454 



Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



14. Geognostiche Darstellung der Steinkohlen-formation in Sachsen mil 

 besonderer Berucksichtigung der Rothliegenden, von Hanns Bruno Gei- 

 nitz ; Erste Abtheilung. 90 pp. fol., with 12 lithographic folio plates. 

 Leipzig, 1856. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann. — We recently noticed 

 the beautiful work of Dr. Geinitz on the Fossil Plants of the Coal forma- 

 tion of Saxony. In the work just issued, the author treats of the rocks 

 and coal beds. He first describes the various known kinds of coal from 

 lignite to anthracite and graphite and their modes of occurrence. Next 

 he treats of the Coal formation of the Erzgebirg Basin; (1,) the Hai- 

 nich-Ebersdorf Coal formation, or the Saxon culm-coal ; (2,) the produc- 

 tive coal beds of the vicinity of Zwickau ; (3,) the Permian with the in- 

 cluded eruptive rocks, overlying the coal measures of Zwickau ; (4,) on 

 the probable extension of coal to the west and north of Zwickau, and on 

 the explorations for stone coal in the granulite north : with further spe- 

 cial remarks on the Erzgebirg basin at Zwickau. Prof. Geinitz then takes 

 up in a following chapter the anthracite region of the Upper Erzgebirg. 

 The descriptions as well as sections exhibit with great precision the order 

 of succession and characters of the beds of rock and coal in the coal 

 measures of the different regions, and many facts bearing on their origin 

 and history. The Permian is shown to be essentially a part of the Palaeo- 

 zoic, related to the Carboniferous Period, rather than to the Triassic. 



15. Das normal Verhaltniss der chemischen und morphologischen Pro- 

 portioned von Adolf Zeising. 112 pp. 8 vo. Leipzig. Rudolf Weigel. — 

 O Qebg yeuiysTgel. — The idea of simple mathematical proportions in nature 

 is exciting much attention and research. M. Zeising in this work endeavors 

 to trace the numbers 1:2:3:5:8:13:21: 34, etc., which are known 

 to occur in the arrangement of the leaves of plants, through the human 

 figure, animal and vegetable structure, physiology, musical harmony, the 

 planetary system, the earth's features, architecture and chemistry. And 

 he further aims to reduce it to a still simpler form. 



He divides 1000 into two parts, in such a way that the larger is a 

 mean between the smaller and the whole, which gives 1000 : 618.0339 : 

 381*9660. This series continued, by simple proportion, making the first 

 to the second, as the second to the third, the third to the fourth and so on : 

 —gives 1000 : 618-03. . . : 381-96. . . : 236-06. . . : 145-89. . . : 90-16. . . 

 : 55-72. . . : 34-44. . . : 21*28. . . : 13-15. . . : 8-13. . . : 5*02. . . : 3-10. . . : 1-92 

 . . . : 1*18. . . 0*45. . . etc., in which the sum of any two adjoining terms 

 equals the next preceding. 



In the series y ^ § f f y¥' etc - tne ^ ast term nas tne vame 0*618, cor- 

 responding with the value of the larger of the terms above, and showing 

 that the series is based fundamentally on the preceding. M. Zeising com- 

 pares the normal height of man (A) with the height of the lower part of 

 the body (B), and of the upper (C), and states the ratio, A : B : C:-=1000 : 

 618-0 : 381-9. Again, for the ratio of the whole lower part (A), the upper 

 part of the leg (B), and the lower (C), the ratio A : B : C=618-0 : 381-9 : 

 236-0. So also for the upper part of the body (A), and its two parts 

 the chest (B), and the head (C), the ratio A : B : C=381'9 : 236*0 : 

 145*9. — In music, the ratios 1:2:3:5:8, are given by the succession of 

 tones C : C (octave) : G : E: C (2nd octave). — 1 : 2 is the octave ; 2 : 3 the 

 fifth ; 3:5 major sixth or minor third transposed ; 5 : 8 minor sixth, or 

 major third transposed. 



