rilK SCIENTISTS 
■27 
Hamilton Gronp of rorks in our county, 
statin*^' tliat l^rof. Swallow, in the oUl 
Missouri Geolo<»ical Kcpoit, claimed llie 
(liscovei-y of such beds nortli of Ashley, 
Pike ('().. jNIo. In fact. Prof. Swallow said 
lie had seen but one well marked oiitcro}) 
of Hamilton rocks iii the ^tate and at the 
above locality, givin^' Atrrpa reticn/aris. 
A Spirifrr identical with a form from the 
Falls of the Ohio aiul a Cyathophylloid 
( 'oral as the means used in identifying^ 
llio strata. 
)Ve ])ronnsed lh(- readers of the 
Scientist to visit the localit}'. scmetime, 
and give them the results of our investi- 
i^-ations. We made the proposed trip iii 
October and found the outcrop, i)icking 
up some small fossils but not a Hamil- 
ton species. '1 he beds are (Jhouteau. 
yielding Mich(^Unio placmta, and a small 
Cijathophylloid, abundant in the Chouteau 
near here. Single valves of a Spirifera 
near to 31c(rionensis occur there as well 
as other (Jhouteau outcrops in the 
county. There is an Athyris character- 
istic of this sei'ies of rocks hut we have 
never met an Atrypa and we doubt it 
this genus has ever been found above the 
Niagaj-a Group in our county. 
Physk ISTS talk of the rate at which 
electricity travels; my contention is that 
electricity does not travel. In a closed 
circuit, such as that of a dynamo, it may 
be ai'gued that the electricity forming- 
part of the matter of the dynamo circu- 
lates round and round, but not so in the 
case of a lightning discharge or that of a 
Jvcyden jar, where there is no circuit, 
but only a path, 
1 think 1 am now in a position to point 
out a source of error which our physicists 
it appears to me, have fallen into, and 
possibly Maxwell himself also, they seem 
to have confused both electricity and 
light with energy; neither light nor 
electricity is energy: light, it is eon- 
tended, does not travel from the stars 
through s[)ace, but sim])ly eneigy. and 
such ti-ansmitted energy develo[»s liglit 
when it comes in contact w itli matter: 
energy is also concerned in all electi-ic,;I 
phenomena, and it is eneigy. not light, 
that travels at the rate of IJI-J.OOO miles 
pe r secon d . — Vdrley. 
The next International Ornithological 
Congress will be held in Budapest, at 
AVhitsuutide, Hungary, commencing JNJav 
17 and lasting four days. Arrangements 
have been made for several excursions 
which will start on the 21st. The Con- 
gress will be divided into the following 
sections: Anatomy, Biology, Economic 
Ornithology, Migration, Oology and 
Systemity. Further information may 
be had from the Hungarian Scientific 
(Jommittee, at the above address. 
Austin Corbin's great game pai-k 
near Newport, Xew Hampshire, contains 
22,000 acres of hilly land, is stocked with 
bufialo, elk, moose, black-tailed deer 
red deer, caribou antelope and wild 
boars from the Black Forest of Germany 
The exjjeriment is said to promise great 
results. 
Thk reddish api)earance of the planet 
Mars is ascribed to a mmiber of causes, 
llerschell thought it was on account of 
the color of the soil, others claim that the 
vegetation, unlike that of the earth, 
is red. 
At the Spokane Falls exposition there 
is a lump of coal from the Eoslyn mine 
containing 130 cubic feet and weighing 
0,000 lbs. 
