Personal and Scientific News. 259 
disaster, involving the loss of six people and more than 150 
head of cattle, probably occupied, according to computations 
of the velocity of falling bodies, no more than one minute. 
Dr. Lttdwtg Rutimeyer, professor of zoology and compara- 
tive anatomy in the University of Basel, died on Nov. 26th, 
1895, aged 70. Among his more important works are "Unter- 
suchungen der Thierreste aus dem Pfahlbauten in der 
Schweiz." and " Beitrage zur Kentnisse der fossilen Pferde 
unci zu einer vergleichenden Odontographie der Hufthiere in 
Allgemeinen/' In the former he reviews the condition of the 
early races of domestic animals in the lake dwellings of Swit- 
zerland. The latter is a study of the comparative morphology 
of the teeth and it has served as a foundation of much of the 
subsequent work on this subject, especially of the work done 
by American paleontologists. 
A supposed meteorite explosion is recorded from Madrid 
on Feb. 10th. The Madrid Observatory issued the following: 
" At 9.29 this morning a strong light was observed proceeding 
from a small cloud moving from the southwest to northeast. 
A minute and a half latter a terrific report, followed by several 
others of less intensity, occurred, accompanied by a shaking 
of the ground and of buildings. A red-tinted cloud was for 
a long time visible in the east. The directors of the Observa- 
tory suppose the phenomenon was caused by an aerolite. 
Owing to the time that elapsed between the observation of the 
explosion and the report, the aerolite must have burst at a 
great distance from the earth." Reports conflict as to whether 
or not pieces of the meteorite have been found. 
Buried Timber in Glacial Lake Beaches. 
Mr. Ossian Guthrie, whose researches on the glacial drift 
of Chicago and a large region about the southern part of lake 
Michigan are well known, reports in the Chicago Times-Her- 
ald of Feb. 2d, 1896, the occurrence of two tree trunks of 
white oak in and beneath the Late Glacial beach gravel and 
sand of lake Warren, one being found eleven feet below the 
surface in an excavation at Thirty-ninth street and Forest 
avenue, and the other at Thirty-eighth street and Indiana 
avenue eight feet below the surface. The first mentioned was 
about two feet in diameter and was traced a distance of fifty 
feet. Pieces of board sawn from this tree were distributed 
by Mr. Guthrie to several geologists and museums. Fragments 
of trunks and branches of elm, willow, butternut, and black 
walnut, are also reported as found in the same beach deposit. 
Coal Fields of Newfoundland. 
Mr. James P. Howley, director of the Geological Survey of 
Newfoundland, in the Ottawa Evening Journal of Feb. 8th, 
1896, describes the coal fields which are reached by the new 
