No. 1070, Vol. 42] 



NATURE 



and his proposal to give to "alum" the name atolan-teltnin- 

 ajafin-weso. CHARLES E, Groves. 



Chemical Society, April 14. 



P-S. — I need scarcely say how cordially I concur with Mr, 

 rW. F. Kirby's exceedingly apposite remark that no system of 

 Rransliteration should be adopted offhand without full dis- 

 ncussion. 



With reference to the scheme of Russian transliteration 

 propounded on p. 397 of Nature (vol. xli.), I should be 

 obliged if the editor of Nature would allow me the opportunity of 

 suge:esting that different principles of respelling foreign languages 

 in English might possibly be adopted with advantage for different 

 purposes. The scheme referred to is one of strict transliteration ; 

 19 other word^, the aim is to represent the letters of a foreign 

 alphabet uniformly by the same letters or combinations of letters 

 in the English alphabet. For the purpose of drawing up lists 

 of titles of books and papers in a foreign language — the purpose 

 obviously kept in view by the propounders of the new Russian 

 scheme — this principle is no doubt the best. It is the only one 

 that makes it easy to consult a Russian dictionary. But it does 

 not follow that the principle of strict transliteration is the best to 

 adopt for foreign proper names occurring in a language different 

 from that to which they belong. The third of the rules adopted 

 by the Council of the Royal Geographical Society for geographical 

 orthography is as follows: "The true sound of the word as 

 locally pronounced will be taken as the basis of the spelling " 

 <Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc, 1885, p. 535). This rule is inconsistent 

 with any scheme of strict transliteration. I can imagine that 

 two views may be held as to its propriety. Unquestionably 

 there are difficulties in applying it, but surely for the purpose for 

 which the rule was adopted it is at least defensible and worthy 

 of serious discussion. 



Even if it should be recognized, however, that it is desirable 

 that one principle of conversion into a foreign alphabet should 

 be adopted for one purpose, another for another, it will, I think, 

 be generally admitted to be a matter of the greatest importance 

 that an agreement should be come to among all concerned in 

 such conversions as to those points which might be held in 

 common on either system of conversion. All schemes of trans- 

 literation in the strict sense of the term are based on phonetic 

 rules. The aim in all is to render the letters of one alphabet by 

 the letters and signs most appropriately representing their normal 

 sounds in another. It is the departures from the normal sounds 

 that are disregarded. Now a uniform system of representing 

 sounds, so far as it is at all desirable to represent foreign sounds 

 in English, if devised with sufficiently wide regard to the require- 

 ments of different languages, would be of great use as a system to 

 be followed for every word or name on the principle of phonetic 

 respelling and to be adopted as the basis of every scheme of 

 transliteration. Geo. G. Chisholm. 



April 22. 



On some Decomposed Flints from Southbourne-on-Sea. 



The curiously decomposed flint-pebbles which occur in the 

 cliffs between Boscombe and Southbourne-on-Sea have not, so 

 far as I have been able to ascertain, yet received the attention 

 they deserve, and, with a view of obtaining other opinions 

 before the completion of a paper on the subject, I venture briefly 

 to offer mine. 



I will not now deal generally with all the pebbles in the 

 horizon alluded to, but specifically with some of unusual interest 

 which occur at a certain point in the cliff, as these represent an 

 extreme type of decomposition to which most of the less-altered 

 pebbles may be found gradating. These type-pebbles occur in 

 the cliff a short distance to the east of the pier at Southbourne- 

 on-Sea, and present all the characteristic features of a littoral 

 deposit. 



A section of the cliff at this point shows : — 



Blown sand 8 feet. 



Brown loam, passing down into lighter-coloured 

 sandy gravel containing angular and sub-angular 

 yellow and brown flints without any definite mode 

 of deposition 14 feet. 



At the base of this, and resting on pure quartzose sand, free 

 from flints, is a definite and more or less horizontal layer of 

 rounded and decomposed flint-pebbles of about one pebble in 



thickness, partially embedded in the white sand on which they 

 rest, and covered by the clastic matter of the bed above. 



