536 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[June 8, 1888. 



Lake Hope, muddy and unfathomable in the centre, but 

 transparent and fairly uniform in depth elsewhere ; the 

 atmosphere over it, owing to the constant evolution of 

 hydrochloric acid gas, was very irritating. 



Geological Discovery at Aberdeen. — In preparing 

 the foundations for the piers of the Schoolhill Viaduct, 

 the workmen encountered at a depth of from six to seven 

 feet, a bed of red earth, soft at the top but increasing in 

 hardness as they proceeded downwards. On examina- 

 tion, this has turned out to be a well-marked stratum of 

 old Red Sandstone conglomerate. The rock is of the 

 usual deep red colour, and the embedded boulders are 

 Of a granitic nature, consisting chiefly of quartzite, 

 gneiss, and granite. When the beds were first examined 

 it was considered likely that they might be part of the 

 Old Red Sandstone beds that extend along the coast 

 from Stonehaven to the Tay, but a closer scrutiny of the 

 boulders has shown that they are of a much more 

 granitic character than those found in the measures fur- 

 ther south, and that the deposit is of a purely local kind, 

 beginning, it is believed, immediately north of the Dee, 

 in the vicinity of the Joint Station, and ending in boldly 

 marked beds of conglomerate on the south bank of the 

 Don, not far from the Brig of Balgownie. 



Ancient Monuments. — An Order in Council was pub- 

 lished on May 30th, dated May 3rd, 1SS8, ordering and 

 prescribing that certain monuments shall be deemed to 

 he ancient monuments within the meaning of the Act of 

 1882. Section 10 of that Act provides that her Majesty 

 may, by Order in Council, declare that any monument of 

 a like character to the monuments described in the 

 schedule to the Act shall be deemed to be an ancient 

 monument. The monuments now declared to be ancient 

 are : — (i) The Nine Stones, Winterbourne Abbas, near 

 Dorchester ; (2) the Chambered Long Barrow, known as 

 the Gray Mare and Colts, near Gorwell, in the county of 

 Dorset ; (3) the Stone Circle on Tenant-hill, Kingston 

 Russell Farm, near Dorchester ; (4) the Cup-marked 

 Rock at Drumtroddan Farm, Mochrum ; (5) the Three 

 Standing Stones, Mochrum ; (6) the Moat-hill, of 

 Druchtag, Mochrum ; (7) the semi-circular earthwork on 

 the sea cliff, Barsalloch, Mochrum ; and (8) the ancient 

 chapel at the Isle of Whithorn. These last five monu- 

 ments are in the county of Wigtown. The Order will 

 not come into force until it has lain for forty days before 

 both Houses of Parliament during the Session. 



Remarkable Phosphorescent Storm. — The Anchor 

 Liner Anchoria, in her last trip from New York, passed 

 when about 350 miles east of the American coast, near 

 the borders of the Gulf Stream, through phenomena 

 which, although frequent on a small scale, are extremely 

 rare in such grandeur as that which was observed on 

 this occasion. After the vessel had been running over 

 twenty-four hours in a dense fog, the water around the 

 vessel suddenly became so luminous that a long shoal of 

 small fish darting around the vessel, seeking refuge 

 from sharks and other enemies, gave the sea in the im- 

 mediate vicinity of the vessel the appearance of a vast 

 cauldron of boiling jewels. The furrows of foam from 

 the ship's bows rolled in such brilliant masses of violet 

 light as to render the smallest thread in the ship's rigging 

 clearly visible. The engines had to be slowed for a few 



hours until a storm of wind, bursting from the north-west 

 cleared off the fog and broke the whole visible surface of 

 the ocean into an infinity of flying crests of flame-like 

 foam of such brilliancy that the ocean seemed ablaze 

 with fleeting, flashing flame. The whole horizon line 

 had the appearance of an immense belt of light-blue fire. 

 This beautiful display lasted from 11 p.m. 11113.30 a.m. 



Interesting Discoveries in America. — While mak- 

 ing a survey for a proposed railway through the old 

 Spanish presidio of Janos, situated in the wild Sierra 

 Madre of Mexico, a succession of dwellings stretching 

 for miles along a canon were discovered. The houses 

 are built in terrace form, one above the other, with solid 

 masonry, unlike the crude cliff buildings of Arizona and 

 New Mexico. These dwellings had more the appear- 

 ance of regular streets, being built above each other on 

 the shelving declivity of the cafion, and being difficult of 

 access, as if for purposes of defence agair.st powerful 

 enemies. Most of the buildings have their front walls 

 constructed of hewn stones, carefully cemented, while the 

 rear portions are built into the sides of the cation. All of 

 these ruins are in a remarkable state of preservation ; so 

 much so that they deserve, it is said, more the name of 

 abandoned dwellings than of ruins. On an open plain 

 rear the ruins are the remains of an aqueduct and a ter- 

 raced reservoir. Mr. Gushing, the Zuni explorer, has 

 also uncovered a buried city for a distance of three 

 miles. It was evidently destroyed by some mighty up- 

 heaval of nature ages ago. There are miles of irrigating 

 canals, streets, and houses ; while here and there in the 

 ruins of the latter, as in Pompeii, is the skeleton of a hap- 

 less inmate whose escape was cut off. The city is within 

 200 miles of the Gulf of California, off a branch of the 

 Southern Pacific Railroad. 



The Electric Light in the Suez Canal. — The number 

 of ships navigating the Suez Canal at night with the 

 electric light shows a rapid increase since the new 

 regulations came into force on the ist March last year. 

 Consul Burrell, of Port Said, gives the following table 

 showing the number of vessels with the electric light 

 passing through the canal in each month last year : — 

 January . . . . . . . . . . 13 



February 



•• 15 

 .. 19 



March 

 April 

 May. . 

 June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



19 



25 

 27 



35 

 45 

 49 



n 



Total 395 



The average time of the transit of the canal in 1887 is 

 given as 33 hrs. 58 mins. as compared with ^6 hrs. in 

 1886. The shortest time taken by an ordinary steamer 

 with the electric Hght for night navigation was 15 hrs. 

 5 mins. A still faster passage was made by Mr. Gordon 

 Bennett's steam yacht Namoitna, which, being allowed 

 to steam at greater speed than larger vessels, only took 

 13 hrs. and 53 mins. from Port Said to Suez. 



