492 TRANSACTIONS OP THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



sufficient of itself to pay the entire cost of cultivation — the 

 straw can readily be made a source of large profit — a wide field 

 of successful industry will be opened. 



Mr. Sanford, the inventor of the machine described, then 

 explained the model, and exhibited its mode of operation. 



The Chairman inquired about the practical success of the 

 steam gun for making flax cotton. 



Mr. Mallory stated that he had been connected with the first 

 experiments with the steam gun. He had tried it upon various 

 materials, and had even blown liguuin vitas with it. The objec- 

 tions to it for flax are that the cotton made by it must afterwards 

 be passed through a picking machine, and that the heat makes 

 the flax more difficult to bleach. Sanford's machine does at one 

 operation what requires four or five with the steam gun. And 

 if flax cotton is desired, it can best be made from flax that has 

 passed through this machine. 



Referred to the Section of Mechanics. • 



AMERICAN GEOLOGY. 



Dr. Stevens. — I have, in a former lecture, said that certain 

 ores are alwa3's found associated together. Gold, when in 

 place, is usually accompanied by sulphuret of iron, and sul- 

 phuret of iron generally contains gold. Whenever lead is found 

 in the United States, the sulphuret or some other ore of zinc is 

 associated with it. One of the most prominent localities for 

 lead in the United States is the neighborhood of Galena. There 

 are immense quantities of zinc in the west, but unfortunately it 

 is associated with the sulphuret of iron, and on this account it 

 has not proven valuable. The great zinc formations of the 

 United States are found in the Blue Ridge. At Franklin, in New 

 Jersey, it is found in the form of oxide, and iron, manganese are 

 combined with it in one mineral. Zinc is one of our most 

 important mineral productions. Its oxide is of great value as a 

 paint, from the fact that it is not injurious to health, and that it 

 is not darkened by sulphuretted hydrogen. 



The next great mineral formation of the United States is iron. 

 Practically, iron ores are divided into two great classes ; those 

 in which the iron is in the state of an oxide, and those in which 

 it is in the form of a carbonate. The latter are frequently found 

 associated with limestone, in the coal formations; while the 

 oxides are found in all formations. The ores of iron earliest, in 



