— 437 
sumed, there is smoke ; when this is exhausted, ‘ests is none. Conse- 
quently I argue that there are no fissures extending to the central fires 
of the earth, except for a few miles near the summit of the mountain. 
3d. Again, and what is more reliable, I have surveyed the ground 
upon which lava streams have been Pate a for distances of five, 
ten, fifteen, or twenty miles, and haye seen the burning flood move on, 
covering to-day, the ground on which I Sieniaied yesterday, and consum- 
ing the hut where I slept; and the process is so familiar, that it is diffi- 
cult to see how I can be mistaken. It is as if you poured See of 
tons of pitch upon a mountain, aud stationed men in front and on the 
sides to mark its flow. Or it is as if an enormous water fountain dette 
on an Arctic mountain, congealing as it flowed and covering the whole 
mountain furna: arge and continuous ialetines es of smoke, 
oe this, and a onek ae for geologists. The preservation of Hilo i is 
marvellous. 
2. Geological Survey of Wisconsin ; (communicated by I. A. Laruaw) 
—The legislature of the State of Wisconsin at its late session a 
ted $36,000 to be expended under the direction of Professors James | 
E. Dace d E. Daniels in continuing the Geological ‘Survey of that 
State. In addition to the geology proper, they are to examine, analyze, 
and pec dba e soils and subsoils, with a view to ascertain id adapta- 
an 
icular crops, and the best me of p are 
their i also to collect the soils, native fertilizers, cultivated 
ingrals, and them 
other useful plants (as well as the rocks, m &e.), 
= rooms of the State University at Madison, to constitute a@ museum 
tical and scientific geology. 
3 On the tons of The alkaline silicates ; Srerry Huyt.— 
‘Apri 2d, 1857.)—I have 
(From rien to LD D. peor 5 actions of the the alkaline silicates with 
“e tea of ei and iron. We have long known that ear- 
bonate of lime and alumina have the power wer to remove silica from a so- 
_ that when a mixture Ener silica and 
