86 



NATURE 



[May 22, 1890 



" Low coral cliffs, which in many places form the shore- 

 line, give indications of recent elevation, being marked 

 by two distinct lines of erosion. On the beach, on the 

 eastern side of the island, I observed that the sea had 

 washed up recently high above the ordinary high-water 

 mark ; trunks of cocoa-nuts were lying about rottmg, and 

 the lower part of the stems of those still standing near 

 the shore had been washed by salt water. This was 

 afterwards explained by the fact that a very high tide 

 occurred on March 18 (about the time of the hurricane at 

 Samoa), which rose 2 feet above high-water mark, and 

 remained so for fifteen minutes. A narrow fringing reef 

 generally borders the island. On the eastern side of the 

 island, below the summit, at an elevation of 300 feet, 

 volcanic stones were observed lying in the bed of a 

 stream, and on the beach, a little further south, are dykes 

 of volcanic rock ; one of diorite shows through the beach, 

 another, which is close-to, is about 100 feet high, and can 

 be traced a short distance inland. The inner part has 

 coral-reef rock, conformable, superimposed. The beach for 

 a considerable distance either side is strewn with blocks 

 of conglomerate formed of coral and volcanic rocks 

 cemented together. 



" The higher part of the lower terrace on the western 

 side of the island was found to be composed of coral-reef 

 rock. 



" The present volcanic nucleus must have been origin- 

 ally below the surface, but sufficiently near to allow coral to 

 grow, and reef-making Foraminifera to be deposited on its 

 summit. It was then evidently elevated about 300 feet 

 (marked aa', bb' in section) in a comparatively short 

 interval, after which a long period of rest, or subsidence, 

 followed, during which coral grew (forming the portion 

 bb' to cc'), and a lagoon {d) was produced. Then another 

 period of elevation raised the island to its present height, 

 and exposed the volcanic foundation. 



" C. F. Oldham." 



I am indebted to Captain Wharton for sending me the 

 specimens collected by Commander Oldham. The lime- 

 stones, some of which are fairly crystalline in character, 

 are composed of Foraminifera and water-worn fragments of 

 calcareous Algae (" Nullipores "). The deposit of hydrated 

 manganese oxide cropping out from below the limestone 

 is remarkable, but it has all the appearance of an ordinary 

 terrestrial deposit. A much-weathered mass from the 

 neighbourhood contains many beautiful crystals of mag- 

 netite. Although the rocks forming the nucleus of the 

 island are of igneous origin, they are not modern volcanic 

 materials. They consist of much altered glassy andesites 

 (porphyrites) with epidiorites ; and are suggestive of 

 ancient volcanic masses that have been exposed at the 

 surface by denudation. The significance of such facts as 

 these has been pointed out by Prof. Bonney and Dr. 

 Blanford ; and it is quite incorrect to quote examples 

 like this as lending support to the view that all oceanic 

 islands are of volcanic origin. John W. Judd. 



NOTES. 



In the list of Birthday honours the merits of many different 

 classes of public servants are duly recognized. The services of 

 men of science in the Science and Art Department, however, 

 following an unbroken rule, fail to receive any acknowledgment. 



Among those who have received the honour of C.B., we are 

 glad to see the name of Prof. W. C. Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., 

 Assayer to the Royal Mint. 



The date of the second soiree of the Royal Society, to which 

 ladies are invited, is fixed for June 18. 



The Jubilee of the Uniform Penny Post was well and worthily 

 celebrated at the Guildhall on Friday last, the i6th inst., by the 

 NO. 1073, VOL. 42] 



Corporation of the City of London. The grand old hall was 

 never applied to a better purpose. Every process connected 

 with Post Office work, from telegraphy to sorting, was shown 

 in actual operation. The Exhibition remained open for three 

 days, and -'5,oco people were delighted. 



On May 15 an influential deputation from the Marine Bio- 

 logical Association of the United Kingdom waited upon the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer to ask for an ad'Htional grant from 

 the Treasury in aid of investigations in connection with food- 

 fishes, Crustacea, and mollusks, carried on by the Association, 



I Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P., introduced the deputation. 



\ Both he and Sir E. Birkbeck, M.P., called Mr, Goschen's 

 attention to the large amount spent by the United States in the 

 encouragement of the fishing industry ; and Sir E. Birkbeck 

 pointed out that even Scotland, with her grants to the Scotch 



' Fishery Board, is in this respect ahead of England. After some 



' remarks from other members of the deputation, the Chancellor 

 of the Exchequer, in reply, said that the questions which had 

 been put by him in the course of the speeches were not made 

 from a critical or carping point of view, but merely to convince 



, himself as to what were really the aims of the Association, 

 which he regarded as excellent ; but he could not say anything 

 as to the practicability of their being carried out. He pointed 

 out that the Treasury would very carefully consider the whole 

 question of how to recast the Fisheries Department, but he felt 

 that it would be an inconvenient thing to have four bodies, two 

 in England and one each in Scotland and Ireland, whose 

 jurisdiction might overlap. He hoped to be able in a short 

 time to have an opportunity of consulting some of the scientific 

 and other gentlemen present, in order to have further light 

 thrown upon the subject before the Government took any action 

 in the matter. 



At the Royal Institution, on Tuesday afternoon. May 27, 

 Mr. Andrew Lang will begin a course of three lectures on " The 

 Natural History of Society." The remaining lectures will be 

 given on June 3 and 10. 



Mr. G. Bertin is about to deliver, at the British Museum, ai 

 series of four lectures on the manners and customs of the 

 Babylonians, from the cuneiform documents in the Museum.. 

 The lectures will be given on the following Tuesdays — June 3, 

 10, 17, and 24, at 3.30 p.m. 



On Monday evening Mr. T. W. Russell asked in the House 

 of Commons whether the Committee consisting of certain 

 members of the Royal Society appointed to inquire into the 

 1 question of lighthouse illuminants had yet reported. Sir M. 

 ! Hicks-Beach replied that there had been some unavoidable 

 delay in the matter in consequence of a change made in the 

 composition of the Committee. But he had communicated with 

 the President of the Royal Society, and understood that the 

 Report of the Committee might be expected in the course of the 

 summer. 



Mr. F. H. Snow, of Lawrence, Kansas, calls attention in 



, Science to a remarkable fall of meteorites of unknown date in 



i Kiowa County, Kansas. " Many of the citizens of Greensburgh, 



' the county seat, were," he says, " aware of the existence of these 



strange irons, and commonly called them meteoric ; but there 



seems to have been no suspicion of their true character and 



value. Indeed, until March 17, 1890, a specimen weighing loi'5 



pounds, had ornamented the side-walk in front of a real estate 



office in the above-named town for about three years. The 



farmers in the vicinity of the locality where the fall had occurred 



had put some of the specimens to various uses." Prof. W. 



Cragin, of Washburn College, was the first scientific man who 



visited the farm upon which the meteorites had fallen. This 



was on March 13. He secured from one of the farmers five 



meteorites, aggregating in weight over a thousand pounds, the 



