1895.] Geology. 157 
GEOLOGY. 
Meunier on Meteorites.—The collection of meteorites in the Na- 
tural History Museum of Paris is unexcelled to-day in respect to variety 
and quantity of material amassed. To m ona wei natural meteorites 
has been added the products of Iting from at- 
tempts to solve the problem of the origin of meteorites. Further facility 
in the study of this extramundane material is afforded by bringing 
together the meteoric minerals and types of analogous earth minerals 
for the purpose of comparison. It has been thought possible by M. 
Stanislas Meunier to arrive at some definite conclusion as to the origin 
and possibly the past history of meteorites by a close study of their 
composition and a comparison of their mineral constituents with simi- 
lar minerals occurring in our own earth formations. Such a study, 
embracing as it does both geological and astronomical facts, he calls 
comparative geology. 
M. Meunier takes for a starting-point the meteorites of Chili, which, 
for convenience, are classified under special types. Each type is de- 
scribed in detail, its particular lithological characters discussed, and 
their significance given. In the course of the examination M. Meu- 
nier finds true breccias, metamorphic rocks and volcanic rocks so simi- 
lar to terrestrial eruptions that the closest attention is necessary to 
detect the difference. The conclusion from these facts is that the original 
source of these meteors has been the theatre of geological phenomena 
comparable with those occurring on the earth. 
M. Meunier does not hold with the theory that meteors and shooting- 
stars have a common origin. The chief objections to the theory are: 
(1) Shooting-stars are never accompanied by noise; meteors always 
are. (2) Shooting-stars are periodical in appearance; meteors are 
irregular. He is of the opinion that meteors are fragments of a single 
star which was constructed on the same general plan as our planet, and 
notes that it is possible that the fragmentary stage is the last phase of 
a truesidereal evolution. (Actes Soc. Scien. du Chili, Tome III.) 
The Origin of Bitumens.—In a recent number of the American 
Journal of Science, S. F. Peckham gives a short account of how he was 
led to adopt Newberry’s “ distillation ” theory to account for the origin 
of bitumens. The heat required for distillation results from metamor- 
phic action. In regard to the oils of eastern Ohio and western Pennsyl- 
