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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



brated lanterns, called (liin, are made 

 of it at Tokio and Osaka. Under the 

 name of shibuganni it is applied to 

 the covering of umbrellas which are 

 sold in China and Korea. As zedogawa 

 shi bank notes are printed on it. Oiled 

 it is kappa, impermeable and suit- 

 able for covering packages and for mak- 

 ing waterproof garments. Handker- 

 chiefs are made from it, cords by twist- 

 ing. For light, solid articles it is mixed 

 and compressed very much as our papier- 

 machC». Covered with thick paste and 

 pounded, it forms tapestries. Imitations 

 of Cordova leather are made of it b.y 

 spreading it and pressing it with hard 

 brushes upon boards in which suitable 

 designs have been cut. It is then cov- 

 ered with oil and varnish. Japan pro- 

 duced nearly five million dollars' worth 

 of paper in 1892. Unfortunately, Euro- 

 pean methods of manufacture have been 

 introduced, and there is danger of the 

 paper losing its distinctive qualities. 



The Deeps of the Ocean. — In his 



geographical address at the British As- 

 sociation, Sir John Murray showed that 

 the deep oceanic soundings are scat- 

 tered over the different ocean basins in 

 varying proportions, that they are now 

 most numerous in the North Atlantic 

 and Southwest Pacific, and in these 

 two regions the contour lines of depth 

 may be drawn with greater confidence 

 than in the other divisions of the great 

 ocean basins. On the whole, it may be 

 said that the general tendency of recent 

 soundings is to extend the area with 

 depths greater than one thousand fath- 

 oms, and to show that numerous vol- 

 canic cones rise from the general level 

 of the floor of the ocean basins up to 

 various levels beneath the sea surface. 

 Considerably more than half of the sea 

 floor lies at a depth exceeding two thou- 

 sand fathoms, or more than two geo- 

 graphical miles. On the Challenger 

 charts all areas where the depth ex- 

 ceeds three thousand fathoms have been 

 called " deeps," and distinctive names 

 have been conferred upon them. Forty- 

 two such depressions are now known — 

 twenty- four in the Pacific Ocean, three 

 in the Indian Ocean, fifteen in the At- 

 lantic Ocean, and one in the Southern 

 and Antarctic Oceans. The area occu- 

 pied by these deeps is estimated at 

 7,152,000 geographical square miles, or 



about seven per cent of the total water 

 surface of the globe. Within these 

 deeps more than 250 soundings have 

 been recorded, of which twenty-four ex- 

 ceed 2,000 fathoms, including three ex- 

 ceeding 5,000 fathoms. Depths exceed- 

 ing 4,000 fathoms, or four geographical 

 miles, have been recorded in eight of 

 the deeps. Depths exceeding 5,000 fath- 

 oms have been hitherto recorded only 

 within the Aldrich Deep of the South 

 Pacific, to the east of the Kermadecs 

 and Friendly Islands, where the great- 

 est depth is 5,155 fathoms, or 530 feet 

 more than five geographical miles. This 

 is about 2,000 feet more below the level 

 of the sea than the summit of Mount 

 Everest, in the Himalayas, is above it. 



Death of Sir "William Dawson. — 

 By the death of Sir J. William Daw- 

 son, at Montreal, November 19th, Amer- 

 ica loses one of its most highly distin- 

 guished geologists. Sir William was 

 born at Pictou, Nova Scotia, in October, 

 1820, and was deeply interested in the 

 study of Nature from his early college 

 days, M'hen he made extensive collec- 

 tions of various kinds. When he was 

 twenty-two years old a happy fortune 

 brought him in contact with Sir Charles 

 Lyell, then visiting America, and he 

 was that eminent geologist's traveling 

 companion during his scientific tour of 

 Nova Scotia. He studied chemistry at 

 the University of Edinburgh. Return- 

 ing to Nova Scotia -in 1850, he engaged 

 in teaching, and was associated with 

 the first normal school in the pi-ovince. 

 He was afterward connected with the 

 new University of New Brunswick, 

 and from 1855 to 1893 was Principal of 

 McGill College and University. Al- 

 though his duties in the college were 

 very exacting. Professor Dawson's in- 

 dustry in scientific research was never 

 relaxed, and he was the author of con- 

 tributions of very great value to the 

 geology and paleontology of Canada. 

 Among these were the discoveries of the 

 Dcndrcpeton acadianum — the first rep- 

 tile found in the American coal forma- 

 tions — and the Pupa vetusta — the first- 

 known Paleozoic land shell. His dis- 

 covery and exposition of the Eozoon 

 canadcnse attracted great attention, 

 and was much discussed, but his views 

 of its importance do not seem to have 

 been justified, for some doubts now ex- 



