Editorial Notes. 339 



that confiscation of royalties would be not only a breach of faith 

 with those who have acquired a legal right in them, but also an 

 economic blunder, as in countries where minerals are in theory 

 national property the State does not appear to get as much as it 

 does in Great Britain ; and after all the total amount of royalties is 

 but small in comparison with the actual value of the mineral output 

 of this country. 



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At a Special General Meeting, held on June 25 last, the Geological 

 Society of London decided to raise the annual contribution of Fellows 

 elected after November 1, 1919, to three guineas per annum. This 

 step was rendered inevitable by the enormous increase in expenses 

 of all kinds, and especially by the greatly enhanced cost of publica- 

 tion of the Quarterly Journal and other literature issued by the 

 Society. This is undoubtedly one of the most important functions 

 of the Society, and some sacrifice is necessary on the part of 

 geologists if its usefulness in this respect is not to be impaired. 

 The cost of publication must in any case necessarily be very heavy 

 in the immediate future, as a good deal of leeway still has to be 

 made up in the Quarterly Journal and the index of current literature, 

 and it remains to be seen whether the step already taken is 

 sufficiently drastic. At the same meeting it was decided to adhere 

 to the present hour for meetings, 5.30 p.m. This decision will 

 rejoice the hearts of all those Fellows who live within a couple of 

 hours or so of London. At the present time, it is no small under- 

 taking to spend a night in town, owing to shortage of hotel 

 accommodation, liesidents within 70 or 80 miles of London can 

 usually return home after an afternoon meeting, whereas an evening 

 meeting makes this impossible. Those coming from further afield 

 must in any case stay in town, hence the present arrangement 

 possesses many advantages and does no harm to any one. It has the 

 additional good feature of making a shorter day for the permanent 

 officials, whose hours on meeting-days, under the old arrangement, 

 were unreasonably long. 



* * « * . * 



A pine collection of minerals of economic value was lately exhibited 

 in London, on behalf of the Government of one of the Dominions. 

 Even more interesting than the .specimens themselves was the 

 knowledge of mineralogy displayed by the officials responsible for 

 the preparation of the explanatory labels. The following are some 

 specially illuminating examples culled from this source : — Apatite 

 Sugar: Mineral sugar is a poisonous salt. Manganite : A mineral 

 occurring in crystals. Molybdenite: A soft mineral containing 

 a great deal of sulphur, often known as "amber mica". Galena: 

 A lead ore, formed by the action of sulphur on a non-metallic 

 element. Pyrrholite : Name means "fire-light stone", another 

 variety of serpentine. Ilinenite : Taken from Ilmen Hills. Composed 

 of tartaric acids and oxides of iron. Sphalerite: Name comes from 

 word meaning treacherous. Better known as "blende", which 

 comes from a word meaning to dazzle — a sulphide of arsenic. 



