6

recognized by conversion into alloxantine, and urea was found in the mother liquors. From bromcaffeine the amido-, ethoxy-, and hydroxy-derivatives were prepared; and from the bromine addition-product of hydroxycaffeine, diethoxyhydroxy- and dimethoxyhydroxycaffeine. When treated with hydrochloric acid, diethoxyhydroxycaffeine was converted into apocaffein, which formed caffuric acid, C, H, N3 O7, by boiling with water. By treatment with cold hydriodic acid, caffuric acid gave hydrocaffuric, from which, by decomposition with barium hydrate, methylhydantoin, methylurea, and carbonic dioxide were obtained. The formation of methyhyldantoin is regarded by the author of great importance in explaining the constitution of caffeine. This substance must contain beside the methylurea residue the carbon-nitrogen group of methylhydantoin. In the preparation of apocaffeine, the formation of another substance, hypocaffeine, was observed, which gave caffoline, C, H, N3 O2 when warmed with basic acetate of lead. Caffoline-gave methylurea by reduction and by oxidation with potassium ferrocyanide, potassium permanganate, and chromic acid, respectively methyloxamic acid, dimethyloxamid, and cholestrophan. The structure of caffoline, based upon the method of its formation and its decomposition-products, would be analogous to that of cholestrophan, Caffoline.

Cholestrophan. OC-N-CH3 CO

OCN CH3 By heating xanthine-silver with methyl iodide, a methyl group was introduced with the formation of theobromine; which is, therefore, dimethylxanthine, caffeine being the trimethyl-derivative. The intimate relation existing between the plant bases caffeine and theobromine, and xanthine and guanine, which occur in animal excretions, would seem to indicate that these bodies are formed in organisms by the same chemical process. The following structureformulae were proposed:

Action of fomric acid on aromatic amines. Results obtained by G. Tobias show that formic-acid derivatives of aniline, o- and p- toluidine, a- and ßnaphtaline, can be obtained with greater ease than the corresponding acet-compounds. Sodium compounds of formortho- and formparatoluidine were examined. (Berichte deutsch. chem. gesellsch., 15, 2443.) C. F. M. [204

Second anhydride of mannite. When mannite was submitted to dry distillation in vacuo, M. Fauconnier observed the formation of a sirupy body having the composition C6 H10 07. A study of its reactions showed that it contained no carbon atoms united by more than one bond; but whether the two remaining hydroxyl groups were primary, secondary, or tertiary, remained to be determined. - (Comptes rendus, 95, 991.) C. F. M. [205

Some derivatives of morphine. That morphine contains at least one phenyl-hydroxyl group, was shown by M. Grimaux, who converted it into codeine by heating it with sodium ethylate and methyliodide. Codethyline (ethyl morphine) was formed when ethyl iodide took part in this reaction; and by the use of alkyl iodides, in general, a series of derivatives was suggested. Ethylen dimorphine was obtained with ethylen iodide. When sulphuric acid, in excess, was added to a solution of morphine in glacial acetic acid with a small quantity of methyal or methylenaceto-chlorhydrine, a purple color appeared in the solution, possibly due to the formation of the base CH2CH3NO3 (methylen morphine). — (Ann. chim. phys., 27, 273.) [206

C. F. M. METALLURGY.

Treatment of copper ores at Spenceville, Cal. The ore, which is fine-grained pyrites in a sort of chlorite slate, is broken into small lumps to prepare it for roasting before being hoisted to the surface. It is then dumped on a few sticks around a loose brick flue, layers of brush are put on at intervals with the ore, salt is distributed through the pile, tank residue placed on the top to exclude the air, and the heap is then fired. The period of roasting lasts six months. There are fifty leach-vats, with a capacity of 120 tons of roasted ore; the leaching is hastened by boiling with steam, and the copper is precipitated by scrap-iron. Forty-two tons of 85% copper cement are shipped monthly; eight months' supply of ore is always kept on hand. There are now 12,000 tons roasting. (Min. and sc. press, Nov. 18, 1882.) R. H. R.

