626 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



wing of a small Pterodactyl, the only specimen known, which cost Prof. 

 Marsh $1,000 in Europe. 



The petrifactions of the shells of oj^sters m Colorado I have seen by the 

 cartloads, but the soft eatable portions are never fossilized. The case cited 

 from Monrovia, (not "Munervia,") Kansas, I recollect, and similar cases are 

 frequently reported in newspapers, but whenever a scientific person has had 

 the opportunity to examine the bodies, the flesh has never been found 

 fossilized. 



M. D.'s quotations from Chamber's Encyclopedia are in harmony with 

 my statements. "Organic remains" include wood, shells and bones. The 

 "animal remains" of the oyster in the shell is carbonate of lime. In bones 

 it is phosphate of lime, and "the original cell structure, however minute and 

 delicate, remains, and is still seen under the microscope." "Erenberg found 

 42,000,000,000 (forty-two trillions) of fossil infusoria in one cubic inch of 

 tripoli, each perfect in structure," In the latter case the animal basis was 

 silica, the soft fleshy portions of the bodj^ were not fossilized. The Struth- 

 ious birds of New Zealand I have frequently examined. There is no flesh 

 on the bones, but then phosphate of lime remains nearly as when living. 



This statement, that flesh is never petrified may strike M. D. "as being 

 absurd, if not utterly ridiculous," but he will find it correct. Now if he will 

 only produce flesh petrified or fossilized, he will not only render a great 

 tavor to science, but he can also enrich himself by selling it at a high price. 



In the course of Professor Eood's researches respecting colors, of which 

 some account was recently given in the report of the proceedings of the 

 National Academy of Sciences, he obtained a numerical value for the lumi- 

 nosity of different tints. The results are as follows : White paper being es- 

 timated as having a luminosity of 100, vermillion has 23.8, blue-green 26.56, 

 chrome yellow 80.3, cobalt-blue 35.38, green 41.19, purple 14.83. The ver- 

 million was spread over the paper in a thick paste. The blue-green con- 

 sisted ot a mixture of emerald-green and cobalt-blue, a.pplied in a thick 

 paste. The chrome yellow was of the pale kind, and was applied in a series 

 of washes, after the manner of water-color painting. The cobalt-blue was 

 applied in the same way as the chrome-yellow. The green was a mixture 

 of emerald-green and chrome-yelloAV, applied as a thick paste. The purple 

 was an aniline color. 



From statements made at a meeting of the California Academy of Science, 

 the eucalyptus tree may be enumerated among the means'for checking fire. 

 Eucalyptus shingles are said to be fire -proof. A tree of this species was 

 exposed to the San Francisco fire of 1876, and is still flourishing. The no- 

 tion is urged that the spread of fires in cities could be checked by setting 

 out such trees for shade and ornament. All varieties of the eucalyptus are 

 said to possess this valuable property. 



