176 



NA TURE 



[Decemuer 26, 1901 



special lecturer for physical chemistry, and very often a 

 professor for organic and another for inorganic chemistry, 

 beside numerous lecturers on different branches of the 

 subject. 



The German nation, which has placed its primary 

 and technical education on a sound basis, has been 

 richly rewarded. In 1897 the total production of the 

 German chemical works was 47,391,132/. \yithin the 

 last twenty years many new and flourishing industries 

 have been started, the foundation of which has been 

 entirely due to the results of chemical research. Again, 

 one has only to glance at the appended list, which shows 

 the dividends of some of the larger chemical works, all 

 of which employ a large staff of fully trained chemists, 

 to recognise that science and successful commerce go 

 hand-in-hand : — 



Dividends 



Na 



r of works 



Hochst Colour Works 



Baden Aniline and Soda Works 



Elberfeld Colour Works 



Schering and Co., Berlin ... 



Nobel and Co. , Hamburg ... 



Munich Paper Works 



Rositz Sugar Works... ... ... 3 . 12 ... 13 



In this country the Government relies too much upon 

 private initiative and individual generosity. Because 

 nearly all the pioneering labour and many of the most 

 brilliant scientific results of the past century have, so 

 far as this country is concerned, been conducted by 

 private individuals who were fired with the restless and 

 resistless energy of genius, the Government and the 

 manufacturers wrap themselves in an impenetrable 

 armour of self-complacency and blind optimism. Our | 

 forefathers, they say, had practically no scientific educa- 

 tion, and see how they excelled in invention and obtained 

 the control of the commercial world. Let them, how- 

 ever, remember that in those days the Germans had 

 also practically no scientific education, neither was their 

 empire consolidated as it is at the present moment. So 

 long as the Government refuses to recognise the needs 

 of science, and manufacturers, with fatuous obstinacy, 

 refusing to learn from the experience of other nations, 

 look upon chemists as e.xpensive lu.xuries, so long will 

 chemical trade remain in the hand of our rivals. 



F. Moi.i.wo Pf.rkin. 



THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE 

 UNITED STATES. 



IN Nature for December 27, 1900, we noticed the 

 first and sixth parts of the Twentieth Annual Report 

 of the United States Geological Survey. We have now 

 received the remaining volumes. Part ii., comprising 

 "General Geology and Pakuontology," consists of 953 

 pages with 193 plates. It includes a brief article on the 

 geology of the Philippine Islands, by Mr. G. K. Becker ; 

 but as we have since received the full report (noticed 

 further on), we may pass on to the next paper by Mr. J. 

 Nelson Dale, a study of Bird Mountain, \'ermont. This 

 mountain, the summit of which is 2200 feet high, lies in the 

 Taconic Range, and consists of about 500 feet of Ordo- 

 vician grit and conglomerate interbedded with muscovite- 

 schist, and underlain by similar schist with beds of 

 quartzite. The author discusses the origin of the moun- 

 tain, the features of which have been largely sculptured by 

 glacial action. The Devonian fossils from south-western 

 Colorado, constituting the fauna of the Ouray Limestone, 

 are described by Mr. George H.Girty. Although by some 

 authorities regarded as Carboniferous, Mr. Girty con- 

 siders that the fauna indicates late Middle or early Upper 

 Devonian. \'^arieties of Spirifcr disjunctiis occur, 

 together with numerous other fossils. 



NO. 1678, VOL. 65] 



A preliminary paper on the geology of the Cascade 

 Mountains in Northern Washington is contributed by 

 Mr. Israel C. Russell. The rocks comprise granite, 

 various schists, greenstone and serpentine of unknown 

 age, and also a great extent of slightly altered and 

 unaltered sedimentary strata, mainly Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary, with some possibly of Jura-Trias age. The 

 granites and allied rocks are usually jointed in a con- 

 spicuous manner. The influences of these joints on the 

 rugged spires and cathedral-like forms resulting from 

 weathering are among the most characteristic details in 

 the magnificent scenery of the Cascade Mountains. The 

 structure of the range is highly complex. This is briefly 

 described, and fuller particulars are given of the striking 

 effects of glaciation. 



Mr. Lester F. Ward is the author of an elaborate 

 essay on the older Mesozoic floras of the United States, 

 Triassic and Jurassic ; and Mr. David White deals with 

 the stratigraphic succession of the fossil floras of the 

 Pottsville formation in the southern anthracite coal-field 

 of Pennsylvania. The plants of this Carboniferous 

 formation exhibit a rapid development, and a series of 

 changes or modifications, which are considered of high 

 stratigraphic value. 



Part iii. deals with the " Precious-metal Mining Dis- 

 tricts." The Bohemia mining region of western Oregon is 

 described by Mr. J. S. Diller. It is situated at an 

 altitude of between 4000 and 6000 feet above the sea, 

 along the crest of the Calapooya Mountain, and upon 

 both slopes. The mountain is composed of lavas like 

 those of the Cascade Range. Generally the sheets of 

 lava are very irregular. The lava filling the throat of 

 a once active volcano has in the case of the Cougar 

 Rock made a prominent peak, while in Bear Bones Rock 

 it presents a conspicuous columnar structure. The 

 streams have cut deep, narrow valleys, approaching 

 canyons in character. These expose rocks to a depth of 

 more than 2000 feet — comprising lavas (chiefly andesites), 

 vein matter and stratified fragmental volcanic material. 

 It is probable that volcanoes were active in Eocene 

 times, and continued so during the Miocene period. 

 The veins lie along narrow, irregular joint-planes in 

 which there has been much crushing of rock material. 

 The principal gangue is quartz, containing at a depth 

 much pyrites and other sulphides in which gold occurs ; 

 while near the surface the gold is native, finely fila- 

 mentous and distributed through iron-stained quartz. 

 The output in this region has been chiefly from one 

 mine during the last few years. Mr. F. H. Knowlton 

 contributes an account of the Miocene plants of the 

 Cascade Range. 



The gold and silver veins of Silver City, De Lamar, 

 and other mining districts in western-central Idaho are 

 reported on by Kir. Waldemar Lindgren. The area in- 

 cludes four types of scenery : (i) the Snake River valley, 

 extensive arid plains underlain by Neocene lake-beds 

 with intercalated flows of basalt, which are cut into to 

 a depth of from 400 to 1000 feet ; ^2) the ( )wyhee Range, 

 a steep granite ridge covered by broad areas of Neocene 

 lavas ; (3) a great central granite region north of the 

 Snake River, with bordering sedimentary rocks, probably 

 Palaeozoic, showing extensive contact metamorphism : the 

 whole described as a veritable labyrinth of ridges and 

 peaks separated by sharply-cut canyons, the higher 

 ridges attaining elevations of 12,000 feet, and evidently 

 an old plateau with an intricate and deeply-cut drainage 

 system ; and (4) a more recent plateau of the Columbia 

 lava flows, of Miocene age. 



The mineral deposits of the great granite area are 

 fissure veins, containing gold and silver in a quartzose 

 gangue. The adjoining sedimentary areas carry either 

 veins or contact deposits of irregular shape, generally 

 containing silver, lead, zinc and copper. The Tertiary 

 volcanic rocks contain in places gold and silver veins 



