840 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 206. 



of the mines and the works, and with a suite 

 of specimens. Professor Kemp referred particu- 

 larly to the extremely interesting crystals of 

 almandite garnet which he showed, in which 

 the faces of the hexactahedron are striliingly 

 developed, giving 48- sided forms, sometimes 

 with small faces of the rhombic dodecahedron 

 in addition. Zaisite also occurs in fine termi- 

 nated crytals, and limonite of remarliable irides- 

 cence. 



The second paper was by Dr. Arthur Hollick 

 — Notes on the Glacial Phenomena of Staten 

 Island — and embodied the general results of 

 several years of study and exploration by him- 

 self and others. He outlined the topography 

 of the island and the distribution of drift 

 material upon it, and described the transported 

 contents of the drift with relation to their 

 sources. Most of the drift material is made up 

 of the triassic sandstone and shale of the adja- 

 cent mainland, ground up by the ice sheet, but 

 the boulders are largely brought from afar. 

 They comprise material from all the fossilifer- 

 ous beds of central New York, from the Pots- 

 dam to the Hamilton; but there is a great pre- 

 ponderance of Lower Helderberg and Schoharie 

 grit. The fossils are in many cases finely pre- 

 served, have been collected in large quantities, 

 and very carefully studied and determined. 

 The question as to the route by which they 

 have come, over the hilly and almost mountain- 

 ous regions lying between their source and 

 their resting place, is one of much interest. 



The next paper was by Mr. Francis C. Nicho- 

 las — on the Sedimentary Formations of Northern 

 South America — and dealt with a large area of 

 little-explored country between the Caribbean 

 coast and the northern Andes. It was illus- 

 trated by a most extensive and carefully labeled 

 series of rocks, ores and minerals from many 

 localities and horizons, to M'hich it was impos- 

 sible to do justice within the limits of the even- 

 ing. Among many interesting points described 

 and illustrated with specimens was the agency 

 .of the sun's heat as a rock-disintegrator, the 

 changes of day and night temperature in high 

 regions in the tropics producing a fracturing of 

 the superficial portions of exposed rocks com- 

 parable in result to the action of frost in higher 

 latitudes. 



The last paper was by Mr. Geo. F. Kunz, 

 upon a Meteoric Stone that fell at Andover, 

 Maine, on August 5th last, with exhibition of 

 the stone, or rather about half of it. The fall 

 took place early in the morning of a cloudy and 

 threatening day ; so that the sound made by the 

 meteor, which was heard for many miles 

 around, was generally supposed to be thunder. 

 A dark cloudy trail, like a dense smoke, fol- 

 lowed and marked the path of the body through 

 the air. Its course was from the north, south- 

 ward, and in coming down it tore its way 

 through a group of large trees, struck a heavy 

 stone in a wall near the ground, and buried 

 itself in the earth. Here it was found two days 

 later, by that time entirely cooled. The speci- 

 men is a typical stony meteorite, with a thin 

 black crust on the outside, and of a bright pale 

 gray on the broken surface, with very little 

 iron. It weighs about 7 lbs., and its description 

 will appear later. 



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