April 2'!^, 1872] 



NATURE 



513 



mencing April 6, and terminating October 5. There are fifteen 

 excursions, of wliicti fourteen are announced for Saturday after- 

 noins, one whole day excursion, and one day excursion ending 

 with the excursionists' annual dinner. The annual soiree of tlie 

 club was held at University College on Friday evening, Marcli 

 22, and was attended by about 1,200 persons. 



Jmirnal of the Chemical Soeidy, February. — Dr. Arm- 

 strong contributes a paper "On the nitration products of the 

 dichlorophenolsulphonic acid^, " being a continuation of liis 

 researches published in recent numbers of this journal. The 

 next communication is on Eulyte and Dyslyte, by II. Bassett, 

 being a re-examination of tliese bodies, which were briefly de- 

 scribed by Baup in 1S51. The third and last original communi- 

 cation is by Dr. Howard, "On Quinicine and Cinchonicine and 

 their salts. " Some time since the author gave an account of an 

 amorphous alkaloid from cinchona bark, tire properties of which 

 distinguished it from those already described. Further investiga- 

 tions, however, have shown that it is probably identical with 

 quinicine, first obtained by Pasteur by the action of heat on 

 quinine. The author finds that the quinicine obtained from 

 quinine, and that obtained from quinoidine, are identical in their 

 properties. Several salts of cinchonicine have been prepared ; 

 there is considerable resemblance between them and the quinicine 

 salts, although the former are somewhat more soluble. The same 

 identity is observed between the cinchonicines obtained from cin- 

 chonine and from cinchonidine as was observed in the case of 

 quinicine. The action of these alkaloids on polarised light confirms 

 the identity already mentioned. ' Thus, the quinicines prepared, 

 either from quinine (which possesses a strong left-handed rotation), 

 or from quinidine (which has a right-handed rotation), exhibit a 

 eeble right-handed rotation, which, in each case, is almost 

 identical. The abstracts of papers in foreign journals occupy 

 seventy-pages, and, as usual, are of great interest. 



Verhandliingen cier k. k. gcologischcn Rcichanslalt yi M'ien. 

 Nos. 3 and 4. The articles in these numbers are for the most part 

 of local interest ; but we notice a short sketch of the geological 

 structure of East Greenland by F. Toula — some of the fruits of 

 the last German expedition — which will be read with interest. 

 Literary and other notices, as usual, occupy considerable space 

 in the proceedings. 



The Geolcgieal Magazine for April 1S72 (No. 94) opens 

 with an excellent article from the pen of Mr. W. Davies, 

 of the British Museum, on the rostral prolongations of the sin- 

 gular Liassic Fish, described by Agassiz under the name of Sqiialo- 

 raia polyspondyla. The two projecting processes from the snout 

 of this fish were regarded by Dr. Riley and Prof. Agassiz as 

 forming a single rostrum ; but Mr. Davies argues with justice 

 that the upper one is really a cephalic spine analogous to that 

 met with in a similar situation in the male Chima:rid;Te, and that 

 it was employed, as by them, in conjunction with the elongated 

 rostrum, for securely clasping the female. Mr. Davies refers to 

 other points in the anatomy of this curious fish, which he 

 illustrates with a large plate. — Profi Dyer commences the 

 desci'iption of some remains of coniferous plants from the 

 lithographic stone of Solenhofen ; the form here described is 

 named by him Araucarites Halvrleinii. — From Mr. Searles 

 Wood, jun. we have a paper on the climate of the post- 

 glacial period, and a reply to Mr. James Geikie's Correlation 

 of the Scotch and English Glacial beds, whilst the last-men- 

 tioned author contributes a fifth paper on Changes of Climate 

 during the Glacial epoch. — Some points in the Geology of 

 the East Lothian coast, form the subject of a paper by Messrs. 

 G. W. and F. M. Balfour, in which they describe the peculiar 

 relations existing between the porphyrite of Whitherry Point 

 and the adjacent sedimentary (sandstone) -rocks, the latter being 

 found to dip on all sides towards the mass of porphyrite. The 

 authors suppose the porphyrite to have been erupted through a 

 small orifice, and to have caused the depression of the sedi- 

 mentary beds by pressure. 



The original articles in the March number of the Ameriean 

 Naturalist are not so numerous as usual. Prof. J. D. Biscoe 

 commences with a description of the breathing-pores or stomates 

 of leaves. — Prof. H. W. Parker describes the meteorological 

 phenomena witnessed in the western prairies, including the very 

 common occurrence of parhelia in mock suns. — Dr. R. H. 

