bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anatase in the Trias of the Midlands of England
Authors: Scrivenor John B.
Published: December 2006

The mode of occurrence and origin of the various forms of titanium dioxide as rock constituents have received attention at the hands of many petrologists, both on the continent and in our own country. Among the works of the former dealing with this subject, Thürach's exhaustive treatise on microscopic rock-forming rutile, anatase, and brookite, is undoubtedly the most important : in England, Mr. Maynard Hutchings has described in great detail the occurrence of rutile and anatase both as constituents of clays and slates, and as a product of contact metamorphism in the Lower Coniston Flags in the neighbourhood of the Shap granite; Mr. J. J. H. Teall has also described rutile needles and anatase crystals from clays of various ages, and anatase from the Cleveland iron-ore; Mr. Allan Dick has mentioned the occurrence of rutile in the Bagshot Sands ; and Mr. H. H. Thomas has lately described these minerals from the Budleigh Salterton Pebble-bed of Devonshire.
A peculiar occurrence of Magnetite in Upper Bunter Sands
Authors: Scrivenor John B.
Published: December 2006

The specimen of Upper Bunter Sands, in which this magnetite occurs, was collected at Hinksford (Staffordshire), near Stourbridge. It is a white, very loosely coherent sand of medium grain ; and contains, as was found by separating the constituents in mercury-potassium iodide, turbid orthoclase, microcline, fragments of the micro-crystalline ground-mass of acid lavas or intrusive rocks, quartz, staurolite, tourmaline, garnet, zircon, rutile, muscovite, a little haematite, and abundant magnetite.

The grains of magnetite are very minute, averaging 0.067 mm., but nevertheless they present, with very few exceptions, a perfect crystal outline, that of a simple cube, or, in a few rare cases, that of a regular octahedron.
Bakerite (a new borosilicate of calcium) and Howlite from California
Authors: Giles W. B.
Published: December 2006

The new mineral to be described occurs as veins and as nodules of considerable size in the mines of the Borax Consolidated Company, Limited, situated in the Mohave Desert, sixteen miles north-east of Daggett in San Bernardino County, California. The white, amorphous masses resemble in appearance unglazed porcelain or fine white marble. Sometimes the mineral has a faint tinge of a sea-green colour. Its hardness is about 41/2 and specific gravity 2.73. Up to the present time no specimens showing any signs of crystallization have been noticed. In external appearance the mineral shows a striking resemblance to the pandermite of Sultan Tchair in Asia Minor, and it may be here noted that this amorphous variety of calcium borate occurs also in the Californian mines.
The chemical composition and optical characters of Chalybite from Cornwall
Authors: Hutchinson A.
Published: December 2006

The acquisition by the Cambridge Mineralogical Museum of a series of well-crystallized specimens of chalybite, raised within recent years from the mines in the neighbourhood of Camborne in Cornwall, afforded a favourable opportunity for an investigation of the chemical composition and optical characters of this substance. This seemed the more desirable since no analysis of the chalybite crystals from the Camborne district appears to have been published, and our knowledge of the optical characters of the substance is confined to some observations of Ortloff on material containing large quantities of manganese carbonate from Wolfsberg in the Harz.
Serendibite, a new borosilicate from Ceylon
Authors: Prior G. T. , Coomáraswámy A. K.
Published: December 2006

Mode of Occurrence.—This new mineral was discovered at Gangapitiya, near Ambakotte and about 12 miles east of Kandy, Ceylon. In this locality quarries have been dug for the well-known Ceylon moonstone, which occurs in large porphyritic crystals in an acid granulite.

Bands of this granulite, which is composed mainly of quartz and felspar in finely granulitic and occasionally graphic structure, alternate with bands of limestone up to 18 inches wide. Between limestone and granulite occur contact-zones consisting, next to the limestone, almost entirely of a coiourless diopside, but near the granulite of a mixture of diopside with other minerals, viz. blue spinel, a little apatite, occasionally scapolite or plagioclase, and the blue mineral which is the subject of the present note.
Contributions to the Petrology of British East Africa
Authors: Prior G. T.
Published: December 2006

The following notes on the petrology of British East Africa are the result of an examination of rock-specimens collected by Professor J. W. Gregory on his well-known expedition from Mombasa to Mt. Kenya and Lake Baringo in 1892-3, and of rock-collections from the Uganda Protectorate which have been recently presented to the British Museum by Sir Harry Johnston.

The collections include examples of the Archaean gneisses, schists, and granites which constitute the prevailing basement rocks of Central Africa; of ferruginotls schists, coarse sandstones, and quartzites belonging to the Palaeozoic Karagwe series ; and of an interesting series of Tertiary volcanic rocks comprising phonolites, phonolltic traehytes, riebeckite-rhyolites, kenytes, and basalts from the volcanoes of the Great Rift Valley, as well as of nephelinites and basaltic rocks containing melilite and perofskite from Mr. Elgon.
Some new crystal-forms on Krennerite
Authors: Herbert Smith G. F.
Published: December 2006

Some interest attaches to crystals of krennerite, since this mineral has apparently the same composition as calaverite, the crystalline development of which presents such peculiar features. After completing the study of crystals of the latter substance, the author naturally turned his attention to krennerite to ascertain whether any similar peculiarities were noticeable, but nothing abnormal could be detected.

