Apeil 8, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



491 



THE NEW ZEALAND VOLOANIC ZONE. 



H. M. Cadell describes a visit to the New 

 Zealand Volcanic Zone (Trans. Edinburgh 

 Geol. Soc. , VII. , 1897, 1 83-200) , with partic- 

 ular references to the changes caused by the 

 €ruption of 1886, when the famous Kotoma- 

 hana terraces were destroyed. A peculiar 

 result followed the shower of fine ashes 

 which coated the region for miles around, 

 and which, when wet with rain, formed an 

 impervious, clay-like cloak. Before the 

 eruption the region was covered with vege- 

 tation, and rainfall was slowly discharged. 

 After the ash-cloak was laid on, the surface 

 became water-tight, ' like the slated roof of 

 a house,' and shed the rainfall in streams 

 which united in fierce torrents and exca- 

 vated deep gorges in the valley floors. 

 Two new lakes, replacing Rotomahana, 

 had a joint area of 25 acres in 1886, 

 shortly after the eruption; in 1893 the 

 water had risen over 400 feet, the two 

 lakes had united, and their area exceeded 

 5,600 acres. A . further rise of about 

 100 feet will be needed for overflow. The 

 great fissure along which numerous explo- 

 sive craters were formed in 1886 is briefly 

 described. 



W. M. Davis. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTBROPOLOGY. 

 ONTARIO ARCH^OLOGICAL REPORT. 



Mr. David Boyle's annual arch geological 

 report to the Minister of Education, Ontario, 

 is, as usual, rich with descriptions of inter- 

 esting additions to the museum, and infor- 

 mation attractive to students of local 

 antiquities (pp. 87, Toronto, 1898, Pub. 

 Doc). All the material was removed and 

 rearranged during the year, and it is now 

 installed to much better advantage. The 

 report is illustrated with over fifty figures 

 in the text, representing stone and metal 

 remains, village sites, textile work, engraved 

 shells, bone implements, etc. Some ancient 

 maps are reproduced from early explorers, 



and Mr. A. F. Hunter adds a useful bibli- 

 ography of the archjeology of Ontario. 



THE PUEBLO OF TAOS. 



In the form of an inaugural dissertation, 

 Mr. Merton Leland Miller has issued from 

 the press of the University of Chicago a 

 pleasant description of the Pueblo of Taos, 

 New Mexico. In 1896 he passed three 

 months in this ancient settlement of the 

 Tiguas Indians, and noted the peculiarities 

 of their lives and environment. These he 

 sets forth in a clear style, and discusses the 

 questions of origin and affinities from the 

 view-point of the practical observer. He is 

 inclined to adopt the conclusion that these 

 and most of the pueblo-dwellers are a mixed 

 population, the Shoshonean blood predomi- 

 nating. 



D. G. Beinton. 



University of Pennsylvania. 



NOTES ON INORGANIC CHEMISTRY 

 In the last Proceedings of the Chemical 

 Society (London) a new method of making 

 hydrocyanic acid is described by John 

 "Wade and L. C. Panting. A cold mixture 

 of equal volumes of concentrated sulfuric 

 acid and water is allowed to drop on 98 % 

 ' lump ' potassium cyanid. The prussic 

 acid evolved is almost theoretical in amount, 

 and is nearly anhydrous, and may be 

 readily collected in quantity by suitable 

 condensing apparatus. This method offers 

 great advantages over that usually em- 

 ployed. When, in the place of a diluted 

 acid, concentrated sulfuric acid is allowed 

 to drop in the potassium cyanid, nearly 

 pure carbon monoxid is evolved, and this 

 also in nearly theoretical quantities, traces 

 only of hydrocyanic acid being present. In 

 this reaction the sulfuric acid plays at the 

 same time the part of both hydrolysing and 

 dehydrating agent. 



The same Proceedings contains a paper 

 by W. C. Eeynolds on concentrated solu- 



