Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 233 



the external and internal parts of a mammoth tusk from Siberia, did 

 not blacken by heat, and dissolved completely in muriatic acid. The 

 internal part of a tusk from Ohio gave the same results, but the ex- 

 ternal part was found to contain a considerable proportion of animal 

 matter. Inbones from the crag, the animal matter had been abstracted. 

 Human bones which had been long buried were found to be in the 

 same state. 



The paper concluded with the following remarks. As the diiFerent 

 states, in which animal matter is found in fossils, pass insensibly into 

 each other, and as many of the changes occur in church-yard and other 

 bones, it follows, that no extraordinary circumstances are requisite 

 to produce these alterations ; but that they may be effected by the or- 

 dinary processes of putrefaction. Even the carbonization of animal 

 matter may be accomplished by similar processes without the aid of 

 heat, as bones become black by being macerated too long. It is also 

 to be observed, that the parts of animals preserved in the fossil state, 

 are those which longest resist putrefaction. It having been likewise 

 shown that the degree of change does not depend upon the age of 

 the bed in which the fossil occurs, it is a curious subject of inquiry 

 for the geologist to ascertain how far the conditions necessary to pu ■ 

 trefaction, air, a certain temperature, and moisture, were present in 

 those strata, in which the change has been great ; how far they were 

 absent in those, in which the change has been small. 



XXXII. Intelligetice and Miscellaneous Articles. 



THE SWISS ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF NATURAL 



SCIENCE. 



This Association will hold its Annual Meeting on the 12th, 13th, 

 and 14th of this month at Bcile, that is to say, a few days after that 

 of the French Geological Society at Purrentray in the Swiss Jura 

 (which is about 14 leagues from B^le), and two days previous to 

 the opening of the German Association at Fribourg in Baden (about 

 12 leagues from B§,le). 



errors in the nomenclature of certain stars in 

 groombridge's catalogue. 



The following notice has been inserted in the monthly notices 

 of the Astronomical Society for March, at the request of the 

 Astronomer Royal : we transfer it to our pages for the purpose of 

 giving it further publicity. 



Immediately after sending out a number of copies of Groom- 

 bridge's Catalogue, I discovered that some errors had been com- 

 mitted in the nomenclature of the stars, with reference, chiefly, to 

 their accordance with the corrections made by Mr.Baily in Flam- 

 steed's British Catalogue. These errors arose from the omission of a 

 comparison which was supposed to be fully included in another. 



