rays—their extinction. It is the transmutation of motion into heat.
Extensive Conglomerate Formation on Long Island.—A short distance northeast of the village of Farmingdale, on Long Island, there is an extensive formation of ferruginous conglomerate, of much geological interest, and considerable economic value. It is found in the level sandy tract which extends from near Farmingdale to some fifty miles eastward. Over this tract stones larger than good-sized pebbles are exceedingly scarce. In digging wells, it is found that pebbles and sand occur in layers, at all depths yet penetrated. The conglomerate consists simply of these sandy and gravelly layers, hardened into a compact, brown-colored mass, which can be blasted out in blocks, and which answer a very good purpose for the foundations of buildings. The thickness of the formation is thought to be about 12 feet. The rock appears to grow harder on exposure, and some specimens give out a clear, ringing sound when struck with a hammer. The sand-grains which enter into its composition are of a brown color throughout, while the pebbles are only colored externally. Compounds of iron are associated with the mass, and the waters of the district are also largely ferruginous, whence it is suggested that the formation may be due to a kind of cementing action exerted by the iron, left by the waters that have percolated through the sands.
Were the Ancient Italians Cannibals?—A somewhat remarkable discovery of human and animal remains is announced by Prof. Capellini, of Bologna, in a grotto in the island of Palmeria, the access to which is difficult and dangerous. Here he caused excavations to be made, and the result was the discovery of numerous flint and stone implements, the workmanship of which showed that they belonged to the earliest period of the stone age. Besides these wrought implements and various other objects brought into the cavern by its human occupants, he found a considerable quantity of bones of animals mingled with bones of human beings. The condition of these latter bones, he says, "would justify the inference that the grotto had been inhabited by anthropophagi, and that the Italians of that epoch were cannibals, like their contemporaries in Belgium, France, and Denmark."
"Among the human bones were found those of women, and part of the jawbone of a child some seven or eight years of age. Some of these bones were entire, others were partially calcined. In the centre of the cave it was possible to discern traces of a fireplace. Prof. Capellini says: 'Whoever has busied himself in prehistoric researches, whoever has read Spring's excellent work on the Chauvaux cavern in Belgium, and the writings of other authors on the subject of the caverns in France, will not hesitate to admit that the discoveries in the island of Palmeria prove that the Italians were, as I have said, man-eaters. For the present it will be sufficient for me to direct the attention of naturalists to the subject. The Cyclopians spoken of in the fable were probably these cannibals.'"
Coal-Lands of the Rocky Mountains.—According to "Hayden's Reports," which abound with useful information concerning the new Territories of the West, the coal-deposits of the Rocky Mountains far exceed any thing that had been hitherto suspected. Early travellers, as Lewis and Clarke, in 1800; Colonel Fremont, in 1842; Captain Stansbury, in his visit to Salt Lake, and others, had reported outcrops of coal on the slopes of these mountains, but probably none were aware either of its abundance, or the extent of country over which it is spread. Coal is found at different points in the Rocky-Mountain region over an area of some 250,000 square miles in extent, in strata which in some places are from five to thirty-five feet in thickness. Outcrops have been followed on the east flank of the mountains for more than 500 miles north and south; and if, as Hayden suggests, these are fragments of one great basin, broken only by mountain upheavals, or covered by later deposits, then the distance from east to west may be as much as 500 miles, or from the "Black Hills" to "Weber Canon." If the coal-strata were ever continuous over this vast area, the subsequent formation of mountains and valleys would leave them broken and disconnected, as they are now found to be.
