After giving these figures, it may be of interest to present the reader with the account given by an eye-witness, M. Génési, of the meeting of the workmen last winter in the depths of the earth, more than 5,000 feet beneath the summit of Mont Fréjus. "On the 9th of November, 1871," says M. Génési, "I was on my regular round of inspection as usual, when I fancied I heard through the rocks the no se of the explosion of the mines on the Bardonnechia side. I sent a dispatch to discover if the hours agreed. They did, and then there could be no longer any doubt we were nearing the goal. Each following day the explosions were to be heard more and more distinctly. At the beginning of December we heard quite clearly the blows of the perforators against the rocks. Then we vaguely heard the sound of voices. But were we going to meet at the same level and in the same axis? For three days and three nights engineers, foremen, and heads of gangs never left the tunnel. The engineers Borelly and Boni directed the works on the Bardonne chia side, M. Copello on that of Fourneaux. We could not eat or sleep; every one was in a state of fever. At length, on the morning of the 26th December, the rock fell in near the roof. The breach was made, and we could see each other and shake hands. The same evening the hote was clear the last obstacle and the mountain was pierced, our work was done. What a rejoicing we had! In spite of the war, the cheers of all scientific Europe came to find us in the entrails of our mounta n when the happy termination of our enterprise became known. The two axes met almost exactly; there was barely half a yard error. The level on our side was only 60 centimetres (less than three-quarters of a yard) too high. But after thirteen years of continual work, who could even hope for so perfect a result? We placed at the point of junction an inscription on a marble tablet, cominemorative of the happy event."

This

How was the happy event brought about? For the variation of less than a yard in more than 13,000 is surely one of the triumphs of modern engineering skill. We cannot do better than borrow the description of the method pursued given by Mr. Kossuth :-"The observatories placed at the two entrances to the tunnel were used for the necessary observations, and each observatory contained an instrument constructed for the purpose. instrument was placed on a pedestal of masonry, the top of which was covered with a horizontal slab of marble, having engraved upon its surface two intersecting lines marking a point, which was exactly in the vertical plane containing the axis of the tunnel. The instrument was formed of two supports fixed on a tripod, having a delicate screw adjustment. The telescope was similar to that of a theodolite, provided with cross webs and strongly illuminated by the light from a lantern, concentrated by a lens, and projected upon the cross webs. In using this instrument in checking the axis of the gallery at the northern entrance, for example, after having proved precisely that the vertical flame, corresponding with the point of intersection of the lines upon the slab, also passed through the centre of the instrument, a visual line was then conveyed to the station at Lachalle (on the mountain), and on the instrument being lowered the required number of points could be fixed in the axis of the tunnel In executing such an operation it was necessary that the tunnel should be free from smoke or vapour. The point of collimation was a plummet suspended from the roof of the tunnel by means of an iron rectangular frame, in one side of which a number of notches were cut, and the plummet was shifted from notch to notch, in accordance_with the signals of the operator at the observatory. These signals were given to the man whose business it was to adjust the plummet by means of a telegraph or a horn. The former was found invaluable throughout all these operations. At the Bardonnecchia entrance the instrument employed in setting out the axis of the tunnel was

similar to the one already described, with the exception that it was mounted on a little carriage, resting on vertical columns that were erected at distances 500 metres apart in the axis of the tunnel. By the help of the carriage the theodolite was first placed on the centre line approximately. It was then brought exactly into line by a fine adjustment screw, which moved the eye-piece without shifting the carriage. In order to understand more clearly the method of operating the instrument, the mode of proceeding may be described. In setting out a prolongation of the centre line of the tunnel, the instrument was placed upon the last column but one; a light was stationed upon the last column, and exactly in its centre, and 500 metres ahead a trestle frame was placed across the tunnel. Upon the horizontal bar of this trestle several notches were cut, against which a light was placed and fixed with proper adjusting screws. The observer standing at the instru ment caused the light to move upon the trestle frame until it was brought into an exact line with the instrument and the first light, and then the centre of the light was projected with a plummet. In this way the exact centre was found. By a repetition of similar operations the vertical plane containing the axis of the tunnel was laid out by a series of plummet lines. During the intervals that elapsed between consecutive operations with the instruments, the plummets were found to be sufficent for maintaining the direction in making the excavation. To maintain the proper gradients in the tunnel it was neces sary at intervals to es ablish fixed levels, deducing them by direct levelling from standard bench marks placed at short distances from the entrances. The fixed level marks in the inside of the tunnel are made upon stone pillars placed at intervals of 25 metres, and to these were referred the various points in setting out the gradients."

