May 26, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



749 



by the heat of the granite magma or by 

 emanation gases. 



Other papers are : " A Monoclinic Prismatic 

 Sulphur from Eeisuiko in Taiwan," by Masa- 

 kichi Suzuki ; " Studies on some Minerals of 

 Japan," by Mikio Kawamura, giving a thor- 

 ough exposition of the optical properties of 

 danburite from Obira, Province of Bungo; 

 " Epidote Crystals from Katakai in Sasahara- 

 mura, Province of Iwaki," by Eanzo Naka- 

 shima ; " Ferberite from Kurasawa in the Prov- 

 ince of Kai ; and Hiibnerite from ISTishizawa in 

 the Province of Shimo-tsuke," by Kotora 

 Jimbo. 



The description of two aragonite cones 

 from a liparite region in the gold district of 

 Kuriyama, by Watanabe (pp. 237-241, plate), 

 illustrates two interesting examples of these 

 cone formations at the outlet of geysers. One 

 of these Euriyama geysers emitted 4.26 liters 

 of colorless hot water per minute, the tem- 

 perature being 94° C; about 44 grams 

 of carbonate of lime are deposited in 

 twenty-four hours, something like 4J per cent, 

 of the amount in the water. The cones are 

 blunt-ended, and composed essentially of lime 

 carbonate with a trifling admixture of sul- 

 phur. An interesting fact is the calcite struc- 

 ture of the inner or older part of these cones, 

 in contrast with the very minute hexagonal 

 columns of aragonite terminated by the basal 

 pinacoid, forming the loose inner part of the 

 lower portion of the cone. One of these speci- 

 mens (Plate X., Pig. 1) was formed between 

 August 26, 1907, and June 25, 1908; it is 30 

 cm. high, the diameter at base being the 

 same; its weight is 13.878 kg. ; the canal is not 

 strictly vertical, but rather oblique. The sec- 

 ond example (Fig. 2) has two canals, its di- 

 mensions being: height, 24 cm.; diameter at 

 base 30 cm. According to local tradition a 

 cone about IJ meters high once stood at the 

 same spot. 



The precious opal of Hosaka is briefly noted 

 by Tonosuke Otsuki (pp. 274, 275). The lo- 

 cality lies in the upper course of the rivulet 

 Kikozugawa, which flows between the village 

 of Hokawa and the mountain-pass Kuru- 

 matoge. The opals are found within nodules 



(silicified spherulites) enclosed in a green- 

 black pearlite which turns gray in weather- 

 ing. The nodules are usually from 3 to 5 cm. 

 in diameter, although some measure as much 

 as 18 cm. across; they are brownish or black, 

 resembling potatoes in shape, good opals com- 

 ing more frequently from the brown than from 

 the black nodules. The opal-material is here 

 present in great variety: milk opal, opal- 

 agate, precious opal, glass opal, as well as the 

 smoky, obsidian-like variety, the yellowish- 

 green, the waxy and others. Important is the 

 granulated appearance of some specimens 

 when viewed in a particular direction, the 

 granules offering one interference color by 

 incident light, while the cement assumes a 

 different color. The specific gravity of the 

 precious opal is 2.22, its hardness 5.5 and its 

 aqueous content 8.49 per cent. 



Crystals closely resembling the jarrowite 

 from the Clyde-Estuary in Scotland have been 

 found in Chinano province, Japan; to these 

 have been given the name, genno-ishi, or 

 hammerstone.^ Both are judged to be pseudo- 

 gaylussite, or calcite after gaylussite, the pe- 

 culiar shape having led anthropologists to 

 designate such crystals " stone-axe." The 

 genno-ishi crystals of Shinano province are 

 acute pyramidal or prismatic with very rough, 

 curved surfaces. There are deep parallel stri- 

 ations on the crystal faces, perhaps sutures of 

 oscillating combination, and also many small 

 sub-crystal protuberances, placed in parallel 

 order; it seems that sometimes a crystal was 

 formed by an aggregation of many of these 

 parallel individuals. 



In color the Clyde crystals differ somewhat 

 from the Japanese, the former being deep 

 brown with resinous luster and the latter light 

 brown with a like luster. A comparison of the 

 chemical composition is given by the follow- 

 ing analyses, there being a considerable un- 

 determined residue in the case of the Shinano 

 crystals and in Clyde No. I., which may rep- 

 resent organic matter. 



2 Tadusu Hiki, ' ' On the Geno-ishi ' ' ; reprint 

 from the Memoirs of the College of Engineering, 

 Kyoto Imperial University, Vol. I., No. 2, Ky6to, 

 1915; plate. 