[207 - This proBull's process for iron-smelting. cess consists in charging the iron-ore and flux, usually limestone, without any solid fuel, gas being used instead; highly heated air is also introduced in sufficient quantity to burn about ten per cent of the gas, and to give high enough heat to melt the charge. The gases rising through the ore are carbonic oxide and hydrogen, with the nitrogen from the air. The usual zone of gasification of the iron-blast furnace is wanting, leaving only the zone of reduction, carburization, and fusion. (Min. and sc. press, Nov. 18, 1882.) R. H. R. [208

have been shaped by erosion, and have a height of from 300 to 500 feet. Although, in general, similar to the archaean of other regions, yet they are especially rich in hornblendic and pyroxenic rocks; while the highly feldspathic varieties are confined to a few localities, and are usually accessible only at low levels. Baltimore lies on the eastern margin of the broad archaean belt, extending from Canada to Georgia, and having the north-north-east trend of the Atlantic seaboard. It is unbroken westward to the triassic area, and is involved in a series of wellmarked folds which attained their maximum development in the Jurassic period.

In the Baltimore arca no formations intervene between the archaean and the Jurassic; and the last is represented only by its highest member, the Wealden. It reaches from Elkton, in Cecil Co., to beyond Washington, D. C., with an accessible breadth of about thirty miles. It rests directly upon the archaean, and is overlaid at various points by the cretaceous, tertiary, and post-tertiary; although in the vicinity of Baltimore it is covered only by the drift deposits. The thickness of the Wealden is not less than 500 feet, consisting chiefly of sandstone with beds of clay and gravel, all derived from the archaean, and containing vegetable fossils in abundance; although only one animal has been found, the Astrodon Johnstonii Leidy, a reptile supposed to be related to the iguanodon. - (Johns Hopk. univ. circ., Feb., 18S3.) w. o. c. [209

Lithology.

1

The hornblendic granite of Quincy, Mass. – Mr. Dodge's paper is valuable as showing in a convenient form the distribution of the granite and its adjacent rocks. The only other thing new in the paper is the assumption of two different granites in the area mapped, for which he advances no evidence, although other observers have in general regarded them as local modifications of each other. The paper is, moreover, by no means an adequate representation of what is known regarding the Relations of the Menevian argillites and associated rocks at Braintree and vicinity;' for the author does not show the relation of the known primordial argillite to any other rock (work that had been done before by others), but only the relations of some which he has assumed to be primordial. That these argillites are all of the same age, there is good reason to doubt; for in the Boston basin certain of these are found associated with conglomerates, unconformably overlying other argillites, and holding pebbles of the latter. These two different classes of argillites differ from one another in their lithological characters; and that difference, coupled with the association with conglomerates, occurs in Mr. Dodge's so-called Menevian argillites. — (Amer. journ. sc., Jan., 1883.) M. E. W. [210

Meteorites.

The Lodran meteorite.-The microscopic and general characters of this meteorite which fell at Lodran, India, Oct. 1. 1868, were quite fully described by Tschermak in 1870 (Sitzungsb. akad. wissensch. Wien, 1870, Ixi.). Dr. Stan. Meunier finds, on studying a section, that it appears to be composed of bronzite, olivine, pyrrhotite, chromite, and grains of metallic iron. If, however, a chip is heated and then suddenly plunged into mercury, the silicates fall to pieces, while the metallic portion is seen to form a very fine network or sponge-like mass. This network is the same as, but finer than, that formed by the iron in the celebrated Pallas meteorite, to which this is allied. Dr. Meunier regards the Lodran meteorite as a true sandstone, having a metallic cement. The

Mispickle. As a result of simultaneous crystallographic and chemical investigations, A. Arzruni and C. Baerwald have shown that the prismatic angle of this mineral varies, and is accompanied by a corresponding variation in sulphur. For an increase of 0.00001 in the axis a there is an increase of 0.0236 % S, the length of the axis a in the varieties investigated varying from 0.67092 to 0.68964, and the sulphur content from 18.051 % to 22.472 %. Thus the mineral does not possess a constant composition, but varies in such a way as to have a definite effect upon the prismatic angle. (Zeitschr. kryst., vii. 337.) S. L. P. [214 Minerals from Juliane-haab, southern Greenland. The following minerals have been described and analyzed by Joh. Lorenzen:

--

Microcline feldspar.

