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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



crystallizes in the monoclinic system, in tubu- 

 lar or short columnar or needle-shaped crys- 

 tals, usually well developed and free from 

 distortion, varying from microscopic size to 

 five inches in length. It is brittle, transpar- 

 ent in the purest crystals, and of shades of 

 yellow or brown in color. It is an accessory 

 constituent of the granite rocks and their de- 

 rived gneisses, and has been found in apatite, 

 cyanite, and veined quartz, but not in sedi- 

 mentary rocks. The economically valuable 

 deposits are found in the placer sands of 

 streams and rivers, in the irregular sedi- 

 mentary sand deposits of old stream beds 

 and bottoms, now covered up, and in the 

 beach - sand deposits of certain seashores. 

 Workable deposits of monazite have so far 

 been found only in limited geographical 

 areas. The only ones in the United States 



are the placer beds in North and South Caro- 

 lina ; in Burke, McDowell, Rutherford, Cleve- 

 land, and Polk Counties, North Carolina, and 

 in Spartanburg, Greenville, and York Coun- 

 ties, South Carolina. They occur in gravel 

 deposits, from one to two feet thick, in 

 streams that are seldom more than twelve 

 feet wide. Other deposits are found in Bra- 

 zil, the United States of Colombia, and Russia. 

 The value of monazite depends on its per- 

 centage of thoria, the earth sought after by 

 the Welsbach-light men. The Carolina beds 

 furnished one million nine hundred thousand 

 pounds of monazite in 1896, at from six to 

 ten cents a pound. The next year the out- 

 put fell off, both in amount and price, on 

 account of the competition of the Brazilian 

 field, where the production is easier and 

 cheaper. 



MINOR PARAGRAPHS. 



Institute of France, Cuvier Prize. — At the 

 session of the Academie des Sciences held at 

 Paris, December 13, 1897, the Cuvier Prize of 

 1,500 francs was awarded to Professor 0. 

 C. Marsh, of Yale University. This prize is 

 " awarded every three years for the most 

 remarkable work either on the Animal King- 

 dom or on Geology." 



The Cuvier Prize is generally regarded as 

 the highest honor in natural science, and 

 hitherto has been given to only two persons 

 in this country, Agassiz and Leidy. The 

 former, however, was a native of Switzer- 

 land, and there the special work was done 

 for which his prize was awarded. 



The vine was once much more largely 

 cultivated in England than it is now, and 

 English wines were not unknown. The re- 

 cent success of Lord Bute's vineyards at 

 Castle Cook, near Cardiff, Wales, seems to 

 favor the prospect that the grape and its 

 products may yet, if the people take to it, 

 win a position of importance among British 

 industries. The vines were planted in 1875. 

 The yield of wine has, with various fluctua- 

 tions, risen from forty gallons in 1877 to 

 forty hogsheads in 1893 and 1896; and the 

 cost of all previous experiments was covered 

 by the crop of 1893* That this success is 

 not merely an accident of locality is proved 

 by the return of a second vineyard, which 

 was planted in another part of Lord Bute's 



estate, the vines of which are thoroughly es- 

 tablished, grow vigorously, and ripen well in 

 most years. " We are planting thousands 

 of vines every year, and propose to plant an 

 acre every spring. Six hogsheads of wine 

 were given in 1895 by the one acre in bear- 

 ing condition in the new vineyard, in a sea- 

 son when many of the grapes and fruit and 

 vine crops were spoiled by mildew." 



Concerning the useful aspect of earth- 

 quake observations, Prof. John Milne said, 

 in the British Association, that in Japan it 

 is now clearly recognized that ordinary engi- 

 neering practice as applied to embankments, 

 piers for bridges, tall chimneys, the framing 

 of ordinary dwellings, and other structures 

 is to be avoided ; and whenever, as, for ex- 

 ample, after a disastrous earthquake or a 

 fire, reconstruction is required, new methods 

 are adopted, and the loss of life and prop- 

 erty is being steadily reduced. The applica- 

 tion of seismometry to measuring the irregu- 

 lar movements of locomotives has resulted 

 in new forms of balancing the engines, with, 

 among other incidents, a marked saving of 

 fuel. By the use of seismographs along the 

 coast of Japan submerged areas of seismic 

 activity have been mapped through which it 

 would be dangerous to lay a cable. Instru- 

 ments which record the unfelt movements 

 of the earth's crust sometimes tell us that 

 cable interruption is due to earthquake action 



