June 2, 1892] 



NA TURE 



109 



)n, but soon became bright a^ain, and of phosphoric aspect. 

 \ third par: separated from it, but it was much smaller and not 

 . brilliant as the two former. Finally the meteor disappeared 

 lithlnd the clouds— a white, lighted blot being seen through 

 iliem — and gradually fa<!ed away. The phenomenon lasted alto- 

 gether about three minutes. 



We learn from the Pioneer Mail that a smart shock of earlh- 

 q ake was felt at Madras on May 6, about ten minutes to ten 

 o'clock. The sound heard was at first like distant thunder, and 

 afterwards like a railway train, running close by. The shock was 

 distinctly felt. The weather was cloudy and ihe atmosphere 

 still at the time. 



The Annnaire Geologique uitiversel, founded by Ur. Dagin- 

 court in 1885, and continued under the editorship of Dr. L. 

 Carez for geology, and of M. H. Douville for palaeontology, has 

 nuw reached its seventh volume. Each year the work has in- 

 creased in value, and it now affords an admirable rhumS of 

 geological literature. Hitherto each volume has been issued in 

 a complete form, but the latest has appeared in four parts. By 

 the arrangement adopted there is some repetition, but this 

 enables information required to be readily obtained. There is 

 first a fairly complete list of papers and other publications, then a 

 s) stematic account of the various main chronological divisions of 

 formations ; this is followed by a description of separate districts ; 

 and finally we have a summary of palseontological work. The 

 stratigraphical notes are not always complete in each volume, 

 soiuelimes two years are grouped in one yearly issue ; for instance, 

 this volume contains no account of the Triassic and Tertiary 

 rocks, whilst the Cretaceous works of 1890-91 are here in^iluded. 

 The volume contains lists of geologists in France, Belgium, and 

 the British Isles ; next year we are promised lists for other 

 taropean countries. The editors are assisted by a large staff of 

 \\ orkers in various countries. 



M. E. RiGAi;x, of Boulogne-sur-Mer, who has devoted many 

 years to the study of the geology of the Bas Boulonnais, has 

 published an excellent account of this region in the Menioires 

 de la Soc. Academ. de Boulogne (vol. xiv., 108 pp.). The 

 district is of especial interest to English geologists because of the 

 fine development there of the Devonian and Carboniferous rocks, 

 and of the Jurassic series from the Great Oolite upwards. The 

 c al, formerly supposed to lie within the Carboniferous Limestone 

 series, is now known to be true coal measures, over which the 

 older rocks have been thrust. The paper gives an account of 

 several important deep borings, in some of which Silurian rocks 

 h.ive been reached beneath the Jurassic series. Thirteen new 

 species of fossils are described. 



During the past season, Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the Govem- 

 tn nt Agent of Education in Alaska.introduced into Alaska from 

 Siberia sixteen reindeer. Next year he proposes to establish a 

 herd of reindeer in the neighbourhood of Fort Clarence, and he 

 expects to begin with loo animals. The Scientific American^ 

 which records these facts, is of opinion that from an economical 

 point of view the experiment is of the highest interest, because 

 tiie reindeer is useful as a draught animal for sledges, as well as 

 for its milk, its meat, and its skin. As it flourishes in Siberia, 

 there seems to be no reason why it should not also flourish in 

 Alaska, where the conditions of climate and vegetation are very 

 4aiilar to those of Siberia. 



The editors of the Entomological Monthly Magazine note 

 that at the sale of the late Mr. Arthur Naish, of Bristol, at 

 Stevens's Rooms on May 16, some of the extinct (or nearly 

 extinct) species of British Lepidoptera fetched high prices. 

 Seven examples ot Lyccena dispar (the long extinct British form 

 of Z. Hippothoe) realized £\(i 8j., or an average of nearly 

 £,z Ts. each. A lot containing four Polyominatus Acis (perhaps 

 NO. I 179, VOL. 46] 



extinct) was sold for lis. Eight Lalia ccenosa (apparently 

 recently extinct) were sold for £,1 ijs. 6d. Two Cleora viduaria 

 (not found very recently) were knocked down for a guinea. 

 Seven Noctua subrosea (long extinct as British, and the conti- 

 nental form of which, siibca:rulea, is very different in appear- 

 ance) obtained £(i I2i., one very fine example realizing 

 £z los. 



Mk. C. W. Dale, writing from Glanvilles Wootlon, records, in 

 the June number of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, that 

 the effect of the weather upon insect life in Dorsetshire during 

 April was remarkable. Butterflies were unusually plentiful, 

 nuths unusually scarce. The conclusion he draws is that 

 easterly winds, with frosts at night, are injurious to moth life, 

 but do not affect butterfly life, so long as there is plenty of blue 

 sky and sunshine. These were the general meteorological con- 

 ditions in Dorsetshire during April. 



Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. have issued a new 

 and revised e lition (the third) of Mr. W. A. Shenstone's 

 *' Practical Introduction to Chemistry." It contains the 

 practical introductory course of work in use at Clifton College. 

 In this edition the author has made several changes which 

 have been sug ;ested by his own experience and that of various 

 friends. 



The forty-fourth part of Cassell's "New Popular Educator " 

 has been published. It includes two coloured maps, one of Asia 

 Minor, the other of Palestine. 



Cyanide of arsenic, As(CN)3, has been prepared by M. 

 Guenez, and is described by him in the current number of the 

 Comptes Rendtii. It has been obtained by the action of finely 

 divided elementary arsenic upon iodide of cyanogen, CNI, a 

 substance which is usually obtained crystallized in delicate, 

 transparent needles, frequently attaining the length of several 

 inches. About thirty giams of perfectly dry cyanogen iodide 

 were placed in a strong Wurtz flask, together with seven grams 

 of powdered arsenic and sixty to seventy cubic centimetres of 

 carbon bisulphide previously dried over phosphoric anhydride. 

 The air contained in the flask w as then displaced by dry carbon 

 dioxide and the flask sealed. The reaction was found to com- 

 mence in the cold, crystals of tri-iodide of arsenic soon making 

 their appearance. But, in order to complete the conversion of 

 the iodide of cyanogen into arsenic cyanide, it was found 

 necessary to heat the flask for about twenty- four hours over a 

 water-bath. The heating is best carried out in successive 

 periods of seven or eight hours, allowing the flask to cool after 

 each period and subjecting the contents to brisk agitation. 

 Under these circumstances a quantitative yield of arsenic cyanide 

 was obtained, in accordance with the following equation : — 



2As -f 3CNI = ASI3 -i- As(CN)3. 

 In order to isolate the cyanide, advantage was taken of its 

 insolubility in carbon bisulphide, arsenic iodide being readily 

 soluble. The product of the reaction was therefore placed in a 

 continuous extracting apparatus, in which it was thoroughly 

 exhausted with pure carbon bisulphide. The residual cyanide 

 was subsequently dried in a current of carbon dioxide, and pre- 

 served in sealed tubes previously filled with the same indifferent 

 gas. 



Cyanide of arsenic obtained in the manner above in- 

 dicated is a slightly yellow substance consisting of small 

 crystals, which under the microscope are observed to be well 

 formed, and to possess a deep yellow colour by transmitted 

 light. The crystals are extremely deliquescent, being instantly 

 decomposed by water with production of arsenious oxide and 

 prussic acid : 



2As(CN)3 + 3HaO = AsjO, -I- 6HCN. 

 When heated, arsenic cyanide evolves about a third of its 

 cyanogen in the form of gaseous di- cyanogen, the residue con- 



