40 



KNOWLEDGE c^ SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[February, 1907. 



Natural and Artificial Mineral Waters. 



It miylit 1h' iIuiu.i;1u llial liv ili>siih iiij;" (lii' iii;lil sail-- in 

 the right iiropoitioji in distilled water any natural niiiural 

 water could be exactly imitated; and, in fact, special salts 

 are sold to be used in the pre])aration of water from various 

 well-known mineral sprinj^s. It has been shown, however, 

 by M. Neijreano that the natural waters dilTer from the 

 artilici.il imitations in ;in important physical chaiacterislic, 

 so jiiuch so that this can be used as ;i test for distinj^uishing 

 betwetn the two. 'J'he resistance offered to the passat^f of 

 an electrical current appears to be practically a constant in 

 tlie case of a natural mineral water, and will dilTereiiliate it 

 from other natural waters. For instance, X'ichy water was 

 found to have a resistance (in ohnis^ — c.c. at 180 C.) of i^o; 

 \'illel water, 500; and livian water i,2So. Artificial watirs 

 with pr.iclically the same chemical composition y;ave very 

 dilferent results, however, such as, for example, 112 in lln' 

 case of artificial \'ichy water, and 1,120 in that of artilici.il 

 Kvian water. 

 A Test for the Blood of Different Animals. 



.\ simple modilicatioii of the serum mellu)d ol tlilh reiiliatini; 

 the blood of dilferent .•uiimals (sei> " Knowt.i;i>c.i-; X: .S( ii-:.\- 

 ril-ic NliW.s " \'ol. II., .S(), !()()) has been deviseil by llerr 

 PiorkowsUi, and h.'is the s^reat adv;int;ii;c of not requirini;' 

 the use of ;i livini^- animal. .V small quaiitity oi serum from 

 a {.fiven anim.il, say a horse, is i)l.iced in a very small test 

 tube into which is then introduced one drop of the fresh 

 blood under examination, diluted 10 to 15 times, or of ;i 

 solution of the dried blood in a solution of salt. The tube 

 is allowed to stand for about 45 minutes, after which its 

 contents are examined. If the blood introduced w-as from 

 an animal of the same species as su[)plied the serum (a horse 

 in our hy|)olhetical case) a faint red precipitate of coaj^u- 

 lated blood will be seen, while the liquid above will have 

 remained clear. On the other hand, the blood of an animal 

 of any other species will have disst)l\-ed in the foreign 

 serum, colouring it red. The reaction is made more con- 

 clusive by shaking the tube at intervals of 30 minutes after 

 the first coagul;ition, a fresh precipitate being formed each 

 time. The method is stated to have given very satisfactorv 

 results in the ex.imination of old stains of human blood, 

 the test tubes being ])reviously charged with fresh human 

 serum. 



The Gases Enclosed in Coal. 

 Analyses have been made by Mr. V. Trobridge of the 

 gases enclosed in coal from Birtlcy, in Durham, in the dust 

 left on screening the coal, and in that deposited on the 

 timbers in the mine. The air was first removed by means 

 of a mercury pump from the flask in which the coal was 

 placed, and the gases subsequently given off by the coal in 

 the exhausted flask collected over mercurv measured and 

 examined. Finally the flask was heated by boiling water 

 to expel the residual gases. It was found that the samples 

 of bright coal yielded the largest amount, and that these 

 gases contained the largest proportion of combustible con- 

 stituents, the latter consisting almost entirely of marsh gas. 

 The gases occluded by the surface dust and the dust on the 

 timbers amounted to about one-twelfth of the quantity in 

 the bright coal, and contained other hydrocarbons of the 

 same series as marsh gas. .An interesting point was that 

 the proportion of oxygen in the portion of air last removed 

 from the flask was greater than in air. Further experi- 

 ments showed that freshly-hewn coal exposed to the air 

 gradually parted with its enclosed gases, and at the same 

 time absorbed nitrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere, 

 the latter in the greater proportion. Nitrogen formed a 

 considerable part of the gases obtained from the different 

 samples, and experiments are being made to determine 

 whether this nitrogen contained argon and other inert gases 

 that accompany nitrogen in the air. 



GEOLOGICAL. 



By Edward A. Martin, F.G.S. 



A Small Triassic Dinosaur. 



