POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
[April, 1S90. 
that all bodies, but especially gases, vary in 
volume or size under varying conditions of 
temperature and pressure. Now the human 
mind can form only two possible conceptions 
of matter — that it is perfectly continuous, or 
it is discontinuous. If a cubic inch of air, 
for instance, or the mercury in a thermome- 
ter, were perfectly continuous, or one solid 
lump of matter, so to speak, we cannot con- 
■ ceive of any way in which its volume could 
change ; but we know that it does change, 
and we are therefore driven almost inevitably 
to the belief that matter is made up of sepa- 
rate particles (or atoms), separated from each 
other by empty spaces, like a swarm of gnats, 
to use a rough illustration. The atomic 
weights and other chemical phenomena are 
hardly explainable upon any other theory 
than the mutual attractions of excessively 
minute but perfectly definite and unalterable 
masses of matter. 
But are the spaces between the atoms 
empty "i Here we meet with another diffi- 
culty, for we know that energv, in the forms 
of light, heat, electricity, etc., not only 
passes readily through matter, but also across 
the inter-stellar spaces, where, for various 
reasons, we cannot admit the presence of 
matter in the forms familiarly known to us. 
We cannot conceive of energy or force trav- 
ersing an absolute vacuum. The very exist- 
ence of energy seems to be conditioned by 
the presence of matter. We are, therefore, 
driven to another assumption — that of the 
ether, which is supposed to be an extremely 
subtle form of matter, as much lighter than 
common gases, as these exceed solids and 
liquids in tenuity, which not only fills the 
inter-stellar spaces of the entire imiverse, but 
the inter-atomic (or, more properly, the inter- 
molecular) spaces of all forms of matter 
itself. But, if the ether is matter, — and if it 
is not it has no existence, — then it must be 
constituted very differently from other forms 
of matter with which we are acquainted, and 
possess a combination of qualities — such as 
low density and high elasticit}- — which are 
not possessed by any other form of matter of 
which we have knowledge. 
We have no actual and definite knowledge 
as to how matter is constituted, how energy 
is transmitted, or what light, heat, electricity, 
chemical aflSnity, etc., i-eally are, and we are 
hardly able to thoroughly differentiate matter 
and energy themselves. Certain scientists 
have considered them nearly identical, hold- 
ing that atoms are but centers of attractive 
force, or of vortices in the ether, like the 
rings of smoke blown from the chimney of a 
locomotive. We think that scarcely a single 
scientist of repute would claim to absolutely 
believe in the existence of either atoms or the 
ether. They simply stand as expressions by 
which observed phenomena can be formu- 
lated, or, as illustrated by Professor Cooke, 
they are but the scaffolding of an uncompleted 
building, to be removed when our system of 
the philosophy of Nature is complete, but in 
the present condition b'f knowledge serving a 
useful if not indisjjensable purpose. 
The more we search into the mysteries of 
Nature, the more incomprehensible we find 
them, and the more clearly we perceive the 
limitations of our present knowledge. It 
sometimes seems as ii we miist reason from a 
psychological standpoint, and refer natural 
phenomena to a subjective basis. But this is 
merely a fanciful speculation ; the course of 
knowledge is ever onward, and we have no 
occasion for discouragement. We have but 
little doubt that in time many, if not all, of 
the jsroblems of Nature will be solved, and 
shown to have a material and objective ex- 
istence ; and it is not impossible that we may 
obtain a comprehension of the true nature of 
vital force, or life itself, which we cannot but 
consider as the key to all those other mysteries 
which now perplex that manifestation of our 
being which we call the mind, or soul. 
[Original in Popular Scievce NtWH.\ 
THE MINERAL WEALTH OF NEW MEXICO. 
BY M. J. GORTON. 
The mineral wealth of New Mexico has been 
known — and, tradition asserts, has been partially 
developed — for more than three centuries. But the 
general exploration and real general development 
of the mineral resources of the Territory only com- 
menced less than nine years ago. It was not until 
geological and mineralogical surveys had been 
achieved and reported to the national government, 
and the coming of the means of transportation had 
become 'in a.ssured fact, that the development began 
satisfactorily. 
The resources of the Territory consist not only of 
its mines of precious metals, but likewise of nickel, 
copper, lead, manganese (sulphate and carbonate), 
iron, and cobalt; also mica, salt, gypsum, soda, 
arsenic, alum, coal, borax, tellurium, lime, sulphur, 
plumbago, mineral paints, silicates, many precious 
stones and gems, — topaz, rubies or garnets, ame- 
thyst, emerald, sapphire, olivine, chalcedony, obsid- 
ian, smoky quartz, opal, agates, — besides, of course, 
rich mines of gold and silver. The mining districts 
found in the dillerent ranges of mountains are 
prospectively rich, and in importance dwarf all 
other interests. 
