Prior to the formation of the halo, and for some time after, we ceased to see it, there was a perfectly formed fog or mist bow to the north of the ship. At times, a slight tinge of dirty red could be traced on its outer border and near the sea, though the predominant color was a murky white. At 9h 30m a faint secondary bow was formed of 3° lesser radius, but it continued only a few minutes. 6. Oil Wells of Pennsylvania and Ohio.-A strong impulse has been given to the explorations for petroleum by the success of the well at Titusville, Pennsylvania, worked for some years past by the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company, on Oil Creek. In a circuit of five miles from Titusville, there were early in July, over 400 wells in progress, and 100 at work, raising from ten to fifty barrels daily from depths varying from 40 to 300 feet. The crude oil is dichromatic, having by transmitted light a dark brown color, which by reflected light is greenish or blueish. Its density is 0.882. It is even in warm weather rather thick, and in cold weather is more stiff, but even at -15° is still fluid. 15° is still fluid. Its odor is strong and peculiar from the Pennsylvania wells-but from the wells at Mecca, Ohio, it is nearly odorless. It boils at a very high temperature, but begins to distill a thin colorless oil, even at 212° F. By fractional distillation, I obtained from 304 grams of crude oil of Titusville : 1st Product at 100°C. 212°F. Quantity. Density. Temperature. (acid water,) 5 Gms. 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th tr "140°C. to 150°C. 284° to 302°F. The boiling points of these several fluids present some anomalies, but are usually progressive, thus, No. 2. common boiling at 115°C. 239°F. remained constant at 228°C.-442°F. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. and still rising at 308°C.-581°F. "135°C. 275°F. rose rapidly above the range of mercu rial thermometer. “135°C.=275°F. and still rising at 305°C. 305°F. The first five products remained entirely fluid at the low temperature of -15° F. At the town of Mecca, Trumbull County, Ohio, many Oil Wells have lately been bored. We learn from Dr. J. S. Newberry, who has lately visited them, that only two were as yet considerably productive. One at 'Powers Corners,' which yields three or four barrels of crude oil, daily,— and the second has rewarded the industry of two poor Germans by the unexpected yield of twenty-five gallons hourly, or from twelve to sixteen barrels daily. Over fifty wells were already in progress. Many of them yielding oil from the sand near the surface, and all easily bored-often for a well to the depth of fifty feet at a cost not above fifty dollars-without the pumping apparatus and lining. Oil springs have been known in both AM. JOUR. SCI.-SECOND SERIES, VOL. XXX, No. 89.-SEPT., 1860. these districts for over fifty years, and were regarded by the agricultural population with disgust, as spoiling their water-until they found them an unexpected source of wealth. Both these districts are within the coal region—but the Pennsylvania locality, at least, is below the coal-bearing rocks.-s. 7. Artesian Well at Columbus, Ohio,―rate of increase in temperature at 2,575 feet depth.—In a letter to the Editors from T, E. WORMLEY, Esq. dated Columbus, Ohio, August 6th, 1860. Dear Sirs :-I herewith send you the temperature of the artesian well in our city, at a depth of 2,575 feet. A few days since a Walferdin's Thermometer, placed in a glass tube filled with water, and this enclosed in a strong iron case, also filled with water, was lowered to a depth of 2,475 feet, where it remained for twentyfive hours, it was then sunk to the bottom of the well, a depth of 2,575 feet, where it remained for forty minutes. Upon the withdrawal of the instruments, it was found to have registered 88° F. Assuming this to be the temperature at the bottom of the well, and also assuming as correct data, that the temperature is uniformly 53° F. at a depth of 90 feet, we have an increase of 19 F. for every seventy-one feet. 8, Salt Wells in Michigan.-At Saginaw, Michigan, a well 669 feet deep has been sunk, passing through the coal measures and reaching about to the top of the Devonian. Its water is half saturated with salt and has the temperature at surface of 54° F. At Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, on the Grand River, the salt well is 661 feet deep-but as it begins 445 feet lower down in the section than the Saginaw well, the whole section presented by the two is over 1,100 feet. Careful sections of all the beds passed through have been preserved by Mr. George A. Lathrop, our informant, who will communicate them to the State Geologist. It would be interesting to record the bottom temperature of all artesian wells, by a Walferdin's thermometer, and we trust our correspondents will take care to send us such results. BOOK NOTICES— 1. A Treatise on Elementary and Higher Algebra; by THEODORE STRONG, LL. D., Prof. of Math. and Nat. Philosophy in Rutgers College, etc. New York. Pratt, Oakley & Co. 1859.