On the

There will be two lines of rail in the tunnel. The vault itself will be six metres high and eight metres wide. The tunnel will be walled in along its whole length, and the lime rock will be nowhere exposed. The thickness of the internal masonry forming the tube is from half a yard to a yard and more, according to circumstances. French side the masonry cost on the average 1,300 francs the square metre. On the Italian side only 1,000 francs. The tunnel is wonderfully dry in comparison with many smaller works. There is only one subterranean spring of any importance in it. A water course, or rather aqueduct, has been constructed beneath the permanent way, in order to carry off any water which might drain into the tunnel.

Much has been said about the heat in the tunnel. All accounts agree that it is not excessive, and a recent French visitor to the tunnel gives the following figures :At the entrance, 54° Fahrenheit; at the telegraph station inside, 76° Fahrenheit; the average temperature being about 65° Fahrenheit.

NOTES

THE first session of the Newcastle-on-Tyne College of Phy. sical Science will be opened by inaugural addresses from Pro. fessors Herschel, Aldis, Page, and Marreco, from the 9th to the 12th of October. The examination for the four exhibitions will be held on the 13th and 14th. On the 19th the Inaugural Ceremony will take place, when the Dean of Durham will deliver an address; after which the successful candidates for the exhibitions will be named. Further particulars are given in our advertising columns.

WE announced some time ago that the Council of the Working Men's College, in Great Ormond Street, was proposing a larger infusion of Science in the programme of the College course; and we are now very glad to be able to state that during the next term, which will commence on October 2, courses of lectures

will be given on Geology, by Mr. J. Logan Lobley; on the Use of the Microscope, by Mr. J. Slade; and on Physiology, by Mr. J. Beswick Perrin. Students entering for the course on Geology will have the privilege of attending the ordinary and field meetings of the Geologists' Association. Among the Saturday General Lectures one will be delivered by Prof. W. H. Flower, of the Royal College of Surgeons. No more useful work could be performed than that so generously offered by these gentlemen, who give up their time to the scientific instruction of the working classes in London. We venture at least to predict that they will be rewarded by intelligent and appreciative audiences.

DR. ALLEYNE NICHOLSON, late Lecturer on Natural History in the Medical School of Edinburgh, has been appointed to the Chair of Natural History in the University of Toronto.

A SPECIAL prize was established a few years ago by the French Academy, for the best translation delivered to that body. This prize was awarded in the sitting of the 17th of August to the author of a translation of Mr. Grote's "History of Greece," published by Lacroix. Mr. Grote was an associate member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.

LETTERS from Switzerland state that M. Gerlach, a distinguished Swiss engineer and geologist, was fatally injured on the 7th in a fall from the mountains of the Upper Valais, and died next day in the village of Oberwald The deceased gentleman was the author of several remarkable works relative to surveys and explorations in the Swiss Alps.

THE Times of India, of August 22, asserts that news has been received from Zanzibar that Dr. Livingstone had again been heard of to the west of Lake Tanganyika, whence he had sent to Ujiji, requesting his supplies to be forwarded. A young American was hurrying on by forced marches to Ujiji, in the hope of carrying relief to the traveller. The intelligence appears, however, to want confirmation.

C.

