242 J. Orton on the Andes of Ecuador. 
as is true of that which separates in the decomposition of per- 
manganates and chromates by oil of vitriol.* The plant, then, 
appears to be an agent of nitrification when living as well as 
when dead, and ozone is the result of a molecular chan 
which accompanies the decomposition as well as the formation 
of oxygen compounds. 
Sheffield Laboratory, Dec., 1868. 
Art. XX.—Geological Nétes on the Andes of Ecuador ; by 
JAMES ORTON, 
We believe with Darwin, that the Andes did not suddenly 
reach their present gigantic proportions, Wilson counted six 
terraces in going up from the sea, through the province of 
Esmeraldas toward Quito. Moreover, such an assemblag? of 
great volcanoes, among them Cotopaxi, the highest open vent 
are the cerros, or outlying spurs; and still higher are the p@” 
amos or bleak, aay highlands out of nih rise the x 
cass. the west slope of the Ecuadorian Andes, is abou 
275 feet per mile ; on the east, it is 125. Yo 
ite ae chain is built up of granitic, gneissoid 
Schistose ro in vertical position, and capped 
* May not the liberation of chlorine in preparing oxygen from a mixture of 
Manganese, be due to the action of ozone? pet : 
Position is effected in a low heat, but not we. 
0 the latter case ozone cannot exist. 
