September 27, 1894] 



NA TURE 



527 



Eastern Alps consists of a series of steep compressed 

 folds of cretaceous strata rising through the Flysch and 

 Molasse conglomerates that form the lower spurs to the 

 north, and the summit of .S;intis is the highest of one of 

 the sharp anticlines of the range. Finer examples of 

 sharp anticlinal peaks and ridges separated by equally 

 acute synclinal gorges it would be difficult to find, and 

 the well-marked petrographical and pala-ontological 

 character of each zone leave no room for doubt as to the 

 sequence and structure of the different formations. The 

 summit of Santis (8200 feet) is an overturned anticline of 

 Gault, covered by a thick bed of " Seewerkalk," the highest 

 cretaceous rock in the district, and the structure is ex- 

 posed in splendid cliff sections on the sides of the peak. 

 Prof Heim, who is an adept at drawing panoramic 

 sketches, was anxious that we should have an op- 

 portunity of verifying his elaborate panorama of the 

 surrounding district, but unfortunately the mist, 

 which had come on, did not clear oft' the top till the 

 afternoon of the second day, and even then we 

 had only a short glimpse of the glorious view beneath. 

 Two nights were spent in the inn erected by the Alpine 

 Club, a short distance below the observatory on the 

 summit of Santis, and the descent to W'ildhaus was made 

 on the north side over a steep path leading across a com- 

 pressed synclinal fold of Seewerkalk, where a good 

 example was seen of the middle part of a double fold, 

 compressed and drawn out so as to pass almost into a 

 thrust-plane. A better example of the " \'erkchrten 

 Mittelschenkel " was, however, seen a few days afterwards 

 in the Mattstock near Amden, where the middle members 

 of a compressed monoclinal fold were found in normal 

 order from Flysch to Neocomian and Gault, but drawn 

 out and evidently much diminished in thickness. At 

 i)bstalden, on the Wallen See, a few days were spent 

 among the rocks on either side of the lake, a recent fall 

 (if snow having obscured the sections on the higher Alps, 

 which we had mtended to visit. One of the most interest- 

 ing tectonic features of this district is an important thrust- 

 plane, traversing the face of the Leistkamm on the north 

 side of the lake, and repeating the section of cretaceous 

 locks in the mountain. The thrust-plane forms a barrier 

 10 the downward passage of water through the iime- 

 btones above, and its outcrop is marked by a line of 

 .springs, one of which gushes out of the cliff in a large 

 waterfall opposite Muhlehorn. After a visit to the 

 .Miirchenstock, with its contorted anticlinal core of 

 i'ermian \'errucano conglomerate and its wrinkled skin 

 of Jurassic rocks, we made our way southward to Glarus, 

 .ind the greater part of the last week was devoted to the 

 exploration of the celebrated " Doppelfalte" of the 

 Glarnish, in which the red Verrucano is seen to have 

 been pushed on to the top of Jurassic and Kocene rocks 

 exposed in a series of magnificent mountain sections. 

 At Lochseite, near Schwanden, a few miles south of 

 Glarus, the massive \'errucano is seen projecting in a 

 thick ledge from the hillside over the so-called 

 LochseitenKalk, a crushed irregular bed of 'mylonised 

 limestone resembling that found near the great thrust- 

 planes in the North-west Highlands. At Lochseite the 

 thrust-plane is so sharp and clear that a knife could be 

 drawn along between the rocks on either side, and the 

 under-surface of the hard \'errucano is slickened and 

 polished at places as smooth as glass. A full view of 

 this tremendous overthrust was, however, not obtained 

 until we had climbed some 8000 feet to the crest of the 

 BUtistock and Kalkstockli, between Linthal and Elm, 

 where the sharp-cut and wonderfully straight line of the 

 great displacement was seen in profile crossing from 

 ridge to ridge and peak to peak, and producing a marked 

 feature in the mountain panorama. At one place where 

 the \'errucano has been eroded off, the party rested on 

 the smooth surface of the thrust-plane which forms the 

 crest of the ridge, where they were photographed, with 



NO. 1300, VOL. 50] 



Prof. Heim standing in the midst expounding the classic 

 sections around him. The south wing of the ■' Doppel- 

 falte," or thrust-plane, was crossed between Elm and 

 Flims at the Segnes Pass, at a height of S615 feet, 

 and here also the outcrop was seen in stupendous clitt 

 sections. The overlying \'errucano being darker in colour 

 than the limestones below, the line of displacement is 

 everywhere very sharp and distinct. The nummulite 

 limestone, where it approaches the thrust-plane, is 

 drawn out and schistose, and a distinct passage 

 was traced between unaltered nummulites and those 

 only slightly distorted, to a rock in which they 

 were rolled out into ribbons, which, but for the 

 intermediate specimens, could not have been recognised 

 as being of organic origin. The X'errucano itself 

 is also squeezed and schistose, and the pebbles are 

 compressed into augen. surrounded at places by sericite 

 and mica schist. The vast interglacial (.') landslip at 

 Flims, on the V'order Rhein, was the last of the important 

 objects we visited, and after a passing look at the crys- 

 talline rocks of the St. Gotthard JMassiv, the party 

 reached Lugano in detachments, where they rejoined the 

 other members of the Congress, all highly pleased with 

 their respective excursions across the Alps, and were 

 greeted on their arrival by a discharge of artillery, fol- 

 lowed in the evening by a splendid pyrotechnic display 

 on the lake. H. M. C. 



NOTES. 

 The Physical Society, which has for many years met in the 

 Royal College of Science at South Kensington, give notice of 

 some imporlaut changes. The Council have, after careful 

 consideration, come to the conclusion that the meetings of the 

 Society would be more accessible to the majority of the members 

 if they were held in some more central situation, and the meet- 

 ings will therefore henceforward be held on the same day and 

 at the same hour as heretofore, but in the rooms of the Chemical 

 Society, in Burlington House. All communications to the 

 secretaries or other officers of the Society may in future 

 be addressed to Burlington House ot to the secretaries 

 at iheir respective addresses as given in the list of 

 members of the Society. The Council have also decided 

 to initiate the publication of a series of abstracts of papers on 

 physics, but the resources at their command being slender make 

 it necessary 10 begin cautiously. At first .ibslracts will only 

 be given of papers which appear in a certain number of the 

 more important foreign magazines. They will for a time he 

 edited by Mr. Swinburne, and will be published regularly at 

 the beginning of each month in the form of a supplement to the 

 Proceedings of the Society. The first number will be issued 

 ill January 1895. Should the scheme prove successful it is in-. 

 tended to enlarge its scope. For some time past printed copies 

 of the more important papers have been circulated before the 

 meetings among members who are likely to take part in the 

 discussion on them ; it has, however, been felt that cases may 

 arise in which the author may wish that his paper should be 

 published as soon as possible. The Council have therefore 

 decided that, if an author so desire?, and if such a course appears 

 desirable, they will take steps to ensure that the publication of 

 a paper is not in any way delayed in order that it lUay be read 

 before publication, and that they will if necessary postpone the 

 reading and discussion of a paper until after it has been published. 

 We are informed that a petition, signed by a numherof science 

 masters, has been sent, through Sir Henry Roscoe, to the 

 Secretary of Slate for War, supporting ihe Departmental Com- 

 mittee's proposal to introduce a compulsory science subject 

 into the entrance examinations for WooKvich, which, the 

 masters consider, will encourage thorough science teaching in 

 the schools, and be to the advantage of education generally. 