THE Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers publish a list of forty-three special subjects, on which they invite communications for the approaching session, as well as upon others; such as: "a Authentic details of the progress of any work in Civil Engineering, as far as absolutely executed (Smeaton's Account of the Eddystone Lighthouse may be taken as an example). b. Descriptions of engines and machines of various kinds. Practical essays on subjects connected with Engineering, as, for instance, Metallurgy. d. Details and results of experiments or observations connected with Engineering Science and Practice. For approved original communications, the Council will be prepared to award the premiums arising out of special funds devoted for the purpose.

THE Maidstone Journal mentions that an educational effort of considerable promise is about to be made in that town. Several gentlemen have arranged to conduct junior classes during the evenings of the winter months, the subject being Physical Geography. Three hundred pupils from the senior classes of schools in Maidstone have already entered. The course will consist of thirty lectures, and the pupils will be educated up to the standard of the Educational Department at South Ken sington. The lectures will be free.

PROF. HUXLEY has been lately engaged in specting and arranging the valuable reptilian and other remains from the Upper Elgin sandstones now placed in the Dundee Museum He has also been superintending some excavations at Lossiemouth, in order, if possible, to obtain materials for completing the structure of the huge Saurian, Stagonolapis Robertsoni, a full account of which is expected to appear before the Royal Society shortly.

A FEW years ago the existence of a new Tapir on the Isthmus of Panama was first made known by American naturalists.

This animal departs so widely from the ordinary American Tapir in certain anatomical characters (particularly in the pos session of a completely ossified septum between the nostrils, as in the Tichorhine Rhinoceros) that Prof. Gill (its describer) thought it necessary to make it the type of a new genus, calling it Elasmognathus Bairdi, after the distinguished assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The Zoological Society of London have just added to their living collection a fine young male specimen of that animal, which has been placed in the elephant house along with an example of the Tapirus americanus.

THE German surveying ship, the Pomerania, returned from her cruise in the Baltic on the 24th of August, after making some very interesting discoveries. She crossed the Baltic in different directions several times, and during these journeys soundings were carefully taken, the bottom was dredged, and the surface and deep-water currents observed, and the temperature of the water at the surface and at some depth was also carefully noted. These results will shortly be published in full, but a few details have already appeared. The greatest depth between Gothland and Windau was found to be 720 feet, and not 1,110 feet as formerly supposed. At the depth of from 600 to 720 feet, at the latter end of July, the temperature was only from 0'5° to 2° R. No marine plants were met with in this cold area, and only a few annelids were dredged up. Life was very abundant to a depth of about 300 feet, whilst plants were seldom found at a depth of more than 30 feet. Bo h animal and vege

able life were found to be most abundant on the coasts of Mecklenburg-Schleswig and Holstein and in the bay of Lübeck.

As an addition to the list of exploring expeditions tending either directly or indirectly to develop a knowledge of the natural and physical features of the North American continent, Harper's Weekly states that a party of civil engineers has lately been organised at Victoria to survey a route for a proposed railroad through British Columbia and the Red River country to Canada. This is stated to be provided with ample means for the purpose of making a minute geographical reconnoissance of the country, and is expected to add much to our knowledge of the general geology of the continent.

GREAT geological changes are reported from the districts adjoining the Caspian Sea and the river Ural. During the last ten years the surface of the water in the river has sunk more han a foot, and many bogs on the North Eastern coast of the Caspian have en irely disappeared The delta of the Ural has diminished from nineteen to five branches, and whereas it formerly occupied one hundred versts, it now occupies only seven. Many islands have become joined to the mainland, and large sandbanks have been formed at the mouth of the river. The town of Guryer, formerly on the sea coast, is now six versts inland.

WE have now full details of the severe cyclone which visited Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Bartholomew, St. Martins, Tortola, St. Thomas, and Porto Rico, on the 21st of August. The heaviest gusts of wind were felt at St. Thomas between 4.30 and 5 P.M., and about 5 o'clock there was a sudden calm; the centre of the cyclone then pas-ing over the island, and by 7 the violence of the wind had ce sed. The damage done in all these islands is excessive; in St. Thomas the losses are returned at forty-two persons killed, seven-nine seriously injured, and 420 houses completely destroyed. At Antigua the cyclone was very severe, eighty persons are reported ki led, and several hundred wounded. Scarcely a house or plantation in the island has escaped damage. Every place is "bleak, bare, and desolate." No confirmatory accounts are given of the earthquake shocks said in the first telegram to have accompanied the cyclone; they are probably due only to exaggeration.

