January 30, [919 



NATURE 



439 



Dolerite intrusions have apparently fused the Karroo 

 sandstone or grit to a dark glass resembling pitch- 

 stone. The contacts are sharpl) defined, and the vitri- 

 fication extends to a distance ol several yards from 

 the actual contact plane, ["he results of .1 detailed 

 petrological examination of the dolerite, the gl^ss, and 

 the sandstone wen described. Oie dolerite presents 

 no abnormal features. The sandstone contains much 

 soda felspar. The glass on analysts yields aboul 7 pei 

 of soda and aboul 5 p< 1 a nt. ol combined water. 

 Ih. glass might thus be called a pitchstone. Micro- 

 nination <>f the glass shows the presence of 

 microlites of cordierite, magnetite, and also a fibrous 

 mineral with physical properties suggestive of an 

 amphibole. These microlites seem to be practical!) 

 identical with those described by Harker and Clough 

 as occurring under somewhat similar circumstances 

 in the island of Soav, neat Skyi |. S. v. d. I.ingen 

 and A. R. E. Walker: (i) Hyalite. The points of 

 resemblance between hyalite and liquid spherulites are 

 I. The truth ol tin statement that liquid spheru- 

 lites ami, under certain conditions, hyalite give uni- 

 axial figures wlun examined in convergent polarised 

 light i> questioned, (-'i ^.natase. Tin- authors ex- 

 hibited a Laue radiograph of anatase, which shows 

 that, according to tin- usual interpretation of such a 

 photograph, the mineral possesses full tetragonal sym- 

 metry. Herbert Smith and W. von Bonde have, in- 

 dependently, suggested that possibly it did not possess 

 tin- full di -Hi' nt symmetry usually assigned to it; 

 in both cases this suggestion was based on a study of 

 the external crystal form of the mineral. — A. R. I-'.. 

 Walker ; i n Radio-active and other minerals associated 

 with fossil wood from the Beaufort series. A descrip- 

 tion is given of torbernite and a mineral allied in 

 uranocircite occurring,' associated with calcite and 

 barytes, encrusting and impregnating fossil wood from 

 beds oi Lowei Beaufort age on the farm Quaggas- 

 fontein. (2) Tantalite crystals from Namaqualand. A 

 description is given of a number of crystals obtained 

 from a tantalite p fakals Water, Namaqua- 



land. The collection represents specimens which, 

 solelv because the) possessed cr\»ial faces, were set 

 aside during the sorting of tantalite from debris ob- 

 tained bv blasting. Apparently two distinct varieties 

 of tantalite are represented, which, whilst exhibiting a 

 general similarity of crystal form, consistently differ 

 from each other in certain crystal lographic details, in 

 specific gravitv and other physical characters, and, 

 presumablv. in chemical composition. — J. Moir : 

 Colour and chemical constitution. Part v. The 

 yellowness of certain phthaleins when acid. Phenol- 

 sulphonephthalein, on account of its high ionisation, 

 does nol form a colourless ring-lactone like phenol- 

 phthalein, but remains yellow when acidified ; it is 

 really the orthosulphonic arid of benzaurine (which 

 shows similar colour changes). Benzaurine para- 

 sulphonic acid and benznurine-carboxylic methyl-ester 

 (" phenolphthalein methyl-i ster") have now been made 

 and found to possess the same property of yellowness 

 in acid solution, lactone-formation being excluded in 

 both cases. The latter substance is coloured pink by 

 bicarbonates, and rot bleached by excess alkali. 

 Part vi. : The ultra-violet spectra of the phthaleins. 

 A discussion "f Howe and Gibson's discover) of violel 

 and ultra-violet absorption-hands in alkaline phthaleins. 

