258 NATURAL SCIENCE. Oct., 



A NEW Cornish mineral has been determined by Mr. H. A. Miers 

 (Nature, August 31). It is a hydrated sulphate and chloride of 

 copper and aluminium, and it occurs in brilliant and translucent 

 crystals of a deep emerald-green colour. In external characters and 

 composition it is identical with Spangolite, of which only one 

 example was previously known, and that was described in America, 

 and obtained from a man living in Arizona. Mr. Miers hopes that 

 search will be made among old collections, and especially upon 

 copper ores from the St. Day Mine, near Redruth, for this is the 

 locality whence this new specimen was obtained. 



The report of the Director-General of the Geological Survey for 

 the year 1892 occupies twenty-nine pages in the last Report of the 

 Science and Art Department, and it presents a much fuller statement 

 of the scientific work of the staff than has hitherto been made. Many 

 new facts are thus for the first time announced, so that the volume is 

 one to be noticed by compilers of geological records. There are fresh 

 facts in reference to enormous boulders in the Drift, and on the occur- 

 rence of Eskers or Kames in the West of England. There are notes 

 on the Hampshire Tertiary strata, on the Chalk and other Cretaceous 

 rocks of England, and on the Jurassic rocks of England and Scotland. 

 There is the latest official classification of the Devonian rocks, and 

 many remarks on the volcanic and metamorphic rocks of Britain 

 generally. Folds and thrust-planes are noticed, not only in the High- 

 lands, but in the regions of Purbeck and Weymouth. 



The Report of the Royal Commission on London Water Supply 

 has been presented to the House of Commons. The Commissioners 

 are strongly of opinion that the water, as supplied to the consumer in 

 London, is of a very high standard of excellence and of purity, and 

 that it is suitable in quality for all household purposes. With respect 

 to the quantity of water which can be obtained within the watersheds 

 of the Thames and Lea, they are of opinion that a sufficient supply 

 to meet the wants of the metropolis, for a long time to come, may be 

 found. From the River Lea, with adequate additions to the present 

 storage, 52^ million gallons may be taken daily; and by the con- 

 struction of storage-reservoirs in the Thames Valley, at no great 

 distance above the intakes of the companies, it will be possible to 

 obtain an average daily supply of 300 million gallons, without taking 

 in any objectionable part of the flood-water. At present not half that 

 amount is taken, but the scheme suggested can be carried out 

 progressively to meet the increasing demands for water. A large 

 supply of water might also be procured from the Chalk area in the 

 basin of the Medway. In the opinion of the Commissioners a sufficient 

 quantity of water to supply 35 gallons a head to a population of 12 

 millions could be obtained ; and the population of Greater London 



