AURORA AUSTRALIS IN LOW LATITUDES. 69 



Harcourt-Bath states that the Aurora Borealis was reported some 

 years ago to have been observed at Darjeehng, India, in latitude 

 27° N., but that he was of- the opinion that what was really seen 

 was the afterglow or reflection from the snowfields and glaciers 

 upon spicules of snow floating above the summits of the Himalayan 

 peaks. The Secretary of the Cape Meteorological Commission 

 records that a manifestation of what was supposed to be the Aurora 

 Aiistro.lis was reported from Carnarvon Farm on the night of the 

 25th September, being particularly brilliant from g.30 tOyii p.m. 

 Carnarvon Farm is in latitude ji° 34' S. and longitude 26° 44' E.. 

 At 10 p.m. on the same evening the Aurora was observed at Dun- 

 brody. near Uitenhage, along the south-eastern coastal belt^of the 

 Cape Colony. 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Cape Society of Civil Engineers. — Wednesday, November loth : W. A. 

 Legg, M.I.C.E., President, in the chair. — " Design of Irrigation Channels to 

 prevent Silting and Scouring " : F. E. KanthacR- Discussion continued. 



Cape Chemical Society. — Friday, November 26th : R. Marloth, Ph.D., 

 RI.A., President, in the chair. — " The citrate solubility of phosphoric oxide 

 in Basic Slags " : Dr. R. Marloth- Results olitained by Petermann's 

 solution diftered from those by the present official method of France and 

 Germany ; the view was expressed that it is desirable to adopt the latter 

 method in South African laboratories. — " The rate of distillation of the vola- 

 tile constituents of wine " : J. Lewis. The author had determined the 

 composition of successive portions of the distillate obtained in distilling wme 

 by the Cognac still, and by means of curves he exhibited the rate of distilla- 

 tion of each of the various secondary constituents. 



Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. — 

 Saturday, October i6th : A. McArthur Johnston, M.A., M.I.M.M., F.C.S., 

 President, in the chair. — " The Barberton Goldfield " : A. Richardson- 

 The author described the Barberton District mainly from a geological 

 standpoint, and gave detailed information regarding prospecting, mining 

 and costs of working. — " Assay of cyanide solutions and slime residue carry- 

 ing dissolved gold " : A. Whitby- A description of a process initiated 

 by the author for precipitating gold from cyanide solutions by means of a 

 copper salt, sodium sulphite and sulphuric acid. — " Assay of acid washes 

 resulting from the cvanide ' clean up ' bv the use of bisulphate " : L. , J. 

 Wilmoth. 



NEW BOOKS. 



The Geology of Cape Colony. By A. W. Rogers, D.Sc. F.G.S., and A.L. 

 du Toit, B.A., F.G.S. 2nd ed. pp. xii. & 491. lUus. and "coloured 

 map. IIS. Longmans df Co. {J. C. Jitta <~ Co.) To all interested in 

 the rapid progress made by the Geological Survey of the Cape Colonj^ 

 during the four ^^ears that have elapsed since this book first appeared, 

 the publication of a second edition will be most welcome : all the more 

 so in view of the economic importance of the survey. Of necessity the 

 book has been in great part re-written. Amongst the portions thus 

 completely revised is Prof. Broom.'s chapter on the " Reptiles of the 

 Karroo formation." Regarding Karroo palaeontology much additional 

 information is now placed before the reader, and a good deal of nev." 

 material is also supplied as regards the older rocks in the north : thus 

 Chapter IV., dealing with the Yentersdorp and Transvaal sj'stems, is 

 wholly new. One of the minor rev-isions to be noted is the disappearance 

 of the familiar Dwyka " conglomer^e," the authors definitely adopting 



