300° 2 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
The organic matter was partly soluble in case acid, and esis 
i potash. A cursory examination of it seemed to indicate that it ont, oe 
sisted chiefly of humus and the acids of the crenic mone eo . 
From this analysis I thought moginell justified in announcing thatthe 
lime and magnesia in the compound under consideration are combined = 
sults has convinced me that the announcement was somewhat premature, 
and that the analysis sae not fully bear the construction put upon it, 
I have, however, never changed the opinion then pdtaneed, as the a" 
ve ‘s. Higgins and Bic 
Jhief and Assistant State Chemists of Maryland, shortly after published 
a paper in which they agreed with me in the main. Their analysis was 
more elaborate than mine, and comprised two distinct examinations; ea 
of the white, polished crust, the other of the body of the r itho 
going into minutiz, [ will simply state that they found the exterior 
to contain ane god = lime and magnesia, of the formula 3MO F 
~vhile, in t y of the rock, the salts were com as I had previe 
ously pein tn The ey also ascertained that in t. outer layer the = 
phuric acid was combined with soda, while in the body of the rock it 
ats to hapee 
Soe. Nat Hist, « y, 349).— ‘Dr. Haye ik describes th e general characters 
of the hardened tc guie, o, me — - rounded a — its heat 
passes into soli fied “= which forms a crust or layer sad 
The two ihds differ not very much in composition. After giving e 
results of analyses and pointing out the existence of a very large p 
centage of bone, phosphate of lime, and m magnesia, he argues that 
guan > has been formed mainly from fish-bones. With regard to 
change in consolidation he obse 
“ Keeurring to the composition of guano-rock, we see that the propor 
tion of organic salts and other organic matter, is much lat rger than exists 
in the guano from which it is derived. The physical characters of the 
rock are modified by the Preaance of these compounds, but the most re — 
markable change is that from a granular to a compact 3 This 
change could be effected by infiltration, as takes place from calcareous — 
waters; but as the rock guano is above the mass pr oducing the soluble 
organic salts, it is necessary to consider another condition. . 
«When water holding saline matter in solution evaporates from the — 
‘surface of the earth, pure water alone escapes, while the saline and col — 
ored organic compounds remain at or near the surface, In accordance 
with this law, the saline matters which can be dissolved, and the colored 
matters which can be suspended, in water, rise to the surface, and 0 
long as capillarity can act, they are deposited i in the porous parts, 
the 
the 
