
zirconic and one atom of silicic acids. It appears however that there are
some varieties of zircon in which the two acids are onite in ratios.
Hermann has examined a it pe sect Fo two atoms of zirconic and
three of silicic acids, and has ed the mineral rie iadchie® it has
the same crystalline form as salaaiy a zircon.— Ann, der Physik und

hemie, evii, 602.

6. On the equivalent of manganese.— —The equivalent of manganese
was determined by Berzsxtvs as 27°56, from two analyses of the chlorid.
Von Hauer has recently found for this equivalent the number 27°5 by
Fee 2 anhydrous a of manganese by sulphuretted hydrogen to

Iphid of manganese. His result, 27°5, was the mean of nine experi-

438 Scientific Intelligence.

ments. Dumas, in his well known memoir on the supe of the
elements, asserted that he had determined the equivalent of manganese
by reducing an artificial peroxyd to protoxyd by means of a current of
hydrogen, and that he had found the number 26, as he expresses it, d’une
maniere absolue. In a later communication, however, he gives the num-
ber 27'5 as the true equivalent of manganese, the same being determined
by the method of Berzelius. Schneider objects to the methods of Berze-
lius and of von Hauer, believing that both are subject to constant sources
of error. He has therefore determined the equivalent anew by the method
already employed by him with cobalt and nickel, viz., by the analysis |
pure neutral oxalate of manganese, the ratio between the carbon an
manganese being sufficient for the purpose. In this manner four ae

to ye Se 29, acne dectonale { in the second and. third places.

In a third paper on equivalents and on the determination of equiva-
lents in general, Schneider has given a very severe, but at the same time,
os at criticism of Dumas’ two memoirs on the. sicmie weights of the
elemen

¢ lai

alkaline salt. The arudible 3 is then heated till the mass fuses. When on
removing the cover for an instant, a zinc flame is observed, accompanied
by a peculiar souud, the heat is dinnittished by closing the draught, and

mass kept about ten minutes in fusion. The crucible is then to be
seeed. from the fire, gently struck to collect the metal, and allowed
to cool. On breaking the cricible, a well fused Ms ote: of zine is found
under a green slax. After being well cleaned in water, it is to be place
in dilute nitric acid, which is to be frequently reneved till all the zine is
dissolved. e chromium remains as a crystalline pore which is again

sharp thombohedrons of great ee = almost tin-white aie tet ope
cific gravity is 6-81 at 25° C.; it magne nati ic. Heated in the air, it
oxydizes, becoming yellow and “pee "Tike steel, and gradually

covered with a thin layer of green oxyd. When heated in chlorine, it

&
;
j

Botany and Zoology. 439

glows vividly and becomes violet chlorid. Chlorhydric acid dissolves it
easily to the blue protochlorid. Dilute sulphuric acid which dissolves
iron easily is without action upon chromium; but on gently warming a
very violent action sets in and the remaining metal now acquires the
property of being easily dissolved after washing even by the most dilute
sulphuric acid. Concentrated and boiling nitric acid does not attack it in
the least—Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, B. exi, p. 230.
Ww. G.

; IL BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY.

440 Scientific Intelligence.

other author has described a genus Calanthera. We have a suspicion
that the “Kth.” is a slip of the pen, and that the name is really Nuttall’s,
— by him to a specimen in the Hookerian herbarium. . But if this in be

Mr.
ae applies the name of “ Lasiostega vores Rupprecht (ined.)” to
No. 250, which he had before called a Trio The plant is undoubtedly
a male Buffalo-Grass, But no genus Lassa is found to be pulses,

as its most interesting feature, a regular transition from the foliage to the
pe of the flowers. Dr. Engelmann notes that the glumes are wanting

of the spikelet. The latter eee 3 of three to five flow rs, of which the

lowest flower and sometimes the next are poate al or ae mentary, from

one to three succeeding ones & are staminiferous or ¢ ees according to
h

floral structure of the order, the pan of which is by no means settle¢
yet. Dr. Engelmann’s three excellent ee displaying all the details of :
the flowers, will facilitate this investigatio

The youthful Academy of Natural Becuce of St. Louis is rel inaugu-
rating its public career by publications of such character as this paper,
and the more elaborate Monograph of Cuscuta by the same author, wack

in bs

during the past nea, in ei Cumber! Mountains

eastern part of shepemencanden he ledge of a dripping

Botany and Zoology. 441

trary to what would have been expected of the habitat of such a Fern,
the district is ~— far from humid, as may be inferred from the rng
of ~~ re

doing Fighored and Oriaf Desteaprions of 8 ga Plants, velosted
Jrom the Dublin University Her gern . . Harvey, M.D.,
E.R.S., &e., Prof, Bot. Univ. Dublin, &e. Dublin, at I, No.1, 1859.—

The Nos. contain 25 plates each : the present one is accompanied by 16
pages of letter-press, all in octavo. The work is designed to be a

in quarterly parts (at 5 shillings sterling each), ‘four to a volume of 0
hundred plates, with deseriptions. The author is pledged to finish the
first volume, and intends to eat it throug five or six volum
encouraged by the sale of the first. “the i ie tn is fe to “250
copies, 150 of which are reserved for wlotie sale,” not doubt that
Prof. Harvey’s moderate expectations in this respect yes $e satisfied. A
few copies should be secured in this country,—for which Prof. Gray of
Cambridge will receive subscriptions. The projits of the sale, if any, are
to be devoted to the University herbarium, of which the anthor i is the .
curator. The plates are very good for general habit and appearance, but
the Phe es printer has not done full te we nasi author’s drawings
on the stone. The analyses are doubtless very ¢ We venture to
suggest, how mick that they do not always tell all iron could be desired,
cle exam:

ar re
ovules in the Kraussia and Mitrastigma made known, nor is any charae-
ter mentioned to distinguish the latter from Canthium, to which sits ae
been referred.