MR. THOMAS GRAY, the Marine Secretary of the Board of Trade, has collected a sum of 2007. as a prize for the most efficient and most simple green light for the starboard side of ships that shall fulfil the Board of Trade conditions, which require that it shall be of sufficient power to be seen on a dark night, with a clear atmosphere, for a distance of two miles uniformly over an arc of ten points of the compass, from right ahead to two points abaft the beam. Lamps intended to compete for the prize should be sent in by the 31st December next.

THE preparations made by the Governments of the present age to have every phase of a total eclipse studied and recorded, contrast favourably with the superstition that prevailed a few centuries ago. For instance, the Scientific American quotes the following from a German paper:-"The Elector of Darmstadt was informed of the approach of a total eclipse in 1699, and published the following edict in consequence :-'His Highness, having been informed that on Wednesday morning next at ten o'clock a very dangerous eclipse will take place, orders that on the day previous, and a few days afterwards, all cattle be kept housed, and to this end ample fodder be provided; the doors and windows of the stalls to be carefully secured, the drinking wells to be covered up, the cellars and garrets guarded so that the bad atmosphere may not obtain lodgment, and thus produce infection, because such eclipses frequently occasion whooping cough, epilepsy, paralysis, fever, and other diseases, against which every precaution should be observed.'"

A NATAL correspondent writes that the diamond fields on the Vaal River cover so large an extent of ground that to effect a thorough search would occupy 20,000 men 100 years. From this assertion it might be supposed that the diamonds lie very deep; but the contrary seems to be the case, for we are told that they all lie comparatively near the surface, the diggers seldom going down deeper than seven feet. The copper in Namaqualand is likewise found near the surface, and stone implements are also found in a similar position. This is accounted for by the fact that the country is fast wearing down. These implements and other indications of former habitations appear to be abundant in Basutoland. Upon digging several feet below the surface near any of the occupied villages of the Basuto people, stone implements are found, and at a less depth the remains of fire places, broken pots (clay), and ash and cinder heaps are discovered. These remains are very abundant throughout the whole of Basutoland.

AMERICAN naturalists are anticipating with pleasure the promised visit from Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys. He is expected in the course of the summer; and though his stay will be a short one, it is hoped that he will be enabled to secure personal conference with the leading American naturalists, and to make such an examination of the sea-coast fauna as he desires. He will probably arrive in time to meet Prof. Agassiz before he starts on the expedition, which contemplates the expenditure of at least a year in an exploration of the physics and natural history of the deep seas of both the Atlantic and Pacific, under the auspices of the United States Coast Survey.

SCIENCE forms an important element in the educational course at the Friends' School, Sidcot. From the report and Transactions of the Boys' Literary Society for the past year, we find that sixty-six monthly reports and thirteen original papers on subjects connected with their several departments, have been read by the curators. Careful and systematic observations by a large section of the members have been made in ornithology, and several rare species have been observed. Considerable attention has also been paid to the collection of plants and insects.

THE Ludlow Natural History Society has little to report in the way of active proceedings during the past year, owing to the illness and subsequent death of the secretary, Colonel Colvin,

Many details of work, especially in the completion of arrangements, were however attended to. The balance sheet is satisfactory, and the museum attracts a certain number of visitors; but the donations acknowledged suggest the idea that a collection of curiosities rather than a Natural History Museum is the object of the society. Mr. Alfred Salwey has been elected secretary.

THE Quekett Microscopical Club has just issued its sixth Annual Report, from which it appears that the club continues to maintain its usefulness; not only has the number of members considerably increased during the year, and the selection of microscopical slides kept for the use of members and the number of volumes in the library been augmented, but the papers read at the fortnightly meetings show that important additions to microscopical knowledge have been made by members of the club. The fortnightly field excursions during the summer months have been well attended. The number of members now amounts to 550.

