Decembek 20, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



859 



relative absence of limestones in the rocks of 

 the pre-Cambrian deposits without trying to as- 

 sume that those sections were formed under 

 substantially azoic conditions. 



The more important records of geological suc- 

 cessions have been made on the sea floor which 

 is near the shore. At the present time by far 

 the richest field for the development of marine 

 life is in this narrow belt. It is likely that in 

 early times the proportion of deep-sea species 

 was less than at present and that in the pa- 

 leozoic horizons the deeper sea may have 

 been comparatively lifeless. But this zone of 

 the richest marine life is precisely the part of the 

 sea floor which is most likely to be subjected to 

 destructive actions. We now recognize that 

 the continents are subjected to successive oscil- 

 lations which bring this littoral district again 

 and again through the mill of the surf in the 

 alternating movements of elevation and subsi- 

 dence. Thus the portion of the earth's surface 

 which contains the most valuable part of the 

 geological record is the most exposed to the in- 

 fluences which tend towards destruction. 



T. A. Jaggar, Jr., 

 Recording Secretary. 



ALABAMA INDUSTRIAL AND SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 



At the meeting on November 22d, President 



Thomas Seddon in the chair, the following 



papers were read and discussed: 



Mobile Point as the Deep Water Harbor of the 

 Gulf of Mexico. By G. D. Fitzhugh, of Bir- 

 mingham . 



Alabama Barite, or Heavy Spar. By Henry 

 McCalley, assistant State geologist, of Tus- 

 kaloosa. 



Atabama's Resources for the Manufacture of 

 Portland Cement. By Dr. Eugene A. Smith, 

 State Geologist, University. 



The Value of the Raw Materials in Iron Making. 

 By Dr. William B. Phillips, of Birming- 

 ham. 



The Pig Iron Market, Its Extent and How to Im- 

 prove If. By James Bowron, of Birming- 

 ham. 

 Mr. T. H. Aldrich gave a short talk on his 



recent eflbrts in prospecting for gold in eastern 



Alabama, in the counties of Cleburne, Randolph 



and Tallapoosa'. 



On motion of T. H. Aldrich the following 

 committee was appointed to arrange for the 

 compiling of statistics on the mineral and iron 

 industries in the State for the purpose of circu- 

 lating the same monthly to the technical jour- 

 nals, commencing in 1896 : Mr. Thomas Sed- 

 don, Dr. William B. Phillips and the Secretary. 



Dr. William B. Phillips gave a short account 

 of the progress in his experiments in concen- 

 tration of Red Mountain iron ores. 



Eugene A. Smith, 



Secretary. 



ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. ST. LOUIS, DECEMBER 

 2, 1896. 



The Academy held its regular meeting at the 

 Academy rooms, with President Green in the 

 chair and twenty-three members and visitors 

 present. 



Dr. H. C. Frankentield presented a communi- 

 cation on ' Hot and cold Waves ' and ' The De- 

 ficit in Rainfall During the Past Three Years. ' 

 He spoke of the hot waves being caused by low 

 areas, appearing in the northwest and moving 

 east and south, thus bringing about warm winds 

 from the south, and disappearing on the develop- 

 ment of high areas in the northwest. 



One of the accompanying phenomena of hot 

 waves was hot winds coming from the south- 

 west, their cause being somewhat obscure. Dr. 

 Frankenfield stated that as a rule they move in 

 narrow belts, ranging from 100 feet to half a 

 mile in width. No good cause can be assigned 

 for this, save, probably, local topography. One 

 of their characteristic phenomena is a tremulous 

 motion of the atmosphere, similar to that caused 

 by heated air from a furnace. Also sudden ab- 

 normal rises in temperature, one instance being 

 cited of a rise of 7 degrees in ten minutes. 



The origin of cold waves is likewise very 

 much mooted. As a rule a low area is followed 

 by a high one, bringing a cold wave with it, but 

 this is not invariable, as the cold wave occasion- 

 ally comes without the low area, and sometimes 

 without the high. 



One theory as to where the cold air comes 

 fi'om is that of the descent of this cooler air from 

 the extreme upper regions; the other theory, 

 that it is simply the cold air of the surface, made 

 so by radiation. In general it may be stated 



