44 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Feb. 1, 18G7. 



GEOLOGY. 



Preservation of Fossils— Owing to the loose 

 mineral character of the Tertiary deposits, in which 

 most of the Mammalian and other vertebrate 

 remains are found, consisting as these deposits 

 chiefly do of sands, gravels, clay, or peat, their fossils 

 are necessarily in a more or less friable condition, 

 difficult to preserve entire, or to handle for scientific 

 examination with safety. The substances generally 

 used are glue or gelatine. Eor the bones of the 

 larger Mammalia there is nothing better than the 

 best glue ; whilst for the more delicate bones of the 

 smaller Mammals, Birds and Pishes, gelatine is the 

 best, being purer, dissolving more easily, and im- 

 parting but little, if any, colour to the fossil. The 

 consistency of these substances when used will have 

 to be varied according to the structure of the bone ; 

 and as they also differ greatly in quality, it is 

 impossible to lay down any definite rule as to the 

 exact proportions to be used with a given quantity 

 of water ; this must be left to the judgment of the 

 operator. As a general rule, however, all bones 

 which have a coarse cellular structure, as the ends 

 of large limb-bones, deer-antlers, &c, and also 

 specimens from some deposits— for example, the 

 peat-bed near Colchester, the fossils from which 

 have their internal cellular structure either totally 

 or partially destroyed— require the glue-solution to 

 be of a consistency which will form a stiff jelly when 

 cold; whilst for bones of a compact structure a 

 much thinner solution, about the consistency of 

 ordinary size, will suffice ; if the solution is too 

 thick, it clogs the absorbing power at the surface, 

 and prevents its penetrating to all parts of the bone. 

 The fossils should be thoroughly dried and cleaned 

 from as much of the matrix as can be removed with 

 safety; and if it can be managed, tcarmed before 

 being placed in the solution. When the glue is all 

 dissolved, and the liquid nearly at boiling heat 

 (ebullition should be avoided, if possible), it is ready 

 for the immersion of the fossils, and they should 

 remain in it as long as air-bubbles rise to the sur- 

 face ; when these cease they will be sufficiently 

 soaked. When taken out, they should not be 

 drained, but laid in a position to retain as much as 

 possible of the imbibed solution, until they are cold, 

 when the glue will have set. Their position must 

 then be shifted, to prevent their adhering to the 

 board on which they may be laid. Any glue that 

 may have drained from them may be then removed 

 with a wet sponge. The vessels required are of the 

 simplest kind. The common domestic utensils 

 will answer for most purposes. The ordinary house- 

 copper, saucepan, or, better still, a large-sized fish- 

 kettle with its strainer. But whatever the vessel 

 used, a strainer of some kind, on which to place 

 the bones for immersion and withdrawal, is indis- 



pensable ; for the copper nothing is better than a 

 wire-sieve. Por bones too large for the vessel used, 

 the treatment will have to be varied. 'Por long 

 limb-bones, strong enough to bear their own weight 

 when saturated, it is only necessary to place one 

 end in the vessel, and ladle the solution over the 

 other end for a short time, and then reverse their 

 position. But for bones which will not bear such 

 treatment, the only plan is to securely fix them to a 

 board, and place them in a slanting position in the 

 solution, and well saturate them with it by ladling. 

 Por these, and for long portions of tusks of the 

 Mammoth, and horn-cores of the large species of 

 Bos, a special vessel, about three feet long, one foot 

 wide at the top, nine or ten inches wide at the 

 bottom, and nine inches deep, made of stout tin or 

 galvanized iron, with a handle at each end, will be 

 found most useful. Occasionally fossils are found 

 which are either too large or too friable (as skulls 

 and tusks from their natural construction frequently 

 are) to be placed in the solution : for these a different 

 method must be adopted to preserve them entire. 

 Cover the fossil with thin paper, over which— on 

 the sides and underneath if possible— put a coating 

 of plaster of Paris, just thick and strong enough to 

 keep together ; when firmly set, gently pour the 

 solution boiling-hot over the fossil as long as it 

 continues to absorb, to assist which it may be 

 necessary to remove in a few places some of the 

 surface-bone, which can be carefully replaced ; in 

 two or three days the plaster may be partly 

 removed by sawing and in small pieces, taking care 

 not to injure the fossil by jarring it ; the paper will 

 prevent the plaster adhering to it. But this process 

 is never so effective as submersion in the solution, 

 and may require to be repeated. Some bones are 

 better for being dipped a second time, but not 

 allowed to remain long enough in the solution to 

 melt the glue they had previously imbibed. Delicate 

 shells from the same kind of deposits may be treated, 

 with care, in a similar manner with advantage. — 

 Jf r . Davies, Brit. Museum, in Geological Magazine. 



Petroleum. — During the past six years the 

 United States of America have produced about 450 

 millions of gallons of petroleum. The average 

 daily yield for 1S66 has been at least 12,000 barrels. 

 The business of collecting, transporting, and refining 

 it, employs as many hands as either the coal or the 

 iron trade. — Professor Hitchcock. 



Possils oe the Lias.— Mr. Ralph Tate, Curator 

 of the Geological Society, Somerset House, London, 

 being engaged in the preparation of a monograph of 

 the gasteropoda of the lias, for the Palceonto- 

 graphical Society, begs to request the kind assist- 

 ance of private collectors by the loan of specimens 

 for examination and description. He would be 

 pleased to exchange fossils of various formations 

 for those of the lias. 



