July 5, 1895.] 



^ SCIENCE. 



27 



tails the results of a visit to that remark- 

 able spot in the spring of 1895. In this 

 connection he gives an interesting review of 

 early descriptions of the same region, com- 

 mencing with that of Anderson in 1789, 

 also Nugent in 1807, Alexander in 1832, 

 Manross in 1855 and others later. The 

 paper is accompanied by several sketch 

 maps which give definiteness to the descrip- 

 tion. J. C. Merriam describes some rep- 

 tilian remains fifom the Triassic of northern 

 California, of much interest in view of the 

 fact that the Mesozoic of California has thus 

 far yielded so little in this direction. The 

 remains studied represent two individuals 

 from the black Triassic limestone of Shasta 

 county. The first, consisting of eight verte- 

 brse, some fragments of ribs and both cora- 

 cords, receives the same Shastasauriis pacifi- 

 cus. In the second, the remains consisted of 

 some twenty-five vertebrae, mostly anterior 

 caudals ; these resemble those of Ichthyo- 

 saurus, but in certain particulars, as in an 

 ungrooved single-headed rib, it agrees rather 

 with the new genus established, Shasta- 

 saurus. The material, however, was in- 

 sufficient for specific characterization. The 

 concluding article of the number is a dis- 

 cussion by Frank D. Adams, of the Lauren- 

 tian of Canada, accompanied by two plates. 

 The region, the study of which has yielded 

 the results here concisely presented, is shown 

 in Plate I. It lies to the north and west of 

 Montreal and the St. Lawrence river, and is 

 largely occupied by the crystalline schists of 

 the Grenville Series with subordinate masses 

 of the " Fundamental Gneiss" and a num- 

 ber of anorthosite intrusions. The stratig- 

 raphy and petrography are both discussed, 

 and the latter is supplemented by a series 

 of analyses of typical gneisses and slates. 

 The author concludes that in the district 

 u^nder consideration there are " at least two 

 distinct sets of foliated rocks. One of these, 

 comprising limestone, quartzites and cer- 

 tain garnetiferous or sillimanite gneisses, 



represents in all probability highly altered 

 and extremely ancient sediments. The 

 other set intimately associated with these 

 are of igneous origin, and comprise numer- 

 ous and very extensive intrusions, both acid 

 and basic in character, which were probably 

 injected at widely separated times." * * * * 

 " The Grenville Series therefore comprises 

 certain primeval sediments which have 

 been deeply buried, invaded by great 

 masses of igneous rocks and re-crystallized. 

 They may, perhaps, in some cases have 

 been mingled with these igneous masses by 

 actual fusion. The whole complex has also 

 been subjected to great dynamic move- 

 ments. In this way has resulted a series 

 of rocks whose original character cannot in 

 all cases be deciphered, but which can be 

 recognized as being of composite origin, the 

 sedimentary portion representing extremely 

 old, if not the oldest, sediments with which 

 we are acquainted." 



AMERICAN CHEMICAL JOUENAL. 



The number for June contains a num- 

 ber of short contributions from various 

 laboratories, and several reports. Gomberg 

 contributes an article on the action of in- 

 organic cyanides on chlorocalfeine. He 

 found that when chlorocaffeine was treated 

 with potassium cj'anide he obtained neither 

 the cyancafieine nor the amidocaffeine, as 

 he expected, but caifeine carboxylamide. 

 The cyancafieine is produced in the reaction, 

 but only as an intermediate product, being 

 converted, by saponification, into caffeine 

 carboxylamide. The reaction can be repre- 

 sented thus : 



C5(CH3)3C1N4 02+KCN^C5(CH3)3(CN)NA+KC1 

 C5(CH;,)3(CN)NA+H.,0=C5(CH3)3(CONH,)NA 



By the action of phosphorus pentachloride 

 on this compound one molecule of water is 

 removed and cyanocafifeine is formed. 

 CjHg ( CONHj ) N^Oj— H,0= CgHj ( CN ) N^O^ 



This was found to be the best method for 

 the formation of cyanocafifeine, for all at- 