 Ward has some remarks on uniformity of nomenclature in re- 

 gard to microscopical objectives and oculars, of considerable 

 interest to microscopists. — The most important article is " On 



the Stone Age in New Jersey," by Dr. Chas. C. Abbott, illus- 

 trated with a number of woodcuts of the rude implements and 

 utensils found throughout that State, the relics of its original 

 Indian inhabitants. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Geological Society, April 10. — "Notice of some of the 

 Secondary Effects of the Earthquake of the loth January, 1869, 

 in Cachar." Communicated by Dr. Oldham, of Calcutta, with 

 remarks by Mr. Robert Mallet, C.E., F. R.S. This earthquake 

 was a severe one, being strongly felt in Calcutta, distant from the 

 meizoseismic area about 200 miles, and far into the plain of 

 Bengal. The effects were examined on the spot a few weeks 

 after the shock by Dr. Oldham, who anticipates being able to fix 

 the position and depth of the centre of impulse by following the 

 same methods as those first employed by Mr. Mallet with respect 

 to the great Neapolitan earthquake of 1S57. These results have 

 not yet been received ; but Dr. Oldham has forwarded an ex- 

 tremely interesting letter on the circumstances of production of 

 very large eartl^ -fissures, and of the welling up of water from 

 these, derived from the water-bearing ooze-bed, upon which re- 

 posed the deep-clay beds in which the fissures were formed. Dr. 

 Oldham rightly views all these fissures, which were all nearly 

 parallel to and not far distant from the steep river banks, as 

 "secondary effects," and not due to fractures produced by the 

 direct passage of the wave of shock. He also shows that the 

 welling up or overflowing of the water in the fissui'es was a 

 secondary eflfect also, and negatives the notion entertaii ed on the 

 spot of mud-volcanoes, &c., having originated at those fissures. 

 The chief aim of Mr. Mallet's remarks was to piint out the 

 importance to geologists of rightly comprehending the dynamics 

 of production of these phenomena, and to show that the older 

 notions of geologists as to earthquake-fissures are untenable. He 

 explained clearly, aided by diagrams, the train of forces by which 

 the elastic wave of shock, on passing out of the deep-clay beds 

 where these have s^ free side forming the steep river banks, dis- 

 lodges certain portions and throws them off towards that free 

 side — and that this is but a case of the general law in accordance 

 with which such elastic waves behave towards more or less in- 

 coherent deposits reposing on inclined or on level beds, under 

 various conditions. Mr. Mallet also explained the dynamic 

 conditions under which the water from water-bearing beds, such 

 as that of ooze beneaih the Cachar clay beds, becomes elevated 

 in the fissures formed, and gave approximate expressions for the 

 minimum height to which the water can rise in relation to the 

 velocity of the elastic wave particle. The paper concluded with 

 some explanatory remarks upon the continual noises, like the 

 irregular fire of distant artillery, heard long after the shock had 

 passed, and when the country had become perfectly quiescent. 

 The noble collection of photographs which were made by Dr. 

 Oldham, and forwarded to Mr. Mallet, illustrative of the physical 

 features of the huge earth-fissures and other effects of this earth- 

 quake, were exhibited to the Fellows present, and are well 

 worthy of attentive study. Sir Henry James inquired whether 

 there was any trace of fissuring in the lower beds beneath the 

 slimy ooze. Mr. Scott wished to ascertain the author's opinion 

 as to the possibility of predicting earthquakes on meteorological 

 grounds, as had been done by M. Poulard, several of whose 

 prophecies were said to have been fulfilled. Mr. D. Forbes 

 gave some details of the earthquake of Mendoza, a town situated 

 on a vast alluvial plain at the foot of the Andes, in which the 

 phenomena remarkably coincided with those detailed by Dr. 

 Oldham. In that case he found that the nmiours as to fire and 

 smoke having been emitted from fissures were entirely without 

 foundation, the presumed smoke having been nothing but dust. 

 The earthquake was felt over a distance of 1,200 miles; and 

 wherever the firm rock came to the surface there was no trace of 

 fissure, though portions of the rock were overthrown. But in 

 the plain, consisting of 30 or 40 feet of alluvial soil, the whole 

 ground was in places fissured, and in some districts the surface 

 completely furrowed, and even the turf turned over. He had 

 witnessed numerous earthquakes, and in some cases had been in 

 deep mines during their occurrence, when the sound only could 

 be heard, and he could testify to their effects being confined to 

 the surface. The direction of the fissures was invariably at right 

 angles to the line of shock. In South America edl the earth- 