Arfredsonite. This occurs in dark cleavable masses, hardness 5.5, G. 3.44, showing brilliant prismatic cleavage at an angle of 124° 22'; also grayish and of a more decomposed appearance. Chemical analysis of the dark cleavable variety showed that the iron was nearly all present as protoxide. The analysis agreed with the formula 11 RSI O3 + R2 O3, showing that the mineral holds a position among the amphiboles which contain a small quantity of sesquioxides. Ainigmatite. A mineral resembling the above, with prismatic angle 114°, G. 3.80, is regarded as a distinct species, but no analysis is given.

Aegirine. This mineral occurs with arfredsonite, and is to be distinguished by the striations parallel to the prism; prismatic angle 86° 58', hardness 5.5-6, and G. 3.63. Chemical analysis showed that the iron exists mostly as sesquioxide, and gave the formula Na, R" Riv, Sis O25; or,

2 Na Si O 3 R" Si O 3 Riv, Si, 016

4

8

where

Ca Fe 2: 3.

Alg: Fe, = 1:11.

Nelson's explorations in the Yukon delta.— The long residence of Mr. E. W. Nelson at St. Michaels, Norton Sound, Alaska, and the large collections obtained there by him for the National museum, are matters generally known, not only to those immediately interested, but also to the general public. His report has been anticipated with much interest. Unfortunately a too enthusiastic application to study, on his return, acting on a constitution perhaps somewhat weakened by past hardships, produced symptoms which rendered a change of scene and climate imperative as a preventive of worse evils. Mr. Nelson is now recuperating in Colorado, and is still working on his report, which will appear among the professional papers of the signal-corps of the U. S. army, but will be somewhat delayed. During his service as signal-corps observer at St. Michaels, he took part in several long sledge expeditions over little-known parts of the Yukon delta, and was able to gather a large amount of information on the geography of an area in regard to which no authentic data are on record. This information is, of course, of an approximate nature only; but, such as it is, it forms an important and valuable addition to our knowledge. Most of Mr. Nelson's notes were placed in the hands of the authorities of the U. S. census, and form the larger proportion of the new information contained in the map of Alaska lately issued by that office. Pending the publication of his complete report, he has prepared a brief account of the most important of his expeditions made in December and January, 1878-79, which has just appeared in the proceedings of the Royal geographical society of London (November number), together with a map embodying his additions to the geography of the Yukon delta. journey in question extended from St. Michaels along the coast to the trading-post of Andreievski, at the northernmost mouth of the Yukon, thence by the Kusilvak mountain, across the delta to the vicinity of Cape Rumiantzoff, then near the coast and parallel with it to Cape Vancouver, and around to the mouth of the Kuskokvim River, the western bank of which was traversed some fifty miles northward; then the party struck across the portage to the southern bend of the Yukon, which was descended to Andreievski, after which the original route was followed to St. Michaels. Among the more important features developed were the form of the coast about Cape Rumiantzoff; the number and approximate position of the streams and inlets entering the coast between that point and the mouth of the Kuskokvim; the insulation of Cape Vancouver, which forms part of a large island separated by the large, newly named Baird Inlet, and two broad but probably shallow channels from the mainland; and the approximate location of numerous inland lakes, streams, and villages of natives. Numerous ethnological details appear in the narrative. The island off Cape Vancouver has appropriately been named Nelson Island, and a bay north of it Hazen Bay, after the present enlightened head of the signalcorps, who has done so much to promote research and exploration in these northern regions. W. H. D. [220

The

(North America.)

March of the centre of our population. - This question is discussed by L. Simonin on the basis of our census-reports; of which he says, "Four or five years are given to discussing the data, formulating the results, and illustrating them with splendid maps, making a number of magnificent folio volumes, which are distributed very generously." After describing the exceptionally rapid growth of population, and the westward advance of its centre at the rate of fifty miles a decade from the Chesapeake in 1790 to Cincinnati in 1880, he asks, "When will the centre of population agree with the centre of surface, and what will the population be then?" The answer is: in 320 years, or in 2200 A.D., this change will be accomplished, with a total of 1,600,000,000 souls, - more than the present estimated population of the world. There is, of course, much chance of error in the calculation. It was objected, that Africa might some day turn away the tide of emigration from the United States; but M. Simonin thinks it will not be Africa's turn till America is filled, and that it will never offer the opportunities found here. It was further objected, that Chinese immigration might vitiate the calculations. M. Simonin answers, that this source of increase has been but small, and is now stopped by law. Emigration from the United States is not considered sufficiently probable to affect the result. (Bull. soc. géogr. Paris, 1882, 557.) w. M. D. [221

(Europe.)

