368 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 4* 



facturer a fair profit. It often fetches much more, as there has been an 

 increasing demand for the article owing to the greater facilities afforded 

 for exportation from Ningpo in foreign vessels. 



" The Wan-chau Alum is equal to the best Roman, — a roseate tint in 

 some specimens indicates the presence of minute quantities of iron. 



"We have no means of ascertaining the precise geological position of 

 the rock from which this alum is procured ; some circumstances seem to 

 indicate it to be a new mineral. It is stated that no potash nor any other 

 material is employed in the works. Granitic and porphyritic rocks abound 

 in the vicinity, and some parts of the district produce iron and silver. 

 According to the Wan-chau Topography, the working of silver was dis- 

 continued in the reign of Wan-lih (1615) in consequence of imperial 

 prohibition. This part of the coast has recently become the seat of exten- 

 sive poppy cultivation for the bane of the Chinese race. 



" As a contribution to the physical description of the alum district, we 

 would add that the typhoon of September last was preceded by a rising 

 of water in wells and ponds many miles inland. When the cyclone 

 reached the coast it submerged about a hundred square miles, occasioning 

 a vast destruction of life and property. The waters of the sea were 

 retained in the country by strong Easterly winds for several days leaving 

 a strip of land bordering on the sea quite dry." — North China Herald, 

 23rd January, 1856." 



The rock, for it is one, and not a mineral, is a grey felspar porphyry 

 with minute brilliant white specks, which may be arsenical pyrites, silvery 

 mica or sulphuret of Nickel, but I was unable to sacrifice enough of the 

 rock to ascertain what it was. When polished it shews a very pretty sur- 

 face, and a small portion pulverised and calcined and then boiled gave sul- 

 phuric acid and alumina to the usual tests, so that it is probably an alum 

 porphyry, i. e. a porphyry containing Alunite. 



H. PlDDINGTON. 

 LlBEAEY. 



The Library has received the following accessions during the month of 



May last. 



'Presented. 



Oeuvres Completes De N. H. Abel, Mathematicien, Avec des Notes et 



Developpements, Redigees par ordre du Roi par B. Holmboe, Christiania, 



1839, 2 vols, bound in one, 4to.— By the Royal Univeesity orCheis- 



TIANIA, NOEWAY. 



Recherches Cliniques *sur La Syphilisation, par Dr. Wilhelm Boeck, 

 pamphlet. — By the Same. 



Christian Den Fjerdes Norske Lovbog af. 1604, Efter Foranstaltning af. 





