746 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 
Acetie Acid into Butyric and Caproic Acids,” and “On the Molecular 
Constitution of Carbon Compounds.” 
These were followed by one by Dr. Paul, “On Paraffin Oil,” in 
which he said that whilst oils lighter than water were quite different 
from those in gas-tar, the oils heavier than water were very similar, if 
not identical, with those in gas-tar ; and one by Dr. Roscoe, in which 
he announced that by means of the spectroscope he had detected 
strontium and lithium in the Bath hot springs in addition to the other 
well-known constituents. 
Dr. Phipson next described some black stones which fell from the 
atmosphere at Birmingham, in 1858. Analysis showed that they were 
not aérolites, but small fragments of basaltic rock, similar to that which 
existed a few leagues from Birmingham. He believed that the stones 
had been carried to Birmingham by a waterspout. The same author 
also had a paper, “On the Medicinal Muds of the Island of Ischia.” 
It was in this island and elsewhere customary to plunge the body into 
muds of this kind as a means of restoring health. They were com- 
posed of a volcanic sand, rendered muddy by water and a certain 
quantity of vegetable débris. He had no doubt that the water in its 
natural state was strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen, 
and it was to this agent principally that the medicinal properties were 
to be ascribed. 
A paper by Dr. A. T. Machattie, “On the Detection of Poisons by 
Dialysis,” was next read. This constituted an important contribution 
to toxicological chemistry, but would be too long to be given at full 
length in our pages, whilst an abstract would be unintelligible. 
One or two other papers of interest will be referred to in the 
Chemical Chronicle of our next number. 
Grotoey. (Section C.) 
Phillips on a Cranium of the Stone Period.—Sanders on Bristol Coal 
Fields—Sorby on Metallic Meteorites—Browne on Ice Caves.— 
Moore on the Paleontology of Frome.—Stoddart on Geology of 
Clifton.— Randell on Geology of Bath.—Tristram on Geology of 
Palestine. 
Amone the early communications in this Section was one by the 
President, Professor Phillips, who produced a fragment of a human 
cranium, taken out by himself from the lower strata of one of those 
singular heaps of accumulated débris known on the shores of the Lake 
of Geneva, laid bare by a railway cutting some time ago, and then 
described by M. Morlot. In certain parts of this kind of delta, pro- 
duced on dry land and with great regularity from the annual accession 
of fresh material, objects were found marking pretty clearly a positive 
date. Thus, the Roman occupation of Switzerland, which occupied 
on the whole about 700 years, yielded a few fragments by which it is 
