o, 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 223 



cave of Kilauea. Lava, pumice, sulphur and sulphur crystals, 

 gypsum, scoria and other specimens IVom the Sandwich Islands, 

 from J. S. Chrisiie, U. S. Consul, by I. W. Raymond. 



A letter was received from Prof. C. G. Ehrenberg, returning 

 thanks for his election to an Honorary membership in this Academy. 



Dr. Blake read the following paper : 



On the Absence of a Rim to the Great Basin to the Worth of 



the Pueblo Butte. 



BY JAMES BLAKE, M. D. 



Having been engaged in investigating the geology of the Pueblo range of 

 mountains, last summer, I was struck with the absence of anything like a rim 

 to the Great Basin in this direction. In going north from the Humboldt river 

 near Mill City, the highest elevation we crossed before reaching the Pueblo 

 Mouutains did not exceed 300 feet ; and the divide between the waters of the 

 Queen's river and King's river is, I believe, still lower — probably not more than 

 150 feet. To the north of Pueblo Butte, nothing but some low ranges inter- 

 vene between that point and the head waters of the Owyhee, a tributary of the 

 Columbia; so that there can be no daubt but that the waters of the Great 

 Basin must have drained off, to a great extent, in this direction, through the 

 valley of the Columbia. A considerable residue, however, must have disap- 

 peared by evaporation, as on my journey out, I found a mass of granite, about 

 100 feet above the level of the plain between Battle Creek and Mill City, still 

 partially encased by a calcareous deposit that must have been formed as the 

 waters evaporated. I believe the lowest level of country will be found between 

 the Umshaw and Rattlesnake range of mountains : although, as already stated, 

 the divide I crossed between the Rattlesnake and Vicksburg mountains did not 

 exceed 300 feet in height. 



'&' 



Mr. Henry Carleton, a member, submitted to the Academy a 

 description and drawing of a double fluid barometer, invented by 

 him. " It is quite simple ; consisting of a barometer tube of large 

 internal diameter of the usual length filled with mercury, and 

 plunged into a cistern partially filled with mercury, and having no 

 communication with the external air, except through a smaller tube 

 which enters through the top of the cistern. This smaller tube has 

 a diameter only the one-twenty-fourth that of the barometer tube. 

 The cistern, above the level of the mercury and the lower third of 

 the small tube, are filled with a Ught non-volatile fluid, such as 

 glycerine, which has been found to answer very well. When the 

 mercury in the larger, tube falls one inch, the glycerine would be 



