
APRIL 7, 1923] 
that formation, which occurs 900 feet below the top 
bed of the Kaibab Limestone on the cafion rim. The 
author, despite the possibility of an unconformity at 
the base of the local Permian, uses the name Carboni- 
ferous rather than Permo-Carboniferous for the 
whole sequence, a course that seems unwise, in view 
of international usage. Fossils are, on the whole, 
rare in these splendid sections; but Pennsylvanian 
and Mississippian strata are both identified, above 
a small representative of Upper Devonian with 
_ Bothriolepis. The whole of the Gotlandian and 
_ Ordovician systems are unrepresented, and we pass 
down into undisturbed Upper Cambrian beds some 
900 feet above the stream. 
RANGER Oitrietp, Texas.—The Ranger Oilfield 
_ is situated in the north-west of Eastland County, 
Texas, and is one of the most important latter-day 
_ developments of the great Mid-Continent Oilfield 
region of the United States. Oil was first struck 
_ here in 1917, beginning with the bringing in of the 
_McClesky well at 2000 barrels per day. In 1918 
_ the best wells had an initial production of 6000-7000 
_ barrels of oil, and the total output for that year 
amounted to more than 6,000,000 barrels. In 1919 
the wells collectively made more than 73,000 barrels 
of oil per day. Since that time a steady production 
has been maintained, though a noticeable decline 
is apparently manifest at the present time. The 
eology and structure of the field have recently been 
dealt with by Frank Reeves in Bulletin 736-E of 
the United States Geological Survey. Production 
is from nine oil-sands occurring in the Strawn Series, 
Smethwick Shale, and Marble Falls Limestone, all 
of Pennsylvanian age. The structure is that of very 
slightly inclined strata, the tilt forming part of the 
eneral monoclinal feature of the region as a whole. 
ally, low pitching anticlines have been formed 
which have an important bearing on the accumula- 
tion of oil in the rocks involved. The oil obtained 
from the Ranger field is of a high quality, of mixed 
base, and has an average specific gravity of 0°84; 
it yields about 30 per cent. of petrol. It is to be 
regretted that the bulletin, describing as it does 
_ one of the most important oilfields of the south Mid- 
Continent, is not so well illustrated as many which 
embrace far less noteworthy propertics ; in particular 
the index map is almost unreadable. ‘the large 
_ structure maps included at the bac!. of tLe publication 
are, however, unusually clear and are of great 
educational value apart from real technical utility. 
METEOROLOGY OF THE SOUTH ATLANTIC.—Mr. 
H. H. Clayton makes reference in the U.S. Monthly 
Weather Review for November 1922 to a communica- 
tion in the monthly bulletin of the Argentine Meteoro- 
logical Office on the physical condition of the South 
Atlantic during summer by Mr. R. C. Mossman. The 
communication was to aid the relief ship sent by the 
Argentine Government each year to and fro between 
Buenos Aires and the South Orkneys to carry a party 
of new observers and to bring back the observers of 
the previous year from the most southern meteoro- 
logical station in the world, which has been regularly 
maintained for the last twenty years. The period 
- dealt with is comprised by December, January, and 
February. Charts prepared are said to show the 
position of the controlling high and low atmospheric 
pressures, and wind-roses are given for each 5° square 
and for each of the three months. Fog frequencies 
are stated to be shown for each wind direction. 
Allusion is especially made to the difference between 
a fog formed by a warm wind blowing over cold 
water and a fog produced by a cold wind over water 
at a higher temperature—the fog in the latter case 
extending to a much greater height, but the base not 
No. 2788, VoL, 111] 
NATURE 
by Mr. White as definitely fixing the Permian age of | always reaching the earth’s surface. 
481 
The British 
Meteorological Office has thoroughly discussed the 
weather of the South Atlantic, extending to the 
South Orkneys, in a volume of monthly charts 
(M.O. No. 168) published twenty years ago. 
THE RoAR oF THE MounTain.—A presidential 
address to the Washington Academy of Sciences was 
given on January 9 by Prof. W. J. Humphreys of the 
U.S. Weather Bureau, entitled ‘‘ The Murmur of the 
Forest and the Roar of the Mountain,” which is repro- 
duced in Vol. 13, No. 4, of the Journal. Reference 
is made to historical instances recognised as of 
weather significance through past ages, and the 
roaring of the mountain is taken as an indication of a 
general storm within six to twelve hours. The par- 
ticular region dealt with is the Gap Mills valley of 
Monroe County, West Virginia, but the discussion 
has common reference to mountain meteorology. 
It is shown how occasionally there are strong winds 
simultaneously up both sides of a high mountain 
ridge, and it is asserted that when there is an appreci- 
able wind from the mountain there is often a lighter 
surface wind in the opposite direction up portions of 
the mountain itself. With tempest winds the con- 
ditions are said to be much like the Helm Wind along 
the west side of the Pennine range. Reference is 
made to the familiar singing or humming of telegraph 
or telephone wires. The tree and forest sounds are 
said not to be due to the elasticity of the twigs and 
branches but, as in the case of the singing telegraph 
wires, to the instability of the vortex sheets their 
obstruction introduces into the air as it rushes by 
them. The pitch of the zolian murmur of a forest 
is said to be essentially that of its average twig, and 
though the note of the twig’may be inaudible at 
close quarters, the forest may often be heard miles 
away. Cloud and humidity are dealt with, as are 
also rain and snow. 
A LUMINESCENT CHEMICAL CHANGE.—An interest- 
ing example of luminescence occasioned by chemical 
change in solution, which is said to be more intense 
than the usual experiment involving the oxidation of 
pyrogallol, is described by W. V. Evans and R. T. 
Dufford in the February number of the;.Journal of 
the American Chemical Society. A solution of p- 
bromophenyl magnesium bromide in ether is pre- 
pared by the Grignard reaction between 2-4 grams of 
magnesium and 23°6 grams of $-dibromobenzene in 
130 c.c, of dry ether, witha little iodine. The solution 
exhibits luminescence which can be observed in day- 
light when shaken in a test-tube in an atmosphere of 
oxygen. The luminescence spectrum lies between 
\5200 and A3500. 
Innocuous MEror.—It is well known that metol, 
which is one of the most popular of photographic 
developers, suffers from the grave disadvantage that 
if it is allowed to come into contact with the hands 
it may cause persistent and exceedingly irritable 
sores. Mr. W. F. A. Ermen, of the British Dyestuffs 
Corporation, finds that almost certainly this is not 
due to metol itself. In a paper read before the Royal 
Photographic Society on March 20 (British Journal of 
Photography, March 23) Mr. Ermen gave details of 
the five principal methods for the manufacture of 
metol which the Corporation tried in 1916. A method 
of German origin, by the interaction of methylamine 
and hydroquinone, gave a very good preparation with 
extreme ease, but caused severe outbreaks of poisoning 
in both the laboratories and the works. This result 
was traced to the presence in the metol so prepared 
of the very soluble and extremely poisonous sym- 
metrical dimethyl-paraphenylene-diamine. The metol 
prepared by the Lapworth process proved to be quite 
innocuous. 
