306 W. Carrutkers — Petrified Forest near Cairo. 



has no doubt aided in the final production of those magnificent 

 photographs of our satellite which have been produced by Mr. 

 Warren De La Eue. This interesting subject has continued to claim 

 piuch of the attention of the Oxford Professor of Geology, and several 

 oommunications have been made by him to the British Association. 

 We find him also communicating to the Eoyal Society, " Notes on 

 the Drawing of 'Copernicus ' presented to the Eoyal Society by 

 P. A. Secchi " (1856) .; " Suggestions for the Attainment of a Syste- 

 matic Eepresentation of the Physical Aspect of the Moon " (1862) ; 

 " On the Telescopic Appearance of the Planet Mairs," and " On the 

 Belt of Jupiter " (1863) ; " Notice of the Surface of the Sun," and 

 ;" Notice of a Spot on the Sun observed at interva;ls during one 

 Rotation " (1865). An interesting artide on "The Planet Mars," 

 from the same pen, appears in the " Quarterly Journal of Science," 

 for July, 1865, in which he shows from his own researches, con- 

 firmed by the observations of others, that Mars is a planet " whose 

 main characters of surface correspond to those of our earth, which 

 has nearly the same density, nearly the same daily and nightly 

 period, and is enveloped, like our earth, by an atmosphere partially 

 loaded with scattered clo-uds, etc." 



At Bath, in 1864, he was elected President of the British Asso- 

 ciation for 1865, and delivered the inaugural address before one of 

 the largest assemblages of that body at Birmingham. 



Meteorology is one of the subjects which has been carefully studied 

 by Prof. Phillips, and its bearings om geological theoiy have been much 

 employed in his treatises. Curious methods of measuring winds ; 

 registering the direction and inclination of a rain-drop ; the variation 

 in quantity of rain as we ascend above the earth's surface ; an exact 

 maximum thermometer, and a self-discharging electrophorus ; are 

 connected with the pleasant variations of study which have con- 

 stituted his only valued amusements. 



Amongst his more recent labours, we may point to the new 

 Museum at Oxford, which has greatly profited by his experienced 

 hand and well-trained method. By his amiable disposition and the 

 simplicity of his character he has charmed all who have ever been 

 brought withiQ the sphere of his influence. Few men have won 

 more friends. The scientific institutions of all parts of the world 

 have sought to do him honour ; and it must be in the highest degree 

 gratifying to Professor Phillips to feel that they have been unsought, 

 and are therefore the genuine recognitions of appreciated industry. 



II. — On- the Petrified Foeest neak Caieo. 



By W. Caeruthers, F.L.S., F.G.S., etc. 



(PLATE XIV.) 



THE fossil wood which covers the desert to the east of Cairo has 

 long filled the passing traveller on this great Eastern high road 

 with surprise. The immense quantity of what seems to be decaying 

 wood in a region described as a " dreary arid expanse, treeless and 

 almost shrubless, rugged with dark-coloured knollg, and intersected 



