250 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



fact a proof of the submergence of the coast line. Evidences of 

 upheaval are to be found in tlie lagoons and flats which abound 

 on the coast of Corsica, and which are covered with long ridges of 

 shingle deposited by streams which debouched on the marsh before 

 it was submerged. There is, moreover, at Gibraltar a great 

 deposit of stratified sand at Catalan Bay, which would seem to 

 show a submergence of 700 feet ; and at Cadiz, as well as at Tan- 

 giers on the other side of the basin, raised sea-beaches are to be 

 found. Professor Bush gave his own observations on the rock 

 terraces and caverns of the rock of Gibraltar. There are three 

 successive terraces exhibited on the eastern side of the rock, only 

 showing that a barrier extended in recent geological times across 

 the straits, the Mediterranean being then confined to a higher 

 level than the Atlantic. The changes described by Mr. Maw he 

 regarded as the last of a series indicated by the terraces at 

 Gibraltar. 



Modern Instances of Elevation. In a letter to Elie de Beaumont, 

 M. de Botella says : " From the village of Villar don Diego, in the 

 province of Zamora, it is now possible to see half the bell-tower 

 of the Benifarzes, a village in the province of Valladolid, while 

 23 years ago (1847) it was scarcely possible to see the top of the 

 same tower. 



" A similar fact has been noticed in the province of Alava, it 

 now being possible to perceive from the village of Salvatierra the 

 whole village of Salduente, while in 1847 it was difficult to distin- 

 guish the vane of its bell-tower. The four points mentioned are 

 on a line passing through Burgos, and having a direction W. 28 

 39' S., that is, nearly parallel to the system of the Sancerrois. The 

 extremities of this line are 300 kilom. apart. Comptes fiendus, 

 May, lS70,p. 1141. 



Lignite fromVescovado, Province of Sienna, Italy. M. Kopp. At 

 only 8 metres under the surface of the soil is found a layer of 

 lignite of 3.5 metres thickness. This substance, having been sub- 

 mitted to analysis, yielded, on being dried at 115, 21.80 per cent. 

 of water. *Ou being calcined in a closed crucible, 100 parts 

 gave volatile combustible matter, 26.48; fixed carbon, 42.52; ash, 

 9.20; water, 21.80. When submitted to dry distillation in a gas 

 retort, acetic acid is among the products, and 51 percent, of coke ; 

 the quantity of sulphur amounts to 1.36 per cent. One kilo, of 

 lignite is capable, on combustion, of evaporating 6.1 litres of 

 water. Since there is no coal found in any part of Ital} T , as far 

 at least as it has been explored, this material is of considerable 

 value to the industry of that country. Moniteur Sci.entifique. 



At/e of the Wealden. Mr. E. W. Judd. The Wealden con- 

 stitutes one great continuous formation with well-defined paleon- 

 tological characters. As with the " Poikilitic " series, its beds can 

 only be referred to the different members of our established marine 

 classification by violent and arbitral'} 7 divisions. It must therefore 

 stand as one of the terms of that new system of terrestrial classifi- 

 cation which Professor Huxley has shown must be founded. The 

 epoch of the English Wealden commenoed towards the close of 

 the Oolitic period ; it continued during the whole of the Tithonian, 



