SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 513 
opaque, the other glossy and transparent ; the former had a specific gravity of 
0‘9234 ; the latter, of 0'9285. — Vide The Chemical News, May 12. 
Composition of Dry and Fossil Sepia. — M, Hosau has been investigating 
the composition of the ink-bags of Cephalopods, a subject which has already 
been taken up by other chemists. He obtained two of the ink-bags of the 
cuttle-fish, which were very dry and hard, and were said to be very old. 
The specific gravity of the mass was 1'275. It broke with a conchoidal 
fracture, and, when examined under the microscope, appeared as a black 
amorphous substance, which underwent no change of colour when treated 
mth acetic acid, potash, or alcohol. It was readily attacked by strong acids,, 
dissolving in nitric acids, to form a reddish solution. Chloride of sodium 
constitutes the largest mineral ingredient in this substance, whose organic 
composition in 100 pints is as follows : — Carbon 44’2, hydrogen 3*3, nitrogen 
9*9, and oxygen 42'6. — Vide Chemisches Central Blatt, No. 11, 1865. 
A Neiv Solvent for Aniline Colours has been discovered by M. G. 
De Claubry. This gentleman, who has for some time past been experi- 
menting, with a view to find some cheap substitute for wood spirit and 
alcohol, has discovered that a decoction of soap bark, or of Egyptian soap 
root, dissolves these colours admirably, and furnishes a solution which is in 
every way adapted to the requirements of the dyers. He has found, too, 
that the new solutions present uniform shades — a fact of no small importance. 
— Vide Comptes Bendus, T. ix.. No. 13. 
The Preparation of Litmus by a new process has been suggested by 
M. de Luynes. He derives the colouring matter from orcine. He mixes this 
substance with twenty-five times its weight of crystallized carbonate of soda, 
and five times its weight of water, with the addition of a quantity of liquid 
ammonia equal in weight to the orcine. The mixture is placed in an im- 
perfectly closed mattrass. It is then heated to between 60° and 80° for four 
or five hours, and stirred from time to time. The resulting dark violet-blue 
liquid is then diluted with water, and has hydrochloric acid added in excess. 
The precipitated colouring matter, when washed and dried, is pure litmus. — 
Vide Journal de Pharmacie et de Chimie, March. 
GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 
Irish Limestone Caverns. — At a late meeting of the Cork Cuvierian Society 
Professor Harkness, so well known for his investigations of Scottish rocks, 
announced the discovery of the bones of mammals in a limestone quarry at 
Middleton, co. Cork. The rock consists of the ordinary limestone of the 
district, in one part much fissured, and under this fissured portion there is a 
mass of brown clay, the thickness of which cannot be determined, as its base 
is not seen. This reddish-brown clay under the limestone is the deposit 
which furnishes the fossil bones, and which, doubtless, fiUs the space that 
was once a natural grotto. Besides the bones, which are in a fragmentary 
condition, there are also present teeth and antlers. The latter are much 
broken, and do not afibrd sufficient character to enable the species to be 
accurately determined. They seem, however, to belong to two forms, one of 
