590 
Notes, 
Japanese Minerals," by Mr. John Milne ; “ Measurements of 
Angles of Basaltic Columns in Giant’s Causeway,” by Rev. J. H. 
Jellett. 
According to the “ Breslauer Zeitung ” considerable deposits 
of sulphur are found in the gypsum formation of Upper Silesia, 
especially at Pschow and Kokoschiitz, near Ratibor. 
It appears from the Report of Prof. Burat on the Mine-Explo- 
sion at Frameries, given in “ La Correspondance Scientifique,’’ 
that more than 100,000 cubic metres of fire-damp must have been 
evolved in a very short time. All the two hundred safety-lamps 
(Mueseler’s) were extinguished without causing ignition. The 
gas issuing from the shaft caught fire outside the mine (possibly 
from the engine furnace), and burnt with an enormous flame. 
When the supply was becoming exhausted the burning gas ran 
back into the interior of the mine, followed in its retreat by atmo- 
spheric air, and occasioned nine successive explosions. The 
whole occurrence is considered unexampled in the annals of coal- 
mining. 
From the Reports of the Mining Surveyors and Registrars of 
Victoria we gather that the yield of gold for 1878 is estimated at 
755,754 ounces, showing a decrease of 44,000 ounces as compared 
with 1877. 
From a Paper on the Mineral Wealth of Turkey, in “ Chemiker 
Zeitung,” we learn that tin, cobalt, nickel, bismuth, and uranium 
are entirely absent. Chrome iron ore, emery, and copper are 
plentiful. Coal is found only in the basin of Eregli and Amastra 
on the Black Sea. There are numerous petroleum wells on the 
Persian frontier. 
Referring to the grey modification of tin the same journal 
states that, according to Schertehl, tin, under certain unknown 
circumstances, becomes so brittle as to be crushed between the 
finger-nails, and has the sp. gr. 5*8. If boiled in water it reco- 
vers its ordinary colour and texture, while the sp. gr. rises to 7*3. 
Chinese diamonds are, we are informed by the “ Technolo- 
giste,” chiefly brought from the province of Shantung. Men put 
on thick shoes of straw, and simply roam about the valleys and 
the rivers. The rough and pointed diamonds penetrate into the 
straw and stick fast. The shoes are finally collected together in 
heaps and burnt, when the diamonds remain in the ashes. 
In a Paper on Amber M. Helm says that in entire fragments 
it is permeable to water. It contains as much as 4 per cent of 
sulphur in the state of organic combination. This sulphur has 
probably been absorbed by the fossil resin in the state of hydrogen 
sulphide subsequent to its formation. The author describes ano- 
ther fossil resin, gedanite, which differs from amber by containing 
a smaller proportion of oxygen, and is softer, more fusible, and 
more soluble in ether. It is free from succinic acid. 
