November 25, 1892.] 



SCIENCE. 



303 



drift in their migrations towards those latitudes which their 

 natures demanded, and so must man move in accordance with 

 the necessities of the time as regards temperature and its conse- 

 quences. 



It is calculated that we are about 403 years distant from the 

 time when the pole of the heavens in its revolution, the pole of 

 the ecliptic, and that of the second rotation will be in the same 

 colure — that is, in the year 3395 A.D. ; and then the least differ- 

 ences in temperature between summer and winter will be ex- 

 perienced. From that time forward this difference will increase, 

 and about 6,000 years later — or about the year 8300 A.D. — the 

 -earth will enter upon the next glacial period, and attain its great- 

 est severity about the year 18,136 of our era; that is, when one 

 half-revolution of the pole, occupying 15,841 years, will have been 

 -completed from the point indicated, of the pole and two centres 

 being in the same colure. 



The evidences of geology now attest the accuracy of this dis- 

 covery, though twenty years later than it was discovered by this 

 astronomer. Herschel, in his "Outlinesof Astronomy," described 

 the movement of the pole as describing a circle round the pole of 

 the ecliptic as a centre and at a uniform distance from it of 23° 

 38'. though in another article he admitted a decrease of obliquity 

 ■of 48" per century; and these two contradictory assertions appear 

 to have been copied or misunderstood by astronomers and mathe- 

 maticians for more than a hundred years. Twenty-five years 

 ago General Drayson pointed out the error, but no attention was 

 paid to this. Now, however, all who look for the truth will re- 

 ceive a fresh impetus to independent enquiry, and signs of a 

 change are already appearing which nothing can arrest, sub- 

 stantiated as his calculations are by the observations of the last 

 3,000 years. 



In concluding these remarks, it may be observed that the axis 

 of the planet Uranus very neaiiy coincides with the plane of its 

 crbit, which varies only about 46' from that of the earth, and 

 astronomers, observing that its satellites moved in a contrary 

 direction to that of the other planets, assumed that the satellites 

 of Uranus " moved in opposition;" but General Drayson pointed 

 out that this was not the case, and explained that it depended 

 upon which pole of the planet was turned toward the earth which 

 way the satellites would appear to revolve, whilst their real mo- 

 tion round the planet was not in opposition, but in conformity 

 with the law that all satellites move round their primaries in the 

 • same direction. 



It is possibl.^ that this discovery has never been suitably ac- 

 knowledged by any scientific society, but In a work published in 

 1863, viz., "Common Sights in the Heavens," General Drayson, 

 at pages 173 to 175, pointed out that former writers on astronomy 

 had been in error in attributing to the satellites of Uranus a move- 

 ment different from that of any others in the system. His geo- 

 metrical proof of this fact is very simple, and it seems surpris- 

 ing, when we see the solution of the mystery, that writer after 

 ■writer on astronomy should have copied each others' mistakes for 

 more than seventy years. 



Lastly, it is to be hoped that the discoverer of the second rota- 

 tion may live to see the triumph which he has achieved universally 

 admitted by all true lovers of science. 



ALABAMA BAUXITE.' 



BY HENRY MCC ALLEY, UNIVEBSITY, ALA. 



Bauxite was first discovered in Alabama in 1889. The first 

 ■discovery was at the Dykes Limonite Banks, Cherokee County. 

 Since then it has been found at the Walker Limonite Banks, near 

 Jacksonville, Calhoun County, and at the Laney Old Manganese 

 Banks, Cleburn County." These deposits are all in the lower part 

 •of the Lower Silurian. The Cherokee and Calhoun deposits are 

 at the bottom of the Knox Dolomite of Safford of Tennessee, now 

 Ijelieved to be Upper Cambrian. The Cleburn deposit is in the 

 Tipper part of the Weizner Quartzites, Middle Cambrian, believed 



' An abstract of a paper prepared for the Fall Meeting, on Nov. 16, of the 

 Alabama Industrial and Scientific Society. 