Good crystals of krennerite are rare. The Mineral Collection of the British Museum has however a specimen from Nagyág, on which are dotted numerous small crystals possessing a large number of brilliant faces. This specimen was examined by Prof. H. A. Miers rather more than twelve years ago, and the measurements of one good crystal are recorded in this Magazine.
An improved form of Three-Circle Goniometer
Authors: Herbert Smith G. F.
Published: December 2006

In a previous paper the author pointed out the advantages of a goniometer possessing three graduated circles, and described an instrument of this type which had resulted from the addition of a two-circle arrangement to an ordinary reflective goniometer with a single (horizontal) circle. As was remarked in that paper, the adapted instrument has unavoidably the disadvantage that measurements can be made through little more than a right angle in any particular zone, with the single exception of the zone of reference, without readjustment of the vertical and third circles. The zone may, indeed, be completed by measuring from the diametrically opposite pole in the zone of reference; but difficulties occasionally arise in practice, and it is convenient to be able to measure through at least two right angles round the free end of the crystal by rotation of the horizontal circle only.
The Gnomonic Net
Authors: Hilton Harold
Published: December 2006

Mr. G. F. Herbert Smith has pointed out the advantages of the gnomonic projection for some special crystallographic problems. It seems to me that much of the labour in drawing the projections could be saved by a device similar to that employed by Fedorow, Wulff, Penfield, &c., in drawing stereographic projections.

Corresponding to the ‘stereographic net’ described by these authors (which is the stereographic projection of lines of latitude and longitude on a plane through a llne of longitude), we have the gnomonic net, which is the projection of the lines of latitude (l) and of longitude (m) on the tangent plane at the point whose latitude and longitude are zero. The lines m are parallel straight lines, the lines l are hyperbolae having double contact with each other at two fixed imaginary points.
Historical note relative to the meteoritic fragments labelled ‘Cape of Good Hope’ and ‘Great Fish River’
Authors: Fletcher L.
Published: December 2006

A small specimen (weighing 20 grams), with a label carrying the inscription ‘Meteoric Iron from the banks of the Great Fish River, South Africa,’ was included in a mineral collection presented to the British Museum in 1878 by Mr. Benjamin Bright, of Bristol; the collection had been begun by Mr. Richard Bright (1754-1840), and increased by his son, Mr. Benjamin Heywood Bright (1787-1843), father of the donor. No lists or letters were handed over with the collection, and the history of the specimen and its label, prior to 1878, was thus unknown : as no additions to the collection seem to have been made by Mr. Benjamin Bright himself, the Great Fish River specimen had probably been acquired not later than 1848, the year in which his father had died.
Note relative to the history of the mass of meteoric iron brought by Dr. F. P. Moreno from Caperr, Patagonia
Authors: Fletcher L.
Published: December 2006

The mass of meteoric iron brought Dora Patagonia in 1896 by Dr. Francisco P. Moreno, Founder and Director of the State Museum of La Plata, had been sought for by him, while exploring that region, because of a reference which had been made to it in Captain G. C. Musters's book, ‘At Home with the Patagonians,’ published in 1871.

Dr. Moreno believed the mass to be really identical with a block of supposed marble, referred to on page 87 of that work as having been seen by Captain Musters in 1869 at Amakaken, which is situated in longitude 71° 56′ W. and latitude 48° 10′ S.
Irregularly developed crystals of Zircon (sp. gr. 4.0) from Ceylon
Authors: Spencer L. J.
Published: December 2006

Some small isolated crystals from the gem-washings in Ceylon, recently sent by Mr. A. K. Coomáraswámy to the British Museum for determination and study, were at first thought to be rutile, but on detailed examination proved to be zircon of a rather unusual type. This has a specific gravity of 4.0, which is not increased when the crystals are heated.

