306 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 477. 



The York region occupies the western part 

 of the Seward Peninsula, and has the form of 

 a triangle, with Cape Prince of Wales, the 

 most western point of the continent, at the 

 apex, the Arctic Ocean and Bering Sea for the 

 sides. The region has no harbor, and land- 

 ings are made through the surf, but Port 

 Clarence, a safe, deep harbor, lies twenty-five 

 miles southeast. 



The principal topographic features are the 

 York Mountains, which occupy the southeast 

 corner of the triangle, and the York Plateau, 

 200 to 600 feet high, surrounding these moun- 

 tains on the south, west and north sides. 

 Cape Mountain and Cone Hill are 'monad- 

 nocks ' on this plateau, the former marking the 

 westernmost point of land. Three sedimentary 

 formations are recognized, forming irregular 

 belts, which extend north and south. The 

 York Mountains are composed of Silurian 

 limestones. West of these is a belt of meta- 

 morphic slates of undetermined age, and be- 

 yond these is a narrow limestone belt probably 

 of lower Carboniferous age. These sediments 

 contain intrusive masses of granite and 

 rhyolite, with which tin ore is associated, and 

 greenstones which have no economic bearing. 



The Lost River tin deposits are four or five 

 miles from the coast in the York Mountains. 

 The tin occurs in a greisen dike, about one 

 mile long and 100 feet wide, which cuts the 

 limestone and extends east and west. The 

 rock consists of fluorite, calcite, quartz and 

 lithia mica, with cassiterite, pyrite, galena, 

 wolframite and garnet as accessory minerals. 

 In a granite boss, south of this dike, some 

 stannite was found. 



On Cape Mountain, which is an intrusive 

 granite boss, cassiterite, closely associated 

 with tourmaline, has been found on the sur- 

 face, at at least three distinct points. During 

 the past year several short tunnels were driven 

 into the mountain in search of the veins from 

 which it was derived, but so far withoxit suc- 

 cess, though the granite is partially altered to 

 greisen, and possibly carries small amounts of 

 tin. 



On Buck Creek, which lies twenty miles 

 inland and drains into the Arctic Ocean, the 

 ore occurs in the form of stream-tin. The 



alluvial deposits were exploited ' during the 

 past season, and a number of tons of tin ore 

 were mined and shipped. The stream-tin evi- 

 dently came from small veins in the slates. 

 ISfo veins of this kind have been found in place, 

 but specimens, showing their character, have 

 been found in the gravels. 



The placers on the Anikovik River and 

 Buhner Creek, in which tin ore was found in 

 , 1900, have been abandoned, but all of the dis- 

 coveries and developments noted date from 

 that report. Alfred H. Brooks, 



Secretary. 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON. 



The 147th regular and the 20th annual 

 meeting of the society was held on January 

 14 in the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club. 



The annual reports of the treasurer and 

 secretary were read and the following officers 

 elected : 



President— Dt. E. T. Allen. 



First Vice-President — Mr. S. S. Voorhees. 



Second Vice-President — ^Mr. L. M. Tolman. 



Secretary — ^Mr. Atherton Seidell. 



Treasurer — ^Mr. P. P. Dewey. 



Additional members of the executive committee 

 — Dr. W. T. Hillebrand, Mr. L. S. Munson, Dr. 

 E. A. Hill and Mr. Allen Wade Dow. 



Nominated to represent the Chemical Society 

 as Vice-President in the Washington Academy of 

 Sciences — ^Dr. Frank W. Clarke. 



Representatives in the Council of the American 

 Chemical Society, elected November, 1903 — Dr. 

 Henry N. Stokes, Mr. S. S. Voorhees. 



A SPECIAL meeting of the society was held 

 at 8 P.M., Pebruary 1, in the Chemical Lecture 

 Hall of the Columbian University, to hear an 

 address by Dr. Chas. B. Dudley, of Altoona, 

 Pa., upon the ' Work of a Chemist on a Rail- 

 road.' 



The speaker first briefly presented statistics 

 of the equipment and annual expenditures of 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad system. It ap- 

 peared that up to the time of the establishment 

 of the chemical laboratory of that railroad the 

 supplies were bought solely upon the repre- 

 sentation and reputation of dealers or manu- 

 facturers, but the work of the chemist has 

 shown the necessity for critically examining 

 all materials bought for the road. 



