March 19, 1903] 



NA TURE 



47i 



was forced. Many of the blocks exceed ten feet in diameter, 

 while the smaller blocks are innumerable. Most of them 

 are limestones, and some are sandstones, and they belong 

 chiefly to Permo-Carboniferous, Trias, Lias and Flysch. 



In the Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science 

 (vol. x. part iii., 1902) Mr. W. H. Prest, who contributes 

 an article on drift ice, states his conclusion that the Grand 

 Banks of Newfoundland are almost solely the products of 

 the period of maximum ice-erosion ; they are principally due 

 to prolonged wave action on true glacial moraines, and re- 

 ceive very little debris from the modern polar ice. Dr. H. 

 M. Ami describes some tracks on a slab of Devonian sand- 

 stone, evidently made by a fin or spine-like appendage, 

 possibly of a fish. There are sundry other papers dealing 

 with local geology and natural history. 



Mr. T. H. Holland contributes an interesting and im- 

 portant article on " The Mica Deposits of India " to the 

 Memoirs of the Geological Survey (vol. xxxiv. part ii., 

 Calcutta, 1902). He discusses the mineralogical and 

 chemical characters, the geological occurrence and dis- 

 tribution, the uses of mica, and the mining practice. 

 Crystals or " books " of muscovite-mica have been obtained 

 in Nellore district, measuring ten feet across the basal 

 planes, but usually they are much smaller. This mica 

 occurs in granite-pegmatite, and being the most delicate 

 mineral in the rock, it is the first to show the effects of 

 crushing earth-movements, so that large quantities of valu- 

 able mineral have been destroyed ; but the author observes 

 it is on account of the remarkable stability of the Indian 

 Peninsula, the geologically long and perfect quiescence it 

 has enjoyed, that India is able tb boast of the finest mica 

 deposits in the world. 



We have received the annual report for 1901 of the Iowa 

 Geological Survey, with accompanying papers. Mr. Samuel 

 Calvin, the State Geologist, refers to the fact that the suc- 

 cession of events during the Glacial epoch is more clearly 

 recorded in Iowa than elsewhere in America. Five Glacial 

 and four inter-Glacial stages are recognised. He refers 

 also to the subject of petroleum and natural gas, which 

 occupy a large share of public attention ; and remarks that 

 it was not until the Trenton period of the Ordovician that 

 life existed in such profusion as to furnish organic matter 

 in sufficient amount to give rise to considerable quantities 

 of gas or oil. Of succeeding formations those of Carbon- 

 iferous, Cretaceous and Tertiary age are the most prolific 

 in oil and gas. Statistics of the mineral production of Iowa 

 for 1901 are contributed by Mr. S. W. Beyer. The geology 

 of Webster county is dealt with by Mr. F. A. Wilder, who 

 gives a particular account of the gypsum industry in Iowa, 

 and a chapter on that of Germany. In Iowa, gypsum 

 available for economic purposes is said to occur over at least 

 forty square miles, and the average thickness of the mineral 

 suitable for plaster is ten feet. Mr. T. E. Savage, who 

 describes Webster county, gives particulars of the Carbon- 

 iferous Limestone fauna, a subject also dealt with by Mr. 

 J. A. I'dden in reference to Jefferson county, and by Mr. 

 A G. Leonard in describing Wapello county. In Cherokee 

 and Buena Vista counties the Pleistocene deposits and those 

 of recent age occupy the entire region, and they are de- 

 scribed by Mr. T. H. Macbride. The volume is well illus- 

 trated with maps, diagrams and pictorial views. 



The Indian Monthly Weather Review for July of last 

 year gives an interesting account of some severe earthquake 

 shocks which were experienced at Bunder Abbas, in the 

 Persian Gulf, on July 9, 13, 18 and 20, of which the follow- 



NO. 174 2, VOL. 67] 



ing is an abstract. The first shock, which was felt on July 9, 

 was preceded by a strange rumbling noise, like thunder or 

 the roar of big guns away out at sea, proceeding from the 

 direction of the island of Kishm. The people in Bunder 

 Abbas, astonished and alarmed, rushed from their houses 

 and looked towards the island from which the noise seemed 

 to come. Suddenly the first shock was felt, and this brought 

 down a house in the vicinit) of the bazaar with a crash, 

 nearly killing a passer-by. The shocks were almost con- 

 tinuous, and kept the buildings in motion for nearly two 

 minutes ; they brought down some big boulders from the 

 Portuguese fort, in which the governor resides, and these 

 in turn unroofed the adjoining Customs Office. The tall 

 buildings and wind towers either collapsed or remained in 

 dangerous conditions. At Socr suburb, distant two and a 

 half miles, the ground opened and water poured in. Most 

 of the buildings were destroyed and several lives lost. In- 

 formation from Kishm recorded the total destruction of 

 most of the houses, but no loss of life. In Ormuz part of 

 an old fortress collapsed, and slight shocks were felt at 

 Minan, forty miles away. The earthquake was felt also 

 on the hills behind the town of Bunder Abbas, and a cloud 

 of dust obscured everything. On July 13, 18 and 20 more 

 shocks were felt, all of which brought down numerous 

 buildings, and after that the shocks continued almost daily. 

 It is stated that there was not a building in Bunder Abbas 

 which had not suffered. The bazaars and shops were closed 

 and provisions difficult to obtain. Houses were abandoned, 

 and everybody encamped in huts on the Maidan behind the 

 town, at Naiband, or on the coast. 



The thirty-third annual report shows that the Wellington 

 College Natural Science Society continues to flourish. The 

 meteorological report for 1902 is a useful and instructive 

 record, and the abstracts of lectures delivered before the 

 Society show that interest is taken in the progress of know- 

 ledge. 



The sixteenth annual issue of th* " School Calendar " has 

 been published by Messrs. Whittaker and Co. at is. net. 

 It contains complete and up-to-date particulars of available 

 scholarships at the universities and colleges of Great 

 Britain, in addition to other information likely to be of 

 assistance to persons engaged in educational work. 



The Home Office has issued a set of tables relating to 

 the output of coal and other minerals, and the number of 

 persons employed during the year 1902 at mines under the 

 Coal and Metalliferous Mines Regulation Acts. It is note- 

 worthy that the output of coal, which was 219,037,240 tons 

 in 1901, was 227,178,140 tons in 1902, showing an increase 

 of 8,140,900 tons. 



The sixty-third volume, being that for 1902, of the Journal 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, has now been 

 published by Mr. John Murray. Among the special articles 

 of interest are those by Mr. Cecil YVarburton, on orchard 

 and bush-fruit pests and how to combat them ; and by Dr. 

 N. H. J. Miller, on the experiments at Rothamsted on the 

 changes in the composition of mangels during storage. The 

 official reports, which form the second part of the volume, 

 include one bv Dr. J. A. Voelcker, describing the field, the 

 feeding and the pot-culture experiments at the Woburn 

 experimental station of the Royal Agricultural Society. The 

 third part of the volume contains, with much other im- 

 portant information, a summary by the editor of the recent 

 evidence as to the identity of human and bovine tubercu- 

 losis, and reviews by Mr. W. Carruthers, F.R.S., of new 

 works on agricultural botany, and by Dr. H. B. Woodward, 

 F.R.S., of a work on agricultural geology. 



