222 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



exposed some six or eight feet above the present 

 surface of the shingle. It is suffering very much 

 from the action of the waves undermining the 

 softer formation beneath. Thus, having its support 

 removed, it gradually breaks up. At the time of 

 my examination I saw a large block, some five feet 

 long, which appeared to have only recently broken 

 off. The rock being a grit, and practically a small 

 conglomerate, shows it to have been deposited in 

 shallow water, and it is evident from the fact of the 

 coarser grit being found at the bottom that it was 

 deposited on the site of an area of depression. It 

 very probably is the remains of an ancient shore 

 line. The ripple marks too would tend to prove 

 its littoral origin. This bed is both underlain and 

 overlain to some extent by the boulder-clay, and 

 its time of origin, therefore, seems to be the Inter- 

 glacial period. 



Excursion to Port St. Mary. 



At this place there is a small patch of Carboni- 

 ferous limestone, which forms " Kallow Point," 

 and which has been faulted into this position by 

 the north-south-west to east-north-east fault which 

 bounds the Carboniferous series on this side and 

 which strikes across the sea from the neighbour- 

 hood of Kentraugh. This little isolated patch of 

 limestone, which just shows the basal beds, looks 

 very curious standing alone amongst the older 

 formations, and is for the geological student an 

 instructive example of a fault. 



A little to the south-west of Port St. Mary 

 there may be observed on a map of the Isle of 

 Man a crescent-shaped bay some short distance 

 to the east of Spanish Head. It is at this 

 place where the celebrated " Chasms " occur, and 

 the bay is the result of large masses of rock 

 having become detached from time to time. The 

 chasms are twelve in number, and are wide 

 _ fissures or rendings in the rocky platform at 

 the head of the bay in question. The forma- 

 tion at this point consists of dark-blue fibrous 

 flags of Lower Silurian age, having a slight dip 

 towards the sea, which is continually undermining 

 the precipice. On examining the rocky platform 

 about eighty yards from the brink of the precipice 

 a line of subsidence is observed running east to 

 west. Between this and the cliff are a series of 

 parallel fissures of great depth, and about a yard 

 wide, while others also penetrate to a similar 

 depth at right angles to the first. The area of the 

 most disturbed mass is, I believe, about twelve 

 thousand square yards. Whether these wonderful 

 chasms are the result of seismic disturbance in past 

 ages, or whether they are in connection with 

 faulting, I cannot say. Either theory would be 

 supported by facts, since we have abundant 

 evidence of ancient volcanic eruptions within a 

 few miles, and only a very short distance away 



is the large fault which has brought in the 

 Carboniferous rocks. This fault-line, in fact, 

 if continued south-west would pass almost across 

 the bay named. The continual undermining of a 

 set of beds gently sloping seawards might also 

 tend to bring about very similar results. 

 {To be continued.) 



Acetylene Gas and its Value to Scientific 

 Students. — Among the modern valuable products 

 of applied science, few will be more useful to 

 the scientific student, and his necessary companion. 

 the photographer, than the new acetylene gas 

 The brilliancy of this illuminant is nearly twenty 

 times greater than that of ordinary coal gas. Its 

 quality is so nearly approaching that of sunlight, 

 that colours which are visible in daytime, but 

 fugitive in artificial light, are brightly visible under 

 the influence of burning acetylene gas. We have 

 found it most useful in carrying on the examination 

 of shells and other natural objects during these 

 long winter evenings, which have rendered some 

 of our collections useless, on account of the 

 difficulty in separating delicate pinks, yellows and 

 other colours dependent on daylight. 



Now that the carbide of calcium, from which the 

 acetylene gas is produced in quantities, has been 

 commercially manufactured, and portable lamps 

 for its use are being made, this beautiful light will 

 soon be available for domestic use, and be as cheap, 

 or even less costly, than paraffmoil. The intensity 

 of acetylene is so great that photographers find 

 they can obtain better negatives and prints by its 

 use than from an electric arc lamp. For lantern 

 exhibitions it is equal to the oxy-hydrogen light. 

 Entomologists will find this an admirable and 

 portable light for attracting insects at night. 



From other accounts we receive of this new 

 illuminant, there is every reason to believe the 

 time will shortly arrive when private houses 

 generally will be illuminated by it. It is inde- 

 pendent of all gas works, with their troublesome 

 and expensive mains, whilst its general application 

 would be attended with as little danger, so we 

 learn, as ordinary coal gas. 



How Fermentation Germs are Spread. — The 

 diffusion of alcoholic ferments by insects, especially 

 by ants and flies, has been a subject of experiment 

 by Dr. Amedeo Berlese, an Italian biologist. It is 

 found not only that yeasts, varying according to 

 their source, are conveyed by these insects, but 

 that they live and multiply in the interior of flies 

 and are doubtless largely preserved during the cold 

 season in the bodies of insects. The part played 

 by living organisms in disseminating the yeasts to 

 which the fermentation of fruits, etc., is due, must 

 be very much greater than that by air.—/. H. Cooke, 

 Lincoln. 



