April 13, 1SS3.] 



SCIENCE. 



285 



the blood of the horse, and also in most other fluids 

 and organs, diastatic ferments are present, but in 

 much less quantity than in the saliva. Slightly acidi- 

 fying the saliva, or mixing it with small ciuantities 

 of artificial (acid) gastric juice, does not hinder the 

 diastatic action. Greater concentration of the acid 

 hinders the action, but does not destroy the ferment. 

 The saliva acts slowly upon cane-sugar. The parotid 

 saliva contains traces of a peptonizing ferment. The 

 saliva does not act upon cellulose. It can emulsify 

 the fats, but does not decompose them. 



6. The gastric juice, and gastric digestion. The 

 gastric digestion of the horse is of more importance 

 than has been hitherto supposed. It continues from 

 ojie meal to the next. When oats are fed, the con- 

 tents of the stomach constitute a comparatively dry, 

 crumbly mass, containing sixty to seventy per cent of 

 water. With hay-feeding, the contents are somewhat 

 moister. The normal reaction of the contents of the 

 stomach is distinctly acid. The proportion of acid sel- 

 dom rises higlier than two-tenths of one per cent. It 

 is least immediately after eating, and increases gradu- 

 ally. The gastric juice of the horse is mucli less acid 

 than that of the earnivora. At the beginning of di- 

 gestion, only lactic acid is present. Subsequently, 

 hydrochloric acid appears, and more abundantly with 

 hay-feeding tlian with oats; but lactic acid is always 

 present. In tlie contents of the stomach there is 

 always found a diastatic, a lactic, and a rennet fer- 

 ment, and a ferment which dissolves proteine. Starch 

 is digested to a large extent in the horse's stomach: 

 the action is most rapid during the first one or two 

 hours, though depending somewhat on the quantity 

 and quality of the food. Vegetable proteine is ener- 

 getically digested, and converted into peptones. The 

 action is slight at first, but augments, reaching its 

 completion in three to eight hours, according to the 

 amoimt of food present. When large amounts of food 

 are taken into the stomach, much pepsin and acid 

 must be secreted to neutralize the alkaline saliva, 

 and initiate digestion; and, consequently, tlie time 

 required for digestion is longer. If more food is taken 

 in such a case, that previously eaten is crowded into 

 the intestines in an undigested state. — {Biedermann' s 

 centr.-blatt,lSS2,S05.] H. p. A. [602 



GEOLOGY. 



Atlantis revived. — Professor Hull has ptiblished 

 twenty-seven " Paleo-geological and geographical 

 maps of the Britisli Islands and the adjoining parts 

 of the continent of Europe," showing the distribu- 

 tion of the exposed strata of the different geological 

 periods, and their concealed extension. In portray- 

 ing the latter he has been largely aided by the numer- 

 ous borings which have been made during the last 

 twenty-five years. Some of the maps show the known 

 and theoretical distribution of land and water during 

 the different geological periods. • 



In preparing these maps, Prof. Hull has become 

 forcibly impressed witli two leading ideas, — first, that 

 the present North Atlantic Ocean must for a long 

 lapse of time have been a continental area, whence 

 was derived, to a large extent, the sediment of which 

 many of the British formations are composed; and, 

 secondly, that the Old Highland districts of the Brit- 

 ish Isles, once they had sprang into existence as such, 

 ever after endeavored to retain their ascendency. 

 He considers "that the North Atlantic was mainly 

 land duiing the Laurentian, Cambrian, and lower 

 Silurian periods, and was the source of the sediment 

 of which these great formations are composed. It 

 probably first assumed lai'ge proportions as a sea or 

 ocean, when so much of the then sea became land; 



namely, at the close of th'e lower Silurian period. But 

 there are groitnds for believing that it was largely 

 in the condition of a land-surface in still later times; 

 namely, during the carboniferous, Permian (dyassic), 

 triassic, and Jurassic periods, as evinced by the thick- 

 ening of the sediment both towards the north-west 

 and south-west of the British Isles. This great conti- 

 nent of Atlantis was the parent of much of the strata 

 which now overspreads the plains of Britain and of 

 the adjoining continental areas. With the cretaceous 

 period, its permanently oceanic form and features set 

 in, and were vastly extended during that and the suc- 

 ceeding period of the nuramulitic limestone." A de- 

 scription of each plate is given, whicli is clear and 

 systematic, containing many references to different 

 authorities used. A discussion of each map would 

 require a memoir as large as the original : suffice it to 

 say, that the work has been prepared with care, and 

 reflects great credit on its author. There are many 

 points in the geology of North America which would 

 appear to be. strongly in favor of Mr. Hull's views; 

 such as the Jurassic age of the Kocky-mountain up- 

 lift, and the absence in the same region of any Silurian 

 strata, the carboniferous limestone reposing on the 

 Taconic or on older rocks, showing that region to have 

 been land during the formation of the vast Silurian 

 sediments of the Mississippi basin; the absence of 

 more recent formations on the north-eastern coast; 

 the fresh-water nature of the Richmond trias, etc. 

 Prof. Hull has done well in attacking the theory of 

 the permanence of ocean-beds, which, in my opinion, 

 is not borne out by the geological facts; and a peru- 

 sal of his work should encourage others to enter into 

 this very interesting field of research. — ( Trans, roy. 

 Dubl. soc. (2) i. xix. ) j. b. m. [603 



The Cranbourne meteoric iron. — Two large 

 blocks of meteoric iron were foimd in Victoria, Aus- 

 tralia, in 1854; one mass weighing several hundred- 

 weight, and the other three or four tons. This last 

 was sent to the British museum, and has recently 

 been studied quite thoroughly from the cheniico- 

 mineralogical point of view by Dr. Walter Flight, of 

 that nuiseum. 



When this mass was found, only a small portion 

 projected above the soil, while the remaining portion 

 was embedded in tertiary sandstone overlying basalt. 

 Dr. Flight states that the entire mass consists of 

 metallic minerals, and is destitu.te of silicates. In 

 the course of the analysis, the nickeliferous iron wa^ 

 found to contain numerous minute, brittle, strongly 

 magnetic, ajjparently square prisms, which form 

 about one per cent of the mass. These prisms are 

 slowly and with difficulty acted upon by H CI, but 

 are readily dissolved in H N Oj. To this, after 

 analysis, the symbol (Fe^Ni;,)P was given, and it was 

 regarded as corresponding to Gustav Rose's rhabdite. 



Certain scales were observed lying on the faces and 

 between the plates of the nickeliferous iron crystals, 

 that were in the form of equilateral triangles, having 

 the thickness of stout writing-paper, pliant, strongly 

 magnetic, and of a pure white color. It was found 

 to contain 70.138% iron, and 29.744% nickel, and was 

 regarded as being the same as Gustav Rose's tiinite, 

 and Zimmerman's meteorine. Since the composition 

 was first definitely made out by Dr. Flight, he pro- 

 poses for it the name edmondsonite. It woitld cer- 

 tainly have been a more gracious thing if he had 

 allowed Rose's name to stand, instead of yielding to 

 the species-making mania, and thereby increasing the 

 confusion in mineralogical nomenclature. 



The analysis of a brittle, magnetic powder, which 



