Deoembeb 27, 1907] 



SCIENCE 



907 



of the American Association and to receive 

 Science. In order that the work of the asso- 

 ciation may be carried forward effectively, its 

 membership should be increased to at least ten 

 thousand, and it does not seem to be impossible 

 to accomplish this when we know that the 

 National Geographic Society has by concerted 

 efforts increased its membership to over 

 twenty-five thousand. It would in fact be 

 about accomplished if each member would 

 send one nomination to the permanent secre- 

 tary. Ed.] 



QUARTZ AFTER PROCHLORITE AT CRANSTON AND 



WORCESTER AND COAL PLANTS AT 



WORCESTER 



To THE Editor of Science: During the 

 recent field day of the New England geolo- 

 gists at Providence we were guided by Pro- 

 fessor Brown to the graphite mine in the 

 Carboniferous at Cranston. This mine inter- 

 ested me very greatly because of its close re- 

 semblance to the coal mine at Worcester, 

 Mass., a resemblance which extended by chance 

 even to the size and shape of the excavation 

 and the dip of the rocks. There was the same 

 greatly mashed and slickensided graphitic 

 slate, the same white and yellow efflorescence 

 of alumina and iron sulphates and a more 

 abundant development of ottrelite in the ad- 

 jacent schists. Our attention was especially 

 attracted by a white to pale green mineral 

 which filled fissures in the slate with its fine 

 satiny fibei-s. 



This was described as asbestus by Dr. J. W. 

 Webster in the first volume of Silliman's 

 Journal in 1819, and in a note the editor 

 speaks of it as long known. It has been often 

 mentioned since as asbestus, amianthus, or 

 fibrolite. Its action under the microscope was 

 so peculiar that I had it analyzed at Washing- 

 ton by Mr. L. G. Eakins. It proved to be a 

 prochlorite changed in varying degrees to 

 silica. The mean of the analyses roughly re- 

 calculated, to omit impurities, was : SiO^, 

 23.13; AfO', 22.38; FeO, 28.Y6; MgO, 11.70; 

 Alk, 1.57; H,0, 12.45. The fibrous structure 

 seems to be a parting developed in the chlorite 

 by pressure as often happens in the case of 

 muscovite. 



The fact that this very peculiar meta- 

 morphosis of the carboniferous shales of the 

 Rhode Island basin is exactly repeated at 

 Worcester would be strong evidence that the 

 rocks were of the same age without the coal 

 plants which were found at the Worcester 

 locality some years ago by Mr. J. H. Perry 

 and determined to be Lepidodendron acumi- 

 natum by Lesquereux. 



This note is written because doubt was ex- 

 pressed at the meeting as to the carboniferous 

 age of the Worcester beds, and an old sug- 

 gestion was brought up that the fossils were' 

 not authentic, that they were perhaps brought 

 there to " salt " the mine. The slabs with 

 fossils were dug up near the mine, one was 

 a foot and a half long and several inches 

 thick; and they were found by two persons 

 at different times and were of exactly the 

 same peculiar graphitic character as the rest 

 of the rock at the mine and equally use- 

 less as a fuel, and there is no known locality 

 showing exactly the same characteristics, since 

 even at the Cranston locality the meta- 

 morphosis has been a little more severe and no 

 fossils are found there. 



The Worcester " coal mine " is the only 

 fossiliferous locality between Providence and 

 Bernardston on the Connecticut, and while 

 there is no doubt that the fossils are coal 

 plants and were found in situ^ the common 

 characteristics of the Worcester and Rhode 

 Island beds are so many and so peculiar, and 

 the succession is so similar that no doubt 

 should arise as to their common age. 



B. K. Emerson 



Amheest, Mass., 

 November 21, 1907 



A SALAMANDER-SNAKE FIGHT 



While studying the geology of Buck Peak, 

 twelve miles west of Riddle, Douglas Co., 

 Oregon, last September, I saw a mortal com- 

 bat that interested me very much because so 

 anomalous. James Storrs, a mountaineer and 

 trapper of California, well acquainted with the 

 habits of wild animals, was with me at the 

 time and remarked that it was " the first ring 

 engagement he had ever seen in which the > 

 salamander showed any sand." In these 



