426 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXVII. No. 



ties involved in the process of curing. A ma- 

 cliine which promises soon to be available for 

 picking the crop was mentioned as a possible 

 solution of the labor question involved in 

 harvesting. 



The opportunity for the improvement of 

 quality through selection and breeding was 

 pointed out, the immediate problem therein 

 being the discrimination of varieties which 

 are now almost hopelessly confused. The 

 work of breeding is further hampered by the 

 fact that while more than a hundred varieties 

 of the female form of the hop have been named 

 only one variety of male plants is recognized. 

 M. 0. Marsh, 

 Becording Secretary 



THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON 



At the 198th meeting of the society, held 

 at the Cosmos Club, on "Wednesday evening, 

 January 8, 1908, under informal communica- 

 tions, Mr. E. S. Bastin described a pyrrhotitic 

 peridotite from East Union, Maine. This 

 dike rock is unusual because of the presence 

 in it of nearly 30 per cent, of pyrrhotite so 

 related to fresh olivine and plagioelase grains 

 that it is proved to be an original constituent. 

 The analysis shows the rock to belong to 

 subclass 2 of Class V. It is the first de- 

 scribed representative of this subclass and 

 has been named Lermondose. The total per- 

 centage of nickel, cobalt, and copper sulphides 

 is about 2 per cent. It furnishes, therefore, 

 an example of an ore of purely igneous origin. 



Mr. R. H. Chapman exhibited photographs 

 illustrating an ancient method of ore crush- 

 ing near Gadug, about 300 miles southeast of 

 Bombay, India. The bedrock with a gradual 

 slope toward a stream has a shallow trench 

 along the higher portion, from which water 

 was fed over the surface, in which more than 

 a hundred saueer-like depressions are located. 

 These holes were used as mortars in which the 

 ore was crushed by stone pestles in the hands 

 of native laborers. Similar forms are known 

 in which the mortars were larger and the 

 crushers were boulders, of one half to one 

 ton weight, which were handled with a frame- 

 work. It is estimated that this quartz mill 

 was in use about 2,000 years ago. 



Regular Program 

 Centenary of the Geological Society of Lon- 

 don: Mr. Whitman Cross. 



Some Volcanoes of the Western Mediter- 

 ranean: Henry S. Washington. 

 In the summer and fall of 1905 the- 

 speaker undertook the investigation of some 

 of the less well-known volcanoes of the 

 western basin of the Mediterranean for the 

 Carnegie Institution of Washington. The 

 volcanoes of Catalonia occupy the site of a 

 Pliocene gulf, and are post-Quaternary. The 

 earlier eruptions formed extensive and often 

 deep lava flows, which partially filled the pre- 

 existent and still persistent drainage, and 

 these were followed by the formation of 

 numerous, small, cinder cones. The lavas are 

 feldspar-basalts, nephelite-basalts, and lim- 

 burgites, of quite uniform chemical char- 

 acters. 



The volcanic rocks of Sardinia are referred 

 to three periods : a series of sheets of basalts 

 and rhyolites, of Tertiary age, which cover 

 extensive areas in western Sardinia; the sub- 

 sequent large volcanoes of Monte Eerru and 

 Monte Arci, near the west coast; and the 

 numerous, small, recent, cinder cones which 

 extend from near Bonorva to near Sassari. 

 The lavas of Monte Ferru are trachytes and 

 phonolites, which form the core of the deeply 

 dissected volcano, and rather monotonous 

 basalts, which cover the other lavas and extend 

 far over the surrounding country. Similarly, 

 the core of Monte Arci is composed of chem- 

 ically uniform, though texturally diverse, 

 rhyolites, covered by a mantle of later basalts^ 

 The recent cinder cones are wholly basaltic. 

 Their eruption antedated the construction of 

 the prehistoric nuraghi, for which Sardinia is 

 famous. 



The island of Pantelleria is wholly volcanic, 

 the earliest eruptions being the trachytes of 

 the dominating, but badly worn, Montagna 

 Grande, with flows of other trachytic rocks. 

 These were followed by flank eruptions of 

 pantellerites, very high in silica and low in 

 alumina, and distinctly sodic. The latest 

 eruptions are basaltic and formed small cinder 

 cones, like those of Catalonia and Sardinia, 



