786 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXVI. No. 936 



Survey haTing increased in production, 

 against 21 whicli showed a decrease. Thus, 

 anthracite coal increased to the value of 

 nearly $15,000,000; lead and zinc each in- 

 creased more than $3,500,000 ; silver increased 

 $1,750,000; petroleum more than $6,000,000; 

 natural gas nearly $3,500,000, and sulphuric 

 acid nearly $3,000,000. The products showing 

 the greatest decreases were pig iron, more than 

 $84,000,000; bituminous coal, about $18,000,- 

 000; clay products, nearly $8,000,000, and ce- 

 ment, $2,000,000, although the amount of ce- 

 ment produced was 1,Y50,000 barrels in excess 

 of that produced in 1910. 



Ajt interesting fact in connection with the 

 production of coal in the United States, ac- 

 cording to the U. S. Geological Survey, is that 

 in. each successive decade the output is prac- 

 tically doubled. If the production of bitu- 

 minous coal alone were considered, the record 

 for the last fifty years would show an increase 

 somewhat in excess of this ratio. The increase 

 in the production of anthracite has been much 

 less rapid on account of the limited area of 

 the fields, the conditions under which the 

 industry is carried on, and the restriction of 

 the prepared sizes to domestic consumption. 

 It has been estimated that the output of an- 

 thracite will reach 100,000,000 long tons an- 

 nually before it begins to decline. The maxi- 

 mum production up to the present time has 

 been 80,771,488 long tons. An increase in the 

 annual production of bituminous coal may be 

 anticipated for some time to come. The sta- 

 tistics of coal production in the past show 

 that up to the close of 1865 the total output 

 had amounted to 284,890,055 short tons. In 

 the decade from 1866 to 1875, inclusive, the 

 production amounted to 419,425,104 tons, 

 making the total production up to the close 

 of 1875, 704,315,159 tons. In the following 

 decade, from 1876 to 1885, inclusive, the out- 

 put amounted to 847,760,319 tons, somewhat 

 more than double the total production during 

 the preceding decade. At the close of 1885 

 the total production amounted to 1,552,075,- 

 478 tons, and the production during the ten 

 years ended in 1895 was 1,586,098,641 tons. 



the total production at the close of 1895 

 amounting to 3,138,174,119 short tons. In the 

 decade ended December 31, 1905, the total pro- 

 duction amounted to 2,832,402,746 short tons, 

 and the grand total from the beginning of 

 recorded coal mining in the United States 

 amounted to 5,970,576,865 short tons. The 

 average annual production from 1896 to 1905 

 was 283,240,275 short tons; the average pro- 

 duction from 1906 to 1911, inclusive, was 461,- 

 499,260 short tons, showing an increase of 

 178,258,985 short tons, or 63 per cent. 



UNIVESSITY AND EDUCATIONAL NEWS 

 Mr. Peter Makoushin has founded at 

 Tomsk, Siberia, an institution on a large 

 scale, to be called the House of Science, in- 

 tended to provide instruction of all kinds, 

 including university courses. 



By the will of Mr. Thomas Bartlett, Liver- 

 pool University receives £20,000 for scholar- 

 ships for engineering students. 



The South African Union has awarded five 

 government scholarships in agriculture for 

 study abroad. The holders of these scholar- 

 ships will receive $750 per year during the 

 three or four years for which provision is 

 made. The successful applicants were ob- 

 liged to pledge themselves to enter the service 

 of the South African Union after completing 

 their studies, and to remain in the service for 

 at least three years at a salary not less than 

 $1,500 per annum. Only sons of parents per- 

 manently domiciled in South Africa were 

 eligible for the scholarships. 



Plans for the new Gilman HaU of the 

 Johns Hopkins University have been accepted 

 by the trustees. The actual work of building 

 will begin in the spring. Gilman Hall will 

 be the largest building to be erected in the 

 group at Homewood, the new site of the uni- 

 versity. It will contain the library, seminary 

 rooms for history, economics, philosophy and 

 the languages. 



Northwestern University has signed con- 

 tracts for the erection of nine of the new 

 dormitories which are to form a part of the 