While some of these pebbles are apparently unaffected, most 

 of them are eroded in a remarkable manner, having large por- 

 tions of their substance removed ; and others, though retaining 

 their original form, are completely changed throughout their 

 j mass into a soft, white substance (crystalline silica) macroscopi- 

 I cally like chalk, and as easily cut or sawn through. The largest 

 I wholly-decomposed specimen I have been able to procure 

 I measures 14 inches around its greatest circumference. 



It is remarkable that these flint-wrecks preserve their original 



' form and detail to such a degree of perfection that in most cases 



the soft surfaces retain the crescentic markings (mastoid) of 



incipient conchoidal fracture which resulted originally from the 



percussion due to wave-action. 



As far as I am at present able to judge, the silica oiiginally 

 \ composing these pebbles was of two distinct kinds — a bluish- 

 black, or more stable form (superior crystalline development), 

 and a light-coloured, or less stable form (inferior crystalline de- 

 velopment) ; for, in the specimens I have procured, the bluish- 

 black variety does not appear to be abnormally affected, while 

 the lighter-coloured variety is nearly always partially or com* 

 pletely decomposed. The wholly-decomposed pebbles would, 

 therefore, have been formed of Ihe unstable variety, while those 

 eroded only would have been formed of a combination of the 

 two, the stable portion now remaining. 



My supposition seems to be strengthened by the evidence 

 obtained from the banded flints, which are very plentiful here. 

 These banded flints are formed of alternating zones of the two 

 varieties, and in many cases the unstable form has been so de- 

 composed as to leave only successive zones of the more stable 

 form fitting loosely one into the other like a nest of boxe^, and as 

 easily separable. Notwithstanding this fact these unstable zones 

 — before decomposition — are apparently as well able to with- 

 stand mechanical erosion as the stable zones, a conclusion 

 arrived at through having some of these banded flints subjected 

 to the action of the sandblast for 15 minutes without any 

 " ridging" taking place. 



That the decomposition of these particular flint-pebbles must 

 have taken place prior to the deposition of the superincumbent 

 bed of clastic material is proved, I think, by the fact that none 

 of the flints composing this bed appear to be decomposed, even 

 the smallest chips being comparatively unaffected. 



From this and other facts observed, I gather that the de- 

 composition of these pebbles must have taken place when they 

 were exposed to the air, but I do not think atmospheric in- 

 fluences alone would be sufficient to account for the evident 

 rapidity and effectiveness of the process ; we must seek a special 

 cause for an unusual effect. 



I venture to suggest that the solvent which has in this case 

 removed the colloidal silica was derived from decaying sea-weed, 

 and other organic matter, cast up from time to time by the 

 waves upon this (then) pebbly beach. Large masses of sea-weed 

 cast up by storm- waves take a considerable time to decompose, 

 and during such period is it not possible that they might produce 

 alkaline solutions, or — as has been suggested to me by Dr. 

 - Irving — combinations of ammonia and organic acids ? Either 

 of these is a well-known solvent of colloidal silica. The action 

 of such solvents might have been accelerated by the mechanical 

 process through which most of these pebbles passed prior to 

 their final state of rest, viz. the action of the sea-waves in pro- 

 ducing the mastoid structure already alluded to, this molecular 

 disruption no doubt facilitating the penetration of the solvent to 

 the very heart of the pebble. It is worthy of note, too, that in 

 some of the eroded specimens procured, the remaining unaffected 

 parts are almost entirely free from these incipient fractures, a 

 fact which — if we ignore the supposed variation in the stability 

 of the silica — suggests the necessity for a combination of the 

 chemical and mechanical causes to produce the effects observed, 

 I have dealt here with a special case only, in the hope that 

 my suggestions may be found applicable to the many in which 

 we see abnormal decomposition occurring in the flint-pebbles of 

 littoral deposits, and which appears to be distinct from the 

 "weathering" so frequently seen occurring to considerable 

 depths in the exposed flints of deposits other than littoral. 

 Bournemouth, April 16. Cecil Carus- Wilson. 



Doppler's Principle. 

 As a student I should be much obliged to any reader for an 

 explanation of the following difficulty. In considering Doppler's 



