Report of the slcretary. 91 



fcained by him from tbe region of tlie IJ])per iNIississippi, and the Yel- 

 loustonc durini;' the previous .sununer. In connection therewith he 

 also undertook the compihition of a general compendium of paleobot- 

 any ; substantially a digest of the history and present status of the 

 science. Such a work, dealing largely with the literature of the sub- 

 ject, has come to be very important, if not indispensable to the proper 

 utilization of American material in geologic work. The preliminary 

 part of this volume, a sketch of paleobotany, illustrated with figures 

 and tables, will appear in the Director's Fifth Annual Report. 



Under Professor Ward's direction there was prepared a catalogue of 

 the species of fossil plants in the JTational Museum, thus rendering the 

 collection much more valuable for purposes of reference. 



Prof. W. M. Fontaine's plan of work for the year was to continue his 

 investigation of the Mesozoic fossil-plants by means of the material al- 

 ready collected until the opening of the field season, and then to make 

 further collections from this formation in localities to the north and east 

 of Fredericksburg, Va. The latter was successfully accomplished in a 

 brief tour, and Professor Fontaine then returned to the elaborating of 

 field-notes and the describing and tiguring of tyi)e specimens. 



Though engaged in the special line of work referred to, Professor 

 Fontaine also made a careful study of the general geology of the regions 

 visited in the course of his investigations. He believes that some of 

 his discoveries will definitely determine the status of certain forma- 

 tions whose character have been considered uncertain. 



CHEMISTRY. 



The effectiveness of the laboratory service was greatly increased by 

 the addition to the force of several experts and by the removal of the 

 Kew Haven physical laboratory to Washington. This latter was ren- 

 dered possible by the kindness of the director of the National Museum, 

 who, as previously stated, i)eriuitted the laboratories to occupy the 

 rooms in the Museum vacated by the office of the Director of the Sur- 

 vey. The fitting up of these rooms for this purpose was begun in Octo- 

 ber, and before the close of the year the combined forces of the two 

 laboratories were busily at work again under Professor Clarke's direc- 

 tion. 



During the year there were made a large number of analyses of 

 mineral waters, sediments from mineral springs, minerals and clays, as 

 well as a large number of assays of mineral-bearing ores. Original 

 research was also prosecuted. This included new methods for the de- 

 termination of titanium in rocks, for the determination of minute quan- 

 tities of the precious metals in ores, and investigations concerning the 

 precipitated silicates of lime, aluminum, and magnesium, this latter 

 being fundamental to the study of the natural silicates. 



Upon the opening of the field season Assistant Chemist Chatard pro- 

 ceeded to North Carolina for the i)uriiose of obtaining specimens from 



