826 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXV. No. 647 



to-day have always been active, and by the 

 modem land movements forming depressed 

 broken shore lines and terraces and keeping 

 a fairly new face on the topography of 

 areas occupied by the oldest rocks, these 

 movements being illustrated in the every-day 

 earthquakes to which Japan is subjected. 



In a number of points a similarity exists 

 between the geology of Japan and that of the 

 western coast of America: In the existence in 

 both California and Japan of a somewhat 

 similar thick basement complex; our Fran- 

 ciscan is probably Jurasaic in age; the Jap- 

 anese terrane with which it might be com- 

 pared is supposedly Paleozoic; both forma- 

 tions are intruded by similar serpentine of 

 Jurassic or Cretaceous age. In the apparent 

 Mesozoic age of the wide-spread and important 

 intrusions of granite. In the similarity of 

 the old and recent faunas and floras, as has 

 been partially brought out by a few paleon- 

 tologists. In the presence in both countries 

 of a large amount of schist formed of the 

 blue amphibole glaucophane, whereas it is rare 

 in all but a few places elsewhere. In the fact 

 that both countries have been long coastal 

 belts of volcanic activity during Tertiary and 

 Quaternary times, the thickness and wide ex- 

 tent attained by the Tertiary tuffs in Japan 

 being remarkable. In the recency of earth 

 movements, as shown in the multitude of 

 earthquakes, the presence of upraised Quater- 

 nary deposits and marine terraces, and by the 

 evidence of present oscillations in the level of 

 the coasts. And the resemblance holds good 

 particularly in the tremendous land-building 

 activity of the Tertiary on both sides of the 

 Pacific, contributed to by tectonic movements 

 and the rapid denudation of land areas and 

 deposition along narrow belts. This feature 

 is illustrated by the great thickness of the 

 Tertiary formations, their structural disturb- 

 ance and their lithologic alteration. 



Ralph Arnold, 



Secretary 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The lY4th regular meeting of the Chemical 

 Society of Washington was called to order by 

 President Fireman, on April 11, at 8 p.m. 



A committee, consisting of Messrs. L. M. 

 Tolman, P. K. Cameron and S. S. Voorhees, 

 was appointed to consider the advisability of 

 cooperating with the "Washington Academy of 

 Science relative to the erection of a suitable 

 building to serve as a home for the academy 

 and all the affiliated societies. 



The president of the society was invited by 

 the commissioners of the D. C. to confer with 

 a committee appointed to consider the miUc 

 supply of the district. 



S. S. Voorhees read a paper on ' Buying Coal 

 under Specifications.' The speaker said that 

 the present specification was the outgrowth of 

 six years' experience in the purchase of coal by 

 the Treasury Department. The specification 

 requires the bidder to state the name and 

 location of mines from which deliveries will 

 be made with per cent, of ash in dry coal and 

 B. T. U. in coal as delivered; the price paid 

 for deliveries is based on price stated in pro- 

 posal corrected for heat value and ash found 

 in average sample representing deliveries 

 above or below standard established by bidder. 



W. O. Robinson read a paper on ' The Solu- 

 bility of Calcium Sulphate in Aqueous Solu- 

 tion of Sodium Sulphate and Sodium Chloride 

 at 25°.' At 25°, Cameron and Seidell found 

 the solubility curve for the system sodium sul- 

 phate, sodium chloride and water to consist of 

 three branches representing solution in equi- 

 librium with sodium sulphate decahydrate, 

 anhydrous sodium sulphate and sodium 

 chloride. 



Calcium sulphate was introduced into thia 

 system and, after complete reaction had taken 

 place, was found to occur in the solid phase 

 as gypsum at the sodium sulphate and sodium 

 chloride ends of the curve. In intermediate 

 concentration, however, the solid phase con- 

 taining calcium occurred as fine needle-like 

 crystals. As these were decomposed by wash- 

 ing, ordinary methods of analysis could not be 

 used. By the double triangular diagram 

 method, this calcium salt was found to be 

 represented by the formula 3]Sra„SO.-2CaSO,. 

 This conclusion was fully confirmed by the 

 zero'' method and by precipitation with a 

 weighed amount of calcium sulphate. 



