SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 95 



is a solid concentric sphere of a thickness which can be mathematically 

 computed, enclosing a hollow interior filled with gass of an enormously 

 high temperature, and under great pressure. Volcanic eruptions are oc- 

 casional successful attempts of this interior to escape. These are generally 

 in the neighborhood of deep sea bottoms where the concentric sphere is 

 thinnest and consequently weakest. 



"The sky," says a writer in the New York Times, "is a vast im- 

 movable dial plate. The moon moves along the illuminating figures, trav- 

 eling the dial c[uickly, like a second hand, once a month. The sun, like 

 a minute hand, goes over the dial once a year. Various planets stand for 

 hour hands, moving over the dial in various periods, reaching up to 164 

 years for Neptune. The earth like an exploration ship, sails the infinite 

 azure , bearing the observers to different points where they may inves- 

 tigate the infinite problems of the mighty machinery." 



Prof. Henry A. Ward, formerly of Ward's Natural Science establish- 

 ment in Rochester, visited Mexico recently for the purpose of examining 

 "the largest meteorite in the world." It lies embedded in the erath 350 

 miles northwest of Mexico City. It is of almost solid iron, its outer 

 surface pitted and scarred. The object measures 13 feet in length, 6 

 feet in heighth, and 5 feet 4 inches in width, and its weight is estimated 

 at 50 tons. 



Prof. G. W. Meyers, acording to a recent statement of Prof. Larkin, 

 has determined certain elements in the very interesting spectroscopic 

 binary Beta Lyrae. Period of revolution around mass center, 13 days ; 

 distance between centers of suns, 30,000,000 miles; mass of large sun, 18 

 times that of our sun ; mass of small sun 9 times that of our sun ; velocity 

 of small sun, no miles per second. 



Uranus is now in opposition, and the rare opportunity to see it dis- 

 tinctly with the naked eye is presented to amateur observers. An opera 

 glass tourned upon the star Theta in the right foot of Ophiuchus will in- 

 clude the planet in the field. Its brightness is between the fifth and sixth 

 magnitude. 



GEOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By Dr. Theo. B. Comstock. 



Since the last issue of the Bulletin, Professor Oscar H. Hershey has 

 published* additional notes of studies of the Quaternary of Southern Cali- 

 fornia, in which he develops interesting features of the region between the 

 San Gabriel and Tehachapi ranges, farther east than the area of his 

 previous work in that district. He announces a local patch of Pliocene 

 strata (Mellenia and Escondido beds) at an altitude of 1700 feet, and deduces 

 from his work the existence of a Pliocene river valley in the general course 

 of the present Santa CUra river, coming from the region of Antelope Valley. 

 This is consistent with o^bservations by others, including the writer, and 

 tallies well with the investigations of Professor Davidson, formerly of the 

 U S. Coast Survey (now at head of the Department of Geography.University 

 of California), whose researches prior to the year 1900 determined the posi- 

 tion oflf-coist of twenty-one submerged channels bet ween Cape Mendocino 

 and San Diego § Two of these lie adjacent to the Santa Barbara Channel 

 and Dr. Joseph LeConte announced more than ten years ago th^t "the 

 hollowing out of the submarine channels was the work of the Pliocene 



* American Geologist, June, 1902, Vol. XXX. 



^ Suhmerged l^alleys of California, etc. I'roc. Cal. Acad. Sci., San Francisco, 3d Ser., 

 Geology, Vol. I No. 2, pp. 73-103, 1897, 9 PI. 