Grisebach’s Outlines of Systematic’ Botany, for Acadia om
struction (Grundriss der Systematischen Botanik, &c.; von A Grise-
BLOG) Géttingen, 1854, pp. 180, 8vo.—A convenient manual for the
class-room, an nd well devised for that mn In the classification the

merely tentative; and the most that ean be said of the best of them is,
that it is less faulty — other A featuré in this little work which
is origin nal, so far as we though something much like it has been
devised by Dr. Pickaedse od el worthy of adoption, is the neat form-
ula for expressing the numerical of the flower in an order as Sai
&e., and also he degres of union: os consolidation. Thus; t type of
Coryophy jllacece is ex 1 by the formula, 5, 5, 10, S: ihe sti
ae meson of en ine ‘the aoe foral rans, ei the at

ee No. 84—-NOV,,

442 Scientific Intelligence. :

the union of the three carpels into a compound pistil. Take now for ex-
ample, a few of the genera

Silene, 5, 5, 10, 3. Dianthus, 5, 5, 10, 2.
Cerastium, 5, §,.10; 5. Sagina, 4-5, 4-5, 4-5—8-10, 4-5.
Corrigida, 5, 6 5, 5 5, 3. Scleranthus, 5, 0, 10, 2.

The 0 expresses sth absence of that part of a complete flower. While
the curved line above indicates connation, or union of the several parts of

the parts of successive cycles. The character » stands for an indefinite
me as used by DeCandolle. So the formula for Malvacee is

5, 5,0, 2-

For Hypericinee, 5, 5, 3m —5a ay Rosacee, 5, 5,20, D.
Commelynaceee, 3, 3, 6, 3. Tridece, 3, 3, 3, 3.
ee es ee
. ote Lay F ee en =~
Gentianee, 5, 5, 5, 2. Scrophularinee, 2:3, 3-2, 2:2,2. —

Rubiacee, a Ra 5, 5, 2.

The botanist an paces the meee plan at a glance, It is gs
applicable to the genera; a word or two in addition expend, |
nature of wt fruit, or any ‘peculiarity of structure

a for the past

ten ae the Annales des Sciences Naturelles for 1858, published im
1859, Garreau and Brauwers have an article upon the same subject, :
brin ing out essentially the same familiar facts. They, however, direct —
attention peponels to the continued exfoliation of these Moy gan

which, in some cases, considerable organic matter is thrown off into 1
sige ing an explanation of the excretion from the roots, of which

it was formerly taken by Marcet and DeCandolle.

Botany and Zoology. 443

Since the above was written we have learned with sorrow the death of
Professor Henfrey. In the announcement, the editor of the Gardener’s
Chronicle appropriately remarks, that “ Professor Henfrey has lon n

of his friend, Dr. seo are justly celebrated for their accuracy as we

of Botany, an e papers on Vegetable ructure now in course of pub-
lication in the Pant a of the Royal ae Society wilt al always be
regarded as the productions of one who was not only familiar with the
truths of science, but able to render them attrnetive to those who are
little accustomed to think upon such subjects.” Probably his best origi-
nal contribution ee science was his investigation into the formation of the
pg oo in ase

Mareet, Jiiger, , &., and also “ai experiments made in this vicinity
within the present year. Still, moulds will grow in paste poisoned with
arsenic, and e insects will feed upon animal matter impregnated with
rite without apparent injury.* Notwithstanding these known excep-
onal cases, however, the following statements, condensed from the Gar-
Jena Chronic: pt. 10, are startling, not only in a physiological
point of view, but ee ae if confirmed, they mu tents all medico-legal
evidence in cases ted ni vy, Professor

uspected poisoning.
of Agriculture and " Aggeioedeceed Cheeriatry' in the Royal Dublin Society,
knowing that sulphuric acid containing arsenic was largely employed in
making superphosphate and other artificial manures, and that these must

when ted to their roots in the soil, Dr. Davy transplanted into a
fewer sat ‘lindo small plants of peas, and when they were established, he
commenced watering them every —_ or third day with a saturated
aqueous solution of arsemio ous acid ; this treatment was continued for

riod avy W,

some months; on ie soa he found that these plants had grown up to
their full size, ” had flowered and: fruited:- On marcel ise mination he
detected arsenic in them, both in the herbage an nope Hav-
ing thus learned “ that arsenic ay ae — up in comida —
ti | . servi _ ora :

ty by plants without destroying oor aster ome
xisted in di efile manures (such as the

* See this vol., p. 166.

444 Scientific Intelligence.

weeks (where, the wonder is, that it should have grown at all, sepreance
of the arsenic), he cut off its top, tested it for arsenic, and found “them
distinct indications of the pres ence of that substance.” Finally, to ascer-

evidence of having been arseniated.” The facts thus collected appear to
Dr. Davy “to have some important bearings; for though the quantity of
arsenic which occurs in such manures is not large when compared with
their other constituents, and the proportion of ‘that substance which is
thus added to the soil must be small, still plants may during their growth,
as in the case of alkaline and earthy salts, take up a pensions Listers

ercise an injurious effect on the health of men and anima Dr. y’s
paper is Pee a the London, Dublin, and Edinburgh Puilsophieal
Magers ong: | .
Death of ip. a tall.—We learn that this veteran Eon ll
whose healih has for several years been much impaired,—died on the
10th of September last, at his residence, Nutgrove, near Preston in Lan-
eashire, at the age of seventy-three, In view of the great services which
Mr. Nuttall has rendered to the botany, ornithology, and mineralogy of
the United States during the last forty sta a fitting tribute to his mem-
ory may be expected from the hands of some of his surviving friends.

