FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE. 



197 



phenomena generally attributed to the generation of vapour in the 

 interior of the globe, as, for instance, earthquakes, the formation of 

 hot springs, the filling up of metalliferous veins, as also the various 

 cases of the metamorphism of rocks. 



" Without excluding the original water, which, element like, is gene- 

 rally supposed to be incorporated with the interior melted masses — 

 do not these experiments show that the infiltrations descending 

 from the surface act in such a manner that the interior regions are 

 continually being replenished and exhausted ; the replenishment 

 being effected in a way the most simple, though vastly different from 

 the syphon and ordinary sources of supply. 



" Thus a phenomenon, slow, continuous, and regular, becomes the 

 cause of sudden and violent manifestations comparable to explosions 

 and losses of equilibrium." 



Note on the Neiv Mineral Fournelite. 



M. Ch. Mene, in order to establish the chemical formula of the 

 mineral found by him near Beaujeu (Rhone), has made several 

 analyses of specimens of different densities furnished him by the 

 proprietor of the mines : the results fully confirm those previously 

 arrived at in September last. 



The average percentage of the components — leaving the quartz out 

 of the question — is as follows : 



Copper 32-0 



Lead 12'0 



Sulphur 23'0 



Iron 30 



Arsenic 8*0 



Antimony 22 "0 



100-0 



Whence the following symbol is derived : — 



3Cu 2 S t 3Sb 2 S 2 + Pb S. + Fe. Ar. 



Chemical Characters of Combustible Minerals. 



M. E. Fremy, who for a long time has been carrying on chemical 

 investigations on the tissues of vegetables, has laid before the Academy 

 of Sciences of Paris the results of his recent researches " On the 

 Chemical Character of Combustible Minerals," in which he has also 

 sought to inquire if the substances which compose them present any 

 analogy with those which form the unaltered tissue of plants. 



Admitting with other geologists that peat, lignite, coal, and an- 

 thracite have been formed under different circumstances, and belong 

 to rocks of very different ages, he has endeavoured to trace in these 



