Januaet 15, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



107 



given of the physical characteristics that de- 

 termine the alpine nature of mountain ranges, 

 and it was pointed out that the Rocky Moun- 

 tains of Canada may justly be termed the 

 ' Switzerland of America.' 



A series of more than 100 lantern slides was 

 shown, many of them illustrating six first as- 

 cents made by the lecturer. These summits 

 were: Mt. Dawson, the highest peak of the 

 SeUiirks ; Mt. Goodsir, one of the highest and 

 most difficult peaks in British Columbia; Mt. 

 Lefroy, Mt. Hungable (the 'Chieftain'), Mt. 

 Deltaform and Mt. Biddle, these latter peaks 

 being situated in Alberta near Lake Louise. 

 The summits of some of these mountains were 

 previously thought to be practically inacces- 

 sible and the climbs were attended with the 

 very greatest difficulties. Mt. Lefroy was 

 climbed by the lecturer in 1897, Mt. Dawson 

 in 1899 and the remaining four sununits dur- 

 ing the past season. 



The lecturer also briefly described an inter- 

 esting trip of about 100 miles north of the 

 railroad to Wilcox Pass, where the Saskatche- 

 wan and Athabasca Rivers take their rise. 



The following two papers were submitted 

 for reading by title and subsequent publica- 

 tion: 

 Gem Minerals of Southern California: Dr. 



George F. Kunz. 



In this paper the author said in part that 

 California, especially in its southern portion, 

 had of late years produced the most interesting 

 gem minerals of any state in the union. First 

 came the magnificent series of colored tour- 

 malines, described in recent reports of the 

 Division of Mining and Mineral Resources, 

 F. S. Geological Survey (1899, p. 38; 1900, 

 p. 33; 1901, p. 31) ; next, the remarkable rose- 

 beryl from Mesa Grande and Pala {Hid., 1900, 

 p. 32), and lastly, the amethystine spodumene 

 (kunzite), in crystals which for purity and 

 beauty of color are unrivaled by any other 

 mineral of North America.* 



Thus far the minerals are confined to two 

 counties. The tourmalines occur near San 

 Jacinto, in Riverside County, and at Mesa 

 Grande and Pala, in San Diego; the pink 



* Amer. Jour. Science, Vol. 16, November, 1903; 

 N. Y. Acad. Sciences, October 19, 1903. 



beryl, in small amounts, at the two last-named 

 localities; and the lilac spodumene at Pala, 

 and also to some extent at Coahuila, in River- 

 side County, in crystals of similar character 

 but smaller. Other interesting gem minerals 

 are now coming to light in association with 

 the preceding ones. With the spodumenes 

 from Coahuila have been found beautiful 

 beryls, some yellow, closely resembling those 

 from Sarapulka in the Ural Mountains, others 

 pale green and even colorless. Some of the 

 yellow crystals are finely formed, and the 

 others show instances of remarkable etched 

 faces, similar to the crystals from Sarapulka 

 in Perm; while others are almost as delicate 

 as a darning needle. The etching in certain 

 of these is most curious ; crystals of three 

 inches long and an inch across, colorless and 

 transparent as the finest rock crystal, are cov- 

 ered all over the prismatic and basal planes 

 with the most complicated etching, and within 

 are hollow, made up of interlocking plates, as 

 it were, exceedingly clear and brilliant. 



From Pala came a fine doubly terminated, 

 detached pink beryl which measured 10 cm. 

 by 5 em., and which was quite transparent 

 and an object of great beauty. 



Another mineral recently observed at 

 Coahuila is spessartite (manganese-aluminum 

 garnet), in trapezohedral crystals of remark- 

 able beauty. Some of these are absolutely 

 pure and measure from 6 to 10 mm. in diam- 

 eter, while large ones are as much as 30 mm., 

 but less perfect. They are implanted upon 

 crystals of albitic feldspar, recalling strongly 

 the occurrence at Amelia Court House, 

 Virginia. The smaller crystals are exceed- 

 ingly brilliant and beautiful, of a honey-yel- 

 low color, deepening to orange-red; others are 

 quite large, but not transparent. The crystal- 

 line form is that of the trapezohedron, n, in 

 combination with the rhombic dodecahedron, d. 



Lastly, and of great interest, is the first- 

 noted occurrence in the state of topaz, in dis- 

 tinct and beautiful crystals. The source is 

 the well-known mineral locality three miles 

 from Ramona, in San Diego County. One 

 crystal is absolutely transparent, of a pale blue 

 color, like those from the Ural region, and 

 measures 2 cm. by 1 cm. by 5 mm. The faces 