-This work does not belong to the class of elementary compilations with which our schools and colleges are so abundantly supplied, but is a fresh and original treatise, stamped on every page with the peculiar impress of the author's mind. It contains moreover several positive additions to the Science while many of the demonstrations of well known propositions are new and highly suggestive. The leading idea of the author appears to have been to set forth the theory of the resolution of numerical equations in a new manner; and accordingly this subject is entered upon at as early a stage of the book as possible. Thus he begins its discussion under the head of Multiplication, continues it successively under the heads of Division, Geometrical Progressions, and Undetermined Coefficients, and finally completes it in two chapters, near the close of the volume, on the "Limits of the Real Roots of an Equation of the nth Degree,”—and the " Development of the Real and Imaginary Roots of an Equation of the nth Degree." This distribution of the subject, however, has not conduced to clearness, while it has given the work a character which renders the word "Elementary," introduced into the title, quite inappropriate. We should not have thought it necessary to make this remark bad not the author in his preface declared that the work was intended "to give a full view of the present state of the science," and also to be adapted "to the wants of teachers and pupils not only in our Colleges and Academies, but in schools of a primary character." Dr. Strong has risen to such heights in the science and has so long been an industrious explorer on its confines, that he has lost sight of the paths by which the novice must necessarily be introduced. But assuming the reader to have acquired a fair knowledge of algebra, including the general theory of equations, we would recommend him to read this work as a review in which the science is rearranged in a special order, and a new light is thereby thrown upon many of its processes. For Dr. Strong is a master of his subject and handles the most difficult parts of it with something of that kind of giant ease which we feel and admire so much in the great Euler. From this statement, the reader will readily understand that a minute review of this work, pointing out all that is peculiar in methods, or in arrangement of methods, would be a profitless and superfluous labor. We will make but a single remark upon that part of the book which is prominently set forth as new and important both by the author and his reviewers-namely: the Solution of Cubic Equations "by pure algebra." The author's solution is certainly new, (at least new to us.) and extremely ingenious; but we can hardly concede that it is the only solution "by pure algebra," as appears to be claimed. For if the term "pure algebra" is used to distinguish the solution from that which is obtained by trigonometry, then we have other methods of solving the "irreducible case of Cardan's rule" by "pure algebra," quite as complete on this score as that of Dr. Strong. He obtains the roots only by a series of successive approximations, and does not present them in the form of a finite algebraic formula. Horner's method of solving equations appears to us to meet the case as well as Dr. Strong's, both being based upon successive approximation, and in practice Horner's method will generally be far more expeditious. Again, the roots may be developed in converging series (as was done by Nicole as long ago as 1738) and thus obtained by "pure algebra." As compared with the method by series, Dr. Strong's solution possesses the decided advantage that it always approximates with tolerable rapidity, the rate of approximation being nearly the same in every case; while the series of Nicole converge with more or less rapidity according to the relation existing between the coefficients of the given equation, and in certain cases the convergence is so slow as to render the series practically useless. For example, the terms of the series which express the roots of the equation x3-23x-30, will depend upon the successive powers of the fraction 24388, which differs so little from units, that one thousand terms of the series would barely suffice to determine the first decimal place of the root, whereas some ten or twelve approximations according to Dr. Strong's method will determine the roots accurately to six decimal places. This method, therefore, may be justly claimed as an addition to the science, as well as the solution of Binomial Equations, the new demonstration of the Binomial Theorem, the development of the roots of equations, series, etc., all of which will be read with pleasure by advanced students. 2. Contributions to the Paleontology of Iowa, being descriptions of new species of Crinoidea and other fossils,-(supplement to vol. i, part ii, of the Geological Repository of Iowa); by JAMES HALL.-Eight sheets of an early copy of these contributions have reached us from the Author in advance of publication. As we hope soon to receive a complete copy, we reserve a list of its contents for a second notice. PERSONAL.-Prof. DANA returned to the United States early in August, improved in health by his European visit, but not yet in a state to permit the resumption of his accustomed labors. LADY FRANKLIN was passenger on the same ship. Prof. C. U. SHEPARD, and Prof. ALEXIS CASWELL of Brown University are among the American tourists in Europe this season. Prof. ELIAS LOOMIS, LL.D., late of New York University, has been elected to the chair of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in Yale College made vacant by the death of Prof. D. Olmsted. Prof. Loomis is now in Europe for the purpose of making additions to the physical cabinet of Yale College. JOSEPH E. SHEFFIELD, Esq., a citizen of New Haven, distinguished for his enlightened liberality, has at his sole charge, prepared a large and commodious building for the uses of the YALE SCIENTIFIC SCHOOL, embracing ample apartments for the Engineering, Mechanical and Physical departments-a perfectly appointed chemical Laboratory fitted for thirty special students, and private laboratories for the Professors-a Metallurgical Laboratory-Lecture rooms, both private and public-and two museum rooms-forming altogether a scientific Establishment, second to none in this country. It will be ready for occupation at the opening of the fall term. TRANSACTIONS OF THE AM. PHILOS. SOCIETY, Phila., vol. xi, new series. Part III, 1860.