The majority of the crystals are from the Balangoda district in the Sabaragamuwa province, and, according to Mr. Coomáraswámy have been derived from a group of zircon-granites which occur in this district; a few others are from Walaweduwa in the Bamberabotnwa district, and from the Hatton district. Associated with them are zircons of more usual types (see p. 48); the present description is, however, confined to the crystals of lower specific gravity.
The construction and use of the Moriogram
Authors: Herbert Smith G. F.
Published: December 2006

The diagram (Plate III), to which for convenience the author has given the name moriogram, is intended to provide a method for rapidly determining the angles between a face of symmetry and all other faces with rational indices, which lie with it in some particular zone, when two of the angles are known, or, what is precisely the same thing, between a zone of symmetry and all other zones with rational indices, which intersect it in the same pair of opposite poles, when two of the angles are known : whenever possible it should be arranged that one of the known angles is a right angle. The meriogram may, therefore, be used in the course of computation for checking the accuracy of the work, or during the goniometrical measurement of a crystal for finding the relations subsisting between the faces or the zones.
On some new forms of Quartz-wedge and their uses
Authors: Evans John W.
Published: December 2006

The determination of the amount and sign of the relative retardation of the wave-fronts of the two rays, into which a plane-polarized ray of light is resolved in passing through an anisotropic crystal, furnishes us with the readiest means of identifying transparent minerals occurring in thin sections or as minute fragments without definite crystalline form. In sections which are of practically the same thickness the individual crystals of each mineral show a certain range of colours resulting from the interference of the rays after resolution parallel to the principal plane of the analyser, and these colours are usually sufficient, with the help of other characters, for the identification of the mineral species.
Note on some new localities for Gyrolite and Tobermorite
Authors: Currie James
Published: December 2006

Since the mineral gyrolite was described and analysed by Anderson from Storr in Skye in 1851, it has been recorded from a considerable number of other places in that island. The writer observed it at the mouth of the burn called Allt Mòr, between Loch Brittle and Loch Eynort, and has now to record it from Rudha nan Clach at the mouth of Loch Bracadale, which brings the number of localities at present known in Skye up to fourteen. In fact, the mineral may be said to occur all along the south-western shore, all along the eastern escarpment, and at the more isolated localities of Lyndale and Portree. Similarly, it occurs in the other trap islands—the Treshnish group, Mull, Muck, Eigg, Canna, and Sanday, upon the last of which it has been observed by the writer at Stac nan Faoilean.
The Construction of Crystallographic Projections
Authors: Hilton Harold
Published: December 2006

§ 1. It is proposed in this paper to describe some simple graphical constructions of theoretical or practical interest. They may be easily performed with ruler and compasses, though the stereographic and gnomonic nets will often save labour. To economize space the proofs of the constructions are left to the reader.

§ 2. First take the case of the gnomonie projection. Given the projections A, B, C, Q (fig. 1) of the poles of the faces (100), (010), (001) (111); find the projection of the pole of any other face (hkl).
Some applications of the Gnomonic Projection to Crystallograhy
Authors: Hilton Harold
Published: December 2006

Let the crystallographic axes OA, OB, OC of a crystal, whose axial ratios are a : b : c, meet a plane p in A, B, C. Let a plane through O, parallel to a crystal-face whose indices are h, k, l, meet p in the line f (fig. 1) ; and let the line OF, perpendicular to the face, meet p at the point F. Let the perpendicular from O on p meet it in V, and let OV = m.
The identity of the Amiantos or Karystian stone of the Ancients with Chrysotile
Authors: Evans John W.
Published: December 2006

Flexible mineral fibres appear to have been well known to the Greeks, who spun them into thread, which they wove into cloth or employed as wicks for lamps.

Pausanias, who lived in the second century of the present era, tells us that Kallimachos made for the statue of Minerva in the Acropolis at Athens a lamp of gold, the wick of which was of ‘karpasiau flax’, which he states is the only flax inconsumable by fire. Some have interpreted the words ‘karpasian flax’,——as meaning mineral flax from the Karpasos, the north-eastern promontory of Cyprus, but apart from the fact that there is no record of the occurrence of asbestiform minerals in that locality, it seems clear that the word is derived from (feminine in the singular, but neuter in the plural ), which properly signifies cotton, being identical with the Sanskrit , though it has been used for a fine variety of flax produced in Spain, as well as for other European plants.
Geikielite and the ferro-magnesian Titanates
Authors: Crook T. , Jones B. M.
Published: December 2006

In connexion with the systematic examination of the minerals of Ceylon, which is being conducted in the Scientific and Technical Department of the Imperial Institute, the authors have recently examined a large quantity of coarse gem-gravel refuse obtained from the Balangeda and Rakwana districts of Ceylon.

The material varies somewhat in character, but zircon generally pre-dominates, while tourmaline, corundum, and pleonaste are fairly abundant. Among other minerals present in noticeable quantities are geikielite, picroilmenite, ordinary ilmenite, rutile, and fergusonite, all of which are generally in the form of rounded or sub-angular pebbles.
Dundasite from North Wales
Authors: Prior G. T.
Published: December 2006

The mineral dundasite was first described by W. F. Petterd in 1893, a ‘Catalogue of Minerals known to occur in Tasmania’. It was found in small, silky, milk-white, spherical aggregates incrusting a ‘ferro-manganese gossan’ at the Adelaide Proprietary mine, Dundas. In this catalogue, and in a subsequent one dated 1896, it was stated, as the result of qualitative tests, to be a hydrated carbono-phosphate of lead and aluminium ; but a quantitative analysis (see below under II), made later by S. Pascoe, showed that the mineral is a hydrated carbonate of lead and aluminium, and that the traces of phosphoric acid were due to a thin coating of pyromorphite. In this analysis the water and carbonic acid were determined together, by loss on ignition, and consequently hitherto no chemical formula has been attributed to the mineral.
Phenacite and other minerals from German East Africa
Authors: Spencer L. J.
Published: December 2006

