Group Of Stones Research Articles

Cholelithiasis and acoustic shadowing.

The importance of the acoustic shadow in the ultrasound diagnosis of cholelithiasis has been stressed in recent reports. In vitro studies of gallstones indicate that the presence and magnitude of the acoustic shadow depend on a number of factors and suggest that a group of small stones may be demonstrable even though no acoustic shadow can be seen.

English Song Repertories of the Mid-fifteenth Century

Writing a year before Mozart died, Joseph Ritson prefaced the earliest attempt to summarize the history of medieval English song with the comment: To pretend to frame a History, or any thing resembling one, from the scanty gleanings it is possible to collect upon the subject of our Ancient Songs and vulgar music, would be vain and ridiculous.Nearly two hundred years later it is still necessary to begin any such survey on a note of extreme caution and with a declaration that the picture must be built on a series of widely separated stepping-stones—or more precisely, on a scattered group of stones peeping up from the river and perhaps never intended to pave a way across. Perhaps I may continue the river metaphor for a moment by saying that a landing place is now fairly solidly established on the far bank thanks to the recent publication by John Stevens of the Fayrfax Manuscript (GB-Lbm Add. 5465), dating from around 1500, and of the English songs in the Ritson Manuscript (Add. 5665), some of which must have been copied around 1470. Further, a little way up the river, there is a more or less continuous path across provided by the English carol tradition, also fully published by John Stevens and surviving in a series of five manuscripts that are miraculously fairly even in their chronological and stylistic spacing over the years from 1430 to 1500.

The Diopet of Ephesus

IN the Aegean world in the days of classical antiquity there were numerous holy stones known as baetyli, each of which was attached to the cult of a god, most commonly Zeus. In some cases the baetylus was regarded as the abiding place of the god or, as one might say, it was an aspect of the god. The most renowned example is the holy stone known as the omphalus in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the centre of the universe. The original stone or group of stones there has probably been replaced, because the omphalus is now represented by an ornate domed pillar carved out of marble. Another holy stone at Delphi, near the sanctuary of Neoptolemus, was regarded in earlier times as Zeus himself in baetylic form. It is widely believed by classical scholars that baetyli were sometimes meteorites, but so far as I am aware in no instance has this ever been proved. Therefore when I heard that one of the famous baetyli, the Diopet of Ephesus, was in the possession of the City of Liverpool Museums I asked the Director, Mr T. A. Hume, if his Museums' Committee would care to lend it to the British Museum (Natural History) so that its nature might be investigated, and this was done in January 1960. Dr G. F. Claringbull, at that time Keeper of Mineralogy, was able to confirm immediately that the Diopet was not a meteorite but a terrestrial rock. He reported on it to Mr Hume as follows: 'The body of the object is a metamorphic rock containing amphibole and chlorite, and without a section it is difficult to give a precise name to the rock. I am sure, on the other hand, that a section would not be likely to enable us to localise the material.' Subsequently it came to light that Professor F. C. Phillips had examined the Diopet petrologically while it was in the Department of Classics in Cambridge, and provisionally he indentified it as a form of chloritic schist.

The Beulah H. Emmet Collection of Minoan Seals

The seals described here form part of a collection of antiquities belonging to Beulah H. Emmet of Wilton, N.H.' In 1928 Mrs. Emmet was traveling in Crete, and, since she was interested in the purchase of ancient coins, was referred to an antiquities dealer, a Mr. Kephalogiannis. He showed her a group of seal stones which, he said, he had collected on behalf of a young English archaeologist who had died unexpectedly. After Mrs. Emmet had bought the seals, Sir Charles Seltman examined and catalogued them with appropriate descriptions and approximate dates. Most of his ascriptions are preserved with the seals and are here reproduced. The collection consists of eighteen seals; four others are now missing but are represented by casts. They cover very nearly the entire period of Minoan seal cutting with the exception of the early ivories. Three belong to the bead-seal or prism class; of these, one (I) is of the common threesided variety with circular faces, and the other two (2; 3 in cast only) are rectangular. The latter shape is much the less usual and is probably to be dated to Middle Minoan I; the triangular example may be of that date or somewhat earlier.2 The designs are familiar ones for the most part, though one should note the exceptionally well-articulated figure of a man on 2. Probab y c temporary with the prism seals is the steatit pyramidal seal 4. The shape and design can be p ralleled in a number of examples from th Mesara.3 Six seals with geometric designs are chiefly ascribed by Seltman to the period Middle Minoan II to III. Two are amygdaloids, one (5) with a vegetable motif, the other (6) with the common drill-cut jug set among branches. One lentoid seal of carnelian (7) bears a rosette; a second (8) bears a simple version of a common hatched pattern. A sim lar pattern occurs on a steatite disk-seal (9), now missing. A tiny green-and-white stone signet bears n eight-petaled rosette (io). Thr e other seals may be connected, at least stylistically, with the seals of geometric design or with prism seals. A scarab (ii) of brown-andwhite chalcedony bears a heraldic design consisting f two dogs. The deep drill cutting recalls that of the prism seals. A white chalcedony amygdaloid (12) is deeply cut with a long-bodied water bird, not unlike the work on the seals displaying the common jug and branch motif (compare 6). 13 is a sardonyx lentoid recalling Evans' seals inscribed with signs f the hieroglyphic script, but of the three objects shown (bull-head, bird, snake), only the first occurs among the usual signs.'

