402 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXIX. No. 1002 



nearly 350,000 short tons, or nearly 2,500,000 bar- 

 rels, of 280 pounds each, valued in round numbers 

 at $725,000. 



In Louisiana salt occurs in two districts, (1) 

 in the north-central and northern part of the state 

 in the valleys of the Bed and Sabine rivers, and 

 (2) m the southern part; the most important 

 known deposits, and those worked at present, oc- 

 curring in close proximity to the gulf coast. 

 Eoek salt is the product, mined at Weeks and 

 Avery's islands, so-called, located in Iberia par- 

 ish, very close to the Gulf of Mexico. 



The only economically important deposits of salt 

 found in Virginia occur in the southwest part of 

 the state. These, with the gypsum deposits, ex- 

 tend for twenty miles along the valley of the north 

 fork of the Holston Eiver, and have been de- 

 veloped quite extensively in Smyth and Washing- 

 ton counties. Two gypsirai plants and one alkali 

 works, which utilizes the brines, are in operation 

 in this area. Saltville, Smyth county, is the cen- 

 ter of the alkali industry. 



The important salt industries of Texas are lo- 

 cated at Palestine, Anderson county, Grand Saline, 

 Van Zandt county, in the eastern part of the state, 

 and at Colorado, Mitchell county, in the westem 

 part. The bulk of the salt marketed in Texas is 

 the evaporated article produced by the grainer 

 process, but considerable also comes from the in- 

 land salt lakes in the western part of the state and 

 from the lagoons along the southwestern coast. 



In West Virginia the industry is confined to the 

 Ohio Eiver Valley and to the valley of the Kana- 

 wha Eiver, a few miles above Charleston, the state 

 capital. The product is evaporated salt produced 

 by the grainer process. Bromine and calcium 

 chloride are also produced on a considerable scale, 

 in connection with the manufacture of salt. 



In Oklahoma the salt industry is small, and is 

 confined to the salt plains in the southwestern 

 part of the state. 



The Asbestos Deposits of Georgia: Oliver P. 

 Hopkins. 



Asbestos representing three modes of occur- 

 rence is found in Georgia. Chrysotile, occurring in 

 serpentine derived from peridotite, is present in 

 insignificant quantities in a few localities where 

 it gives no promise of commercial importance. 

 Asbestos of the amphibole variety in slip-fiber 

 veins occurs at widely distributed points over the 

 Piedmont area of the state; while mass-fiber as- 

 bestos, which represents the important deposits 

 from a commercial point of view, is restricted, in 



general, to the belt of peridotites and pyroxenites 

 which cross the state in a southwest direction 

 from Eabun county to Harris county, but is rela- 

 tively most important in Eabun, White and Haber- 

 sham counties than any others. Judging from the 

 field relations and the microscopic study, it has 

 been concluded that the mass-fiber anthophyllite 

 has been derived from enstatite-olivine rocks. 



Mass-fiber asbestos, owing to the nature of its 

 occurrence, is capable of being mined very econom- 

 ically, but owing to the slight demand for the ma- 

 terial little is being put on the market at the pres- 

 ent time. With a good demand for the material 

 at from $10 to $12 per ton a number of deposits 

 in this state could be worked at a profit and a 

 large amount of asbestos could be ptit on the 

 market. 



The Production of Fuller's Earth in the Southern 



States: E. H. Sellards. 



Fuller 's earth is a clay which has the property 

 of absorbing basic colors and removing these from 

 solution in animal, vegetable and mineral oils, as 

 well as from water and certain other liquids. In 

 commerce the earth finds its chief use in clarifying 

 oils, although it has in addition a number of minor 

 uses. 



Fuller's earth, like other clays, is complex and 

 consists not of a single mineral, but of a variety 

 of minerals, the mineral particles being mixed in 

 different earths in widely different proportions, re- 

 sulting in a varying chemical and mineralogical 

 composition. The ultimate analysis does not differ 

 materially from that of other clays. The proper- 

 ties of the earth arise apparently from the phys- 

 ical condition of the clay and can be detected 

 only by a filtering test by which its practical util- 

 ity in clarifying oils is determined. Various 

 other properties are assigned to fuller's earth but 

 all, aside from actual bleaching tests, are so 

 variable or are common to such a variety of clays 

 as to be of only secondary value in identifying 

 fuller's earth. 



Fuller's earth is mined chiefly by the open pit 

 method, the overburden being removed and the 

 earth dug by pick and shovel. It is then crushed, 

 dried, ground, bolted and sacked for shipment. 

 That intended for clarifying mineral oils is ground 

 to pass 30-60 or a 60-80 mesh sieve while that in- 

 tended for clarifying edible oils is usually ground 

 to 100 mesh. The action of fuller's earth in 

 clarifying oils is believed to be due chiefly to col- 

 loidal silica present in the clay. It is a notable 

 fact that clays suitable for clarifying mineral oils 



