Sep/. 9, 1880] NATURE 



hat it does not react with starch paper, 5,000 cub. cents, of 

 water are required. Even then it reacts with iodine and starch. 

 The amount of residue varied between 22 and 30 per cent, of 

 the total quantity of bleaching powder. This residue, on treat- 

 ment with acid, evolved a minute amount of active chlorine ; the 

 residue, applied to cotton and treated with acid, has no bleaching 

 or injurious action. 



Oti the Coal-seams of the Eastern portion of the South Wales 

 Basin, and their Chemical Composition, by J. W, Thomas. 



On the Refraction Equivalent of Diamond and tlie Carbon 

 Compounds, by J. H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S.— The specific 

 refractive energy (that is, the refractive index - I divided 

 by the density) of numerous compounds of carb3n was deter- 

 mined by Gladstone and D,ale in 1863. From their experiments 

 it was found that carbon uncombined, as in the diamond, and 

 also in combination \\ ith hydrogen and oxygen, has a specific 

 refractive energy of 5"o. Yet in compounds of the aromatic 

 series, where several atoms of carbon are united by more than 

 one bond, the refraction equivalent is raised about 2"o. This 

 does not embrace the facts that the terpenes have a refraction 

 equivalent lying between 2 and 4 over the calculated numbers ; 

 that the cinnamyl compounds also show abnormality ; and that 

 hydrocarbons containing a greater number of atoms of carbon 

 than of hydrogen increase in refractive energy at a rate more 

 rapid than theory demands. Thus naphthalene shows a surplus 

 of l6'4, anthracene of 317, and pyrene of 43'6 over the calcu- 

 lated numbers. 



Dr. Bedson, who has been recently investigating the subject 

 in conjunction with Mr. W. Carleton Williams, remarked that 

 sufficient allowance had not been made for dispersion in the last- 

 mentioned instances ; that from their experiments they have 

 found the degree of concentration of the solution to exercise a 

 marked influence ; and he suggested that in naphtlialene, 

 anthracene, and pyrene, the molecules are much more complex 

 than in benzene, for several groupings of carbon atoms are 

 noticeable, among them tuo groups in which an atom of carbon 

 is united to other atoms of carbon by all four bonds. 



Oh a Neiu Process for the Production from Aluminous Minerals 

 of Sulphate of Alumina from Iron, by J. W. Kynaston. — After 

 a preliminary sketch of the various methods of preparing sul- 

 phate of alumhia in a state of greater or less purity from various 

 minerals containing it, the author describes his own process for 

 preparing it free from iron from bauxite, a silicate and titanate 

 of alumina and iron. This he does by treating it with a mixture 

 of oxalic and hydrochloric acids, allowing it to stand for a 

 week or ten days. The insoluble portion is freed from oxalic 

 acid by repeated w'ashing, and the residue converted into sul- 

 phate of alumina by treatment with sulphuric acid. This pro- 

 duct is almost free from iron. The oxalic acid is recovered by 

 precipitation with lime, and subsequent decomposition of the 

 salt with sulphuric acid. The expense of this process has pre- 

 vented its adoption. The author has now devised a process 

 whereby the iron is precipitated as arsenite, and then by 

 means of carbonate of lime neutralising any free acid, and 

 at the same time producing some tetrabasic sulphate of 

 alumini. Tlie remaining ferrous iron is then removed by addi- 

 tion of ferrocyanide of lime. The blue precipitate is induced 

 to settle by addition of a little sulphate of iron or zinc. Excess 

 of arsenic is precipitated with sulphide of lime. This process 

 is at present in operation at St. Helen's. 



On a A'ew Process for separating Silver from Copper Ores and 

 Regitluses, by William Henderson. — This process is applicable 

 to calcined Spani.--h pyrites containing a large proportion of 

 arsenic before calcination. The "raw regulus," \^hen fused 

 with 20 per cent, of its weight of sodium bisulphate, yields 

 metallic silver in large amouut. The iron and copper are con- 

 verted into oxides, while the silver remains as sulphate, and may 

 be extracted from the residue with water. The process has as 

 yet been worked only on a small scale. 



449 



SECTION C— GEOLOGy 

 Notes on the Submarine Geology of the English Channel off the 

 Coast of South Deton, by Mr. A. K. Hunt, F.G.S.— Attention 

 w.vs called to the presence of large detached blocks of stone over 

 an area extending from S.S.W. of the Start to S. of the 

 Eddystone. One of these blocks in Torquay was stated to 

 weigh 9j cwt., another not landed measured 3 feet 5 inches. 

 They consisted of granite, conglomeritic grit, serpentine, and 

 abbrogubbon. 



A paper Oti the Site of a Paltrolithic Implement Maiuifictory 

 at Crayford, Kent, by Mr. F. C. Spurrell, was read by Prof. 

