Dec. 3, 1874] 



NATURE 



97 



so distinct that they evidently indicate diffe rent species. Mr. 

 Murray believes, however, that only one form is met with on one 

 sphere ; and that in order to produce the num erous forms figured 

 by Ha^ckel and Oscar Schmidt, all of which, and many additional 

 varieties, he has observed, the spheres must vary in age and 

 development, or in kind. Their constant presence in tlie surface- 

 net, in surface-water drawn in a bucket, and in the stomachs of 

 surface animals, sufficiently prove that, like the ooze-forming 

 foraminiferes, the coccoliths and rhabdoliths, which enter so 

 largely into the composition of the recent deep-sea calcareous 

 formations, live on the surface and at intermediate depths, and 

 sink to the bottom after death. Coccospheres and rhabdospheres 

 have a very wide but not an unlimited distribution. From the 

 Cape of Good Hope they rapidly decreased in number on the 

 surface, and at the bottom as we progressed soutliwards. The 

 proportion of their remains in the Globigerina ooze near the 

 Crozets and Prince Edward Island was comparatively small ; 

 and to this circumstance the extreme clearness and the unusual 

 appearance of being composed of Globigerin;^ alone was pro- 

 bably mainly due. We found the same kind of ooze nearly 

 free from coccoliths and rhabdoliths in what may be considered 

 about a corresponding latitude in the north, to the west of 

 Faroe. 



Before leaving the subject of the modern chalk, it may be con- 

 venient to pass on to stations 158, 159, and 160, on March 7th, 

 loth, and 13th, on our return voyage from the ice. The first 

 two of these, at depths of l,Soo and 2, 150 fathoms respectively, 

 are marked on the chart " Globigerina ooze ; " and it will be 

 observed that these soundings nearly correspond in latitude 

 with the like belt which we crossed going southwards ; the 

 third sounding at a depth of 2,600 fathoms is marked "red 

 clay.'' , 



According to our present experience the deposit of Globi- 

 gerina ooze is limited to water of a ceitain depth, the extreme 

 limit of the pure characteristic formation being placed at a depth 

 of somewhere about 2,250 fathoms. Crossing from these slial- 

 lower regions occupied by the ooze into deeper soundings, we 

 find universally that the calcareous formation gradually passes 

 into and is finally replaced by an extremely fine pure clay, which 

 occupies, speaking generally, all depths below 2,500 fathoms, 

 and consists almost entirely of a silicate of the red oxide of iron 

 and alumina. The transition is very slow, and extends over 

 several hundred fathoms of increasing depth ; the shells gradually 

 lose their sharpness of outline and assume a kind of " rotten " 

 look and a brownish colour, and become more and more mixed 

 with a fine amorphous red-brown powder, which increases steadily 

 in proportion until the lime has almost entirely disappeared. ' 

 This brown matter is in the finest possible state of subdivision, 

 so fine that when, after sifting it to separate any organisms it 

 might contain, we put it into jars to settle, it remained for days 

 in suspension, giving the water very much the appearance and 

 colour of chocolate. 



In indicating the nature of the bottom on the charts, we 

 came, from experience and without any theoretical considera- 

 tion, to use three terms for soundings in deep water. Two of 

 these, Gl. oz. and r. cl., were very definite, and indicated 

 strongly marked formations, with apparently but few characters 

 in common ; but we frequently got soundings which we could 

 not exactly call either " Globlgeiina ooze " or "red clay ; " and 

 before we were fully aware of the nature of these we were in 

 the habit of indicating them as "grey ooze" (gr. oz. ) We 

 now recognise the "grey ooze" as an intermediate stage 

 between the Globigerina ooze and the red clay ; we find that 

 on one side as it were of an ideal line, the red clay contains 

 more and more of the material of the calcareous ooze, while 

 on the other the ooze is mixed with an increasing proportion of 

 "red clay.' ' 



Although we have met with the same phenomenon so fre- 

 quently that we were at length able to predict the nature of the 

 bottom from the depth of the sounds with absolute certainty for 

 the Atlantic and the Southern Sea, we had perhaps the best 

 opportunity of observing it in our first section across the Atlantic, 

 between Teneriffe and St. Thomas. The first four stations 

 on this section, at depths from 1,525 to 2,220 fathoms, show 

 Globigerina ooze. From the last of these, which is about 300 

 miles from Teneriffe, the depth gradually increases to 2,740 

 fathoms at 500, and 2,950 fathoms at 750 miles from Teneriffe. 

