590 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 21. 



supported by the iufluence of the scientific 

 men of the countiy, such a bill could, we feel 

 certain, be passed through Congress, liberat- 

 ing us from this tax, which falls heavier on 

 men the poorer they are and the more faith- 

 fullj- thej' trj' to do their Axxty. 



Some of our most esteemed literary idols 

 have lately astonished us hy signing a state- 

 ment which seems to impl^-, that, in their 

 opinion, American literature needs coddling 

 to keep it alive. Tbej' must decide in their 

 own line of work. "We are certainly' not less 

 proud of, or less desirous to cherish, Ameri- 

 can science than they are American letters, 

 and, we are bold enough to think, with at least 

 as much reason. We are sure that we give 

 expression to the conviction of all American 

 scientific men when we say that we believe in 

 no isolated American science. The accurate 

 stud}^ of nature is the cornmon dutj'' of all 

 civilized peoples : what each does helps all the 

 rest. 



In this connection, we are rejoiced to find 

 that most American artists have taken a posi- 

 tion in regard to art agreeing with ours in 

 regard to science. The attitude lately taken 

 b}- certain prominent authors is but one sign, 

 among several, of a certain tendency in Liter- 

 ature to fall from its former loftj' ideals ; and, 

 losing the characteristics of a profession, to 

 become simplj' a trade, followed for the sole 

 sake of the money to be made at it. If this 

 does happen, then Art and Science will have 

 to take the place once held b}- Letters, and 

 strive to keep alive the belief that there are 

 more worthy aims in life than getting the 

 largest possible number of dollars for one's 

 work, whatever it be. We do not, however, 

 now ask our literarj' friends to expose them- 

 selves to a promiscuous, and, as they appear 

 to think, debasing competition : we only ask 

 to be allowed, dutj' free, a limited number of 

 purely technical journals ; and we shall still 

 read with delight the Autocrat and the Pro- 

 fessor, although sorel3^ pained that our own 

 familiar friend; in whom we trusted, has done 

 what lay in his power to make it difficult for 

 us to learn our anatomv. 



THE MICROSCOPIC EVIDENCE OF A 

 LOST CONTINENT. 



Much interest has been attached to St, 

 Paul's rocks, situated in the mid-Atlantic 

 nearly under the equator ; since thej' were 

 stated by Darwin ■' to be unlike any rock he 

 had ever met, and that thej^ were not volcanic. 

 Darwin's words have caused these rocks to be 

 looked upon as forming a portion of the lost 

 Atlantis ; those holding that view overlooking 

 the fact that Darwin simply meant that the}'' 

 were not rocks of volcanic origin such as those 

 he had any acquaintance with. That they 

 were not eruptive or volcanic of earlier date 

 than the other islands in the Atlantic, he was 

 not in a position to assert, and evidentlj' did 

 not intend to do so. Being of diflferent mate- 

 rial from the other Atlantic islands, thej' might 

 even be of comparatively modern origin, and 

 still not show especial traces of their eruptive 

 character. Situated as these islands are, no 

 relation of the rocks of which thej' are com- 

 posed to the adjacent rocks can be ascer- 

 tained : hence the onlj' resort is to study the 

 structure and composition of the rock-mass 

 itself, and to ascertain what evidence it may 

 afibrd. 



When these rocks were examined in situ hy 

 the members of the Challenger expedition, 

 the}' were thought bj^ Mr. Buchanan to be ref- 

 erable to the serpentine group, but b}' Prof. 

 Wyville Thomson to have been formed b}' the 

 ' ejecta of sea-fowl.' ^ 



In this state of afi'airs, the material collected 

 was wisely placed b}' Mr. John Murray, who 

 had charge of the Challenger material, in 

 the hands of a competent lithologist. Rev. A. 

 Renard, S.J., curator of the royal museum of 

 natural history at Brussels. 



When studied microscopically these rocks 

 were found to be composed of olivine, enstatite, 

 actinolite, chromite, or picotite, and a pyroxene 

 mineral. When M. Renard first examined 

 these rocks, he thought that he discovered in 

 them certain structures which he regarded as 

 fluidal." He therefore held that these rocks 

 were of eruptive origin ; but in some publica- 

 tions recently issued he has modified his views, 

 and is inclined to regard the structures seen as 

 schistose and not fluidal.'* 



M. Renard then endeavors to show that 

 these ma}' be metamorphic sedimentary rocks 



1 Volcanic islands, 1851, pp. 31-33, 125. 



- Voyage of the Cliallenger, ii. 100-108. 



» Neues Jahrb. min., 1879, 389-394. 



4 Description iithologique dee recifs de St. Paul (Ann. soc. 

 bel^e micr., 1882, 53 pp.) ; Report on the petrology of the rocks 

 of St. Paul (Sclent, results voyage Challenger, 1873-76, Narra- 

 tive, 1882, 11. app. B, 29 pp., 1 plate). 



