118 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 

 DIAMONDS IN XANTfiOPHYLLITE. 



We have already referred to the discovery of diamonds in 

 xanthophyllite, and the suggestion that this is the true ma- 

 trix of the mineral. We are now informed that Von Helmer- 

 sen has succeeded in isolating the diamonds in the form of 

 fine powder by treating the xanthophyllite with acids. The 

 greenish-gray less transparent varieties of xanthophyllite 

 contain diamonds in greater abundance than the yellow 

 transparent plates of that rock. 13 A, Jan. 1, 1872, 15. 



METEORIC ORIGIN OF SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS. 



A French writer takes the ground that the diamonds of 

 the Cape of Good Hope were originally components of aero- 

 lites which fell there, and were scattered over a great dis- 

 tance in a certain definite direction. This view is largely 

 based upon the asserted fact that these objects occur on the 

 summit of the highest mountains and in the plains, but very 

 rarely, if ever, at great depths. 3 J3, Dec. 14, 1871, 601. 



bed of Glauber's salt. 



A deposit of Glauber's salt has lately been discovered in 

 the Caucasus, not very far from Tiflis and Marienfeld. In 

 sinking a shaft the experimenters first passed through one 

 foot of marl, two and a half feet of gray moist clay, seven of 

 dark gray bituminous saline clay, then penetrated a bed of 

 pure Glauber's salt to a depth of five feet, with a probability 

 that the thickness was much greater. In the same region 

 there are various lakes filled with solutions of Glauber's salt, 

 which furnish the apothecaries of that neighborhood with 

 what they need of that substance, as it crystallizes in perfect 

 purity along the edge of the water. 18 G^Feb. 21,1872, 118. 



MILLEPORA LIMESTONE. 



Various triassic and tertiary limestones are composed of 

 small organic bodies generally called millipores, and Gumbel 

 has lately been investigating specimens from several locali- 

 ties and formations. He finds occasion to divide them into 

 two great groups, one belonging to the dactylopores of the 

 triassic age, the other to lithothamnium of the tertiary. The 

 latter group is interesting from the fact that its recent rep- 



