156 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[August, 



chalk, and doubtless such sand par- 

 ticles of this material which are found 

 are thus prodviced before the pebble 

 is softened into a rounded form. 



It would certainly be plausible, as 

 has been suggested, that a molecular 

 change may take place in flint during 

 ,the lapse of ages, difference of tem- 

 perature, and the like. But the fact 

 that flint particles do appear, although 

 in small quantities, in ancient depos- 

 its, exactly the saine as you may now 

 artificially produce them, deprives us 

 of the use of such an argument. Its 

 great scarcity, as I have shown you, 

 almost seems illogical, but the stern- 

 ness of our facts makes us accept 

 them whether we like it or not, and 

 we must endeavor to explain this phe- 

 nomenon by the same logic of facts. 

 But the ubiquity of quartz sand is not 

 confined to our coast. In examining 

 some organisms from South Austra- 

 lia, containing sandy particles, some 

 also from Mauritius, Madagascar, and 

 Algoa Bay, the same facts are shown. 

 There are not only the common quartz 

 grains, but other materials, such as 

 are visible among the sandy deposits 

 I have described, and seen in about 

 the same proportion. This is inter- 

 esting, as declaring one universal 

 source, whether in the northern or 

 southern heinisphere, and helps in 

 the illustration, if not in the solution, 

 of the question before us. 



I must confess to ignorance of many 

 points of detail suggested in this in- 

 quiry, but as we are composed .of 

 many active units, let us take a moral 

 from a grain of sand, one of the small- 

 est of atoms, yet in its aggregate play- 

 ing so great a part in this earth's 

 crust. Let, then, the aggregation of 

 our Society's units make a large ad- 

 dition to our scientific knowledge ; 

 the subject before you has yet many 

 lapses, and I trust these may be filled 

 up by your active researches. 



— Considerable interest has been aroused 

 of late by Prof. T. Bolton's studies of musi- 

 cal sands. They are found on every coast, 

 although until recently supposed to beftof 

 rare occurrence. 



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American Association. — The 

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American Recognition of 

 American Scientific Work. — 

 Not long ago* we had occasion to 

 allude to an article in the Scie7itific 

 American in which the unjust asser- 

 tion was made that no work was in 

 progress in this country upon the 

 micro-organisins of disease — that the 

 scientific value of such work was not 

 recognized here. If such assertions are 

 worthy of attention in the Scientific 

 America7i^ a paper which, while oc- 

 cupying a wide and useful field, is by 

 no means, either in fact or pretension, 

 an exponent of the scientific work of 

 the country, it is impossible to pass 

 unnoticed an equally imjust, and far 

 more important, declaration of the 

 same kind in a paper which purports 



♦Current volume, p. 55. 



