Scientijic Tntdliijencc. — (iecjlony and firopfaphp. 179 



the donudatioii, tli:;n to irregularity of tliickiu'ss in the original 

 de;iosit. He dwelt upon the epoch of this limestone seiios, and the 

 coniniencenientoftlicoverlyingsandstone, asoneof great interest in 

 the history of" the Appalachian rocks, marked as it is, throughout a 

 great part of the Appalachian belt, by evidences of a sudden and 

 great change in the physical conditions of the ancient sea, and 

 by the proofs of attendant drifting- and denuding action of extra- 

 ordinary energy. He contended that the grooved and worn sur- 

 faces of the limestone which mark the abrading action of a drift 

 at this ancient period, together with the same phenomena ob- 

 served in the rocks of other portions of the Appalachian series, as 

 described by Professor H. S. Rogers and Mr Hall, bear so striking 

 a resemblance to those more recent elfects, which have given rise 

 of late to such deeply interesting speculations, that it would seem 

 unphilosophical to refer the two to clifferrnt mechanical causes. 

 He therefore maintained, that as in the production of these ancient 

 phenomena of diluvium or drift, it can hardly be supposed that 

 ice, either floating or in the form of g-laclers, could have performed 

 any part, since the existence of ice in the ocean at that period is 

 scarcely conceivable, we are under no necessity of resorting to the 

 glacial, or even the gl.icio-aqueous theory, in CKplanation of the 

 more modern phenomena of grooved and striated rocks — Silli- 

 man's American Jovrnal of Science and Arts, vol. xliii., No. 1, 

 p. 181 



4. Gcoloqical Maps of Picchnont, Sf-c. — We are informed that Sis- 

 mondi's Geological Map of Piedmont and Savoy will shortly appear, 

 and that Pareto's Geolooical Map of the Duchy of Genoa and County 

 of Nice is nearly finished. 



5. IlumholdCs " Froijianrif Asiatiques." — We are glad to hear that 

 Humboldt is actively engaged in the preparation of a second edition 

 of his Fragmens Asiatiques. 



G. Ileightx of Localities in the Holy J.tnJ ascertained Baromctri- 

 callj hy Russeciger. — Monastery of St Catharine on Sinai 5115 Par- 

 isian feet above the sea; sununit of Dschebel Horeb, 7097; summit 

 of Dschebel Catharine, 8168; Jericho, 717 below the sea; bathing 

 place of the pilgrims in the Jordan, 1291 below the sea; Catholic 

 (/onvent at Na/areth, 1161 ab-ve the sea; sununit of Tabor, 1755; 

 surface of the Lake of Tiberias, 625 below the sea; Dschebel Makniel, 

 nbjve Tripolis, the iiighost point ol' Lebanon, 8800 above the sea; the 

 ('edarsoflicbanon, above Kden,6000; mountain pass between Beirout 

 and Baalbeck, 5485 ; Bseddin coal-mines, 2906 ; Makla aiu-el-Bed 

 coalniines, 2873; Mar-hanna-ol-Kennise cunl-mines, 1808; Boom at 

 Bciroiit, 60; n)oinitain pass from Ib'ii-or.t to Damascus, 4H86 ; towu 



