Prof. Blake on the Diluvial Deposits in California. 385 
and thus’render the air of it, not only negatively, but positively, 
impure. 
While on this subject we may as well mention. en matter 
connected with the use of stoves. It has been a ery genera 
belief that they rendered the air very dry, and thot it is proper, 
perhaps necessary, to obviate this dryness by placing upon the 
stove a vessel of water, by the evaporation of which a due degree 
of moisture may be imparted to the air. 
he heat of the stove does not dissipate the moisture of the 
air, nor does it affect it otherwise than any other mode of im- 
parting calorie merely to it. But warm air is capable of contain- 
ing more vapor in solution thart cool air, and hence will absorb it 
readily from other bodies containing it, and as under ordinary 
circumstances stoves warm a room more thoroughly and effectu- 
ally than open ener s, as they are generally constructed, the 
moisture of the walls and furniture is more quickly and com- 
pletely withdrawn, so that éhey become drier; but not. the air, 
which is really rendered more moist by t pr ocess. Soa 
With the human integuments, whether external or internal, to 
which this warm air has access, thus producing a sensatio} 
dryness on them. That. this is prejudicial to health, unless the 
heat of a room exceeds the ordinary summer temperature in the 
day, is very questionable, that there is any benefit in supplying 
an unusual proportion of warm moisture to the air of a room in 
cold weather, at least as a general thing, is still more question- 
able; but to pursue the inquiry would lead to a train of consid- 
erations foreign to the present subject, and prolong this paper to 
far too great a length. It is sufficient perhaps to point out for 
the, a of paseo ~ canelnaion fi to wloich we incline, 
Charlestow: nice March 16 
Arr. XXXV.—On the Diluvial or Quarternary Deposits in 
California ; by Professor James Brake, F’.R.C.S., M.D., &c. 
Tur extent of diluvial deposits in this country, and their im- 
portance as the principal source from which the future supplies of 
gold are to be derived, will I trust invest this imperfect notice 
this geological and mineralogical formation, with sufficient inter-~ 
est to etisure it a place in your valuable Journal, ‘The observa- 
tions now: brought forward were collec ted while making a geo- 
logical examination of a portion of a state, during the last 
summer. To the general geological character of the npr it 
is not my intention at present to role ser in so far as it is 
connected with the immediate subject is paper. 
With the exception of the diluvial strata, the w a 
i of the. consists of meta- 
Stcoxn Senses, Vol. XIII, No. $0 May, 1969, 
