38 7 
NATURE 
[AZay 11, 1871 

been found at the locality ; and he felt sure that careful search 
would double or treble the number of species known to occur 
there. With reference to what had fallen from Prof. Smyth, he 
could fully corroborate his observations as to the difference 
between the forms of calcite associated with harmotome at An- 
dreasberg, in the Hartz, and at Strontian. It was remarkable 
that the general facies of the crystals of calcite occurring at Cor- 
rantee, where the lode was entirely in the gneiss, differed from 
that usually observed in the old mines in Glen Strontian, which 
were partly in the granite and partly in the gneiss. 3. “On 
the probable origin of Deposits of ‘Loess’ in North China 
and Eastern Asia.” By Mr. T, W. Kingsmill, of Shanghai. 
Communicated by Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., V.P.G.S. The author 
stated that the Baron yon Richthofen had lately applied the term 
‘©Loess” to a light clay deposit covering immense tracts in the 
north of China. n 
measure corresponding to the Kunkur of India, and thought 
that it probably extended far into the elevated plains of Central 
Asia. Richthofen considered that this deposit had been pro- 
duced by subaérial action upon a surface of dry land ; the author 
argued that it is of marine origin, having been deposited when 
the region which it covers was depressed at least 6,000 feet, a 
depression the occurrence of which since the commencement of 
the Tertiary period he considered to be proved by the mode of 
deposition of the Upper Nanking sandstones and conglomerates, 
the bold escarpments of the hills on either side of the Yangtsze, 
and other peculiarities of the country. Prof. Ramsay remarked 
that the author had not proved that the loess he described was 
really stratified. Hecould not agree with his views of the inland 
escarpments he mentioned haying been old coast lines. It was 
only accidentally that sea cliffs had any connection with the line 
of strike of the strata, whereas inland cliffs always followed the 
strike. He thought the phenomena were rather in accordance 
with a long exposure of the land to subaérial influences than with 
the loess, having been of marine origin. Even in England, in 
those parts which had long been free from marine action, beds of 
brick earth had been formed. He also instanced the plains of 
Picardy as exhibiting a vast extent of such subaérial beds. 
Prof. T. Rupert Jones said that though the area treated of by 
Mr. Kingsmill was too large to have its geology explained merely 
by reference to rain-wash and valley deposits, whatever his low- 
level loess might be, the higher accumulations of loamy deposits, 
stated to be 1,000 feet thick at an elevation of 3,000 feet, and re- 
garded by Mr. Kingsmillas the quiet water sediments ofa great gulf 
with the miocene conglomerates and sandstones of Nanking and 
elsewhere for its marginal equivalents, appeared to require different 
explanation. All loess need not be of sea origin ; in oscillations 
of land marine deposits must be carried up to great heights: 
and, referring to Mr. H. M. Jenkins’s determination of the 
marine origin of the loess of Belgium, Prof. Jones thought it 
highly probable that some at least of that in China may have 
been similarly formed. Mr. Hughes said that the author appeared 
to have grouped together all the superficial deposits of a vast 
area without explaining very clearly the grounds upon which he 
identified those deposits at distant points. He did not prove that 
what he called the shore deposit was marine, or that it was of the 
same age as the loam which he described, and which Mr. Hughes 
thought, from the description, was far more likely to be subaerial. 
Mr. Evans and Mr. Etheridge suggested the probability of much 
of the so-called loess might be derived from higher loamy beds, 
possibly derived from the decomposition of limestone rocks con- 
taining sand and clay, and redeposited by the action of rain. 
The following specimens were exhibited :—Minerals from Stron- 
tian ; exhibited by Mr. Scott, in illustration of his paper. Corals ; 
exhibited by Prof. Duncan, in illustration of his paper. 
Royal Geographical Society, April 25.—Major-General 
Sir Henry C. Rawlinson, K.C.B., vice-president, in the chair. 
The following new Fellows were elected :—Mr. G. E. Bell ; Staff- 
Commander Charles Burney, R.N.; Messrs. Walter J. Ellis ; J.C. 
W. P. Graham ; Simon Little ; Henry Syme. A letter was read 
from Mr. R. B. Shaw to Sir Roderick Murchison, on that por- 
tion of his recent journey to Yarkand (with Mr. Forsyth) in 
which, detached from the rest of the party, he explored the 
rugged country between the western extremity of the Thibetan 
Plateau and the Valley of the Upper Shayok. He described 
the plateau (17,000 feet high) as ending abruptly on the west in 
a great limestone range, which, like the masonry vevefement of 
an embankment, has protected the level table-land from the 
wearing influence of the rains from clouds sweeping up the 
The author regarded this formation as in great. 

