500 



NATURE 



[March 22, 1900 



designed to transmit the increasing weight through a vertical 

 shaft ; correlated with it is the shifting of the facets [that is to 

 say, the upper and lower articular surfaces] into the direct line 

 of pressure, and the alteration of their planes from an oblique 

 to a right or horizontal angle with relation to the vertical 

 shaft." 



Mr. Frederic W. Simonds writes to us from the University 

 of Texas with reference to the communications on "Floating 

 Stones," which appeared in Nature early in the present year 

 (pp. 278, 318). He calls attention to a paper of his, entitled 

 " Floating Sand : an Unusual Mode of River Transportation," 

 published in the American Geologist (January 1896), in which 

 he described experiments made to determine how sand may be 

 floated, what sand will float, and why sand will float. It was 

 found that sand grains will float in perfectly still water for an 

 indefinite time, that the grains which float are not necessarily 

 siliceous, and that the property of floating depends to a large 

 extent upon the angularity, that is, the shape, of the grains. 

 Several of the characteristics mentioned by our correspondents 

 are referred to in Mr, Simonds's paper. 



The Statistics of Mineral Production in India for the five years 

 1894 to 1898 have just been issued by the Department of 

 Revenue and Agriculture. About a million tons of salt are 

 produced annually from rock-salt, from salt lakes and wells, and 

 from sea-water. The coal industry is expanding rapidly, the 

 output having increased from nearly three million tons in 1894 

 to over four and a half million tons in 1898. The coal is em- 

 ployed for railways, coasting and river steamers and factories, 

 but the conditions of transport are not yet sufficiently developed. 

 Nearly all the gold produced in India comes from the State of 

 Mysore, and in 1898 it amounted to over four hundred thousand 

 ounces, valued at \l. an ounce. Nearly twenty million gallons 

 of petroleum were obtained in 1898 from Burma and Assam. 

 Other " minerals" of minor economic importance include iron- 

 ores, tin-ores, saltpetre, gehis and precious stones. 



We have received a catalogue of the first four thousand 

 samples in the soil collection of the U.S. Department of Agri- 

 culture, prepared by Mr. Milton Whitney, chief of Division of 

 Soils. To all interested in soil investigations this publication 

 will be a useful and suggestive work of reference. Not only 

 does the collection contain specimens of soils from the chief 

 geological formations of the United States, it also includes 

 samples from many of the important agricultural districts, and 

 likewise special collections of wheat soils, tobacco soils, &c., 

 from all parts of the world. Remarks are made concerning the 

 collecting of specimens, their arrangement and classification ; 

 and it is stated that sets of representative soils are arranged in 

 boxes, to be distributed to agricultural colleges and experiment 

 stations, with explanatory text regarding their origin, chemical 

 and physical peculiarities, &c. One object in publishing the 

 catalogue is to suggest exchanges with institutions in other 

 countries. 



In an article on the Lower Cambrian terrane in the Atlantic 

 province {.Proc. Washington Acad. Sciences, vol. i. February 

 1900), Mr. C. D. Walcott discusses some changes in grouping 

 which have been proposed by Mr. G. F. Matthew, and would, 

 if adopted, lead to the abandonment of the term Middle 

 Cambrian, and to the placing of the Olenellus-zono. in the Pre- 

 Cambrian (" Etcheminian " terrane). Mr. Walcott maintains 

 that the Etcheminian is in reality Lower Cambrian, and 

 equivalent to strata which elsewhere hold the Olenellus fauna — 

 the representatives of the genus having a range of over a 

 thousand feet at the typical locality in Vermont. 



Among the earthquakes felt in Asia Minor in 1896, one of 

 the most interesting originated near Balikesri on September 14. 

 NO. 1586, VOL. 6t] 



This shock is described by Dr. G. Agamennone in a paper 

 published in the last Bolkttino of the Italian Seismological 

 Society (vol. v. No. 6). Though its intensity was not more 

 than 7 or 8 of the Rossi-Forel scale, the shock was felt 

 over an area of about 400 km. in diameter, and was even 

 recorded by a horizontal pendulum at Strassburg, which is 1850 

 km. from the epicentre. The mean surface -velocity of the 

 preliminary tremors was about 8^ km. per second, and of the 

 slow undulations about 2\ km, per second. 



The success which attended the " Illustrated Annual of Micro- 

 scopy " last year has induced the publishers (Messrs. Percy Lund 

 and Humphries) to bring out a second number this year. If 

 for no other reason, it is valuable for its summary of new instru- 

 ments and apparatus put on the market by the leading opticians 

 during the twelvemonth. We are glad to see the popular side of 

 microscopy well represented, since papers of a highly specialised 

 character find a more appropriate medium of publication in the 

 proceedings and transactions of societies. On the other hand, 

 brief abstracts of technical methods are of interest to every one, 

 and in this category we include Dr. Hollborn and Mr. Angus's 

 history and theory of staining, Mr. W. H. Merrett's metallo- 

 graphy of iron and steel, Mr. Strangways' hints on dental histo- 

 logy, Mr. Palmer's article on micro-spectrography, Mr. Rhein- 

 berg's multiple colour illumination ; and notes by Mr. Harris 

 on eucaine hydrochlorate, and by Prof. Hartog on saprolegnie*. 

 Photo-micrography receives treatment at the hands of Mr. 

 Albert Norman, Don Domingo de Orueta, Mr. F. Noad Clarke 

 (in connection with entomology) and Mr. E. R. Turner, 

 who treats of "stereo-photo-micrography, chromo-photo-micro- 

 graphy, and stereo-chromo-photo-micrography " ; while popular 

 microscopy is well catered for by the beautiful coloured frontis- 

 piece of " Pond Life " and coloured plate of Daphnia hyalina, 

 and by papers on freshwater mites, yeast, plant hairs, molluscan 

 palates, polarised light and the variety of form of diatoms from 

 an artistic standpoint, illustrated by outlines of Triceratia. Dr. 

 M. C. Cooke's skits and songs resuscitated from the early annals 

 of the Quekett Club are most amusing. 



We have received from the United States Weather Bureau 

 the " Meteorological Chart of the Great Lakes," with a summary 

 of the season of 1899. This work, which is accompanied by a 

 large amount of explanatory text, in addition to tables and maps, 

 contains much useful information relating to the storms, monthly 

 rainfall, ice, &c., in the Lake region. The season of inter-lake 

 navigation in 1899 began on April 29, the opening being late 

 on account of the vast amount of ice during April. With the 

 exception of Lake Erie, and probably Lake Ontario, the water 

 was higher than in the two previous years ; on Lake Superior 

 the water was higher than that of any previous year since 1876. 

 The work contains some interesting observations of fog. The 

 most frequent formation reported is that of heavy banks, with 

 intervals of clear weather, and narrow bands, which extend for 

 many miles in length. One vessel will run for hours in the 

 band of fog, while another several miles distant will be running 

 parallel with it in clear weather, and can hear the fog whistle 

 and see the wall of the fog bank. 



The Annuaire of the Municipal Observatory of Paris 

 (Montsouris) for the year 1900 extends to 578 pages, and 

 contains an immense amount of useful information, and a special 

 analysis of the work relating to the year 1898. The Montsouris 

 Observatory was established in 1 871, and its operations embrace : 

 (i) Meteorological physics, including atmospheric electricity, the 

 distribution of rainfall and thunderstorms in the Department of 

 the Seine, and the regular registration of all the usual meteoro- 

 logical elements at Montsouris and at the St. Jacques tower. In 

 this section we may specially mention a useful comparative 



