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ABSTRACT _American Journal of Science_, May.—The electrical resistance of stressed glass, by Carl Barus. Following up Warburg's experiments, which have thrown so much new light on the

thermal relations of the resistance of glass, the author here deals specially with the effects of stress on electrolyzing glass kept as nearly as possible at different constant temperatures

between 100°. and 360°. He finds generally that a solid electrolyte like glass is a better conductor of electricity when in a state of strain or torsion than when free from strain. The

influence of temperature in changing the value of the electrolytic effect of stress is not marked; the same pull per unit section does not apparently increase the conductivity of glass more

at 350° than at 100°, if indeed it increases it as much.—On the formation of siliceous sinter by the vegetation of thermal springs, by Walter Harvey Weed. These researches on the origin of

the deposits of siliceous sinter found in the basins of the Yellowstone National Park make it evident that such deposits are largely formed by the vegetation of the hot spring waters. Waters

too poor in silica to form sinter deposits by any other cause may be accompanied by beds of siliceous sinter formed by plant life; the extent and thickness of these deposits establish the

importance of this form of life as a geological agent.—Marine shells and fragments of shells in the Till near Boston, by Warren Upham. These fossils, occurring in drift deposits near Boston,

are usually regarded as evidence of a marine submergence within the Pleistocene or Quaternary period. But Mr. Upham's observations made last year show that they were transported from

the bed of the sea on the north by the ice-sheet in the same manner as the materials of the drift have been carried southwards and often deposited at higher elevations than the localities

from which they were brought. Hence these shells afford no proof of the former presence of the sea at the level where they are now found.—A platiniferous nickel ore from Canada, by F. W.

Clarke and Charles Catlett. The careful analysis here made of these ores from the mines at Sudbury, Ontario, places beyond all doubt the presence of platinum in appreciable quantities. It

probably exists in the ore as sperrylite, though this point has not yet been determined.—Stratigraphic position of the Olenellus fauna in North America and Europe, by Chas. D. Walcott. The

general result of these researches is to remove the Olenellus fauna both in the Old and New World from the Middle Cambrian to the base of the whole Cambrian system. The paper, which is not

concluded, gives full tables of this fauna, with its areas of geographical distribution east and west of the North Atlantic.—Earthquakes in California, by Edward S. Holden. The statistics of

seismic disturbances in this region with incidental remarks are brought down to the end of the year 1888.—Chemical action between solids, by William Hallock. In his recent note on a new

method of forming alloys, the author undertook to carry out some additional experiments, the results of which are here given. He infers generally that chemical action may take place wherever

the products are liquid or gaseous, even though the reagents are solid, with perhaps the added condition that one or both reagents be soluble in the liquid produced. Access through your

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PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Scientific Serials. _Nature_ 40, 67–68 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040067a0 Download citation * Issue Date: 16

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