NOTES AND QUERIES, 



851 



what the price of Dr. Hibberti's work is on the fish-remains discovered at Bur- 

 diehouse by him, and if it can be obtained ? — I remain yours respectfully, J. W. 



This book is out of print, and not to be obtained of the publisher. The 

 original paper is in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 



Extract of a Letter eeom Edwd. Wood, Esq., E.G.S., Richmond, 

 Yorkshire. — Should any of your numerous readers be about to form a geo- 

 logical museum with plate glass wall-cases on a somewhat extensive scale, I 

 am certain that much trouble and outlay, as well as time, will be saved by hav- 

 ing sent to them the elevation and plan of the cases as just completed in my 

 new room. Though the drawings were carefully made, and subjected to the 

 well practiced eyes of the courteous savans of the British Museum and the 

 Survey, still the cases had to be pulled down, and altered again and again. 

 No one but he that has tried it can know how difficult it is to stratigraphically 

 arrange a large series of fossils in proper display, or to make large and heavy 

 slabs and microscopic examples fit together to line and to rule. At last this 

 has been in a great measure accomplished here ; and I know that any applica- 

 tion for the plans addressed to Mr. John Metcalfe, the skilful cabinet-maker of 

 this town, who has so admirably made all the cases, will receive a prompt reply 

 and much disinterested information. 



It may likewise be valuable to some to know that Mr. Gavin Young, of 

 Carron Mills, Edinburgh, is a most admirable lapidary ; and though a perfect 

 stranger to me, he has been entrusted with many of my rare fossils to reduce 

 and cut ; that in about a hundi'ed sent to him, all have been cheaply and imme- 

 diately done, and that the most ponderous boxes sent have been so wonderfully 

 reduced in weight, that it required an examination to be assured that all had 

 been returned. In every instance the lines marked for cutting have been care- 

 fully kept — the value and capability of arrangement of rough specimens 

 wonderfully increased ; and that in no instance has the delicate surface of any 

 one specimen been in the slightest degree scratched or injured. 



Remarkable Property of Iron. — In the year 1856, says a contemporary, 

 Mr. March, an able chemist connected with the Royal Arsenal, discovered that 

 it was an invariable rule with iron which has remained a considerable time 

 under water, when reduced to small grains or an impalpable powder, to become 

 red hot, and ignite any substances with which it comes in contact. This he 

 found by scraping some corroded metal from a gun, which ignited the paper 

 containing it, and burnt a hole in his pocket. The knowledge of this fact is 

 of immense importance, as it may account for many spontaneous fires and ex- 

 plosions. The tendency of moistened particles of iron to ignite was discovered 

 by the great Erencli chemist, Lemary, as far back as the year 1670. 



Silver in California. — M. Peligot, a professor of chemistry in Paris, has 

 recently received a specimen of mineral silver, which reached General Morin, 

 the Director of the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, from California. It 

 It is said to have been taken from a mine which occupies a surface of twenty- 

 five square miles, and is of great depth. The mineral is described as remark- 

 ably pure and rich, containing not less than twenty-six per cent, of silver, 

 together with a fair proportion of gold, copper, and antimony. Should the 

 mine be as rich as it is described, it will, in the opinion of the learned chemist, 

 restore the equilibrium between the relative value of gold and silver, which 

 was beginning to be disturbed. 



PossiL Elint Implements in America. — Sir, — Can you inform me if any 

 truly fossil flint-implements have been found in America ? whether the flint 

 arrow-heads, &c., commonly found in Canada, Peru, and other places on the 

 great western continent belong to the historical or geological periods ? and 

 whether any weapons similar to those from the English and French gravel 

 drifts have been discovered in America ? 



