;96 



NA TORE 



[April 19, 1906 



,,1 vvater and timber, the halMrozen condition oi the 

 gravel, and the high cost ol labour and transport. In 

 'pite oi these obstacles the wide and uniform distribution 

 of alluvial gold, the healthy climate, and the proximity 

 of the phenomenally rich goldfields oi the British Yukon 

 territory justify prospecting and mining for gold ovei so 

 extensive an area. The methods of gravel and placer 

 mining in vogue are well described by Mr. C. W. 

 Purington. Hvdraulii methods are the Eavourites, and the 

 construction oi the requisite ditches has gone on with 

 great activity, about a hundred miles being under con- 

 struction and a similar length in use. In the Porcupine 



districl in south-eastern Alaska, near the intern: lal 



boundary, hvdraulicing has proved economical. The grave! 

 is attacked "in this wav, and sluice-boxes are lam on bed 

 rock, everything being worked into them by the powerful 

 stream from the hydraulic nozzle. 



Of the gold-ore deposits in Uaska by far the most 

 important is that oi the Alaska-! readwell mine on the 



eastern side ol Douglas Island, II re bodies consist^! 



mineralised albite-diorite occurring in the form ol intrusive 

 dykes in black slates. lie' dykes an distributed through- 

 out a zona all. .in jooo feel in width, extending along 

 the strike for three* miles. The ore consists mainly oi 

 rock impregnated with pyrites, in part Tilled la veins "I 



, .,1 and quartz. lie average value of the rock mined 



is 8s. per ton. lie' dykes have been developed along 



the dip for a distance ol aboul ' Hot ascending 



solution-, possiblj "t magmatii origin, appear to have been 



the can-' ralisation, and lie evidence is in favour 



of onh one pei iod of i oncentration. 



None 1 I 'la- metals ol the platinum series ha- yet been 

 found in Hie Alaska alluvium, but stream tin discovered 

 on the Anikovik River in 1900 has been found ovei ... 

 .,,-,.., ol 450 square miles During Ha- season of [904 de- 

 velopment work on tin lodes was in progress at Lost Rivei 

 an d Cap,- Mounl lin, and new discoveries oi tin lodes were 

 reported at Brooks Mountain, Ears Mountain, and in the 

 Darby Mi untains, all in Seward Peninsula. 



II,,. attempts to develop petroleum fields in Alaska which 

 were begun in [901 have been continued, but so far with- 

 out any 1 ommeri ial production. 



Proi ing ~m fai a indii ations oi pi troleum have, how- 

 ever, been found in the Controller Bay, Cook Inlet, and 

 ('..Id Bay fields. Though only a few wells have been 

 bored, Mr. Martin's studies have shown that there is ample 

 justification foi furthei prospecting, and that the Pacifii 

 < oasl region ol Uaska may prove an important source ol 

 illuminating oil. In ihis connection it is ,-,l interest 1.. 

 note that the Bering River coal is the best that has yel 

 been found on the Pacifii Coast. An a-.. 'rage of twelve 

 analyses showed 7^0^ pei cent. ..! fixed carbon, 1506 pei 

 cent, of volatile matter, 7117 pi 1 cenl oi ash, 1 30 per < > ■ 1 -1 1 . 

 of moisture, and 1 24 per cent, ol sulphur. Coal, mostl] 

 of a [ignitii character, is ..Is., widely distributed in south- 

 western Alaska, whilst the coals of the Cape Lisburne 



region are ol two di I classes, low-grade bituminous 



coal ol Mesozoii ..-,■, and high-grade bituminous coal oi 

 Palaeozoic age. 1 ha former covers an area of 300 square 

 miles with 150 feel ol coal in forty or fifty seams, ten of 



which seem i" be oi a nic importance. The Palaeozoii 



coals are also undeveloped. They occur in limited areas, 

 and the beds are much crumpled and broken, so that mining 

 will be difficult and expensive. The product will, how- 

 ever, probably command as good a price as the bast coals 

 shipped to Alaska. 



