288 Miscellaneous. 



fall on the night preceding the 1st May on Barbadoes, rendering the 

 sky dark at noonday, and finally, after three days continuance, 

 covering all the surface of the country with a hideous pall of dark 

 brown ashes, which it took many a day to remove. 



I well remember hearing my deceased relative describe the horror 

 and consternation which pervaded the household and district on that 

 fatal May Day, which realized to the mind one of the plagues of 

 Egypt. The dust appears to the naked eye as an exceedingly fine 

 impalpable powder, of a rich brown colour; with an ordinary 

 pocket-lens the grains are distinctly visible. 



The distance from the volcano to Barbadoes is exactly 100 English 

 miles, and, as Daubeny observes, it is remarkable that the ashes were 

 carried to Barbadoes notwithstanding the east wind which was 

 blowing at the time, proving the existence of an upper and counter 

 atmospheric current. As the volcanic mountain rises 4,740 ft. above 

 the sea, the dust may have been blown to a height of 8,000 to 10,000 ft., 

 and thus come within the influence of an upper current of air. 



With an objective power of fifty-five diameters, the dust is seen 

 to consist of angular, or subangular grains of a translucent reticulated 

 mineral amongst which are dispersed black particles, sometimes 

 angular, and a very few others of a rounded form and bronze colour. 

 On examining the translucent grains with the polariscope, and under 

 several different magnifying powers, it became evident they consist of 

 felspar. The structure is reticulated and in a very few cases banded ; 

 but owing to the irregularity of the forms of the grains, I was unable 

 to determine to which class of the felspars they are referable. My 

 impression is that they are the dust of sanidine, and of a small 

 proportion of plagioclase; such, in fact, as would result from the 

 pounding up of trachyte. The black grains are those of magnetite, 

 and on placing a small magnet near the dust, a movement is im- 

 mediately observed amongst the grains, which increases in intensity 

 as the magnet approaches contact. 



It would be interesting to determine chemically whether or not 

 titanic acid is present, but I fear the grains are too minute for such 

 a determination. The bronze-coloured grains are probably pyrites ; 

 they are opaque, but slightly translucent around the margin. I did 

 not observe any other mineral substance. Edward Hull. 



Geological Survey of Ireland, Dublin. 



Miscellaneous. — Eotal Society of Edinburgh. — On the 5th 



April, the ninth ordinary meeting of the present session of the Royal Society was held 

 in the Eoyal Institution— Professor Kelland, Vice-President, in the Chair. Professor 

 Geikie addressed the Society, explaining at length the grounds on which the Council 

 had awarded the Neill prize for the triennial period 1871-74, to Mr. Charles William 

 Peach for his contributions to Scottish Zoology and Geology, and for his recent 

 contributions to fossil Botany. Mr. Peach, the Professor said, had materially increased 

 our acquaintance with the marine fauna of the British seas ; he had made known the 

 nest-building habits of fishes and mollusca, and had made important contributions to 

 fossil botany and palaeontology. Professor Kelland, in presenting the medal, said 

 that Mr. Peach had cultivated science disinterestedly and in the face of nature, and 

 not from books at second-hand. 



