370 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



exist in equilibria, as if one force alone existed, or rather no force, at all ; 

 that on the approach of another particle, these essential principles become 

 excited, and develop active forces of attraction and repulsion : that these two 

 forces co-exist with particles everywhere ; that readily coalescing- (like drops 

 of quicksilver, for instance) as particles approximate, these forces become, 

 at last, cosmical units having a power or potential magnitude proportional 

 to the mass of the sphere ; that these forces become centralized cosmical 

 powers (absolute living mechanical forces in the universe) which, as spheric 

 properties, produce cohesion and density, the intensity of which varies from 

 the centre of a planet to its surface, in ratios directly corresponding with the 

 force of solar attraction on the whole mass : that the earth, moving in an ellip- 

 tical orbit with the sun in one of its foci, is iindcrgoing variations of inten- 

 sity in its spheric forces with every instant of time and point of space ; that 

 these forces BROUGHT BY THE SUN into intense activity at the earth's 

 aphelion, through the condensation of terrestrial matter there, arc never at 

 rest ; but holding unequal relations to each other, compel, at each rotation 

 and revolution, perpetual changes of radial action and reaction among all 

 particles which end in producing the physical phenomena so observable, and 

 hitherto so mysterious, on the surface of our globe. 



OUTLINE OF A THEORY ON THE STRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC PHE- 

 NOMENA OF THE GLOBE 



Mr. J. Drummond, in a communication read before the British Associa- 

 tion, at its last meeting at Dublin, from the admitted fact of our earth 

 having cooled down from an original state of fluidity, and that it now is a 

 solid crust inclosing a fluid mass of molten materials, held that there must 

 be an action of the sun and moon on this fluid mass analogous to that which 

 caused the tides of the ocean ; that from thence an outward pressure on the 

 crust must result, propagated along it, in a manner similar to the great tidal 

 wave ; and from this principle, in an elaborate essay, he deduced the ordin- 

 ary magnetic phenomena, as well as volcanoes, earthquakes, and other vio- 

 lent actions ; concluding by answering objections which may be urged 

 against the foundation and details of this theory. 



Readers who are familiar with the views expressed by Dr. Winslow, in his 

 paper, read before the American Association in 1856, and subsequently re- 

 fused publication in the proceedings of that body, will observe a striking 

 coincidence in the views entertained by Mr. Drummond and Dr. Winslow. 



FURTHER INFORMATION CONCERNING THE NATIVE IRON OF 



LIBERIA. 



At a late meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, Dr. A. A. 

 Hayes read a letter from Mr. A. P. Davis, of Buchanan, Liberia, giving 

 sonic further particulars in relation to the discovery of Native Iron in 

 Africa. 



Mr. Davis, from whom the specimen analyzed by Dr. Hayes was received, 

 in the present letter described the mass found as " being as large as the crown 