1 imbk 1. Applications for the John 1. tie. is Walker 



studentship, the holder oi which must devote himself (or 

 herself) to original research in pathology, are invited, and 

 should be sent, accompanied by references -not testi- 

 monial a,. 1 later than May s, to Prof. G. Sims Wood- 

 head, Pathological Laboratory, New Museums 

 bridge, in whom also applications for further information 

 regarding the studentship may be addressed. The student- 

 ship is i.f the annual vain.' of 200!. (gram- ma\ also be 

 made I. r assistance and apparatus), and is tenable undei 

 , .ruin 1 1 nditions, for thre< yi ars from July 1 . 



Mr. Earle has been appointed to succeed sir A. Pedlei 

 as Director of Public Instruction in Bengal. 



sity, has been appointed 

 Vienna 1 niversity in 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — Tin- electors will proceed to the election of a 

 Sibthorpian professor oi rural economy on June 9. The 

 professorship has now been made tenable for life, subject 

 to the liability of the holder to vacate it by deprivation for 

 sufficient cause. lie present stipend of ilia professorship 

 is about 700/. a year. 



NO. 19O3, VOL. 73] 



Dr. J. Moeller, of Gratz I ni\ 

 professor of pharmacognosia ii 

 succession to Prof, von Vogl. 



Prof. J. Pkkciii has been appointed to succeed Prof. 

 Dieterici as professor ol experimental pin si, s in the 

 ["echnical High School, Hanover. 



Prof. Dr. E. Knoevexagel has been appointed director 

 ol Me' Heidelberg University chemical laboratory in suc- 

 cession to Prof. Theodor Curtius, ex-prosector ..I the Uni- 

 versitv ; while Prof. A. Klages has been deputed to take 

 Prof. Curtius's lectures on experimental organic chemistry. 



I 1 has been decided t.. add to the University of Nancy 

 .1 new physical institute, toward the cost of which the 



Government has promised francs, while a further 



contribution of 50,000 francs has also been announced. 

 Ihis will mean that, apart from buildings fir the medical 

 faculty, there have been added within and,, recent years 

 new institutes lor chemistry, electrotechnics, and applied 

 mechanics, whilst tin- brewing school has been newly 

 organised. 



I 1 1 announced in Science that Mr. \n.li.v. 1 arnegii 

 hi- given 400,oooZ., in addition to previous gifts, for the 

 1, 11 enance ..I the Carnegie Technical Schools, Pittsburg. 

 Prom the same source we learn thai by the will of the 

 lat.- Andrew J. Dotger, of South Orange, N.J., the 

 Tuskegee Institute will receive 131,000/. on the death ol 

 his wife, h is also interesting in record thai aboul 

 1. ... .,,...'. has already been 1 aised foi thi nen pro 

 of lumbering in the Vale Forest School oi thi 30,000! 

 which is sought as an endowment. In fourteen 

 States 8800Z. was raised from sixty contributors. 



Among thi course e ... .. be held daring May, 



arranged for advanced students an. I others in connection 

 with the I niversitj of London, the following may be 

 mentioned. A course of aboul seven lectures 1 n the 

 morphology of the Bryophyta will be given al the Chelsea 

 Physic Garden by Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S., beginning 

 i.n May 8; a course of eight lectures mi the physiology oi 

 nerve will be delivered in the physiological laboratory of 

 the University by Dr. N. II. Alcock, commencing on 

 M.n 8; and a course of four lectures on the atmospherii 

 circulation and its relation to weather will be given on 

 May 1. 8, 15, and 24 by Dr. W. X. Shaw, F.R.S. 



Ix the Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute (vol, 

 xxvii., No, ;) Dr. (1. Reid gives drawings of a new type 

 of elementary school now adopted by the Education Com- 

 mittee of Staffordshire. The central hall ty| 1 building 



hitherto in favour was found to present difficulties in 

 making adequate provision for ventilation by natural 

 nil-ails, and a plan of building was adopted in which "n>- 

 semi-detached hall would serve for three departments, the 

 class-rooms being designed in pavilion form with veranda 

 communication. The cost of erection of the new type is 

 considerably less than that of the central hall type, the 

 cost ..I schools to accommodate 1020 and 628 children 

 respe tively being roZ. 10s. and 11/. is. in the former 

 ease as compared with 15/., which was the average cost 

 per lead of ib.- central hall tvpe of building. 



