76 Notes on Foreign Geology and Mineralogy. 
lie and their respective distances from each other. ‘The mean direc- 
tion of the lines thus obtained is a little more than 122 degrees ; 
it therefore only differs by one degree from the direction of the 
system of Thiiringerwald and Morvan carried on to Liége. 
The Bishop of Sinopolis, M. Thomine Desmazures, has forwarded 
to M. Elie de Beaumont some fossils from Thibet, together with a 
letter commencing in these terms : ‘If a few petrifications which I 
have brought from Thibet can interest science, I am happy to offer 
them to you. . .’. The fossils in question are from a place called 
Gouchoue, of which the bishop regrets that he was not able to 
determine the longitude and latitude, on a mountain-plateau, ten 
leagues from Kiang-ka, and situated between the great Blue River 
(Kin-cha-kiang) and the River Lan-tzang-kiang. ‘The species have 
been determined as follows, by M. Guyerdet :— 
Rhynchonella cuboides (Scwerby), of the Carboniferous and 
Devonian strata ; 
Atrypa reticularis (Linneus), of the Devonian strata ; 
Rhynchonella pugnus ? (Martin), of the Devonian strata. 
It results from these observations that the Devonian formation, 
already known to exist in numerous regions of the globe, is met with 
also in Thibet. The natives, says the author of the letter, make 
great use of these fossils, which they find in large numbers in the 
beds of streams and imbedded in the calcareous rocks; they know 
them to be a certain remedy for stomach-ache; they heat them red- 
hot in a fire and then plunge them into cold water, which they give 
to drink to the sufferers. It is certainly remarkable to find these 
savage people thus preparing caustic lime and administering it medi- 
cinally in the same manner that the medical man of more civilized 
regions prescribes magnesia.* 
Herr Bischoff has discovered} that the mineral Pyrolusite may 
probably be found to be a new source of the rare metal Thallium. A. 
sample of this mineral in his collection, but from what locality is not 
precisely known, was found, upon analysis, to contain as much as 
1 per cent. of thallium. When this pyrolusite is introduced into 
the flame of a spirit-lamp, it immediately gives the spectrum of 
thallium—a single green line ; and to isolate the metal, we have 
only to dissolve the mineral in sulphuric acid and precipitate the 
thallium from the solution by means of a piece of pure zinc. 
Professor Claus { has analysed a black mineral obtained by Herr 
Fischer in small masses in a phonolite rock near Oberschaff hausen 
(Kaiserthal, Grand Duchy of Baden). It turns out to be Schor- 
* See Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. ix , p. 353, &e., fora paper by Mr. Davidson, 
on some Devonian Spirifers and other shells from China, where these fossils also 
are used as medicine. See also ‘Notes on Chinese Materia Medica,’ by Daniel 
Hanbury, F.L.S., 1862, where we find fossil teeth of mastodon, elephant, rhino- 
ceros, horse, hippotherium, and other mammals, as well as two species of fossil 
crabs, are recorded as highly valued in the East for medicines.—Epir. 
y+ Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., exxix. 375. 
+ Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., exxix. 213. 
