122 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



Islands. It occurs in immense masses, and, in fact, is appa- 

 rently almost inexhaustible. 19 C, Nov. 25, 1871, 382. 



WAS THE NOETH POLE SITUATED IN THE DESEET OF SAHAEA 

 IN THE QUATEENAEY PEEIOD ? 



A correspondent of the Association Scientifique de France 

 takes the ground that the phenomena of the quaternary pe- 

 riod are inexplicable on the ordinary principles assumed by 

 geologists, and that the only proper cause that can be as- 

 signed for them is a change in the position of the poles, the 

 northern of which, during this period, according to the writer, 

 was somewhere in the vicinity of the Desert of Sahara. 

 1 B, November 5, 1871. 



UPHEAVAL OF THE SWEDISH COAST. 



The rate of upheaval of the Swedish coast, a fact long 

 known to geologists, is shown by a large block, ten feet high 

 and fifteen feet broad, on the shore near Morup, which in 

 September, 1816, was four feet above high-water mark, as is 

 proved by an inscription to that effect. During the past 

 summer this block was 120 feet from the shore, indicating a 

 comparatively recent and rapid upheaval. The earliest rec- 

 ords of this stone state that it was close to the water, but not 

 in it, so that it w r ould appear that the upheaval commenced 

 in the present century. 13 A, March 1, 1872, 94. 



TEMPEEATUEE OF LAVAS. 



According to the investigations of Dr. Fuchs, of Heidel- 

 berg, it would appear from a study of the chemical processes 

 which take place in lavas at the moment of eruption, and by 

 the observation of the broken crystals in the lava, that the 

 melted masses some time before the eruption must have had 

 a higher temj)erature than at the moment of eruption. 12 

 A, February 1, 1872, 276. 



ACTION OF EMANATIONS FEOM VESUVIUS ON VEGETATION. 



Signor G. A. Pasquale has contributed to the Accademia 

 delle Scienze Fisiche e 3Iatematiche of Naples a paper in 

 which he accounts for the destruction of the vegetation dur- 

 ing the recent eruption of Vesuvius by the effects of the chlo- 

 ride of sodium which is deposited along with the ashes. The 



