SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
515 
an appendix to MM. Edwards’ and Haines’ “British Fossil Corals,” and Mr. 
Henry Woodward having also undertaken to prepare a monograph of 
jjalieozoic Crustacea of the aider Eiiry pier ida, for the Palseontological Society, 
they beg to request the kind assistance of geologists, palaeontologists, and 
private collectors generally throughout the country, in forwarding their labours? 
either by the communication of information as to localities, or by the offer of 
the loan of specimens for examination, &c. 
Is there an Open Arctic Sea ? — Sir Eoderick Murchison, who answers this 
question in the affirmative, gives the following arguments in support of his. 
opinion : — (1.) The fact has been well ascertained by Scoresby and others,, 
that every portion of the floating pack-ice north of Spitzbergen is made up of 
frozen sea-water only, without a trace of terrestrial icebergs like those which 
float down Baffin’s Bay, or those which, carrying blocks of stone and debris, 
float northwards from the land around the South Pole. (2.) The northern 
shores of Siberia tell the same tale ; for in their vast expanse the absence of 
icebergs, or erratic blocks, or anything which could have been derived from 
great or lofty masses of land, has been well ascertained. (3.) As a geologist,, 
Sir E. Murchison could point out that this absence of erratic blocks in 
Northern Siberia has existed from that remote glacial period when much 
larger tracts of Northern Europe were occupied by glaciers than at the 
present day. (4.) The traveller Middendorf found the extreme northern 
promontory of Siberia, Taimyr, clad with fir trees, while the immense tract 
of country to the south of it Avas destitute of trees, showing a milder climate 
at the point of Siberia nearest the pole. — Vide “Eeport of Meeting of Geo- 
graphical Society, April 10th.” 
The Eruption of Etna. — The fullest details Avhich have yet been published 
upon the recent operations of this volcano, are given in a memoir laid before 
the French Academy by M. Fouque, who watched the eruption from its com- 
mencement. The eruption was preceded by an earthquake-shock, which was. 
felt with such intensity at Lavina, near Piedmont, that the people rushed 
from their houses, and remained in the open air during the night. It first 
exhibited itself in the form of flames, which Avere seen rising from the north-east 
of the mountain at a height of about 1,700 metres above the level of the sea. 
Up to four in the morning there Avere a feAv hiint oscillations of the ground. 
As soon as the earth had opened the lava commenced running with great, 
rapidity, and in two or three days it had covered a surface nearly four miles 
long, two miles wide, and to a depth of about from thirty to sixty feet. The. 
ground upon which the lava first flowed had an inclination of about four or 
five degrees. After having travelled over this space and destroyed almost 
everything in the shape of vegetation in its passage, the current was met by 
the ancient cone of eruption, known as Mount Stornello. There it dmded 
into two streams ; one flowed to the west of the cone, and moved very slowly ; 
the other passed to the east, and was precipitated into a deep and narrow 
valley of Colla-V ecchio, which lies betAveen Mount Stornello and the chain of 
Serra-de-la-Boffa. At this height the lava was thro\m from a height of 
160 feet into the A^alley beneath, forming in this Avay a veritable cascade of 
fire. The valley soon became filled, but the burning stream continued to 
advance for a distance of about two miles, and Avas finally arrested by a mass, 
of ancient lava knoAvn as Sciarra de la Scorcia Vacca, at a height of about 
VOL. lY. — NO. XVI. 2 M 