A small collection of minerals, together with other natural history specimens, has recently been acquired by the British Museum from the Rev. A. North Wood, a missionary in the Usagara (Ussagara) province of German East Africa. Mr. Wood's station is situated at Itumba, and the specimens had been brought o him by the natives from the surrounding district, mainly from places between Mamboya and Mpapwa, which lie on the caravan route from the coast opposite Zanzibar westwards into the interior to Lake Tanganyika.

The rocks of the district are biotite-gneiss and hornblende-gneiss, the latter with small garnets.
Notes on some Binnenthal minerals (Ilmenite, Seligmannite, Marrite, &c.)
Authors: Solly R. H.
Published: December 2006

Some very brilliant and well-modified crystals of ilmenlte, recently found in the neighbourhood of the Ofenhorn, are of interest in that they exhibit a well-marked parallel hemihedrism and show the presence of a number of new forms. Although constantly sought for, it is more than fifteen years since crystals of this mineral were last found in the Binnenthal. The crystals described by H. Bücking in 1877 appear to differ in habit from those of the new find.
On the method of minimum deviation for the determination of refractive indices
Authors: Herbert Smith G. F.
Published: December 2006

A determination of the refractive power, which need be accurate to the second place of decimals only, is of considerable service for the discrimination of transparent substances, such as, in particular, faceted gem-stones. If the substance be so highly refractive that a total-reflectometer be not available, the method of minimum deviation is the simplest hat can be used.
The optical characters of Antimonite
Authors: Hutchinson A.
Published: December 2006

In a paper communicated to this Society in March, 1903, it was shown that antimonite is fairly transparent to radiations of long wave-length and that its behaviour between crossed nicols is consistent with orthorhombic symmetry. At the same time it was pointed out that it would be of interest to determine the wave-lengths of the radiations transmitted and the principal indices of refraction of antimonlte for these radiations. On undertaking this investigation it was soon found that antimonite was quite sufficiently transparent to the rays at the extreme red end of the visible spectrum to enable visual observations to, be made, and in a verbal communication to the Society on March 22, 1904, it was stated that the indices of refraction for red light were 4.129 for rays vibrating parallel to the axis Z and 3.873 for rays vibrating parallel to the axis X.
The chemical composition of Lengenbachite
Authors: Hutchinson A.
Published: December 2006

Lengenbachite is one of the interesting minerals which occur in the dolomite of the Binnenthal, and we owe our knowledge of it, as of many other new species, to the careful investigations conducted in recent years by Mr. R. H. Solly at that remarkable locality. The crystallographic and physical characters, so far as they have proved capable of determination, have been already described by Mr. Solly in the pages of this Magazine (vol. xiv, p. 78). The material which he kindly placed in my hands for chemical examination consisted of cleavage-plates, exhibiting brilliant metallic lustre, and of foliated aggregates of thin greyish-black crystals. Some of the crystals were partially covered with a thin, white incrustation readily removed by boiling dilute hydrochloric acid, a reagent which appeared to be without action on the lengenbachite.
Note on Gypsum crystals found lining a disused well at chemical works
Authors: Woodward C. J.
Published: December 2006

Before the value of hydrochloric acid forcblorine manufacture was recognized by soda-crystal makers, it was a common practice to get rid of the unpleasant fumes in the cheapest and most convenient way possible. At Messrs. Chance's works at Oldbury, near Birmingham, this was done by turning the gases from the salt-cake furnaces into a culvert which ran through some portion of the works. The better to condense the fumes, it seems probable that a brook, which runs near the works, was diverted into the culvert, thus forming a rough condenser. Some thirty years or so sgo, when alterations were being made at these works, a culvert of this description was unearthed and found to be lined with crystals of gypsum, which had formed on the brickwork. An old well, which was opened, was also studded with beautiful tufts of crystals. I am indebted to Mr. A. M. Chance for a handsome specimen with numerous attached crystals of gypsum, and also for some stereoscopic slides showing the well with the crystals in situ.
Crystallography of Sartorite from Binn
Authors: Trechmann Charles O.
Published: December 2006

The mineral sartorite (of Dana) or scleroclase (of v. Waltershausen) appears to have been found much more frequently in latter years in the well-known dolomite at the Lengenbach, in the Binnenthal, Switzerland, than was formerly the case, and it may now be considered to be one of the commonest of the group of sulpharsenites of lead which have made this locality famous. Large, detached, longitudinally striated, prismatic crystals, mostly devoid of terminal faces, have been especially frequent, the majority of which are doubtless sartorites.
On the regular growth of soluble salts on each other
Authors: Barker Thomas Vipond
Published: December 2006