 Dawkins. This occurred in brick-earths containing a large 

 number of extinct mammalia, and on the same horizon with them. 

 They were probably manufactured on the spot, by the old dwellers, 

 and belong to the same type as the implements of St. Acheul. 

 Many of the specimens when found were completely shattered, 

 and the fragments were united by Mr. Spurrell. 



On the Island of Torghalten, A'orway, and on the Influence 

 of Joints on Denudation, by Prof. W. J. SoUas. Describes 

 a conical or hat-shaped mountain, traversed by a tunnel 600 feet 

 in lengdi, through wliich the light can be seen. The rock is com- 

 pact gneiss, roche moutonces occm'up to the level of the platform, 

 which terminates slightly below the entrances to the tunnel, 

 which are somewhat lower than the centre. Attributes its 

 origin to mechanical disintegration, aided by joints. 



On the Contortion of a Quartz Vein in Mica Schist from Bodo, 

 Nor-way, by Prof. W. J. Sollas. Describes excessively contorted 

 band of quartz between foliation planes. 



On the Geological Age and Relations of the Srwalik and Piker mi 

 Vertebrate and Invertebrate Faunas, by W. T. Blanford.— The 

 deposits from these two areas have both been referred to the 

 Miocene, and contain an analogous fauna. The Sewalik beds 

 are a portion of a great Tertiary area crossing India from Assam 

 to Siiid. The lower beds are nummulitic and marine, the upper 

 series entirely freshwater. Of 48 genera in the Sewalik fauna, 

 with 93 species in the Siwnlik area, 12 are peculiar, 4 genera do 

 not occur higher than the European miocene, 25 genera are recent, 

 including cats, dogs, bears, true elephants, antelopes, and sheep. 

 The lower Manchhar mammalian fossils were shown to be older 

 than the Sewalik series, but are newer than the Upper Miocene, 

 and therefore the Sewalik series is referable to the Pliocene. The 

 Sewalik fauna contains six reptiles, of which three are still livmg. 

 Ruminants are numerous in both the Sew^alik and the Pikermi 

 deposits ; the latter rest on a bed with Pliocene marine mollusca. 

 Suggests as the climate grew colder in Pliocene tlEies the 

 Miocene mammals migrated southwards. 



On the Relations to be established betioeen Coast-line Direction 

 represented by Great Circles on the Globe and the Localities 

 marked by Earthquakes in Europe, by Prof. J. P. O'Reilly.— 

 Refers to the rectilinear direction of coast-lines as that between 

 Carnsore and Wicklow heads, this if produced and regarded as 

 part of a great circle whichpassesthrough the Dykes of Southern 

 Scotland and corresponds to the east coast line of Scotland north 

 of the Firth of Tay, the Carnsore coast-line direction bemg 

 strictly parallel to the strike of the rocks w^est of it, and of the 

 termination of the great masses of granite of Kilkenny. Refers 

 to the linear direction of the limit of earthquake-movement in 

 Southern Sweden, and he suggests the similarity of direction m 

 coast-lines and the boundaries of earthquake-movement have 

 the relation to each other of cause and effect, the coast-line 

 being the result of slips along the Unes of weakness produced by 

 earthquakes. , ,,.jj, r • 



On the Sandstones and Grits of the Lower and Middle Series 

 of the Bristol Coal-fields, by E. Wethered.— These carboniferous 

 sandstones are composed of angular grains, those of the Mill- 

 stone Grit being the least so. He describes an intermediate 

 sta<:'e between grit and soft clay as ' ' hard duns," of a hardness of 

 7 beini- a rock that scratches glass. The Brandon Hill gnt yielded 

 on anafy^is 98-5 per cent, of silica ; it is used for minmg pur- 

 poses and for brickmaking. The thickness of the Pennant gi'it is 

 970 feet, associated with coal-measures of 2,000 feet thickness, 

 lie regards the "Pennant grits" as a local deposit, and as 

 occurring on more than one horizon. The "Duns" contain 

 more alumina, and he considers the silicates (except the silicates 

 of alumina) by the action of carbonic acid gas. , „ , t 



A paper On the Hiatus said to have been found tn the hocks oj 

 West Cork, by Mr. G. H. Kinahan, was read by Mr. Ussher.— 

 The foUowmg classification was given : — 



GruFFiTHs Prof. Jukes 



Carboniferous slate. Carboniferous slate. 



Prof. Hull 

 Carboniferous slate 

 and Coomhoola grit. 

 Kiltorcan beds. 

 Glengariff beds (Silu- 

 rian). 



Yellow Sandstone. Upper Old Red. 



Old Red Sandstone. Lower Old Red. 



Silurian. Glengariff grit. 



The author rejects Prof. Hull's view, that an important hiatus 



and unconformability occurs above the Glengariff beds, and he 



considers that a complete sequence of formations occurs from 



the Silurians up to the Carboniferous. 