We have received an abstract of the reports of the surveys and of other geographical operations in India for 1869-70. It includes notices of Indian marine surveys, the great trigonometrical survey, and the topographical, geological, and archæological surveys during these years, with a chapter on geographical exploration.

THE Royal Society of Victoria is just recommencing the publication of its Transactions, discontinued since 1868 in consequence of the withdrawal since that year of the customary annual grant of 100%. from the Colonial Government. Notwithstanding this official discouragement, the society was never in a more prosperous and active condition; the premises have been rebuilt, and considera ble additions have been made to the library.

AN event of rare occurrence has happened in the southern part of the great rainless desert of Atacama, a heavy fall of rain having taken place in Northern Chile on the 31st May from the coast to the Cordillera, and from Tres Puntas to Chonarcillo, including Copiapo. This was, perhaps, an extension of the rains in Southern Chile.

THERE were several earthquakes in Chili and Peru in June. On the 20th there was a strong shock at Tacua about 7 p.m., but no damage was done.

Dr. HENRY CASSERE, a German, has been sent by the Peruvian Government to make a collection of plants and animals in its Amazon territory, which are to form part of the Great International Exhibition at Lima.

THE great subject of excitement in the South Pacific is the continued discoveries in the new Caracoles district of Bolivia. Silver is now being produced at the rate of 4.000 lbs. per day, or 400,000l. a year. Coal has been discovered, and new gems are found. The amethyst is the most abundant, and the opal of the finest quality. Marine fossils have been recognised in the formations.

THE artesian well at Umballa had in July reached a depth of 527 feet.

A MINE of silver lead of good quality has been found in the Marwar State in India.

THE sea has made considerable encroachments at Aleppey in India. We lately recorded the high tide which swept over the Laccadive islands.

THE Agri-Horticultural Society of India have reported that the nettle of the Neilgherries furnishes a valuable fibre, at least equal to Rhea grass, but attended with the same difficulties in working.

IT may be of interest to collectors to known that there is now an ornithologist or bird stuffer at Constantinople, Mr. William Pearse, and a dealer at Smyrne, Mr. A. Lawson.

THE LATE CAPTAIN BASEVI, R.E. A LETTER in the Times of the 19th inst., from Col. J. D. Walker, R.E., announces the death of Captain James Palladio Basevi, of the Royal (late Bengal) Engineers, DeputySuperintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, an officer of great worth and ability, whose loss will be long felt in the department of the public service to which he belonged. He was the son of the celebrated architect, George Basevi, and was distinguished as a lad for more than ordinary talent, and particularly for his mathematical abilities. First at Rugby, then at Cheltenham College, and afterwards at Addiscombe, he won for himself a high position among his fellow students, and in December, 1851, he left Addiscombe as the first cadet of his term, obtaining the first prize in mathematics, the sword for good conduct, the Pollock medal, and a commission in the Honourable East India Company's Corps of Engineers.

The first few years of his services in India were spent in the Department of Public Works in the Bengal Presidency; but in 1856 he was appointed to the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, in which he continued to serve up to the time of his death, performing many services of great value.

His bent of mind and habits of study led him, however, to feel a preference for the more purely scientific branches of the operations of the Trigonometrical Survey. Thus, in 1864, he was selected to undertake certain operations which had been proposed by the President and Council of the Royal Society for the determination of the force of gravity at the stations of the great meridional arc of triangles measured by Lambton and Everest, which extends from Cape Comorin to the Himalayan

Mountains. The investigations were to be effected by measuring the number of vibrations which would be made in a given time by certain invariable pendulums when swung at the several

stations.

Captain Basevi entered on the pendulum observations with his

characteristic ardour and devotion. He carried his observations of pendulum and clock coincidences over at least twelve days at each station; for ten hours daily-from 6 A. M. to 4 P.M.-he never left his pendulums for more than a few minutes at a time, taking rounds of observations at intervals of an hour and a half apart; then at night he would devote a couple of hours to star observations for determining time.

