494 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLVII. No. 1220 



but had their source in the Appalachian Old-land 

 on the southeast. Most of the limestones probably- 

 extended across the Ontario dome region which 

 now shows only crystallines. These were exposed 

 after the doming by the peneplanation which the 

 region suffered in post-Paleozoic time. Renewed 

 slight doming of this region in early Tertiary 

 times caused the development of a cuesta topog- 

 raphy which has no relations to the original old- 

 land, indeed the euestas point away from that old- 

 land. These euestas are in reality renewed hog- 

 backs of the type developed around the Black 

 Hills dome but the stra/ta dip away from the center 

 of the dome at a very low angle. The radial ar- 

 rangements of the old river valleys now in part 

 occupied by the Finger Lakes of New York and 

 the Tertiary consequent streams of Ontario ajid 

 Michigan further illustrate the effect of this dome. 



The change of content of gasoline vapor in natural 

 gas with age of the wells : O. J. Sieplein. 

 Natural gas which has been in contact with pe- 

 troleum has taken up gasoline vapors from the 

 petroleum. These can be condensed by pressure or 

 by use of solvents. Gasoline vapor is probably one 

 hundred times as valuable as the same volume of 

 gas. As the well-pressure decreases, a larger quan- 

 tity of gasoline is associated with the gas. An in- 

 crease of 0.07 in specific gravity means an increase 

 of one gallon of liquid gasoline from a thousand 

 cubic feet of raw gas. Pumping of old oil wells as 

 gas wells makes it possible to extract a large quan- 

 tity of gasoline from that petroleum which is re- 

 tained by the oil-sands and is not to be recovered 

 by ordinary methods of producing petroleum. 



A large high-pressure carbon dioxide well: L. G. 

 Huntley and Eoswell H. Johnson. 



The so-called "air blasts," a peculiar geological 

 phenomenon in the Kolar gold field, India: E. S. 



MOOEE. 



The Kolar Gold Field, situated near Bangalore, 

 Mysore, in southern India, has long been the most 

 important gold-producing area of India. In this 

 field a quartz vein carrying high values in gold to 

 great depths, cuts a band of hornblende schists of 

 pre-Cambrian age and these are in turn intruded 

 by large dikes of basic igneous rook. Surrounding 

 the area of schists and intruding it is a great mass 

 of granite-gneiss resembling the Laurentian rooks 

 of this continent. The "air blasts," which have 

 received their name from the miners because of 

 the rush of air which often accompanies large re- 

 lated disturbances, are explosions occurring in the 

 walls of the workings on account of potential 



energy in the quartz, schist and dike rocks. This 

 energy is permitted to act when mining operations 

 relieve the pressure in certain directions. The 

 source of this energy is believed to be found in the 

 squeezing of the syneline of schist by the granite 

 during compressional movements in the crust of 

 the earth. 



Pyrite in the coals of xoestern Pennsylvania and its 



■uses: Henry Leighton. 



The enormous increase in the production of sul- 

 furic acid since the war began, together with a cur- 

 tailment of the importation of Spanish pyrite 

 which, heretofore, was the source of 40 per cent, of 

 the production, has brought about an earnest 

 search for supplies in the United States. Among 

 the sources of supply is the pyrite or marcasite oc- 

 curring in coal beds as ' ' sulphur balls. ' ' This 

 material, during coal mining, is rarely saved, but 

 if properly cleaned a good quality acid can be 

 made from it. Among its good points is it free- 

 dom from injurious arsenic or phosphorus. By 

 careful hand picking in the mine or on a picking 

 table, much of this coarse material could be profit- 

 ably saved under present conditions, while in wash- 

 ing ooal for coke making, proper concentrating ma- 

 chinery could be installed for the recovery of a 

 large amount of fine pyrite now wasted. An in- 

 vestigation of the pyrite resources of Pennsylvania 

 is now being undertaken by the State Geologic 

 Survey and indications are that much pyrite can 

 be produced in the bituminous coal area, especially 

 in the Pott«ville and Allegheny series ooals, around 

 the north and northeastern margin of the bitumi- 

 nous field. Mercer, Jefferson, Clarion and Clear- 

 field counties have in the past produced pyrite in 

 small quautities and their production should be 

 greatly increased. 



Translations made accessible: Lancaster D. Bur- 

 ling. 



By a system of reply postal cards, the request 

 card of which enables a worker to inquire concern- 

 ing the translation of any foreign paper in which 

 he may be interested and of which he may be will- 

 ing to share the expense if a special translation 

 has to be made; the reply card properly filled out 

 by the proposer of this scheme tells whether or not 

 the paper sought has been translated, and if it has, 

 where and how a copy may be obtained. 



Factors determining the depth to salt water in 



wells: Eoswell H. Johnson. 

 Problems in Green mountain geology: W. G. Foye. 



EOLLIN T. Chamberlin, 



Secretary 



