October 23, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



369 



saying etliylic phenylacetate, and ethylphenylic 

 acetate. 



It is further remarked that of late years chem- 

 ists have not been sufficiently careful in applying 

 numerical designations to substances ; thus arsen- 

 ious oxide is sometimes called arsenic trioxide, 

 although the formula of gaseous arsenious oxide 

 is As 4O6. 



The committee considers at some length the 

 nomenclature of acid salts, of basic salts, of sul- 

 phiu- salts and of double- salts, pointing out some 

 inconsistencies, suggesting some changes and 

 proposing, very sparingly, new terms. Bemg the 

 thu-d report, many topics ti-eated previously are 

 not touched, and the report is consequently not 

 very wide-reaching. 



In this connection, we remark that the London 

 chemical society, a few years ago, issued to the 

 abstracters for its journal a series of instructions 

 on chemical nomenclature and notation, which 

 have been of the greatest service in securing 

 uniformity in wi-itmg chemical language. Ameri- 

 can chemists are largely following the instructions 

 and simple rules there laid down ; and, so far as 

 the EngHsh lang-uage is concerned, a commend- 

 able uniformity and perspicuity already obtains. 

 H. Carrington Bolton. 



POISONOUS WATERS IN THE COCOS OR 

 KEELING ISLANDS. 



In a recent book of traveP from the pen of 

 Hemy O. Forbes of Aberdeen, Scotland, an account 

 is given of a visit to the Cocos or Keeling Islands, 

 which contains some new facts bearing on the his- 

 tory of coral islands that are specially interesting, 

 as they supplement the studies of Charles Darwin 

 at the same locality. The Keeling Islands, as they 

 are usually called, are situated in the Indian Ocean 

 about 800 mUes southwest of the Straits of Sunda. 

 They were visited by Darwin in 1836, and by 

 Forbes in 1878. It was while exploring these 

 islands that Darwin's weU-known hypothesis of 

 the formation of coral reefs and atolls first sug- 

 gested itself. 



One of the most instructive portions of Mr. 

 Forbes's observations relates to the rising of poison- 

 ous waters in the lagoon enclosed by the Keeling 

 Islands, immediately after a cyclone which oc- 

 curred January 28, 1876, a description of which 

 was furnished by Mr. G. C. Eoss, the present pro- 

 prietor of the islands. 



On the 2oth the mercurial barometer indicated 

 some unusual atmospheric disturbance, and the air 

 felt unusually heavy and oppressive. On the 28th 



1 A naturaXisVs v:anderings in the Eastern Archipelago. 

 A narrative of travel and exploration from 1878 to 1883. New 

 York, Harper, 18^5. H". 



it fell to close on 28 inches, a warning which gave 

 time for all boats to be hauled to a place of safety, 

 and other preparations for a storm to be made. On 

 the afternoon of the same day there appeared in 

 the western sky an ominously dark bank of clouds, 

 and at 4 p.m. a cyclone of unwonted fury burst 

 over that part of the Indian Ocean. About 

 midnight on the 28th the sea rose suddenly, and 

 rushed inland more than 150 yards from high 

 water mark. The storm attained its greatest height 

 about one o'clock on the morning of the 29th. At 

 that hour no object raised a foot or two above 

 the ground could resist its fury. The inhabitants 

 saved themselves only by lying in hollows of the 

 ground. To what distance the barometer might 

 have fallen it is inajDossible to say, for the mercu- 

 rial was carried away ; two aneroids gave it at 26^ 

 inches. 



The following morning broke bright and calm, 

 but not a speck of green could be seen anywhere 

 within the compass of the islands. Round the 

 whole atoll the solid coral conglomerate floor was 

 scooped under, broken up and thrown in vast frag- 

 ments on the beach. On the eastern shore of 

 Home Island, Mr. Forbes observed a wall of many 

 yards breadth, portions of which had been thrown 

 up clear over the external high rim of the island, 

 and several yards inward among the cocoanut 

 trees. 



About 36 hours after the cyclone the water on 

 the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be 

 rising up from below of a dark color. The origin 

 of the spring, which continued to ooze out for 

 about ten or fourteen days, lay somewhere between 

 the north end of New Selima and the north end of 

 Gooseberry Island. Its color was of an inky hue, 

 and its smell ' like that of rotten eggs.' From this 

 point it spread southwest as far as the deep baylet 

 in Southeast Island, where, meeting the currents 

 flowing in at the westward and northern entrances, 

 which run, the one round the western, the other 

 round the eastern shore of the lagoon, its westward 

 progress was stopped ; whereupon, turning north- 

 ward through the middle of the lagoon (becoming 

 slightly less dark as it proceeded) it debouched in 

 the ocean by the north channel. Within twenty- 

 four hours every fish, coral and mollusk, in the 

 part impregnated with this discoloring substance 

 — probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid — died. 

 So great was the number of fish thrown on the 

 beach, that it took three weeks of hard work to 

 bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand. 



At the time of Mr. Forbes's visit the islands were 

 slowly recovering from this sad disaster. He care- 

 fully examined that part of the lagoon over wliich 

 the poisoned waters flowed, and described its effect 

 as foUows : " The whole eastern half of the la coon 



