Jan. 1 8, 1872] 



NATURE 



225 



W. p. Schimper in the work before cited places it in Lepidoden- 

 dron as a characteristic plant "des formations houHieres inferieures 

 (grauwacke culm) correspondant au calcaire carbonift-re. " It is 

 therefore evidently more characteristic of the Lowest Carboni- 

 ferous than of the coal measures ; the older of these formations 

 being considered by Sir Charles Lyell "as equivalents of the 

 Lower Carboniferous, and were even formerly referred to the 

 Devonian group." 



I believe enough has now been said to show the part I took in 

 misleading this eminent Professor, and I will leave those interested 

 to judge between the merits of Mr. Carruthers' or Prof. 

 Heers' classification, but in conclusion I must request to be al- 

 lowed to state that prior to this gentleman's accusation against 

 me, he made me a proposal to help him out of his controversy 

 with Prof. Ileer, and to "join him in a memoir to describe 

 and figure the valuable materials I had collected ; " this 1 had 

 to decline, because it would not only have interfered with my 

 ofticial duties, but might aho have drawn me into a discussion in 

 which I had no interest, besides the probability of its committing 

 me to what may prove to be erroneous opinions. 



Dublin, Jan. 10 Wm. Hellier Baily 



Circumpolar Lands 



In Nature of December 28 there is an interesting letter 

 endeavouring to show that the land everywhere about the North 

 Pole down to lat. 57' is lising. We know less about the South 

 Polar regions, but there are active volcanoes in the Antarctic 

 Continent, and Darwin has shown in his work on volcanic is- 

 lands that the land and sea-bottom are rising. This appears to 

 be at least a remarkable coincidence. 



The earth must be cooling by the escape of the central heat in 

 volcanic eruptions and hot springs, and by slow upward conduc- 

 tion through the strata. As it cools it must contract. Can any 

 mathematical reason be assigned why the contraction should be 

 least in the direction of the polar diameter ? This would account 

 for the rising of the land at the poles. J. J. Murpiiv 



English Rainfall 



Ix N.\TURE of the nth inst. your reviewer, "J. K. L. " 

 (p. 201), makes a mistake in stating that the greatest English 

 rainiall takes place at Cockley Bridge, Seathwaite. The greatest 

 fall takes place at the Stye and on the north side of Stye Head, 

 Seathwaite, Borrowdale ; whereas the Cockley Bridge named by 

 your reviewer is Seathwaite, \'alley of the Duddon, and many 

 miles from the place of greatest fall. He has evidently confounded 

 the two Seathwaites. A reference to Mr. J. G. Symons' annual 

 rainfall returns wiUl shoM- that the Seathwaite named is the one in 

 Borrowdale. C. \. Vernon 



Wanted, a Government Analyst 



I AM a grocer in a small way in a country place, so that I 

 retail almott all that comes under the name of food ; and I am 

 very desirous that all should be unadulterated and worth its 

 price, as far ai; a fair profit will allow. But how am I to ensure 

 this, even supposing I possessed the requisite knowledge and ap- 

 pliances ? Time would be wanting to carry out a systematic 

 analysis, and the ordinary " rule of thumb " tests are not a match 

 for tne increasing cleverness of "manufacturing chemists." It 

 only remains to send samples to some known food an.ilyst ; but 

 here tne expense becomes a barrier, when the dealings dependent 

 on it are on a small scale. Is there (or, if not, ought there not 

 to be ?) some Government functionary to whom samples could be 

 sent for testing, at a charge to just cover necessary expenses ? 

 After reading a very sad article on "Artificial Milk," in your 

 paper of Dec. 15, I leel emboldened to ask whether, either of 

 yourself or through any of your readers, you could assist me to 

 render practical a feeling I am sure you must sympathise with. 

 For obvious reasons, I ask you to receive in strict confidence the 

 name and address I have given to show the genuine nature of my 

 application. Grccer 



Earthquakes in Celebes 

 I WISH to contribute to the list of earthquakes and eruptions 

 in your journal the following, all of which I have witnessed : — 



May I 

 June 13 . 



July 15 • 



August 7. 



Eruption of a volcano on the Island Camiguin, south 



of the Philippine Islands. 

 Earthquake in Kakas, at the Lake of Tondano in 

 Minahassa, North Celebes, "jl p.m. This shock 

 was at the same time felt throughout Minahassa. 

 Earthquake at Gorontalo, North Celebes, Bay of 



Tomini, 12), p.m. and loi p.m. 

 Earthquake at Gorontalo, 12J A.M., heavy. 

 Eruption of the volcano of Ternate. This eruption 

 had not ended August 23. Most of the inhabitants 

 of Ternate ran away. Stones and ashes were 

 thrown as far as Halmaheira. 

 ,, 19. Earthquake at Gorontalo, 5 A.^[. 

 ,, 25. Seaquake at Gorontalo, 3 P.. M. 

 ,, 31. Earthquake at Gorontalo, I P.. M., very strong, ver- 

 tically. 

 In the month of August there were at Gorontalo a series of 

 earthquakes, all of which I did not notice in my diary, some of 

 them very severe, shocks so severe and numerous have not been 

 experienced for years at that place. I do not doubt that they 

 were in connection with the long-continued eruption of the 

 volcano of Ternate in the same month. 



Some years ago there was communicated to the Paris Academy, 

 from South America, the fact that permanent magnets lose their 

 magnetism during earthquakes. I will not discuss here the theo- 

 retical point of view of tlie question. During my whole stay in 

 the northern part of Celebes I have always hung up a magnet, 

 with a maximum weight attached to it, but never, not even during 

 the severe earthquakes of Gorontalo, has the weight fallen down, 

 I therefore doubt the fact. 



Earthquakes are felt throughout the northern part of Celebes, 

 on the coasts of the Bay of Tomini, at the Togian Islands in 

 the Bay of Tomini ; whereas in the southern part of Celebes, 

 for instance at Macassar, earthquakes are scarcely ever felt or 

 only veiy slight ones. The geological structure of the southern 

 part of Celebes differs entirely from that of the northern. 



I enclose a list of earthquakes observed at Gorontalo from 

 1866-70 by Mr. Riedel. 



List of earthquakes at Gorontalo (N. lat. 0° 29' 42", 

 W. long. 23' 2' 50") between the year 1S66 and 1870 : — 



I am now going to the southern parts of the Philippine Islands, 

 and in the following year to New Guinea. A short communica- 

 tion about my travels in Celebes will be found in Pclcrmann' s 

 Geographische AlittheilKHgcn. 



Macassar, Celebes, Nov. to, 1871 ' A, B, Meyer 



