124 



SCIENCE, 



[Vol. YL, No. 132. 



states, that no case treated by liim lias developed 

 into hydrophobia. 



At the tune of Mr. Dickson's visit to Sedalia, I had 

 the opportunity of seeing the stone for a few minutes, 

 and found it to be a fossil coral of the genus Favo- 

 sites. It was of rather small size, only about three- 

 fourths of an inch across, and was of hemispherical 

 shape, with one side cut so as to present a smooth 

 surface. The fossil seemed to be silicified, a part of 

 the tubes being filled almost to the ends, and a part 

 open. The tube cavities on the flat surface generally 

 presented open spaces between the diaphragms or 

 tabulae, making the stone more or less cellular or 

 porous. From the slight examination I made of the 

 stone, I judge it to be Favosites gothlandica Lam., if 

 from Scotland; and, if it is American, F. hemispheri- 

 cus Y. and S. 



I have since seen Mr. Girard; and I learn from 

 him, and also from the Sedalia agent of the Adams 

 express company, that the stone was first soaked in 

 sweet milk without having any effect upon the color 

 of the milk. It was then applied to the arm, and ad- 

 hered so tightly, that, on turning the arm over and 

 shaking it, the stone still clung to it. About three 

 times the stone was taken from the arm and soaked 

 in milk, and it then turned the milk a greenish color. 

 At last the stone would no longer adhere to the 

 wound, and the cure was pronounced complete. 



Has any competent person made proper tests of 

 reputed mad stones '? Are these persons mistaken 

 about the stone adhering tightly? Would any simi- 

 lar porous stone adhere the same way ? Are the 

 persons also mistaken about the change in the color 

 of the milk ? In short, will any stone have any effect 

 on virus in a person's blood ? F. A. Sampson. 



Sedalia, Mo., July, 1885. 



[We may add as a final query. How did such a su- 

 perstition arise ? — Ed.] 



The inscription rocks on the island of Mon- 

 hegan. 

 During a recent visit to the island of Monhegan, 

 Me., my attention was called by Mr. P. C. Manning 

 of Portland to the so-called inscriptions described 

 and figured by Schoolcraft in his ' Indian tribes,' vol. 

 vi. p. 610. Tlie inscriptions are on a small island, 

 Menana, which is separated from Monhegan island 

 proper by a narrow channel. The principal inscrip- 

 tion, that figured by Schoolcraft, is on the nearly 

 vertical face of a small cliff about five feet high, sit- 

 uated a few rods north and east from the fog-signal 

 station. The country rock of both islands is a black 

 or dark-gray rock different from any rock I have seen 

 in Maine except at one other locality. A lithological 

 description of this rock is reserved for the present. 

 It shows great numbers of veins. Part of these veins 

 are of white granite, or sometimes of white quartz; 

 but many are black, like the surrounding rock, and 

 differ from it simply in fineness of grain. When 

 weathered, even the blackest of the rocks become 

 dark gray in color. As the various layers differ so 

 much in granular condition, and somewhat in com- 

 position, they naturally weather and fracture very 

 differently. Some of the rock is quite massive, with 

 no regular fracture : other layers fracture quite pri€- 

 matically, almost like slates. The rocks are every- 

 where weathered into forms unusually varied, and 

 often fantastic ; the veins sometimes weathering 

 faster than the contiguous rock into furrows, at other 

 times into ridges. The joints and veins are often 

 arranged systematically. 



When one first sees the inscription rock, he cannot 

 fail to notice that the appearance is as if a tablet had 



been prepared upon the surface of the rock, not hori- 

 zontally, but obliquely. There are two parallel fur- 

 rows about one-half an inch deep, and eight inches 

 apart; and the so-called letters are on this 'tablet.' 

 The tablet has a fine-pitted surface of weathering 

 quite even and flat. The surrounding rock is more 

 coarsely pitted. Examination shows that this appar- 

 ent tablet is simply the exposed edge of a fine-grained 

 vein which penetrates the coarser-grained rock ob- 

 liquely. This vein shows both on top of the rock and 

 also on the side. The parallel furrows which enclose 

 the so-called inscription tablet are simply furrows of 

 weathering at the sides of the vein. The supposed 

 letters are composed of straight furrows intersecting 

 each other obliquely, so that most of them are some 

 modification of the letters Y and X. A cross-section 

 of these furrows ends in a sharp angle enclosed be- 

 tween curved lines, like the sinus of a crenate leaf. 

 At the base of the furrows I invariably found a crack 

 in the rock, though sometimes not readily without the 

 aid of a magnifier. There are two systems of these 

 joints, — one nearly vertical, the other nearly at right 

 angles to the sides of the vein. Nearly all the fur- 

 rows forming the supposed inscription belong to these 

 two systems of joints : a few are aberrant, and two 

 are horizontal. Most of the joints are filled with a 

 film of oxide of iron, but the two horizontal joints 

 and two others are open. At the point where the 

 vein obliquely enters the rock, the furrows on the 

 vertical wall are continued without a break around 

 the angle of the rock to the edge of the roof-exposure 

 of the vein. This is plainly caused by the same joint 

 penetrating the vein at both exposures. In general, 

 the exposure of the vein on top of the cliff has been 

 more unevenly eroded, and shows fewer furrows. A 

 small piece has recently been broken from the south- 

 east corner of the inscription tablet; and an iron- 

 filled crack, which is found ai the base of a furrow 

 above this fracture, can be seen crossing the fresh 

 surface, though it is faint. The inscription furrows 

 bend downward into the two longitudinal furrows 

 which border the so-called inscription tablet. The 

 surrounding coarse-grained rock shows but few fur- 

 rows, and they are not so regular in outline as those 

 on the edge of the vein. 



It is evident that the ' inscription ' is a freak of sur- 

 face erosion. The furrows are the result of weather- 

 ing along joints. At the same time they differ from 

 the ordinary weathering of the island in certain details. 



A few rods from this inscription is a smaller one, 

 very much like it in form of erosion furrows ; and I 

 found a small slab, near the north-east angle of Mon- 

 hegan island, showing almost identical Y and X forms. 



Portland, July 27. ' G. H, StONE. 



Recent contributions to the literature of 

 micro-biology. 



Two works upon this subject have recently been 

 published. Dr. Friedliinder, pathologist to Friedrichs- 

 hain, has reviewed the French work of Cornil and 

 Babes mercilessly, and with a personal animus not in 

 harmony with scientific accuracy. It will be remem- 

 bered, that Dr. Babes was the Hungarian authority 

 who bitterly opposed Koch's views of the tubercular 

 bacillus, and sought to substitute in lieu thereof 

 ' Babes' granules.' He was, for a short time, a student 

 in the laboratory of Professor v. Recklenhausen, and 

 then went to Dr. Cornil, in Paris. Later, he came to 

 Prof, Dr. Yirchow, in Berlin, where he has remained 

 ever since. He is still a very young man ; and while he 

 has not the extended experience in pathological my- 

 cology of Friedlander, Koch, or Hirschberg, he has 

 been constant, in season and out of season, in his lab- 