—Art. xvi, p. 187-258, Revision of Buprestide of the U. S., with a plate. By John L. LeConte, M.D.-xvii, p. 259-402, Analytic Orthography; an Investigation of the sources of the voice and their Alphabetic notation. By Prof. S. S. Halde mann. PROCEEDINGS OF AM. PHIL. SOC. PHILAD., 1860, January to June.-p. 174, Deaths of members announced-p. 175, Phosphoresence of the Diamond; Dr. Emerson.p. 176, Gale of July 9th and 10th, 1860-Effects upon Philadelphia Gas Works; Prof. Cresson.-p. 177, Sanscrit and English analogues; Pliny E. Chase.—Geology of the Arctic Archipelago drawn from Mc Klintock's narrative, J. P. Lesley.-p. 295, Registering Thermometer; James Lewis.-p. 297. Biographical notice of the late THOMAS NUTTALL-p. 320. Optical education: Dr. Emerson.-Obituary notice of JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER; John Leyburn, D.D. TRANSACTIONS OF THE ACADEMY OF SAINT LOUIS, (Mo.;) vol. i.—p. 583, Observations on the cretaceous strata of Texas; B. F. Shumard.-p. 606, Descriptions of new cretaceous fossils from Texas; B. F.Shumard. The author describes the following: Nautilus Texanus; Janira Wrightii; Ostrea quadriplicata; O. bellaplicata; Cidaris hemigranosus-p. 624, Description of five new species of Gasteropoda, from the Coal measures, and a Brachiopod from the Potsdam Sandstone of Texas, B. F. Shumard, viz: Pleurotomaria Brazoensis; P. tenuistriata; P. Riddellii ; P. glandula; Murchisona Texana; Orthis Coloradoensis. MÉMOIRES DE L'ACADÉMIE IMPÉRIALE DES SCIENCES, ARTS ET BELLES-LETTRES DE DIJON, second series, Tome vii, 1858-1859. Dijon, 1859, 800 pp., scientific contents catalogues des Insectes coléoptères du département de la Cote-d'or (suite), par M. Rouget. Une visite à la grotte de Fouvent (Haute-Saône): Ossements fossiles et debris de l'industrie humain; memoire posthume de M. Nodot. POSTSCRIPT, September 7. Le Verrier's Report on the Solar Eclipse of July 18, 1860, at Tarazona in Spain, (L'Institut, Nos. 1387-88-89. Aug. 1-16.)-[At the last moment, and after our notices of this phenomenon were printed (see pp. 281, 285, 288), we have received LeVerrier's Report of the Observations of the French Expedition to Spain, made to the Minister of Public Instruction, which we hasten to lay before our readers, slightly condensed, although other matters which some of our correspondents will naturally look for here are thereby displaced. The interest with which LeVerrier's new views of the physical constitution of the Sun will be read is our apology to all such.] LeVerrier was accompanied to Spain by Messrs. Yvon Villarceau, and Chacornac, who were occupied chiefly with determining the height and position of two or more of the luminous appendages. M. Foucault studied the corona, and made the photometric and photographic experiments. M. LeVerrier observed the astronomical phases of the phenomenon, and was also charged with the duty of obtaining an exact description of the whole scene. Two telescopes on Foucault's plan were devoted to the measurements, being provided with micrometers of peculiar construction, devised by Yvon Villarceau for rapid and easy manipulations in the dark. Two excellent telescopes of 6 inch aperture (one for the use of the Spanish observers) were also provided, to which must be added the photographic apparatus, a meridian circle, chronometers, barometers, seekers, and lastly the great meridian instrument belonging to the War Department, and with which the longitude was determined-forming a grand total of scientific baggage which on the 28th of June was dispatched for Spain. The outfit of the English expedition was even yet more considerable. Early in July Mr. Yvon Villarceau joined the instruments at Tudela in the center of Spain, on the banks of the Ebro, and immediately proceeded with them to Tarazona and to the chosen station called the Sanctuaire, 1,400 metres (=4592 feet) above the sea. M. LeVerrier and Foucault, fearing clouds, descended on the morning of the 18th to a plateau near the cemetery of Tarazona where the weather was magnificent during the whole eclipse. Passing the description of the contacts and observations for time, &c., we note that at totality they found the general illumination of the atmosphere much greater than the relation of former observers of total eclipses had led them to expect, so that they could read and write easily without using their lamps. Says LeV.: "The first object which I saw in the field of the telescope after the commencement of totality was an isolated cloud separated from the moon's border by a space equal to its own breadth, the whole about a minute and a half high by double that length. Its color was a beautiful rose mixed with shades of violet, and its transparency seemed to increase even to brilliant white in some parts. A little below on the right two clouds lay superimposed on each other, the smaller above, and the two of very unequal brilliancy. The rest of the western edge of the disc and the lower part showed nothing more than the corona, the light of which was perfectly white and of the greatest brilliancy. But 30° below the horizontal diameter on the east I discovered two lofty and adjoining |