Polytechnic Association. 



TRANSACTIONS 



POLYTECHNIC ASSOCIATION. 



The Polytechnic Association, an organization under the control of 

 the American Institute, holds weekly sessions for the examination of 

 new inventions and discoveries, and for the discussion of questions 

 relating to applied science. Its officers for the year 1871-2 are Sam- 

 uel D. Tillman, LL.D., Chairman, and Robert Wier, Esq., Secretary. 



May 11, 1871. 



The Chairman, Professor S. D. Tillman, opened the proceedings 

 by making the following notes on scientific progress : 



I. Sulphur Mine. 



The lands of the American Sulphur Mining Company are located 

 in the parish of Calcasieu, in the south-western part of the State of 

 Louisiana, comprising 400 acres, immediately adjoining the lands of 

 the Calcasieu Sulphur Mining Company of Louisiana, who have pene- 

 trated the sulphur upward of 100 feet, at from 428 to 446 feet below 

 the surface, disclosing a fine quality of crystallized sulphur, which by 

 analysis is shown to be from seventy to ninety-six and a half per cent 

 pure— a supply and purity unheard of in the world's history, more 

 than sufficient to meet the demands of commerce for centuries to come, 

 and 350 feet nearer the surface than in central Italy, where they go 

 800 feet. 



While all other mines heretofore discovered yield scarcely thirty 

 per cent of sulphur from the ore, and refined by sublimation at a 

 heavy cost, the sulphur mines of Louisiana have the advantage of 

 yielding sulphur nearly chemically pure in a crystallized form, and 

 which can be mined in any desired amount as easily as coal, which in 



[Inst.] 36 



