46 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



[1853 



length about ninety, as it stretches away westwardly, towards the 

 base of the gloomy and dark range of mountains known as the Black 

 Hills. Its most depressed portion, three hundred feet below the gene- 

 ral level of the surrounding country, is clothed with scanty grasses, 

 and covered by a soil similar to that of the higher grond. To the sur- 

 rounding country, howewer, the Mauvaises Torres present the most 

 sti iking contrast. From the uniform, monotonous open prairie, the 

 traveller suddenly descends one or two hundred feet, into a valley that 

 looks as if it had sunk away from the surrounding world ; leaving 

 standing all over it. thousands of abrupt, irregular, prismatic, and 

 columnar masses frequently capped with irregular pyramids, and 

 stretching up to a height of from one to two hundred feet or more. So 

 thickly are these natural towers studded over the surface of this extra- 

 ordinary region, that the traveller threads his way through deep, con- 

 fined, labyrinthine passages, not unlike the narrow, irregular stre ts of 

 some quaint old town of the European continent. Viewed in the dis- 

 tance, indeed, these rocky piles, in their endless succession, assume 

 the appearance of massive artificial structuies, decked out with all the 

 accessories of buttress and turret, arched doorway and clustered shaft, 

 pinnacle and finial, aud tapering spire. One might almost imagine 

 oneself approaching some magnificent city of the dead, where the 

 labour and the genius of forgotten nations, had left behind them a mul- 

 titude of monuments of art and skill. On descending from the heights, 

 however, and proceeding to thread this vast labyrinth, aud inspect, in 

 detail, its deep, intricate recesses, the realities of the scene soon dissi- 

 pate the delusions of the distance. The castellated forms which fancy 

 had conjured up have vanished : aud around one on every side is 

 bleak and barren desolation. Then, too, if the exploration be made 

 in midsummer, ths scorching rays of the sun pouring down in the 

 hundred defiles that conduct the wayfarer through this pathless waste, 

 are reflected back from the white or ash-coloured walls that rise 

 around, unmitigated by a breath of air or the shelter of a solitary shrub. 

 The droopiug spirits of the scorched geologist are not permitted, how- 

 ever, to flag. The fossil treasures of the way well repay its sultriness 

 and fatigue. At every step, objects of the highest interest present 

 themselves. 



Embedded in the debris lie strewn, in the greatest profusion, 

 organic relics of extinct animals. All speak of a vast fresh water 

 deposit of the early tertiary period, and disclose the former existence 

 of most remarkable races, that roamed about in bygone ages high up 

 in the valley of the Missouri, towards the sources of its western tribu- 

 taries ; where now pasture the big-horned Ovis Montana, the shaggy 

 buffalo or American bison, and the elegant aud sleuderly constructed 

 antelope. Every specimen as yet brought from the Bad Lands, prove 

 to be of a species that became exterminated before the mammoth and 

 mastodon lived, and differ in their specific character, Hot alone from 

 all living animals, but also from all fossils obtained even from eontera- 

 poraneous geological formations elsewhere. Along with a single exist- 

 ing genus, the rhinoceros, many new genera, never before known to 

 science, have been discovered, and some, to us at this day, anomalous 

 families, which combine in their anatomy structures now found only in 

 different orders. They form, indeed, connecting links between differ- 

 ent orders. For example, in one of the specimens from this strange 

 locality, we find united characters belongiug now to three orders. Au- 

 other, the Orcodon, has grinding teeth, like the elk and deer, with 

 canines resembling omnivorous, thick-skinned animals; being, in fact, 

 a race which live both on flesh aud vegetables, and yet chewed the 

 cud like our cloven-footed grazers ! 



Associated witli these extinct races, we behold also, in the Mauvaises 

 Terres, abundant remains of fossil Pachydermata, of gigantic dimen- 

 sions, and allied in their anatomy to that singular family of probosci- 

 date animals, of which the Tapir may be taken as a living type. These 

 form a connecting link between the tapir and rhinoceros; while in the 

 structure of their grinders, they are intermediate between the damon 

 and rhinoceros; by their canines and iucisors they connect the tapir 

 with the horse on the one hand, and the peccary aud hog on the other. 

 They belong to the same genus of which the labors of the great Cuvier 

 firstdisclosed the history, under the name of Palaeolhcrinm, in publish- 

 ing his description of the fossil bones exhumed from the gypsum 

 quarries of Moutmatre, near Paris, but are of distinct species; and one 

 at least, of this genus, discovered on the Bad Lands, must have attained 

 a larger size than any which the Paris basin afforded. 



A nearly entire skeleton of this animal was discovered, which mea- 

 sured, as it lay imbeded, eighteen feet in length, and nine in height 

 Besides these various remains of singular forms of Mamiuiferas, there 

 ■were also discovered many turtles, one of which was estimated to 

 weigh a ton. These turtles were chiefly observed in a portion of the 

 Bad Lands, some five or six miles in extent, which has much the ap- 

 pearance of an ancient lake. At one of these lake-like expansions, 

 hundreds of fossil turtles were discovered. — Ohio Statesman. 



