of marine animals found above the level of high-tide mark; the presence of extensive stratified deposits, at points where fresh-water lakes could have had nothing to do with their formation; and the existence of a characteristic topography not explicable on any other supposition than that of marine action. In his investigation of the coast of Maine, Professor Shaler has not been able to rely to any great extent upon the first of these three natural indications; the evidence afforded by the extensive stratified deposits has been to him the most important, both in its nature and its quantity. Taking the masses of stratified drift as the only acceptable and abundant proof of depression, he considers that we must look at the question of the origin of these bodies of drift and the possibility of their being formed by other agents than those which are at work in the sea. Some slight amount of stratification seems not inconsistent with the theory of the action of water in the formation of extensive sheets of drift; but when the stratified drift is distributed in extensive sheets along the shore, all doubt of marine action may be fairly put away.

The neighborhood of Boston, like the whole country southward to New York, is characterized by having a vast accumulation of drift materials disposed in four distinct formations, each indicating a separate stage of the glacier period; namely, first, massive drift in patches, which are the fragments of a great body of drift of great thickness left by the old glacier ice-sheets. This drift is quite without traces of stratification, and a large part of its pebbles are scarred by glacier scratches. Second, bodies of glacier material rudely distributed by water, the glacier scratches generally worn away from the surface of the pebbles, the whole indicating one or more of the processes by which the re-elevation of the country was effected after the passage of the glacier ice. Third, a secondary glacier series, indicating the recurrence of local depressions after the partial re-elevation of the country. These secondary glaciers in the neighborhood of Boston occupy only the larger stream-beds. Fourth, the rearranged beds lying within a few feet of the present level, which indicate a long-continued rest of the sea, at or near its present place. At this level the life-bearing bodies of drift come again into prominence. Fifth, the extensive mud-beds and

marshes always colored by the remains of animals and plants. As we go southward from Boston we gradually pass to an area of increased table drift of indistinct stratification, and corresponding to the first of the preceding five geological epochs. At Portland we have decided evidence to show that the depression of the glacier period was 150 feet, or double that of Boston. East of Portland, and covering the country as far as New Brunswick, we have proof of the existence of a set of local glaciers covering the shore, and continuing until the final re-elevation of the land to near its present level, In some remarks upon the origin of the glacier epoch, Professor Shaler has recourse to the theory that our sun is a variable star.-Mem. Bost. Nat. Hist. Soc., II., 1874, 321.

NEW MINING REGION IN NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA.

The Engineering and Mining Journal quotes from a New Mexican paper an account of a very rich and extensive copper region lately opened in New Mexico and Arizona, in the vicinity of the White Mountain Indian Reservation, which from its importance seems likely to eclipse all other mining portions of the Southwest. This results partly from the great amount of ore of unsurpassed richness, and partly from the simple method by which the metal may be reduced. In the region referred to one solid wall of copper ore has been exposed for a distance of 250 feet, and from 10 to 15 feet in height, and of enormous width, yielding 70 per cent. of pure copper. Still larger veins have been found in the neighborhood.-17 D, December 12, 1874, 371.

PETROLEUM SPRINGS IN NORTH GERMANY.

Petroleum springs have lately been discovered in considerable quantity on the Lüneburg Heaths, in Northern Germany. The oil, in clearness, purity, and specific weight, is said to be identical with the American rock-oils, and it is almost without smell of any kind.-13 A, November 14, 1874, 532.

COAL-MINES IN RUSSIA.

Extensive coal-mines have been discovered in the Jekaterinoslaw district, in the lands of the Don Cossacks of Russia. These lie at a depth of about 200 feet, and the yield is so abundant that many thousands of tons have been shipped

from the port of Taganrog. It is thought that this coal will answer an important purpose in connection with the Suez steam navigation, and in all probability drive out of use in that region the English coal which is now universally employed.-13 4, November 14, 1874, 532.

COAL-FIELD NEAR DRANISTA.

A coal-field has recently been explored by a party of English engineers near Dranista, which is about fifty miles south west of the town of Salonica, and is inclosed by a range of mountains of crescent shape, commencing on the south at Mount Olympus, and terminating on the north at the bay of Kitros, in the Gulf of Salonica. An aggregate thickness of about eight feet of coal has been found, extending over an area of 2000 acres, although it is thought probable that the coal-field is of much greater extent, and that the basin contains 255,000,000 tons of coal of good quality.-13 A, November 14, 1874, 532.

GEOLOGY OF COSTA RICA.

