[J'u(Y I I, 1872

200 NATURE [J'u(y I I, 1872

ployed. A number of tables give some interesting details rigidity of the earth, are so many concurrent evidences that our relative to the n:imber of miners, the machinery in use, planet, if not actually solid to the centre, has a crust far thicker from which may be gathered some idea of than can be accounted for by the theory of a liquid globe, covered and its value, This dis• of the several gold fields in only with a crust resulting from superficial cooling." the extent and importance time seems to have had the effect of of Ballarat appears at cussion of the subject at that the colony. Of these fields, that to the front the defenders of the latter theo~y, which, of miners bringing the head of the list, showing a total number in the pJpular mind at least, has a mythological rather than a employed of 13,892, the approximate value of mining plant scientific foundation. It was, therefore, we_ll th,t Sir William being 516,825!.; 134½ square miles of_auriferous ground Thomson should repeat his argument,. are actually worked upon, and 189 aunferous reefs have Mr. Fisher has in this connectioo, in NATURE for January 25, been proved. In this district also occur the deepest referred to the distribution of fluid ignited matter within the shafts, two of which reach the depths of 866 ft. and 900 ft. earth, and to the relation pf volcanoes to great lines of elevation, respectively. The price of Ballarat gold varies from which would seem to show that the local distribution of such 3/. 13s. 6d. to 4/. 2s. 6d. per ounce, the latter appearing to matter may be connected with these lines. He _say;, "I have be the highest price obtained for any gold in the colony. suggested that this fluidity may arise from a diminished pressure partly sup• 78,502 tons IO cwt. of quartz were beneath mountain ranges, owing to their mass being In this mining district and adds, the year, yielding 5 d wt. ported by the lateral thrust which has upraised them," crushed during the last quarter of can propose another explanation different "If any of your correspondents 19·42 gr. of gold per ton; the average yield in the of this remarkable coincidence compatible with the supposition gold fields being very variable. But in considering the of a rigid globe it would be interesting to know it," relative importance of each district, we are reminded by My present object in writing is to call attention to the ex• Mr. Brough Smyth, the Secretary for Mines, that the table planation proposed by me in the Geological Magazine for February relating to machinery should be examined and compared, 1870, conceiving, with Archdeacon Pratt, that the condition of from which it appears that it is not always the mines that things beneath a great mountain mass is one of increased rather show the greatest yield of gold which give the largest re• than of diminished pressure. I there said, "Pressure, which in the turn to proprietors. An interesting feature in these reports first case, that of simple fusion of anhydrous materials, prevents· is the description by Dr. F. von Mueller (Director of the liquefaction by preventing expansion, in the second case (that of the Garden of Melbourne) of certain new vegetable igneo-aqueous fusion, or liquefaction at high temperatures, by Botanic as maintained by Scrope, are met with from time to time in the deep aid of a small portion of water, fossils which de Beaumont) on the contrary, favours lique• Pliocene age. These consist of Scheerer, and Elie auriferous drifts of older faction by promoting the solution of the water-impregnated the fruits of plants which, according to Dr. Mueller re• mass." As Sorby has shown, a conversion of mechanical into joiced in a milder climate, and displayed forms of tropical chemical force appears in the increase of solubility-under pressure. grandeur now foreign to the spot. Five genera are de• In other words, pressure prevents fusion, when, as in most in• scribed and illustrated with beautifullithograms. Of these, stances, it is a process of expansion ; but favours solution, which among fossil genera Phymatocaryon comes nearest to the is, with few exceptions, a process of contraction. extinct Cupanoides, Tricarpellites, and Wetherellia of the " Now since I place the seat of volcanic actiori in a region London Clay. Another genus, Trematocaryon, bean no where solution, rather than simple fusion, is the cause ofliquidity, very close alliance with any genus among living or fossil I am led to consider pressure as one of the efficient causes of the plants, The remaining genera are Rhytidotheca, with some liquefaction of rocks, and to regard its diminution as leading to Science, ii., 1. 