HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SI P. 



141 



GEOLOGY, &C. 



Galenite in Sandstone. — At a cutting to the 

 south of Paisley, made by the company of the Paisley 

 and Johnstone Canal Railway, which is in course of 

 making, galenite is found in the sandstone there. 

 Galenite, which is the sulphuret of lead (otherwise 

 called galena) , is found in rocks of different formation, 

 but its occurrence in the sandstone is not common. 

 It is mentioned in the third volume of Mineralogy by 

 Robert Jamieson, second edition 1816, as occurring 

 " in small veins or disseminated in the grey sandstone 

 of the coal formation in the Lothians and Fifeshire." 

 The same is mentioned by Gregg and Lettsom (1858) 

 in Manual of Mineralogy of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 but by them another locality is given, viz. Cumber- 

 head, Lanarkshire, and there also in sandstone of the 

 coal formation. After this other writers in mineralogy 

 have copied the same localities. In the locality near 

 Paisley, where the galenite has been discovered, the 

 sandstone is also of the coal formation, in which 

 there are many fossil plants of the carboniferous 

 period. At the point where the mineral is found 

 most abundantly there is a fault, and one portion of 

 the strata has a dip of nineteen degrees to the south. 

 In the fault slickenside is well shown, and in cavities 

 in the fault there are clay and septaria ; on breaking 

 some of these I also found galenite disseminated 

 through the structure in addition to calcite or 

 carbonate of lime. In the sandstone the galenite is 

 in small veins, or disseminated, more generally the 

 latter. This being so, is it not reasonable to suppose 

 that lead in some form exists near by ? Considering 

 the composition of the earth's crust, lead is to be 

 regarded as scarce. There are sixteen of the known 

 elements that make up ninety-nine parts of the 

 earth's crust, and lead is among the number that 

 compose part of the one -hundredth part of the 

 ■earth's crust, iron being excepted. Iron, being thus 

 common in] the earth's crust, is often found in fossils 

 in the form of pyrites, the iron having united with the 

 sulphur from the animal decomposition and formed 

 the pyrites. Galenite is simply a chemical union of 

 lead aijd sulphur, yet it is not common in fossils, but 

 does occur in localities where lead exists. Sir H. 

 De La Beche, in "Geological Observer" (1853), 

 mentions galenite occurring in cavities left by fossil 

 molluscs in lias near Merthyr Mawr, Glamorganshire, 

 also in cracks in fossil wood at Dunraven Castle, but 

 points out that lead exists in some form near by. 

 Galenite is formed artificially by heating the oxide or 

 silicate of lead with vapour of sulphur, or by sus- 

 pending sulphate of lead in a bag in water charged 

 with carbonic anhydride in which putrid fermentation 

 is kept up (as by keeping an oyster in it, the galenite 

 incrusting upon its shell). The galenite found near 

 Paisley, from analyses I have made, shows in addition 

 to the lead and sulphur, some iron and silver. — 

 Taylor, Sub- Curator, Museum, Paisley. 



A New British Mineral. — The last nurtiber of 

 the " Mineralogical Magazine " contains a note by Mr, 

 Arthur Smith Woodward, of the British Museum, on 

 the occurrence of Evansite at a locality near Maccles- 

 field, in east Cheshire. Its chief interest lies in the 

 fact that this mineral has never before been recorded 

 as occurring in the British Isles, and does not appear 

 to have been recognised hitherto in any part of the 

 world but the province of Gomor Comitat, Hungary. 

 It was first described twenty years ago by Mr, David 

 Forbes from the latter locality, and the original speci- 

 mens are now in the Museum of the Owens College, 

 Manchester. Evansite is a highly hydrated phosphate 

 of alumina, containing as much as 40 per cent, of 

 water, and ^usually very free from impurities. It is 

 glassy in appearance, very similar to the hydrated 

 form of silica known as Hyalite, and likewise covers 

 the sides of fissures with a nearly transparent film of 

 varying thickness, rising in innumerable little lumps, 

 which impart to it characteristics that are unmistak- 

 able ; it can be readily distinguished from Hyalite in 

 the field, in consequence of its exceedingly soft and 

 brittle nature. The mineral near Macclesfield is 

 associated with oxides of iron and manganese, 

 calcite, pearl spar, and zinc-blende, and the con 

 ditions are very similar to those under which it occurs 

 in Hungary. As such conditions are not uncommon, 

 particularly in the Carboniferous formation, it seems 

 strange that Evansite has not been observed in this 

 country before, and those who are interested in 

 mineralogical matters will do well to search carefully 

 for it among the crystalline incrustations in the fissures 

 of rocks exhibiting the peculiarities referred to. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



"Cain and Abel." — The plant known by this 

 "odd name:" the "Dictionary of English Plant- 

 Names," by Messrs. Britten and Holland, under the 

 head of " Cain and Abel," says " the tubers of Orchis 

 latifolia, Lin. Cain being the heavy one," with a 

 reference indicating that the name is in use in the 

 " Eastern Borders," which "comprehend the whole 

 of Berwickshire, the liberties of Berwick, North 

 Durham, and the immediately adjacent parts of 

 Northumberland and Roxburghshire. " The plant also 

 goes by the name of "Adam and Eve," the tuber 

 which sinks being Adam and that which swims 

 being Eve. But this name is applied also to Orchis 

 maculata, Orchis ?nascula, Arum inaculatum, Pul- 

 jHonaria officinalis, and Aconita Napellus, principally 

 apparently, because these plants bear flowers of two 

 different shades, dark and light — the dark, of course, 

 being "Adam," and the light being " Eve." And 

 the latter {Aconita N.) because "when the hood of 

 the flower is lifted up there is an appearance of two 

 little figures." — Chas. Browne, 



A Reversed Helix aspersa at Bristol. — On 

 the I2th of March I found a very good, although a 

 dead specimen of Helix aspersa reversed, in a lane 

 near Bristol. It may be interesting to some concho- 

 logists who read this paper, to hear that about four 

 years ago I found a dead reversed Helix aspersa not 



