522 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



dation has gone much further in the Appalachians than in the Alps, 

 Palaeozoic rocks are still found in troughs of the gneiss. The 

 Silurians that are in contact with the gneiss are, according to 

 the Sections by H. D. Rogers, the most folded of the sediinentaries, 

 and as we recede to the westward the sedimentaries take on more 

 gentle folds. 



Considering that the sedimentaries are estimated to be from 

 8 to 10 miles thick, and that in mountain-chains the site of the 

 thickest deposits is also usually the site of greatest disturbance, it 

 is difficult to realize how the sedimentaries at the thinning-off on 

 a shore-line could be the most folded. 



When also, on the other hand, we see, as in the Urals — which 

 in respect of age may be more correctly compared with the 

 Appalachians, — the same folded crystalline rocks forming the 

 core, we should have very good grounds indeed before we make 

 an exception of the Appalachians. A comparison of the little 

 maps of the Appalachians and of Switzerland in my ' Origin of 

 Mountain-Ranges ' will, I think, show that if one side of the, gneiss 

 core of the Alps were denuded, as I imagine has been the case 

 with the Appalachians, both maps would present very much the 

 same appearance. 



I offer the idea only as a suggestion. That the sedimentaries 

 should be unconformable to the Archseans is what might be ex- 

 pected ; and, I venture to think, is no proof that the gneissic area 

 of the Appalachians has not been deeply covered with sedimentaries 

 since denuded. 



At the same time I freely admit that either view may prove 

 tenable, and shall only be too glad to get further light upon the 

 subject. Yours &c, 



May 25th, 1888. T. Mellard Reade. 



ON THE MAGNETISM OF ORGANIC BODIES. BY S. HENRICHSEN. 



The following summary of the results of a series of researches 

 on organic compounds belonging to the fatty-acid series is given 

 by the author : — 



1. All bodies as yet examined are diamagnetic. 



2. For each CH., which is introduced into the formula of a body, 

 the molecular magnetism increases by a value which in the mean 

 is 163 - 2, taking the molecular magnetism of water at 10. 



3. The molecular magnetisms of isomeric and metameric bodies 

 are equal if the manner of binding is the same. 



4. The molecular magnetism, however, depends on the mode of 

 binding of the atoms. A double binding appears to diminish the 

 molecular magnetism. 



5. The specific magnetism for primary and normal compounds 

 is greater than for secondary and iso- compounds ; in like manner 

 it is greater for the acids than for the corresponding ethers. 



6. With certain assumptions the atomic magnetisms of the in- 