Finland.-Max Buch prefixes an historical account of the political condition of Finland, with a brief description of the country. On the north-west, where highest, two peaks rise to about 2,000 feet altitude; thence to the south-east the country descends, the heights generally wooded, and the valleys well cultivated. The numerous lakes are mostly narrow, and are dotted over with countless little wooded islands. Of these, Lake Saima serves as a type, extending from latitude 61° to 64°, and yet often no wider than an ordinary river. Besides these larger lakes, there are countless smaller ponds, often separated only by narrow necks of land. The streams are rapid, with numerous falls; those of the Imatra, the outlet of Lake Saima, being renowned. The shore-line is deeply indented, giving many harbors, which are further protected by a fringe of plentiful islands. The climate is relatively mild, the average temperature of Abo, on the southern coast, being 4.6° C., and that of the northern coast -2.6° C. In climate and vegetation Finland differs less from Italy than from southern Greenland, though in the latitude of the last-named country. The population is about 2,060,000, with 40,000 more women than men.— (Ausland, 1882, 910.) W. M. D.

[222

Hungarian census.-Tables and charts prepared by Ignaz Hátsek from the census of 1880 show a total population, under the Hungarian crown, of 15,642,000, with 236,000 fewer males than females (1,000 to 1,031); a total area of 324,000 kilometres; and an average of 48 inhabitants to the □ kilometre, an average increase of 1.4 per cent since 1870. One-half the population belong to the Roman-catholic church; next come the Greek oriental, the reformed, the Greek catholic, and the Augsburg evangelical. Hungarian is spoken by four-tenths of the population, CroatoServian and Rumanian by one-seventh each, German and Slovak by one-eighth. — (Peterm. mittheil.. 1882, 447.) w. M. D. [223

(Asia.)

Russians and English in western Asia. — The reading of an account of Lessar's second journey in

Sir

the Turkoman country, before the Royal geographical society last November, was the occasion of an interesting discussion on the old question of the meeting of Russian and English forces in western Asia. H. Rawlinson gave high praise to Lessar's work as novel and accurate. The great mountain chain' which the optimists contended would protect India turns out to be a "paltry line of sandstone hills, not 1,000 feet in height, which could be crossed by a carriage-road in a couple of hours, and which would crumble before the touch of a Russian railway-engineer." He thought the present desert into which the Tedjend and Murgab flow was formerly a lake, known to the ancients as the Aria Palus, from which there was water-way to the Caspian. An important aid in the disappearance of the lake was probably the diversion of a branch of the Oxus from it into the Aral. He admitted that recent Russian conquest had done much in stopping robbery and suppressing the slave-trade, but thought that Afghanistan was beyond the scope of her influence and action,' and hoped that Lessar's project of a railway from Askabad to Herat might not be realized. Sir Bartle Frere thought the sooner the English railway-engineers pressed forward from India to meet the Russians, the farther off would be the day when the military engineers would meet. Sir H. Norman and Sir R. Temple thought the meeting would not come in their time, and that construction of railways across Afghanistan by either outside power would be difficult, and would be prevented by international agreements. - (Proc. roy. geogr. soc., 1883, 12.) w. M. D. [224

(Africa.) Stanley and Brazza on the Kongo.—The dispute between these explorers concerning the possession of certain trading-posts on the Kongo illustrates the activity of modern African exploration, and its commercial inportance. Brazza made a treaty in 1880, with the people on the west bank of the Kongo about Stanley Pool; whose chief, Makoko, put himself under French protection, and ceded a strip of land on the west shore of the Pool for the establishment of a trading-post, named Brazzaville. The explorer concludes that a railroad must be built to this station, and, after very insufficient examination of the route, decides that it should leave the coast near Loango, and extend almost directly eastward up the Kuilu and its branch the Niari, and over a low mountain range to the Kongo, about two hundred and fifty miles.