wag
vice, at the India ‘Howe ba. continued aan ae to the fom om ‘i
lo: ae ~ sche —

af Ar oie Seco naturforhallanden och fon orntida utbredning, af Orro
i Part I, 8vo, pp. 154 and 2 plates, Stockholm, 1859.—A work
of much interest to naturalists and others who have directed their re-
atc to the Arctie regions, thes rst part commences with a bishent:

to
rely as has been recently determina a: Baird and Cassin. In “the

| show the eee of the author pln 3
on the New coast.

species also :
is Orn nigra. Mytitus levipalus discrepans

Astronomy. 445

Gould) is C. ——_ (Gr.). Mucula tenuis of Gould is WV. nsa
Reeve, and not the fenuis of Europe. Leda tenuisuicata of Stimpson is
LL. pernula, “Teda sapotilla is L. hyperborea Lovén (?) One new genus
is described, Dacrydium, for a shell which is supposed to be the Modiola
vitrea of Moller. It differs from it in its “ dentes cren nulati, antico tuber-
culiformi, postico elongato, cristis suffulti decurrentibus,” ete. The oc-
currence of an Arca (A. glacialis) in so high a latitude is siemsiages

9. ig gar Meddelelser fra den naturhistoriske Tomine a " Kjv-
benhaun for Aaret 1858, With 2 plates. Copenhagen, 1849.—This
number contains the following — :—Plante Centroamericane ; A.
S. Oersted. Ad Bryologiam Norvegicam annotationes aliquot; ZA. Jen-
sen. Some remarks on the soca species of the genus Aega, and on
the i limits of the genus; C. Listken. On Stegophilus insidiosus,
a new rom Brazil, and on its habits; J. Reinhardt. Description of
. new s jade of Serolis, 8. Schythei; C. Liitken. Annulata Oerstediana,

: Enumeration of the Annelides collected by Oersted and Kroyer in
rea "West Indies and Central America; 2. Grube. Description of the

entral American serpent-stars ; Winter-flora of Nice; C.
Vaupell, On the dwelling of the ae Cymothoe uths of va-
rious fishes ; Procee of the scientific meetings of the

Natural History Society in the coe 1858. . 8.
10. Bidrag titl Kinnedomen om Skandinaviens Amphipoda Gamma-
ridea af R. M. Bruzenivs. (Kong. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1858,) pp. 104
and 4 plates—A most valuable contribution to our knowledge of that
difficult. order ea Amphipoda. 77 species are described, of which 18
ie new. The n w genera are oe (fam. Dolichide), Autonoe

each s
Iii, ASTRONOMY.

. Supposed planet between Mercury and the Sun.—At a session of the
ieee Academy of Sciences, Sept. 12, 1859, a paper by M. LeVerrier
was read, giving the result of his researcMes undertaken in order to ascer-
tain the cause of the discrepancies between the gringo of Mercury as de-

termined by observation of its transits across the sun and as required —

theory. He finds that by adding 38 seconds to the secular motion of the

perihelion of Mercury, these o within abou
he cause of this disturbance. he presumes to to be either one

Nore.—In this connection it may be worth while to state that there
are e-alveady on record observations which make it highly probable that
ts an 1 intra-Merearial avradee with a satellite. “Wartmann reports

446 Scientific Intelligence.

(Bibl. Univ. Avr. 1837, p. 409; Quetelet: Corr. Math, et Phys., Aug.
1837, p. 141) that Pastorff, of Buchholz, an attentive observer of the
solar spots, saw twice in 1836 and once in 1837 two round black spots
of unequal size, moving across the sun, changing their Leer rapidly, and
pursuing each time routes somewhat different. He found that the two

8h 12™; that the two observed Nov. 1, from 2» 48™ to 3h 42™ traversed
in this time an arc of 6’, and that the go observed Feb. 16, 1837,
traversed an arc of 14’, between 32 40™ and 4h 10m, In 1834 Pas-
torff saw two similar bodies pass six times across the disc of the sun.
(Bib. Univ., t. 58.) The larger was about 3”’ in diameter and the smaller
1” or 3'"25. Both appeared perfectly round: sometimes the smaller
a the larger, sometimes the repeat The greatest observed dis-
tance between them was 1’ 16”. e bodies were often very near each ~
other and their transit then reniied only a few hours. They had the
appearance of a dull black spot, like that of Mercury in its transits.

On further search the following statements were found, which may per-
haps bear on the case. Flaugergues mentions (De Zach: Corresp. As-
tron., vol. 13, p. 17, 1825) that Pastorff saw two eiearkabte spots on the
sun Oct. 23, 1822, and also spots July 24 and 25, 1823. Olbers (in
Tillpales Phil, Mag. vol. 57, p. 444, 1821) cites Gruithuisen’s observa-

tions of peal ar spots Tune 26, 1819, viz., one ne bred mi ac) of the

Academ y, Au ug. 4, 1845, C. R. 2 6.) to show that Mereury suffered
no Gesxpldieel disturtatice. ‘Nerortheledl in the hope of finding this

orbit. , © meus
2. Shooting — of —— 1859.—The following observations
by Prof. A. C. Twining at Bostoh, Mass., and by Mr. Francis Bradley and
others at Chicago, Ill, a that the al meteoric display peice
9-10 occurred this year, but on a _ somewhat reduced.
(1.) Observations at Boston, Mass., by Prof. Twining —* From 2
A.M. to 3h 30™ (10th) I observed 45 cis and 11 aa
meteors in a space around the radiant whose radius would be about the
arc from the Pole to Tauri. The sky clear; paths of meteors not long
nor brilliant; two left visible traces for about six seconds. The aver
place of the radiant during the time of observation was near 38° 30’ A. .
and “ 15’ N, deel.”
al at Chicago, Ill., by Mr. Francis Bradley and others.—
J ly 29, 1859, 104 to ies P. m.—watching alone, looking chiefly to the
t, Mr. B. in the hour sizteen shooting stars, of which

