NOTES AND QUERIES. 
351 
what tlic price of Dr. Ilibbcrti'.s work is on the fish-remains discovered at Bur- 
diehouse l)yhiin, and it' it can be obtained ? — 1 remain yours respcetfully, J.W. 
Tiiis book is out of print, and not to be obtained of tlie publisher. The 
orif^inal pajjcr is in the Transactions of the lloyal Society of Kdinburgii. 
ISXTIIACT OF A IjETTEil FROM EdWD. WoOD, EsQ., F.G.S., lllCHMOND, 
YoRKSiiiBE. — Should any of your numerous readers be about to form a geo- 
logieal 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 pi'acticcd eyes of the courteous samna oi: the British Museum and the 
Survey, still the eases 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 stratigrapliically 
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 admu ably made all the cases, wdl receive a prompt reply 
and much disinterested information. 
It may likewise be valuable to some to know that Mr. Gavin Young, of 
Carrou Mills, Edinburgh, is a most admii-able lapidary ; and though a perfect 
stranger to me, lie has been entrusted with many of my rare fossils to reduce 
and cut ; that in about a hundred sent to him, all have been cheaply and imme- 
diately done, and that tlie most ponderous boxes sent have been so wonderfully 
reduced in weight, that it required an examination to be assured that all had 
been retiu-ned. 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 mstauce has the delicate surface of any 
one specimen been in the slightest degree scratched or injured. 
Remakkable 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 wliich has remained a eonsideral)le 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 scraphig some corroded metal from a gun, which ignited the paper 
contaiiiing 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 Erench 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 Dii'cctor of the Conservatoire des Ai'ts et Metiers, from CaUforuia. 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 silvei', which 
was beginning to be disturbed. 
Fossil Flint 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 ? 
