382 THE FAULT SYSTEMS IN SOUTH OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



scope of this paper to discuss. Dr. du Toit has recently pub- 

 lished his description of the Pondoland cretaceous deposits, 

 and from their distribution he argues that they were laid down 

 on a fault or steep monocline already formed ; in other words, 

 that the fault that bounds the eastern portion of South xA-frica 

 was earlier than the upper cretaceous. The general partici- 

 pation of the Eocene in the fractures and folds of this system 

 in India and Madagascar renders such a statement of extreme 

 importance, and the evidence will have to be very carefully 

 weighed before it can be finally accepted. 



Dark NeBUL../E. - Prof. E. E. Barnard, in a paper re- 

 cently publi.shcd in the Astro physical Journal, reproduces some 

 photographs of what are apparently dark celestial objects, and 

 suggests that the visual perception of such dark bodies is due to a 

 faint general huninescence of the background. 



Deficiency Disease and Cottonseed Poison- 

 ing. — Rommel and Vedder have recently published an account 

 of their experiments in connection with the so-called " cottonseed 

 poisoning."* Cottonseed-meal is one of the most valuable feed- 

 stuffs at the command of the American stockman, and after the 

 animal has digested it, the value of the residue as a fertiliser is 

 about three-fourths the original value of the meal. But cattle 

 fed for three or four months on a heavy cottonseed-meal ration 

 become lame, and often blind, sometimes leading up to a fatal 

 result. In pigs sickness may appear after three weeks of feeding", 

 and death often occurs wnth little warning. Experiments lead 

 to the conclusion that this " cottonseed poisoning " is a deficiency 

 disease, analogous to beriberi. Pigs are susceptible to beriberi 

 when fed on vitamine-deficient rations. The disease manifests 

 itself in pigs in two forms — acute and chronic. Acute cotton- 

 seed poisoning corresponds to wet beriberi and the chronic form 

 to dry beriberi. 



* J our 1 1. Agr. Research (1915' 5 [i^l. 489-493. 



