6g 
"rnt GEOLOGiSf. 
The materials of whicli the diluvium is composed, both withifl 
and beyond the limits of erratic phenomena, were transported by 
tivers and submarine currents ; the greatest masses of diluvium 
were deposited during the thaw and retreat of glaciers. 
Erratic blocks which we find comparatively isolated or buried 
in diluvium, and beyond the limit of erratic phenomena, were 
transported on detached masses of ice, some of which were 
carried downwards by the currents of rivers, and others, floating 
on the sea, were driven southwards by the winds. — Bibliotheque 
universelle de Geneve. — June 1842. 
The double arrangement of molecules— The difference in the 
crystallization of any substance generally arises from a difference 
in its constituent elements, which have a particular and distinct 
influence on the crystallizations. Iron crystallizes in cubes and 
octahedra, whilst peroxide of iron crystallizes in rhomboids with 
angles of 85^ 58' and 115° 7V. Thus 2 atoms of iron, in com- 
bining with 2 atoms of oxygen, lose the cubic form and are trans- 
formed into rhomboids of determinate angles. Ci-ystals of 
arsenic are rhomboids of 85°. 26' and 114° 26', those of arsenic 
acid are octahedra and sometimes prisms ; from this it results 
that the crystals of iron and arsenious acid are identical ; it is 
the same with respect to those of peroxide of iron and arsenic. 
The intervention of oxygen in the crystallization appears to be 
constant, as one finds 3 atoms of oxygen combining with 2 
atoms of iron to form the same crystal as arsenious acid when 
deprived of 3 atoms of oxj^gen, that is to say reduced to its me- 
tallic state. Cubes of metallic iron become rhomboids when the 
metal takes the form of peroxide, in the same way that rhom- 
boids of metallic arsenic become cubes, when it assumes the 
form of a deutoxide. — Poggendorfs Annalen^ 3, 1842. 
On the Evolution of Oxygen from the Organic Deposit of a Salt 
Spring. — At the bottom of the salt basins of the salt works of 
Hodenberg, in Hessia, a glutinous mass is formed, of a grepsh- 
yellow colour, and of a tough, slimy appearance, not unlike 