27). affinities to Chloro:1,ylo11 and Flz'ndersia, Plesiocapparis, solidification." (See also Amer. Jour, Montreal, June 21 - T. STERRY HUNT the real affinity of which is doubtful, and Cely_p!zz'1la, which appears to belong to the order of Proteacea:. We are glad to learn that many other fossil remains have Fouling of the Nile been secured, and are now under examination by Dr. THERE is an account-of which I have unfortunately lost the Mueller. For the collection of these fossils pala:ontolo• reference-of the Nile becoming crimson and putrid, and its fish gists are indebted to the enlightened zeal of Mr. John being killed, during the historic period, seemingly by microsco• Lynch, mining surveyor and registrar. When one looks pic algre. If any learned contributor could tell me where I can over the long list of surveyors and registrars employed by find this fact recorded, and could give me any details of similar kindness. the Colonial Government in gathering statistics, we can phenomena, he would do me an especial July 8 C. KINGSLEY only hope that some, if not all, of these gentlemen will Chester, follow Mr. Lynch's example, and thus be the means of in• creasing our knowledge of the "old world" of Australia. Volcanoes of Central France J. G. AFTER carefully reading through the two extracts from Sido• nius and Avitus contained in your number of May 30, my impression was that notwithstanding some manifest improbabili• ties, the conclusion was inevitable that earthquakes and other LETTERS TO THE EDITOR volcanic phenomena had actually been witnessed at Vienne. However, after examining all the facts of the case, a theory has [ 'The Editor does not hold himself responsible far opinions expressed to me by which both accounts may be consistently ex• anonymous occurred by Ms cornspondents, No notice is taken of plained without any such phenomena having occurred there at communications,] aU. It would only remain to be shown that my supposed facts The Rigidity of the Earth and the Liquidity of Lavas are not contradicted by evidence actually on record. First, as to the persons :-The whole matter centres in I WAS glad to see the powerful argument in favour of the the great Gallic family of Avitus, belonging to Auvergne. solidity of the earth which Sir William Thomson has deduced The most distinguished member of this family was Marcus from its great rigidity, republished in NATURE of January 18, Mrecilius Avitus, a person of so much importance that in the since, though never attacked, it has been ignored by those who year 455 he became Emperor, but so little fortunate that in Octo• hold a contrary view. In a lecture before the Royal Institution ber 456 he was conquered and driven from the throne. He was in May 1867, I appealed to it in support of the notion which I allowed to become Bishop of Piacenza, but fearing for his life, re• have long maintained of a globe solidified from the centre ; and turned to Auvergne and took refuge in the Church of St. Julian.* I remember that for that and for other heresies in my lecture I We find shortly afterwards two members of this family in was sharply attacked in the Geological Magazine, and in turn de• possession of the See of Vienne, father and son, in succession, fended myself as best I mipht in the same magazine for F ebmary and the latter was the author of our Homily. 1868. I there said that ' the conclusions of Hopkins from the It seems, therefore, highly probable that the bishopric was phenomena of precession and_ nutation, th~ investigations of in the gift of the family, or in some way dependent on it. Archdeacon Pratt on the crushmg effect of immense mountain In the year 463 we first find St. Mamertus in possession of the masses like the Himalaya, and the deductions of Sir William * According to Gibbon he died on the way ; the one certain fact is that Thomson from ._the phenomena of the tides, showing the great he was buried there,

