partially consolidated at the time.

There is an extensive bituminous limestone formation in Persia,
containing 20 per cent. of bitumen, and the theory elaborated in the
paper would account for bitumen and oil having been found in Canada
and Tennessee embedded in limestone, which fact is cited by Mr.
Peckham as favoring his belief that some petroleums are a "product of
the decomposition of animal remains."

Above all, this theory accounts for the many varieties in the chemical
composition of paraffin oils in accordance with ordinary operations of
nature during successive geological periods.--_Chem. News._

* * * * *




THE COLORADO DESERT LAKE.


Mr. J.J. Mcgillivray, who has been for many years in the United States
mineral survey service, has some interesting things to say about the
overflow of the Colorado desert, which has excited so much comment,
and about which so many different stories have been told:

"None of the papers, so far as I know," said Mr. McGillivray, "have
described with much accuracy or detail the interesting thing which has
happened in the Colorado desert or have stated how it happened. The
Colorado desert lies a short distance northwest of the upper end of