His observations of the pendulums on the Indian arc showed that the local variations of gravity which are superposed on the great law of increase from the equator to the poles, though apparently irregular when examined singly, are subject to laws which are highly interesting and curious, and are well worthy of investigation. At the northern extremity of the arc the results indicate a deficiency of density as the stations approach the Himalayan Mountains, while at the southern extremity they indicate an increase of density as the stations approach the ocean; thus both groups of results point to a law of diminution of density under mountains and continents, and an increase under the bed of the

ocean.

Thus far, however, observations had not been taken at any very great altitudes, the highest station in the Himalayas being under 7,000 feet; arrangements were therefore made to swing the pendulums on some of the elevated table lands in the interior of the Himalayas, which rise to altitudes of 14.000 feet to 17,000 feet. It was expected that this would be sufficient to complete the work in India, and then the pendulums would be taken back to England to be swung at the base stations of Greenwich and Kew, and en route at Aden and at Ismailha on the Suez Canal, places which are in the same latitudes as some of Captain Basevi's stations. Thus gravity at Aden would be directly com. pared with gravity at certain points of the coast and continental stations of the Indian Peninsula, and similarly the plains of Egypt would be compared with the Himalayan Mountains.

In the spring of the present year Captain Basevi proceeded to Kashmir on his way to the high table lands in the interior. proceeded to the Khiangchu table land in Rukshu, about eighty Early in June he reached Leh, the capital of Ladak. He then miles to the south of Leh. There, at a spot called Moré, in lat. 33° 16' and long. 77° 54', and at an altitude of 15,500ft., he completed a satisfactory series of observations, which show a very gross deficiency of density. After applying the usual reductions to sea level, &c., it was found that the force of gravity at Moré did not exceed the normal amount for the parallel of latitude 6° to the south, as determined by the previous observations with the same pendulums.

Wishing to have one more independent determination at a high altitude, Captain Basevi proceeded to the Changchenmo Valley, which lies due east of Leh, across the newly-proposed trade route between the British province of Lahoul and the States of Eastern Turkestan. Near the eastern extremity of that valley, on the confines of the Chinese territories, he found a suitable position in lat. 34 10 by long. 79'25, at an altitude which is not exactly known, but must probably have exceeded 16,000ft. He hoped to complete his observations in ten days, and then commence the journey back to India. But he did not live to carry out his intentions; already the hand of death was upon him, and, all unconsciously to himself, the over-exertion to which he was subjected in a highly rarefied atmosphere and under great vicissitudes of climate was rapidly undermining a constitution which, though vigorous, had already been sorely tried.

With the devotion of a soldier on the battle-field, he has fallen a martyr to his love of science and his earnest efforts to complete the work he had to do, and in him we have lost a public servant of whom it may be truly said that it would not be easy to find his equal in habitual forgetfulness of self and devotion to duty.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES

PARIS

Academie des Sciences, Sept. 11.-M. Faye in the chair. -M. Dumas read an abstract of a pamphlet published by MM. Lomer and Ellershausen, advocating the establishment at Bellegarde, in the department of Ain, of hydraulic machines worked by the Rhone, and giving a force of 10,000 horse-power. The site is called "Le perte du Rhone" at Bellegarde, and this immense hydraulic pressure is to be obtained by boring a tunnel, through which only one-third of the water of the Rhone will go. The height of the fall will be sixty feet, and the result is to be obtained very easily, as the tunnel is only to have a length of 550 yards. The engineers hope to create at Bellegarde a city as important as Lowell in the United States. It is intended to induce Alsatian manufacturers to move from Mulhaus, and to settle in that locality. M. Decaisne sent some observations relating to animals fed with bread infested with the oidium aurantiacum, and it is considered as demonstrated that, at least under special circum. stances, such food must be considered as being really poisonous. -M. Berthelot sent a very long paper on the union of alcohol with bases, which was inserted in extenso in the Comptes Rendus. -M. Lecoq de Boisbaudron sent also a paper which was published by him some time ago, on the constitution of luminous spectra. -M. Favre sent a paper to elucidate certain points of a special theory worked out to explain how a certain weight of copper rotating between the poles of an electro-magnet is heated by the influence at a distance. The fact was discovered by Foucault.