Professor Gabb, in a communication to the American · Journal of Science, gives some account of the geology of a portion of Costa Rica, which he has been engaged in exploring for some time past, and takes occasion to point out the fact that the highest peak in the country is not the Irazu, as has been generally supposed, but the Pico-Blanco, which he estimates at about 10,200 feet. From its summit large extents of both the Atlantic and Pacific are readily visible.

Geologically the Pico-Blanco is not a volcano, but a culminating point of granite intrusion from below miocene rocks. There is, however, a large mass of true volcanic rock forming the apex, which, nevertheless, is only a dike laid bare by denudation, and does not extend 300 feet below the summit.-4 D, November, 1874, 389.

FALLING OF ATMOSPHERIC DUST IN NORWAY, MARCH 29 AND 30, 1875.

Professor Daubrée communicates to the Academy of Science, in Paris, notes upon certain atmospheric dust which fell in Sweden and Norway in the nights of the 29th and 30th of March, 1875. This was found scattered over the snow,

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and was obtained by melting and evaporating the latter. The first impression on examining the dust was that it had a meteoric origin, representing a condition not unfrequently observed in the atmosphere. Careful investigation, however, finally induced the belief that this was a volcanic phenomenon, the dust being possibly derived from some eruption in Iceland. Professor Daubrée, in remarking upon the great distance to which volcanic and other ashes may be transported, states that a certain dry fog which covered nearly the whole of Europe, in 1783, was due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland; and that ashes from the Chicago fire fell on the Azores on the fourth day after that catastrophe. These gave out an empyreumatic odor, which induced the suggestion, at the time, that some great forest on the American continent must be on fire.—6 B, April 19, 1875, 995.

COAL IN THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN.

An important discovery, if correctly represented, has lately been made in the opening of a rich coal-mine in the southern part of Patagonia, near Brunswick Island, in the Strait of Magellan, in the locality known as Captain Corey's Ranch, near the Chilian colony of Punta Arenas, in latitude 53° 9′ S. and longitude 73° 13′ W. The property referred to has been granted by the Chilian government to three French explorers, Messrs. Bouquet, Derue, and Suzainecourt. There are three distinct beds of the coal, of which one is about 300 feet above the level of the sea, of a minimum thickness of about 6 feet. The second is from five to six feet in thickness, and is about 170 feet above the first. The third is about 130 feet above the second, with a thickness of 16 feet, divided into three nearly square layers, and separated by thin strata of slate. In view of the large number of steam-vessels annually traversing the Strait of Magellan, an unlimited supply of good coal in that locality is a matter of very great importance.-1 B, October 11, 1874, 17.

TIN IN NEW SOUTH WALES.

The tin-bearing country in New South Wales, of which so much was said a few years ago, still continues to be noteworthy for the extent and value of the take of this valuable metal. The amount raised in Inversall, which is but a small

portion of the region where the metal occurs, amounts to about 800 tons during the past year. The principal mines. are on Coke's Creek, Middle Creek, and MacIntyre River. The rocks are granite, greenstone trap, carboniferous beds, miocene, pliocene, quaternary, the latter including drift deposits. The stream tin is found in the drift as well as in the miocene, and valuable veins of tin ore occur in granite which is believed to be of upper carboniferous age.-4 D, Novem ber, 1874, 403.

GOLD IN EASTERN SIBERIA.

Gold was obtained during the year 1874, in large quantities, from the region of the Upper Amoor of Eastern Siberia. -13 A, November 14, 1874, 532.

ORIGIN OF THE RED CHALK AND THE RED CLAY.

Professor Church, in a recent number of the Chemical News, communicates an article upon the red chalk and the red clay, in which he points out a striking relationship between these substances as existing in England, and the gatherings in the recent deep-sea explorations from the bottom of the sea. We have already referred to Professor Thomson's explanation of the origin of the latter; and Professor Church gives us good reason to suspect a close parallelism in point of origin between the two, the chemical composition as well as physical character of the chalk agreeing very closely with those of the red residue obtained by Mr. Buchanan from the globigerina ooze, and those of the red smooth clay brought up from the deeper part of the sea bottom.

There are differences between the two, to which Professor Church adverts, but these, in his opinion, may be caused by subsequent conditions which we are at present unable to appreciate. Both substances appear to be entitled to the designation of a silicate of red oxide of iron and alumina, and to have been derived in all probability by the removal, in different degrees, of the calcareous matter from the original material. The question of the occurrence and origin of glauconite, a variable silicate of grayish green color, is also discussed; and the similarity caused by its presence between the cretaceous and greensand strata in Europe and America, to the recent greensands of the Australian seas and of the