1884. 99 TaNSAIN. Vo Ae. Sci 
other way. On writing these views to Professor WARD, he replied in a 
letter acknowledging their correctness. All the travelers, however, con- 
cur in describing quartz sand resting on an incline and possessing very 
great sonorous power. Agitation of the sand causes it to slide down 
the incline, and, as it moves, a noise resembling at first a humming, 
then a roaring, increasing in volume until it is likened to distant 
thunder. Professor PALMER noticed also the production of a slight 
sound by sweeping portions of the sand rapidly forward with the arm, 
which, moreover, caused a peculiar tingling sensation in the operator’s 
arm. All the observers agree in noting the perfect dryness of the sand, 
and Professor PALMER thought the heated sand issued louder sounds 
than that in the shade. The Arabs residing in Tor ascribe the sounds 
to strokes by a priest on a makous, or gong, calling his fellow-monks 
to prayers in the monastery concealed within the bowels of the earth. 
Two wonderful sand-hills have been described by travelers in Afghan- 
istan. One, forty miles north of Cabul, was visited by Sir ALEXANDER 
BURNES in 1837; the second, 150 miles south of Herat, near the borders 
of Persia, was visited by Capt. EVAN SMITH in 1870-72. The general 
characters of these places resemble those of Jebel Nakous, and the 
sounds emitted by the moving sand are similar. Reports have been 
made of a sonorous dune in Nevada, twenty miles south of Stillwater, 
in Churchill County. This dune is said to be 100 feet to 4oo feet high 
and four miles long ; when agitation of the sand starts it sliding, a noise 
is produced like that from telegraph wires fanned by a breeze. 
The localities in which sonorous sand is found may be divided into 
three classes : first, sea and fresh-water beaches, where all the sand 
possesses the sound-producing quality permanently, as at Eigg, Man- 
chester, Plattsburg, etc. ; secondly, sea-beaches where small tracts of 
the sand possess acoustic properties transiently, as along the Atlantic 
coast, in New Jersey, North Carolina, and on the Baltic; ¢hirdly, 
sand-hills in the interior or otherwise, whose steep slopes give rise to 
acoustic phenomena of great magnitude, as at Kauai, in Nevada, and 
at Jebel Nakous and Reg Ruwan. 
Investigations to determine the true cause of the sonorous property 
of sand are in progress. Any information concerning new localities, 
and samples from the same, will be received very gratefully. 
May 5, 1884. 
REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING, 
The President, Dr. J. S. NEWBERRY, in the Chair. 
A large audience was present. 