"What is Coal ? — A curious case relating to a mineral, has lately- 

 occurred in Scotland, in which the opinions of many scientific men of 

 the highest repute have been arranged against one another. The 



main question between the parties, however, was whether the sub- 

 stance was or was not coal. On the part of the plaintiffs, Professors 

 Ansted, Anderson, Mr. Brande, the celebrated chemist, Mr. Alexander 

 Rose, the Rev. Dr. Anderson, Dr. George Wilson, and Dr. J. T. Cooper, 

 were examined. They decided that the mineral was not coal. On the 

 part of the defendants, Prof. Johnson, of Durham, Prof. Ramsay, of 

 London, Professor Hoffman, Chemist in the Government School of 

 Miues, Professor Fyfe, Dr. Douglas Maclagan, Dr. Gregory, Professor 

 Frankland, Mr. Dickinson Goverment Inspector of Coal Mines in Eng- 

 and a number of other scientific, practical aud operative witnesses, 

 were examined. The result of their evidence was, that it was a coal of 

 the Cannel or Parrot kind, differing in no essential respect from that 

 sort of coal, but agreeing geologically and chemically with it in all its 

 characteristics — that its component parts were similar to those which 

 composed coal, its ash contained the same ingredients, and its com- 

 bustion agreed in character. After the jury had been addressed by 

 most eminent counsel on both sides, the Lord President summed up. 

 The jury were to determine whether the substance in question fell 

 within the term whole coal in the demise, for it was not pretended that 

 it came within any other term specified in it. On the one side there 

 were four geologists, who gave it as their opiuion that it was not coal, 

 and five on the other side, who said it was coal, all speaking with 

 perfect sincerity, according to what they as geologists, classed as coal. 

 Men of the highest reputation in geology and chemistry had been 

 examined, but they differed very much in opinion. On one side there 

 were five of the most eminent chemists, who had applied all their skill 

 and energy to find out whether it was coal or not, and who had ex- 

 pressed themselves as clearly of opinion that it was not coal, while ten 

 equally eminent on the other side, were of a diametrically opposite 

 opinion. Is this substance, then, a coal or not, in the ordinary lan- 

 guage of those who deal in it, and of the country ? because, to find a 

 scientific solution of it, after what has been brought to light for the last 

 five days would be, he said, indeed a difficult thing. The jury, after 

 retiring for abont five minutes, returned with a verdict for the defend- 

 ants, thus establishing that in their opiuion, the substance in question 

 was, in effect, coal, aud removing altogether fiom the company the 

 slightest imputation of concealment or deceit. 



Artificial Fuel Manufacture from Coal Rf.fuse. — Iu the first 

 place, the coal dust is thoroughly washed in a tank, fitted with a hori- 

 zontal perforated diaphragm, beneath which it communicates with a 

 cylinder and solid plunger, which being set in action by any prime- 

 mover, an alternate motion is thereby given to the water, the coal-dust 

 thoroughly washed, aud all earthly matter, pyrites, schist, <fcc„ fall to 

 the bottom of the tank, which may be taken out by a lateral opening, 

 and the water removed. The coal-dust is th*n dried, aud passed 

 between two grooved rollers, to reduce it to a uniform size. The next 

 opeation is to mix it with seven or eight per cent, of pitch in a heated 

 state which is accomplished in a peculiarly constructed furnace. The 

 heated vapours and products of combustion from a common furnace 

 grate are made to pass under and through a circular chamber, in which 

 is a revolving cast iron receptacle, with proper openings or gratings to 

 admit the Tapour, over which is a fixed rake, secured by rods and 

 bolts. The operation may be thus described : — The prepared coal-dust 

 is introduced into the receptacle by a propeily arranged door, which, 

 by the rotatiou and the rake, is uniformly spread over it. "When the 

 temperature of the coal has reached 200"' Fahrenheit the valve of a 

 pitch boiler, constructed over the furnace fire, is opened, and the liquid 

 descends by means of a pipe into a long vessel, placed over the rake, 

 from which it is distributed in a very uniform manner among the coal. 

 "When sufficiently impregnated and mixed, it is by an arrangement of 

 traps and fixed scrapers allowed to fall iuto a receptable beneath. 

 From thence, while still hot, it is placed in cast iron moulds, of any 

 convenient size, for the formation ot the fuel brick, and subjected to a 

 hydrostatic pressure equal to 45,000 lbs., producing a compact and 

 solid mass, exceedingly economical for stowage, and which may be 

 oroken up for use as required. 



Pisiculture. — M. de Quatrefages has communicated to the Acade- 

 my some important researches bearing on different points connected 

 with the artificial fecundation of the eggs of fishes. Assisted by M. 

 Millet, of whom we have spoken in our last communication, he has 

 first shown that the temperature of the water for fecundation, is a point 

 deserving especial attention. This temperature varies for each species, 

 aud it is well to ascertain it for each separately. In general, for the 

 winter fish, as trout, it is between 6° and 8° C. ; for the early spring 

 fishes, as pike, 8° to 10". ; for the later spring, as perch, 14° to 16° C ; 

 aud finally, for the fishes of summer, as the barbel, 20° to 25° 0. The 

 necessity of a specific temperature is connected also with the vitality 

 of the spermatozoids of different species, which is of short duration, 

 it not exceeding 8 miuutes iu the pike, whilst in man it lasts 8 hours. 

 The maximum temperature for the spermatozoids of the pike has been 

 obtaiued at -j-2° C. ; a higher temperature destroys them rapidly. 

 The spawn of the pike is kept perfectly well in ice-water, aud the 



