The New York herald., 1851-08-22
ring, would appear exceedingly jagged rough and un-

ring, Would appear exceedingly Jagged, rough ana VI
even.
The rays Of the playing upon this peak aud the
upon that Of the upper coai surface mslts away on
set OF and creates another set Of depresonf
The whole stratum is it may be imagined ia the mos
turgd s.ate t is in continued throes when viewed from
above the heat which is liberated from below in th
process OF condensation, the currents OF air
cending from the earth and of cool descending from the
sky, ALL we may well conceive tend to keep the upper
cloud surface in perpetual state Of agtstion upheava
and dep ression.
Imagine in such cloud stratum electrical discharge
to take place. being caught up by the cloud
ridges above passed from peak to peak aud repeated
from valley to valley until the last echo dies swaw Ia the
Dutterings Of the distant thunder. How often do we
hear the voice Of the loud thunder ruubhng aud rolling
away above the cloud surface, like the echo OF artillery
discharged among the hills
Hence w perceive infer that the clouds intercept
the progress Of sound as well light and heat through
the atmosphere and that this upper surface Is often like
Alpine regions
tnualy reminded of the interest which attaches to the
observations which the mariner Is called on to make
There expression uttered by which ID
thy of most attentive considerations and mariners
by registering in their logs the kind OF lightning whether
sheet foiked, streaked; and the kind OF thunder
whether rolling muttering or sharp, may be furnishing
facts which will throw much light on the features and
character Of the clouds in different atitu and
As illustration of the value and interest attached
to observations upon little things so called extract
from the abstract log Of very close observer who s
operating with in the collection Of materials for these
charts" In all nay observations writes this excellent
and ndefatgabe seaman in his abstract log kept for
this office, In all my observations the tnts OF tropi
cal mowers, nave found that yellow pred0mlnateS."
No physical fact is too bald for observation; physical
facts are the language Of nature and every expires
uttered by her is worthy Of most attentive consider
alton. And the remark by this obseIvant sailor about
the predominance Of yellow in tropical flowers would
ros be regarded with high degree Of interest both
by the botanist and the chemist.
Professor SHEPARD, Of New Haven, read the following
papers, I'LL Notice Of several American minerals
to wit, Of nickeerous iron pyrtes from the Kearney
ore bed at Gouverneur, ST. Lawrence county, N. Y;
OF eadhite, (sulphato carbonate of lead) from New
berry s. C OF large crystal of native gold from Cali
forna, having the novel form Of pentsgona dodecahe-
dron and gigantic crystal of quartz (weghing 200
lbs) from Waterbury, Vt. 2. description of the me-
teorc stone Of Dee New Jersey which fell August 15
1929 Previously to the present notice this stone had
nearly been lost sight Of in auths ntc catalogues
and its relations to similar bodies were, Of course
known 3. On the probable date of the fall of the
iron, (weut III lbs having been found in isolated
spot lying loose upon ledge fresh unrusted state
led TO the suppostion that its fall must have been a
cent event and Professor s. endeavored to render it
probable that a remarkable meteoric explosion which
took place in the vicinity in February lsl the
casion Of its precipitation. l. On chalcodte, a new
mineral species This substance had passed under the
Of cacoxene to which species 1t had been rst
ferred by Dr. Beck in his report on the mineraogy Of
the State Of New York. but Professor s. pointed out
that its association with that species is incorrect aud
that it constitutes entirely mineral to which,
of cacodlte from its secular like iustre Il is
found in the red iron beds Of st. Lawrence county
N. Y. On the aluadte of Norwich, Mass. This conf
muncaton attempted to clear up the before ambiguous
crystalline form OF this highly curious mineral of which
Norwich affords the most remarkable locality known.
The Professor expressed the opinion that came most
appropriately under the supposed species sluadite of
Damour though he thought It not unlikely that auade
and trphyne Ito which the Norwich mineral had also
been referred by some would both, ultimately, have
to be placed under the old species Of rpe Many of
the substances noticed In the foregoing communications
exhibited to the section, and atentvey In
spected by the mineralogiss present The papers on
meteortes in particular drew forth from Dr. lie Coute
highly interesting statement respecting an extraor
dnary locality Of supposed meeoric iron in the
~ In
he two huge Jumps Of tough iron each thought
weigh 1000 lbs, and which used by the natives
snv Ir ae OOnte promises 20 give ~ an sS early aats
is apprehensve that from the semicvilixed condition
Of the country serious obstacles to the recovery Of
clmens, BY naturalists will be experienced.
Professor Shepard placed upon the table, for dls.ri
button among the members Of the section newly pub
shed list of meteorites at present in his
collection from which 1t appears that the cabinet Of the
Professor contains specimens from hundred distinct
localities, forty Of which are from the United States
IsosfoRPHIsM OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS
cLvpEp UNDER THE MINERAL SPECIES roURMALrSE, BY
PROFESSOR
Professor Dana alluded first to the two kinds Of sowor
phous Tor like crysaliixng substauces those Of homo
portions carbonate lime and carbonate OF iron aud
those with the elements the same or In unlike
proportions as borax gauosr salt and srgte, which
crystalline alike Also chrysoberyl and chry ysoe-the
varieties Of the species scapoe &c. Mr. Kopp has ex
planned the isomorphsm Of the former kind by showing
that such compounds alike nearly In atomic volume
has endeavored to apply this law 70 cases
Of isomorphsm Of the latter kind, snd has obtained
betwes the atomic volumes Of such bodies simple ratio,
though not Of equality MIR. Dana observed that BY
single additional step In the mode OF determniug the
atomic volume he had arrived ut ratios Of equality and
iutrations Of this point are given By him In
article published, during the past year. In Siumaas
Journal The atomic volume is obtained by Rsmmelsberg
BY the ordinary method dividing the atomic weight by
the specific gravity) But II We divide the atomic vo-
une thus found BY the number Of atoms molecules OF
IN. compound represented in Its formula We have
result which gives ordinarily, simple ratio Of the
afsu.ir win ns for so m
the compound Fe he would divide by for fe2 O3 he
would divide by by which the compounds In these aud
other reduced to unit Of comparison
1t Is important to know which method k the correct
To decide this Mr. Dana took up the OF Tour
maline, ~ recently analysed by Rammesberg. This
chemist finds that there ve distinct chemical
pounds included In this species all crystalizing alike
and he deduces for them the atomic volumes. Ills
suts follows
Var has he toni vol 1906