Febbuaey 12, 1909] 



SCIENCE 



279 



objects, Dr. Willcox makes the novel suggestion 

 that they are representatives of a non-Hauyan 

 order of crystals, which he proposes to call the 

 cylindrical system, as distinguished from the 

 cubical and other systems of the Hauyan order. 

 The speaker pointed out that there are no a priori 

 reasons for regarding the Hauyan order as the 

 sole mode of expression of crystalline nature; he 

 knew of no reason why nature should be regarded 

 as impotent to fashion a crystal after the form 

 of a cylinder as well as after the form of a cube. 

 As the facts indicate that the cylinders were 

 formed by molecules of dissolved matter in the 

 act of separating from solution to constitute the 

 solid phase, and in so doing assumed a geometrical 

 form of consistent regularity, they are as much 

 entitled to be regarded as crystals as are the cubes 

 which are formed when sodium chloride separates 

 from solution. The cylinder being a geometrical 

 form of higher symmetry than the cube, the ab- 

 sence of distinguishing crystallographic characters 

 as seen under the microscope would be accounted 

 for; and hence a crystallographic investigation 

 shows nothing out of the ordinary. 



Professor D. W. Hering read a paper on " Ortho- 

 pedic Photography, Notes on the Rectification of 

 Distorted Pictures." The paper discussed the de- 

 fects common in kodak pictures, which arise from 

 badly timed exposure in various conditions of 

 light, followed by development of a whole set of 

 films at once, resulting in excessive inequalities 

 of light and shade. In printing from such a nega- 

 tive, if the source of light is small, as a gas flame 

 or incandescent bulb, these faults can be corrected 

 to a great extent by holding the printing frame 

 in such a position that the distance to different 

 parts of the negative gives different intensity of 

 illumination, and the subsequent development of 

 the print is normal. It also considered the dis- 

 tortion of pictures arising from using a short 

 focus lens, and holding the camera at an awkward 

 angle, as, for instance, pointing it upward or 

 downward at a considerable inclination. By re- 

 photographing the distorted picture, placing it 

 before the camera at an angle to the axis of the 

 lens, a counter distortion is effected which under 

 judicious management rectifies the picture and 

 sometimes improves it. The discussion was di- 

 rected entirely to correction of defects by physical 

 treatment instead of chemical. Numerous lantern 

 slides illustrated the various stages of these cor- 

 rective processes. 



Professor W. Campbell read " Some Notes on 

 Western Smelters." A series of lantern slides 

 intended to show the evolution of the western 



lead smelters on account of changes in conditions 

 and improvements in practise. A photograph of 

 the Globe Smelter, Denver, showed the location 

 of the main buildings. A plan of the plant showed 

 the receiving tracks, bins for fuel, fluxes and ore, 

 the beds, the various roasters, the blast-furnaces 

 and the matte settling reverberatories, flues, bag- 

 house, the old refinery, etc. A tree of smelting 

 showed the course of the materials. Other slides 

 showed the handling of raw materials, the methods 

 of bedding at different plants ; of roasting, briquet- 

 ting of fines; the blast-furnace, types, methods of 

 charging, tapping of lead, of matte and slag, the 

 separation of the same, handling of foul slag, etc. 

 Level versus sloping sites shown by contrasting 

 photographs of the Murray plant with those of 

 the Leadville, Eilers, Pueblo, etc. Two copper 

 smelters were described: the Highland Boy at 

 Bingham, with 20 McDougall and 3 Wethey roast- 

 ers, 9 reverberatory smelters and 4 converter 

 stands; the Garfield plant, with 2 blast-furnaces 

 and 3 reverberatory smelters, 4 converter stands, 

 the oxide and sulphide mills, beds, roasters, the 

 Huntington-Herberlein equipment for roasting fine 

 concentrates, etc. 



W. Campbell, 



Secretary 

 Columbia Univebsity, 

 New York City 



SECTION OF geology AND MINERALOGY 



At the regular meeting of December 7, 1908, 

 the evening was devoted to the conditions and 

 problems that have developed by tunneling the 

 Hudson River gorge. Many engineers directly 

 concerned in these enterprises or related ones 

 were present and joined in the discussion. 



The following three papers were read sum- 

 marizing the accumulated data and suggesting the 

 history and structure indicated by them. 



" Our Knowledge of the Filled Channel of the 

 Hudson in the Highlands and the Submerged 

 Gorge on the Continental Shelf," by Professor J. 

 F. Kemp. It was shown that the depth now 

 known, over 650 feet, at Storm King Mountain, 

 50 miles above New York, is greater than at any 

 other point in the whole drainage system except 

 far out on the continental shelf. 



" A Summary of an Investigation into the 

 Structural Geology of Southern Manhattan and 

 the Condition of the East River Channel," by 

 Dr. uharles P. Berkey. The results of identifica- 

 tion of material recovered from 300 drill borings 

 in southern Manhattan and the adjacent channels 