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 447

five or six _ were conformable to the August point of radiation. Aug.
5, 11 to 12 Pp. m.—nineteen shooting stars were observed during the hour,
seven or eight of which were conforma
Aug. 9. Observers—Messrs. F. Bradley, Wm. Dickinson, E, P. Marsh,
and after 1 of the 10th, Mr. L. Baird. The sky was nearly clear, and the
moon interfered until about one o'clock.
hooting stars observed :

11 to 12 P.M, in N, 12
4s “ 73 W. fs
. “§. 6——25
12 to 1 a.m, (10th,) #1, 12
“ “ “ W. 13
ats «R, 14—-39
1 to 3 a.M. en: 54
“ eé “ E. r 33
“ “ “ S. 61
- ms es of 78——226
3 to 34 P. M., se 24
os oe oc BB 10
6c oo “ S. 99
s . ote a Be 22 1

The pn were plainly increasing in frequency during the latter part
of the time. w of them were large, and only a small number of all
were qnedatonbabte to the point of apparent saahations usual at this date.

IY. MISCELLANEOUS SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGEN CE.

1. Earthquakes in California during 1858 ; by J. B. Trask, MD—
During the past year we have had occasion to note the occurrence of
eight shocks of earthquake in this State. This number is one half less
than that in 1857, and one third less the number in 1856. The shor

with one exception have been unmarked by anything like violence, being
litde else than mere vibrations or rat unnoticeable by the great
majority of the people. They are as follow

Feb. 10th.—A-smart shock at Kanaka Flat, Sierra Co, No time noted.

Feb. 15th.—A light shock in San Francisvo at 4h 20™, Was observed
in the county of San Mateo ten miles south of the city.

Aug. 19th.—A light shock in San Francisco at 222 10™. The motion
was east and west and undulatory.

Sept. 2nd.— A smart shock at Santa Barbara, no time give

Sept. 8rd.—A smart shock in San Jose at 0h 40™, This nick was felt
at Santa Cruz 25 og coins and was evidently more marked in strength
at that locality. No damage.

Sept. 12th.—A ah shock at San Francisco at 194 4 The
was from north to south. There were two aie ee undlatory
movements lasting about fifteen seconds.

Sept. 26th—A light shock at San Francisco at 1 26m,

Nov. 26th.—A heavy shock at San Ffancisco at 0h 34m, This shock
was by far the heayiest during the year, it awoke most people from slum-
ber and created no little alarm, perso rsons left their beds and sought cooler

s

448 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

was felt at Oakland ten miles east of the cit , but was not felt at Stock-
ton, Sacramento, or Marysville. It was evidently confined to an area of
ten or twelve miles.

Up to this date, (Aug. 10th, 1859,) there have been but three shocks
during the present year.

2. Hruption of Mount Hood. (Extract from a private letter dated San

most singular collection of clouds hovering over the summit, having a

diat e , for mounting either dry or in balsam s
in the substitution of chlorate of soda for the chlorate of potash employed
according to Bailey’s method; and the whole process ma thus

summed up. 1. (Say for guano) wash in water. 2. Boil in nitric acid.
3. Pour off the acid from the sediment, add fresh acid, boil for fifteen
minutes, pour in a little muriatic acid and boil for five minutes. 4. After
complete washing out of the acids, carbonize the residue with strong sul-
phuric acid; effect the combustion of the carbonized portion with ——

_ of soda ; wash perfectly with water, and the diatoms need no further -
treatment.

‘Two thi

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 449

boiling in strong acids injure the valves of diatoms, and especially those
which have delicate markings; Bailey’s method as modified by your sub-

. umboi
Travels—[We have received from the venerable and distinguished Carl
Ritter,* the illustrious Geographer of Berlin, the following “ Proposition,”
and take pleasure in laying it before the American public in the hope
that the appeal which it impliedly contains for American contributions
may not bein vain. We shall be very happy to receive and transmit to
Berlin pi contributions to the Humsoupr Funp which the friends of

4‘In the course of centuries there springs up here and there a man who,
uniting powers of investigation and generalization, like Aristotle or Leibnitz,
represents in himself the multifarious science of his time. Among these
few x Renee made belongs ALEXANDER VON Houpoup pt; bold and cau-

life in science will never die, but will continue wen frat by its own
inherent power. But his place in the world is left vacant, and that prompt
and helpful love, that unwearied md fostering zeal w Heh the struggling
scientific talent of every land found in him are departed. No one can

ander von Humboldt. ertheless it is a natural wish to perpetuate be-
yond his life through an ame om this noble covariant of his activity.
“It is therefore proposed to found an institution under the name of the
Humboldt. Stiftung, having for its object to a assistance to rising
talent, wherever it may be found, in those directions to which Humboldt
devoted his scientific energies, viz., scientific labors, and extensive jour-
neys of exploration.
“It is proposed to confide the distribution of any means obtained for
this purpose to the scientific body of which he has been a faithful and effi-

th ade, h
draft and in conjunction with the Committee to establish the statutes of
the Association , adapted to the amount of capital subscribed, and to apply

its resources worthily i in assisting promising or already developed talent.
In pursuing such an aim We recognize the hindrances which arise from the
circumstances of this particular period. But we do not shrink in these
ing forward the everlasting mission

inds all nations in one, _

Ale: von Humboldt, and it seems to
o impracticable thought, to unite in one efficient body the Princes
Ss < Nobility to which he by birth be-

tee the circle of trade who profited
: in cultivated European circles
mee he ee well een oe ae both worlds—to unite them
‘all so so as to form a living anemianent $0 his name, which shall work on
for science from age to age.

Yi _ Whose done we bref ent ince wsting the lines Se p. 451.

. SERIES, Vol. XXVIII, No. 84.—NOV,, 1859.
edi We . HepB G a ia

450 Miscellaneous Intelligence.

“In this feeling we take the liberty of inviting a collection for the
Humboldt-Stiftung, and beg that subscriptions may be sent to the banking
house of Mendelsshon & Co., in Berlin, The collected capital will be
invested with prudence and the interest “4 to the specified objects.
In six months a report will be rendered to the public.