Dr. a. Smith-Woodward, the Keepsr of the Geological 

 Departmeat of the British Mussum, has described in detail 



to an enchanted audience, at the meetinj,' of the Geological 

 Society, two small skeletons of a new reptile from the 

 Triassic sandstone of Lossiemouth. The specimens were 

 discovered by Mr. \V. Taylor, of IClgin, and appear to be the 

 same as two imperfect skeletons which are already in the 

 British Museum. The head and trunk measure only 4 inches 

 in length, but there is a very long and slender tail, 'i'he head 

 is relatively large, and resembles that of Oniilhostichus in 

 many respects; but the fossils do not exhibit any teeth. 

 There are about twenty-one presacral vertebne, of which 

 nine are cervical. Thi^re are distinct traces of a plastron 

 of delicate abdominal ribs. The limb bones exhibit ;i large 

 internal cavity. The foreliiubs are very small, with a 

 liuiucrus as long as the radius and ulna. The hind-limbs 

 are relatively large, and the ilium is extended aiitero-postcriorly 

 for the length of four vertebrie. The femur is almost as long 

 ••is the tibia and fibula; while the metatarsus is especially 

 remarkable, being half as long as the tibia and consisting of 

 four metatarsals of nearly equal length firmly fused together. 

 The toes are long and slender, with sharply-pointed claws. 

 The most remarkable feature is undoubtedly the elongated 

 metatarsus, and the fusing together of the bones suggest 

 that the creature was in the habit of squatting thereon, and 

 that their united breadth would prevent it from sinking 

 into its boggy haunts or into the soft sands of a shore. At 

 the same time the distinct internal cast which appears of a 

 limb bone suggests adaptation for flight, and the whole struc- 

 ture would on account of its lightness seem suited for it. 

 The smallness of the fore-limbs seem to show that these were 

 seldom put to the ground, but this of course agrees with similar 

 limbs in other dinosaurs. The creature has been classed 

 with the dinosaurian reptiles on perhaps somewhat negative 

 testimony, and the suggestion that it might have possessed 

 some means of avian flight, although there were no traces of 

 wing-feathers or membrane, will no doubt not be lost sight of, 

 should any further specimens be discovered. 



A Neolithic Burial at Whyteleafe. 



A reprint has reached me oi a paper read by Mr. A. J. Hogg 

 before the Croydon Natural History Society, " On Human 

 and other bones found at Whyteleafe in Surrey." The site 

 is in the well-known Caterham Valley, along which the inter- 

 mittent Bourne flows from time to time. The bones were 

 found in October, iSg6. They lay on the undisturbed 

 surface of the chalk, but at the base of S ft. 3 in. of super- 

 incumbent dark brown or red loam, and grey marly chalk 

 rubble. The burial was made in the usual neolithic crouching 

 position, and the body seems to have been let down a shaft 

 into a dome-shaped excavation about 4 ft. 6 in. in height. 



The bee-hive or dome-shaped form of the hut, or the 

 sepulchral chamber, appears to represent everywhere the 

 ideal architecture of the Neolithic period, and was well ex- 

 emplified by the underground chambers discovered at Waddon 

 in igo2, which were ably described by Mr. George Clinch, 

 F.G.S., before they again disappeared from view. 



The human remains recovered at Whyteleafe consist of : — 



1. Portions of the occipital and parietal bones of the skull. 



2. The right ramus of the lower jaw, with eight teeth. 



3. The shaft of the right femur, or thigh-bone. 



4. The shaft of the right tibia, or shin-bone. 



The bones of the skull which are preserved are thick — in 

 the thickest part (the upper curved line of the occipital) five- 

 eighths of an inch. The remarkable rugosity of the occipital 

 appears to indicate the attachment of powerful muscles. 



The animal remains which were exhumed from the brown 

 loam included those of the cijuiis (small horse), boslongifrous, 

 ca-vus, and ovis. Mr. A. J. Hogg concludes his paper by 

 remarking that the age of the Whyteleafe interment may be 

 taken approximately as that of the close of the Stone Age, as 

 determined by observations made in Switzerland namely, 

 about seven thousand years ago. 



A Wealden Crocodile. 



Although the species of fossil crocodile, GontopJwhs crassi- 

 liius, was founded many years ago, it has only been quite 

 recently that the skull was discovered for the first time. 

 This fortune fell to Mr. R. W. Hooley, F.G.Z., who by great 

 carefulness and patience collected the remains of this fossil 

 crocodile from a disintegrating mass of Wealden Shales from 

 Atherfield in the Isle of Wight. This mass, comprising many 



