SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
365 
Rendus, September 12, 1881) an improvement in the method of separating 
sulphur from its gangue. The old method was so wasteful, that attempts 
were made by means of hot air and superheated steam to get rid of its 
defects, but these processes were not sufficiently successful to get into 
general use. The authors have tried the principle of raising the temperature 
of ebullition of water by the presence of a dissolved salt; and for this 
purpose they employ chloride of calcium, which has the advantage of great 
cheapness, and is completely inert in the presence of the sulphur and its 
gangue at 120° C. The bath contains sixty-six per cent of the chloride, and 
serves for an indefinite period ; the apparatus consists of two rectangular 
troughs, the dimensions of which vary according to the importance of the 
mine. One furnace serves for both, and they are used alternately, the 
boiling liquid being allowed, on the completion of the operation (which 
takes about two hours), to run from the trough used into the other one, 
which has been previously charged with mineral. The work thus goes on 
without interruption. The advantages of this process are said by the 
authors to be, — very cheap extraction of the sulphur from its gangue (five 
francs per ton), great purity of the sulphur produced, applicability through- 
out the year,* as there is no production of sulphurous acid, and almost 
complete extraction, the residue of sulphur in the gangue being not more 
than 2-3 per cent. 
GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY. 
Mesozoic Rocks in Japan . — Dr. D. Brauns and Dr. E. Naumann have 
laid before the German East-Asiatic Society, which has its residence in 
Yokohama, a statement of the evidence that they have respectively obtained 
as to the occurrence of Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits in Japan. Dr. 
Brauns cites two Ammonites which he regards as Jurassic ; one of them, 
identified by the author with Stephanoceras coronatum, was obtained from 
the province of Uragawa Gori, on the island of Jezo. Dr. Neumayr 
remarks that as the specimens show strong constrictions, and a different 
arrangement of the sutural lobes, the above identification cannot be 
correct ; and from these and other characters he is inclined to think that 
it is an Olcostephanus of the group of O. Astierianus or bidichotomus. 
Nearly allied species of this type occur in South Africa (O. Baini, Sharpe), 
Thibet (0. Scheutei, Opp.), and Siberia (O. polypty elms') f and a new species 
from the Hilsthon of North Germany (O. Keiserlingi) is the nearest 
European form. The second supposed Jurassic Ammonite is identified 
by Dr. Brauns with Reltoceras athleta, but this determination seems to be 
doubtful. Its origin is unknown ; it was found in a worked stone in Tokio, 
brought from the town of Sendtru. As the Japanese origin of the first- 
named specimen is also uncertain, this evidence of the occurrence of marine 
Jurassic deposits in Japan cannot be regarded as very satisfactory. 
* The Italian law only permits the fusion of sulphur by the ‘ Calcaroni ’ 
during about half the year, from the end of June to the 15th February. 