Rare gases in the chondrite pantar

Ne and He stadies for the chondrite Pantar were confirmed, and measurements were extended to include Ar and Xe. The light phase of this meteorite is typical of most chondrites in its content of radiogenic He/sup 4/ and Ar/sup 40/ and cosmogenic He/sup 3/, neon, and argon. The dark phase, in which opaque minerals outiine the chondrules, is rich in primordial rare gases. Primordial xenon, exhibiting general isotopic anomalies identical to those found in carbonaceous chondrites, occurs in both phases but is 12 times more abundant in the dark phase. Radiogenic Xe/sup 129/ from I/sup 129/ decay occurs in both phases but is 53 times more abundant in the dark phase. The primordial gas spectrum resembles other meteorites in its He/Ne and Xe/Ar ratios. In its Ar/Ne and Ne/sup 20/Ne/sup 22/ ratios it resembles Pesyanoe and belongs to what can be loosely described as a cosmic group of gas-rich stones. (auth)

The Eggs and Nesting Habits of the Crested Blenny, Anoplarchus

F OR nearly a half century the eggs and nesting habits of Blennius gunnellus L., the butter fish of the North Atlantic, have been know . Smith (1886 and 1887) published the first accounts, and many other publications have followed in recent years. The breeding habits of the blennies in other regions seem to have been neglected. A review of the available literature shows but one reference to this subject in South Africa (Gilchrist and Thompson 1910), and one reference in the North Pacific region, that by Metz. The latter author (1912: 57) states in regard to Xerepes fucorum: One specimen was found coiled around a mass of eggs placed in a small depression in the rock, and well concealed by the matted grass above. The figure [referring to Plate II, fig. D., p. 63] shows a photograph of the egg mass with the fish around it, (not in situ). This specimen was probably seen in July. Dr. Hubbs tells us that he once found an adult of Cebidichthys violaceus in a crevice, coiled about its large mass of eggs. Because of this scanty information on the breeding habits of blennies in the North Pacific it seems desirable to describe the nest of the crested blenny, Anoplarchus purpurescens purpurescens Gill, as found at Seattle, Washington. A typical crested blenny habitat occurs at Lincoln Park, in Seattle. The beach here is composed of loose stones which range in size up to seven inches. The larger stones have become partly embedded in the bottom because the wave action is not strong enough to shift them from place to place. By turning over loose stones near the water's edge during any minus tide, numerous blennies will be seen. The larger spaces under the more loosely associated stones are occupied by crabs; and the blennies occur among the crevices of the more closely fitting stones, but the two are seldom found together under the same stone. Anoplarchus purpurescens purpurescens, a robust dark-colored form, is much less active when disturbed than the more slender species, as Pholis ornatus and Pholis laetus. Epigeichthys atropurpureus and Oligocottus maculosus rarely are found under the stones here, but Caularchus maeandricus, the cling-fish, is very common. On February 27 we observed at the Lincoln Park beach that certain individuals of the crested blenny had their abdomens greatly distended with eggs. The two sexes of Anoplarchus were colored differently: the anal fin of the male was bright red to scarlet, that of the female dull gray; the back along the dorsal fin of the male was plain grayish to black, that of the female showed distinct grayish white blotches. Females with ripe eggs and males in breeding colors occurred under the same group of stones. This caused us to look carefully for nests. After turning over many stones, a single cluster of eggs of the crested blenny was found at about the mean low tidal level. This nest of eggs occurred under a 6-inch stone, supported on each side by smaller stones. The bottom was composed of small pebbles

On the Genus Stoliczkaria , Dunc, and its Distinctness from Parkeria , Carpenter

The last scientific work of Stoliczka, whose name will be always associated with the palæontology of India, was performed during the return of the second Yarkand expedition. A few days before his death he crossed the Karakoram Pass, and, travelling on, traversed the last geological scene he ever described. He wrote in his journal:—“At last we descended into a narrow gorge, the sides o: which, for fully a mile, consisted of a limestone conglomerate, the boulders of white, grey, or black limestone being well rounded and worn, and cemented together by a stiff bright red clay. Upon this followed dolomitic limestones, rather indifferently bedded, massive and white; and these were overlain by bluish shales and well-bedded limestones extending from about six miles north of Burtri to the camp. The limestones appear to be Triassic; they are compact with layers full of small Gasteropods, among which I noticed a Nerinæa . The so-called ‘Karakoram stones’ occur in dark shales below the limestones, which are capped by a yellowish-brown limestone, well bedded, but of unascertained age. The whole series dips north-west at a moderate angle”. It is to a group of the Karakoram stones that I venture to draw the attention of the Society. The stratigraphical position of the stones is lower than the Lias; and they may he Rhætic or Triassic in age.