Review of Recoit Geological Literature. 385 
found that they always belong to the first period of consolidation, that 
they are formed in feldspathic magmas, cordierite resulting when they 
also contain magnesia. The results of Morosewicz are not in accord 
with the theory of Pratt as to the origin of corundum in the dunyte of 
North Carolina. 
The author is lead by his review to the opinion that when these min- 
erals are found in an igneous rock they have probably been produced 
by absorption of foreign material, and that the existence of a normal 
magma capable of forming them is "open to question". n. h, w. 
The Scope of the Vjilcanological Survey of Japan, B. KoTO, mem- 
ber of the earthquake investigation committee, Tokyo, igoo. 
This survey is not confined to volcanoes, but is in plan and scope a 
geological survey. Volcanoes and earthquakes being pronounced fea- 
tures of Japan they have given name to an investigation which, when 
fully carried out, will depict not only the location and characters of the 
craters, extinct and active, but also the underground structure through- 
out much of the kingdom. The principles of volcanoes, their causes 
and distribution, are so intimately connected with the structure lines of 
the country, some of which reach back to the early epochs of geology, 
that no geologist could consider one, where they both exist, without also 
examining the other. Prof. Koto distinctly affirms that he works from 
the view point of the "tectonic line", regarding that to have intimate 
and fundamental relations with the known chains of volcanoes, systems 
•of mountains and non-volcanic earthquakes. 
This survey is made tributary to the practice instruction in the Impe- 
rial University. The senior students are allotted certain localities which 
are of interest for field exercises in geology. The final reports on these 
localities serve as thesis topics. The official work began in 1894, al- 
though it was ordered and the governmental Committee was appointed 
two years before. The fund used for travelling expenses the present 
year amounts to 1850 francs. The plan of this establishment seems to 
be excellent and its execution is in good hands. After a time much will 
be known of the geology and vulcanology of Japan. n. h. \v. 
Notes on the Geology of the Depetident Isles of Taiwan, B. KoTO. 
(Jour. Coll. Sci. Imp. Univ. Tokyo, vol. xiii, part i, 1899.) 
These islands lie to the southeastward from China and to the west- 
Avard from Taiwan (or Formosa). They are composed of volcanic rocks 
with interbedded sedimentaries, desolate and barren, "entirely destitute 
of green covering, due, it is said, mainly to the savage violence of the 
winds, against which even hardy shrubs cannot maintain their footing." 
The larger island, Hoko, is composed of Tertiary basalts of three diffe- 
rent dates separated by long intervals, the top-most flow capping the 
surface in butte-like elevations. 
The author discusses fully the petrography of the volcanic rocks, giv- 
ing four plates of microscopic illustrations, and a map. In describing 
the olivine he adopts the term "iddingsite" given by Lawson to an al- 
teration product of olivine, presumed by Lawson to be ah original, new 
