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AMERICAN NOTES 
V E are again indebted to the early sheets of Harper's Weekly for 
the following :—At a late meeting of the Boston Society of 
Natural History a communication was presented by Count Pour- 
tales in reference to the character of the sea bottom off the coast of 
the United States, south of Cape Hatteras, and based upon the re- 
searches of the Coast Survey. According to his statement, the 
principal constituent of the coast is silicious sand from the coast- 
line to about the line of one hundred fathoms—a limit which coin- 
cides nearly with the inner edge of the Gulf Stream throughout the 
greater part ofits course. Outsideof this lineis a whitish calcareous 
mud, containing globigerina, and extending probably over the 
greater part of the ocean. South of the Vineyard Islands, and 
to the eastern end of Long Island, the silicious sand is replaced 
by a kind of bluish mud, known as the Block Island soundings. 
A similar mud is found off Sandy Hook in a range of depres- 
sions known as mud holes, which form a leading mark by which 
to find the port of New York in thick weather. A few rocky 
patches are found east of the neighbourhood of New York, and 
a rocky bottom occurs, sparingly, near Cape Fear ; but other- 
wise the sand is pretty uniform, varying only in the size of its 
grain, On the inner edge of the Gulf Stream there is a deposit 
of greensand composed of the cast-off foraminifera.—According 
to late advices from Florida, Mr. N. H. Bishop, whose visit to 
that State in the interest of natural history we have already re- 
ferred to, has started off in his yacht on a cruise down the coast 
for the purpose of making collections of Florida birds, &c. He 
hopes to penetrate into the Everglades and prosecute some 
inquiries in regard to certain species of birds said to occur there, 
and no where else in Florida.—We regret to have to record the 
death, at St. Paul, Minnesota, on the 13th of December last, of 
Prof. William Chauvenet, formerly Chancellor of Washington 
University, St. Louis. This gentleman has long been known in 
American scientific circles for his attainment as a mathematician 
and astronomer ; and the various works published by him have 
occupied a high position as text-books and manuals of instruction. 
For a time connected with the Naval Academy at Annapolis, he 
was subsequently elected Professor of Astronomy and Mathe- 
matics in Washington University, St. Louis, afterwards becoming 
Chancellor, and remaining there until 1869. His death occurred 
in consequence of exhaustion of the nervous powers at the age of 
a little over fifty.—We regret to learn that in the course of a 
disastrous fire at Springfield, Illinois, on the 25th of February, 
the collection of the Geological Survey of the State of Illinois 
was in large part either destroyed or greatly injured, especially 
the fossil plants. This loss is the more severe, as the collection 
in question contained one of the finest series of Carboniferous 
fossils in the country, and embraced a large number of types of 
new species described by Messrs. Worthen and Meek. This 
should be a warning to all who have charge of valuable natural 
history collections, to give themselves no rest until their trea- 
sures are secured in fire-proof buildings.—We recently called 
attention to the excessive degree of cold to which meteorological 
observers on Mount Washington have been subjected during the 
present winter. Since then still greater inclemency has been 
recorded, during which the thermometer was fifty degrees 
below zero, while the wind had a velocity of one hundred miles 
an hour.—We have already, in a previous number, referred to 
the examination of a locality in California, by Prof. Marsh’s 
exploring party, where numerous fossil trees had previously been 
discovered ; and we learn that a detailed report may be looked 
for in the April number of the Yournal of Science. The region 
in question is situated on a high, rocky ridge in Napa County, 
California, near Calistoga Hot Springs, and about ten miles 
from thesummit of Mount St. Helena. The ridge itself belongs 
to the Coast Range series, and forms the division between the 
Napa and Santa Kosa valleys. It is about two thousand feet in 
height, and is composed of metamorphic rock of the cretaceous 
period, overlain unconformably by later tertiary strata, consisting 
of light-coloured, coarse sandstone, and beds of stratified vol- 
canic ashes. A careful examination showed that the trees on the- 
surface of the ground had been weathered out of the volcanic tufa 
and sandstone, and consequently were of the Tertiary age ; and 
also that there remained still embedded in the volcanic tufa, &c., 
an extensive forest of very large trees, stretching over a great 
area. Some of the trees were of great size, a portion of one 
having been traced for a length of sixty-three feet, with a dia- 
meter of seven feet near its smaller end. Another tree indicated 
an original diameter of not less than twelve feet. All were 
prostrate, and had apparently been thrown down by the volcanic 
NATURE 


| March 23, 1871 
current which covered them, Many were much decayed inter- 
nally and worm-eaten before they were buried. All of the wood 
was silicified, probably by means of hot alkaline waters contain- 
ing silica in solution—a frequent result of volcanic action. A 
careful examination of the wood obtained at this locality showed 
no essential difference in structure from that of the modern red- 
woods of California (of the genus Seguoia). No other fossils 
were met with, which rendered it somewhat difficult to fix the 
precise epoch ; but it is considered probable by the Professor 
that the trees belonged to the Pliocene period. The origin of the 
volcanic material which covered the forest could not be ascer- 
tained, although it was supposed to have been derived from 
Mount St. Helena, which is the nearest volcanic peak. 
THE SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT 
Wyte reference to examinations in large towns, the 
Department had previously issued the following 
regulation :—“ In large towns or populous districts where 
there are three or more schools, and where numerous 
examinations are to be held, the Science and Art Depart- 
ment may at tts discretion require a special local secretary 
to be appointed to manage the whole of the examination 
business. The Department will correspond with him 
alone on all subjects connected with the examination, He 
will be allowed a fee of ten guineas, and an extra fee of 
half a guinea for each night on which an examination is 
held.” 
The Department has now determined to place the con- 
duct of these examinations as far as possible in the hands 
of officers appointed by the School Boards with the ap- 
proval of the Science and Art Department. Insuch cases 
the School Board would determine, in concert with an 
Inspector from the Science and Art Department, the 
centres at which the examinations were to be held. They 
would appoint officers, one of them as special local secre- 
tary, with such a staff of assistants as would secure the 
presence of at least two, or if the number of candidates 
were very large, more officers at each examination. The 
examination papers would be sent to the officers appointed 
by the School Boards as they are now to the Local Com- 
mittees. While these officers would be responsible for 
the conduct of the examinations, it would be expected 
that a few members of each of the Local Committees 
would visit the examinations and satisfy themselves with 
regard to the pupils of the classes they superintend. The 
same payment will be made to the special local secretary 
appointed by the Board as is now made to the special 
local secretary elected by the Committees ; and they would 
make a payment to each assistant of ros. for each night 
he was required to attend. 
With regard to the number of Science Schools in which 
no fees are charged, or in which they are merely nominal, 
the Department thinks that the schools cannot be con- 
sidered in a wholesome condition when students, a very 
large proportion of whom are adults in the receipt of 
wages, obtain their instruction wholly at the cost of the 
State and without any pecuniary contribution on their 
part. Nor is it probable that they will value as they 
ought what is given gratuitously. The directions in the 
Science Directory are very plain on the point. They 
state that “the payment of fees by the students can be 
looked upon as the only solid and sufficient basis on which 
a self-supporting system can be established and supported. 
Though the Department does not consider it necessary at 
present to lay down any rules making the payment of fees 
an absolute condition of the grants on account of Science 
instruction, yet as the payments from the State must be 
expected to diminish, and as aid on account of those per- 
sons who do nothing for themselves cannot be justified, 
committees of schools and classes and teachers are 
strongly urged (should it at present not be the practice) 
at once to impose as high a scale of fees as they consider 
can be raised not only on middle class students but also 
