34 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIX. No. 467 



SCIENCE: 



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 York. 



PEISMATIC SANDSTONE FROM MISSOURI.^ 



On the right bank of the St. Francois River, in S. 31 ; T. 

 '33, N. ; R. 6 E., about 290 yards south-west of the St. Louis 

 Granite Company's quarry, near Knob Lick, in Madison 

 County, Mo., is a little sandstone ridge, trending north-west 

 and south-east, nearly 200 yards long, 10 yards wide, and 

 not more than 8 to 10 feet high above the nearly level ground 

 on either side. The country rock here is the Cambrian 

 sandstone, which overlies the granite, as is beautifully illus- 

 trated at the quarry near by. This little ridge is interesting 

 on account of the peculiar form of the sandstone composing 

 it. In places where the soil has been somewhat worn away, 

 instead of revealing fiat layers of sandstone, as can be found 

 near by in any direction, the surface is covered with frag- 

 ments of sandstone of a prismatic form, resembling in shape 

 the basaltic columns so well known in different parts of the 

 world. In size the prisms range from about three-fourths of 

 an inch to one and a half inches in diameter, and from 

 three to eight inches in length. They are not uni- 

 form in geometrical outline, some having four sides, 

 some five, and a few six. Quite often two and occasionally 

 tbree prisms adhere together, side by side, but generally so 

 loosely that they can easily be broken apart. In such cases 

 the boundary between them is usually a single plane, but 

 sometimes two new planes are exposed by the breaking, 

 forming a re entrant angle on one prism. Fig. 1 fairly rep- 

 resents a combinatioQ of two of these prisms. 



The nature of the rock was studied quite carefully, both 

 macroscopically and microscopically, and it was found to be 

 nothing but an ordinary, somewhat irregularly indurated, 

 fine-grained sandstone. The grains of quartz are water- 

 worn, as is usual. The induration is produced by the in- 

 terstitial spaces being more or less filled with silica, but the 

 thin sections examined showed no instance of secondary 

 growth of the quartz crystals. 



1 Published by consent of the State Geologist of the Geological Survey of 

 Missouri. Read before the Iowa Academy of Sciences, Des Moines, Deo. 30, 

 1891. 



The existence of the ridge is probably due to the indura- 

 tion of the sandstone. Why this limited area should be thus 

 indurated, and the surrounding country should not be, there 

 seemed to be no obtainable evidence. However, this of it- 

 self is of little importance But the prismatic form of the 

 sandstone is much more interesting. The specimens gath- 

 ered were on or near the surface, and were not seen in situ; 

 but from their great abundance it must be argued that they 

 extend downwards for a considerable distance. It was first 

 thought that possibly a dike rock had once existed here, 

 which had assumed the prismatic character, and that in some 

 way by surface decay it had left moulds into which the sand 

 had been carried. But a careful examination revealed no 

 indication whatever of there ever having been a dike here, 

 although they are quite common in the surrounding coun- 

 try. The granite close by is older'' than the sandstone, and 

 could not therefore have played any part in the matter by 

 metamorphosing the sandstone in any way. 



If any of the readers of Science know of any other occur- 

 rence similar to this, or can suggest any cause likely to have 

 produced this peculiar formation, it is hoped they will give 

 the information through the columus of Science. 



Erasmus Haworth. 



Oskaloosa, Iowa. 



ORTHOGRAPHY OF GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES. 



In 1885 the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 impressed with the necessity of endeavoring to reduce the 

 confusion existing in British maps with regard to the spell- 

 ing of geographical names, in consequence of the variety of 

 systems of orthography used by travellers and others to rep- 

 resent the sound of native place-names in different parts of 

 the world, formally adopted the general principle which had 

 been long used by many, and the recognition of which had 

 been steadily gaining ground, viz., that in writing geograph- 

 ical native names vowels should have their Italian signifi- 

 cance and consonants that which they have in the English 

 language. This broad principle required elucidation in its 

 details, and a system based upon it was consequently drawn 

 up with the intention of representing the principal syllabic 

 sounds. 



It will be evident to all who consider the subject that to 

 ensure a fairly correct pronunciation of geographical names 

 by an English-speaking person an arbitrary system of or- 

 thography is a necessity. It is hardly too much to say that 

 in the English language every possible combination of let- 

 ters has more than one possible pronunciation. A strange 



' See Bull. No. 6, Mo. Geol. Surv., p. 13, et seq. 



