482 



NA TURE 



[September 14, 1893 



logical aspects of this subject, conflucted at the instigation and 

 under the superintendence of the Massachusetts State Board of 

 Health. 



"Chemical and Micro-Mineralogical Researches on the 

 Upper Cretaceous Zones of the South of England " is the title 

 of the thesis sent in by Dr. W. F. Hume for the recent D. So. 

 examination at London University. This paper gives a large 

 amount of information on the subject ; the zones described being 

 those established by Dr. C. Barrois. The notes refer chiefly to 

 the chalk of the Isle of Wight and Dorsetshire, but they in- 

 clude numerous references to the chalk of other areas, especially 

 to that of Folkestone. The author's researches incline him to 

 the belief that most of the chalk was deposited in fairly deep 

 water ; thus differing from M. Cayeux, whose work in the 

 north of France led him to infer a shallow water origin for the 

 chalk of that area. The insoluble residue decreases in quantity 

 as we ascend in the series, and is generally greater in the Isle of 

 Wight than at Folkestone ; the excess being especially apparent 

 in the Cenomanian zones. All the Upper Cenomanian beds have 

 undergone secondary silicification. 



The Geological Sarvey of France has now published rather 

 more than one-half of the country on the scale of i : 80,000 — 

 138 streets out of a total of 259. .A.n excellent general map on 

 the scale of I : 1,000,000 was issued in 1889. The first street 

 (No. 13) of the map of the scale of i 1320,000 has.ju5t been 

 published. This map, which is a reduction of sixteen streets on 

 the larger scale, has Paris nearly in the centre, and includes Hon- 

 fleur and Liseaux on the west, Chateaudun and Sens on the 

 south, Nogent and Dormans on the east, Rouen and Beauvais 

 on the north. The tertiary and secondary rocks are well repre- 

 sented within this area, the Silurian, Ordovieian, Cambrian and 

 preCambrian occupying a small space in the south-west near 

 Mamers. The clay with flints is shown by shading over the 

 chalk. The freshwater and estuarine strata are indicated by 

 shading over the colour denoting the geological formations. 

 Nnmerous notes on economic geology are printed below the 

 map. 



An interesting study of the compounds of phosphorus and 

 sulphur, by Herr Helff, is published in the current number of 

 the Zeitschrijt jiir physikalische Chemie, Hitherto seven sul- 

 phides of phosphorus have been described. Observations on 

 vapour-density, and on the boiling-point of solutions in carbon 

 bisulphide indicate, however, that four of these only are true 

 chemical compounds, viz. P4S3, P4S7, PsSj, and PjSj. On 

 heating two atomic proportions of phosphorus with three of sul- 

 phur, instead of PjSj being formed it appears that the main 

 product is P4S7, a little P4S3 being also obtained. The sub. 

 stances previously taken to be P4S and P4S2 are merely solu- 

 tions of sulphur in phosphorus. Incidentally the author con- 

 firms the results already arrived at by Beckmann, that when in 

 solution in carbon bisulphide, sulphur has the molecular for- 

 mula Sg and phosphorus the formula P4 ; he also shows that 

 phosphorus and sulphur when dissolved in carbon bisulphide do 

 not unite even on heating to the ordinary boiling-point. It is 

 also noteworthy that the freejing-points of solutions of sulphur 

 in phosphorus favour the view that here the molecular com- 

 plexity of sulphur is the same as when it is dissolved in carbon 

 bisulphide. 



The eighth meeting of the International Congress of Hygiene 

 and Demography is to be held during the present month at 

 Buda Pesth, and several international committees have, we 

 understand, been formed with a view to carrying out the deci- 

 sions of the London Congress. A separate section for tropical 

 countries has been organised, and will meet under the presidency 

 of Dr. Theodor Duka. 



NO. 1246, VOL. 48] 



The sixteenth annual meeting of the Library Association wi 

 held at Aberdeen on September 4 and 5. In his inaugural ac 

 dress, Dr. Garnett, Keeper of the Printed Books in the Britis 

 Museum, dwelt upon the cataloguing of books. He said that 

 catalogue should not merely enable the reader to find a boc 

 with the least possible delay, but also present an epitome 

 the life-work of every author, and assist the literary historia 

 in his researches. Of the pipers read, one by Prof. Trai 

 on "The Classification of BDjks in the Natural Sciences," w; 

 of especial scientific interest. 



Several very interesting lectures will shortly be delivered 

 the evening meetings of the Camera Club. On September: 

 Prof. J. Milne, F. R. S., who is on a short visit from Japan, wi 

 discourse upon " The Earthquakes of Japan " ; Mr. Lamot 

 Howie will give a lecture, entitled " The Scottish Alps," c 

 September 28 ; and the October and November programm 

 will include a paper by Prof. Marshall Ward, F. R.S. 



The Journal of the College of Science, Imperial Universit 

 Japan, vol. vi. part 2, is devoted to a paper by Mr. Sadahi 

 Matsuda on "The Anatomy of Magnoliacese." The auth 

 s,)lits up Magnoliacece into the four following groups : (i) Tho 

 identical with Magnolieie, (2) those identical with Schizandr, 

 (3) 7 rochodendron and the genera of Illiciea, (4) Euptehva ai 

 C'.rcidiphyllum . 



A REVISED report on the " Copepoda of Liverpool Bay 

 by Mr. Isaac C. Thompson, has been published in the Trar 

 actions of the Liverpool Biological Society, vol. vii. Tl 

 report deals with 136 species, eighteen of which are new to tl 

 district over which the collection was made, and eleven a 

 considered to be entirely new species. Twenty plates a 

 included, containing a number of outline sketches for faci 

 tating identification. 



The Anthropological Institute has issued an index to i 

 publications. The index includes communications jiublishi 

 in the journal and transactions of the Ethnological Society fro: 

 1843 to 1871 ; those in the journal and memoirs of the Ai 

 thropological Society (1863-71), and also those that ha' 

 appeared in the Anthropological Review. In 1 87 1 the Ethn< 

 logical and Anthropological Societies united to form the Ai 

 thropological Institute, and since then all papers have appeari 

 in the Institute's journal. The first twenty volumes of tl 

 journal are included in the index. 



Cosmos contains an article by M. C. Maze, from which 

 appears that droughts such as we have experienced this ye; 

 follow a cycle of forty-two years. Since, however, the obsen 

 ations discussed have not been obtained from one place, at 

 there is no clear definition as to what constitutes a dry seasot 

 the theory can hardly be said to be above suspicion. 



Messrs. Taylor and Francis will shortly publish a worl 

 by Griffith Brewer and Patrick Y. Alexander, on " Aeronautics, 

 being an abridgement of aeronautical specifications filed at tl 

 Patent Office between 1851 and 1891. 



Messrs. G. P. Putman's Sons have published for Dr.Laui 

 Sodre, the Governor of Para, Brazil, a work on " The State ( 

 Para." The work is in five parts, by different contributon 

 dealing respectively with the history of Para, physical feature! 

 public instruction, revenues and commerce, and industries. 



The Journal of the Franklin /«x/zV«/«for S«ptemberconUii 

 among other things the continuation of Nikola Tesla's lector 

 " On Sight and other High Frequency Phenomena," and th 

 conclusion of the lecture, by Dr. Richards, on " The Specifi 

 Heats of the Metals." 



