January 24, 1913] 



SCIENCE 



163 



panied by quite noticeable vibration ; indeed, 

 the noise was beard over an area of nearly 

 4,400 square miles. The ground on which 

 this, the most remarkable fall of meteorites 

 noted in Japan, took place, was of elliptical 

 outline, measuring about 74 miles in length 

 and 3 miles in width. The writer carefully 

 examined 24 of the 25 stones gathered from 

 this field, and he estimates that probably five 

 times as many are still lying in the fields and 

 between the hills. He notes that fewer but 

 larger stones came from the northern part of 

 the territory than from the southern part; the 

 largest weighs a trifle over 89 pounds (1,076.8 

 momme = 40,389.7 grams). All these stones, 

 probably fragments of a single original mass, 

 are a white chondrite with some minute 

 grains of nickel iron and iron sulphide in the 

 interstices between the stone components. 

 Oxidization was very rapid. These meteorites 

 are holocrystalline, consisting of prismatic 

 crystals and grains of olivine and bronzite. 

 The primary crust, from J to J mm. in thick- 

 ness, is formed of oxidized grains of nickel 

 iron and iron sulphide. 



The following gives the results of an analy- 

 sis of one of these meteorites (Hachiman) by 

 Sugiura in the Imperial Geological Survey of 

 Japan : 



H,0 0.334 



SiO, 41.012 



PA 0.4.58 



TiO, 0.416 



FA 5.470 



Pe 20.583 



Ni 0.183 



Mn 0.910 



CaO 2.768 



MgO 24.707 



S 2.185 



SOj 0.201 



C trace 



Total 99.227 



The meteoric iron " Okano " is also de- 

 scribed by Tadasu Hiki, and figured on two 

 plates.^ 



The most important article in the number 

 'Loc. cit., pp. 142-144; plates VII. and VIII. 



is an account of the mineral resources of the 

 Island of Formosa, ceded to Japan after the 

 war with China in 1895." Gold is present there 

 in fair quantity, the principal mines being 

 near Kiirun. The Chinese carried on gold 

 mining in Formosa as early as 1669, and gold 

 sand was noted on the east coast by the Portu- 

 guese in the fourteenth century. The gold de- 

 posits near Kiirun were discovered in 1890 by 

 a Chinese who came across gold sand while 

 work was in progress on a bridge over the 

 Kiirun Eiver. The value of the gold obtained 

 in Formosa by the Japanese in 1910 is stated 

 to be 2,119,981 yen or over a million dollars; 

 of this 63,964 yen represented the worth of 

 the placer gold. 



Gem minerals are represented to a some- 

 what limited extent. Chalcedony, white and 

 red-banded, has been found in volcanic rocks 

 at Kappansha and in the Tarto district, and 

 in basaltic cavities in the Hoko-to group ; red, 

 yellow, brown, blue, green and other colors are 

 represented; some specimens here are large 

 enough to be polished for ornamental use. 

 Associated with these latter chalcedonies, at- 

 tractive semi-transparent opals have been 

 found, sometimes blue and occasionally gray. 

 Minute crystals of zircon occur in the gold 

 placers of the Kiirun Eiver. Eed garnet ap- 

 pears in fragments with gold sand and mag- 

 netite on the coast of Dainan-o, and minute 

 garnet crystals occur embedded in crystalline 

 schist at Basshi-sho. 



Other articles in this number are : " On the 

 twelve dimples of the aragonite balls, found in 

 Taira, Shinano," by Nobuyo Fukichi, pp. 

 133-138 ; " On a Small Sinter-cone Formed 

 by a Geyser at Obama, Hizen," by Denzo 

 Sato, pp. 139-141, pi.; " KuroJco, or the Black 

 Ore," by Takeshi Hirabayashi, pp. 151-156. 

 Many interesting data are also grouped under 

 the general heading, " Kleinere Mitteilungen." 



A concession for pearl-fishing in the South 

 Ussuri district of western Siberia was recently 

 accorded by the Eussian government to A. D. 

 Popoif, of Vladivostok. This field is now 

 being exploited with some success with the aid 



' Yohachiro Okamoto, "Minerals of Taiwan 

 (Formosa)," loc. cit., pp. 157-188. 



