198 



SCIENCE. 



[iN". S. Vol. XIX. No. 474. 



tained on the visit made during the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science 

 meetings to the lead pipe works in St. Louis, 

 gave a complete view of the lead industry, 

 from deposits disseminated in the Third Mag- 

 nesian Limestone to the finished product, to 

 be disseminated eventually throughout the 

 homes and shops of American cities. A dozen 

 mines a score or two miles from the old mine 

 LeMotte, famous in the history of lead min- 

 ing in the Mississippi valley are being worked 

 by modern methods. Companies of large 

 capitalization are able to mine and mill suc- 

 cessfully in a region where the individual 

 could not afford to work, and the annual pro- 

 duction is now measured by millions of dollars. 

 At the St. Joe Mine a depth of 350 feet has 

 been reached, and the workings extend about 

 two miles from north to south. One chamber 

 is about 130 feet in length, and furnished ore 

 throughout its entire distance. The mines are 

 in the Bonne Terre or lower division of the 

 Third Magnesian Limestone — a shaly mag- 

 nesian limestone about 500 feet thick, which 

 rests on Potsdam sandstone, and is overlaid 

 by the Potosi, or upper member of the group. 

 The size and perfection of the concentrating 

 and milling plants were a surprise to the vis- 

 itors. Two mills were visited, each of which 

 has a daily capacity of 1,500 tons. 



Some of the party took a side excursion to 

 Pilot Knob and Iron Mountain. The char- 

 acter of the iron formations reminded the 

 visitors of similar formations in the Lake Su- 

 perior region. 



From the eastern region the company were 

 taken four hundred miles to Joplin and Webb 

 City, where sub-Carboniferous zinc and lead 

 deposits and the treatment of their ores oc- 

 cupied the attention for a day. A few of the 

 eight hundred mines in the region were not 

 visited. The two which were examined gave 

 an idea of the remarkable richness of the 

 region, and explained the prosperous condition 

 of the cities in southwestern Missouri. Pic- 

 turesque names are not confined to the far 

 west. The ' One Gallus Mine ' shows such 

 deposits of sphalerite as to make the most 

 thorough, pessimist forget his position. This 

 region is still favorable as a ' poor man's dig- 



gings.' With almost no capital, a man can 

 lease a plot of ground and start in to make 

 his fortune. Yet improved methods and well- 

 equipped mills are seen on every hand, and 

 have as a result the addition of several mil- 

 lions of dollars' worth of lead and zinc to the 

 wealth of the country. 



The excursionists were shown unlimited 

 hospitality by various organizations in the re- 

 gions visited, and by five railroad companies, 

 which not only carried the party nearly a 

 thousand miles, but furnished extra engines 

 and held an important train in order that "our 

 delayed car could be attached. 



The value of the trip was enhanced by the 

 unending courtesy of our ' English-speaking 

 guides,' Drs. Shepard, Wheeler and Buckley, 

 who were ever ready to answer questions and 

 point out facts of interest. 



The excursion was due to the enterprise of 

 the state geologist. Dr. Buckley, to whom the 

 visitors are under very pleasant and great ob- 

 ligations for the increased knowledge which 

 they have of the geology of the remarkable 

 lead and zinc deposits of Missouri. 



A. E. Crook. 



NoRTHWESTEKJSr UlSflVEESITY. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Lalande prize in astronomy has been 

 conferred upon Director W. W. Campbell, of 

 the Lick Observatory, by the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences. 



The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical 

 Society of London has been conferred upon 

 Professor George E. Hale, director of the 

 Yerkes Observatory, for his researches in solar 

 and stellar physics. 



We understand that at its recent meeting 

 the executive committee of the Carnegie In- 

 stitution adopted the recommendation of the 

 biological committee to establish a Department 

 of Experimental Biology and to call Professor 

 C. B. Davenport, of the University of Chi- 

 cago, to the charge of it. The work of the 

 department will include at present, among 

 others, a station for Experimental Evolution 

 at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, on land 

 granted by the Wawepex Society, and a Trop- 

 ical Marine Biological Station at the Dry 



