532 



NATURE 



[September 25, 1890 



Compounds have been prepared of all degrees of stability, from 

 well-defined individuals to molecular compounds. The above 

 general formula has been given for chemical reasons, A mole- 

 cular weight corresponding to half that represented by the above 

 formula is given by Raoult's method, but it is believed that 

 dissociation takes place in solution, 



C. H. Bothamley read a paper on the action of phosphorus 

 trichloride on organic acids and on water. The equation given 

 in the text-books, representing the action of phosphorus tri- 

 chloride on organic acids, is shown to be incorrect. An equation 

 given previously by Thorpe is confirmed, viz. : — 



3CH3COOH + 2PCI3 = sCHaCOCK + P2O3 -F 3HCI, 



The reaction, however, only takes place according to this 

 equation in the case of acids of low molecular weight, and when 

 the reacting substances are present in the required proportions. 

 As the molecular weight of the acid increases the reaction tends 

 to become more complex. 



A paper was read by Prof. W. H. Perkin, Jun., on the con- 

 stitution of the alkaloid berberin. On treatment with perman- 

 ganate the alkaloid yields three principal oxidation products of 

 the following empirical formulae : — 



CsoHi^NOs.CiioHi^NO^CsoHi.NO,,. 



From the results of the careful investigation of these, the 

 following formula has been proposed for berberin : — 



CHgO^ 

 CHgO^ 



>C6H. 



-C— CH 



II I 

 -C— N— CH.^— CH2 



>C6H, 



\r 



\ 



CH, 



In the course of the meeting interesting discourses were given 

 by Dr. W. H. Perkin on the development of the coal-tar colour 

 industry since 1880, and by Prof. Hummel on fast and fugitive 

 coal-tar colours. 



GEOLOGY AT THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



'T'HE short but extremely useful address of the President, A. 

 •^ H. Green, Professor of Geology at Oxford, formerly of 

 Mathematics and Geology at the Yorkshire College, dealt with 

 the educational aspect of Geology. Although he dwelt on the 

 risk of becoming loose reasoners, which geologists continually 

 ran, the President pointed out how by a proper training in minute 

 and delicate experimental work, the student might be taught 

 •the necessity of exactness, and could then proceed to practical 

 work, which would lead him into the open air, and compel 

 him to acquire the eye and enthusiasm necessary for geological 

 research. 



Amongst the reports presented to the section was one by Prof. 

 T. R. Jones, describing a Saccocaris from the Arenig, Aristozoe 

 and Estheria from the Devonian and Carboniferous ; one by 

 Mr. G. R. Vine, giving lists of Cretaceous Polyzoa from the 

 Neocomian, Gault, Upper Greensand, Cambridge Greensand, 

 and Red Chalk ; one from Mr. A. Bell giving the lists of fossils 

 obtained from the ' ' manure gravels " of Wexford, by which he is 

 able to indicate the date of the final separation of Ireland from 

 England ; and one from Mr. Marr, giving the i)roposed circular 

 letter and record sheet to be issued to the curators of public 

 and private museums, in order to obtain a reliable register of the 

 location of all type specimens of fossils. 



Mr. Jeffs presented the report of the Photograph Committee 

 containing a list of about 300 photographs of geological interest, 

 and suggestions for their collection and registration ; he also ex- 

 Tiibited photographs collected during the present year, amongst 

 which some from Yorkshire, Antrim, and Scotland were of 

 especial value ; Dr. H. Johnston-Lavis gave an elaborate report 

 on the volcanic phenomena of Vesuvius, including a plan of 

 the cone in April 1890, an estimate of the lava extruded between 

 May and December, 1889, and a general record of the doings 

 of the volcano in the year ; while Mr. De Ranee's report on 

 underground water included an immense number of well sections 

 in different parts of England. 



The chief papers contributed to the section were perhaps 

 those on local geology, some of which gave the results of many 

 years' research. Mr. Holgate described the coals and clays of 

 Leeds, and showed that the colour and texture of the containing 

 rock was influenced by the nature of its fossils ; thus, the more 

 •delicate plants like ferns give blue, larger plants black, and 



NO, 



109 I, VOL, 42] 



animal remains hard, black rocks. He followed with a paper 

 on the physical properties of coals, in which he showed that 

 coals with a dull black colour and a wide cleat were chiefly made 

 of spores, with but little fusible ash, and were the best for use 

 where the temperature is high ; while the bright, soft coals, with 

 close cleavage, made largely of mineral charcoal and probably of 

 plant stems, contained much fusible ash, broke up in burning 

 and formed slow burning, caking coals. Mr. J. R. Dakyns 

 described the setting in of the Yoredale beds in Yorkshire, and 

 the gradual changes which occur in them and in the lower and 

 upper Millstone grit as the beds are traced northwards ; Messrs. 

