Sept. 26, 1872] 



NATURE 



439 



conception beautiful ; the most delicate embroidery could 

 not rival them in their wonderful variety and complexity. 

 The surface within and without is covered over with little 

 tubercles of silica, which have a smooth, enamelled appear- 

 ance like the most delicate pearls ; down on the sides of 

 the basin are large rounded masses like corals, formed 



The two kinds of deposits in these regions, the cal- 

 careous and siliceous, have been mentioned in the pre- 

 ceding description. According to analysis by Dr. Peale, 

 Chemist of the U. S. Geological Survey, the springs on 

 Gardener's River, known as the White IVIountain Springs 

 (Fig. 8), deposit carbonate of lime mostly. There is present 



entirely of silica. There are probably from twenty to fifty also sulphate of magnesia, chloride of calcium, sulphate of 

 geysers of greater or less importance in this valley. soda, and a little silica. In thedepositsof the Firehole Basin 



Fig. 8. — Wh'te Mountain .Springs. 



not a trace of lime could be detected, but about 85 per 

 cent, of silica, 1 1 per cent, of water, and the remainder 

 mostly chljride of magnesium, and only a slight trace of 

 lime his been found in the water. There are, scattered 

 over the great area, a few patches of the sedimentary 

 rocks, and it is most piobable that underneath the deposit 

 of this small group of springs there are portions of the 

 carboniferous limestone. 



So far as Mr. Hayden and party could ascertain, in all 

 the deposits of the Yellowstone Basin proper, and the 

 Firehole Basin, silica is the dominant constituent. The 

 springs are, with very few exceptions, near the borders of 

 the streams below beds of limestone. It is possible that 

 underneath thcvast masses of volcanic material which com- 

 pose the mountains on every side, the sedimentary rocks 

 exist; but Mr. Hayden is disposed tobelieve that they occur 

 only in isolated and much restricted patches, if at all. 



It may therefore be stated, in general terms, that the 

 great hot spring region of the Yellowstone and Missouri 

 rivers is covered with rocks of volcanic origin, of com- 

 apratively modern date. 



NOTES 



At their Statutory Quarterly Meeting on Monday, the Trustees 

 of Anderson's University, Glasgow, elected Mr. George Forbes, 

 B.A., F.R.S.E., of St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, to the 



vacant piofessorship of Natural Philosojihy. There were origin- 

 ally eleven candidates for the appointment, but one of them died 

 before the day of election arrived. Prof. Forbes is by inheritance, 

 as well as by inclination and education, a man of science. The son 

 of the late Principal, James D. Forbes, F. R. S , of .St. Andrews, 

 he received his university training at St. Andrews, Edinburgh, 

 and Cambridge, and has since had the benefit of practical 

 training in physical science at the Royal Obseivatory under the 

 Astronomer Royal, and on the Continent, In making the ap- 

 pointment, the Andersonian trustees acted on the advice of Sir 

 Wm. Thomson, SirG. Biddell Airy, R.C.B. ; Prof. P. G. Tait, 

 Edinburgh; Prof Balfour Stewart, Prof A. S. Herschel, 

 Profs. AV. H. Miller and J. C. Adams Cambridge; Prof. 

 Grant, Glasgow Observatory, and other eminent physicists. It 

 is understood that this professorship is to be established on a 

 more extensive basis than formerly. This would offer to the 

 professor a wider field of useful employment by developing the 

 resources of the professorship, not only through the extension of 

 the system of lecturing, but also by the establishment of a physi- 

 cal laboratory for students, which, it is understood, is in con- 

 templation. Mr. Alexander Lindsay, of Glasgow, has also been 

 elected Professor of i\Iedical Jurisprudence. It was intimated 

 to the meeting that Mr. J. Tennant, of Rollox, has given a 

 donation of 1,000/. to the Univcrsily. 



The following lectures on subjects connected with Physical 

 and Medical Science will be delivered at the University of Cam- 