“We recommend then in full confidence to the active friendship of all

ho recognize in truth and gratitude the greatness of the de parted, an
insttation which will work down to remote ages in Humboldt’s spirit,

o honor to his name.”

wT his memorial is signed by F. v. Bunsen, Ehrenberg, Dove, Encke,

Lepsius, ape ee itter, and sixteen others.

9th Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement J
Science was held at Aberdeen, Scotland, commencing on the 14
September.—It was graced by ae presence and the hospitality of Koy.
alty. The Prince Consort m a very sensible opening speech, 2
the reser appears to have bien} in all respects a good one.

6. . D. Daya sailed for Europe in October, for an absence of
about a viet, Rest from his too severe and long co ntinued scientifie

i di

we dont re sgt to say that Dr. Newberry is connected wit
a government expedition under the War Department, commanded by
Capt. McComb of the U. S. Army, under whose direction the investiga-
tions are being made. ‘
9. Journal “of the American Oriental Society. Vol. vi, No. 1—This
Society, in its zealous cultivation of oriental literature, has just now been
placiag the scientific world under special obligations. ‘Two important
papers, revealing to the En bas ader some of the treasures of Oriental
science, occupy nearly the entire number . the Journal now before us,

the annual half volume for the current yea

e first is an article of 128 pages oy ‘the Chevalier N. Khanikoff,
Sunies erage at Tabriz, oe It consists of an analysis and
_ xtracts of an Arabic work on the water-balance, written by ‘al-Khazint
n the twelfth eontaty, and entitled Book of the Balance of Wisdom.
This paper, ‘originally in French, the Committee of Publication have here
presented in English, with a translation de novo of the exte extracts
from the original work, which are here printed in Arig in connection

lance
ning specific gravities; andthe Arabic work here analyzed and

rt a peerantic treatise on the subject, containi pearl oe in detail, —
of several ingenious forms of such ces 5

with figures
of the el and mechanical prssipie involved in their construe-
with |

pec cao t = ot Sa of ar philosophy
ve aan state en
Atabs, at a time foes ery

VS gee ee ene eee ee Le ee

Miscellaneous Intelligence. 451

science of the world; the treasures which they had obtained by Py
from Greece and India being faithfully kept by them during the long
eclipse of Paris learning ‘until the western nations, emerging fro
hess, were ready to receive them at their hands, and under the influ-
ence of a higher Sb ta develop the germs thus providentially pre:
served into the rich fruits of modern science,
We quote a few sraciehts of the results for specific gravities given in
the “ Book of the Balance of Wisdom,” in connection with modern de-

terminations.
Substances. ace. to ‘al-Khazini. Modern authorities.
+ - < . 19°05 - - 19°26-19°3
ercury, - - 13°56 - - 13°56-13°59
Lead, - 11°32 - - 11°35-11°44
Silver, - 10°30 < - 10°43-10°47
Copper, - . 8-66 - : 67- 88
bein : ‘ 8°57 : 8$-40- 8-60
- - « 114 . 76 - 7-79
in, - . 7-32 ‘ : 7-29
Emerald, - 2°45 - : 2°68— 2°77
Pearl, . e 2°60 . 2°61- 2°75
Salt, ; 219 : 2-07- 2:17
Wax, : “ 0-95 0-96
Boiling Water, - . 0958 : 0°960
Ice, . ; 0965 ES 0°916-0°927
Sea Water, - : 1041 ‘ 1:029-1-04
ive oil, - - 0-920. : 0°918-0-919
Human blood, - 1°033 - 1:0

The other article seaiea to, filling 128 pages, is is the first part of a
translation from the Sanskrit of one of the oldest and most important
text-books of Hindu astronomy, the Sarya-Siddhanta, with notes and
an Phe snp by Rev. Ebenezer Bur; formerly missionary of the

age F, M. in India, assisted by the Committee “f Publication.
e call attention to this very interesting paper at the present
time, as it will deserve a more extended notice when completed. The
ork is composed, like most of the Sanskrit literature, in metrical
¢

10. Osrreary.—Pror, Cart Rirrer the “pS ra died
at Berlin, Sept. 28th, in ie 81st eegitt ‘He was born August 8th, 1779.
Death of Dr. —We. 0 record the early Meu of
Dr. Joseph Grailich the “Gistingnished a. and physicist.
At the time of his decease Dr. Grailie h was Professor of gear | ie
physics in the wee Sos University at Vienna rig one of the Adjunct
al Mineral Cabinet. He died at Vienna on the
13th of September in the 31st year of his age.

INDES TO~¥D

LUME XXVIII.

Absorptive properties of Soils, 71.
ee of Sciences, distribution of Prizes,

Acclim mation, Dromedary in S. A., 431.
Acid, omg = aM gallhumic, 383.

saie e, 278.
= ane ce silicic and zirconic, isomorph-

Afton Rog os soma 94, 411.

— s 2 Ealee n Hu mboldt, 96.

, L mip: :
Agrienltoral § Science some points of, by S.

on, 7

rthelot, 277.
Aluminium, mannfactureo of, 126, 160.
America, history of the discover ry of, 419,
en : r. Assoc. for Ad. Sci. » 158, 13th meeting,

ee es of flies, 166,
for, ‘143.

Arcanir a.
toleration ret bans
Association, British "29th meeting, 450,
Astronomic al observatio mm (Oxford), 303,
Atkinson, on naive ol, 1
Auroral] arch ie April 3, ie 154, 408.
oe of August, 859, 335.
mseety Me., E. E Loom

at For ronto, C W.,

: P. Kin ston, mi
<< t New Haven, bests 4 Ce Zann

at W. Point, N. Y., A. C . Twining, 394.
at Bloomington, Ind., D. ‘Kirkwood, 396
at Springhill, Ala., "A. Cornette tte, 8. J.,

at Jeffe rson Co., Miss., 432.

