342 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 12. 



Refractory bricks. — The waste liquors from 

 manufactui-iug potash salts at Stassfun and Leo- 

 poklshall, containing 27 to 30% of chloride of mag- 

 nesium, are now saved. The evaporated salt is 

 treated, at an elevated temperature, with highly 

 superheated steam in an oxidizing flame; and nearly 

 chemically pure magnesia and hydrochloric acid of 

 21° Baurafe, are obtained. This magnesia is well 

 adapted, not only for making the cement of oxychlo- 

 ride of magnesia, but also for making magnesia fire- 

 bricks, now so much used. — {Eng. min.jourii., Feb. 

 24. ) E. H. K. [711 



Proposed modification in copper-smelting. — 

 Paul .Johnsson proposes to heat the 85 to 40 % copper 

 matte, derived from cupola or other furnace smelting, 

 in a Siemens furnace, and to direct a blast of air upon 

 the surface of the molten metal, in order to oxi- 

 dize the impurities, and to bring the matte forward to 

 blister copper in one operation of 12 hours. He esti- 

 mates that 20 tons of matte could be treated in one 

 furnace, with the labor of 10 men, in 24 hours; while, 

 by the old method, 8 calciners, 4 reverberatory fur- 

 naces, and 40 men, would be required to do the same 

 work. — {Eng. min.journ., March 3.) E. h. k. [712 

 Bessemerizing matte in a reverberatory fur- 

 nace.— H. M. Howe refers to the article of Paul 

 Johnsson (Eng. min journ., March 3), and claims 

 that the credit of the process belongs to the Orford 

 nickel and copper company, and not to Paul Johns- 

 son. — {Eng. mill, jouni., March n.) E. H. R. [713 



GEOLOGY. 



Lithology. 



Lithology of the Eisengebirge. — The rocks of 

 the Eisengebirge of Bohemia are divided by Helm- 

 hacker into three groups, — crystalline scliistose rocks, 

 crystalline massive rocks, and clastic (fragmental) 

 rocks. Under the first are described rocks classed as 

 amphibole gneiss, gneissoid granulite, porphyroid, 

 mica schist, and phyllite; under the second group are 

 placed red granite, gray granite, gneissoid granite, 

 syenite, granite porphyry, quartz porphyry, felsite 

 porphyry, diorite, diorite aphanite, diabase, gabbro, 

 uratite diorite, corsite, and troktolite; and of the 

 last, a diorite-tuff-conglomerate only is described. 



Uniler the name ' porphyroid,' a term well known in 

 tlie early part of this century and previously, Kelm- 

 hacker places rocks which resemble quartz and felsite 

 poi'phyry, but have a schistose structure. They pos- 

 sess a felsitic groundmass and crystals arranged in 

 more or less parallel layers. Phyllite is divided into 

 staurolite, andahisite, and ottrelite phyllite, and 

 fruchlscliiefer and lydite. In the thin section, the 

 first is seen to possess a groundmass composed of 

 sericite plates, between which biotite scales and mag- 

 nelite grains were lying. The staurolite lies porphy- 

 retically enclosed in this groundmass, and shows aggre- 

 gate polarization. In the secoiul, the groundmass is 

 principally composed of biotite scales' and magnetite 

 or anthracite grains. The andalusite in the thicker 

 sections is of a pale rose tint; in the thinner, color- 

 less. The ottrelile schist or phyllite was formed by 

 the contact metamorphosis of black argillite with 

 granite. Tliis formation of ottrelite schist, by the 

 action of intrusive rocks, agrees with the present 

 Writer's observations on Lake Superior {Hull. mvs. 

 coiiip. zooL, vii. 45). Tlie ottrelite or chlorotoid 

 plates are surrounded by a very fine, granular, scaly 

 groundmass, formed principally of a muscovite-like 

 mineral, which |)olarizes brilliantly. The irregular 

 polygonal ottrelite plates have a pale grayish-green 

 color, and are plainly dichroic. They are homogene- 



ous, and, excepting some dust-like grains of magne- 

 tite, are free from inclusions. 



The term 'troktolite' is the equivalent of the more 

 common one ' forellenstein' ; and the diabase-tuff-con- 

 glomerate belongs to that class of rocks which the 

 present writer named in a briefer way, in 1879, poro- 

 dite {I. c, V. 280). Our space forbids an adequate 

 idea of an extended paper filled with details. — {Arch. 

 natur. landesdurchf. Bohmen, 1S82, v. 87. ) m. e. w. 



[714 

 METEOROLOGY. 



Winds on sea and on land. — Mr. Alexander 

 Buchan has recently discussed the observations of the 

 wind made by the Cliallenger during its cruise of 

 three years and a half, ending with May, 1876. 

 Observations of the force and direction of the wind 

 were made on 1,202 days, at least 12 times each day. 

 Of these, 650 were on the open sea, and 552 near land. 

 The seas were the North and South Atlantic, North 

 and South Pacific, and the Southern Ocean. 



Mr. Buchan finds the diurnal range of the wind- 

 velocity on the open sea very small, not varying more 

 than 1 mile, on either side of 17.5 miles per hour, 

 during the 24; while near land the range was very 

 marked, being nearly 15 miles per hour at 2 p.m., and 

 only a little over 11 from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m. This he 

 explains from the fact that the daily range of surface- 

 temperature, for example, on the North Atlantic, is 

 only .7°; and hence over the ocean the atmosphere 

 rests on a floor the temperature of which is all but 

 constant day and night. On approaching the land, 

 however, the daily range of the temperature of the 

 air over the sea becomes materially augmented, and 

 amounts to 4.3°; and we know, from all observa- 

 tions, that on the land the range is still greater. This 

 shows that the phenomena of the daily range of wind- 

 velocity is intimately associated with that of the sur- 

 face-temperature. Mr. Buchan writes, " So far as 

 concerns any direct influence on the air itself, con- 

 sidered apart from the floor or surface on which it 

 rests, solar and terrestrial radiation do not exercise 

 any influence in causing the diurnal increase of the 

 wind-velocity with the increase of temperature." On 

 nearing land, the wind is everywhere greatly reduced 

 in force, the retardation being due chiefly to friction. 

 The winds were found lightest over the North Pacific 

 (14.5 miles per hour), and strongest over the Southern 

 Ocean (23.5 miles per hour). — {Nature, March 1.) 



H. A. H. [715 



Rainfall of New South Wales. — A valuable 

 map by H. C. Russell, for 1881, shows a fall of forty 

 to sixty inches at several points along the coast north 

 and south of Sydney, and diminishing to twenty or 

 even ten inches on the plains of the Darling Kiver, 

 some five hundred miles inland. — {Journ. roij. soc. 

 N. S. Wales, xv.) w. m. d. [716 



Weather-predictions in Australia. — All the 

 Australian colonies being now connected by telegraph, 

 it is proposed to issue daily, at Melbourne, a weather- 

 chart, showing atmospheric conditions at nine a.m., 

 and attempting predictions for the following day, 

 especially when cyclone disturbances show them- 

 selves within the vicinity of the coast. Most of these 

 storms come from the southern Indian Ocean, and 

 move east or north-east, sometimes running ashore, 

 sometimes passing south of Tasmania. As the ba- 

 rometer falls on their approach, warm north winds 

 come down with inci-easing strength from the heated 

 interior country. Rain is generally heaviest with 

 these winds, but sometimes falls to a considerable 

 amount after the storm-centre has passed, the wind 

 veering through the north-west, as a rule, but some- 



