SEPTEMBER 4, 1902] 
WE have received from Prof. F. Omori the first portion of a 
memoir on macro-seismic measurement in Tokyo, containing 
the analysis of the diagrams of 220 earthquakes observed at 
three places in that city, mostly between September, 1887, and 
July, 1889. Prof. Omori defines the macro-seismic motion as 
that part of the earthquake-motion which consists of vibrations 
the period of which, except in very strong shocks, does not 
exceed two or three seconds. A discussion of the analysis will 
be given in the second portion of the memoir. 
DurInc the past year, we have received the nine parts form- 
ing vol. vii. of the Bo//ettino of the Italian Seismological Society 
for 1901-1902. The description of new instruments or of 
modifications of old ones is, as usual, a prominent feature of the 
volume. We have noticed already several of the papers, and 
need here only call attention to Prof. Mercalli’s studies of 
Vesuvius from July, 1900, to the end of 1901, Prof. Ricco’s 
paper on the central crater of Etna, and the valuable notices 
of earthquakes recorded in Italy during the year 1900. 
THE Home Office has issued the annual report relating to 
persons employed and accidents at mines and quarries in the 
United Kingdom in 1go1. It is edited; by Prof. C. Le Neve 
Foster, F.R.S., and contains a large amount of interesting in- 
formation. The total number of persons employed was 933,366. 
There were 1075 accidents, causing the loss of 1229 lives. 
Compared with the previous year, there was a decrease of 48 
in the number of fatal accidents, but an increase of 52 in the 
number of lives lost. The general death-rate was 1°348 per 
1000, as compared with 1°40$, the average for the past ten 
years. Of the fatal accidents, 437 per cent. were due to falls 
of ground, 110 per cent. to explosions, 13°5 per cent. to 
surface accidents, 7°0 per cent. to shaft accidents, and 24°8 per 
cent. to miscellaneous accidents underground. The use of 
coal-cutting machinery does not appear to be making very 
rapid progress. 
THE School of Mines of the University of Wyoming has 
issued a series of bulletins on petroleum, and of these No. 5 
(June) deals with the Newcastle oilfield. Petroleum occurs 
in the Dakota shales and sandstones near the base of the 
Cretaceous, and it proves of value for lubricating and for fuel. 
AN interesting account of the Darling Downs district in 
Queensland is given by the Hon. Arthur Mergan (Proc. Roy. 
Geograph. Soc., Australia, vol. xvii.) He dwells espe- 
cially on the work of Allan Cunningham, who in 1827 dis- 
covered the Darling Downs, now regarded as one of the most 
fertile and healthful tracts, and also as a region of con- 
siderable geological interest, for it has yielded remains of 
remarkable fossil mammalia, gigantic in size compared with the 
recent representatives. 
Dr. HENRY WoopWARD contributes to the Proceedings of 
the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club (vol. x.) 
an interesting outline of the life of William Smith, the ‘‘ father 
of English geology.” It is accompanied by a portrait (repro- 
duced from Phillips’s ‘* Life of William Smith”), by a photo- 
gravure of the bust by Chantry, which stands in St. Peter’s 
Church, Northampton, and by a view of the monument erected 
by Lord Moreton, at Churchill, in Oxfordshire, the birthplace of 
Smith. 
In some contributions to South African petrography (Geo/. 
Mag., August), Mr. Frederic P. Mennell, curator of the 
Rhodesia Museum, refers to the great development of basic 
lavas and acid plutonic masses. He describes examples of 
basalt, dolerite, gabbro, syenite, &c., that have been gathered 
from a wide area in Rhodesia, Bechuanaland and other parts of 
South Africa. The great granite mass of the Matopos, which 
forms the backbone of southern Matabeleland, closely resembles 
NO. 1714, VOL, 66] 
WAT URE 
449 
the Dartmoor rock, but near Bulawayo it presents appearances 
of foliation which may be due to movement before complete 
consolidation. 
Some interesting details relating to the recovery of tin from 
tin-scrap have recently been published in the Zedfschrzft /f. 
Elektrochemie. %n Germany, several works have been built and 
operated for carrying out this procedure, the largest of these 
being that of Goldschmidt, at Essen, where 50-60 tons of tin- 
scrap are reported to be treated per day. The difficulty of 
obtaining an adequate supply of raw material has hindered the 
development of other works, and the anonymous writer of the 
article we are discussing hints that the supply of tin-scrap is 
monopolised by one or two of the larger works. The processes 
used for recovering the tin are based upon the use of the scrap 
as anode material, in a bath containing sodium chloride and 
hydrate, orin one containing hydrochloric acid. The advantage 
of the former is that less iron goes into solution, but against this 
there is the lower energy efficiency of the process and the more 
spongy nature of the deposit obtained at the kathode. The 
failure to produce directly metallic tin is one of the chief diff- 
culties in the operation of both processes, for considerable losses 
occur in smelting and refining the spongy deposit obtained at the 
kathode. Undercertain conditions, metallic tin can be obtained 
in the electrolytic bath, and Pfanhauser, in the issue of the 
Zeitschrift f. Elektrochemie for January 16, has stated his opinion 
that the avoidance of the formation of sponge is simply a question 
of maintaining the concentyation of the tin salt solution in the 
neighbourhood of the kathode. This condition would appear to 
be difficult to attain in the works treating tin-scrap on an in- 
dustrial scale, and the problem of producing metallic tin at the 
kathode is complicated further, by the slow but gradual increase 
of impurities in the electrolyte. A new works for the treatment 
of tin-scrap has recently been built at Pfaffstatten, near Vienna, 
and an electrolytic process for recovering tin from slags is also 
reported to be in operation at Tostedt, in Germany. In this 
country we are not aware of any similar works in actual opera- 
tion, but during 1901 a company was formed with a capital of 
10,000/. to build and operate a works for the treatment of tin- 
scrap by a new electrolytic process. A plant for dealing with 
50 tons of cuttings per month was to be erected, presumably near 
London. 
Messrs. WHITTAKER AND Co, will shortly publish a work 
on galvanic batteries, by Mr. S. R. Bottone. The book will 
deal with the theory, construction and use of electric batteries, 
comprising primary, single and double fluid cells, secondary and 
gas batteries. 
Messrs. NEWTON AND Co. have sent us a copy of a useful 
catalogue of physical apparatus and accessories manufactured by 
them. In addition to numerous figures in the text, the catalogue 
has eight plates containing reproductions of photographs ot 
typical instruments used for demonstrations in the lecture room 
and practical work in the laboratory. Among the apparatus 
described, we notice a cyanine prism for showing anomalous 
dispersion, circular diffraction gratings and photographic 
gratings, zone plates, new contact breaks, localising instruments 
for Rontgen ray work, apparatus for wireless telegraphy demon- 
strations, and for experiments with alternating currents of high 
tension and high frequency. 
WE have just received the annual report of the Government 
Analyst at Trinidad. The report indicates that in addition to 
the examination of officially submitted samples, of which more 
than 2000 were received during the year, a considerable amount 
of valuable work is being done by the head chemist, Prof. 
Carmody, by investigation of the mineral deposits of the island. 
Experiments have also been made at the Government farm on 
the diurnal variation of cow’s milk. 