Previous work on the regular growth of crystals of salts on those of Minerals belonging to the same isostructural series led the author to the discovery that parallel deposition is conditioned by closeness, not of angle nor of axial ratios, but of molecular volume. Now although the substances previously examined resemble each other crystallographically, yet they exhibit such great differences in chemical properties, that reasonable doubt might be entertained whether conclusions drawn from them can be directly applied to isomorphous substances ; and it therefore became advisable to extend the observations to a group of the latter.
Note on the thirty-two classes of symmetry
Authors: Hilton Harold
Published: December 2006

Considerable confusion exists with regard to the nomenclature of the thirty-two possible classes of symmetry and their classification into systems. Each class is usually denoted by a name and a symbol ; but as every author invents his own names and symbols (the latter being often merely arbitrary numbers) the whole nomenclature is hopelessly confused. This is due to the fact that a different classification into systems, and consequently a different nomenclature is suggested according as the subject is approached (1) from the geometrical aspect based on the law of rational indices alone, (2) from the aspect of the structure-theory, (3) from the aspect of the practical crystallographer. Thus, for example, Dr. A. Schoenflies finds two distinct classifications necessary according as the subject is approached from aspect (1) or (2).
On the occurrence of Linarite and Caledonite in County Wicklow
Authors: Russell Arthur
Published: December 2006

To the north-west of Rathdrum, in the county of Wicklow, three important groups of lead mines were formerly worked, which are known respectively as the Glendasan or Luganure, Glendalough, and Glenmalure mines, after the mountain glens in which they are situated. The lodes traverse the granite in a north and south direction close to its junction with the mica-schist, and are somewhat remarkable for the variety of their mineral contents.
On a Serpentine-rock from the mass of the Tarnthaler-Köpfe, Tirol
Authors: Young A. P.
Published: December 2006

The rock-specimens here treated were collected in 1902 on a small plateau near the head of the Oberer-Bach, where the rock is in place. This stream, rising near the Röckner or Reckner, a summit of the Tarnthaler-Köpfe on the north of the Tuxerthaler mass, flows down a steep ravine southward to join the Schmirner-Bach: the locality is situated about 20 kilometres to the south-east of Innsbruck. The figures 2629 (height in metres) on the ‘Generalstabskarte’ probably represent the site of the plateau ; it is on the right bank of the stream, close to, and some 12 or 15 metres above, a small frozen lake near the head of the stream. The point was reached by ascending the ridge from the Kreuzjöchl. There was much snow on the plateau and the geological relations of this particular occurrence were not observed.
Isomorphism as illustrated by certain varieties of Magnetite
Authors: Harrington B. J.
Published: December 2006

Some years ago the writer received from St. Joseph du Lac in the County of Two Mountains, province of Quebec, Canada, a few small specimens of a black mineral which was identified as magnetite. Later, a more careful inspection of the fragments, which weighed from tell to fifteen grams each, showed that some of them were portions of crystals made up of an unusual combination, the octahedron {111} and a trapezohedron {311}. Further, chemical analysis showed that the composition was specially interesting, the mineral being titaniferous and containing, besides 3.24 per cent. of magnesia, a larger proportion of manganese than had been observed in the case of anymagnetite previously examined.
Baddeleyite from Ceylon
Authors: Blake G. S. , Herbert Smith G. F.
Published: December 2006

During recent years a systematic survey of the mineral resources of Ceylon has been in progress, in connexion with which a large number of specimens have been sent to the Imperial Institute for examination. In 1905 several cases containing coarse gravel from the streams of the gem-district of Balangoda were received. The constituent minerals were mainly zircon, tourmaline, corundum, spinel, ilmenite, together with small quantities of geikielite, fergusonite, and other rare-earth minerals. Last summer during the examination of these gravels one of the authors found three black crystals witll unusually brilliant faces. The apparently monoclinie form and the general physical characters at once suggested the crystallized native zirconia, baddeleyite, and this conjecture was confirmed by the goniometrical measurements and the chemical analysis.
On Hamlinite from the Binnenthal, Switzerland
Authors: Bowman H. L.
Published: December 2006

In a paper read before this Society in 1904, dealing with a number of new minerals from the Binnenthal dolomite, Mr. R. H. Solly described under the name of bowmanite some small, honey-yellow crystals belonging to the rhombohedral system and forming either hexagonal plates or combinations of rhombohedron and basal planes of octahedral habit. Mr. Solly afterwards handed over the small amount of available material to me for further examination.
On Chlormanganokalite a new Vesuvian mineral : with notes on some of the associated minerals
Authors: Johnston-Lavis H. J. , Spencer L. J.
Published: December 2006

