§^ Geological Collections. 



are strictly marine deposits, and partly mechanical, partly chemical. Hence the 

 absence of vegetable deposits in the limestone, &c. does not by any means 

 prove that the vegetation of the globe was destroyed during the period when these 

 formations took place. On the contrary, this vegetation ought to exist in a more 

 flourishing condition during a period when no revolution occurred to destroy it ; 

 which period of repose is indicated by the want of arenaceous deposits. If ca- 

 taclysms had taken place, we should have found traces of them in these strata. 

 The more or less considerable differences observed between the vegetation of the 

 different deposits of land plants, may depend upon the intermediate ones being 

 wanting, or more probably on the moments of repose in the transport of the al- 

 luvium. The climates changed during the periods of the formations, although 

 arenaceous or sandstone deposits did not take place, and this change is well in- 

 dicated by a comparison of the fossil animal remains of two neighbouring epochs, 

 — a comparison which shows the striking relations between the changes in the flora 

 and the fauna of different periods. Hence we conclude that there has been a gradual 

 succession of creations, according as the circumstances proper for vegetable and 

 animal life were modified on the surface of the earth ; and, admitting local deba- 

 cles, we do not see any proof of one or more cataclysms which could at once have 

 destroyed the vegetation of the whole earth." >'' '^i- t" ' 



Boue on the Relative Age of the Secondary Deposits in the Alps and Car- 

 pathians. — Boud, in the first and second numbers of the Journal de Geologic, 

 has published a very interesting account of the secondary formations of the Alps 

 and Carpathians, in which we observe he differs from Messrs. M urchison and 

 Sedgwick, as to the nature and geognostical situation of a particular deposit, 

 viz. that of Gossau. Bou^, in our opinion, demonstrates that the Gossau deposit 

 lies below chalk, while Murchison and Sedgwick affirm, on less extensive and less 

 accurate observation, and on rather loose reasoning, that it tests upon chalk. — Pro- 

 fessor Jameson.^New Phil. Journ., Oct. IQ^O. 



MiKERALOGY. — Pin^Mi/e, an earthy minet^, found at Wolkenstein in the 

 Erzgebirge, and at Siihl in Thuringia, is described by M. Breithaupt as a new 

 species. Its name is derived from its greasy appearance. It is not unlike green 

 iron-earth. Its hardness is equal to 1. ; its sp. gr. 2.315. It is found in veins 

 of heavy spar which traverse the gneiss. — Schweigger^s Journ. 



Monazite. — M. Breithaupt has given this name to a mineral which is found 

 in the neighbourhood of Miask in Siberia, in zircon-granite. It has a vitreous 

 lustre, and a brick-red or reddish-brown colour ; it is translucid on the margins. 

 Its crystals are rhomboidal prisms. Its hardness = 6 ; sp. gr. =4.93. Not yet 

 analyzed. — Ibid. 



Prunnerite. — The violet-blue mineral found along with Apophyllite, in the 

 island of He&toe, one of the Faroes, and hitherto arranged as a variety of cuboidal 

 calcareous spar, is considered by Esmark to be a new species, on account of its 

 form and the large proportion of silica it contains. He has named it Prunnerite, 

 in honour of Prunner, the naturalist of Cagliari, in Sardinia. 



Bromine and Iodine have been discovered by M. Kastner in the waters of the 

 Baltic, at Swinemunde. 