The Organ Mountains lie about eighteer) miles 
east of the Rio Grande. Several mines are in oper- 
ation, and the work is being steadily prosecuted. 
Every claim has a heavy iron capping, and carries 
both gold and silver. The Jarillas district, known 
as the Silver Hills, is due east from Shedd's ranch, 
twenty miles. Here an old civilization has left 
positive signs of having sunk shafts and wrought 
out the precious metals ; and the dumps of unused 
ore, thought unworthy the labor necessary for 
carrying away and packing long distances to be 
smelted, is now found to yield a good profit under 
more modern methods and with improved means of 
transportation. The great trouble is lack of water. 
There are irrigating methods — sinking artesian 
wells, digging trenches, and. securing the rainfall — 
which will revolutionize and develop the enormous 
mineral wealth of the Jarrilas district, if enough 
water is secured to use for washing purposes. 
There are reports of the vivid possibilities of the 
Socorra and Rincon districts. A rapid investiga- 
tion showed the existence ol wealth-producing ores. 
The great water-sheds of these districts have been 
denuded by electric and atmospheric agencies of the 
long ago. The country where lie the sources of 
the tributaries, in the wet season, of the Rio del 
Norte, takes the character of savage grandeur in 
its sterile rocks and bold elevations. Broad beds of 
gravel and sand lie between the clifts of syenite, 
which is combined with other minerals — sand- 
stone, arbolite, porphyry, and quartz — in mass. 
In many places it bears evidence of having 
undergone a roasting, the residuum filling 
the surrounding cavities. The combinations of 
quartz and feldspar, that in different localities bear 
mineral-producing lodes, from the dome rocks of 
the clearly defined leads that penetrate the moun- 
tain, extend from the mountain peaks to the plain, 
within the mineral belt. Sometimes near the main 
river, more frequently in the dry gulches opening 
to the stream, nearly always at the heads of the 
lesser streams, wherever the stift" slale is exposed, 
the color of gold is found. Wherever the gray slate 
is exposed, the auriferous strata suiTiciently denuded, 
and the bars of diorite known as gold-bearing ore 
exposed, payable deposits of gold are usually found. 
The regions where gold, silver, and the many 
valuable mineral deposits must be sought, are often 
wrapped in the deepest solitude. The beetling 
cliff's drop down from the barren table-land .above, 
and gaunt, skulking coyotes wake the echoes with 
their nightly howls. A loneliness so deep and 
terrifying as to overshadow and palsy every effort 
to forget the benumbing stillness prevails. There 
are none of the signs of human interest or vivid lit- 
tering of life in the untrodden paths and unfenced 
roadways and natural boundaries to the land. The 
senses are constantly reminded of the great waste, 
and it seems impossible that common effort and" 
occupation can survive amid such few adjuncts of 
congeniality and the unkindliness of .so bare a field. 
The occupation of the Rincon mines by specu- 
lators who " boomed " all known leads, and a trip 
to the Sierra Cabella range to follow out some leads 
reported to be worthy oi notice, led into the heart 
of a ghostly, ghastly, God-forgotten land, the trail 
tending ever onward through the scoriated, fiery 
desert of desolation. Boulders strew the surface of 
the plain, and the view is bounded by a horizon of 
low cliffs, wind-wrought into the shape of monu- 
ments and ruined fortifications, dreary and tame to 
a degree. Not one blade of grass, not a tree ; noth- 
ing of beauty, nothing of grandeur; — grease-wood 
and sage-brush, and a liery ball in a brazen sky over 
all; only gray and brown tones in all this desolate 
landscape; the only signs of life, the skulking 
coyote and the slow-sailing buzzard. After a tiine, 
we strike low conglomerate foot-hills, and ascend 
one after another, only to again descend. After 
incredible toil, we strike a savage, narrow glen, 
lying between two mountain spurs, the sides of 
which were covered with chapparal and gamma 
grass — a growth which is never green, nor does it * 
ever wither, but is very nutritious, and was most 
acceptable food for our weary, jaded horses. Soon 
we emerged by the dry channel of a creek, crossed 
in places by broad veins of slate. Travelling slowly 
along the worn water-way, we examined a drift 
place where the gravel and sand was collected above 
a slaty bar of bare rock. Just below were three 
Mexicans, engaged in scooping up the deposit, and, 
using the water from their skin bags, rinsed the 
gravel from the collection in their pans. Propitiat- 
ing them by giving them some tobacco, they allowed 
us to see the shine of the pure, lustrous metal. 
The wildest excitement prevailed, fatigue van- 
ished, the proper steps for securing possession were 