In ‘Nature’ of May 31, 1906, the senior author gave a preliminary account of a new Vesuvian mineral, which he had found amongst the products of the eruption of April 1906, and for which he proposed tile name chlormanganokalite. It was described as a hydrous chloride of manganese and potassium, occurring as deliquescent crystals apparently rhombohedral in form. A few days later, on June 5, 1906, Professor A. Laeroix described, before the French Academy of Sciences, a Vesuvian mineral which he thought must be identical with chlormanganokalite : he stated it to be an anhydrous chloride of manganese, potassium, and sodium, and he determined the deliquescent crystals to be monoclinic and psehdo-rhombohedral. In a later paper, Professor Lacroix rightly insists upon this identity.
On a protractor for use in constructing stereographic and gnomonie projections of the sphere. (With Plates III, IV, IV a and V.)
Authors: Hutchinson A.
Published: December 2006

The protractor of which an account is given in the following pages is intended to facilitate the construction of stereographic and gnomonie projections of the sphere, especially on the part of students of crystallography. The fundamental properties of these projections, on which its design depends, have long been known, and have been the basis in the past of methods somewhat similar to those about to be described. Any novelty there may be in the device is to be sought therefore in the convenient arrangement of its parts, and in the ease with which it may be constructed and used, rather than in the principles which it embodies. We will consider first the construction of the protractor, then its application in tile case of the stereographic and gnomonic projections, and in conclusion will deal with a few points of interest in the history of these projections.
On the possible existence of a nickel-iron constituent (Fe5Ni3) in both the meteoric iron of Youndegin and the meteoric stone of Zomba
Authors: Fletcher L.
Published: December 2006

In a paper read before the Mineralogical Society on April 10, 1894, describing the details of the analysis of a meteoric stone which had been found at Makariwa in New Zealand, attention was called by the present author to the fact that the operation of extracting the nickel-iron by mercuric solution from the material separated from the powdered stone by the magnet was scarcely a terminable one; for even the twelfth extraction by means of a solution of mercuric ammonium chloride evidently contained an appreciable amount of colouring matter, while the colour of the extract indicated an increase in the proportion of the nickel. ‘It was clear that one or other constituent of the attracted material was being only slowly dissolved, and that it was practically useless to push the operation farther.
The energy of twin-crystals
Authors: Hilton Harold
Published: December 2006

Vernadsky has pointed out that in certain cases a twin-crystal appears to be a more stable form than the simple polyhedron, as proved by Scacchi's observation that twins sometimes exceed in magnitude and regularity simple crystals growing in the same solution. He suggests that an explanation can be found in the fact that the surfaceenergy may be tess for a twin than for a simple crystal of the same volume. The suggestion is a valuable one, but Vernadsky applies no quantitative test to his theory.
On the occurrence of the rare mineral Carminite in Cornwall
Authors: Russell Arthur
Published: December 2006

The mineral carminite was first described by F. von Sandberger in 1850 in a paper which appeared in Poggendorff's Annalen, entitled ‘Carminspath, ein neues Mineral aus der Ordnung der Arseniate’. It occurred near Horhausen, Rhenish Prussia, forming clusters of fine needles of a carmine- to tile-red colour, implanted on quartz, limonite, and beudantite, and accompanied by pyrolusite, clear crystals of mimetite, and an undetermined yellow, earthy mineral. In a subsequent paper in 1858, ‘Ueber den Carminspath,’ he gave the precise locality as the Luise mine, Horhausen, Rhenish Prussia ; and a quantitative analysis, on 0.068 gram by R. Müller, showed the mineral to be an anhydrous arsenate of iron and lead : As2O5, 49.11 ; Fe2O5, 30.29 ; PbO, 24.55 = 108.95. A trace of phosphoric acid was also present.
On an occurrence of native Copper with tin-ore in the Federated Malay States
Authors: Scrivenor J. B.
Published: December 2006

Early in 1909 a small quantity of fine sand was brought to the writer from a big Chinese-owned mine at Rotan Dahan, in the district of Kinta, the leading tin-producing district of Perak and, indeed, of any of the Federated States. The sand was a concentrate, and had been obtained in the final washing of the rough tin-ore concentrates, whereby the heavier impurities, generally referred to locally as ‘amang’, are separated from the cassiterite. In this case, however, the Chinese miner found that there was a reddish mineral present which he could not separate from the cassiterite. This proved to be native copper, and the mode of occurrence is of sufficient interest to watTant a brief description of this and other samples of ore from the same mine and an adjoining mine working on the same deposit.
On an Analcite-basalt from Rathjordan, Co. Limerick
Authors: Prior G. T.
Published: December 2006

Amongst the rock-specimens from Co. Limerick belonging to the Allport Collection in the British Museum, a. specimen of basalt from Rathjordan, Co. Limerick, attracted attention by the fact that, in thin slices under the microscope, it showed small, round sections of isotropic material containing central and octagonally arranged, marginal inclusions, and thus resembling leucite. The rock from Rathjordan has been described by Hull and by Allport. According to Allport the rock is a columnar, fine-grained, black basalt which occurs interbedded with ashes, and consists of ‘innumerable small grains of augite and magnetite set in an amorphous glass, the whole forming a matrix in which serpentinous pseudomorphs of olivine and felspar are porphyritically imbedded’.
Notes on the occurrence of zeolites in Cornwall and Devon
Authors: Russell Arthur
Published: December 2006