- Since the above was written, it has been heard that Baaxite out-cropplngs 

 Slave been found in two other places in Calhoun County, near Anniston. 



to be identical with the Chilowee Sandstone of Safford. They are 

 all in sections of country that are badly broken up by sharp folds 

 and great thrust faults, and in which the characters of the rocks 

 have been greatly changed, doubtless by the great heat produced 

 in their folding and faulting. They are all pocket deposits, though 

 they occur alongregular leads and show more or less stratification 

 in all of the cuts that have been made upon them. They occur 

 about as do the limonite and clays with which they are closely 

 associated, though they appear to show more evidences of strati- 

 fication. They are so closely associated with the limonite and 

 clays that their deposits appear to be greatest where the limonite 

 and clay deposits are greatest. 



The Cherokee deposits appear to occur along the crest of two 

 sharp parallel anticlinals covered by debris, that run in a general 

 northeast and south-west course and are from 150 to 200 yards 

 apart. Between these anticlinals is a sharp synclinal, and it is 

 more than probable that some of the bauxite deposits of the oppo- 

 site anticlinals, as irregular stratified seams, are connected or are 

 continuous, under the surface, across the synclinal trough. The 

 largest limonite and clay deposits of this immediate section are in 

 the synclinal trough, and it is believed that future developments 

 will show the largest bauxite deposits to be also in the trough. The 

 bauxite, in places at least, is on the top of a friable sandstone and 

 under or in the lower part of an unctuous clay. The limonite is 

 usually on the top or in the lower part of this unctuous clay. In 

 places, however, there is bauxite seemingly on the top of the 

 limonite, and in still other places it occurs in the clay as large 

 masses and as small nodular concretions. 



The Calhoun deposits, in the few shallow cuts that have been 

 made upon them, also appear to be on the top of a sharp anticlinal. 

 The Cleburn deposit has never been dug into and shows only as a 

 few loose bowlders on the surface. 



The Alabama bauxites have not as yet been dug into sufiBciently 

 to enable even a rough approximate estimate to be formed as to 

 their quantity, still enough has been done on the Cherokee de- 

 posits to show that they alone have in them an immense amount 

 of ore. They show on the dip in limonite old diggings to the 

 depth of 75 feet. In one limonite old digging, the Dykes Bank 

 proper, the bauxite, as an irregular seam about 60 feet thick, 

 shows from the top to the bottom of the digging about 75 feet 

 deep. This is the only place in which the full thickness is shown, 

 though in half a dozen other places from a few feet to 50 feet in 

 thickness of it can be seen. It has been seen by the writer at in- 

 tervals on both of the anticlinals for a distance of about one and 

 a half miles, and it is said to show at intervals on both anticlinals 

 for a distance of nearly five miles. 



The Calhoun deposits show at intervals in a north-north-east 

 and south south-west course for about 250 yards. They have not 

 been dug into sufficiently to show either the thickness or even the 

 quality of their ore. In one of the pits or trenches, however, a 

 thickness of about 25 feet of ore can be seen. 



The Alabama bauxites are mostly concretionary or pisolitic, 

 though some of them are earthy or clay-like. The eyes or con- 

 cretions are usually of the size of a small pea, though sometimes 

 they get to be irregular concretionary nodules of some two inches 

 in diameter. The earthy or clay-like variety has often a metallic 

 ring. The Alabama bauxites are of white, red, and gray colors. 



The Cherokee bauxite, in car-load samples as sent to the manu- 

 facturers, is said by Mr. J. M. Garvin, superintendent of the Bass 

 Furnace Company, Rock Run, Ala., to have about the following 

 approximate analysis: — 



Alumina, from 50 per cent to 60 per cent. 



Ferric oxide, about 2.75 per cent. 



Water, from 35 per cent to 30 per cent. 

 Insoluble matter, principally silica, 



about 7 per cent. 



Titanic acid, from 3 per cent to 3 per cent. 



This analysis shows the Cherokee ores to be of very fine quality. 

 They carry, as said by the manufacturers, a somewhat smaller 

 percentage of alumina than do the Baux. or France, ores with 

 which they come in competition, but that they are more soluble, 

 and hence are more valuable. 