SAN FRANCISCO

California Academy of Sciences, August 22. Mr. Dall called the attention of the members to some shells of oysters that had been transplanted from the Eastern States, and which during the last twelve months had been growing in the waters of the bay. The recent growth of these oysters had been modified in a manner so that they corresponded very closely to that of our native oyster. In the eastern oyster the shell is white and smooth, whilst our bay oyster has the shell much corrugated, of a brown colour, and frequently with purple stripes between the ridges. Now the recent growths of the shell of these transplanted eastern oysters exhibit the same corrugations as our na tive, the colour is decidedly more brown than in the east, and purplish stripes are frequently found between the corrugations. -Dr. Blake gave a description of some prismatic delerite found in the neighbourhood of Black Rock, Nevada. The prisms were six-sided, measuring from o'r in. to o'3 in. across, and some were from 3 in. to 4 in. long, but they all had evidently been

broken. The separation of the crystals was caused by weathering, as in some specimens they were still aggregated. A thin section under the microscope showed that the rock was composed of augite, nephaline, and titanite, imbedded in a green vitreous matrix. Dr. Blake also read a paper on the diatoms found in the Puebla hot spring, Humboldt county, Nevada. The tem. perature of the water where they were collected was 163° F. They were contained in the decomposing layers of an abundant growth of red algae, which formed a membranous covering at the bottom of the channel, through which the waters of the spring were discharged. This growth. consisted of oscillariæ and a minute hair-like alga, which presented nothing but a mere outline even when magnified 700 diameters. This alga seems identical with the Hygrocrosis Bischofi found by Cohn in carnallite. By the interlacement of its fibres it formed a tough membranous layer covering the bottom of the channel, but this layer was coloured red, apparently by the oscillariæ. In the upper layer of these alge but few diatoms were found, but those layers which had been covered in by new growths, and which were in a semigelatinous state, afforded a nidus in which the diatoms seemed to flourish with the greatest luxuriance both as regards species and individuals. In one slide, without any previous preparation of the deposit, as many as forty-six species were observed. But the most interesting point in connection with them is their almost perfect identity with the diatoms found in the infusorial strata in Utah, and which have been so fully described by Ehrenberg in his recent memoir on the Bacillariæ of California. Amongst the more marked species which were peculiar to the Utah strata, Cocconema uncialeHyalodiscus Whitneyi, Stephanol this hispida, and Cosmiolithis Henryi were readily recognised; in fact, had it not been for the presence of a small quantity of these hair-like algae in the recent specimen, it might have been regarded as having been taken from the Utah beds. The resemblance of form between these hot spring and Utah diatoms, and the fact of their growing so luxuriantly in water so hot as to render it unfit to support any other form of living being, makes it more than probable that the Utah infusorial layers were formed in an inland fresh-water sea, the temperature of which was probably about the same as that of the Puebla hot spring. The great difficulties in explaining the formation of these extensive infusorial deposits have been the time required for their formation, and also the entire absence of all other fossil remains in strata that were evidently quietly deposited in fresh water. Both these difficulties are removed by admitting that the inland sea in which they were formed was of a temperature which is seen to be most conducive to their rapid growth, and which, at the same time, was incompatible with the existence of other forms of living beings. It is probable that the temperature of the air was not much below that of the inland sea, so that no land plants or animals could exist at the time when the Utah beds were being deposited. The admission of the existence of such an extreme climate even in the temperate zone at so recent a period as the post-pliocene (the position these beds are supposed to occupy) would certainly lead to important modifications in our views as regards the condition of the surface of the earth at that period. The author thinks it probable that these Utah infusorial beds are miocene, as at the close of that period we know that the temperature of the Arctic region was some fifty or sixty degrees warmer than at present. He proposes in a future communication to enter more fully into this question, and also to consider the bearing of the discovery of the production of these low forms of living beings in such apparently abnormal conditions on the origin of living matter. - Prof. Whitney