In the present notes the writer has endeavoured to collect all the available facts concerning the occurrence of zeolites in both Cornwall and Devon. Specimens belonging to this group are rarely represented in collections of Cornish minerals, and as several new localities have recently come to light, the following observations will, he ventures to hope, be of some interest as adding to the already lengthy list of mineral species occurring in the West of England.
Twin-planes and cross-planes
Authors: Evans John W.
Published: December 2006

In a single homogeneous crystal the physical character of parallel lines are everywhere the same, and it may be justifiably assumed that the orientation of the crystal-structure is constant throughout. Compound crystals, however, occur in which the orientation of the crystal-structure is different in different parts although they consist of the same substance.

This difference of orientation may either be original or result from the action of mechanical forces on the crystal-structure. I shall in the first place assume that the former is the case.
A modification of the stereographic projection
Authors: Evans John W.
Published: December 2006

The change suggested relates mainly to the representation of the faces below the plane of projection. I propose that every face below that plane shall be represented by the same point as a parallel face above it.

If the two parallel faces are equivalent they will both be indicated by the same circular dot (accompanied, if desired, by the indices of either face). If they are not equivalent and only one be present, it will be represented by a plus sign (+) if it be above the plane of projection, and by a minus sign with a dot in the centre (-) if below it. If both are present but not equivalent, the double sign (±) will be used.
On Datolite from the Lizard district, Cornwall
Authors: McLintock W. F. P.
Published: December 2006

In the course of his official work in the Lizard district, Dr. J. S. Flett collected various samples of minerals which were handed over to me for examination. Two of these specimens proved to be datolite remarkably well crystallized. As this species, now rare in Britain, had not been recorded before from Cornwall, although pseudomorphs of chalcedony after it—the well-known haytorite—are mentioned by Greg and Lettsom from North Roskear mine, Camborne, the facts of its occurrence seemed well worthy of further investigation. Accordingly, in October of last year, Dr. Flett and myself paid a visit to the locality, where we succeeded in obtaining a large amount of the material.
Chemotherapy exposure increases leukemia cell stiffness
Authors: Lam Wilbur A. , Rosenbluth Michael J. , Fletcher Daniel A.
Published: December 2006

Deformability of blood cells is known to influence vascular flow and contribute to vascular complications. Medications for hematologic diseases have the potential to modulate these complications if they alter blood cell deformability. Here we report the effect of chemotherapy on leukemia cell mechanical properties. Acute lymphoblastic and acute myeloid leukemia cells were incubated with standard induction chemotherapy, and individual cell stiffness was tracked with atomic force microscopy. When exposed to dexamethasone or daunorubicin, leukemia cell stiffness increased by nearly 2 orders of magnitude, which decreased their passage through microfluidic channels. This stiffness increase occurred before caspase activation and peaked after completion of cell death, and the rate of stiffness increase depended on chemotherapy type. Stiffening with cell death occurred for all cell types investigated and may be due to dynamic changes in the actin cytoskeleton. These observations suggest that chemotherapy itself may increase the risk of vascular complications in acute leukemia.
SPIDer: Saccharomyces protein-protein interaction database
Authors: Wu Xiaomei , Zhu Lei , Guo Jie , Fu Cong , Zhou Hongjun , Dong Dong , Li Zhenbo , Zhang Da-Yong , Lin Kui
Published: December 2006

Background

Since proteins perform their functions by interacting with one another and with other biomolecules, reconstructing a map of the protein-protein interactions of a cell, experimentally or computationally, is an important first step toward understanding cellular function and machinery of a proteome. Solely derived from the Gene Ontology (GO), we have defined an effective method of reconstructing a yeast protein interaction network by measuring relative specificity similarity (RSS) between two GO terms.

Description

Based on the RSS method, here, we introduce a predicted Saccharomyces protein-protein interaction database called SPIDer. It houses a gold standard positive dataset (GSP) with high confidence level that covered 79.2% of the high-quality interaction dataset. Our predicted protein-protein interaction network reconstructed from the GSPs consists of 92 257 interactions among 3600 proteins, and forms 23 connected components. It also provides general links to connect predicted protein-protein interactions with three other databases, DIP, BIND and MIPS. An Internet-based interface provides users with fast and convenient access to protein-protein interactions based on various search features (searching by protein information, GO term information or sequence similarity). In addition, the RSS value of two GO terms in the same ontology, and the inter-member interactions in a list of proteins of interest or in a protein complex could be retrieved. Furthermore, the database presents a user-friendly graphical interface which is created dynamically for visualizing an interaction sub-network. The database is accessible at http://cmb.bnu.edu.cn/SPIDer/index.html.