 The bottom in these two soundings might have been called " grey 

 ooze;" for although its nature has altered entirely from the 

 Globigerina ooze, the red clay into which it is rapidly passing 

 Still contains a considerable admixture of carbonate of lime. 



The depth goes on increasing to a distance of 1,150 miles 

 from Teneriffe, when it reaches 3, 150 fathoms ; there the clay is 

 pure and smooth, and contains scarcely a trace of lime. From 

 this great depth the bottom gradually rises, and with decreasintr 

 depth the grey colour and the calcareous composition of the 

 ooze return. Three soundings in 2,050, 1,900, and 1,950 

 fathoms on the "Dolphin Rise," gave highly characteristic 

 examples of the Globigerina formation. Passing from the 

 middle plateau of the Atlantic into the western trough with 

 depths a little over 3,000 fathoms, the red clay returned in all its 

 purity : and our last sounding in 1,420 fathoms before reaching 

 .Sombrero, restored the Globigerina ooze with its peculiar 

 associated fauna. 



This section shows also the wide extension and the vast geo- 

 logical importance of the red clay fonnation. The total distance 

 from Teneriffe to Sombrero is about 2,700 miles. Proceeding 

 from east to west, we have 



About So miles of volcanic mud and sand, 



,, 350 ,, Globigerina ooze, 



,, 1,050 ,, red clay, 



!> 33° >) Globigerina ooze, 



,, 850 ,, red clay, 



, , 40 , , Globigerina ooze ; 

 giving a total of 1,900 miles of red cl.ay to 720 miles of Globi- 

 gerina ooze. " 



{To be continued.) 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Jmirtial of the Chetnical Socicly for' October commences 

 with a paper, by Prof. Roscoe, On a new chloride of uranium. 

 The new compound is the pentachloride UCl,,, obtained by 

 passing chlorine over a heated mixture of any oxide of uranium 

 .iiid charcoal. If the current of chlorine is slow, the substance 

 forms dark needle-shaped crystals with a green metallic lustre and 

 ruby red by transmitted light. When the chlorine is passed 

 rapidly, UCI5 is formed as a brown powder. The compound 

 decomposes on heating into the tetrachloride and free chlorine. — • 

 The next paper is on suberone, by C. Schoilemmer and R. S. 

 Dale. This body is formed by distilling suberic acid with lime 

 according to the equation — 



aCgHj^Oj = 2CO2 -f 2H2O + Ci4H2,02. 

 Ilexane is produced at the same time, and can be separated by 

 fr.actionaI distillation. Pure suberone is a mobile liquid, boiling 

 at 179° to 181°. The molecular formula is CyHjjO, and it is 

 oxidised by nitric acid into an acid of the formula C7HJ2O4. 

 The authors have examined the barium, calcium, and silver salts 

 of this acid. The new acid has the same composition as the 

 pimelic acid obtained by Hlasiwetz and Grabowsky from cam- 

 phoric acid, but its properties are quite different, and it has been 

 provisionally named o-pimelic acid. The authors assign the 

 following constitutional formulae to suberone and a-pimelic 

 acid : — 



CH„— CH„— CH.,^ 



I " ■ ">co 



CH.,— CH„— CH/ 



CH.,— CH2— CO.OH 



Cn„ -CHj— CH2— CO . OH 



Suberone. a-Pimelic acid. 



Note on the crystalline forms of meconic and a-pimelic acids, by 

 Dr. C. A. Burghardt. — On the action of earth on org.anic nitrogen, 

 by E. C. C. Stanford. The experiments were made on mixtures 

 of lean meat with ordinary loam-earth, and the author deduces 

 therefrom the following conclusions : — i. Eaith mixed with 

 organic nitrogenous matter is an indifferent dryer, and, except in 

 considerable quantity, a poor deodoriser. 2. That the mixtures 

 continuously lose nitrogen to about the extent of 73 per cent, in 

 five months. 3. That the loss is perhaps wholly due to decay, 

 the nitrogen being probably evolved as ammonia. 4. That in 

 such mixtures the earth does not act as an oxidiser, no nitrifica- 

 tion taking place. — The remainder of the journal is devoted to 

 abstracts from foreign periodicals, many of which have been 

 already noticed in these columns. 



Gazzetta Chimica Ifaliaita, fascicolo vi., vii., and viii., Octo- 

 ber. — This part begins with a long and valuable paper by W. 

 Koemer, entitled "Studies of the Isomerism of the bocies 

 known as Aromatic Substances with six Carbon Atoms." This 

 research has led the author to study the action of nitric acid on 

 acetanilide giving rise to the formation of nitro-acetanilide, which 

 is converted by potassium hydrate into a mixture of ortho- and 