: e
‘ss ten S. F., his mammals of N. A., 158.
ce of Wi isdom, or the water balance,

Berthelot, on ya ]
Billings, ais bei

Blakision, Capt., on the go 2 of two
asses of the Ro poy ore

Bolivia, owed map of,
population of, 98.

Botany—
of Japan, = aa 187.

HB

adley, F Aug., 1859, 446.

esa Cours de Me henigue, noticed, 432,

B Robert, life ge noticed, |

Buckton, on organic ompounds containing
metals, 146.

iard de Latour, death of, 424.
graphs

ra ‘by

Casseday, 8. A., and vey, on new species
of crinoide

Cellulose, transformation to sugar, 430.

rchment, 431.

R ae ., anno! esau of his man-
j of spherical astronomy, 144,

be atthe ics, abstracts of, 144,

_

on ft © or

, 154
Coal formations of N. America, 21.
tar as a disinfectant.
”|'Coast ri of U.S., Feport for 1857, ai
Kohl’s report on discoveries on the Ps-
cific coas

‘|\Comets of 1858, 185

859, 153.
larized light of,
Coraate: ., O1 Sse of August, 1859, 398.

Correction of error respec ox aah tes dis-

rected,
rinoidea, ae new species, 233.

Dana, J. D., on oe of a 250. ©
rture for Europe, 4:
odepa of Marcou's nein ures, 153.
seven’

alcohols, 277.
Bibliographical notices, 159, 303, 431, 444.
il corals of Canada W
52, new genera of Brachipods

ee

th supplement to his mineralogy,

FE na pe ae ae ee

INDEX.

Davy, Sir H., discovery of alkaline metals,

Dawson, S. J., his Lake Superior report no-
ticed, 151.

Deville, St. Claire, work on manufacture “i S
aluminium, 26, 1

Dewey, Prof. C. caicograph, 231,

Dee eep Sea dnands ngs, ratus for, 1 a

tance for: a submarine selogenph; 51.)

Despreiz, Guuahiniens mple bodies with

Dumas, 121.

453

_——- i caves - Palmero, 284.

vons 7.
tte supposed subeneiae origin of Ten-
eri
and Paleontology ved New York, 149.
— votre
f Ne nee in N. Mexico,

xplorations
country N. of Lake Superior, &e.,
(Gasue s), 151.
Re _— of South og 148,
Can

Disinfection and dressing wounds, 425, rvey of a, 148.
lom can ma ead in the mee of, ‘365. spexinah boundar ‘Dinleiatile, 148
rome: mported into S. 431. Pennsylvania !
See farther Foss
E. Snes ot ——— notices, 144, 276, 4 : 432. .
E ‘ man, D. C., geogra eal notices, 89, 41
gi en in Si hete baes in be gun Gray, A., Botany of ,
Botanical notices, 290, 4

Fie fo of sulphuric acid, 28
m, G., can cactaces, 291.

risebach’s outlines of systematic botany,

noticed, 441.

“ney we tis grasses, ee Gutherie on valeral, 1

Equivalent ch chemical, of, manganese, 457. pee and ‘magnesian rocks, how formed,

lithiu et
Ls uivocal eneration, 1 I.

meer cane Les eee Oregon, 448, al, Jaks. YT: walaenone

Ethylene, Swartz, es ox a of, 144, || Harvey, ‘Wm iH ME cara ter oe pei 441,
naa ak ee , fos sil plants from Vancouver's ae a “~ ee C, 2nd

s

vealed ., researches in physics and}
ge ea 14 7.

Fertilizers, general law of ante |
among saline,

Force, correlation ‘and conservation of, by
Jos. LeConte, 305.

Fosstrs—

Crin
corals ‘of ee Wes st, 1

See farther ee GEOLOGY.
‘owler, ; hang a flint naplomentieudlt in
gravel, 28

Franklin, Sir a. fate of, 423.
monia chromium bases, 276.

—— Huzley’s teatitte on, 206.
. F, A., contributions to mineralogy,

observations on the occurrence of gold, |

Genther, Dr. Aue, on electrolysis of sul-
phuric acid, 28
Geographical Wotisits, No. VIII, 89; 1X, 411.

GeoLocr— Spiral?
; botany and zoology, in N. California,

changes in a coast of S. Carolina, 354.

Ez senioee, ~ Py

| Hum
beer} ofnine new subearboniferous Hombotdi found

| Hee ter, Br "Prof. .,0n fossil plants of Washington
‘erri
Horch B.

iat on a Stn 442.
E arch, 154.
445.

153,
pos Tight o of surpral curtain of Axgent,

sae

supposed new pee between Mer-
Siiry and the Sun, 445
Rational Cosmology, by, no-

eulogy of Agassiz on, 96.

mer 429

unt, rection, history of eupho-

tides, 157,

on salts of lime and magnesia, and for-
rocks,

mation of gypsum and magnesian

—
~~
So

, 365,
Hu urley, gi - Bae pals on the eon

gemmati

inppearne of on Ike, 2
steam rig ag ie eres
tro manu sti J. 8. 156.
Japan, relations oi Gouny ethan of N.

America, Gray, 187
Johnston, C. improved mode of preparing

toms, 447.
Jonson 1 Wy 4. reser: smear mamma

beastie bones of ienaieen me
gf idiana, 2 388. ewe

K.
G. Bas orsereae Aug., 1859, 388.
Kirkwood, D., on f 1859, 396.
garni’ eer on Vdabevitins on the Pacific

454 INDEX.

Kolbe, on lactic acid, - valeral, 145.
Kuntzman. d Thomas, atlas o
America,
L.

—_ on earthquakes of Italy, 21

kes, disappearance of ice on oo.
ie of flies not poisoned by arsenic, 166.
Lave cag erga on ‘steep § slopes 8, 221.

