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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Valedictory Address at the Indianapolis 

 College of Medicine. By E. D. Foree, M. D. 

 Pp. 19. Indianapolis : Journal print. 



Report of the New York Meteorological 

 Observatory. By D. Draper. Pp. 48. 

 New York : Evening Post print. 



Report of the Commissioner of Agricult- 

 ure. Pp. 19. Washington: Government 

 Printing-Office. 



Field and Forest. Monthly. Vol. II., 

 No. 5. Pp. 8. With Plate. Washington : 

 The Columbia Press. 



Mayer's Ontogeny and Phylogeny of In- 

 sects. Also, A Century's Progress in 

 American Zoology. By A. S. Packard, Jr. 

 Pp. 4 and 8. 



Immediate Preparation and Early Re- 

 sumption. By R. T. Paine, Jr. Pp. 31. 

 Boston : A. Williams & Co. 



A System of Marine Signals. By S. P. 

 Griffin. Pp. 13. New York : Vau Nos- 

 trand. 



Appalachia. Organ of the Appalachian 

 Mountain Club. Pp. 62. With Maps. 

 Boston : A. Williams & Co. 



Education and Progress : an Address 

 by General T. M. Logan, of Virginia. Pp. 16. 



Relations of Physical Health to Moral- 

 ity and Religion. By Rev. G. W. Cooke. 

 From the Herald of Health. Pp. 8. 



Death-Rate of each Sex in Michigan. 

 By H. B. Baker, M. D. Pp. 16. Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. : Riverside Press. 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Deep-Sea Bottom Deposits. The deep- 

 sea bottom deposits found by the Challenger 

 expedition are classified as follows by Mr. 

 Murray, naturalist on the scientific staff: 



1. Shore-deposits, aud these are mud of 

 a variety of colors, as blue, gray, green, red, 

 also coral-mud and sands ; 2. Globigerina 

 ooze ; 3. Radiolarian ooze; 4. Diatomaceous 

 ooze; 5. Red and gray clays. To these 

 may be added peroxide of manganese in 

 nodules and grains widely diffused. 



The character of the sea-bottom contig- 

 uous to the shores is determined largely by 

 that of the adjacent lands. Thus coral- 



mud occurs in the vicinity of coral-islands, 

 and volcanic products near volcanic dis- 

 tricts. 



This general feature of the coast ex- 

 tends in some cases 150 miles seaward; an 

 exception was found, however, among the 

 coral-islands of the Pacific, where the coral- 

 mud occurs as a narrow band around the 

 islands. 



Globigerina ooze is the most abundant 

 deep-sea deposit next to the clays. It does 

 not occur in the inclosed seas in the Pacific 

 north of latitude 10 north, nor south of 

 latitude 50 south. 



Radiolarians occur in most seas, but 

 only in limited areas are they sufficiently 

 abundant to give a distinctive character to 

 the ooze. In the Antarctic Ocean a diatom 

 ooze is found, and radiolarian ooze was 

 brought up from the great depth of 4,475 

 fathoms nearly four and three-quarter 

 miles. The skeletons of these minute or- 

 ganisms are siliceous. 



The red clay is the most abundant de- 

 posit, and below depths of 2,000 fathoms is 

 very widely diffused. The skeletons of si- 

 liceous organisms are abundant in it, but 

 calcareous shells are few, and in some speci- 

 mens wholly wanting. The author seems 

 to refer the origin of the red and gray 

 clays to lavas, scoria?, pumice, volcanic 

 ashes, and possibly meteoric or cosmic 

 dust ; and adds, " If there be an ash after 

 the carbonate of lime is removed by acid 

 or other agent, this will be another source." 

 But Prof. Wyville Thomson distinctly states 

 that the red clay is essentially the insoluble 

 ash or residue of calcareous organisms 

 which form the globigerina ooze, after the 

 calcareous matter has been removed ; and 

 this conclusion is confirmed by the very 

 careful experiments made by Mr. Buchanan, 

 who treated the ooze with dilute acids. 



The author states that efforts to detect 

 free protoplasm in the dredgings was at- 

 tended by no definite result. Some speci- 

 mens, however, assumed a jelly-like aspect, 

 with fiocculent matter when in spirits. 

 This fiocculent matter was found by Mr. 

 Buchanan to be " sulphate of lime precipi- 

 tated from sea-water, and the author in- 

 fers that the so-called 'Bathybius ' and the 

 amorphous sulphate of lime are identical." 

 In this connection he quotes a report on 

 the subject by Mr. Buchanan which states 



