170 
OBITUARY. 
of the geological construction of Asia Minor, describes the Black Sea, of which it 
has hitherto been supposed that, in consequence of some violent shock, its waters 
opened a passage for themselves, and in so doing caused the deluge of Samothra- 
cia; but on examining the two sides of the Bosphorus, M. Texier says they are 
of such different strata that they never can have been united. The European 
side is composed entirely of trachyte and analogous rocks, and the Asiatic of 
transition limestone. The trachytes have a blue ground with white crystals, 
and extend in a width of several leagues as far as Belgrade and Kila. If the 
Bosphorus diminishes, as reported, it is probably owing to the effusion ■ of the 
trachytic rocks on the European side. 
SiLEX. —M. Turpin has submitted the silex sent from Berlin by M. Ehren- 
BERG, to microscopic observation. The magnifying power amounted to 260, and 
this gentleman found, that the semi-opal of Berlin is a conglomerate of a number 
of silicious particles and fragments of organic remains, the colour of which varies 
from transparent white, and passes through yellow to the deepest and most 
opaque brown. M. Turpin recognised four different bodies; the first of which 
he referred to the genus Gaillonella of M. Bory St. Vincent, or Conferva moni¬ 
liformis ; the second he considered as a different species of the same genus; the 
third was a mixture of tubular filaments, divided into cells at rare intervals, and 
remains of infusoria; the fourth was not organic, but^served as a basis for 
rendering the whole solid. The Silex pyromaque of Delitzsch is much richer ill 
organic productions, offering some very remarkable forms, probably belonging te 
the eggs of Polypi.— Athenceum ; communicated by Charles Liverpool, M. D.,. 
’Plymouth^ May 9, 1837. 
OBITUARY. 
Professor Adam ^zelius, the Nestor of scientific men in Sweden, died at 
Upsal, Jan. 30, 1837, aged 86. He is the last pupil of LmN'iEUs, and celebrated 
for his travels in Asia and Africa. His African Herbarium is now in the Bank- 
sian collection in the British Museum. His younger brothers, John and Peter, 
the former devoted to Chemistry, the latter to Medicine, are both distinguished • 
for their talents, and have, for nearly half a century, occupied chairs in the Uni¬ 
versity of Upsal. 
The learned botanist of the Cape of Good Hope, 'Mons. Persoon, is no more ; 
he died at Paris, at a very advanced age, having lived thete since he enjoyed a 
pension from his government, which was granted to him on giving up his herba¬ 
rium to the Museum at Leyden. His works on Cryptogamia are excellent; and 
his Enchiridion Botanicum is one of the most useful works of the kind ever 
published. 