See, and hls brother C. Ecdiczus Mamertus seems to have been The Wanderings of the Esquimaux with it ; indeed, he seems to have composed closely connected_ whilst holdin" music for the choir. \Ve are warranted in conjecturing that this IT is very gratifying to find that Mr. Howorth force, has a;_ family must have had intimate relations with that of Avitus. the posi!ion he has ~aken up _w!th augmented' author of the Homily is A. Ecdicius Avitus · cepted, ~n the same k:ndly_ spmt m which they were written, the The name of the which I was Sidonius Apollinaris was son-in-law of the Emperor Avitus' observat10ns on the m1~rat1<;ms of the Esquimaux very excellent letter in NATURE of and his intimacy and correspondence with "Lord Patriarch led to make after readmg his Mamertus" confirm the supposition. May 9. of the Esqui• We have seen that ~- M. Avitus went to Rome as Emperor, Mr.. Howorth now ~rin~ forward the language maux m s~pport of his v_1ews. This may be a strong point A.~. time we hear_ of Mamertus as Bishop of 455: The first ethno: A.O. 463. What, then, 1s the probability of the fol• alt~ough, !f I r~member nghtly, one or two distinguished V1enne 1s As for myself, having little or no ? logists thmk differently. lowing facts express no opinion one way or When Avitus went to Rome, he took with him many of his knowledge of languages, I can friends and connections, and among them St. Mamer• other. intimate to give obtained for Mamer:us some Italian See of which the Open as I am and shall be to conviction and ready tus. He proved wrong, '1 find that so far, principal town was situate at no great distance f;om Vesuvius. up my opinion cheerfully if and was partly inhabited by !he able.arguments brought forward by Mr. Howorth have not It was 'Y~lled, had a large forum, my belief in the truth of the country. Upon the expulsion of his patron, m the slightest degree unsettled the nobility of the through interpreters whose Mamertus exchanged to the See of Vienne, or obtained that See Esquimaux tradition, communicated satisfactory manner at the same . by s~me other means. During the short time he was in Italy c_ompetence I proved in a very and showers of ashes described t!me that I _ascertained the reliability to be placed on informa• he witnessed those earthquakes This in the Jetter and the Homily. tto~ transmitted _fro~1 one to_anot~er by the Esquimaux. of Repulse Assuming these facts, how will they agree with the statements I did by comparnw mformat10n_g1ven ~y the natives Bay,_ through my mterpreter, with port10ns of the narratives of in these documents, and with the known history of Vesuvius? very that the reason why Arctic explorers of distinction ( with which it ao-reed It is clear, from the letter of Sidonius, in the observed the Rogations was not the closely) written in . the one case more than twenty~ and the people of Auvergne the Esqui~ fear of earthquakes, but of the incursions of the Goths, against other more th3:n thirty years before; of course neither mte1·preter knew what was in these narratives. whose advances they formed the chief barrier ; they lived in the maux nor the yet Sidonius himself had to Mr. How?rth quotes numerous authorities, and I have no midst of the "surrounding terrors," to look them and get information (Sciscitatio) in order to doubt does 1t so correctly that there is no necessity make inquiries as nearly as become acquainted with the volcanic phenomena : he nowhere up .. Th~se I shall n'?w en~eavour to answer, and t~e order m which they appear in his Jetter. says that "the city divinely committed to Mamertus" was possible m are connected with Mamertus . I do not thmk that the fact of the '' Arctic Hig-hlanders " build• Vienne, and all the circumstances "ignorance of a town only through him. mg '' st?ne igloos instead of snow huts," or their personally, and with makes any "broad distinc• his father A.D. 490, and died Ao. boats, e1ther kayaks or oomiaks," St. Avitus succeeded and the "American Esquimaux." precise date he wrote the Homily I suppose is tion" between these people 525. At what Behring Strait to the Mackenzie unknown; it may, perhaps, have been written before he was _In the far west~ that is, from Esqutmaux live in wooden houses during winter Bishop. The date of his birth seems to be unknown, but he River, the his father probably because driftwood is abundant. They also have bo'h may very well have been old enough to have been with kayaks and oomiaks. · as a youth have witnessed the phenomena that were in Italy, and get near the Coppermine River, seen by Mamertus ; and in the congregation that listened to the As you go eastwa~d and "many" who had been there snow-l_rnts form the wmler shelter, probably because little or no Homily, there may still have been fuel to make a seen them. woo~ 1s to be found, and a stone house