Abstract
The American Journal of Science, August 1884.—Contributions to meteorology: reduction of barometric observations to sea-level (continued), by Prof. Elias Loomis. The author considers that it is quite useless to seek for a formula exactly representing the barometric reduction to sea-level at all pressures and temperatures, unless the irregular movements in the upper and lower strata of the atmosphere be taken into account. But these movements are greatly modified by the obstruction of the mountains upon which the observations are made, and therefore vary with the locality; hence he concludes that such an attempt seems a hopeless undertaking.—Notes on the rock and oredeposits in the vicinity of Notre Dame Bay in Newfoundland, by M. E. Wadsworth. The districts examined were chiefly various points between Exploits Burnt Island and Belts Cove, which yielded basalt, diorite, porodite, andesite (?), porphyrite, and argillite, variously impregnated with chalcopyrite, malachite, and copper. But none of the ores were found associated with serpentine, which was nowhere seen except in small quantity at Betts Cove.—On the origin of bitumens, by S. F. Peckham. The author deals with the views of those who regard bitumens (asphalt, naphtha, petroleum, &c.) either as indigenous to the rocks in which they are found, as the product of chemical action, or as a distillate produced by natural causes. He is on the whole inclined to regard these substances as distillations from animal and vegetable organic remains, and argues that if they were the result of a purely chemical process we should not expect to find Palæozoic petroleums of a composition corresponding with the simple animal and vegetable organisms that flourished at that period, and Tertiary petroleums containing nitrogen unstable, and corresponding with the decomposition-products of more highly organised beings; but we should expect to find a general uniformity in the character of the substance wherever found all over the earth. On the other hand, if petroleum is the product of metamorphism, its formation is coexistent only with that of metamorphic action, which does not seem to have prevailed on a large scale during recent geological periods. Hence on this hypothesis its production must be considered as practically ended.—On the measurement of rapidly alternating electric currents with the galvanometer, by L. M. Cheesman.—Note on some specimens of nickel ore from Churchill County, Nevada, by Spencer B. Newberry. The analysis of these samples gave:—
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Scientific Serials . Nature 30, 459 (1884). https://doi.org/10.1038/030459a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/030459a0