236 



NA TURE 



[January 5, 1905 



the discovery of large deposits of iron-ore beneatli the drift- 

 covered valley, a discovery made while digging or drilling 

 the farm wells in this otherwise well settled agricultural 

 district. The iron-bearing rocks, termed the Freedom 

 formation, from the town of North Freedom, comprise 

 slate, chert, dolomite, and iron-ore, and all gradational 

 phases between these kinds of rock, including banded ferru- 

 ginous chert like that in the iron-bearing series of Lake 

 Superior. The author points out that the Baraboo pre- 

 Cambrian series may be compared with the upper portion of 

 the Lower Marquette series, the Freedom formation corre- 

 sponding with the Negaunee iron-bearing formation. De- 

 tailed accounts are given of the various rocks and drift 

 deposits, and of the circulation of underground water. 



The recent numbers of the Bolctin del Cuerpo de 

 Ingenieros de Minas del Peru, issued during 1904, continue 

 to testify to the energy and activity of the Government 

 officers charged with the development of Peru. No. 8, by 

 .Senor Venturo, describes important deposits of haematite 

 in the extreme north of the country, the ore appearing on 

 the surface, and being probably derived from the dehydration 

 of an old lake-iron deposit. Fragments of rocks from the 

 margins of the former lake are found surrounded by the 

 iron oxide, and the iron itself seems to have been dissolved 

 out from the acid igneous masses in the neighbourhood. 



In view of the demand for nickel for plating, for alloy- 

 ing steel, and for coinage, Senor Eduardo de Habich was 

 sent to report on the nickeliferous veins of the province of 

 La Mar, which present practically a virgin field. His 

 memoir (No. 11) seems encouraging, the chief ores being 

 ullmannite and nickeline (kupfernickel), occurring mostly 

 in veins of quartz, which may also contain both gold and 

 silver. No. 12 has probably the widest interest for 

 geologists in general, giving as it does the results of a visit 

 to central Peru by Dr. Gustav Steinmann, of Freiburg-im- 

 Breisgau, early in 1904. Senor Elmore is the author of 

 Boletin No. 13, on the water-supply of the Rimac valley. 

 It is shown that the permeable subsoil in the valley-floor, 

 from Chosica downwards, becomes charged with a good 

 potable water by infiltration from the River Rimac, and this 

 is capable of furnishing a healthy supply wherever it may 

 be desirable to tap it. The marked rise of this underground 

 water in Callao is interestingly attributed to the obstacle 

 furnished by the neighbouring island of San Lorenzo. The 

 economic aspect of Seiior Elmore's report is sure to be 

 widely welcomed in a populous and practically rainless 

 district. 



The fourteenth volume of the Berichte der natur- 

 forschetidcn Gesellschaft zu Freiburg-im-Breisgau (1904) 

 contains several papers of geological interest. A. Freiherr 

 von Bistram's studies on the dolomitic region of the Alps 

 of Lugano were commented on when they first appeared in 

 separate form (Nature, vol. l.xi.x. p. 112). Walther Schiller 

 and W. Paulcke are both concerned with the structure of 

 the Engadine, the former giving a detailed account of the 

 region south-east of Schuls. of which the Piz Lischanna 

 forms the centre, while the latter examines the structure of 

 a wider area, from Landeck to the basin of the Po. 



Palasontological papers seldom contain so much personal 

 revelation as is to be found in Herr Georg Boehm's first 

 section of his Beitriige zur Geologic von Nicderlatidisch- 

 Indien (Palaeontographica, supplement iv., Stuttgart, 1904). 

 The splendid series of ammonites therein described, prob- 

 ably from a Tithonian horizon, were obtained for the most 

 part from the collection of a postmaster of Sula Besi, and 

 from one of "die Alfuren," the latter name being 

 applied to any uncivilised natives. Some specimens were 

 even extracted from concealment in the scanty clothing of 

 the boatmen. The postmaster and his allies appear, con- 

 sciously or unconsciously, to have lost touch with the true 

 locality of their finds, and to have opened up a delusive route 

 through the forest in Taliabu, whereby Herr Boehm was 

 led to a spot where he found abundant belemnites and 

 NuculjE, but none of the highly prized ammonites. The 

 " .'Vlfuren-Sammlung " proves to be of unusual interest, and 

 may perhaps grow in the course of time, if judicious sums 

 are expended on the " uncivilised " population. The in- 

 clusion of fossils smuggled in from other places is now, 

 however, a possibility against which it will be difficult to 

 guard. 