The expedition from which Stanley returned last year was fitted out in 1879, chiefly by the liberality of the king of Belgium, with the object of opening a free way for trade up the Kongo to inner Africa. The most difficult part of the undertaking was the building of a road from Vivi, just below the first falls of the Kongo, 230 miles up the valley to Stanley Pool, above which the river is again navigable; and after many difficulties this was completed in 1881. During this work, near the end of 1880, Stanley met Brazza coming down the valley; but the latter said nothing about his treaty with Makoko. Six months later Stanley reached the Pool, and was at first well treated by the natives; but soon such startling reports about him were spread by Malamine, whom Brazza had left there to construct the trading-station, that he was forced to retire under the protection of a friendly chief on the southern shore of the Kongo. He descended the left bank to Mandjanga, where he collected his boxes and cases, and returned to the Pool. The station-house of Leopoldville was finished there in February, 1882; and then Stanley completed his trip by a long excursion up the Kongo in a small

Abyssinia. In a short résumé of his trip from the Red Sea to Lake Tana (Tsana) and back, by the way of Adua, G. Rohlfs makes frequent mention of the small population now in this country, in spite of its being well enough watered, supporting a sufficient plant-growth, and not appearing unhealthy: it seems to result from the frequent wars that have latterly been fought with the Egyptians. Rohlfs criticises the map about Adua by Schimper, published in the Zeitschrift der gesellsch. f. erdkunde (Berlin), vol. iv., as absolutely valueless. The article is accompanied by a valuable map, prepared by Hassenstein, of the Abyssinian plateau, showing the routes of its various explorers. (Peterm. mitth., 1882, 401.) [226

W. M. D.

(Pacific Ocean.)

Tahiti. - R. Beltrán y Rózpide begins a description of this group of islands, with an account of their discovery and synonymy, and a brief description of the several islands. Tahiti, the largest, has an area 1,042 sq. kil., with peaks rising to 2,236 met. (Orohena), 2,104 (Pitohiti), and 2,064 (Aorai). Although of volcanic rock, none of the summits have crater form. In a deep valley lies Lake Uaihiria, at an elevation of 431 met., without visible outlet: it is considered either a landslip or a crater lake. Around the shore of the island is a fertile and well-cultivated plain, for which the following data are the chief climatic factors, based mostly on observations by Harcouet at Papeite in 1878. The mean temperature is 26° C.; the daily variation is about three degrees, and the annual about twelve, ranging from an average of 19° and a minimum of 15° in June, July, and August, to an average of 31° or 32° from December to March. The sea-water has an almost constant temperature of 28° or 29°, the streams from the mountains vary from 20° to 23°, and in the elevated interior the thermometer sometimes falls to 8°. The barometric mean is 759.85 mm., with a maximum of 764 and a minimum of 756.9 mm. The winds are generally from the east, but sometimes come from south-east or south-west, and then bring rain. At night there is, as a rule, a cool breeze from the interior. Rain is heaviest on the south-east; but the measures were taken on the other side of the island, and showed 91 rainy days, and a fall of 1,200 mm. in the wet season from December to April, accompanied by low pressure, calms, and gusts, and 199 mm. of rain on 23 days of the dry season from April to December. The rains are much less frequent and heavy on the coast than in the interior, where they produce high floods in the steep valleys. Among the peculiarities of the island's fauna may be mentioned the climbing crab (Birgus latro), which climbs the cocoa-palms to cut off and drop the young fruit, then descends, and carries the nuts to the shore, where it breaks and eats them. Further details of the flora and fauna are given. The population of the group was estimated about 100,000 in the last century, but this was doubtless incorrect. More trustworthy counts about 1820 gave 10,000 to 15,000; in 1848, 9,967; in 1857, 7,200; in 1862, 10,147; and the last, in 1879, 10,978. (Bol. soc. geogr. Madrid, xiii. 1882, 247, 387.) W. M. D. |227

-