138 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IX. No. 213. 



periment — as witness the English Sparrow 

 ■ — and if undertaken at all should be done 

 only under that branch of the govern- 

 ment service which for many years has 

 been charged by Congress with investiga- 

 tions of the economic status of birds 

 and mammals. While we should gladly 

 see feathers and parts of birds obtained by 

 killing the birds no longer used for orna- 

 mental purposes, it is probable that legisla- 

 tion would accomplish nothing. On the 

 whole, the bill appears useless, and the new 

 functions given to the Fish Commission are 

 extremely ill-advised. Such bills should be 

 referred to a committee of the National 

 Academjr of Sciences for an opinion. 



ELEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE GEO- 

 LOGICAL SOCIEIY OF AMERICA, BE- 

 CE3IBER gSTH, S9TH AND SOTS, 

 NEW YORK. 

 II. 

 Origin of the Grahamite in Ritchie Co., W. 



Va. I. C. White, Morgantown, W. Va. 



This mineral, resembling coal in physical 

 aspect, and extending, in a vertical fissure 

 two to three feet wide, downward to an un- 

 known depth, was shown to be a residual 

 product derived from the evaporation of 

 petroleum. Its location is near the ' Oil- 

 break ' anticline of Andrews, and it prob- 

 ably tapped off oil from the ' Saltwater 

 Sandstone ' of the drillers. This sandstone 

 is now the source of productive wells lo- 

 cated near the Grahamite vein. 



The paper led to the discussion of asphal- 

 tic deposits in fissures and to the source of 

 graphite and other hydro-carbons in peg- 

 matite veins. A. P. Coleman cited the an- 

 thraxolite of the Sudbury region, an ultra- 

 anthracitic material in fissures. J. S. Diller 

 mentioned the pitch-coal of the Coos Bay- 

 lignite mines, Oregon, which cuts the lignite 

 in veins. J. F. Kemp brought up the gra- 

 phitic pegmatites of the Adirondacks, the 

 presence of small amounts of carbon in 



the gabbros and the tarry material in the 

 Branchville, Conn., quartz. M. E. Wads- 

 worth referred to carbon in meteorites. 



Structure of the Tola Gas Field, Allen Co., 



Ka7isas. Edward Orton, Columbus, O. 



Eead by I. C. White, iu the absence of the 



author. 



Natural gas is more widely distributed, 

 geologically and geographically, and exists 

 in larger quantity than any one would 

 have claimed 20 or even 10 yeai's ago. Its 

 productive horizons cover the entire Pale- 

 ozoic column of the country. Cities sup- 

 plied, at least partially, with natural gas 

 for fuel and light are no longer uncommon. 

 Two distinct divisions can be made of its 

 accumulations, viz.: That which is stored in 

 impervious rocks as shales, most limestones, 

 etc., and that which is found in j^orons rocks. 

 These divisions may be provisionally styled 

 Shale gas and Reservoir gag, each having 

 characteristics of its own. Shale gas occurs 

 in comparatively small wells. Its wells 

 lack uniformity of rock pressure. It does 

 not occupy definite horizons ; it exists in- 

 dependently of petroleum in many cases, 

 has staying properties, does not depend on 

 the structural arrangement of the strata 

 that contain it. Reservoir gas is found in 

 great wells, approaches uniformity of rock 

 pressure in each subdivision of territory, 

 occupies definite horizons, is accompanied 

 by oil, its wells generally come to a sudden 

 end, is entirely controlled by the structure 

 of the rocks in which it is accumulated. 

 Two structural phases of rocks are specially 

 important in this connection, the anticline 

 and the terrace. The time has come for the 

 acknowledgment of structure in reservoir gas 

 fields even in advance of measurements. 

 The lola gas field is one of great promise. 

 Its source is in a sandstone of the Cherokee 

 shales, or near the bottom of the coal meas- 

 ures. It proves to bea torace of well-marked 

 character. For seven miles the top of the 