Shayok Valley. Standing on the edge of the plateau, the whole 
country westward appeared as an irregular mass of snowy peaks 
and narrow precipitous valleys. In attempting to descend one 
of the valleys towards the Karakoram road, the party suffered 
fearfully in struggling for three days through the broken ice of a 
torrent at the bottom of a stupendous chasm, from which, in 
some places, the light of day was nearly excluded. —A second 
communication was read “ On the Journey of the Mirza across 
the Pamir Steppe to Yarkand and Kashgar,” by Major Mont- 
gomerie. This was a detailed report of the journey of an Afghan 
gentleman, instructed by the officers of the Trigonometrical 
Survey to traverse the Mahomedan countries across the Hindoo 
Koosh and Pamir Steppe, eastward to the plains of Eastern 
Turkestan. The journey was successful in its main object ; and 
we have now, for the first time, a scientific account of those 
little-known regions, with the means of fixing the geographical 
position of all the important places. The Mirza proceeded from 
Fyzabad eastward, along one of the head-waters of the Oxus, 
arising in Lake Pamir-Kul (13,300 feet), and thence to Tash 
Kurgan, Yanghissar and Kashgar. Crossing the elevated re- 
gion of the Pamir, he suffered fearfully from the cold, although 
well clad, even to the lining of his boots, in warm woollen 
clothing. Sir Henry Rawlinson explained to the meeting that 
the Mirza’s route was the same as that followed by Marco Polo 
and Benedict Goez, and in later times by Mahomed Amin. He 
also stated that the vexed problem of the longitude of Yarkand 
(placed by the Schlagintweits about 200 miles too far to the west) 
had been solved by the recent lunar observations of Mr. Shaw, 
the computation of which had been completed that day, at the 
Geographical Society, by Mr. W. Ellis of the Greenwich Obser- 
vatory. These observations placed Yarkand in E. long. 77° 14 45'’. 
Colonel Walker, of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, 
and Sir A. Scott Waugh also addressed the meeting, chiefly on 
the subject of the employment of native observers in the geo- 
graphical exploration of the regions beyond the British boundaties. 
Chemical Society, May 4.—Dr. Warren De La Rue, 
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. The following gentle- 
men were elected Fellows :—Messrs. R. S. Best, C. S$. Cross, 
W. H. Darling, G. H. Ogston, I. Schweitzer, and. W. A. 
Smith. Dr. Volcker delivered a lecture ‘‘ On the Productive 
Powers of Soils in Relation to the Loss of Plant Food by 
Drainage.’ The lecturer began by showing the futility of the 
belief that a soil-analysis could reveal whether a land was pro- 
ductive or not. To those who only imperfectly know the teach- 
ings of modern agricultural science, it appears very simple to 
remedy a deficient soil by finding out through analysis the want- 
ing constituents, and then to supply them, But this is not so. 
Not only is it difficult exactly to analyse a soil, but many other 
conditions besides the composition of a land have to be observed. 
The state of combination in which the mineral constituents of a 
land are found, the physical condition of the soil, the presence 
or absence of some matter injurious to the growth of 
plants, all these are so many important points upon which 
soil-analysis throws no light whatever. The lecturer equally 
opposes the views of those who advocate that in a system of 
rational farming there should be kept up a debtor and creditor 
account as regards the constituents which are removed from the 
soil in the crops grown upon it, and the quantity of fertilising 
matter restored to itinthe shape of manure. The fertility of the 
soil cannot be maintained, much less increased, if only as much 
fertilising constituents would be applied to the land as one re- 
moyes from it in the crops. Dr. Volcker then discussed the 
relative values of various mineral salts as manures, quoting in 
support of his views the results of the classical field experiments 
of Lawes and Gilbert; and this then led the lecturer to speak of 
the examination of land-drainage waters. Lawes and Gilbert, 
throughout a long series of experiments on the growth of wheat, 
have experienced a great loss of nitrogen ; the amount of nitro- 
gen supplied in the manures was greater than that recovered in 
the increased produce. It appeared to Dr. Volcker that the 
nitrogen lost might have passed into the drains. Careful collection 
of such drainage waters, and their analysis, proved Dr. Volcker’s 
supposition to be correct. It became clear that, in whatever form 
the nitrogen is applied to the soil, a large proportion of it is 
carried off chiefly in the form of nitrates. At all times of the 
year, but especially during the active period of growth of the 
crops, nitrates are found in the watery liquid which circulates in 
the land, whereas ammonia salts are never met with in any 
appreciably large quantities. It may therefore be assumed tha 