Conclusion

SPIDer is a public database server for protein-protein interactions based on the yeast genome. It provides a variety of search options and graphical visualization of an interaction network. In particular, it will be very useful for the study of inter-member interactions among a list of proteins, especially the protein complex. In addition, based on the predicted interaction dataset, researchers could analyze the whole interaction network and associate the network topology with gene/protein properties based on a global or local topology view.
Large-scale analysis of antigenic diversity of T-cell epitopes in dengue virus
Authors: Khan Asif M , Heiny AT , Lee Kenneth X , Srinivasan KN , Tan Tin Wee , August J Thomas , Brusic Vladimir
Published: December 2006

Background

Antigenic diversity in dengue virus strains has been studied, but large-scale and detailed systematic analyses have not been reported. In this study, we report a bioinformatics method for analyzing viral antigenic diversity in the context of T-cell mediated immune responses. We applied this method to study the relationship between short-peptide antigenic diversity and protein sequence diversity of dengue virus. We also studied the effects of sequence determinants on viral antigenic diversity. Short peptides, principally 9-mers were studied because they represent the predominant length of binding cores of T-cell epitopes, which are important for formulation of vaccines.

Results

Our analysis showed that the number of unique protein sequences required to represent complete antigenic diversity of short peptides in dengue virus is significantly smaller than that required to represent complete protein sequence diversity. Short-peptide antigenic diversity shows an asymptotic relationship to the number of unique protein sequences, indicating that for large sequence sets (~200) the addition of new protein sequences has marginal effect to increasing antigenic diversity. A near-linear relationship was observed between the extent of antigenic diversity and the length of protein sequences, suggesting that, for the practical purpose of vaccine development, antigenic diversity of short peptides from dengue virus can be represented by short regions of sequences (~<100 aa) within viral antigens that are specific targets of immune responses (such as T-cell epitopes specific to particular human leukocyte antigen alleles).

Conclusion

This study provides evidence that there are limited numbers of antigenic combinations in protein sequence variants of a viral species and that short regions of the viral protein are sufficient to capture antigenic diversity of T-cell epitopes. The approach described herein has direct application to the analysis of other viruses, in particular those that show high diversity and/or rapid evolution, such as influenza A virus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Projections for fast protein structure retrieval
Authors: Bhattacharya Sourangshu , Bhattacharyya Chiranjib , Chandra Nagasuma R
Published: December 2006

Background

In recent times, there has been an exponential rise in the number of protein structures in databases e.g. PDB. So, design of fast algorithms capable of querying such databases is becoming an increasingly important research issue. This paper reports an algorithm, motivated from spectral graph matching techniques, for retrieving protein structures similar to a query structure from a large protein structure database. Each protein structure is specified by the 3D coordinates of residues of the protein. The algorithm is based on a novel characterization of the residues, called projections, leading to a similarity measure between the residues of the two proteins. This measure is exploited to efficiently compute the optimal equivalences.

Results

Experimental results show that, the current algorithm outperforms the state of the art on benchmark datasets in terms of speed without losing accuracy. Search results on SCOP 95% nonredundant database, for fold similarity with 5 proteins from different SCOP classes show that the current method performs competitively with the standard algorithm CE. The algorithm is also capable of detecting non-topological similarities between two proteins which is not possible with most of the state of the art tools like Dali.
Psychosocial environment for the integrated education opportunities of the disabled in Lithuania
Authors: Samsoniene Laimute , Juozulynas Algirdas , Surkiene Gene , Jankauskiene Konstancija , Lukšiene Aloyza
Published: December 2006

Background

The policy of the diminution of the social isolation of the disabled is the main objective of the strategy of the EU new policy concerning the disabled. Lithuanian society faces this objective as well. For this reason, this study aiming at providing the theoretical basis for and predicting the possible psycho-social environment in an integrated education system, as well as at the evaluation of the reasons for the formation of a positive approach to the disabled, is especially relevant, since it creates the prerequisites for the optimisation of the process of the integration of disabled schoolchildren into the general system of education.

Method

The sample of the study consisted of 2471 children from the same schools: not integrated (1958), integrated (126) and special schools (382). Empirical methods: questionnaire poll, comparative analysis. The statistical analysis was carried out using SAS.

Results

Our study showed that the majority of schoolchildren without disabilities and disabled schoolchildren have positive intentions for interpersonal interactions (>82%) and positive emotions (>69%) independently of the discrepant character of interpersonal contacts, different conditions of education and family life, and despite of low level of knowledge.

Conclusion

The results of the study confirmed positive intentions for interpersonal interaction between disabled schoolchildren and schoolchildren without disabilities, as well as a positive character of emotions, and disprove the unsound myth of the opponents of the social integration of the disabled stating that disabled children in comprehensive schools would undoubtedly experience offence from their peers without disabilities.