810 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 180. 



American Naturalist and Natural Science and 

 has the cooperation in England of Sir John 

 Lubbock and in America of Professor J. Mark 

 Baldwin. Subscriptions may be addressed to 

 Dr. Paulo Celesia via Assarotte 46. Genoa. 



Messes. John Bale, Sons and Dauielsson, 

 Loudon, announce the publication of a Journal of 

 Tropical Medicine to be edited by Mr. James 

 Cantlie, who for some years practiced in Hong 

 Kong, and by Dr. W. J. Simpson, who was un- 

 til recently medical officer of health for Calcutta. 



The State Board of Health of Michigan has 

 established a Teachers' Sanitary Bulletin to be 

 issued monthly. It promises to contain infor- 

 mation of great value to the teacher, and sets 

 an example that could be followed to advantage 

 in other States. The first numbers contains an 

 address by Dr. F. G. Novy on ' germs, what 

 they are, and how they produce diseases,' and 

 an article by Dr. H. B. Baker on ' isolation and 

 disinfection of persons and things.' The num- 

 ber also contains several statistical charts. 



Me. James G. Biddle, of Philadelphia, has 

 begun the publication of a monthly Bulletin 

 intended to be of interest to those who use 

 scientific instruments. The subscription price 

 is 50 cents per annum. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADE3I/ES. 

 geological society op WASHINGTON. 



At the 80th meeting, held in Washington on 

 May 25, 1898, Dr. A. C. Spencer and Dr. Geo. 

 H. Girty read a joint paper on the Devonian 

 in Southwestern Colorado. 



In one of the early bulletins of the Hayden 

 Survey, F. B. Meek described a small collec- 

 tion of fossils which had been brought in from 

 the southwesterm part of Colorado by F. M. 

 Endlich. The specific characters of a Ehynco- 

 nella, which was very abundant, led him to 

 designate the age of the limestone in which 

 they occurred as Devonian. Some weight was 

 added to this opinion bj' associated forms which 

 were only generically recognizable. During 

 the field season of 1897 Ehynconella endlichi, 

 which has since been assigned to Camarotoechia 

 (Plethorhyncha), was found associated with a 

 number of forms which corroborate Meek's de- 

 termination as against those who have supposed 



a probable Carboniferous age. The Devonian 

 strata lie in apparent conformity with a sup- 

 posed Carboniferous section. 



The stratum from which the fossils were ob- 

 tained is a heavy limestone about 100 feet 

 thick. Below it there are about 50 feet of 

 shales not well exposed and a heavy quartzite 

 50 feet in thickness which rests upon an eroded 

 surface of crystalline rocks. _ A basal conglom- 

 erate is locally present. The following forms 

 have been identified by Dr. Girty : Fenestella 

 sp. ; Orthothetes Chemungensis ? Productella cf. 

 spinulicosta ; Bhynchonella sp.; Camarotcechia 

 {Plethorhyncha) Endlichi ; Cyrtia n. sp. a ; Cyrtia 

 n. sp. b ; Alhyris sp.; Naticopsis gigantia ? Euom- 

 phahis sp. 



The last paper of the evening was one by Mr. 

 S. F. Emmons, on the ' Geology of Southern 

 Russia,' illustrated by lantern slides. This in- 

 cluded some account of Donetz Basin, which 

 has been developed within the last ten or fifteen 

 years, and promises to become one of the most 

 important industrial centers of the Empire, con- 

 taining large areas of coal of various kinds as 

 well as important deposits of mercury and rock 

 salt, together with ores of gold, silver, lead, zinc 

 and iron as yet imperfectly developed. Some ac- 

 count was given of the Caucasus mountains, their 

 geological structure and the varied races that 

 dwell within their valleys ; also of the important 

 deposits of petroleum in the Tertiary beds along 

 their flanks, especially of those at Bakou, on the 

 Caspian Sea, which already rival in the amount 

 of their production those of the United States. 

 The enormous deposits of glauber salts in the 

 Karabugas gulf, on the eastern side of the Cas- 

 pian, their origin and their bearing upon the 

 origin of petroleum, were also described. Like- 

 wise the peculiar conditions of the waters of the 

 Black Sea, their greater salinity, higher temper- 

 ature, contents of H^S and entire absence of 

 organic life below the 100-fathom level, and the 

 points of resemblance between their condition 

 and those that prevail in the Arctic Ocean, as 

 found by Nansen. Finally, the interesting geo- 

 logical features of the Crimean peninsula, which 

 appears to be a segment of the northern flanks 

 of the Caucasus, left upon engulfment of the 

 rest of this portion of the range beneath the 

 waters of the Black Sea. 



