SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



181 



Mr. Percy Emary is now the Secretary of the 

 Geologists" Association, in the place of Mr. C. 

 Pavies Sherbom. 



A Falaeontological Review. — The current 

 number of " Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia " 

 contains a list of the British and foreign palae- 

 ontological publications that were issued during 

 1S96 and 1S07, a series of reviews of the Papers, 

 published during 1J97. that bear on Italian 

 palaeontology, and several interesting Papers by 

 Professor G. Capellini. of Bologna, and others. 



The Rate of Flow of the Lava Streams of 

 Etna. — Ricupero observes that the lavas of Etna 

 do not always run with the same rapidity, but are 

 regulated in their course by the nature of the 

 declivity over which they flow, and by the more or 

 less subtle or tenacious quality of the lava itself. 

 It is not, therefore, surprising that some streams 

 should run many miles in a few days, such as that 

 in 140S, which in twelve days advanced nearly ten 

 miles, whereas others in whole years made but 

 little progress : for example, that of 1614, which 

 took the direction of Randazzo, but in the ten 

 years for which it continued running, extended to 

 no greater length than two miles. Sometimes the 

 same torrent differs incredibly in its velocity : thus, 

 Tedeschi says that in the eruption of 1669 the 

 lava, at intervals, ran a mile in the space of four 

 hours : at others, in four days it only advanced a 

 few paces. In the year 1775. when two streams 

 burst at once from the same crater, and having 

 run twenty-four hours in succession, that which 

 took a southern direction had made a progress of 

 two hundred paces, while the other, in the same 

 period, had reached a distance of eight miles. 



Growth of the Glaciers of the Alps. — The 

 glaciers of the Alps, according to Herr von E. 

 Ritcher. are showing marked indications of increase 

 in size, after having been diminishing quite rapidly 



:hirty years, with the exception of a transitory 

 extension in 1S75. From the historical records of 

 about three centuries, it appears that the glaciers 

 have had alternate periods of growth and diminu- 

 tion. In this lime no less than eight marked 

 epochs of growth can be traced, the 6rst having 

 begun in 1592. and the last — excluding the slight 

 one in i v 7=, in 1 • (5. each having been followed by 

 a period "i glar i.-r retreat. The intervals between 

 the epochs vary from twenty to forty-seven years. 



The above paragraphs on geological subjects 

 have been kindlv sent to us by Mr. J. II Cooke, 

 , of Lincoln - 1 



■he kindness of l-ady I'restwich and the 

 Iruvter-. of the British Museum, an interesting and 

 instruct] insisting of the whole 



scale of fossiliferous rocks, and containing 833 

 specimens, has been presented to the Falconer 

 valuable collection has 

 he»- ii' -illy arranged by Mr. ISullen 



Newton, of the lintish Mi: 



The I 'anada has recently 



. lired through the Instrumentality ol its 



director. J 'r ' . "-T a mass of meteoric 



n. which il to call tin; Thurlow 



1 - at i" li 

 u 1I01 iltml l.y Di Hoffman as an irregularly 



haprd trunf.ited pr . rarmd.il rn.i •>, with .1 in' 

 less rectangu! 



!r:i in 

 .11 height. It 1 

 weight b))'a2 itil 



The Glacier Garden. — Many, besides geo- 

 logists, have heard of the Glacier Garden at 

 Lucerne, with its series of " pot-holes," in which 

 still remain in many cases the huge boulders that 

 gave rise to these rounded excavations. There is 

 now to be seen in the same garden a large boulder 

 of which a section has been made, and this reveals 

 a nucleus round which the boulder has segre- 

 gated, in the shape of a palm-leaf a foot in length. 

 Probably the boulder was of a closer and more 

 indurated texture than the substance which it 

 afterwards excavated. 



Pot-Holes. — The numerous Wadys up the 

 Nile Valley appear to Professor Bonney to be only 

 inexplicable on the supposition of a much heavier 

 rainfall at one time than at present in those 

 regions. This is also borne out by the numerous 

 rounded stones which are there found, as well as 

 the frequent and deep "pot-holes" in the ravines 

 which intersect the crystalline hills, and which 

 now serve as important water reservoirs. The 

 excavation of these holes by means of a former 

 increased water action is demonstrated by the fact 

 that in the reservoir at Medina, in Jebel Raft, the 

 spherical stones still occur, which assisted in 

 forming the pot-hole. 



Egyptian Geology. — At the present time the 

 geology of the Nubian Desert has a special interest 

 in view of the movements of British troops in 

 Upper Egypt. The geology of that portion south- 

 east of Korosko has recently been receiving 

 attention at the hands of Captain H. G. Lyons, 

 R.E., F.G.S. The rocks consist mainly of Nubian 

 sandstone, and crystalline rocks, both massive and 

 schistose. These Archaean crystalline rocks are 

 also found about Assuan, peering up through the 

 nearly horizontal beds of Nubian sandstone, 

 probably along the axes of low saddles. It was 

 noticed that the sandstone was apparently divided 

 into two series, the conglomerates and varied 

 strata of the lower part, and the more solid sand- 

 stones of the upper, from which the building- 

 stones of the great temples had been derived. 

 At Wadi dur Nabadi were found some ancient gold 

 workings. 



Village Built on a Boulder. — The village 

 of Great Catworth, in Huntingdonshire, enjoys the 

 extraordinary distinction of being built upon a 

 chalk boulder. This is not because the village is a 

 very small one, but because the boulder is a very 

 large one. Probably but few of its inhabitants 

 know that the chalk upon which their cottages 

 are built is not native to the spot. As a matter 

 of fact, the chalk soil is but the surface of a 

 huge boulder which has been carried from a 

 point some twenty-live miles to the east to its 

 present position, for there is no natural outcrop 

 of the chalk at any nearer point. This great 

 mass of removed chalk must have been carried 

 by some giant iceberg, during the great ice age, 

 from its native spot, and, as the ice melted, il 

 mu\! have dropped to the butlnm of ihc glacial 

 ■••a, then: i" I"- partially covered and surrounded 

 on all tides by the well known blue-grey boulder 

 clay. This lump of chalk omiaiir. long layii , 

 ol ilim . and upplii 1 thi ■ ■ lis 1 il the village 



•.nil water, whereas watei Is very difficult to 

 gel in the surrounding clay ' balk boulders ol 



■mallei size bul man tons in w Ighl are 1 1 



• 'I in the 1 la 1 .'i ound, bul none attain il e 

 dimeni ol Istri mi ndou ■ ball mile long ei ratii 



bouldei 