“ore in a i chemical and pag ae
ena, 305.
trong Huxley's, on phenomena of gemma-
tion,
Lesley, J. P., his iron manufacturer's guide,
noticed, 156.
“ ry ies on the coal formations of N.
meri

on ‘sal ‘Slab from Vancouver Island,

LeVe Eee purturbations of piace 445.
Lichen’s of N. America, Tuck
— on scientific and Sicadaskie 68 eis

nae bs M., Report on Geol. S. C., 148.
on changes i in ge of S. Car., 354,
a. e and magnesian salts, reaction of, 170,

Lithium, regen wei
“2s Sir Nee Gee a ‘ac of Canada

on
221.
Liitken, Dr. Ch. a on Oph
Lyman, C. 8. sarcra of Anguat, "859, 301,
Morehead! sketch of . Olmsted, 109.
Lyman, T., abstra = Seer
Lyon, Sidney, int Casey, oer Fs
tion of nine new crinoi 233.

M.
Magnesia, salts of, and magnesian rocks, how
rmed, T. S. Hunt, 17 70 and 365.
Mag nee oo ~ 432,
istre, echenics, oGicedk
Malla a on oom —s all poe acids, 38
weretit of lithium, big

on the nitride of zirconium, 346.
Miaktants of N. America, Baird's, 158.
equivalent of, 437.

Marcou, J., his Jurassic in N. Mexico shown
to be Cretaceous
his stri
notieed, 153.
Mure: urehison's notice of his Dyas and

Trias,
Mari isomorphism of stan: ili
ted sircduie seide, 437, ee
=

tures on N. American geologists, ||

Meteoric stones sehieh, ay: ne Indiana March
859,

28th, 1 J. L. Sm
icroscope, ‘asoueinde i a Clark, ai.
rst great, in 1829, > no
Mineral localities, new, n Lake Superior, 8.
Minerals, —e of, rn. 130.
NERAL
Schein

Accinhetie. Nordensh hig 130.
Agalmatolite, Scheer

Albite from Califo arnia, ee 249.
Alisonite, Field, 31.

Lake Superior, 8.

Apatite
pores iy on Lake Superior, 9.
Aragonite,

Asbolan a“ Earthy Cobalt, 131.
‘aoe utunite,
Barnhardtite, 132,

~< pasgerne on, 247.

Barytes, 13

on ies Superior, 9.
innite,
I ismuth, native in Bolivia, Genth, 247.

J. B
era see Tetrady ymite.
rewsterite, J. W. Mallet, 48.
i 32.

alamine
altterie, + R. Blum, 133.

alcite, =
eon b bake amine il.

.F
- iv)
ee)
3
_:

e, 13
t
halybite on ar Super ae, "10.
Chrysocolla on Lake Superior, 11.
imolite, 133.
Cobalt, black, see n.

pt,
Copper on Lake Superior, 11.
Copperasine, Shepard, 133.
Crocoisite,
atholite on Lake Superior, 12.

D. Wiha a0
Danounune re J Brush, 129.
Dufreno
a

Gersdorffite, 135.

from Phoenixville, 248.
Glauconite, 135
Gold, 135.

Genth’s observations on, 253.
Sues Klang 135.
Guarinite
ua

Enargite.

eruptions of,
Moyr, F.,on Woifram-steel, a7
Capt., h ement of the
fate of F ,
of August 11, 300,

notes ect
| Gymnite, in felgee

ee a ee ee ee Te ee Pe ee

INDEX, 455

MINERA
pneente 135; : Silver on co le e Superior, 19.
n Lake Superior, 13. Smaragdite, 7. S. Hunt, 140.
Berechalits, 135. pecular iron, see Hematite,
Hislopite, 13 Sphene, 142.
Homichiin, Brehanpt, see Barnhardite. Stilbite, 142,
=e Sundyvikite. A. E. Nordenskiéld, 142.
135. ‘Tarnowitzite, 131,
Hy te ara 136. Tetra —— from Lumpkin Co., Ga., C. U.
linenite, pe of, by Rammelsberg, Bohs 142; from Dahlonega, Ga.,
C. TLS Jackson, 1 142.
Iolite "187, Therm mophyllite, 143.
Tron, patie. of Bohemia, 137. Titanic i ve Ilmenite.
of Tennessee, Genth, 246 ‘Tourmalin
ic (supposed), 259, spiro tH Mo,
Twaarite, see Schorlomite. Tungstate of lime, rhombic, Genth, 252,
Karelinite, &. Hermann, 137. Vauquelinite, W. J. Taylor, 143.
Kapnicite, 137, Vestan, 141.
Keilhauite, 137. Vorhauserite, Kenngott, 143.
Krantzite, C. Bergemann, 138. Wavellite, 1
Labradorite, 138. Weissigite a Lake 2 sings 18.
apis Lazuli, 138, Whitneyite, Genth.
Lazulite, rg Genth’s ce btn 247,
Leadhillite, an Genth, 253.
Saiki 6 on t hake Superior, 14. Xenoti
Lepidochlore, 130, Zeolives of Lake Superior, 19,
pidomelane, 138, Zine,
ee: T Z f, 138, Zine- ‘oy
n La _ Superior, vd Mineralogy, Mana s 7th teaser 128.
iieouia list of new works on, 1}
Magnetite, 1 Genth's contributions to, 246. vyhit.
Manganite on kale Superior, 15. ney’s,
Mellite. ote Mueller, F. £ Fragments Phytographie Aus-
Microe 139. trali
reecciiy of iron from California, Genth, Peter edna Sir Reis cmesomens tf address
before Geographical Society,
Molybdenite, 139. discoveries of Burton and , 412.
Natrolite, 139. ne cc Palliser expedition, 341.
Nema, 4 139. ce of Marcou’s Dyas and Trias, 256.
Nickel and yg arseniuret of, on Lake
Be rated i 10. N.
ickel ores, C. Bergeman Newberry, J. S., Reports on Geology, Botany
Nickel-Gymnite, W. J. Taylor, 139. and Zoology of N. California and Oregon,
Octahedral iron of Vesuvius, Rammelsberg, noticed, 1: ‘f
sig jenn n N. Mexico, 298, 450.
Orthoclase, 14 Nickles, J., wh ines of, 119, oA.
Bes n Lake Seperiet, 16. bibli iographical notices, 159, 43
s eo ite, “
Oxyd of nickel, 139. , sources of, 411
Pectolite, 14 Narall , Thos., death of, 444,
Pelicanite, 140
seat ‘ oO.
olerite, :
: hore te, 140 Obituary of Robert | 1,
: Presbt orchalci Cagniard de I 424.
q Pyro ate Jos. 51.
4 Pyrgom, Dr. Horsefield, 444.
; Quartz, a pont form, 141. een eck 96, 164.
7 Retzbanyite, R. Hermann, 141. D ed, by C. SLi 09
: Rhombic tungstate of lime, 252. Carl 431. yman, 109.
Ripidolite, Genth, of a iner,
Rottisite, upt, 141. Odors | apres he
Rattle, r, Olmsted, D., biographical sketch of, 109,
Saponite, 1 Oriental Society, eof Boivin 450.
Peso et TS. Hunt, 141. _ || Ondarza’s new map of 9.
4 sere Genth, 252. P.
a Schorlo . 141. :
a Scorodite, I re || Palliser expedition, 34
Serpentine, 142, Passes of the Rocky Mtabiine report on
_on Lake : ior, 13. two new ones, 320, ime

