23G 
THE GEOLOGIST. 
successfully lias the cuttini^-eda^es of the crystal placed at right angles to 
each other, and passing through a point of intersection made by crossing 
the edges. A polished diamond, however perfect may be its edges, when 
pressed upon the surface of the glass, splinters it witli the slightest of pres- 
sure ; but with the natural diamond the most accurate lines are produced 
on glass, and their surfaces are so finelj'' burnished that if, ruled close to- 
gether, they decompose light and afford tiie most beautiful prismatic effect, 
• — all the colours of the rainbow flash from them as from the silvery inte- 
rior of a pearl-oyster shell. Diamonds are also employed as drill-points to 
perforate rubies, and bore lioles in draw-plates for fine wire, and also for 
drilling in hard steel. Some inquiries have been made recently in regard 
to using them as a substitute for steel picks in dressing millstones. We 
apprehend that they are altogether too expensive for this purpose at pre- 
sent ; but if some of our inventors would make the discovery of manufac- 
turing diamonds as cheaply as we make charcoal, which is of the same 
composition, we might be able to recommend them to our millers. The 
coke obtained from the interior of gas retorts, in many cases, is found so 
hard that it will cut glass ; but as its point endures but for a short period, 
it cannot be made available as a substitute for the natural diamond for 
such purposes in the arts. A circle of rough diamonds has lately been 
used on a hollow cylindrical auger for boring into hard rocks. 
Mammalian Eemaij^s. — Bones of the following Mammalia were re- 
corded by M. Torchi in a letter read before the French Geological Society, 
Gth April, 1816 (Bull. Geol. Soc. Fr. vol. iii. p. 440-442), found in different 
strata of the sub-Apennine deposit at Imola, in Eomauia. Elephant found 
at Kuisseau de Berguilo in "sable quarzeuso-calcaire conchy lifere " (ma- 
rine shells) ; JElepJias primi genius, Kuisseau Pratella, in " terrain quar- 
zeuso-calcaire ; Elephant, Yallee delle Grazie, Euisseau Pratella, Huisseau 
BerguUo, in the same sand ; Rhinoceros, Euisseau Pratella, in the same 
sand : Hippopotamus, Euisseau Pratella, Euisseau delle Grazie, in the 
" derniere assise de la Marne fleuve," sub-Apeunine ; Equus, Euisseau Pra- 
tella ; Cevvus, Mont Castellano, Euisseau Pratella, Fleuve Santerno, in the 
sand; Ruminant; Volatile, Euisseau de Goccianelio, Euisseau Pratella, 
in the sand. — S. J. M. 
Nebraska Salt Basins. — About 50 miles west of the Missouri river 
there is a remarkable salt region covering about 1500 acres. It consists 
of four basins depressed several feet below the common level. The bottoms 
of the basins ai'e composed of black mud covered over in warm dry 
weather with a thin stratum of salt, causing them to look like fields of 
snow. The salt is collected in scrapers, and occasionally a man will scrape 
up a vraggon-load a day. In and about all those basins there are numerous 
strong brine springs, and farmers come from miles around to boil and 
scrape salt for their use. It is of excellent quality, and the crystals are 
large and clear, like those of the solar salt of Sj^racuse, New York. 
Nuts of CoRYLACEiE, Isle of Wight. — In the ' Enuraeratio Eerum 
Naturalium quae in M.usseo Zamiichelliano asservantur,' Yeuetiis, 173G, is 
the following entry : — 
" Tabula quinta. 14. Nuces Corylacese effossse in insula Vecti, Anglise." 
The same entry occurs also in the earlier catalogue of Zannichelli's col- 
lection, entitled ' Ex Naturae Gazophylacio penes Joannem Hicronymum 
ZaumcheUi.' Yenetiis, 1726. — S. J. Mackie. 