NO. 1836, VOL. 71] 



Part ii. of the seventh volume of the Transactions of the 

 Geological Society of South Africa (Johannesburg, 1904) 

 bears witness to the prevalence of research in Africa in all 

 branches of geology. Dr. Hatch contributes two papers, 

 one in conjunction with Prof. Corstorphine, who has been 

 drawn off from the service of Cape Colony into a more 

 adventurous field. Mr. J. P. Johnson shows that two types 

 of stone implements are found in the Taaibosch Spruit, the 

 older and rougher lying beneath 15 feet of alluvium, and 

 the newer type upon the surface. Mr. F. W. Voit furnishes 

 a paper of general interest on the geology of German South- 

 West Africa, in which a large series of ancient metamorphic 

 rocks is dealt with ; these are accompanied by intrusions of 

 granite. The author urges that some of what might be ■ 

 regarded as ordinary contact-phenomena are here carried 

 oiit on a regional scale, and must be referred to the action 

 of pressure rather than to the invasion of the granite. The 

 metamorphic rocks are impregnated with important de- 

 posits of copper-ore, sometimes localised in quartz veins, 

 and sometimes spread in cloud-like masses through the 

 schists. 



In the first part of the Jahrbuch der k.k. geologischen 

 Reichsanstalt for 1904 (September 15), Franz Toula de- 

 scribes the results of his journey to the Dobrudscha in 1892, 

 and discusses in particular the forms of Exogyra met with. 

 Dr. Petrascheck, in examining the granitic mass near 

 Brixen, in the Adige valley, reviews the nature of Seder- 

 holm's " Myrmekite," an intergrowth of triclinic felspar 

 and quartz, and concludes that it is a primary product of 

 the consolidation of the igneous magma. Dr. Ampferer's 

 important examination of the terraces along the valley of 

 the Inn (pp. gi-i6o) should be considered by all who seek 

 to explain the topography of glaciated areas. The author 

 finds that the terraces of gravel rest on an earlier series 

 of terraces cut in the rock, which are at very different levels 

 on opposite walls of the valley. He summarises his results 

 in a series of fifty-six propositions, among them being the 

 conclusion that the Inn valley, on the retreat of the ice, 

 exhibited a succession of shallow basin-like excavations, 

 which were filled in later by a continuous deposit of 

 alluvium. These hollows, like the smaller details of the 

 ice-erosion, were formed independently of the hardness of 

 the rocks concerped, and Dr. Ampferer believes that the 

 variation in the activity of a glacier as an abrading agent 

 depends in reality on variations in the local pressure and 

 velocity. With reduced pressure and greater velocity the 

 same amount of erosion can be performed as w-ith greater 

 pressure and less velocity. The author opposes the view 

 that rock-obstacles on the walls of a valley are inevitably 

 worn away by the passage of glacier-ice ; he urges, on the 

 other hand, that such irregularities may be left standing 

 out, while others are actually produced by the lack of 

 uniformity in the forces of erosion, to which he specially 

 directs attention. 



The Verhandlungen der k.k. geologischen Reichsanstalt, 

 Nos. 9-12, for 1904, continue to be rich in papers on 

 Bohemia and Moravia, and students of petrology in the 

 broad sense, as well as of Pal.-pozoic and Mesozoic faunas, 

 must endeavour to keep pace with the monthly observations 

 furnished by Dr. Katzer, Jaroslav J. Jahn, Friedrich 

 Trauth, and others. The Dalmatian islands also receive 

 attention in Dr. Waagen's reports of his recent journeys. 



AGRICULTUR.iL EDUCATION AND 

 RESEARCH. ' 



'T'HE writings of Henry, Babcock, King, and others have 

 made the University of Wisconsin familiar to English 

 agricultural students, so that considerable interest attaches 

 to the twentieth annual report of the experiment station, 

 which contains a short history of the College of .Agriculture, 

 and summarises the results of twenty years' research. The 

 college is one of the best known in the United States, and 

 its record is typical of many similar institutions. A pro- 

 fessor of agriculture was appointed in 1S66, there was the 

 usual attempt to teach before the materials for a course of 

 universitv grade existed, and there was the usual failure. 

 Then, when the indignation and forcible action of " some 

 thirty representative farmers " led the regents of the uni- 



