Miscellaneous Intelligence. 233 



schreibersite ; it does not yield distinct figures when etched. An 

 analysis afforded : 



Fe Ni Co Cu Mg P S Insol. cubes. 

 92-67 6-46 0-55 tr. 0-42 0*24 none 0-04 = 100"38 



The cubic crystals, obtained from dissolving a piece of the 

 iron, were about a hundred in number, the average thickness 

 of the larger ones being one-hundreth of an inch. The cubic 

 faces predominate, but the edges in some cases are replaced by 

 dodecahedral planes. The hardness is 2*5, the specific gravity 

 2*12, the color black. A series of chemical tests led to the conclu- 

 sion that the material was carbon, resembling graphite in most of 

 its characters but considerably harder and unlike in form. The 

 author recalls a paper by Haidinger, published in 1846 on " Graph- 

 ite pseudomorphous after iron pyrites" obtained from a graphite 

 nodule in the Arva meteoric iron, and concludes that their na- 

 ture must have been the same as those from the Youndegin 

 iron. The pyrite hypothesis, however, is shown to be untenable 

 as well on crystallographic grounds, as because pyrite is thus far 

 an unknown mineral in meteorites. In some respects the Youn- 

 degin crystals suggest pseudomorphs, more especially since they 

 sometimes consist simply of a hollow shell, but in other regards 

 they appear to be original forms. The author is inclined to 

 hold them to be an allotropic form of carbon distinct from dia- 

 mond and graphite, and he names it Cliftonite after Mr. R. B. 

 Clifton, Professor of Physics at Oxford.- 



III. Miscellaneous Scientific Intelligence. 



1. The Height of Summer Clouds. — A knowledge of the 

 heights and movements of the clouds is of much interest to 

 science, and of especial importance in the prediction of weather ; 

 the subject has therefore recieved much attention during 

 recent years from meteorologists, chiefly in this country and 

 in Sweden. In the last published Report of the Meteorological 

 Council for 1885-86 will be found an account of the steps taken 

 by that body to obtain cloud-photographs; and in the Meteoro- 

 logische Zeitschrift for March last, Ekholm and Hagstrom have 

 published an interesting summary of the results of observations 

 made at Upsala during the summers of 1884-85. They deter- 

 mined the parallax of the clouds by angular measurements made 

 from two stations at the extremities of a base of convenient 

 length, and having telephonic connection. The instruments used 

 were altazimuths, constructed under the direction of Prof. Mohn, 

 specially for measuring the parallax of aurora borealis. A full 

 description of these instruments and of the calculations will be 

 found in the Acta Beg. Soc. Sc. Tips. 1884. The results now in 

 question are based upon nearly 1500 measurements of heights / 

 the motions will form the subject of a future paper. It was 

 found that clouds are formed at all levels but that they occur most 

 frequently at certain elevations or stages. The following are, 