’ Payen and Fremy on Cellulose, 123,

456

Peck, Wm. G, Elements of Mechanics, no-
ticed, 303.

patearsohe ~ Carbon, 429.

Plan sed new, “between Sun and

Mei
Porte * = Aurora of Aug. 1859, 403.
Pip tePa analysis of albite by, 249,
Proswitch on bo one cave, 287.

rizes of French Academy, 119-12].

R.

ahieys

|

e, 138. |)
Welc ch acer, 2. |
"Dick d Agent, &e.,
Ritter, Carl, "deat of, 491.

ocky Mountajns, exploration of two new)
passes, by Blakiston, 320.
Rogers, H. D., notice e of his arene

Geol. Report, 149.

3 E., on be Blakiston’s Re-|)
ort he
Scientifi ic versa practical Tnstruction, 258. |
Ren —_ , takes a prize for planet Ne-|

She, por, oom proposed new minerals, 129. |
supposed meteoric iron from N.C.,

a shooting meteor, 2 be Ww

ee stars of August, 1839, E. C. Her-

Siuli n, B., Jr., mete rey ae 5 11, 300.

Simple hodies, disension on aa |

Smith, of m eoric stones
fallen i in Indine March 28, "183 409. |)
Snell, E

ne

econom y.

ithe fasation of, 84. |

appara he ew,

Sort Ca arolina, chavigea in coast of, 352.
cer, C. A., his i rs keh opes, 39,"

Steel, containing tangs

Stimpson, W. “Zoological heieiene: 445,
NAVE Crastacea, 1 a;

Stoddar 2 O PING Ditiviat ¢ 2, 227.

Storer, F. a: on larves of ‘re resisting ar-
nic, 166,

Strychnia, chemical reactions of, 216.

urm, Cours d’ Analyse noticed, 432.
seven as telegrap , importane e of sound-
-¥

oe “ren of, 432,
Torrey Zz, Botany of Me Boundary,

Toten Gen. J. J. G., sudden disappearance of
ice on lakes, 359.

e fall, 228. |)

INDEX.

Troost and Deville eins of vapors, 435,
Tfoubridge, W. P., deep sea sounding, new
apparatus fo re

on deep rehet tig in reference to an
eee telegraph Si.

Tu ee Es .. enumeration of North

an lich s, 200.

Tu i of ‘Combrige, obtains the comet prize,

“Twining , A. C., aurora of 1859, 394.
eheoang aon of Aug. 1859, 446.

V.

'Valeral compounds with acids, 145
Vapors, density of, at high t temperatures, 439.
Vibrations in Holyoke waterfall, Snell, 228.
Vilmorin on ‘kiekein,
if pnemnin conical fu f, 22]
ption of Nout t Hod, 448,
1, Loa,

W.

‘Wagner’ s visit to the —— 93.

| Warren’s oo 4 accom ar a map of
— W. Territory of U.
a the medium by wiih the ingredi-
of a soil enter plants,
ber ot Holyoke, oot in, 228.
oko eor of Aug. 11,
hiti ey, J. D., new mi ineral localities, 8.
Wola steel, 277.

eel,
oody fibre transformed to sugar, 126.
Woome ey, mical reactions of
strychnia, 2
Wurtz, A., on oxyd of ethylene, 144.
Ww lie, , _ on Elephas primogenius in
White River, 283,

Z.

Zivconiom, nitride of, J. W. Mallet, 346.

Amphipoda ee og ea 445,
i ston Soc ist., 159.
in Proe. Acad. Nat Sci. Philed., 159.
Bruzelius, R., on Amphipoda, 4 :
Clark and Lii itken on Ophir 55.
origin o rio,

uivocal neg aad 154.

Gill's synops ; f fi ater fishes of
Trinidad, |

Pr cm Rat Hist. Soc. of Copenhagen,
of Oregon and California, Newberry, 152.
of No rth A Ameri ahah 158.

fishes, 55.

| Otto Sek gn alin
— 444,

Trask, J. B., nurora of Aug. 1859, 406.
_ @arthquakes of 1858 in California, 446.

Vibrio, origin of, . J. Chetty Wi:

‘timpson, N. American Crustacea, 159.

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