gave an account of the investigations carried on during the progress of the Geological Survey of California, having for their object the determination of the value of the barometer as a hypsometrical instrument, the expectation being, that after a sufficient stock of observations shall have been accumulated and reduced, it will be possible to designate the hours of the day for each month when the result will approach nearest to the truth; and in general to give practical rules in regard to the times of observing and the methods of reduction, the following of which will secure a close approximation to accuracy than can now be attained. An elaborate series of observations with this end in view was begun on this coast some ten years after by Colonel R. S. Williamson, of the U. S. Engineers; but the work was suspended by the Engineer Buseau just before being completed. Colonel Williamson's results, however, were pubLished in the form of a superb quarto volume, as an "Engineer Paper," and this contains a large amount of valuable material, so that the work of the Geological Survey is only to be looked

upon as supplementary to that so ably commenced by him The stations at which observations are being carried on at present, under the direction of the Geological Survey, are along the line of the Central Pacific Railroad, and their elevations are presumed to be accurately known from the levellings of the rail way surveyors. The points selected are San Francisco, Sacra mento, Colfax, and Summit, approximately 0, 30, 2,400, and 7,000 feet above the sea-level. The observations have already been continued at these points nearly a year, and are made at the Smithsonian hours (7 A. M., 2 P.M, and 9 P.M.). The greatest care has been taken that the instruments should be kept in per fect order, well placed for accurate results, and carefully and punctually observed. The observations of the first ten months have already been partially worked over by Prof. Pittee, of the Geological Survey, and the results attained indicate very clearly that valuable assistance will be derived from the completed series in the reduction of the copious barometric determinations of altitude made during the progress of the survey.

BOOKS RECEIVED

ENGLISH.-Hardy Flowers: W. Robinsor. (Warne and Co.). AMERICAN-Mammals and Winter Birds of East Florida: J. A. Allen. FOREIGN. Verhandlungen des naturhistorischen Vereines der preus sischen Rheinlande; Parts 1 and 2.-Sitzungsberichte der Niederrheinischen Gesellschaft zu Bonn, 1871.-Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Danzig.

PAMPHLETS RECEIVED

ENGLISH.-On the Spirit Circle: Emma Hardinge.-Transactions of the Literary Society of Sidcot School for 1870-71.-The Climate of Brighton: S. Barker.-The Dependence of Life on Decomposition: H. Freke -A Complete Course of Problems in Plane Geometry: J. W. Pallisser -Sixth Report of the Quekett Microscopical Club.-On the Relative Powers of Various Substances in Preventing the Generation of Animalculæ: J. Dougall, M.D. Testimonials in favour of J. W. Davidson, candidate for the Chair of Anatomy in the Edinburgh Veterinary College -The Traveller; Vo'. I., No. 5 Water not Convex, the Earth not a Globe: W. Carp-nter -On the Economical Production of Peat and Charcoal.-The Contagious Diseases Act and the Royal Commission.-Some Simp e Sanitary Precautions against Cholera and Diarrhea: M. A. B. -The proposed India and England Railway: W. Low and G. Thomas.-Contributions to the Knowledge of the Meteo ology of Cape Horn and the West Coast of South America.-Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow; No 3, Supplement.

AMERICAN AND COLONIAL.-Fourth Annual Report of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum. ---Transactions of the Entomological Society of New South Wales; Vol II., Part 2.-Notes on the Birds of New Zealand: T. H. Potts. -Arrangement of the Families of Molluscs: T. Gill, M D.-On the Early Stages of Terebratulina septentrionalis: E. S. Morse.-What are they doing at Vassar? Rev. H. H Maciarland.

FOREIGN-Le Chiffre Unique des Nombres -Sulle Distribuzione delle protuberanze intorno al disco solaro: P. A. Secchi.