 Cash and Lomax accentuated the identity of Lepidophloios and 

 Lepidodendron, of which plants a magnificent series of slices was 

 displayed in the temporary museum ; Mr. J. W. Davis stated 

 that fish remains had been found at nine horizons in the West 

 Riding coal-field, from two of which, one above the Better bed 

 and the other in the Adwalton Cannel of Tingley, no less than 

 sixty species of fish and some of Labyrinthodonts had been 

 described. Mr. Tate identified the so-called "Ingleton Granite" 

 as a quartzose volcanic tuff, and Phillips's dyke at Ingleton as a 

 mica-trap belonging to the minette group ; Dr. Hatch also 

 described mica-trap dykes from nine localities in West York- 

 shire. Prof. Silvanus Thompson gave the results of experiments 

 on the sources of the river Aire made by means of the fluorescent 

 properties of uranin, and Mr. Maule Cole described a lacustrine 

 deposit of post-glacial age near Filey. 



Mr. Lamplugh dealt with the famous cliff section at Speeton, 

 which was in capital condition for the inspection of a geological 

 excursion on Saturday. He divided it into five zones by its 

 belemnites, and by means of this classification was able to 

 correlate its divisions with those of Lincolnshire. The same 

 author gave a table of the Yorkshire boulders, from which he 

 concluded that the North Sea ice stream drove that from the 

 valleys of the Tees and other northern rivers southward and 

 pressed it against the high eastern coast of Yorkshire. In a 

 second paper he argued that the North Sea ice which formed the 

 Basement Clay with its shelly inclusions, overtopped the Speeton 

 cliffs and overrode Flamborough Head, passing into Bridlington 

 Bay ; the purple clays of Holderness were the equivalent of 

 gravels of the interior and to the north ; whilst the Upper 

 Boulder Clay (and Hessle Clay) was formed by the retirement of 

 extra-British ice and the increase of that from the Pennine high 

 land. Mr. Lamplugh also presented a final list of mammals 

 and shells from the ancient sea beach of Bridlington, which is 

 earlier in date than the first glaciation of the Yorkshire coast. 

 In connection with local glacial work may be mentioned Dr. 

 Crosskey's report on erratic blocks ; he exhibited a fine map of 

 the distribution of the principal boulders in the Midlands, gave 

 lists of boulders from Warwickshire, Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 Isle of Man, and Yorkshire, and attributed their deposit to at 

 least two distinct periods ; Mr. Kendall's note on the occur- 

 rence of Eskdale and Scotch granites and local rocks in the 

 glacial drifts of the Isle of Man ; the account of the boulders 

 of Scotch and Cumbrian granites and other rocks from the 

 Cheshire area by Messrs. Antrobus and Hatch ; and a paper by 

 Mr. E. Jones describing the find of neolithic burials in the 

 Elbolton cave near Skipton. 



Taking the more general papers in order, we come to two 

 papers by Dr. Hicks, one on earth-movements and their effects 

 on Archaean and Lower Paloeozoic rocks in Wales and Shrop- 

 shire, and a second on the contents of Cambrian conglomerates, 

 which provoked some discussion. In the latter he identifies 

 twenty types of fragments, many of which must have been 

 derived from Archasan rocks, while in the former he attributes 

 many phenomena to earth-movement, which have often been 

 put down to intrusion. Mr. Morgan noted the occurrence of 

 Llandovery rocks in Montgomeryshire, and Mr. Watts correlated 

 so far as possible the Silurian rocks of the Long Mountain with 

 those of the typical Silurian areas of Wenlock and Ludlow. 

 An important paper, establishing correlations in the Devonian 

 rocks of South Devon and Cornwall, was read by Mr. Ussher, 

 and one on an unconformity involving the absence of two 

 zones in the Upper Lias of Bridport, by Mr. J, F, Walker. 

 Mr. Whitaker suggested that trials for coal in the south-east of 

 England might well be made in such localities as St. Margaret's, 

 Chartham, Chatham, Bushey, and Coombs, where borings had 

 already given some idea of the thickness and character of the 

 secondary rocks. Mr. G. H. Morton showed that the Liverpool 

 Bunter was 1950 feet in thickness and the Keuper, of which only 

 the lower part is exposed, 800 feet ; two important pebble beds 



