

562 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Nov. 30, 1 885. 



steel for some distance after it comes out of the pipe. 

 Solid masonry, 12 feet thick, surrounds the well to hold 

 the cap on. 



Very little was said in the first section of this paper on 

 the chemical theories for the origin of this gas and petro- 

 leum, and therefore with great advantage the opinion of 

 that truly great chemist and experimentalist, Professor 

 Mendeleef, may be quoted. He thinks that petroleum 

 is produced by water, which penetrates the earth's crust, 

 and comes in contact with glowing carbides of metals, 

 especially those of iron. The water is decomposed into 

 its constituent gases, the oxygen uniting with the iron, 

 while the hydrogen takes up the carbon and ascends to a 

 higher region, where part of it is condensed into mineral 

 oil, and part remains as natural gas, to escape wherever 

 and whenever it can find an outlet. If this assumption 

 be correct, and a sufficient store of metallic carbides be 

 contained in the earth's interior, petroleum may continue 

 to be formed almost indefinitely, and yield a supply of 

 fuel long after coal has become exhausted. The Professor 

 supports his views by producing artificial petroleum in a 

 manner similar to that by which the natural product is 

 made. 



As to the life of a gas well, or, in other words, the 

 length of time when gas will issue from it, only theories 

 can be indulged in. We know that the flow of gas from 

 these wells does diminish, still not yet so far as to dis- 

 courage investors. The natural gas territory is of such 

 vast extent that, should the life of the first wells drilled 

 be comparatively short, others may be drilled in other 

 parts of the district, and (approximately) the same 

 amount of gas may be obtained. This has been demon- 

 strated to be a fact, so far as present experience teaches. 

 However, there seems to be a general opinion that, in 

 process of time, all the gas wells will be exhausted. It 

 is stated that there is not to-day a single gas well in 

 Pennsylvania which is giving out 50 per cent, of the 

 volume of gas which it originally did, and in many 

 instances gas wells of enormous pressure when first 

 opened have been abandoned. Mr. Bedford gave the 

 following analysis of natural gas from Findlay, Ohio : — 

 Marsh gas, 92"6i ; olefient gas, 0-30; hydrogen, 2 - i8 ; 

 nitrogen, 3"6i ; oxygen, o'34.; carbonic oxide, 0-50 ; 

 carbonic acid, 0-26 ; sulphuretted hydrogen, 0*20. This 

 must not, however, be taken as the standard composition 

 of this gas ; it is very variable. Samples taken from 

 one well at different dates have been found to vary in 

 nitrogen from 23 per cent, to o per cent. ; in carbonic 

 acid from 2 per cent, to o per cent. ; in oxygen from 4 

 per cent, to 0-4 per cent, and so on. This fact of 

 variable composition has given rise to many interesting 

 questions and theories. 



GLASGOW NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 

 The 37th annual general meeting of this Society was 

 held on Tuesday, 30th October, Mr. Thomas King, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. The Secretary, Mr. D. A. Boyd, 

 read the report of the Council on the progress of the 

 Society during the past year, which stated that the 

 names of 5 honorary, 10 corresponding, and 11 1 ordinary 

 members had been added to the roll, the total member- 

 ship being 342. The various departments of the 

 Society's work continued to be maintained in a satisfactory 

 state of efficiency. Reports by the Treasurer and 

 Librarian were also submitted and approved. Mr. A. 

 Somerville, B.Sc , F.L.S., was elected a Vice-President, 

 and other office-bearers were appointed. Mr. James 



J. F. X. King exhibited a partial albino blackbird shot L n 

 the neighbourhood of Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire. Rev. 

 John Muir exhibited a series of ophidia and scorpionidae 

 from the south of India, and described the various 

 sub-orders which the specimens illustrated. Mr. R. 

 Broom, B.Sc, made some remarks on the snakes, and 

 referred particularly to the rarer and most interesting 

 forms. Among these were specimens of Cynopliis 

 malabaricus, Passerita purpurescens, and Trimeresiirus 

 anamallensis. A very fine series of the shells of 

 Isocardia eor, one of the rarer marine mollusca was 

 submitted for exhibition. Among the specimens was an 

 adult, dredged in July, 1887, between Lesser Cumbrae 

 and Brodick, and especially interesting as the first living 

 example recorded from the Clyde. This was kindly lent 

 for exhibition by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.G., 

 K.T., D.C.L., F.RS. Numerous other specimens, from 

 various marine districts, were shown by Mr. David 

 Robertson, F.L.S., F.G.S., President, Dr. John Murray, 

 F.R.S.E., F.L.S., honorary member, Mr. W. Anderson 

 Smith, corresponding member, Mr. James Paton, F.L.S., 

 Mr. D. Corse Glen, C.E., F.G.S., and Mr. A. Somerville, 

 B.Sc, F.L.S. A paper was read by Mr. Somerville in 

 which reference was made to the various specimens, and 

 a general account given of the species and its area of dis- 

 tribution. Mr. John Renwick exhibited fasciated main- 

 stems of the Austrian pine (Pinus austriaca) grown on 

 the estate of Traquair, Peebles-shire. 





THE BOURNEMOUTH SOCIETY OF NATURAL 

 SCIENCE. 

 At a meeting held on November 9th, the President 

 (the Rev. G. H. West) in the chair, a paper was read 

 by Mr. C. Carus Wilson on " Musical Sand." The lecturer 

 referred to the history of musical sand, which has been 

 noticed in writings for the last 1,000 years, and men- 

 tioned various localities where it is found, as at the Isle 

 of Eigg, Gebel Nakus, near the Red Sea, Reg-Ruwan, 

 and other places. It has also been found on the beach 

 near Studland, as noticed by Mr. Carus-Wilson in 

 Nature. These interesting and peculiar sands, on being 

 struck with the foot, or put in a bag and struck, or even 

 on drawing the hand through them, have the power, 

 when dry, of emitting a shrill musical sound, quite 

 distinct from the dull thud given by ordinary sand under 

 similar treatment. Mr. Carus-Wilson has examined a 

 number of these musical sands from various localities, 

 and finds they have certain physical properties in 

 common. These are : The individual grains are rounded, 

 polished, of uniform size, free from coating of other 

 minerals, with but slight admixture of angular grains, 

 and entire freedom from fine gritty particles. Hithert 

 no good explanation of the cause of the musical sou- 

 emitted by these sands on percussion has been advanced, 

 nnd on this question Mr. Carus-Wilson has been working 

 and experimenting. He was led to formulate a theory,, 

 which he hopes may lead to a true explanation of the 

 cause of this phenomenon, by noticing the peculiar shrill 

 noise made by the pebbles on Chesil Beach when walk- 

 ing over them. At any point on this beach the 

 pebbles are of uniform size — rounded, smoooth, and 

 free from admixture of gritty particles, so that when dis- 

 turbed by the foot they tend to slide from and over each 

 other, rubbing their surfaces together, and by that action 

 emit a shrill sound unlike the grinding noise from rough 

 or angular stones under like circumstances. The lee- 



