3 1 8 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles, 



'& 



merates have been observed in inclined positions, and at some height 

 above the adjoining plain. At Great Malvern they adhere in one 

 spot to the steep flank of the sienite in a dislocated form, dipping 

 east at an angle of 30° to 35°. This fact not having been previously 

 noticed is considered to be worthy of record, as leading to the in- 

 ference, that this chain of trappean hills may have undergone a 

 movement of elevation subsequent to the deposit of the new red 

 sandstone. 



A letter was also read from Thomas Weaver, Esq. F.G.S. ad- 

 dressed to George Bellas Greenough, Esq. P.G.S. 



In a communication read before the Society on the 4th of June 

 1830, Mr. Weaver stated that all the coal of the province of Mun- 

 ster except that of the county of Clare, belonged to the transition 

 series*. In this letter he says, " Having devoted between three 

 and four months continuous service to further research in the south 

 of Ireland, I have to retract that statement, having been led to too 

 rapid an inference by the apparent connexion between the southern 

 portion of the coal-field and the transition series ; and especially by 

 finding the limestone, which there underlies the coal measures, to 

 contain some fossils hitherto considered distinctive of the transition 

 epoch, in particular the Trilobites, which I have designated, some 

 crinoidal remains, &c. But having in my later researches discovered 

 between that limestone (in a part of its extent) and the transition 

 series, a well-characterized formation of old red sandstone, the 

 anomaly disappears, and we have in regular succession, the old red 

 .sandstone, carboniferous limestone, and the coal measures, which 

 last I find also supported in other quarters by the carboniferous lime- 

 stone, except where they directly conjoin the transition series. I am 

 now, therefore, convinced that both the North and South Munster 

 coal tracts are alone referrible to the great carboniferous order." 



LI I. Intelligetice and Miscellaneous Articles, 



PREPARATION OF CANTHARIDINE. 



M THIERRY procures this substance by the following process : 

 • Reduce cantharides to powder, and digest it for some days 

 either in aether, aetherized alcohol, or alcohol of sp. gr. '847 ; thesolution 

 is to be separated, the residue washed with more alcohol, and the last 

 portions of alcohol are to be displaced by water. The mixed liquors are 

 to be subjected to distillation -, on cooling, numerous small crystals 

 of cantharidine are deposited on the surface of the liquor. This liquor 

 consists of two distinct portions ; the upper one is a green oil, which 

 contains the crystallized cantharidine ; the lower one is a brown li- 

 quor : they are separable by a funnel, and the oil mixed with can- 

 tharidine is placed upon a filter, and when heated in a stove, the oil 

 passes through the filter, and the cantharidine remains upon it. The 

 cantharidine thus procured is still mixed with oil, which is to be sepa- 

 rated by pressure between folds of paper ; the purification is com- 

 pleted by dissolving the cantharidine in boiling alcohol, from which it 



* Phil. Mag. and Annals, N.S. vol. viii. p. 148. 