without also (with the army?), and had also more com• that the earthquakes, &c., fire, is, as I know by exferience, much colder and The wordc. '' at that time" mean the same circumstances. The attacks of the Goths on the fortle,s than a snow-house under occurred at the same time with the reindeer, musk cattle, and Auvergne and Vienne. food o~ these natives is pri~cipally inhabitants of se_als, hut neither whales nor walrus, as far as I. circumstance is that the Rogations though fish, with some One astonishing to give fat for foel. Here also the oomiak or instituted (in Gaul at l~ast) _by Mamertus, say between'456 and could learn, large luggage boat disappears, it may be b'ecaus~ the Esquimaux had already obtamed m "nearly the whole world ·'' evi• 463, 1 are )ess numerous, more scattered, and live in smaller com• dently no such rapid and wide extension could be due to the mumt1e~, and do_ not require it. Another reason may be that fear of earthquakes ; but it is easily understood, if they were the attacks of barbarians · ~he sea 1s more 1c_e-~ncumb~~ed. The kayak is, however, still considered to be a protection against to transport a family or a heavy celebration shortly before Whitsuntide would' m use, and when 1t 1s requisite the time of their of these are fastened together, the time of preparation for the usual sum: load across water,. two or more I suppose, be about laid _across them, and thus a kind of platform is mer campaign. poles or paddle~ w1ll carry very considerable weights in perfect But how account for a Bishop of Vienne institi1ting at Vienne constructed, which by events safety. a ceremony which is alleged to have been occasioned as the great Fish who had no pre• This state of things prevails as far eastward that happened in Italy? Thus :-Mamertus, and Hudson Bays, but be greatly struck by River, Boo!hia, Gulf Committee, Repulse vious knowledge of volcanic action, would latitudes 76° and 77° by Italians these manifestations were as the Esqmmaux travelled northward to what he saw ; and even to the them to do, as described in a former had been comparatively quiet for the route I have supposed probably a novelty. Vesuvius difficulty of building kayaks would be increased in these (by hypothesis) were among the first inti• letter, the 200 years, and of scarcity of wood to make the frames.* The reached its climax in 472, consequence mati?ns oft~at renewed for}'. which them would also become less as the sea became less and 1s mentioned by Procopms (I have no access to his work).* necessity for to him free fro1? ice, and if, as I suppose, they ~hiefly hunted and Jived Struck with terror, the idea of the Rogations occurred killino• but upon remdeer and musk cattle. The usual season for while in Italy, possibly he may have instituted them there; for that to suppose that before seals is before the ice breaks up, so no kayak is required it agrees better with the claim of Vienne purpose. . he had the opportunity of carrying 011t his idea, he found himself instituted them there, not against _F:om the descriptio~,given me of t~e numerous "moss-grown again in Vienne, and first near Smith Sound and on the Parry but against the barbarians. rum, of deserted huts . seen earthquakes, I am led to believe that many of them were not dwelling things together, the earthquakes and the wars Islands, The two but the ruins of large stone "caches," such as are suggested to him the possible approach of the awful time indi'. places ~t all, places on the shores of America, where the cated by Christ (Matt. xxiv. 15)-"Cum ergo videritis abomi• fou?d m many and the na!lves have. co_llected a qu~ntity of provisions, round which nationem desolationis," &c. ; hence the "abominabilia" against tribu• stones are built m a very solid manner as a protection "do0m of desolation" of the Homily. The " magna worst of wars and the " in- the attack of the fox, the wolf, their own dogs and latio" would well agree with the constant all, the wolverine. ' ' effable distress" occasioned by them. ' Let me now say a few words about the Arctic Highlanders of Norwich, June 5 HENRY NORTON * In x846 the Esquimaux of Repulse Bay had plenty of wood, but in 1854 * A few days after w~iting this I _rea~ th_e passage in Procopius, and found many of them, who had been hoarding- up seal skins for the purpose could that h_P. .expressly attribute.; th.: mslllutwn of Rog-ations to the action of not build kayaks, because they had no wood to make the frames of. ' Vesuvms.