854 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 126. 



bodies. The results obtained, however, do not 

 warrant any strong assumptions either way. 

 He prepared ethylic camphoroxalate and the 

 free acid, and from a study of their behavior as 

 compared with the compounds studied by 

 others he drew some conclusions as to their 

 probable structure. 



Preparation of Zinc Ethyl : By A. Lachman. 

 The author has improved the method for the 

 preparation of zinc alkyls, in which the copper- 

 zinc couple is used. The difficulties met with 

 in working according to the former directions 

 are avoided by mixing zinc dust and copper 

 oxide and heating in a glass tube in a current of 

 hydrogen. In this way an excellent alloy is 

 obtained. Some suggestions are given as to the 

 preservation and use of the zinc alkyl. 



A Simple Test for the Halogens in Organic 

 Halides : By J. H. Kastle and W. A. Bbatty. 

 The authors have devised a simple method of 

 testing for the presence of the halogens in or- 

 ganic compounds. The substance, if not vola- 

 tile, is heated with a mixture of silver and cop- 

 per nitrates. The product is treated with dilute 

 sulphuric acid and zinc, to reduce any halogen 

 compound of silver, then filtered and tested with 

 silver nitrate. If the substance is volatile it is 

 heated in an S-shaped tube, the nitrates being 

 placed in the bend beyond the substance and 

 the two heated alternately, so that the volatile 

 substance is distilled into the nitrates. The 

 method was found applicable to all classes of 

 compounds. 



The following books are reviewed in this num- 

 ber of the Journal : Commercial Organic Analy- 

 sis, A. H. Allen, Vol. III., Pt. III.; Engineering 

 Chemistry, T. B. Stillman ; Ptomains, Leuco- 

 mains. Toxins and Antitoxins, V. C. Vaughan ; 

 A Laboratory Manual of Inorganic Chemistry, 

 R. P. Williams ; Laboratory Calculations and 

 Specific Gravity Tables, J. S. Adriance. 



J. Elliott Gilpin. 



THE AMERICAN GEOLOGIST, MAY. 



' Changes of Level in the Bermuda Islands,' 

 by Ralph S. Tarr. The conclusions of pre- 

 vious observers are reviewed and some new 

 facts presented. The results, as based upon 

 all the investigations yet made, show that the 

 Bermudas are underlain by a base rock of shell 



and coral fragments formed by wave action. 

 This shell sand beach was then consolidated 

 into a dense limestone and suffered some aerial 

 erosion, and was finally depressed and attacked 

 by the waves. In the last stage it was partly 

 covered by beach deposits of pebbles and 

 shells. Then came an uplift of 40 or 50 feet 

 during which land shells lived on the beach 

 deposits. Accumulations of blown sand were 

 made and the outline of the Bermuda hills per- 

 fected by the action of the winds. Since then 

 there has been a depression causing much land 

 to disappear and the outline of the area to be- 

 come very irregular. 



James P. Kimball completes his examination 

 of the ' Physiographic Geology of the Puget 

 Sound Basin.' It describes the following chief 

 historic events. The deposition of the Tejon 

 strata of the Eocene, their subsequent distur- 

 bance, followed by denudation, reaching base- 

 level during the glacial period. Glacial drift 

 was accumulated in the axial part of the basin. 

 Later alternations of level brought about fluvial 

 erosion of the drift mantle, then submergence 

 below sea level flooded the lower valleys, pro- 

 ducing the present type of inlets and sounds. 

 In recent times partial emergence has taken 

 place. 



E. W. Claypole describes a large Dinichthys, 

 considered as belonging to a new species. 



'On the Genesis of Clay Stones,' by H. W. 

 Nichols. Claystones are regarded as crystal- 

 line aggregates whose growth has been modi- 

 fied by the large amount of foreign matter 

 (clay) present, and the conditions of their for- 

 mation are the same as those which would, in 

 more favorable positions, lead to the formation 

 of an aggregate of calcite crystals of the more 

 usual form. There are two conditions which 

 appear favorable to the formation of concre- 

 tions : (1) the presence of arragonite with the 

 disseminated calcite of the clay beds, and (2) 

 the presence of unstable humus acids. The 

 more soluble arragonite continuously goes into 

 solution, thereby over-saturating it with respect 

 to calcite, upon the particles of which the cal- 

 cium carbonate of the solution is deposited. 

 Thus the calcite grows as the arragonite di- 

 minishes. 



' Nomenclature of the Galena and Maquoketa 