 These have frequencies which are 1?, times and twice 

 those of the visible hand. It follows that the funda- 

 mental vibration of alkaline phenolphthalein is still 

 unobserved, being in the infra-red at A 11,000 (fre- 

 quency 0-02) on the usual scale. The visible hand in 

 the green is its first harmonic, and the other two are 

 its second and third. Part vii. : Inorganic phenomena 

 in connection with cobalt, nickel, manganese, and 

 NO. 2570. VOL. T02] 



uranium. Part \iii. : Fluorescence and ils laws. On 

 comparison of the spectra of dissolved (ionised) salts 

 ol these metals with those of the sails in the solid 

 state, "loading" effeel 1 observed similar to those 

 shown by the phthali ins. The formation of blue cobalt 

 compounds is ascribed to coi ! li rable increase of mole- 

 cular weight dm/ in combin 11 with environing mole- 

 . ules. In the case of cobalt halides the wave-lengths 

 appear to be proportional to tin eighth root of the 

 cular weight, and in uranvl compounds the) an 

 proportional to the sixth root. Th coincidence of 

 these numbers with the periodii pi; 1 I the element 

 is noted. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, December 4, 1918. — 



\ J. Hornell : The origin and ethnological significance 

 of Indian boat designs. The principal types of exist- 

 ing small craft comprise: — (1) The catamaran or raft 

 form ; (2) the basket-boat or coracle ; (3) the dug-out 

 canoe; (4) the outrigger design in two forms, either 

 with (a) the Moat boomed out or (b) a transvei 

 placid balance-board amidships; (5) lateen-rigged boats, 

 with grab bows; (6) high-sterned river craft with 

 quarter rudder-paddles or with balanced rudders; and 

 (7) square-rigged river boats with double masts of 

 A-form. The catamaran appears to be of indigenous 

 origin, as nowhere else does il show such elaboration 

 as in India; its most primitive form is seen in reed 

 rafts and in plantain stems skewered together. The 

 Indian basket-boat is identical with that used in Meso- 

 potamia, while river craft using quarter steering oars 

 (Ganges) and those with mast triangles (Burma) are 

 distinctively Egvptian in origin. Lateen-rigged craft 

 with overhanging bows are found only on the West 

 Coast of India; they appear to be of Arab origin, 

 representing probably the evolution of the boat form 

 used bv the Sabaeans of S.W. Arabia in the earliest 

 stage of traffic between Arabia and India. The out- 

 rigger design is much more widely spread on Indian 

 coa - than is commonly known. The main con- 

 clusions are as follows : — (a) That the pre-Dravidian 

 population of, at least, coastal India was largely of 

 Polynesian stock, these fisherfolk using, like the 

 peopli s of Malaysia and Polynesia of the present day, 

 outrigger canoes and balance-board proas, (b) That the 

 true Dravidians, who appear to be a branch of the 

 Mediterranean race, learned or invented the use of 

 the circular coracle while living in Mesopotamia, and 

 on arrival in India, via Baluchistan, introduced the 

 boat forms of the Nile and the Tigris, the former on 

 the great perennial rivers, the latter on those that 

 carry little water in the dry season. Cranial measure- 

 ments of the various castes in the extreme south of 

 India reveal an unexpectedly strong brachycephalic 

 element in the lower caste population. Various other 

 facts are enumerated pointing to the validity of the 

 author's main hypothesis of a strong Polynesian 

 element in the Indian coastal population. — E. 

 Vredenburg : (1) The occurrence of Cypraea piriformis. 

 Gray, in the Mergui Archipelago. Amongst the mol- 

 lusca from the Mergui Archipelago collected by Dr. J. 

 Anderson this shell was referred by von Martens in 

 1888 to the Australian species C. xanthodon. On 

 cleaning the shell it was found to be a perfect speci- 

 men of the extremely rare species C. piriformis. 

 hitherto only known from Cevlon and North Australia. 

 (2) Two albino varieties of Cypraea erosa, Linnaeus. 

 The specimens described are from the zoological col- 

 lections in the Indian Museum. The variety which 

 it is proposed to name kavlinica, from New Britain, 

 is almost all white, and a second variety named 

 purissima, probably from Queensland, is entirely of 



i a pure snow-white, closelv simulating the appearance 

 of C. ebumea, Barnes, the onb other known instance 



